I don't understand this thought process. It is warranted. It broke. It should be replaced. The cost or time used or anything else is irrelevant. Either it has a warranty or it does not. And a person who tries to use the warranty is bad somehow? Now, if you're saying that $11 isn't worth your time, I can get that. The five minutes it should take to warranty the item may be worth $11 to someone else. That's $132 per hour. It would be worth it to me.
Lowes Blows!
- Thread starter LarryFahn
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I don't understand this thought process. It is warranted. It broke. It should be replaced. The cost or time used or anything else is irrelevant. Either it has a warranty or it does not. And a person who tries to use the warranty is bad somehow? Now, if you're saying that $11 isn't worth your time, I can get that. The five minutes it should take to warranty the item may be worth $11 to someone else. That's $132 per hour. It would be worth it to me.
IndyGarage
Well-known member
No manufacturer can guarantee something forever no matter what the use - what if it burns up in a fire and stops working - that's not a warranty claim.
It broke after 2 years of what sounded to me like daily use. It's not a manufacturing defect if it worked for 2 years. If it were the first time it was pulled out of the box, well maybe you have a point.
Tape measures used every day don't last forever - 2 years to wear one out is not unusual.
Hawk
Well-known member
No, but it took 33 post till someone told him to commit fraud. Buying a new one and returning an old one is FRAUD. You might and probably will get away with it, but a turd is a turd, and so is fraud.
He had a lifetime warranty, so it's not fraud.
He legitimately purchased it with a lifetime warranty and they refused to exchange it, so you do your own exchange with a receipt.
It's fraud when a company doesn't stand behind their own warranty.
The only person that's a turd, is one the who doesn't stand up for their rights.
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bob15
Well-known member
Can you prove that the tape was under a lifetime warranty 2 years ago? Do you have any paperwork or does it say on the tape itself? If not, no lifetime warranty exists (only the 90 day that is showing on their website).
Just spend the 12 bucks and buy a new one.....or get an older Stanley or a Starrett or try these guys: http://www.ustape.com/catalog/classic-short-tapes/classic-series-chrome-case/
Just spend the 12 bucks and buy a new one.....or get an older Stanley or a Starrett or try these guys: http://www.ustape.com/catalog/classic-short-tapes/classic-series-chrome-case/
https://www.kobalttools.com/guarantee
It states Satisfaction Guarantee on their Website for tape measures.
No receipt needed.
M_George
Well-known member
If you live near HF, they give them away with a coupon.
woody 73
Well-known member
I have learned a few things about lowes, some good and some bad. If something says lifetime it should mean just that end of story.
On the other hand if it says 90 days, one year , two years, three years or something else then I will not fight them on that issue.
On the other hand if it says 90 days, one year , two years, three years or something else then I will not fight them on that issue.
Teenager with old tools
Well-known member
If you go to the webpage you linked and actually read it you'll see that:
Unless OP can prove when he purchased the tape 2 years ago it was a lifetime guarantee, he's shouting about nothing and lowe's was already overly kind in attempting to replace the tape measure for him.
bob15
Well-known member
Go on the OP's link provided in post one, it states 90 days.
kythri
Well-known member
How so? The hypothetical first tape had a lifetime warranty. If they replaced it with a new tape with a 90-day warranty, then they honored the first tape's lifetime warranty, did they not?
rlitman
Well-known member
No, they did not. A lifetime warranty means that they will replace that tape for your lifetime. It does NOT mean they reserve the right to replace it only once.
akalian
Well-known member
Harbor Freight gives away a 25ft tape free with any purchase from time to time in their promotions.
I've got 6 of them just sitting in a drawer waiting to be used when one breaks.
This year I'm going to give a few of them away as stocking stuffers.
.
I've got 6 of them just sitting in a drawer waiting to be used when one breaks.
This year I'm going to give a few of them away as stocking stuffers.
.
Snakebyt
Well-known member
I agree that they should replace it under lifetime , but for the cost, i would go ahead and get another one online, its obviously a good tape since you got 2 years of good use from it. and if they do warantee it for you, you will have 2 of them
Hawk
Well-known member
It is fraud when you return a product with another items receipt. The tape only has a 90 day warranty so it is well past replacing unless he has proof that it said lifetime when he purchased it. This whole discussion is over a moot point unless he can provide proof.
kythri
Well-known member
Yes, they did so.
They replaced "THAT" tape. The replacement is not "THAT" tape, it's an entirely new tape, one that does not have a lifetime warranty.
The lifetime warranty of "THAT" tape only extends to "THAT" tape, not all future tapes. The warranty was fulfilled.
I have yet to see a single lifetime warranty declare that said warranty applies to all future replacements - likely because there's no such lifetime warranty in existence.
mshell56118
Well-known member
Hey even Harbor Freight warranties the tape measure they give away. My 10yr old son broke one and was heartbroken i told him we would go get another and when we got to HF he had it in his pocket and when we went up to register with new tape a few other things along with the coupon for the free one he was telling the guy how he broke the one he had the guy tells him bring it back and he can have a new one he pulls it out of his pocket the guy go and gets him one and says there you go they have a lifetime warranty. surprised the hell out of me that they would warranty a free item
MarineScott
Well-known member
Check for availability at another store. I love Lowes,they honored my warranty on a 4 yr old torque wrench, and not to mention 10% off every day for my military service. I do agree that a warranty is a warranty, and they should at least give you something comparable.
danski0224
Well-known member
I haven't had a Milwaukee tape measure last any longer than any other readily available brand.
I do like the plastic Milwaukee stick rule, though.
IndyGarage
Well-known member
Lifetime warranty does not mean that at all.
It means they will replace it for manufacturer defects. There is no manufacturer defects for a tape that lasts 2 years.
If Mcdonalds gives you a lifetime warranty on your big mac meal for $7 that lasts about 2 hours. Doesn't mean they give you a new one after the first one is eaten.
He used the tape up. No warranty.
lots of lawyers here at the GJ today. That's always fun.
If I can find the Kobalt tape measure I have lying around in a drawer somewhere, you can have it. They aren't very good tapes.
In the meantime I can recommend the one I go to when I want a magnet tip (since Komelon doesn't make the one I use anymore this is the runner up but still very good)
http://www.kleintools.com/catalog/tape-measures/16-double-hook-magnetic-tape-measure
If I can find the Kobalt tape measure I have lying around in a drawer somewhere, you can have it. They aren't very good tapes.
In the meantime I can recommend the one I go to when I want a magnet tip (since Komelon doesn't make the one I use anymore this is the runner up but still very good)
http://www.kleintools.com/catalog/tape-measures/16-double-hook-magnetic-tape-measure
rlitman
Well-known member
Ugh, those tapes ****. The plastic for the case is as brittle as those awful clear disposable cups. Many of the ones in the store are already broken, but the break is hidden by the rubber cover. I've had one where the belt clip fell off, and the damn thing exploded apart.
No, that is not what a lifetime warranty means. What you are implying is that they replace THAT tape with a new tape that no longer has a lifetime warranty. Except that one attribute of the original tape was that it HAD a lifetime warranty. So replacing THAT tape with anything that does not have the same lifetime warranty is NOT replacing THAT tape with something that is equivalent. It amounts to a revocation of the warranty upon its first use.
Let's remove the word lifetime from the equation and try again, because I think that is stumping you.
How about if you purchase a 5 year bumper-to-bumper warranty contract for your car. You take it in with a brake problem that is covered, but the replacement pads come with a 30 day warranty. Are you telling me that because the replacement pads were not part of the car when the paperwork was signed, that 31 days later, if your brakes fail again, but you're still well within the 5 year period, the repair company can now charge you for new pads. Of course not.
rlitman
Well-known member
You're knocking Kobalt tapes (made in China), and recommending equivalent products from Komelon and Klein. Kobalt did from what I can remember sell some cheap tapes, but the magnetic tip ones (I have a few), plus the auto-locking ones (I've got one), and their stainless ones (I have a few of these too) are as good as any of my Komelons. That's pretty good.
The HF freebie tapes ****, but I find that the ones they sell in the yellow cases are ok. The story here is that tape measures are made to order, to the quality specifications of that specific order. If the store orders cheap ****, then that's what they sell. If not, they can sell better stuff. Unfortunately, that quality seems to vary up and down as store purchasing agents come and go, so if you recommend one brand today because it is great, it may be **** tomorrow.
People complaining about the quality, of a free tape measure is just mind-boggling on so many levels, but that the world we have.
I never wear out any tape measure, because I misplace so many of them, I probably have a dozen somewhere, I just find one use it and then find another one to use later.
We have an obsession with lifetime warranties, it seems any more.
I never wear out any tape measure, because I misplace so many of them, I probably have a dozen somewhere, I just find one use it and then find another one to use later.
We have an obsession with lifetime warranties, it seems any more.
Dirtydan69
Well-known member
So Lowes blows because you can't get a tape measure warranted after using for two years? Really? Pry the wallet open, dust off the cob webs and buy a new one! Sheesh.
ssdave
Banned
It's the get something for nothing entitelement mentality that we see a lot anymore. People expect to pay the rock bottom price, and then have the item replaced at their whim for the rest of their lives, regardless of why it breaks.
Warranty was originally intended to cover latent defects in manufacturing; a manufacturer warranted that the item was free of defects. If you found defects in a set amount of time, they would replace it. That has morphed into lifetime replacement; if it wears out or you break it, you get a new one. Sears was mostly to blame for that with their Craftsman warranty. The Craftsman warranty mostly worked okay for a lot of years while people, in a sense of fairness, turned in things that really were defective for replacement. Then, people started turning them in because they welded on them or they let them rust or other things that were really their fault.
Companies early on found out that lifetime warranty was a good selling point, because most people would only turn them in if they were defective. Now, we see people wearing things out or breaking them and turning them in routinely, and companies are starting to limit their warranties again. Abuse of the warranty brings about correction. Or high prices to cover the warranty costs. Some companies, like Snap-on, build that cost into their products. But, they also use their dealer as a pinch point in the warranty process to limit abuse to those that buy enough to make it worthwhile to warranty frivolous breakage.
kythri
Well-known member
You're wrong. Time to move on.
yamaha0343
Well-known member
hell of a lot of posts for a $12 tape measure.
They're wear items, get a new one.
They're wear items, get a new one.
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LB-1911
ALLIANCE MEMBER
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