I have bought a lot of Craftsman tools, over a
lot of years. Indeed I still have many tools I bought there in 1973.
Occasionally I return something, and always get replacements. But most recently, I took back a 1/4" drive ratchet, which had been accidentally left in my friend's boat all winter. It had rusted up inside, and when my neighbor tried to force the lever to switch directions, it broke off. But the chrome held up well, and the ratchet looked perfect outside, except the lever. The neighbor offered to pay for my ratchet, but I told him it was no problem, Sears would replace it. I was going to the mall soon anyway, so I took it along. I remember thinking that it was a shame that an otherwise perfectly good ratchet would be discarded, due to rust inside...
Always in the past, a sales clerk would just hand me a new one, and send me cheerfully on my way
(However, I almost always ended up buying several more tools while I was there) 
.
However, this time a young man took a look at it and said,
"Well, no wonder it's not working. I can see rust inside it. I'll be back." Then he went into the warehouse. After about 10 minutes he came back, and showed me my rusty parts inside. He said,
"These things have to be oiled and taken care of. Let me see what my manager says I can do about it." Then he walked away. So I waited about 15 more minutes, and then he brought it out again, with all new parts inside. By coincidence, I had encountered some old friends in the tool department just then, and we were engaged in conversation when he returned. So he didn't approach me at that time. When my friends and I parted, I went and found that clerk, and asked him if everything was okay with my ratchet. He pointed to a little white plastic bag on the counter, without a word. I picked it up and found my little ratchet inside. It now had a "
Rebuilt" sticker on it. It now has a new reversing lever, and it works fine.
That was certainly a satisfactory warranty "replacement" for me, of course. And better yet, now I didn't have to feel guilty about wasting a perfectly good ratchet body. But this was
certainly a different experience than any other situations I have had at Sears.
The young clerk was clearly disgusted with my lack of good tool maintenance. I couldn't blame him, but I was surprised to see it plainly on his face, and hear it in his tone of voice. At other times
(or moods) I might have sought out a Sears manager, and suggested that the three of us should have a talk about customer service attitudes. But frankly, I was pretty disappointed myself this time.
The ratchet is a spare, and I didn't even realize that my neighbor had not returned it. At least that young clerk
(or someone in the warehouse) knew how to dismantle and reassemble a ratchet.
But I cannot help but wonder if this is a signal of a new era at Sears...
