I don't think you'll have to do something that drastic, but I understand fully where you are coming from.
Having a good dealer is the key in this.
I think snap on is making a mistake here. It's unrealistic to expect someone to keep a receipt intact for more than a few years. The ink fades. Yea I guess one could scan them into a computer, but really--c'mon
If they continue this in mass they will turn away customers. The tool business is just way to competitive for this to be a good business model
The one and only time I've had "trouble" (I hesitate to call it that, because they did take care of me) with warranty, was for a wrench from a set I'd bought quite a few years back before I moved, from a dealer in a different area.
The lady on the phone asked me for the receipt, and I told her that I didn't have it and it was purchased from a dealer I was no longer in contact with.
She asked for his name/location, looked him up just to confirm real quick, and I had a new wrench in the mail a few days later. I'm not wrenching any more for a living, but I was lucky enough to find an absolutely superb dealer that lives only a couple blocks from my new house, and he has been taking great care of me since then.
I may be totally incorrect here, but I'd like to think that anyone who has legitimately paid full price for a tool, should be able to get it warrantied w/o reciept if they explain to the CSR who they purchased it from, where, and when.
If not, you can always call back and get a nicer rep. That's worked for me before.
Before I found my current (awesome) dealer, if it was a yard sale tool and it broke, I just wrote it off and bought another one. I knew what I was signing on for when I purchased the tool second hand, and didn't try to skirt the system by hoping for a CSR that would ignore the rules. I'm not saying anyone else is "bad" for doing that, just that I choose not to.
Now, if one of my second-hand tools breaks, I take it to my dealer and let him know that I purchased the tool used, and ask him if he is willing to warranty it. Most of the time he does as a courtesy, since I am a good customer and have developed a relationship with him.
I think that they're just trying harder than in the past to weed out the yard sale scanners, which I can't really fault them for.
This is in part contributes to the problem. 2nd hand purchases are not covered.
Anything that I ever have tried to warranty is stuff I have bought new or given as to me as a new gift. I don't feel right buying broken stuff 2nd hand and expecting to get new stuff in exchange.
Good dealers will usually cover this stuff as I'm sure they don't want to piss off customers. Customers who get pissed quite often don't come back.
I'm not sure what a good solution to this is, but alienating good paying customers is not a good idea. I went for years without buying snappy stuff because of warranty issues until I found a good dealer. Spent my money elsewhere during this time
I read this after replying to your earlier post. I feel pretty much the same way.
I stopped buying for a while as well, somewhat for the same reason.
These days, I usually just pony up the cash and buy new if it is a tool that I use often. I find it incredibly unlikely that I will ever have any issues with warranty on any of these tools, considering they now store all purchases in a database.
My dealer gives me printed sheets from a laser printer each time I'm on the truck, I scan them and send them to my main drive plus my backup, and also archive them as hard copies, as I do with many of my other reciepts.
It's a bit of work, but I don't mind it (I'm kind of a record-keeping nut), and it has benefits beyond just warranty purposes.
