They do stand by them by all accounts, but one wonders for how much longer. If you buy rusty wrenches at an estate sale for $1/each and say you want all new ones, having never been a Snap on customer, should they honor that?
Also, their warranty talks about material and workmanship defects, not normal wear, yet they replace worn stuff all the time.
I think my neighbors and probably yours abused the craftsman warranty. Some I know exchanged things like ratchets or garden hose nozzles every year. They believed that was their right under the policy, which if I recall correctly, said very little. I recall buying a craftsman lawn mower in like new condition, but second hand, from Sears. The salesman told me they called it “Sears rent a center”. People would buy a mower, mow their lawn all summer, then return it in Fall and want their money back, which Sears would honor.
Point is, our entitled culture abuses warrantees. I personally feel a little better knowing any potential warranty I might need is properly covered within the terms. I don’t need a “favor” from Snap on customer service.
Stuff like ratchets can be restored with a cheap and (usually) readily available rebuild kit. So those I buy second hand. Screwdrivers can also be repaired, but also aren’t that expensive to buy new, so I bought my instincts second hand. So fundamentally, the stuff you want to buy new are things that are prone to damage, expensive, and unrepairable.
Snap on digital torque wrenches are a weird exception. I think they have 3yr warrantees, and after that there is a calibration fee (around $100) that covers all repairs. In that case, why would anyone buy these new? Their power tools may be like that too, with limited warrantees.
I have to confess, as a child, I was guilty of abusing the Craftsman warranty. I went to garage sales, flea markets, swap meets, and all other sources of $0.25 screwdrivers and $2.00 ratchets. This is how I originally built out a fantastic tool set that a grown man would have been proud of. I am not proud of it as I look back, but that was the reality of it at that time. Given that, I can't ***** about too many warranties with a straight face these days. I am partly to blame for the current state of many warranties.
That being said, when I was a child, my dad bought a bunch of Snap-on tools from a Snap-on dealer that serviced his shop and passed odds and ends from his Craftsman stuff on to me. Years after retiring, he took a job in a machine shop that was serviced by a different Snap-on dealer. He had a 3/8"-1/2" adapter that he had broken and gave it to the Snap-on dealer for replacement. The dealer did not have the tool on the truck. Week after week, he inquired into the status of his replacement. Week after week the dealer blew him off. After a few months, my dad finally pulled a piece of paper from his pocket and explained to the dealer that he wanted to buy all of the items on the list, but that he wouldn't until the dealer replaced the adapter. The dealer immediately recalled that he might have "overlooked" having the adapter on the truck and replaced it on the spot. That is when I first saw the warranty going to hell. Perhaps it was a bad dealer, but it is a shame when a man has trouble warrantying tools he rightfully purchased because the newest route holder didn't have a lengthy purchase history established with him. The lengthy relationship was initiated 15-20 years earlier between my dad and his then-present Snap-on man - that is the relationship that needed to be heeded by the new guy.
Now that my dad is gone, I have inherited his Snap-on tools and cherish them dearly. I can appreciate Snap-on becoming protective of its warranty process, especially in light of folks who pull the same stunt I did as a child. That said, for many of us, if not all of us on this forum, tools are often a family heirloom, and many tools command a price that makes them worthy of being a family heirloom. My dad paid a significant premium to have the quality of Snap-on at the time he purchased it. Baked into that price was the cost of warranty replacement. It is my personal belief that there needs to be a happy middle ground between a warranty free-for-all like Sears used to be, and some acknowledgement that the product you make is worthy of being passed on to future generations and that, just by virtue of that status, the company should honor the warranty with respect to subsequent owners of that tool that was handed down.
Admittedly, I don't know how this could be policed. Nevertheless, I think it is a model to aspire to. I own Snap-on tools that I bought new off the truck and some that I purchased secondhand. Many of my Snap-on tools were previously my dad's, and others previously belonged to mentors who were like a dad to me. I respect both for the meaning they hold and the connection I feel to those men when I am blessed enough to have the opportunity to use those tools in their honor. Maybe that's enough, but I wish that Snap-on understood that feeling in standing behind their tools and realized the significant goodwill that that could engender in future generations' tool purchase decisions.
It is a tough spot for tool companies to be in, but one that provides an opportunity to rise to the occasion or to take a more bean-counter-driven way out. I don't know what the best answer is for these companies, but I know I wish I was confident that they would stand behind their tools to help keep that connection alive.
Just my $0.035 (inflation)...
