So Matco is backordered on all ratchets

[finn]

I just called Matco for a schedule update on the ratchet I sent in for warranty on September 1.

New date is mid July.

They told me that the supplier is A. J. Manufacturing. I did a search and came up with a company in Elmhurst Illinois by that name that makes automotive specialty tools.. torque sticks and specialty sockets.

I wonder if they are doing the assembly only, or have they ever done complete ratchets.

Maybe she looked at the wrong screen????

 

[Know Wosad]

This is one of the very few times in my life I would declare a class action lawsuit to be appropriate.
Someone contact the big guys and BURY this P.O.S. outfit.
A professional mechanic waiting 1/2 a year for a warranty repair-replace on something that helps him eat ? Have we become that complacent ?
Begin at the bottom. Tell the driver(s) to GTF out when he pulls up to the shop. It starts there.

 

[3baygarage]

I just called Matco for a schedule update on the ratchet I sent in for warranty on September 1.

New date is mid July.

They told me that the supplier is A. J. Manufacturing. I did a search and came up with a company in Elmhurst Illinois by that name that makes automotive specialty tools.. torque sticks and specialty sockets.

I wonder if they are doing the assembly only, or have they ever done complete ratchets.

Maybe she looked at the wrong screen????

Another twist in the saga.

This is one of the very few times in my life I would declare a class action lawsuit to be appropriate.
Someone contact the big guys and BURY this P.O.S. outfit.
A professional mechanic waiting 1/2 a year for a warranty repair-replace on something that helps him eat ? Have we become that complacent ?
Begin at the bottom. Tell the driver(s) to GTF out when he pulls up to the shop. It starts there.

Seems like it's well out of the hands of the dealer.
I would be embarrassed as heck to roll up in the truck and say there aren't any Matco ratchets but I do have this Silver Eagle import ratchet, make do with that. How patient can the dealers possibly be too?

 

[finn]

I actually find it somewhat amusing.

I'm not losing any sleep over the delays and it's not taking food out of anyone's mouth.

Ratchets are a commodity, and readily available elsewhere.

I have backups. As does any real mechanic, and almost all hobbyists like me.

 

[Daniel_DePetro]

Where in the U.P. are you Finn?

Matco ratchets were the worst! I couldn't have sold mine fast enough. The selector switch hated changing directions....I may still have my 1/2" one actually.

 

[3baygarage]

I have a used Matco flex head. Have not opened it to clean it or inspect, but the drive square needs to be jiggled to flip the direction lever. Was this a design flaw for a while or still common with them? I saw a two year old thread where this was discussed and a few members all said the same about their ratchets.

No, I don't want to warranty it. LOL. It ratchets great.

 

[finn]

Keewenaw Peninsula, on Portage Lake.

The one I turned in for warranty had bad chrome.

I'm not a tool snob or a professional user, and I have many brands of ratchets, including probably a dozen S.O.

I like the 2 Matos I have, although I'm down to one until the warranty mess is resolved.

I can't say anything bad about the tool performance. I'd buy more if the need arises.

 

[Wamsutta]

It's getting to the point now where a Cornwell ratchet is easier to get than a Matco ratchet.

 

[Kev442]

Keewenaw Peninsula, on Portage Lake.

The one I turned in for warranty had bad chrome.

I'm not a tool snob or a professional user, and I have many brands of ratchets, including probably a dozen S.O.

I like the 2 Matos I have, although I'm down to one until the warranty mess is resolved.

I can't say anything bad about the tool performance. I'd buy more if the need arises.

Just a hop and a skip to the Gay bar.

 

[stage20]

I have a used Matco flex head. Have not opened it to clean it or inspect, but the drive square needs to be jiggled to flip the direction lever. Was this a design flaw for a while or still common with them? I saw a two year old thread where this was discussed and a few members all said the same about their ratchets.

No, I don't want to warranty it. LOL. It ratchets great.

I've got a long 88t flex head. You have to hold the socket to flip the lever. Pain in the *** but otherwise it's good ratchet. I use a dual 80 flex most of the time

 

[Daniel_DePetro]

Just a hop and a skip to the Gay bar.

Pretty sure they sell Matco ratchets...

 

[newchris]

I have a used Matco flex head. Have not opened it to clean it or inspect, but the drive square needs to be jiggled to flip the direction lever. Was this a design flaw for a while or still common with them? I saw a two year old thread where this was discussed and a few members all said the same about their ratchets.

No, I don't want to warranty it. LOL. It ratchets great.

there have always been hit or miss tolerance issues with apex. once the move happened they put out some poorly machined products to the point at which matco said to not send any product until they got their sh*t together. almost a year later they still hadnt given matco anything to sell so they switched to aj. to clarify something said earlier in the post when someone said "maybe apex didnt want matco..." matco, well danaher, owned apex... and matco was apex usa's biggest client so thats clearly not the case. Either way AJ is a good company that actually makes some tools for mac matco and snap on already.

 

[Holzarbeiter]

My Matco guy has Gearwrench on the shelf and is trying like heck to be real competitive with online prices, its killing him. He won't say it but I can tell by the look on his face every time I ask about the ratchets I had ordered months ago.
Not many techs going on the truck and now some talk about a different tool box line coming?

 

[warmpancakes]

Matco has moved date to end of July, and have added a second supplier, im gonna guess rebadged gearwrench or other off shore supplier

 

[Wamsutta]

Not many techs going on the truck and now some talk about a different tool box line coming?

That's the only thing they got going for them is their tool boxes.

 

[zeroj8]

So there was a box on my porch this evening when I got home from work, and couldn't remember ordering anything this week... Low and behold, matco ratchet!

 

[LB-1911]

So there was a box on my porch this evening when I got home from work, and couldn't remember ordering anything this week... Low and behold, matco ratchet!

That was quick.

I e-mailed Matco customer service in January and they said it should be about a 5 day turn around for my replacement ratchet.

I sent it in on 1/18/2016 and after about 2 weeks I e-mailed them again and they said they were on backorder and would ship 2/29/2016.

So I waited until after March 5th to e-mail again. Last update I received is that it should ship 4/29/2016.

I won't be holding my breath.

 

[zeroj8]

That was quick.

Yeah, just 12 days shy of 6 complete months.

 

[TheGrooveking]

Did you check to make sure they sent you a new ratchet? And not your old one?

TheGrooveking

 

[TheGrooveking]

Just a hop and a skip to the Gay bar.

I know you arw talking about the bar in the town of Gay in the upper penisula of Michigan. I've been there a few times, the walls and ceiling were covered in dollar bills, I heard the place burned down a few years ago.

Use to stop there after we would go shooting( some high powered target practice on one of the guys 600 acres). We stopped going because we found out about the Chassell Gun club, which was close since we would stay in Chassell for our annual fishing trip for walleyes and small mouth.

TheGrooveking

 

[Wamsutta]

So there was a box on my porch this evening when I got home from work, and couldn't remember ordering anything this week... Low and behold, matco ratchet!

Finally a happy ending to this thread!

 

[warmpancakes]

somewhat I still dont have 2 of my 3 back the first one I was issued a refund, the other 2 are 7months since returned to them

 

[warmpancakes]

only flex head ratchets are shipping, non flex are still 1-1.5 months out

 

[warmpancakes]

well 1 year and 25 days later I have a ratchet, but its the wrong ratchet, i sent in a orange flex head and got back a all chrome locking flex

 

[Schurkey]

well 1 year and 25 days later I have a ratchet, but its the wrong ratchet, i sent in a orange flex head and got back a all chrome locking flex

Well, how can they be expected to keep track of all that stuff after 13 months? You're just being unreasonable.










I'd have wrapped the ratchet around the dealer like a necktie. I'd be in prison right now if I were you.

 

[Dr. Jekyll]

Well, how can they be expected to keep track of all that stuff after 13 months? You're just being unreasonable.


I'd have wrapped the ratchet around the dealer like a necktie. I'd be in prison right now if I were you.

 

[53chevy5]

Bought a new Matco 1/2 flex about a month ago and and I broke a tooth in it 3 days ago and my truck guy stopped in today and put a new kit in. Hopefully this is the end of the shortage of Matco ratchets and hopefully this is not the normal for my new ratchet. I wasn't even abusing it when it broke but I have had SO and Cornwell break on the first try before also. I am just guessing I got a bad one. I don't expect this to be the normal and still love the ratchet so far.

 

[ihateminimumwage]

Bought a new Matco 1/2 flex about a month ago and and I broke a tooth in it 3 days ago and my truck guy stopped in today and put a new kit in. Hopefully this is the end of the shortage of Matco ratchets and hopefully this is not the normal for my new ratchet. I wasn't even abusing it when it broke but I have had SO and Cornwell break on the first try before also. I am just guessing I got a bad one. I don't expect this to be the normal and still love the ratchet so far.

I think you may be a little rough on your ratchets!

 

[Fedwrench]

Bought a new Matco 1/2 flex about a month ago and and I broke a tooth in it 3 days ago and my truck guy stopped in today and put a new kit in. Hopefully this is the end of the shortage of Matco ratchets and hopefully this is not the normal for my new ratchet. I wasn't even abusing it when it broke but I have had SO and Cornwell break on the first try before also. I am just guessing I got a bad one. I don't expect this to be the normal and still love the ratchet so far.

Might want to try a breaker bar

 

[53chevy5]

Might want to try a breaker bar

I hope not, my EZ red did just fine. Really I was doing a angle torque on a rod brg and it broke loose, the end torque was only 150 ft lbs ish. The funny thing is that it broke when the SO truck was there, I didn't say anything

I should clarify the first breaks on the SO was a detent ball on a ratchet and the Cornwell was a screw driver.

 

[3TV]

This is getting ridiculous. It seems like practically everything from Matco is on back order these days. I've been ordering tools to complete my tool set over the past few weeks. My last order from Matco had 9 out of 14 items placed on back order. How can a tool company not have tools to sell? Isn't that their business? Come on Matco, get with the program.

 

[Schurkey]

All things are possible when there's enough greed and incompetence, coupled to bad weather.

 

[finn]

I called Matcco CS yesterday to once again check the status of the 3/8" ratchet I sent in on September 1, 2015.

Good news is that they still have my file and I'm near the head of the queue.

The bad news is that flex and soft handle flex will be the first ratchets shipped from the new supplier, at the end of September, but the fixed handles like mine will be in October.

I'm not holding my breath.

The rep. said their former supplier, Apex, really made a mess

That's an understatement.

 

[Skin]

Pretty sure Bain Capital is actually to blame trying to drop overhead and consolidate manufacturing into 1 plant while closing existing manufacturing before the move was even done and then there was the flood-hence why redundancy in manufacturing is a good thing.

Hope it cost them a few tens of millions.

 

[finn]

Pretty sure Bain Capital is actually to blame trying to drop overhead and consolidate manufacturing into 1 plant while closing existing manufacturing before the move was even done and then there was the flood-hence why redundancy in manufacturing is a good thing.

Hope it cost them a few tens of millions.

AJ Manufacturing is the new supplier.

 

[B_Bimmer]

Does anyone know if the new one will be a carbon copy of the old. If so how does that work since I would think Armstrong would own the rights to the mechanism. Then again there had to be some breach of contract somewhere in there. If not what'll it be?

 

[btdobie]

It's possible that Matco owns the rights to the mechanism and was having it pprodced by APEX under contract.

 

[Skin]

Does anyone know if the new one will be a carbon copy of the old. If so how does that work since I would think Armstrong would own the rights to the mechanism. Then again there had to be some breach of contract somewhere in there. If not what'll it be?

Will be? They are, people have already gotten replacements from the new manufacturer.

Licensed or they share IP rights since this was developed when they were all under Danaher.

 

[53chevy5]

Here is a pic

here is my new one from A J manufacturing

 

[Loscaldazar]

Matco and Apex are in bed together, so it probably wasn't that hard for them to produce it under a different machine shop. I don't know that I'd describe anything apex makes for matco as "contracted out."


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