Thanks, Sears/Craftsman!

[BrokewrenchLS1]

Little morning rant. Needed a set of deep-offset metric box-end wrenches to do the shocks in my car. Looked around some, and it seemed like I could either get the cheapies from Auto Zone, some Craftsman Pro ones for a reasonable price, or spend a lot more and get a set of Armstrongs. Figured since I won't use them much (shock nuts are about the only time I've needed them), I might as well go with the Craftsman ones, since they're US-made and have a decent size selection.

Order the set from Sears last Friday morning, expected delivery date Monday or Tuesday this week. Monday morning, I get the UPS confirmation that a label has been printed and they're still waiting for the box to actually show up. Wednesday night at 7pm, still not entered in their system, so I email Sears and ask what's up. No response to that email, but at 8:15pm the same night, my wrenches - magically - show up at UPS for delivery Thursday. Come in yesterday, I check them out; course, I wind up with two 20x22mm instead of a 20x22 and a 21x23mm. So I email again and pointedly ask if I can send the single duplicate wrench back in exchange for the correct one (it's an online-only set, and the local Sears just closed up). I get a canned response, completely ignoring my question, saying I'll get a UPS shipping label within two days, and i can return the entire set "for credit" - whether Sears credit towards another order, or an actual monetary return from my payment account, it doesn't say.

Now, I'm stuck with an extra wrench I don't need, don't have a size I do need, and no recompense except for picking up a ****** Chinese single at Auto Zone (if they even have it). Between this circus act, the local store closing, and not a few warranty run-arounds for broken Craftsman stuff here at work, next tool I buy will be Wright, Armstrong, Snap-On, Matco, whatever. Sears can go sit on a splintered broomstick.

/morning rant

 

[DodgeZ]

I bought a set of their pro wrenches which was online only. It came with an extra 15/16.

I ordered a premium 3/8 drive ratchet and went to pick up 30minutes later. I started getting emails about my ratchet being ready to pick up. This went on for awhile and then I stopped getting emails. I figured they knew I actually already picked it up. I ordered the premium 1/4 because my friend was passing by and agreed to pick it up, she was on the way to my house. The Sear is 45 minutes away so unless I am close or someone I know is passing by I don't do the in store pick up. She gets to my house and hands me the bag, I was like wow this is heavy. I look in the bag and there is a 1/4 and a 3/8 in there, guess they didn't figure it out.

I ordered some stuff off of mygofer.com, which is a sear company site, when they were having some killer coupons (better then sears.com). I ordered a craftsman pro pick set, craftsman pro prybars and the gearwrench roto 1/4&3/8 ratchets (only 25 bucks! retail of 70). I get the box and UPS had to note it was tore up and what was in the box still. No gearwrenches! So I call in expecting problems.... A nice American lady picks up the phone with in a minute of calling. She wants me to return everything and then they'll resend the order. I tell her I got most of the order and it isn't damaged, I am just missing the ratchets. So she refunds the ratchets and has me buy them again. Then she takes that new order and discounts it to the sale price and free shipping. I got my ratchets with in the week. I was shocked how easy it was to deal with the lady and the problem.

People ***** and say they'll never go back to Sear. Well, I guess there is always Harbor Freight but don't be upset when "everything is being made in China".

 

[LawnDart79]

I check them out; course, I wind up with two 20x22mm instead of a 20x22 and a 21x23mm. So I email again and pointedly ask if I can send the single duplicate wrench back in exchange for the correct one (it's an online-only set, and the local Sears just closed up). I get a canned response, completely ignoring my question, saying I'll get a UPS shipping label within two days, and i can return the entire set "for credit" - whether Sears credit towards another order, or an actual monetary return from my payment account, it doesn't say.

I had the exact same thing happen a month or so ago...exact same wrenches, sizes, etc.

What you need to do is call the number on the inventory sheet that came with the wrenches and tell them what happened. They will send you out a replacement ASAP.

Don't waste time with e-mail...use the phone and talk to a real person.

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

I had the exact same thing happen a month or so ago...exact same wrenches, sizes, etc.

What you need to do is call the number on the inventory sheet that came with the wrenches and tell them what happened. They will send you out a replacement ASAP.

Don't waste time with e-mail...use the phone and talk to a real person.

Thanks, I'll give that a shot. I'll have to check the smaller box the wrenches came in...the only paperwork I saw was the invoice from Sears, but I'll look again when I get home.

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

I bought a set of their pro wrenches which was online only. It came with an extra 15/16.

I ordered a premium 3/8 drive ratchet and went to pick up 30minutes later. I started getting emails about my ratchet being ready to pick up. This went on for awhile and then I stopped getting emails. I figured they knew I actually already picked it up. I ordered the premium 1/4 because my friend was passing by and agreed to pick it up, she was on the way to my house. The Sear is 45 minutes away so unless I am close or someone I know is passing by I don't do the in store pick up. She gets to my house and hands me the bag, I was like wow this is heavy. I look in the bag and there is a 1/4 and a 3/8 in there, guess they didn't figure it out.

I ordered some stuff off of mygofer.com, which is a sear company site, when they were having some killer coupons (better then sears.com). I ordered a craftsman pro pick set, craftsman pro prybars and the gearwrench roto 1/4&3/8 ratchets (only 25 bucks! retail of 70). I get the box and UPS had to note it was tore up and what was in the box still. No gearwrenches! So I call in expecting problems.... A nice American lady picks up the phone with in a minute of calling. She wants me to return everything and then they'll resend the order. I tell her I got most of the order and it isn't damaged, I am just missing the ratchets. So she refunds the ratchets and has me buy them again. Then she takes that new order and discounts it to the sale price and free shipping. I got my ratchets with in the week. I was shocked how easy it was to deal with the lady and the problem.

People ***** and say they'll never go back to Sear. Well, I guess there is always Harbor Freight but don't be upset when "everything is being made in China".

No HF nearby, and I'd only go there for throw-away stuff, anyway. I really can't go back to Sears physically, as the one in town closed up, and the next closest is about 45 minutes away. I'd sooner order tools from Amazon than Sears online...never once had a problem with Amazon, and they ship fast (and without being prodded to actually stick the stuff in the mail).

Just sort of annoying that the project I ordered the wrenches for is put off another two weeks because of their screw-up.

 

[soob]

I ordered something online with Sears and went to pick it up at the store in the local ghetto.

There was a line. They had one geriatric working in the pickup area and he completely ignored me when he stepped out from behind the closed doors for a moment. I tried to use the barcode scanner on their computer. It didn't work. I entered my information manually. It didn't work. I put in a service request. They had a sign saying that 97% of people were dealt with in 5 minutes. Ok, I thought, that's how I was supposed to do it. Punch it into a computer and my name comes up on a list on a tv screen in front of the door.

So around 4 minutes and 50 seconds I got served! Or at least they marked my name as served and continued to ignore me.

After about 20 minutes someone who seemed to know what he was doing came in -- not from the pickup area, but from the other direction. I tugged on his shirt and said we'd been waiting in line. He took my printout and gave me my item about 10 minutes later.

Oh, yeah, and the thing I got turned out to be made in China.

 

[05CarbonDRZ]

Yet another thread about Craftsman going down the tubes.

 

[billymade]

Welcome to Sears; welcom to hell! This is just classic; typical fumbling and "normal" service that they just can't seem to get the system to work right... ask me how I know... NO, never mind don't ask! LOL!

I think there are people who work @ Sears and try to do their best; unfortunately, the infrastructure and the Sears dysfunctional "system" works against them... ***sigh***

Sorry to hear about your experience; unfortunately you are not alone and the experience you are relating is not atypical when dealing with them... as mentioned before; get a human you can talk to involved or look elsewhere for better customer service. Contrary to popular belief; there are other brands and better stores then Sears, Harbor Freight!

 

[diesel research]

People ***** and say they'll never go back to Sear. Well, I guess there is always Harbor Freight but don't be upset when "everything is being made in China".

Orrrrr....proto, armstrong, snap on, mac, matco, cornwell, sk, wright, lisle, vim, and many other USA mfgs.

Can walk in and directly purchase at least half of the mentioned brands.

 

[SearsCares]

To BrokewrenchLS1,

I'm very sorry that your online order became so convoluted. We do appreciate your business with Sears and would like to help you resolve this issue. My name is James and I am part of the Social Media Support Escalations team at Sears. At your convenience, please contact our office at [email protected]. Please send us an email providing a contact phone number and the phone number the online order was made under (if different than the contact phone number) and we will call you directly. Also, in your email please provide the screen name (BrokewrenchLS1) for reference to your issue and we do look forward to talking to you soon.

Thank you,
James H.
Social Media Moderator
Sears Social Media Support

 

[Coach James]

I went into our local Sears franchise store looking for two ball peen hammers as I refuse to buy the Bostich ones at Lowes. The Sears store didn't have any but the manager said they could order them and have them sent to my house for no shipping. She looked them up online then showed me that the hammer set,

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00938074000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=G1

was on sale and she would give me another discount if I wanted to get it instead. I said sure so she typed all of it into the computer for me so I wouldn't screw it up.

Got the hammers in Monday afternoon. They were packed tightly inside a box which was inside a bigger box surrounded by packing peanuts.

No complaints from me.

Coach

 

[muskaman67]

i just went to sears today to buy the same offset wrenches. but i noticed that online it was 12 dollars cheaper then in store. so i ordered online. But i noticed that the product i ordered had 2 different COO's of the same product. one usa made and the other of course china made. I went over to the lady at the front and told her i just ordered a product online and had her let me pick out the product from the shelf i wanted to make sure it was usa made and not from china and have her set it aside for me. Now i have to wait to get the email to do a pick up.

 

[LawnDart79]

This is the USA deep offset wrench set.

http://www.craftsman.com/shc/s/p_10...al+deep+offset&prdNo=2&blockNo=2&blockType=L2

I ordered it online a couple months ago and was very happy. I did have the same issue as the OP, but when I called the 800 number printed on the inventory list, the guy on the other end of the phone made it right. I got my replacement wrench within a week.

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

I called the number on the product sheet that came with the wrenches yesterday, and went straight through to Apex (not Sears). Spent two minutes on the phone with them (not outsourced phone support, at that) and the missing wrench is in the mail, on its way to me. No hassle, no games, just asked for the stock number for the wrench set, the stock number for the missing wrench I needed, and my address.

 

[W650Mike]

It's pretty cool that someone from Sears joins us here at GJ.com!

Knock on wood – but I’m still having decent luck with the tool department at Sears in Abilene. The staff has been helpful, efficient, and at least as knowledgeable as one can expect. The big plus is that I’m still finding enough US made stuff (including deep offset box sets) to keep my business. Now about those pesky little hook locks…

Times may change, but I haven’t written Sears off just yet. And a bad experience can (and eventually will) happen just about everywhere.

 

[LawnDart79]

I called the number on the product sheet that came with the wrenches yesterday, and went straight through to Apex (not Sears). Spent two minutes on the phone with them (not outsourced phone support, at that) and the missing wrench is in the mail, on its way to me. No hassle, no games, just asked for the stock number for the wrench set, the stock number for the missing wrench I needed, and my address.

Yep, same experience I had. I'm glad things worked out for you.

 

[BigAl62]

It's good to hear positive experiences about tool sellers (Sears, Snap On, etc) and that a Sears rep actually posted to help. Most people only post bad experiences and it gets depressing, like NOBODY gives a **** anymore. I think most companies try to help, but all you ever hear about is the times they don't or can't. Keep posting positive experiences and hopefully companies will take notice and try harder to help.

 

[volpster31]

sounds like you got it taken care of..i order everything from sears with in store pick-up and have never had a problem.... think of it this way,if you werent a g.j member youd probobally still be on hold waiting to explain your problem to a guatemalan operator

 

[Swan]

Weird, same thing happened to me this week. Ordered a 12 piece full polish deep offset metric and SAE set and ended up with two 20 x 22mm wrenches and NO 21 x 23 mm wrench. I called the number on the packing slip and they said they would send the missing wrench ASAP. I did not need to return my wrench set. I also ordered a replacement Craftsman 7/16 deep socket and 1/2 combination wrench that walked out of my toolbox. They were not shipped with my wrench set so I called Sears customer service and through a series of e-mails I was told I must wait 8 business days until they ship the replacements. WTF ?, I paid for them and they neglected to ship them to me in my original order, so send me my tools ASAP.

I have been happy with my original Craftsman socket and wrench sets purchased 15 years ago, but the service in my local Sears retail store is so bad I will not shop there. I thought buying online would easier but was wrong. I want to buy American or British made tools and will pay more to do so, but come on, I expect simple customer service while doing so.

 

[Sodder]

Same thing happened to me. But they want me to send back all the wrenches tomorrow with the UPS man.

Hopefully this one will have the 21X23 mm in it.

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

Same thing happened to me. But they want me to send back all the wrenches tomorrow with the UPS man.

Hopefully this one will have the 21X23 mm in it.

Is that via Sears or Apex? Sears told me to ship the entire set back; I laughed and deleted the email. Called the number on the wrench item list, talked to Apex, and was off the phone in less than 5 minutes, with a new wrench sent out the next morning without having to return anything.

 

[Swan]

Well, I called Apex on Monday morning and my missing 21 x 23mm offset wrench arrived today (Friday). All good, but as for the missing items from my original order, Sears refunded me through Paypal today. I found my missing 7/16 deep socket but still cannot find my 1/2 combination wrench.

 

[MOJoWales]

I ordered the CM offset Pro 12 piece set early August and had the same 20/22 mm duplicate and no 21/23 mm. Went into the local Sears today to swap out the extra for the missing one as well as swap 4 sockets that had bad chrome from a 299 piece set I am just getting ready to put in service. I ended up waiting about ten minutes while a surprisingly helpful young lady called various Sears support lines finally getting a confirmation number that the wrench and one socket were being shipped to my house. Now the really weird thing is that an older salesman whom I have bought from before got a bit flustered early in the return process and tried to get me to accept that "if those sockets came in a set then you need to bring the whole set in to get it replaced". I am finding it harder and harder to justify doing business with Sears and with the Craftsman lineup in general.

MOJoWales

 

[losabio]

Would any GJ folks be able to verify whether the 21/22mm wrenches in this CMan Pro set will fit the top strut nut on an A4 VW Golf/Jetta (it's down in a little pocket)? I'd like to add the 12 pc offset kit to the tool box, if I'll be able to use them for that particular task.

 

[pipsters]

Would any GJ folks be able to verify whether the 21/22mm wrenches in this CMan Pro set will fit the top strut nut on an A4 VW Golf/Jetta (it's down in a little pocket)? I'd like to add the 12 pc offset kit to the tool box, if I'll be able to use them for that particular task.

I have a '98 MkIII Jetta VR6 and it won't fit. It's a 22. Can't help with the MkIV, sorry. Not sure if they are the same or not.

 

[woody 73]

In all fair response to the op I have dealt with snap-on only a few times in my life by placing a phone order. If you think Sears is bad , on my first order with snap- on they sent me all the wrong items; ok so a few years go by and I gave it another shot and instead of getting the wrench they sent me a pair of bolt cutters.

I realize you are having problems but it happens to everyone over time!

 

[ClickClickBoom]

It seems like the regular sears customer support staff is not intelligent enough to solve problems, and is not empowered to resolve issues either. They only have canned responses, and they are often not satisfactory. The couple of times that I have contacted them I have been more frustrated than when I started.

So, what I do now is email them, and see if they can help. That way their response is documented, then, once I get back the unhelpful information I send another email to: [email protected]

This is their executive support team. They have always been very professional, empowered to solve the problem, and I have been happy every time. I would guess that the service provided by the sears guy in this thread would be the same.

 

[BrokewrenchLS1]

Would any GJ folks be able to verify whether the 21/22mm wrenches in this CMan Pro set will fit the top strut nut on an A4 VW Golf/Jetta (it's down in a little pocket)? I'd like to add the 12 pc offset kit to the tool box, if I'll be able to use them for that particular task.

I know mine wouldn't work in my brother's '98 Jetta. Not sure why VW thought putting a strut pocket that deep on a car was a good idea...probably to make sure everyone bought the VW-specific tool for it, I guess.

 

[posaune]

Would any GJ folks be able to verify whether the 21/22mm wrenches in this CMan Pro set will fit the top strut nut on an A4 VW Golf/Jetta (it's down in a little pocket)? I'd like to add the 12 pc offset kit to the tool box, if I'll be able to use them for that particular task.

I have a '98 MkIII Jetta VR6 and it won't fit. It's a 22. Can't help with the MkIV, sorry. Not sure if they are the same or not.

I know mine wouldn't work in my brother's '98 Jetta. Not sure why VW thought putting a strut pocket that deep on a car was a good idea...probably to make sure everyone bought the VW-specific tool for it, I guess.

I seem to remember people using the Stahlwille wrenches for that. Toptul has a reasonable priced 75deg set too that should work for around half the cost.

Iirc, last time I did it (I have a '97 Jetta VR6) I used an impact to get them off and a cutout socket to put them on.

 

[Sodder]

Is that via Sears or Apex? Sears told me to ship the entire set back; I laughed and deleted the email. Called the number on the wrench item list, talked to Apex, and was off the phone in less than 5 minutes, with a new wrench sent out the next morning without having to return anything.

Sorry for the delay. It was via Sears.

It was quite a scam they worked up. The UPS man didn't show up when they said he would (no big deal).

BUT, when he did show up I wasn't home so I had no way of giving him the set to return. Within the day Sears had charged my account for a second wrench set since the return was not on the truck with him when he left my house.

I was not a happy man. Oh well. The set with the 2 20mm went into my tool cart at the house.

 

[losabio]

Thanks pipsters, LS1, and posaune for the feedback on the VW struts. I may wind up picking up this CMan Pro offset kit anyways and just supplement it with a tool from Metalnerds. It would still be cheaper than the Stahwille set, which lacks the 21mm for my particular Golf (just checked it with a 21mm socket).