This has GOT to be a scam....

[zuk123]

Hmm, I could see it as a way to harvest email and numbers but you aren't going to get very many to make it worth all the trouble.

I replied to one that was pretty close to being right, and now I'm getting **** in my inbox. I use a special address for selling stuff, so it's not a big deal, but I'd rather not get it at all.

I do list my phone number in CL ads, mainly to get texts from buyers. I have been getting much better responses doing that. Txt seems to be the preferred method of communication for some people. (I do obscure my number to make automated harvesting harder, mixing words and numbers and messing with punctuation and spacing.) For a while I was using a throw away Vonage number, but I never got calls or junk on it, so I dropped it. I get much more junk on the number I listed on my DBA application as that becomes public record. I leave the fax on that line, set to auto answer.


zuk

 

[klean63]

The HF toolboxes are worth exactly what you pay for them and are priced accordingly and priced correctly.

Mac/Matco/Snapon etc boxes too are worth exactly what you pay for them and are priced accordingly and priced correctly.

These prices take into account a variety of issues including most importantly quality.

Any opinions touting HF quality vs a professional box is just your personal opinion and doesn't mean squat, all this represents is your justification for your purchase.

Likewise any opinions denegrating HF boxes again is your opinion based on your reasons for what professional or other type of box you bought and doesn't mean squat either.

HF boxes aren't worth the list price HF has, and it's debatable if their sale price is their true value - it would be somewhere between their sale price listed on their website and their coupons they issue. You are not getting a "bargain", that is their fair market value, otherwise, THEY WOULD RAISE THE PRICE.

Likewise, the same holds true for a professional box. The list price is not the true price but the average of the discounted prices.


Both sets of boxes are priced to market forces based on the value and quality the market says they are worth and are willing to shell out benjamins for - if the pricing is wrong, the pricing will change (up or down).

Any statement that says "value for money" the HF box is better is ********. That may be your perception. The box is worth exactly what you paid for it. If you are happy with your purchase and the application you are using it for - good for you, enjoy your box - but STFU on trying to put it in the same league of a professional box - it's NOT.

Just my opinion but, you nailed it with "application".

I had a Snap-On KR1000 back in the 90's when I was working at a dealership, and I currently have 2 of the 44" HF boxes in my garage.

The SO box was extremely well built and meant for every day use, the HF box is well built for home use. If i'm opening and closing drawers 100's of times per day I'll take the SO any day of the week, for the relative light duty home use I'll take the HF box and spend the money I saved on quality tools.

I appoligize for contributing to the thread hi-jack.

 

[lennoxlennox]

I hope you weren't refering to my post there lennoxlennox cuz I wasn't putting them in the same league at all.

it wasn't directed at you... just a generic rant at the same old theme

I appoligize for contributing to the thread hi-jack.

lol... i hesitated to post for the same reason, i.e. hijacking the OP's post.

yup... application is the key... HF boxes and Professional boxes are all well suited to the right place.

 

[cheechi]

Re:

It's funny I've worked at a couple shops in my day and I never see pro techs with HF boxes EVER.

The factory casters are NOT used.
...
A couple of guys have even painted theirs, one being white, several black, and one in fluorescent green.
...
Daily use in and out of drawers, these things have held up real well. Getting pushed around the plant though, can't say since that variable has been removed.

From what I have read from other posters, HF actually has a pretty good customer service for parts.

I am not a mechanic, but I am often in and out of shops from the city bus depot to police motorpools to regular old repair shops. I don't go to dealerships that often, so please assume every dealership in my area must use MAC/SO boxes. I have seen several shops in the area both where I was a visitor or working, and nearly everyone in all the shops have removed their badges from their boxes. There are several guys who have painted their boxes, either in part or whole. It's also common to paint parts of their wrenches and sockets so whatever thieves happen to be thieving had harder work to do.

I am sure it is sacrilege to even think of green spray paint on the tips of your SO wrenches, sockets, handles, etc, and pulling the badge off your $8 million SO box so that nobody steals it just because it says SO with SO wrenches in it. The same shops have guys who pull off the HF badges on their boxes, spray paint their tools same way, and there are a good amount of guys with CM, HF, Kobalt, and probably a few other brands all using HF boxes. For every one guy proud of his box's brand, you have 3 with no reason to want to display it.

I'm sure there are plenty of other boxes out there, in professional environments. My area is kind of halfway between big city & small towns, I don't know if that is representative of anything special, but HF boxes are out there in the shop. I recognize some boxes on sight from my own shopping, some I ask about, and you would love to know how many guys will tell you their boxes are almost any other brand than CM.

I talk to the guys a lot, learn a bunch of things from guys doing it at the pro level that make things easier for me in my own garage. It's a great opportunity I get and I take full advantage of it, sometimes to the point I affect productivity. The casters are the only thing I still hear complaints about, since they stopped doing the old paint job. Some guys don't like the mismatched boxes they have, and the old paint job/finish shows through real easily even on darker paints.

Except for the casters, you can pretty much get anything that needs to be replaced if you're patient. The guys in the stores don't have any spares obviously but through their site or on the phone, depending on which one you are more likely to stick with, I've had decent success.

And yeah, if it's an area with a lot of cross-traffic or convenient to a lot of areas (like Hershey, PA it's a nothing in the middle of a bunch of other nothings but TONS of CL traffic), or a big city, you can farm a LOT of TN's & email from a CL ad, even a legit one. Happens all the time, sadly enough.

 

[TwoInch]

i wouldnt never claim the HF boxes to be of equal quality to high end pro boxes. its definitely a home grade box, but a damn well built one. i would definitely say that the price to quality ratio is jacked for sure.

and as for the quality/market value stuff aint right either.if you think you arent paying a huge premium for a truck brand name, your delusional. not saying they arent the best quality made. but if a equal quality box was made, and labeled "Joe Popadingo Tool Box Co" they would never fetch the same money as a SnapOn. market value and quality are two totally different animals.

when a company like HF sells a product, they sell large quantity to make their profit. is it not noteworthy that a number of other companies sell the same box with two fewer drawers for $595? HF sold the boxes in a matte finish, and people didnt buy them in the numbers they do now. they go gloss, they are all the rage, and stores cant keep them in stock.

sears sells a craftsman box of similar dimensions, much less quality, for a lot more money. so because they charge that much, its the same value for the money as the HF box of better build quality? should everyone sell the HF boxes and buy crappy craftsman boxes, simply because their market value is higher?

on another note, i would not be surprised if the HF box price does increase, considering the large volume of sales of those two particular models since the gloss switch. if and when they raise the price, which price will be the value? would the guys that got them for $350 have gotten a "bargain" if the price increases to the amount the other guys sell them for?

HF doesnt know the market value of something, until its on the market, and demand is generated. those gloss boxes are still fairly new... they could be of superb quality, but they will never have the worth of even a craftsman, simply because where they are sold.

 

[Syndicate]

Just curious, does anyone know if the op contacted the seller of the original box in his post? Was a good deal for the 200 if ya ask me.

 

[Hoyer Motorsports]

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=153445&highlight=tool+box+reviews

Check this out!

Here's a review of 5 different boxes done by an engineer.
If you don't belive it in black and white, there's no help for you.
I have one, I love it and I'm buying another one.
I have a company issued MATCO. I work for chrysler as a Millwright and there's almost no difference. NO WAY I would buy a MATCO box. NO WAY. When you can get virtually the same thing at HF for 400% less. KRAZY I know, but HF hit a home run with these boxes.

 

[Hoyer Motorsports]

Bumpity bump bump bump