Very Upset With Harbor Freight....

[dogdog]

Last update....

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The funny part is I only had our Denali with 8 kids plus my wife in it. I bought that cargo carrier the first day for our luggage, and didnt know if it would hold the toolbox or not, but really didnt want to drive back down there. So i stuffed the luggage around the kids feet, and backed my suv basket up to the loading dock. The guy on the fork truck said "do you really want to put it on there"......

..... who drives a car with 8 kids and luggage in it to HF? Family vacation ?


as for the rest.....

Anything went wrong on HF, just blame it on the Chinese that works there.

 

[HoosierBuddy]

Yes, you have to have had, and passed, a forklift training course to operate forklift. Same for a motorized pallet jack. Insurance is the main reason. They are dangerous pieces of heavy equipment. As a business, you sure as hell don't want someone who can barely point their 11 year old Kia down the road without hitting something driving one. The problem is not with the forklift regs, it is with the manager for not keeping someone in the store who can run one.

It's actually an OSHA requirement. Every employee who drives a fork truck has to go through training and be evaluated to verify they can drive it without hurting themselves or others.

Phil

 

[TheOtherChris]

The service at the Harbor Freight near me is always good. As others have mentioned, it all comes down to the manager and what his or her employee expectations are.

This has been my experience as well. When I walk in to our local HF usually someone asks if they can help me find something.
The last time I bought a tool chest (26" double stack) they went and got it with a hand truck while I was paying then wheeled it out to the van and loaded both boxes in for me.

Another day I went in for a quick inch pound torque wrench. It wasn't on sale but I didn't care cuz I needed it for a job. The cashier said: "I can't let you pay full price for that. I think I have a coupon here somewhere" and then discounted it without me asking.

 

[Banana Man]

I will never buy a single thing from that store! The employees the worst, and the quality is unacceptable IMO.

 

[Jarhead0408]

Hah! You're missing out then man.

There ARE crappy items there, but there are quite a few gems as well. Take a gander at the Harbor Fright Pass/Fail thread. It might just change your mind.

Fwiw, in spite of a few naysayers, I have owned and used HF's blue scissor lift for a year now. I bought it because I had broken my knee and could no longer work on the family vehicles. I just used it last week while doing a timing service on an old Cavalier we have. Dropped the engine and transmission out of the bottom of the car while raising the car above it. Used a poly dolly (Hah!) from HF to roll it out from under the car. Then used a HF two ton engine hoist to lift it to working height to replace all the timing/balance/water pump components. Then rolled it back under a used a HF hoist and leveler to position the engine in the bay for installation. Also used a bastardized extra long 3/8" ratchet, black poly gloves, a red 5 drawer tool cart (and tray), and socket trays... All from Harbor Freight. Used their impact grade long torx bits the other week to install a wheel bearing on the same car. The 3/8"-1/4" long double headed flex ratchet is another gem that was used during the timing service too.

 

[freudianfloyd]

..... who drives a car with 8 kids and luggage in it to HF? Family vacation ?


as for the rest.....

Anything went wrong on HF, just blame it on the Chinese that works there.

It's not that crazy is it? The tool bug can bite at anytime.....actually we were on our way home from vacation and were passing the store. Instead of driving the hour back I decided to stop then. The wife and kids stayed in the car.

 

[zendriver]

Hah! You're missing out then man.

There ARE crappy items there, but there are quite a few gems as well. Take a gander at the Harbor Fright Pass/Fail thread. It might just change your mind.

Fwiw, in spite of a few naysayers, I have owned and used HF's blue scissor lift for a year now. I bought it because I had broken my knee and could no longer work on the family vehicles. I just used it last week while doing a timing service on an old Cavalier we have. Dropped the engine and transmission out of the bottom of the car while raising the car above it. Used a poly dolly (Hah!) from HF to roll it out from under the car. Then used a HF two ton engine hoist to lift it to working height to replace all the timing/balance/water pump components. Then rolled it back under a used a HF hoist and leveler to position the engine in the bay for installation. Also used a bastardized extra long 3/8" ratchet, black poly gloves, a red 5 drawer tool cart (and tray), and socket trays... All from Harbor Freight. Used their impact grade long torx bits the other week to install a wheel bearing on the same car. The 3/8"-1/4" long double headed flex ratchet is another gem that was used during the timing service too.

LOL, Here I thought I might be the only one, who purchases HF, not because they are inexpensive (i.e."cheap"), but because I can actually use them, to get a involved repair job done, with relative ease.

Using the heavy HF transmission jack to remove a full fuel tank from a Ford explorer, made it worth it weight in gold.

 

[Cato]

Why are you bothered by what other do with their money? just curious.

It's likely, that if a doctor was starting his own practice, he would have to borrow the money for his equipment, as well.

Personally, I get why professional mechanics, buy more expensive professional quality tools, verses Sears, or HF.

Aren't tool purchases for them are tax deductible, as well?

I guess I just feel bad seeing young guys, fresh out of trade school with high hopes getting bogged down with debt. Yeah, they are grown men and all, but many a man was destroyed by debt.

We all know people who struggle to pay the minimum payment on credit cards or other lines of credit. After awhile all they are doing is paying interest.

The difference in price between Snap On and HF or Husky, or HF is significant. Many mechanics get by just fine with HF.

It's like someone needing a commuter car and insisting they need the BEST. Right, they will rely on the vehicle to safely get to work and get the kids to school or the doctor's office. Now many will say a slightly used Honda Accord will be fine, but that guy might insist he needs an S-Class Mercedes or Lexus LX SUV. Time is money, right? He can't afford to miss work or get killed in an accident.

 

[hefty lefty]

What does bother me is that most "professionals" can't pay Snap On's prices. Much of Snap On's business model is based on credit. But those professionals are grown men and can make their own decisions in life.

Most of the professional auto mechanics I know have far more invested in tools than even they think is necessary. They also make no effort to buy used, or to get a bank loan on time and buy what they need at a discount (such as, if they pay cash to a truck vendor, especially one getting out of the business).

Of course, the modern cars with their abysmal design for repair do require a bewildering assortment of extensions, U joints, etc. as well as an ever expanding range of Torx, Torx Security, etc., etc drivers, but in most cases 80% of the tools in any mechanic's box never get used-it's a few common sizes 99% of the time.

From talking to the European trained BMW and Mercedes mechanics, the Germans are pretty good at getting just the tools they will need and not a lot of other stuff, with each manufacturer having some discipline with the number of odd and special tools needed. The Snap-On boxes that you could move into if the wife threw you out of the house are totally nonexistent over there.

 

[hefty lefty]

It's actually an OSHA requirement. Every employee who drives a fork truck has to go through training and be evaluated to verify they can drive it without hurting themselves or others.

Phil

Yes, OSHA definitely requires you have a "certification". It is not a license as with a state issued drivers license or an FAA type of thing, it is a private industry thing. The company can issue its own cert or there are industry standard ones. Some companies retain the card so if you go to work elsewhere the new company has to pay for the cert again.

Most smaller businesses send their employees to a third party place which any city of more than a hundred thousand or so will have and they train and certify the employee. Bigger businesses can do it inhouse. But there is no excuse for a business only doing it once a year.

 

[Dog Garage]

The people at the closest Harbor Freight (still an hour away) left me dumbfounded today. Here is the long story.....

I finally arranged a babysitter, my wife was working but was going to meet me after she got off and we were going to go to Harbor Freight, and out to dinner. We are going on a trip with my 8 kids, in a Denali (It has a 4th row seat) but as you can imagine, it gets pretty cramped with luggage, etc. Anyway, we went to pick up one of the hitch mounted cargo boxes, I have also been eyeing the 44" toolbox for a long time, and figured I would buy it too.

I pull the tag to purchase it, and my wife goes to the register to pay for both items while I keep looking around. I can hear my wife talking about the toolbox so I go over to see what is going on.

The cashier, without asking what we drove said "it wont fit in your car". My wife said it would, and again she said it wont fit. I stepped in and said it will fit, I have seen people pick them up in much smaller cars (she still has no idea what I drove). This went on for literally 5 minutes of back and forth that it would fit. I told her worst case I can uncrate it and she proceeded to tell me that if I do that they wont help me load it, to which I said "that's ok, I can handle it" I did have help after-all.

She then said "can you come back tomorrow to pick it up when there are "some men" there to help load it. I told her no, I am going out of town and would like to get it now. Her next response was what dumbfounded me most "do you need it?" What the hell?? So I said yes, what the hell does it matter to her if I need it or not.

So after dealing with this with people in line behind us, she sends one of the girls to the back to make sure they have one, and the girl said they "have tons, but they are behind a bunch of stuff and can't get to them." By now my wife and I are laughing about the entire situation. They already told me they had a fork truck, so I know they can move the stuff in the way to get the box.

That was enough, she said if I come back tomorrow there will be some "men" there to help. I told her I lost interest in the toolbox and would not be back.

My wife called customer service and put in a complaint, and the only thing they would do to help was take $20 off of shipping. It cost $20 in gas to get there and then I would still have to pay an extra $78 in shipping to get it home when I am already at the store.

I know they are pretty nice toolboxes, but I am not sure they are worth this kind of trouble. My wife actually told the cashier and customer service rep. that she has never heard of somebody trying to talk her out of buying something and refusing to sell one to us.

Sorry for the long rant, but I was really looking forward to getting this setup. I don't want to go on the trip, this was going to give me something to look forward to when I got back.

Welcome to the PC world, people are hired who are not able to do the work or changing the standards so they can be placed into these jobs.

I remember when they started to hire people who couldn't lift their end of the ambulance gurney decades ago and had to call a LEO for back up, which seems to be standard practice these days.

Now they are trying to do the same thing with our Military.

 

[QwikKotaTx]

That's crazy. I have never had an issue getting things brought up to the front from the warehouse area or lifted into a truck with a forklift out back.

 

[nes999]

As others have said, the most likely issue to the OP's problem was that there was no store staff there that had a license to operate the fork truck. This isn't an issue specific to HF, as many large big box stores just hire the least qualified workers at the lowest wage they can. I don't blame China for making low quality products, as they can certainly make very high quality products at an appropriately higher price. It's not fully the big box stores fault either for only selling the cheapest quality lowest cost products. The problem is that the American population keeps BUYING those inferior products instead of the costlier products made in the USA. If nobody bought that cheap tool, the store would only stock the expensive tool that people are buying. The root cause IMHO is that the general population places no value on quality, only the lowest price.

rant :=off
Brian

The local tool store that our company gets their equipment from frequently gets rid of Chinese tools. They say no one buys them. I certainly know we aren't going to risk a job shuting down because we bought the drill bits that are 50 cents cheaper.

They also sell very little to the general public because they are fairly expensive.

Sent from my VS985 4G using Tapatalk

 

[zendriver]

Welcome to the PC world, people are hired who are not able to do the work or changing the standards so they can be placed into these jobs.

I remember when they started to hire people who couldn't lift their end of the ambulance gurney decades ago and had to call a LEO for back up, which seems to be standard practice these days.

Now they are trying to do the same thing with our Military.

It's a shock, that employers offer minimum wage, part time jobs and the best and brightest, are not eagerly lining up to take them,

Average pay for an EMT, is $11 hr. One can make that in a mindless factory job.

 

[Dog Garage]

It's a shock, that employers offer minimum wage, part time jobs and the best and brightest, are not eagerly lining up to take them,

Average pay for an EMT, is $11 hr. One can make that in a mindless factory job.

Stats from 2012 in this state.

Average Annual Salary: $32,210. Average Hourly Salary: $15.48. EMTs obtain a salary of $34,000 per annum according to 'indeed.com'. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also provides data of EMT salary at various percentile brackets.

Part Time work is a result of the ACA.

What factory jobs, all we have left after the great wealth transfer to Asia started in the late 1990's, is old buildings or sites where buildings used to be.

The Carrot and Stick, is a motivator, Hunger will make a person work at jobs that many seem to think are beneath them. There is no incentive to work when one is not Hungry.

The best and brightest are not in government or education, they work for themselves or scam the system, so they don't need to work.