.......Autozone!!
Snap-alast! haha
lol... I have a Duralast flex ratchet. Looks real similar to my FL936. I grabbed it up for $10 at a flea market. I got it for a specific purpose. It's there for when my 936 is down for the count (pawl breakage) or have a highly torqued or near seized bolt and don't want to bother with 1/2. That always seems to be on the day after the Snap-On truck runs. Then I have to wait 6 days to get it made up. The Snap-alast sits there in the tool box in case I get in that spot. It's a suitable "get by" ratchet until I can get my 936 repaired. Also, if I do strip out the Snap-alast ratchet, I can go down to the store later that day on the way home and swap it out. No several days of doing without.
My Snap-On dealer is a really cool guy and gives me no **** about making my tools up whether I'm currently buying a tool or not, but I don't buy enough regularly from him to make a trip out of his way to warranty my tools. I don't expect him to either. My sears store is the same way. They are a small independent that is more worried about selling you an appliance as opposed to a tool. They have a very small and short isle of tools. Rarely do they have what I need warrantied. I don't have many Craftsman tools, nor do I use them often, but if I do and it breaks, it's either drive 50 miles one way to swap it out or wait a whole week for them to mail me a replacement.
The part stores and Lowe's are the only same day replacement location for tool replacement that are near by. I love the 3 long soft grip handle ratchets that Lowe's sells currently. They are Chinese ratchets and I don't care for how the head mounts to the handle, but the handles are super long. Longest flex head 1/4 and 3/8 ratchets I've found from any tool supplier. A good mix between ratchet and breaker bar. The heads are real thick and have a 36 tooth count so they seem to hold up well so far. I've yet to break one. If I do, Lowe's is 5 miles away at the end of the day and open til 9pm. They look exactly like the long Titan ratchets and probably are the exact same ratchet with a blue and gray soft grip handle made just for Lowe's. Those are the only Kobalt tools I own other than a partial set of JH Williams standard wrenches in the bottom of the box somewhere.
I can't say anything bad about my dealer experiences. All the dealers I have dealt with have been nice and never felt like they tried to "sell" me or lie to me. If you had a question they would answer it honestly or do their best to try and find the answer if they didn't know it. One week several years ago, I was not able to make a payment to my Snap-On guy and he said no problem. I paid him double the next week even though he said I didn't have too.
I can't say I haven't "bullshited" with all of them, but It's always been in good fun. I've had good relationships with them and felt they were my friend, not just my "dealer". Neither the Mac nor the Snap-On dealer ever got mad or questioned me when I bought something from their competitor, they never downed the other guys product either. They were just glad I bought what I did buy from them and was curious to what else they could help me with whether it was a problem, a replacement or a new product.
I've got nothing to say but positive about my tool truck dealers. Even the Matco guy was cool even though he was only around a couple years and all I ever bought from him was Mac and Snap-On trade ins. It wasn't him, I'm just not personally a fan of most Matco stuff. Glad I'm not, because I'd be screwed on replacements now. No Matco dealer around here in 8 or 9 years now that I have seen. No Cornwell either even though I wouldn't mind checking one out. I live in a small town in the Bible Belt. I think a lot of us are pretty straight shooters.
Most of us try to hold up the honesty and integrity that was passed down and instilled in us from our fathers, grandfathers, great grandfathers, etc... Your character and your word better mean something or you won't have much business around here.
