Gordonm

I broke my 3/8 drive ratchet this morning. No big deal I have broken many. Take it to a Sears and look to see if I can upgrade. I find one a little longer and a smooth finish. It is about 5 bucks more than the one I broke. I ask if I can upgrade and pay the extra 5 bucks. He says no it has to be an even trade. OK, maybe I believe that. Then he procedds to go into a box under the register and pulls out a 3/8 drive ratchet that looks like mine. Proceeds to ring it up. I say can I look at it. Sure. It is broken. The ball that holds the socket on is way inside. I say this one is no good. OK he goes back into the box and brings out another. He shows me the ball and quickly puts it in the bag and rings it up. I walk out and open it in the car. WTF is this!! It says refurbished on the sticker. The handle is dinged and the head is dinged. It did look like it had new guts but it felt cheaper than my old one.
Is this the new policy? If it is that will be the last wrench I buy from Sears. I have returned many wrenches over the years and no questions asked a new one was given to me. I'm tempted to bust this one and try a different Sears and see if the same happens. Anyone else have this happen

1stC3Vette

Same thing happened to me about a year ago. In the past, they used to give you a brand new tool. Now, you get the refurbished stuff.

Good luck,
Dino

69Vett

Kiss your lifetime warrantty good-by !

Gordonm

So it is the new way of their lifetime warranty.

They can kiss my --- and my business goodbye.

I was just looking at the one they gave me, the handle is in worse shape than the one I returned.

72LS1Vette

I pity the person who gets one of my refurbished ratchets.



Rick B.

champs65

been that way for a few years. I've taken a few ratchets back and got the refurbished; they ALWAYS seem cheaper than an original one.

Ganey

A while back I took a 1/4 rachet back & just asked for the rebuild kit which they gave me.

glo

I took a ratchet back they gave me a refurbish one, then next time clerk gave me new one maybe its just the clerk or they were out of rebuilds.

parkerracing

Not the same since K Mart bought 'em.

L82shark

Are we talking about Craftsman tools here?

Dr L-88

I learned the hard way that Crafstman air tools do not have the "so called" lifetime warranty. I'm thinning out my 40 year collection of Craftsman tools.

Who has the best warranty nowadays?

lvrpool32

I had similar issues with Sears last year, they will only replace Craftsman brand (with refurbished first if they have them) and not Sears brand, kind of nice that my buddy has just become the local Snap On rep

Gordonm

Yes.

baxsom

my buddy works for sears tools.

apparently the policy has always been like that. for example, my craftsman torque wrench crapped out. i tried to take it back and they wouldnt do it.

when i asked my buddy he said that they only have a 60 day warranty on them.
some employees will trade it out not knowning any better but they are not supposed to trade with new.

never have in fact. that being said though, when i was scuba diving in fl a few years ago i found a tool box full of craftsman tools that were all rusted. the guy at sears traded them all out.

smokedu

I actually work for Sears, and have for 4 years. And as far as the refurbished goes is if we have one under the counter we are supposed to give you that one, but the people ive delt with didnt want a refubished one so i jus gave them a new one. It just depends on the person working there, if he is a dick or not. And as far as the torque wrench goes im pretty sure it only carries a 1yr or so warranty. And nothin has a 60 day warranty, at the least it would have a 90 day, because ther is a 90 do return policy on anything in the store.

parkerracing

It should be noted that throughout the industry, a lifetime warentee is only good on hand tools. Torque wrenches are excluded and warenteed for one year. Electric/electronic and air tools typically 90 days to 3 years depending on the item/mfg. Usually exchanged no questions asked if you buy off a tool truck (unless your tool man IS a tool). Sears and Home Depot have changed alot in the last few years (HD told me I had to go to Husky's website if I wanted to exchange ).

fauxrs2

I love craftsman sockets and wrenches...their ratchets are crap though.. warantee or not

LT1driver

sign of the times, warranty not worth paper written on, people word not worth jack, and you are forced to pay more for less sucks but what to do

Kenny Bonnell

Snap On can be as bad. My neighbor just spend a lot of money to remodel an old welding shop into his shop to restore and build cars. He buys only Snap On tools. Some he bought from the dealer and some from Ebay. He had a problem with something he bought on Ebay and the dealer wouldn't exchange or repair the tool, he said he should have bought it from him. After many calls to Snap On corperate and being told the dealer should take care of him he finally did, but was a real ahole about the entire deal. My neighbor tried to do the warrenty through Snap On and avoid the dealer and they wouldn't do it. He is still looking to spend a lot more money and now has second thoughts about Snap ON.

schmegeggie

It is the hand tools that are warranted for life. That goes for everybody out there, it's no different. Craftsman are just easier to exchange.
As far as the refurbished exchange, you just didn't b*tch loud enough. Go back next time and ask to speak to the manager about it, and they'll give you a new one, trust me on that!
Don't even look into the warranty on their toolboxes, there are none! Plus, they're made by Waterloo anyway.
As far as that goes, most of the brands are coming from one or two foundries anyway, they just change the mold! You're buying a name that you trust the most. Craftsman, Snap-on, Armstrong, MAC, whatever! Go look at a Snap-On ratchet and then compare it to an Armstrong. Tell me that doesn't come from the same mold...