Craftsman Warranty Issues

technologyteacher

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Location
Elkin
Long story made short, went today to Sears to return a Craftsman manual stapler that was not working. Went to the tool counter, was told no problem, led to the staplers, of course the model I had was an older model no longer made. I was told to pick out a similar replacement. Went to the register, when the department manager told me the staplers no longer had a lifetime warranty. Then refused to offer a replacement. They manager offered to give me 10% off of a replacement. That worked out to $2. I refused pointing out that when the broke stapler was purchased it was sold with a lifetime warranty. Still nothing. I currently have an email into Sears expressing my concerns with their policy.

Anyone else had issues like this with Sears?
 
I don't live there any more, but I never had a problem with the Gastonia store.

I did take a set of crows feet back once because the set I bought had two of the same size, and missing one other. I had already engraved all of the pieces except for the duplicate. It took some explaining the get the cashier to understand that I wanted to keep the engraved set and just swap out individual pieces, but she eventually came around.
 
Im done buying new craftsman stuff. Kobalt seems to be as good quality and is more convenient. Sears pissed me off when they started rebuilding the ratchets in store. I had a 3/8 ratchet that lasted 4 years. Broke it and they rebuilt it. It lasted 2 weeks. They put new guts in it again. It lasted 3 weeks. I demanded a new one or my money back. Told them that I didnt have time to keep driving back to warranty a POS.
 
I've never had a problem with them. I have taken back and exchanged sockets, u-joint sockets, breaker bar and screwdrivers. All of witch where most likely improperly used and abused o_O. But it has also been a couple years since.
 
I've never had a problem getting a replacement, but I have had issues with diminishing quality, particularly with the ratchets. I have taken a few back for warranty that were older than me and the replacements are always worse than the last one I had even if its not a refurbished piece. They just seem to be making the designs worse every iteration.
 
A lifetime warranty doesn't help when your wrench breaks while you're under your jeep! Sears has done down hill in the tool department. But then again, years ago, Kobalt was JH Williams (Snap On) which I have a set - however, they changed out for Stanley who makes their current lesser quality tools. Lowes even quite carrying Klien tools, which I loved and have many of. so it's not just Sears ...
 
sgtbriangreen said:
Im done buying new craftsman stuff. Kobalt seems to be as good quality and is more convenient. Sears pissed me off when they started rebuilding the ratchets in store. I had a 3/8 ratchet that lasted 4 years. Broke it and they rebuilt it. It lasted 2 weeks. They put new guts in it again. It lasted 3 weeks. I demanded a new one or my money back. Told them that I didnt have time to keep driving back to warranty a POS.
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I asked them once if I could just have 3-4 of the rebuild kits. Guy looked at me like I had 2 heads. "But you can come here any time and get it replaced?" My response was," Are you suggesting that when I break the ratchet at 1am on a Sat night you're going to be open then? Never mind the 30 mins it takes me to get here? You just replaced this in 60 seconds. Why couldn't I do that myself in my shop and save you the trouble."
At that point he got it... he did actually try and get me a kit... but "since there is no SKU number for the kits we have no way to inventory giving you one, and we have no way of knowing you actually have a Craftsman wrench." I was dumbfounded. If there's no way to inventory giving me one.. then just give me one... o_O and more importantly, why would I ever ask for it, or could possibly use it if I DIDN'T have the wrench?

I'm sure the truth is, its a matter of them wanting a record of how many get replaced/how often...
 
Ever since Sears and Kmart teamed up, craftsman has gone downhill. All my craftsman tools are pre kmart and doing fine. I've heard of nothing but trouble of their warranty issues now.

Hell, before Kmart got involved, my uncle found an old rusty ratchet wrench or adjustable wrench in the dirt. It had been there for many years and when he cleaned it he could just barely make out "Craftsman" on it. For shits and giggles he took it to Sears to see if they would exchange it. To his surprise they gave him a brand new one. Try that now!
 
Had a fiasco last summer over a $8 dryer belt I bought from sears.com. Took me about 3 months to get my money back after they sent the wrong item. It became an issue of principle rather than the 8 bucks. Needless to say, I avoid Sears at all costs now and this post makes me more convinced I have made the right decision. From what I have seen, they are not long for the world. Their customer service at brick and mortar stores is the only thing they have left to combat amazon and ebay, it doesn't seem they have realized that yet and it's probably too late.
 
I got a new craftsman toolbox bottom and top set for christmas. Waited until late jan to open it when i moved so i could put some tools in it. I put about 5 lbs i. The bottom drawer and the damn thing broke the slide on one side. Not to mention they are thin ass pieces of shit now. Ive got two other bottom boxes that are tough as nails, one is a red craftsman and the other a red husky. I bought the red craftsman set off Hurley on here close to two years ago i would figure.
 
I do that this humorous story... my brother once had a Craftsman screwdriver that rusted really bad. He took it in for a replacement. The guy said, "Sorry, warranty doesn't cover rust, technically the tool is still functional."
so, my brother walked over to the tool section and picked up some bolt cutters, and cut the end off of the screwdriver. Walked back to the kiosk. "Oops, I broke it."
"Sure, no problem. Here's a replacement."...

Several times I've gotten a replacement for a screwdriver where the metal shaft was sticking out of the end of the handle from me (quite obviously) pounding on it into something hard w/ a mallet.
 
What Sears are you going to? I know the guys at the Jefferson store are dicks! Had an issue with them when I lived up in that area. I've never been back to a Sears since. I agree that if you bought with a lifetime warranty then you should get a replacement or they should fix it!
 
RatLabGuy said:
I asked them once if I could just have 3-4 of the rebuild kits. Guy looked at me like I had 2 heads. "But you can come here any time and get it replaced?" My response was," Are you suggesting that when I break the ratchet at 1am on a Sat night you're going to be open then? Never mind the 30 mins it takes me to get here? You just replaced this in 60 seconds. Why couldn't I do that myself in my shop and save you the trouble."
At that point he got it... he did actually try and get me a kit... but "since there is no SKU number for the kits we have no way to inventory giving you one, and we have no way of knowing you actually have a Craftsman wrench." I was dumbfounded. If there's no way to inventory giving me one.. then just give me one... o_O and more importantly, why would I ever ask for it, or could possibly use it if I DIDN'T have the wrench?

I'm sure the truth is, its a matter of them wanting a record of how many get replaced/how often...
Click to expand...

Decades ago, they did sell the rebuild kits. I have one here somewhere(who knows where) for a 1/2 ratchet.
They were displayed with all the other tools with a part number. Cost....$.01 each.

I bought a box of misc tools at a yard sale for $10.00 one of the items was a hughmongous Crescent wrench. Sears being the only place I knew that would warranty it, I took it in. The teeth were riding on top of each other. They didn't have a Crescent wrench that size, so they give me a Crapsman in exchange.

I bought a torque wrench there once. Used on one head job on my old Jeep. Put it in my tool box. Went to use it a few years later, snap, they wouldn't warranty it.
 
I've never had a problem with a Craftsman exchange. I have a few screwdrivers and things I need to return. I haven't broken a 3/8 ratchet in a while, but I go through a 1/4" drive ratchet about once a month. Those little things SUCK. :lol:
 
I stopped buying Craftsman 2-3 years back when they started hassling me on warranty items. Of course they never had anything useful in store, so most of the stuff were online purchases and would take time to get back in the store, or I could cover shipping to my house. Coupled with it being a 30 minute drive each way, I just started buying Kobalt stuff. Lowe's is 5 minutes down the road and the tools hold up as well as you'd expect for cheap tools.
 
I found a big framing hammer on a stump way back in the woods while surveying in Jco. 10 yrs ago. It had sat there for years and the hickory handle was rotting off but the burnished Craftsman logo was still visible. I took it to the Cary sears and though they didn't stock that hammer anymore they gave me a larger California framing hammer as a replacement after some resistance. I also recently ordered the blower fan blade that broke on my 10 yo Craftsman shopvac/blower and fixed it for $19. I have seen sears quality going downhill on certain things in recent years and there prices are going up too.
 
RatLabGuy said:
I asked them once if I could just have 3-4 of the rebuild kits. Guy looked at me like I had 2 heads. "But you can come here any time and get it replaced?" My response was," Are you suggesting that when I break the ratchet at 1am on a Sat night you're going to be open then? Never mind the 30 mins it takes me to get here? You just replaced this in 60 seconds. Why couldn't I do that myself in my shop and save you the trouble."
At that point he got it... he did actually try and get me a kit... but "since there is no SKU number for the kits we have no way to inventory giving you one, and we have no way of knowing you actually have a Craftsman wrench." I was dumbfounded. If there's no way to inventory giving me one.. then just give me one... o_O and more importantly, why would I ever ask for it, or could possibly use it if I DIDN'T have the wrench?

I'm sure the truth is, its a matter of them wanting a record of how many get replaced/how often...
Click to expand...

Last time I was in there getting a ratchet rebuilt, I talked the guy into giving me a couple rebuild kits. He said he couldnt but threw 2 3/8 and 1 1/2 kit in my bag. I still have 1 of each.

I wonder if Lowes would warranty a craftsman tool just to get the business?
 
I went to the sears In Gbro several years ago with a bunch of broken tools in my uniform from North State Chevrolet and the guy told me they were not warrantied for professional usage, and refused to warranty any of the tools, needless to say I went to another store in plain cloths got it all replaced and have never bought another tool from them
 
sgtbriangreen said:
Last time I was in there getting a ratchet rebuilt, I talked the guy into giving me a couple rebuild kits. He said he couldnt but threw 2 3/8 and 1 1/2 kit in my bag. I still have 1 of each.

I wonder if Lowes would warranty a craftsman tool just to get the business?
Click to expand...


I dont know but I know Home Depot used to warranty replace ANY tool with a husky one..but that was year ago before the husky stuff went compleet shit.
 
I think part of the decline of Craftsman tools is due to what's already been said in this thread. People find tools, are given tools, buy them at yard sales, break them intentionally, etc, and expect Sears to warranty them as if the returner is the original purchaser and the tool failed due to regular use. You can't expect a company to continually provide a superior product with this type or abuse of their warranty going on.

Maybe it's just me, but if I didn't buy it new I don't expect a warranty on it. If my grandpa bought it, then handed it down to my dad, then to me, I don't expect a warranty on it. Hell if I bought a ratchet or some inexpensive hand tool and got 10 years use out of it I don't take it back for warranty exchange either. I figure I got my money's worth out of it and can cough up another $10-$20 for another one.
 
13bullets said:
I think part of the decline of Craftsman tools is due to what's already been said in this thread. People find tools, are given tools, buy them at yard sales, break them intentionally, etc, and expect Sears to warranty them as if the returner is the original purchaser and the tool failed due to regular use. You can't expect a company to continually provide a superior product with this type or abuse of their warranty going on..
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Agreed. Probably step on a few toes, but I believe that's just an indicator of moral compass and another example of the 'entitlement' mindset. Abuse and play the system, then bitch about the system when it starts failing.

13bullets said:
Maybe it's just me, but if I didn't buy it new I don't expect a warranty on it. If my grandpa bought it, then handed it down to my dad, then to me, I don't expect a warranty on it. Hell if I bought a ratchet or some inexpensive hand tool and got 10 years use out of it I don't take it back for warranty exchange either. I figure I got my money's worth out of it and can cough up another $10-$20 for another one.
Click to expand...

It's not just you...but the honor system is a thing of the past.
 
13bullets said:
I think part of the decline of Craftsman tools is due to what's already been said in this thread. People find tools, are given tools, buy them at yard sales, break them intentionally, etc, and expect Sears to warranty them as if the returner is the original purchaser and the tool failed due to regular use. You can't expect a company to continually provide a superior product with this type or abuse of their warranty going on.

Maybe it's just me, but if I didn't buy it new I don't expect a warranty on it. If my grandpa bought it, then handed it down to my dad, then to me, I don't expect a warranty on it. Hell if I bought a ratchet or some inexpensive hand tool and got 10 years use out of it I don't take it back for warranty exchange either. I figure I got my money's worth out of it and can cough up another $10-$20 for another one.
Click to expand...


I'm probably going to date myself here a bit, but does anyone else remember the Craftsman: Made in America - Guaranteed Forever Commercials of the late 80s?

They showed 2 of your exact scenarios on TV. In one case they used a screw driver to pull a pintle hitch trailer on a farm and in another man found his grandads old tools and was restoring his old car with them when one broke...in both cases they walked back into the sears store and were handed new ones.

This is what made craftsman different. Their warranty USED to read, this tool is guaranteed forever to provide satisfactory service to the current owner.

Not original owner.
Not the BS Klein "lifetime warranty"....Ill never forget having a nearly new Klein screw driver tip break and taking it back and being told, "its a lifetime of the tool warranty, that tools lifetime is up."
 
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