Craftsman Woes

NickMaul

NickMaul

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jul 4, 2009
Location
Norfolk, VA
Long story short I use a 1/2" torque wrench often doing work on the jeep(mainly lug nuts). Today I go and grab it and the cap on the bottom of the adjuster pops off. I put it back on and now the handle slides all over the place and I cannot tell what torque I am adjusting it to and it doesn't feel right when I try to adjust the torque.

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I bought it from a sears right down the road back in September and figured this would be a 15 minute operation explaining what happened and making an exchange.

Well talked with the manager and he says 30 day warranty.... I am thinking WTF. I explain to him the bottom popped off and now I can't figure out where the torque is set to....

Then he says, "Looks like you will have to ship it to craftsmen and they will determine whether or not it is a assembly defect or wear and tear issue." (Enhance WTF x100)

Disgruntled I drive home and go to the website for some more info. I find...

"CRAFTSMAN LIMITED WARRANTY
FOR ONE YEAR from the date of sale, this product is warranted against defects in material or workmanship.
WITH PROOF OF SALE, a defective product will receive free repair or replacement at option of seller. If this product needs re-calibration within ninety (90) days from the date of purchase, it will be re-calibrated free of charge. After 90 days you must pay for re-calibration.
This ONE YEAR warranty is void if this product is ever used while providing commercial services or if rented to another person. For 90 DAY commercial and rental use terms, see the Craftsman warranty web page."

I call the service line and am greeted with a machine. It transfers me to some indian who can't understand me and asks for all this info to see if I actually bought the torque wrench. He can't find the tool. I hang up on him.

Why can't the damn store I gave money to handle customer service? Why do I have to do all the steps in their warranty equation?

I feel I should go back on a weekday and find some other manager and see if they can help me better. If anyone has ever taken one of these apart and can guide me to some sort of fix I would appreciate it.

What do I do with this thing? Any other tool companies that are at least better about customer service? I am well under the one year replacement timeframe.
 
It sucks that torque wrenches dont fall under the lifetime handtool warranty. They are classified as measurement tools. 90% of my tools are craftsman, but when stuff breaks, I will start replacing it with Kobalt. When my torque wrench dies, I will probably go with Snappy. Im pretty sure the customer service will be 10000% better.
 
I hate sears!! All it is are a bunch of kids that don't know shit!! I know it sucks to drop the coin, but I would go with snap-on, matco, Mac, OTC, something like that..
 
Spend the coin ($200-300) on a good quality torque wrench in a hard case, never worry about it again.

I don't know if all Snap-On trucks have one, but the one that frequent us has a torque tester so you can see how accurate it is and if it needs to be calibrated.
Mine gets bounced around in my service van so I check it about every 6 months or so. It's held the same 1-2lb variance over the last 2 years.
 
sgtbriangreen said:
It sucks that torque wrenches dont fall under the lifetime handtool warranty. They are classified as measurement tools. 90% of my tools are craftsman, but when stuff breaks, I will start replacing it with Kobalt. When my torque wrench dies, I will probably go with Snappy. Im pretty sure the customer service will be 10000% better.
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^^ agree here. I've been slowly stocking up on OLD craftsman tools bought on CL etc, but don't bother buying new ones, although I do get replacements.

I've been using a $15 HF torque wrench for year w/o problem. But then, I don't really use it that often.

Wheneverr I've bought tools at Sears, they have asked for my phone number and have a log of all the purchases. They can also look it up by your credit card. IOW if you walk in and spend some time w/ a manager or somebody who cares, they should be able to track down the transaction for your warranty.
 
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I can't say much on newer tools but I'll say this:
Anytime I happen to be at a flea market or yardsale I ALWAYS buy up the oldest tools I can find. I've got a 60+ year old collection of wrenches, ratchets and sockets I'll put up against any new tool without hesitation.
 
Busted a craftsman brand ratchet wrench today. There stuff is just not what it was at one time.
 
I had a torque wrench that had the same problem. After I put it back together I calibrated it with another torque wrench that I felt was accurate. I had to Mcgyver a socket to connect the two together
 
Yeah, I stopped buying Craftsman a loooong time ago because the quality is not there. I actually have a few Craftsman torque wrenches given to me as presents, and a few inherited ones (I probably have 6 or 7 total) and I've never had one fall apart but I think the quality is pretty poor. The adjustment scale is terrible and doesn't line up properly on most of them.

If you're in the market for a torque wrench, try CDI Torque Products. They're a Snap-On industrial brand (and make the Snap-On branded units) but sell at a much more attractive price than Snap-On ones. I get mine calibrated every year (I use them for work) and they haven't needed adjustment since they were bought new in 2013. They get a lot of use.

The CDI units are quite affordable:
CDI Torque Products Comfort Grip Micrometer Adjustable Torque Wrenches

The knurled metal handle versions are slightly cheaper, but I like the comfort grip.

I also really love my tiny split-beam Stahlwille unit from Germany, but they're horribly expensive ($800) and I got that one for a very critical and specialized task, and it doesn't get used for anything else. I punish it with over 10k torque cycles a year on titanium fasteners, and I'm going to buy another one if it ever fails from fatigue. It's probably coming up on 50k torque cycles and hasn't skipped a beat. If it survives this year, I'll probably replace it or have it overhauled so mechanical fatigue is less of a concern (maybe I'm paranoid).
 
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FYI, instead of guessing or checking with another torque wrench, just get it calibrated. It costs $60 each or something (maybe $65?) to have mine done, complete with cal sticker and certificate. If that's uncomfortably close to the price of the torque wrench, buy a better torque wrench.
 
Go buy a new one keep receipt. In 2 weeks return busted one. Sale extra on craigslist or try to return for refund.
 
Fabrik8 said:
Yeah, I stopped buying Craftsman a loooong time ago because the quality is not there. I actually have a few Craftsman torque wrenches given to me as presents, and a few inherited ones (I probably have 6 or 7 total) and I've never had one fall apart but I think the quality is pretty poor. The adjustment scale is terrible and doesn't line up properly on most of them.

If you're in the market for a torque wrench, try CDI Torque Products. They're a Snap-On industrial brand (and make the Snap-On branded units) but sell at a much more attractive price than Snap-On ones. I get mine calibrated every year (I use them for work) and they haven't needed adjustment since they were bought new in 2013. They get a lot of use.

The CDI units are quite affordable:
CDI Torque Products Comfort Grip Micrometer Adjustable Torque Wrenches

The knurled metal handle versions are slightly cheaper, but I like the comfort grip.

I also really love my tiny split-beam Stahlwille unit from Germany, but they're horribly expensive ($800) and I got that one for a very critical and specialized task, and it doesn't get used for anything else. I punish it with over 10k torque cycles a year on titanium fasteners, and I'm going to buy another one if it ever fails from fatigue. It's probably coming up on 50k torque cycles and hasn't skipped a beat. If it survives this year, I'll probably replace it or have it overhauled so mechanical fatigue is less of a concern (maybe I'm paranoid).
Click to expand...

www.bluetools.com sells CDI and UTICA and is located in Greensboro, don't know if they have a store front or not
 
sawdoff said:
Go buy a new one keep receipt. In 2 weeks return busted one. Sale extra on craigslist or try to return for refund.
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Not the whole, but a good part of why department stores suck. They have to account for total loss on alot of sales.
 
Wouldnt be an issue if they stood behind their product...
 
Everyone thanks for the input! I was pretty disgusted about the manager not giving a shit about helping me. I will try one more time and walk in and see if a different manager is working and they can help me better.

sawdoff said:
Go buy a new one keep receipt. In 2 weeks return busted one. Sale extra on craigslist or try to return for refund.
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I have thought of doing this. Brilliant idea since the torque wrench still works just that the handle got all busted. Could easily pull that off as it broke under 30 days claim.

sgtbriangreen said:
It sucks that torque wrenches dont fall under the lifetime handtool warranty. They are classified as measurement tools. 90% of my tools are craftsman, but when stuff breaks, I will start replacing it with Kobalt. When my torque wrench dies, I will probably go with Snappy. Im pretty sure the customer service will be 10000% better.
Click to expand...

I am thinking the same thing. Kobalt has one for $80 and if they can cover that warranty then I could justify that.
 
moldman05 said:
I had a torque wrench that had the same problem. After I put it back together I calibrated it with another torque wrench that I felt was accurate. I had to Mcgyver a socket to connect the two together
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This ^^

Fixed mine (Craftsman) and calibrated with another known good one. Been using it for years. Shit breaks, fix it.
 
I don't really get the "Craftsman sucks/doesn't stand behind their product/etc" comments. This is the same exact warranty that my Craftsman torque wrench had 15 or 20 years ago when I bought it.
 
shawn said:
I don't really get the "Craftsman sucks/doesn't stand behind their product/etc" comments. This is the same exact warranty that my Craftsman torque wrench had 15 or 20 years ago when I bought it.
Click to expand...

Yep, same as mine
 
shawn said:
I don't really get the "Craftsman sucks/doesn't stand behind their product/etc" comments. This is the same exact warranty that my Craftsman torque wrench had 15 or 20 years ago when I bought it.
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Yes, but 20 years ago they still made decent tools. Now all of the tools are made in china and have poor casting and finishing.
 
shawn said:
I don't really get the "Craftsman sucks/doesn't stand behind their product/etc" comments. This is the same exact warranty that my Craftsman torque wrench had 15 or 20 years ago when I bought it.
Click to expand...
Yours lasted twenty years, his lasted 6 months.
 
Mine broke within a couple of weeks, I returned it to the store and got one that didn't suck.
 
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