[AT] Craftsman Tool Warranty

[szabelski at wildblue.net]

About 6 years ago I had to return my Craftsman torque wrench, the beam was of by about 10 lbs. I took it to Sears and they replaced it no questions asked. I got a better deal since the one I had only read up to 100 ft-lbs. The replacement read up to 200 ft-lbs and also had a second scale that read metric nM.

I’ve read on line, and heard from others, that the when it comes to a store honoring the Craftsman warranty, the store doesn’t have to, it’s all up to them.  They can pick any reason for not doing so.

Once I had to return a punch that snapped in two. Went to Sears and they told me I had to bring back the entire set of punches because Sears no longer sold them individually. Had to put together a set with all the right sizes, but some were from different Craftsman sets, and you could tell by the markings/stampings on the punches (I’ve inherited some, lost others, ground some for special uses, etc.)  The salesman kind of gave me a look, but I did have all the sizes, so he gave honored the warranty.

I can’t remember exactly when I bought my last Craftsman tool. Probably been at least 30 years now, since that’s how long we’ve lived in it current house.


----- Original Message -----
From: deanvp at att.net
To: 'Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group' <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sat, 02 Nov 2019 23:13:21 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Re: [AT] Craftsman Tool Warranty

Here is my experience with Craftsman tool warranty before they sold out to Stanley.  20 years or so ago when I was first starting antique tractor work I wanted a good torque wrench so I bought a Craftsman ½” drive for in the neighborhood of $99.00 which had the Craftsman Lifetime warranty.  I used is sparing for several years not often but worked just fine.  Then one day it just flat broke. So I brought it to the local Sears store for replacement. Their response stunned me. Torque wrenched do not have a lifetime warranty.  See it shows right there on the shelf. I replied it had a Lifetime warranty when I bought it. They would not honor it.  So I went home and damned if I didn’t find a 1999 Sears Tool Catalog that showed the Lifetime warranty on the Torque Wrench I had purchased. Went back the week before Christmas with wrench and Catalog in hand. There was a long line at the register and when I finally got up to the register I presented the wrench and the Tool catalog. The clerk still wouldn’t honor the Lifetime warranty.  I told the clerk that he better call  a manager because I was going to stand there until they honored their warranty.  Eventually a manager arrived and he too tried to renege on the warranty,  I held my ground. Eventually the manger caved and I also got him to hand write and sign on the receipt that the replacement wrench had a lifetime warranty including his name, title and employee number. . Fortunately the replacement has never failed so I have never had to test the lifetime warranty on the replacement. But… be very careful when shopping Craftsman tools. Many of the Craftsman tools no longer carry the Lifetime warranty with some as low as 90 days.  

 

I haven’t purchased very many Craftsman tools  of late so I don’t know what they are doing today relative to warranties.  I suspect they haven’t gotten any better. I know the Craftsman hand tools of the last 20 years are nowhere close to as good as those I purchased in the 50’s.  I now tend to just buy specialty tools that I’m not going to be using much and they usually are purchased at Harbor freight. They are usually good enough for a shade tree mechanic and the closet store is 7.5 miles way. The closest Sears store in now over 25 miles away.  The last few years I would only end up in a Sears store to pick up something I had purchased on-line at  less than half price they had on the shelf.  Between that pricing idiocy and being able to throw a grenade in the store without hitting anyone it was obvious Sears was in big trouble. Sears snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.  They could have owned the on-line marketplace just using their catalog name list. A management lesson in incompetency. 

 

 

Dean VP

Snohomish, WA 98290

 

From: AT <at-bounces at lists.antique-tractor.com> On Behalf Of Jim Becker
Sent: Monday, October 28, 2019 11:27 AM
To: Antique Tractor Email Discussion Group <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Subject: Re: [AT] Craftsman Tool Warranty

 

I had thought about that, but decided the tool was probably made out of material I wouldn’t be able to drill through.

 

I recently acquired another one of these handles.  It was in a tool box I bought at an auction.  It has the hole, so my round bar became usable again.  Interesting thing about the newly acquired one, it is evidently even older than the one I turned in.  The catalog number is not permanently marked on the tool, as has been Craftsman practice for a long time.  The hole in the handle goes the opposite way from what it did in the handle I turned in.  I have two other 1/2 inch breaker bars, other brands.  They both are cross drilled.  One of them has a hole in the end so it can be used as an extension.

 

Jim Becker