Kobalt no hassle warranty????

[lsmurphy]

Same here, I have exchanged their hoses in the past. I took that last hose to Lowes about 2 months ago and they refused the exchange. They told me they now only offer a warranty up to thirty days.

So.....know what I'm gonna do?

I'll buy another one, save the box and receipt, wait 28 days, insert old hose in box............return.

 

[JJZ 109]

My only experience with Kobalt warranties has been with their 30' tape measure. They went to heck and I took them back 3 times. They grabbed one off the rack, I was out the door with no problems. I think they finally stopped selling that particular model.
When I had another issue with their My Lowe's account not showing that I had a card registered or any of my purchases, that was another story. It took almost a month of being passed from person to person and being sent to the "IT" people before I was able to use the thing. Glad that it finally works because I have a refrigerator for the garage that I bought there in May 2012. Now the thing isn't working and I cannot find the receipt. I looked the purchase up on My Lowe's and now have the warranty repair guys coming on Monday to look at it.

 

[Johnp33]

I worked at a remote logging camp, and when I went to town I would bring out the broken tools for everyone there were 38 mechanics. I wold take the box to sears, drop it off, and come back a few days later and pick up the tools no hassle no problem. They would repair r replace everything that was theirs , I wold go to Snap-on, I had to wait and listen to them *****, and blabber the reasons things were not covered, Gray was great, Proto Great. I never bought a lot of tools at Lowes. I did find that just because a tool is expensive does not make it a good tool.
I bought air ratchets every 6 months, I did class eight motors, I bought the Ingersoll fancy ratchet for big dollars, it spent more time getting fixed than in my tool box. I was at Walmart and they had a Campbell Hausfeld on with a 3 year warrenty for near $10.00 I needed a spare anyway, I had the tool place buy back the Ingersoll, and still have the $10.00 one.

 

[crazyal]

So I have an update. I went back to the same Lowes I went to before. I told them that Kobalt said to just replace it. The lady at the return counter had to call a manager because, this is her words, Kobalt has changed their policy when it comes to the store getting paid for tools replaced under warranty. She said in the future you will need a RA number from Kobalt. They did exchange the hose. It was a little bit of a process as they wouldn't just do a 1 for 1 exchange but instead put the price of the hose on a card and then I had to use the card to buy a new hose. I did tell her that I probably would be buying Kobalt tools if I had to call them up to get permission and a number so I could get a replacement when Craftsman will just hand you a new one. I may try once more in the future to see if things are really that bad or if this was a one time only issue.

 

[bcp]

... The lady at the return counter had to call a manager because, this is her words, Kobalt has changed their policy when it comes to the store getting paid for tools replaced under warranty....

Sounds like she is trying to make you believe Kobalt is an independent company selling tools to Lowes.

From:
Kobalt (tools) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kobalt is a line of tools owned by the American home improvement chain Lowe's as their house brand.

Lowe's and manufacturing partner J.H. Williams launched Kobalt in 1998, with the intention of competing against rival retailers Sears and The Home Depot and their respective Craftsman and Husky tool brands. Since 2003, Kobalt hand tools have largely been made by the Danaher Corporation. Previously made in the USA, initially by Snap-on's JH Williams brand, Kobalt sockets and wrenches are now made in Taiwan, while pliers and other tools are made in China.

 

[DT86]

Changed the policy? That sounds like a bunch of crap, doesn't Lowe's own the Kobalt brand to start with?

 

[Grandad4]

Hard to find decent tools with good warranty these days, that's for sure. But I just sort of sigh and accept it as yet one more sign that our civilization is headed in the wrong direction using the fast lane. Now what I really can't figure out is why it seems like every darn project I do requires me to shop at both Lowes and HD because neither one has all the items required. For example, Lowes has a far better plumbing parts inventory but HD has the better electrical stock. Is it just me or does anyone else notice this also?

 

[DT86]

Is it just me or does anyone else notice this also?

I think it depends largely on the store management.

 

[KYDan]

I like Harbor Freight and their return policy is A1. However, when it comes to tools I still like Craftsman better simply because the short time hassle for a replacement ratchet mechanism beats the heck out of skinned knuckles.