craftsman tools lifetime warranty

[buckeyefarmer]

Yep, they have been in a death spiral, and going further down. Macys also closing a bunch of stores.

 

[mjw]

Just found a broken craftsman socket 2 days ago while cleaning out the tool boxes.
Just found out this morning that our local sears is closing by march.

Really bad for the area as it is one of the anchor stores in a dying mall.

Personally no big loss as Craftsman is already dead to me. The quality has been going down hill for 50 years (my dads old tools were better quality than my first set 25+ years ago).
But I was still happy with the quality and was a diehard craftsman fan (and a diehard fan, used many of their batteries).
But things kept getting worse.

And quality has really gone down hill in the last 5-10 yrs.
Needed some crows foot wrenches for a job a month ago. Figured I would give craftsman one last try. Found the set, took them out of the package, laughed out loud, but cried a little inside. Put the total pieces of junk back in the package and went to another store to buy the best chinese junk they had.
Much better than the craftsman.
Even the harbor freight tools I have bought lately are so much better than the craftsman I have seen lately.

And that is sad, never dreamed of the day I would choose horrible freight over craftsman, but now days there is no comparison in quality.

And if your product is worse than Horrible Freight you should just stop, turn off the lights and close your doors.

Let a once proud brand name go out in style, not cheapen it even more.

 

[ultrarunner]

About the only Craftsman thing I buy these days is the lifetime water hoses on sale...

Nothing bad to say about them.

There was a time when I would scrimp and save to buy Sears Best... things like bench grinder, air compressor, etc... also nothing bad to say.

Sears was my first Credit Card... a couple of years back I was going to buy appliances for an apartment at the Sears Outlet... pulled out my Credit Card and called Sears to activate... all was good.

Next morning I picked out a range, dishwasher, garbage disposal and refrigerator... my New Sears Card was not good.

Turned out Sears had closed my account due to inactivity... said I had called in and was told it was good... Sears said the person that activated my card would not know my account status and was simply there to document I had received it... go figure.

I walked out empty handed as Sears did not take American Express...

The manager followed me saying I could apply for instant credit... said it would take less than a minute... simply wanted to get out and said thanks but no thanks...

Growing up several of the Mom's of the kids I went to school with worked at Sears... some were older having worked there for many years and knew their departments inside out... they would call when a shipment in your size came in... things like that.

Sears sold a lot of paint too... the paint counter was always busy... as was home electronics...

 

[sixdogs]

Had a broken snap-on and the jobber would not exchange it... said I did not buy from him.

True enough, my Grandfather bought them and gave them to me.

All in all Sears has has a good run on the guarantee side of things... but I guess all things come to and end.

There have been lots of articles about how Sears put itself out of business by an over complacent management resting on it's laurels and unable or unwilling to take the risks to be competitive. They always seemed to take the safest path forward. We have all seen this and look where we are now. One by one, they managed to tick off the people that paid their salaries--the customers.

 

[TractorGuy]

Had a broken snap-on and the jobber would not exchange it... said I did not buy from him.

True enough, my Grandfather bought them and gave them to me.

All in all Sears has has a good run on the guarantee side of things... but I guess all things come to and end.

I started to see that before getting out of the auto repair business in 93. This was on tools I had purchased from other Snap On dealers. Their dealers came and went when they began to split up the territories so small they did not profit as they did when one dealer had the whole town. I had about as much Craftsman stuff as I did Snap On, MAC, and other brands. I never stayed loyal to any one dealer or brand. If I found a need for a new tool I bought it from the first truck that rolled up and had it.

Too bad we didn't have a HF back then. I would be out a lot less money but at the end of the day I made a fair living with what I bought.

The best thing I ever did was to get out of that business and work my way into becoming a machinist at a state university.

 

[ultrarunner]

I come across garage and estate sales where tools, good tools go for little or nothing... guess it is a sign of the times.

Never had any kind of table saw... nearby there was an Estate Sale... one of the items was a 1960's Sears Best Table Saw... the kind with the gold paint and "Turned" trim.

Stopped and asked how it was going... they said kind of slow although the 1950's furniture was bought by a dealer that took it all... Chrome and Formica type stuff like everyone had back in the 50's...

I mentioned seeing their Dad out in the driveway with his table saw cutting boards and working on projects... seemed he was always painting, fixing etc...

Son asked if I would like and gave it to me... I don't use it often but always think of him when I do...

There was a time when tools were hot... not to mention the satisfaction that came with being able to do projects having the right tools...

 

[ultrarunner]

I started to see that before getting out of the auto repair business in 93. This was on tools I had purchased from other Snap On dealers. Their dealers came and went when they began to split up the territories so small they did not profit as they did when one dealer had the whole town. I had about as much Craftsman stuff as I did Snap On, MAC, and other brands. I never stayed loyal to any one dealer or brand. If I found a need for a new tool I bought it from the first truck that rolled up and had it.

Too bad we didn't have a HF back then. I would be out a lot less money but at the end of the day I made a fair living with what I bought.

The best thing I ever did was to get out of that business and work my way into becoming a machinist at a state university.

When I was a teen the local Service Station that did smog checks was owned by a young guy just out of the military... back in the 70's... no one wanted the Union 76 Station as it was small and had poor access once the Freeway was built... so mostly local traffic... We met recently and he was surprised I remembered his Mechanic Days... he changed careers and became a Real Estate Broker 35 years ago and has done very well... asked him about it and said his wife didn't want to be married to a mechanic coming home with grease... so he went into Real Estate to and traded coveralls for coat and tie...

Marriage didn't last but he found Real Estate to be very profitable with very little overhead...

 

[tjkubota93]

When I was a teen the local Service Station that did smog checks was owned by a young guy just out of the military... back in the 70's... no one wanted the Union 76 Station as it was small and had poor access once the Freeway was built... so mostly local traffic... We met recently and he was surprised I remembered his Mechanic Days... he changed careers and became a Real Estate Broker 35 years ago and has done very well... asked him about it and said his wife didn't want to be married to a mechanic coming home with grease... so he went into Real Estate to and traded coveralls for coat and tie...

Marriage didn't last but he found Real Estate to be very profitable with very little overhead...

Sounds like his uppity wife spurred the right decision for the wrong reason. I am very glad I left the auto industry. I worked at independents, dealers and for 2 manufacturers. Its a broken business.