• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Thumbs-up to Craftsman and their warranty service.

blurredvision

blurredvision

Lifer
I purchased a Craftsman miter saw this morning, and in my short afternoon of putting together the stand and checking everything out, I ran across a problem. I wanted to take the blade off and get a feel for everything, so I get out my phillips screwdriver, and proceed to try and loosen the screw holding on the swing mechanism to get at the arbor bolt.

To my dismay, the screw wasn't budging. I can't stand a stripped screw! I tried to proceed gently, but this screw was a complete piece of crap, and my screwdriver started to slip. Before I did too much damage, I hammered into the screw head with the screwdriver, whipped out the ol' powered drill, attached an appropriate screw bit, and went to town. No dice. This screw was almost done with before I even began. I tried to get some channel-locks or something around it, but with tapered edges and no room to turn due to the crap around the screw, that wasn't happening. I then switched to a straight screw bit, and even though it bit for about 3 seconds on high-torque, it still wouldn't budge. The screw head eventually gave way and stripped it even further.

The next 30 minutes consisted of cursing, ever-thicker drill bits into the screw itself, more cursing, until I was finally able loosen the screw just enough to finaly be able to hammer the swinging mechanism free, and finally expose the screw plenty enough get my tools around it. It still took some man power, but I finally got it out of there. It had gotten cross-threaded at the factory, and provided a good test for me in the end.

Anywho, called up the customer help line number on the front of the manual. To my surprise, a person immediately answered the phone, no menus or prompts of any kind. She asked my problem, I told her, and gave her my address, serial number, and the part number of the screw. She's sending me 2 or 3 in the mail tomorrow, so they should be here by the end of the week! Luckily I don't really need to use the thing, so I can wait.

Entire phone call took maybe 3 minutes. :thumbsup: to Craftsman customer service.
 
next time buy a screw extractor from sears. are you the one that was asking about the mitre saw? I posted late...but craftsman power tools are the suck.
 
I've got a large set of craftsman sockets and wrenches, been good to me and I'm not worried about breaking them because I've heard craftsman stands behind their stuff.
 
Originally posted by: blurredvision
I purchased a Craftsman miter saw this morning, and in my short afternoon of putting together the stand and checking everything out, I ran across a problem. I wanted to take the blade off and get a feel for everything, so I get out my phillips screwdriver, and proceed to try and loosen the screw holding on the swing mechanism to get at the arbor bolt.

To my dismay, the screw wasn't budging. I can't stand a stripped screw! I tried to proceed gently, but this screw was a complete piece of crap, and my screwdriver started to slip. Before I did too much damage, I hammered into the screw head with the screwdriver, whipped out the ol' powered drill, attached an appropriate screw bit, and went to town. No dice. This screw was almost done with before I even began. I tried to get some channel-locks or something around it, but with tapered edges and no room to turn due to the crap around the screw, that wasn't happening. I then switched to a straight screw bit, and even though it bit for about 3 seconds on high-torque, it still wouldn't budge. The screw head eventually gave way and stripped it even further.

The next 30 minutes consisted of cursing, ever-thicker drill bits into the screw itself, more cursing, until I was finally able loosen the screw just enough to finaly be able to hammer the swinging mechanism free, and finally expose the screw plenty enough get my tools around it. It still took some man power, but I finally got it out of there. It had gotten cross-threaded at the factory, and provided a good test for me in the end.

Anywho, called up the customer help line number on the front of the manual. To my surprise, a person immediately answered the phone, no menus or prompts of any kind. She asked my problem, I told her, and gave her my address, serial number, and the part number of the screw. She's sending me 2 or 3 in the mail tomorrow, so they should be here by the end of the week! Luckily I don't really need to use the thing, so I can wait.

Entire phone call took maybe 3 minutes. :thumbsup: to Craftsman customer service.
Click to expand...

I had a similar experience with a craftsman riding lawn mower, except the part was an ignition coil that I thought was bad. The replacement arrived quickly completely free of charge since it was under warranty. The 😱 'ing part was that it was operator error(the brake pedal wasn't being pushed down far enough to turn off the safety kill switch so that it would crank) and the part was OK after all. The mower has worked like a charm for a few years now.
 
I received a Craftsman jack recently, unfortunately it only has a one year warranty on it and it looks like some generic POS that was made in China and just had the Craftsman name slapped on it afterwards.

On the good side of things, when we were remodeling a house in Seattle, we found an old crescent wrench in the sump pump pit. It was literally fuzzy with rust. My brother-in-law was able to scrape off enough rust to make out the Craftsman name on it. He took it into Sears and they gave him a brand new one. :thumbsup:
 
I've destroyed tons of Craftsman tools over the years, and they ALWAYS stand behind them. One time, I took a 1/2" ratchet in for replacement. Handle broke off just below the ratcheting head. The salesman argued and argued with me that it was obviously not a product defect, but rather abuse. I insisted that the store manager be called, and when he showed up, he told the guy to give me a new ratchet. The guy started to argue with HIM, and the manager fired him on the spot. Said that Sears stands behind EVERY Craftsman tool, regardless of how it was damaged, and that any salesman who couldn't grasp that didn't need to work for Sears...:thumbsup:
I freely admitted to the manager that the ratchet was broken from abuse...Hell, I had a 4' cheater bar on it when it finally gave out...I had broken several sockets in the process, and finally had a heavy-duty impact socket on it. I was surprised that the handle broke before the ratchet components. They usually break before the handle will...

I DO NOT buy Craftsman power tools. All too often, cheaply built, poorly warrantied, (1 year compared to 3-5 with most other companies) and don't seem to last.
 
Originally posted by: BoomerD
I've destroyed tons of Craftsman tools over the years, and they ALWAYS stand behind them. One time, I took a 1/2" ratchet in for replacement. Handle broke off just below the ratcheting head. The salesman argued and argued with me that it was obviously not a product defect, but rather abuse. I insisted that the store manager be called, and when he showed up, he told the guy to give me a new ratchet. The guy started to argue with HIM, and the manager fired him on the spot. Said that Sears stands behind EVERY Craftsman tool, regardless of how it was damaged, and that any salesman who couldn't grasp that didn't need to work for Sears...:thumbsup:
I freely admitted to the manager that the ratchet was broken from abuse...Hell, I had a 4' cheater bar on it when it finally gave out...I had broken several sockets in the process, and finally had a heavy-duty impact socket on it. I was surprised that the handle broke before the ratchet components. They usually break before the handle will...

I DO NOT buy Craftsman power tools. All too often, cheaply built, poorly warrantied, (1 year compared to 3-5 with most other companies) and don't seem to last.
Click to expand...

Rachets are typically not included in the lifetime warrantee cuz of the moving parts. The employee knew that. Some managers will let you get a replacement free anyway. (Yes I know this for a fact as a Craftsman user.) IMO, you got the guy fired for nothing, unless the manager just wanted an excuse to fire that guy.
 
Originally posted by: Mday
Originally posted by: BoomerD
I've destroyed tons of Craftsman tools over the years, and they ALWAYS stand behind them. One time, I took a 1/2" ratchet in for replacement. Handle broke off just below the ratcheting head. The salesman argued and argued with me that it was obviously not a product defect, but rather abuse. I insisted that the store manager be called, and when he showed up, he told the guy to give me a new ratchet. The guy started to argue with HIM, and the manager fired him on the spot. Said that Sears stands behind EVERY Craftsman tool, regardless of how it was damaged, and that any salesman who couldn't grasp that didn't need to work for Sears...:thumbsup:
I freely admitted to the manager that the ratchet was broken from abuse...Hell, I had a 4' cheater bar on it when it finally gave out...I had broken several sockets in the process, and finally had a heavy-duty impact socket on it. I was surprised that the handle broke before the ratchet components. They usually break before the handle will...

I DO NOT buy Craftsman power tools. All too often, cheaply built, poorly warrantied, (1 year compared to 3-5 with most other companies) and don't seem to last.
Click to expand...

Rachets are typically not included in the lifetime warrantee cuz of the moving parts. The employee knew that. Some managers will let you get a replacement free anyway. (Yes I know this for a fact as a Craftsman user.) IMO, you got the guy fired for nothing, unless the manager just wanted an excuse to fire that guy.
Click to expand...

Did they make that part of their policy recently? I got a ratchet set years ago when I worked at a roller rink, and I am almost positive the mail-in card specified a lifetime warranty. Perhaps the warranty only applied to certain parts, like the sockets?
 
Originally posted by: Mday
Rachets are typically not included in the lifetime warrantee cuz of the moving parts. The employee knew that. Some managers will let you get a replacement free anyway. (Yes I know this for a fact as a Craftsman user.) IMO, you got the guy fired for nothing, unless the manager just wanted an excuse to fire that guy.
Click to expand...
That is 100% wrong. rachets have a lifetime warranty. Generally, the warranty is lifetime if there isn't a moving part with the exception of rachets. For example, a torque wrench with the spring tensioner in the handle is not lifetime, but a beam torque wrench is lifetime.

I am not sure if they are required to give you a new one or not; like BoomerD said it is almost always an internal failure of the racheting mechanism, not the handle itself. When I bring in rachets they usually just replace the inards on it, which is cool by me. I never insisted on a new one.

I would bet I have more craftsman tools than anyone here (or damn close), and like BoomerD, I buy them for the warranty.
 
Originally posted by: BoomerD
I've destroyed tons of Craftsman tools over the years, and they ALWAYS stand behind them. One time, I took a 1/2" ratchet in for replacement. Handle broke off just below the ratcheting head. The salesman argued and argued with me that it was obviously not a product defect, but rather abuse. I insisted that the store manager be called, and when he showed up, he told the guy to give me a new ratchet. The guy started to argue with HIM, and the manager fired him on the spot. Said that Sears stands behind EVERY Craftsman tool, regardless of how it was damaged, and that any salesman who couldn't grasp that didn't need to work for Sears...:thumbsup:
I freely admitted to the manager that the ratchet was broken from abuse...Hell, I had a 4' cheater bar on it when it finally gave out...I had broken several sockets in the process, and finally had a heavy-duty impact socket on it. I was surprised that the handle broke before the ratchet components. They usually break before the handle will...
Click to expand...
I did this same sort of thing to my dad's old Craftsman 1/2" ratchet. I put a 4' breaker bar on there and used a floor jack to turn it. The bolt never came loose (despite the liquid wrench) and the head of the ratchet twisted all the way around. They gave me a new one, no questions asked. That bolt is still stuck on my car until the day I can afford an acetylene torch. 😛

Since then, I have bought enough Craftsman stuff to renovate the rest of my car and then some. They will also be used to turn my car's old engine into a 4-tap bar accessory. :thumbsup:
 
Originally posted by: Evadman
Originally posted by: Mday
Rachets are typically not included in the lifetime warrantee cuz of the moving parts. The employee knew that. Some managers will let you get a replacement free anyway. (Yes I know this for a fact as a Craftsman user.) IMO, you got the guy fired for nothing, unless the manager just wanted an excuse to fire that guy.
Click to expand...
That is 100% wrong. rachets have a lifetime warranty. Generally, the warranty is lifetime if there isn't a moving part with the exception of rachets. For example, a torque wrench with the spring tensioner in the handle is not lifetime, but a beam torque wrench is lifetime.

I am not sure if they are required to give you a new one or not; like BoomerD said it is almost always an internal failure of the racheting mechanism, not the handle itself. When I bring in rachets they usually just replace the inards on it, which is cool by me. I never insisted on a new one.

I would bet I have more craftsman tools than anyone here (or damn close), and like BoomerD, I buy them for the warranty.
Click to expand...

If the innards of the ratchet were all that had gone bad, I would happily go with a replacement of just those parts. :thumbsup:
 
Glad to hear of your positive experience. I always buy Craftsman hand and power tools. The few hand tools (power tools don't have a lifetime warranty) I have managed to break (always thru abuse 😱 ) they've replaced w/o any complaints.

For home/hobbist use, you can't do better for the money. Now, for PROFESSIONAL power tool use, you've got to go with Bosch or Makita or a few other brands.

Years ago, I bought one of those 1K+ piece "mechanic sets." It has last thru many a marathon car/truck repair session in less than gentle and caring hands. I always wipe them off with a clean rag before putting them away. They've been good to me. 🙂
 
Craftsman tools are great because Sears is open 7 days. It's easy to get an exchange.

I was taking some seat belts out of a car and they were bolted to the floor with a massive Torx bolt. I ruined THREE Torx sockets before I finally got it off. I'd break one, take it to Sears and get it exchanged, and repeat until the job was done.

A couple years ago, my parents bought me a big rolling Crafstman tool chest that's as tall as me. I have no place for it, so it's sitting in boxes in their basement until I get a place where I can have it. Then I'm going to have to fill it with tools, I can't wait 😀.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top