I did not show a receipt at any of these stores and I did not tell them any story about what happened. Just walked in and said, "I need a warranty replacement".
That's easy for the employee to just do an exchange and mark it as broken for the return to vendor label. Your information is desirable to prevent systemic abuse by exceeding the quantity/time frame quota by the vendor.
Thank you again. Another great video. I have enough ratchets to last me until I retire, so I was watching for enjoyment / entertainment. Your video was both.
I dont mind if the store does a bit of record keeping as long as they dont try to interrogate me on how it broke so they can weasel out of replacement. "will make it right no matter what" - I am willing to give the guy some time
"I don't do warranty stuff." Nah, you'll just ring it up as a no receipt return, get an override from leader on duty, scan the new one, hit the end return button, scan the new one again (so it comes out of inventory) and that's it. Sign the receipt and you're good to go. I might work at a Harbor Freight.
A few years ago I called AAA for a flat tire (for medical reasons I have been told not to do those things). The guy who showed up pulled out a HF cordless impact and quickly handled things. I commented on the HF cordless impact had to make his life easier and questioned how well in held up. His reply was I change about 8 tires a day, these thing last about 8 months so when it breaks I take it back to HF. The store manager keeps one in the back at all times so they will have one to warranty replace my broken (totally worn out) one. He then laughed saying he went to HF to buy something a few days ago and before he found what he was after they handed him a new cordless impact.
I am a huge Duralast fan. I work at a local heavy duty mechanics shop, and whether you want to admit it or not, stuff at that level, will break. I don't care if you have hyper-tough, Craftsman or Snap-on. I find myself always going to or driving past an Autozone, so their Duralast tools were a good choice. The way I found out about their return policy, is I was doing a brake job on my truck, and needed brake grease for the pad kit I bought online. While I was there, I picked up their T55 torx head socket because I knew I needed on. I was using it on a craftsman ratchet, blew the guts out of that ratchet and lollipopped the torx head. I went to ACE where I heard I could get Craftsman tools. They handed me a 5 page document asking if I had taken care of the tool, if it was maintained properly and whatnot. On the last page, it asked, was I a professional mechanic. I am. They wouldn't cover it if I was, so I checked no. And finally they stated, if i lied, I could be found under perjury of law. All of this BS For a $20 ratchet. I threw the ratchet on the ground and left. I needed a new caliper bolt from Autozone, so I went back to pick up the bolts, and also attempted to warrantee the torx head. I showed it to them, they asked me to grab a new one off the shelf. When i brought it up, they said; "have a nice day. Hope that one works better." No questions, no comments, just a simple return policy. I quickly went back to the aisle and got a ratchet which is also under the same warrantee and fell in love with their ratchet as well. Now most of my box is Duralast and the stuff that isn't is stuff that they just don't have like taps and dies, Square head sockets and really long ratchets. Most of which I go with snap-on or another respectable brand. Sorry for the long story, just figured I would share my Autozone experience.
Should have taken the ratchet to Lowe's. They'll exchange with few-to-no questions asked. I actually traded-in an old, crappy "Craftsman Industrial" ratchet that came in an inexpensive set (from a job I had over a decade ago) at my local Lowe's last year. The ratchet 'worked' (barely ever used it, honestly), but was just bottom-tier, cheaply-made Craftsman. Lowe's gave me credit for that ratchet (credited me the price of a new, 'cheap' Craftsman) and let me put that credit towards the purchase of the nicer, Taiwan-made, flex head, 'Craftsman Professional'. I'll have to keep the DURALAST tools in mind. I'm fleshing-out my 3/8" ratchet collection and have been buying one or two ratchets of different brands and price points to compare.
Harbor Freight (HB) Cashier: “I don’t do warranty returns.” The Tool Bear (TB): Oh really? (The TB quickly removes his cell phone presses speed dial #9) Eric L. Smidt: Only one person has this number. The Tool Bear must be in trouble! “Yes TB what is it.” “I see” “Wait right their” Eric hopes onto company helicopter and flies to TB’s location. Makes the cashier make the return and then fires them. “You don’t disrespect the Tool Bear”
At my cousin’s shop, I found a 1/4” drive Duralast ratchet at the bottom of the parts washer. It had been in there for years, soaking in diesel and other solvents, long forgotten. I took it to AutoZone and the manager looked up the item number. It wasn’t in the system anymore. He thought for a moment, then took me to the tool section and gave me a choice between a 100-tooth non-quick release ratchet and a 72-tooth quick release ratchet. I choose the 100-tooth and walked out. Easy peasy!
sounds good... I have just recently heard of Tekton and I am going to buy a handful of tools that I don't have. I was impressed by the selection of tools they offer considering I had never heard of them. Now I just have to convince my shop owner to get on board with it... since we have such trouble with the Snap-off guy, now using Matco which is a better experience but they get lost etc...
I bought a new set of Tekton sockets SECONDHAND and the set had a duplicate... I sent them a message and a photo and they sent me the missing one... even though I told them I didn't buy it new.
"Lifetime Warranty" has taken on a whole new meaning at Lowes when it comes to Craftsman brand tools. I went in to exchange a 4 inch, round shank, flat blade Craftsman screwdriver and the only thing they had that was comparable was a 6 inch size of the same style screwdriver. I carried them both up to the tool desk and the guy told me, "we're only supposed to do warranty exchange for the exact same item," to which I said, "so, if you don't stock the exact same item on the shelf, then your 'lifetime warranty' is worthless?" To which he says "essentially, yes." Then he took the old tool from me and laid it on the counter, and took the new screwdriver and pulled the tag and shelf hanger off of it and said, "just put it in your pocket and have a nice day, I'll take care of it." From this exchange, I would suggest to everyone out there to never buy a Craftsman tool if you are banking on the same warranty that Sears used to give. This nice fellow also told me that he has been instructed not to warranty any Craftsman tools that have "rust" on them, and to not warranty any Craftsman tape measures. So there you go, the Craftsman warranty is worthless. You will be much better served to buy Harbor Freight tools since their warranty actually means something. I will never buy anything else with the Craftsman brand on it.
Last year the Lowe's here let me "trade in'' a functioning, cheapo Craftsman for store credit - then I just picked out one of the nicer, polished, flex-head Craftsman ratchets and paid the difference. They didn't seem to care.
I hate Walmart, they have like 20 lanes yet theres always only 4 lanes open with big lines of people I only go to Walmart to steal motrin liquid gels 😎
yea now they have the audacity to force you to self checkout... lmfao I will never self check out... next time I go and there is nothing but self check out I am setting my stuff near the checkout and telling them I don't work for free. They should offer a discount to people who self checkout.
@@codemiesterbeats I recently tried the self check out and it was painless. They have an employee watching all the people self checking out. That person was more than willing to show me how to do it. It works well for half a cart or less. If I'm buying a bunch of products I will stand in line for a cashier. (I've been told these self checkout areas are called shoplifter alley for amateurs). Side note: I personally know teams of professional "boosters". They absolutely do NOT steal from Wal-Mart.
I work in auto parts store, sometimes we have to ask seemingly dumb questions like that because it actually matters. Two-door and four-door Chrysler Sebring have different parts and they're both completely different vehicles than the Sebring convertible. If your Jeep or Mitsubishi says "sport" it's not the same as a non-sport. If you order brakes and I asked about your engine it's because the brake size depends on the engine size.
Recently took an older kobalt to local lowes they not only didn't have the same one apparently they hadn't sold it in quite a while. The super sweet lady when they didn't have the 3/8 kobalt she offered nice gun metal craftsman version that was a bit more expensive as an even trade. She went out of her way to make sure I was happy with the trade. Not my usual experience with lowes but was glad to see it!
I had some kobalt scissors that I found at work that lost their edge. I took then in and they gave me the newer version which came with an extra pair. After some chatting and pecking at keyboards of course.
About 45 years ago, a friend of mine found a large Sears Craftsman plumbers wrench in the alley behind his Chicago apartment. It was old, broken, and totally rusted from top to bottom. He brought it to the local Sears store, and even without a receipt he was promptly given a new one, no questions asked.
One more reason I decided to go with Carlyle as my go-to tool brand. Napa is everywhere (at least in my region), absolute hassle free warranty for tools that feel far better in quality than their price suggests.
I used AutoZone for brakes on my 98 Ranger with lifetime warranty. I had the truck for 16 years and put 189,000 on it. They replaced the brakes 4 times, shocks on both back and front twice. Loved them.......
Damn that's just for defects. How you get new pads after wearing them out? Tie rod ends or ball joints yes they will give new ones for free. But brake pads that are used?
No. If you wear them out, they will replace the parts. I had to provide the labor. I would replace them about every 40,000 miles. I didn’t buy the best ones. They also replaced an alternator. Their rebuilt lasted about 60,000 miles. I think they was very happy when I traded it off.
Told ya. HD gave me a song and dance, accusing me of 'abusing' the wrench, and said 'we'll do it this time, but not anymore'. I enjoy you videos. Keep up the great work bear!
Home Depot gave me an issue with my impact adaptor for husky with a lifetime warranty as well. Same problem. Didn’t want to warranty it they actually told me contact husky. Idiots working there
Lowe’s vs Craftsman. I’ve recently had two slightly different experiences returning (warranty exchanging) Sears era Craftsman sockets. The customer service rep at my local Virginia Lowe’s simply scanned the replacements, handed them back to me and kept the “bad” ones; total time ~30 seconds. However, a Pittsburgh area Lowe’s rep actually scanned the replacements in order to load credit on a store gift card, then the rep immediately rang up the replacements for sale and used this new gift card as full payment resulting in zero cost; total time ~6 minutes. Aside: recommend first locating the replacement tool, THEN take it and your broken tool to customer service.
That gift card from Home Depot is to track your return frequency. I have always had a terrible time with Home Depot warranties. When I used to buy a lot of Klein tools I’d take them in for exchange at my local Home Depot’s. Each time I’d have no receipt and each time they’d ring it out and have me put in my number or scan my drivers license. If warranty more frequent than most as I was hard on my pliers when I was a low voltage electrician. It’s been 3 years and I still am blocked from no receipt returns... and that includes warranties as that’s how Home Depot processes their warranties, as no receipt returns. Hence your gift card which I have recieved in the past when the pliers were out of stock. As far as the no questions asked. It was always a nightmare as they were acting as if I was taking something from them. Each time I’d have to pull up the lifetime warranty/return policy on Klein’s website where it clearly states any vendor that sells Klein tools is required to exchange for a new one. One time they even had one of their department “specialists “ take my worn diagonal cutters and start cutting different gauge copper wire and romex and said “they’re still cutting “ and refused my warranty.
I got to see him do a live performance back in 2015! I grew up on that show, Iowa was also one of the biggest supporters of the show and so they'd make appearances at the iowa state fair often as well.
Worked at homedepot in tools. People would weld stuff on ratchets or come in missing half the tool it didn't matter always gave them the closest replacement and got them out as soon as possible. All you had to do was scan the new item with your scanner gun thing and mark it as a warranty item then throw the old one away. Tool section manager later personaly decided we had to throw old warranty stuff in this drawer by key machine.
Hey, I work in the hardware department at home depot. Here's a tip to make it way faster next time. When you go up to the service desk; tell them that you want to speak to a hardware associate. Don't bring up the exchange right from the get go. Explain that you need a exchange to the hardware associate and they will take it from there facilitating the process. The service desk associate still has to do the transaction, but most service desk associates have no idea what tools are or look like so they are slow as hell.
Had a similar horror story with snap-on about 5 yrs ago, had about 1000 bucks worth of snap-on ratchets & sockets etc... broken, found a snap-on truck and he laughed and said you didn't buy from me I don't exchange so call snap-on, so called snap-on told them all what I had broken they said no prob, gave them my info and they said they'll be shipped out tomorrow and throw the broken ones away I said ok, luckily I waited cause about a week later I get a call from a rep at snap-on wanting pictures of everything I had broken, so took pictures and emailed to him while he waited on the phone he received the pics and said no prob they'll be shipped out tomorrow, about a month goes by and nothing called snap-on again with my reference number they gave me and they said we need better proof of the broken tools besides your word or the pictures cause that could of been some picture you pulled off online and honestly dont think that you have the tools and that I have to send the tools back to snap-on so they can be inspected to confirm that there broken and I had to insure them for the 1000 value and if I dont they'll just throw them away when they receive if I didn't insure them and wont honor the warranty , so it cost around 50-60 bucks to ship the heavy package to them with the insurance and about another month later I finally got my replacements , so that ended my love affair with snap-on LOL
LOL, there great tools don't get me wrong but that experience soured me about buying anymore in the future, and ive been told by other ppl too that I was full of it and all I say is have you ever returned a Snap-on, NO, so who are you to tell me what happened
bigbob0042 no, they’re not “great” tools. Hell, the only thing they’ve got over any store brand is some of their specialty tools. I still know a few old timers who laugh at the kids who come out of school and dump 80% of their paychecks into overpriced S O garbage.
Im not a snap-on fanboy by any means the only reason I have some snap-on is cause like you said some of their specialty tools, most of my collection are mostly craftsman, some husky, cornwell & snap-on , few mac, & others, by me saying great is if they made ya money and get the job done quick , then that makes any tool great in my opinion
When Crafstman was owned by Sears and only carried by Sears, I used to be able to take any hand tool with that brand's name on it, walk up to the customer service people, hand it to them, and they'd go get me a new one of it. Even for stuff that I'd bought at a garage sale.
I've always had trouble returning items to Lowes without a receipt (even Kobalt). I bought a 28 oz Eastwing which got ran over by a forklift. Lowes wouldn't take it exchange it, so I went to HD to buy a new one. Told them what happened and they replaced it on the spot.
I know this is a joke but years ago (5-10), they were talking about doing away with lifetime warranty. If anything though it seems to be spreading and getting better. I have had a few issues with HF where I bought the "pro" tools, and a few people said I needed a receipt, or this or that and made it a pain in the ass to deal with but eventually I would get to someone that knew what they were doing.
It's like socialized healthcare or socialized anything, where every tax payer pays for it. It is factored in the price. The tool itself costs fuck all to make, in Mao's Wonderland. In any case, next time they raise the price on the wrenches, they'll make it all back and change.
If you don't think warranty and theft isn't already factored into pricing, you're nuts. I'll give you an example....rear view mirror adhesive used to cost 99 cents when I worked at the auto parts store in the mid-90's. By the time I left for my adult profession, it was up to $4.99. When the vendor came to town I asked why the price jump. I was told that four 99-cent packages were stolen for every package that was sold.
@@TrakSpock1 "If you don't think warranty and theft isn't already factored into pricing, you're nuts." Of course it is. That's the smart way to do it anyway. -- just not to the extent you go into. "By the time I left for my adult profession, it was up to $4.99." That could be for a number of reasons. Most likely the reason was "what the market will bear". The reason this is the most likely reason is... if they had competition at that price point, raising the price that high would have dropped their volume to nil. Pricing structures / what the market can bear is tailored to how much you want to sell over a period of time. High volume low price, or low volume high price. If through market research they saw they were not selling that many and customers were willing to spend more for it, that could sustain low volume high price. "When the vendor came to town I asked why the price jump. I was told that four 99-cent packages were stolen for every package that was sold." Yes and vendors are beacons of honesty. /s? They are just like used car salesman sometimes worse. I can almost guarantee that kind of shrinkage would have caused other changes, not just an increase in price. and the increase in price wouldn't have been that much, especially if there were similar options on the market. Also to note, vendors don't always know and rarely do know the reasons why prices jump around, so this sounds like it was freshly pulled from their ass. @Fridelain "The tool itself costs fuck all to make" I agree in some instances, but shrinkage only factors into a small amount of the actual cost. The higher the volume the lower it will be. The other comments I could get into if you want, but they are equally as bunk.
I've had to return a set of Husky 3/8 drive allens that took about a half hour, and the cashier made me go get the replacement set from the aisle. I returned a Husky set of tin snips and the cashier literally told me that 'lots of stores sell Husky tools'. They eventually gave me a Wiss set, that I again had to go get from the aisle- and I was on my way. I haven't bought any tools from HD since.
@@michaspi Apparently lots of smoking going on. As a teenager I smoked a little weed but figured out quick in the adult world that means getting stupid. Smoke away idiots!
Uncle Bob well how the f else is the tool you want gonna get from the aisle to the register? They want YOU to get it to mitigate the chances of you coming back to return it again... YOU picked out the replacement, not them. Dumb.
I had a duralast 1/2" ratchet a friend brought over to fix his car and broke in the process of doing so. That was 10+ years ago. The last time i went into autozone i noticed they advertised lifetime warranty. So i made an extra trip to replace it. I was in and out in a few minutes, No questions asked. So now i have a beautiful new ratchet for free!
You are correct. I always use craftsman tools and Sears sold the brand. I have hard time getting replace at Lowest store. Now I moving toward tekton tools.
Great video. Over the years, shopping at Home Depot and Lowes, I've learned that returns are easiest if you purchase using a store credit card and bring your receipt for a return or exchange. That's not always possible, but it sure streamlines a return.
OK, I'm about 18 or 20 or so. A friend is repairing a boat, for someone he knows. (Since this was 40 years ago, it could have been his boat.) I see a COMPLETELY rusted Craftsman 3/8ths ratchet in the bilge, and I say, "that looks like a brand new Craftsman ratchet!" And, after a trip to Sears, it was! No questions asked! (I just looked, I've currently got 5 of them.) Oh, the 1/2 inch ratchet, I've got 2 of them. One is in my "ratchet and socket" tool box, the other is in my Homebrewing stuff, for working on Coke (pinlock) Cornelius Kegs. When I lived in Honolulu, about the same time, the "bag in box" system was being introduced, ALL the bars were setting the useless Cornie kegs, out behind their doors. I had about 30 FREE kegs, and one of them was FULL of Root Beer. I also scored a cold plate, (It sat under the ice bin, and was cooled by that ice. Had 8 stainless lines through a 5 pound block of aluminum.) All of this was thrown out the back doors, of most of the "gentleman's clubs" in Honolulu, and left for scavengers. steve
I had all pleasant experiences with Sears, except for one time, an older guy said that craftsman wouldn’t take back wrenches with a little rust on them and then he said that they would be stop doing the warranty soon, that was back when I still had a Sears lol
Bull crap 💩 I took my craftsman and they give me a refurbished ratchet they used to give you a brand new one off the shelf but now they give you a refurbished one that you take home and it breaks anyways I’m glad that series is under and I would never buy or on a craftsman ever again because they don’t back it up like they used to with a lifetime warranty they wanna just give you a refurbished one and not a brand new one off the shelf like they use to fudge craftsman tools!!! I buy Husky Tools 🧰
I had a similar experience with HD when i had a brand new ryobi battery kick the bucket in one charge. Woman told me to go get a replacement and I couldn't find any so I talked with a manager that was nearby to help me look. He couldn't find one and grabbed a 4a battery instead of the 2a i was exchanging. He came to the register with me and the woman told me (in front of the manager!!) I needed to go to another store because they couldn't help me without a replacement. The manager told her to give me a gift card and then discount the bigger battery to the same price and sell it to me. Took about 30 min total. I have way worse HD stories but I'll spare you those. I'll stick with Lowes and Ace in a pinch.
I would like to put my two cents in here for Lowe's. Their warranty clearly states a "No Hassle Guarantee" for their branded hand tools, Kobalt, for anyone that doesn't know. It clearly states that no receipt is needed. It only needs to be a Kobalt tool. Ok. Loving that return policy, I've invested lots of money in their branded tools. However, anytime I've ever needed to exchange a broken tool, I'm always asked for a receipt, an ID, when i refuse that, a manager is called, 50% of the time the item is discontinued, which leads to more disagreement about how Lowe's is going to honor their warranty, peppered with a lot of salty glares and snide remarks relating to why I'm demanding they honor the original warranty. Case in point, I purchased a 64 piece mechanic ratchet set quite a few years back. The 1/4" ratchet failed. I returned the set. I conceded that I would be happy with them just replacing the failed ratchet. They looked dumbfounded. Uh, bergerk, doo duh doo. Unfortunately, the set I owned was discontinued. We can't just replace the tiny 1/4" drive ratchet because, who the hell even knows? The option was, a set, with less pieces and less driver size options than the one I'd brought in, or a set with about 10 more pieces but the same number of drivers. They were genuinely upset that I refused to accept the set with less pieces than the one i had originally purchased and, after lots of back and forth, begrudgingly agreed to exchange my original set with the bigger set. The entire exchange, as far as I'm concerned, was not hassle free and really uncomfortable and unnecessary. What do you all think? Was I wrong?
LOWES is the worst! there is a Bit@h at the counter who is always there. I took my Kobalt tool in and she said no we don't do that, I said it a life time warrantee she said well first we would have to have one to replace it. so she called someone 15 minutes later kid came back and said no they dont have one (but later I found they did) I said I would call lowes,So I came back the next week same Bit@h said you cant just come in here! you have to call Kobalt and get a number! I explained to here that Kobalt is owned by lowes why don't you call them. She said I can't do anything without a number. So I left called kobalt got the number came back and she said she couldnt do anything without the original sKew # from the set. but that is ok cuz I have it at home. but I am waiting for the day I walk in to lowes and the bit@h is not at the counter I am in no hurry
A few years ago, I knew a team of 3 fellows that went around Oklahoma and Texas buying old Craftsman tools especially at flea markets. Broke ones they'd take and exchange. The odd thing was they would never go to the same store. They made money. Eaglegards...
I left that same home Depot ratchet in my trunk and it vibrated apart, they were out of them, gave me the next up model(adjustable angle) instead. Was easy.
I have 2 Carlyle ratchets from Napa I use daily (auto tech). They used to just give me a new ratchet when one broke. Now they want to send them off and have them rebuilt. These ratchets used to me my full time first pick. Not anymore. They stay in the bottom drawer as a backup to Snap On. Yes, a substantial difference, I know. However, the Carlyle ratchets were nice enough and tough enough I wanted to use them daily and the (used to be) painless exchange made it worthwhile.
On the Stanley ratchet from Walmart... remember their motto... Satisfaction Guaranteed but if you read the small print after that... (but only if you call Bentonville, AR.) So call a complaint in to Bentonville, Arkansas & they'll call the regional manager, who will call the district manager, who will call the store manager, who will call you and tell you to come back in and get your replacement Stanley ratchet...!
I’ve only been hassled twice on a very few warrant claims over 40 years, both on broken tape measures .One at Sears one at Home Depot . Both young guys and I asked for another person to replace. “What did you do to it” ,I recall.
Hf has always swapped tools under warranty for Joe Smith. And lowes too. Sears 3 years ago didn't want to swap a craftsman tape measure. But I made them. Now that 1 broke. So got to swap it again
I went to HD to buy a Ryobi 18v drill to put a handrail at my parents house. I cut all the wood, bout an hour latter I open the Ryobi box, and the drill was greasy and used. Took it back to HD, told the guy I bought this an hour ago, and it was already used. He said "no problem, go get another." So I did, and asked him to please open the box to make sure it was a new drill. When he opened the second, it was used too. He said " that happens a lot, people use stuff, then return it latter for refunds."
I’m waiting for my warranty from Matco still. The tool truck did not have my broken socket or locked up ratchet on stock so I had to wait 2 weeks for the tool truck to come back to my shop
Ace Hardware has taken my Sears aged (20 year) sockets back no questions asked. Im sure you all know Ace has been selling Craftsman way before Lowes. Has to be over 5 years. Always had positive experiences there. They are more expensive there but always clean and clear for a small town hardware store that's close to me.
Alot of stores contract out merchandise. That way they don't have to tie up there money in inventory. Its stock ed and managed by another company and they get a cut. So as long a they get cut they don't care.
Maybe I expect stores to be jerks, but I likely would have had a big print out of the ad with the "NO QUESTIONS ASKED" part highlighted, and when they started their crap, slapped it on the counter. :p
My mechanic who has been wrenching for about 60 years said he tells the new kids to go out and buy all of their tools from Harbor Freight. He said as they break or get lost then they will begin to get a feel for which ones they need to invest more money in.
I haven't purchased any tools from Napa but they deliver parts and things like fuses to our dealership any time we call and they told me they would also deliver any replacement tool that broke in just a few minutes if they had it in stock. I'm mighty tempted to go see if there's anything I just have to have because no questions asked and free instant delivery is pretty hard to beat
Thanks bear for as always a great vid. Returned a 3/8" Craftsman fine tooth ratchet set twice at Sears years ago. They would install a rebuild kit while you waited. Best time is when they did not have a rebuild kit and gave me a better ratchet. Like they say Lowes blows. They suck returning Craftsman tools. Have to check out NAPA for next tool purchase. They closed the closest 3 Sears from me so know would have to go to another state and pay $5 bridge toll.
Nice to see someone testing tool warranty.👍🔧 I like Autozone & Home Depot because of locations & no hassle. The Napa is hit & miss if it's not in stock they want to charge freight. It also depends who is working.
Forty years ago I found an old Craftsman broken ratchet by the side of the road and brought it to a Sears Store. Five minutes later I walked out with a brand new Craftsman ratchet. I wasn't asked for a receipt, my ID, or what happened to it - the clerk just took the old one and handed me a new one.
You’re more than The Bear, you’re a Sly Dog . This was interesting and very helpful. Mama Bear better not catch ya around auto parts places on a Monday ! You may end up riding in the tool chest to Montana.
Great video! I love Stanley and have never had to exchange a hand tool. For the price I don’t think you can go wrong. For sure there is better but I like Stanley
I’ve had a mix bag at Home Depot. I’ve replaced a couple of screwdrivers (husky brand) and it’s been pretty painless, just went a grabbed another and they replaced it. Not so much when I took a hammer, it had a fiberglass handle and it was cracked, One store said no because they didn’t carry that model anymore, so I took it to another store and they pushed back a little bit replaced it after about 10-15 minutes.
So if you have a lifetime warranty, look into the eyes of the store employee and say, “I can’t *bear* to hear that my warranty will not be honored,” and your problem will most likely be resolved! 🐻 Harbor Freight is my favorite store to return LLW tools. Typically you hand them the tool, they quickly look at it and almost always say, “Go ahead and grab a replacement...” You grab the tool, wave to them at the cashier and you’re done!
Went in Lowes one time to replace a garden hose that leaked around the fitting. It was years old but I had saved the receipt. The lady called a man to see how to do this and he said there was no lifetime warranty. I thought I was wrong but something told me to read the label which I also had. I said well then what does this mean, pointing to the part that read "lifetime warranty". He said well I guess it does and directed me to the hose section. I got a new one and went on my way after the scanning and everything.
Back in the 1970s I drove a 240Z, and made a "custom" tool for a specific need it had, by simply hacksawing a Craftsman combination wrench into two pieces. I even kept the useless open end fragment in my tool box, and eventually, some time after I sold that car in 1982, took both pieces to Sears and got it replaced *very* easily.
I have returned two "Made In USA" Craftsman ratchets at Lowes in the last two years, a 1/4" drive and a 1/2" drive. They handed me a new ratchet no questions asked. Of course that was before I understood that new Craftsman tools are "Made In China" and I should have tried harder to fix the old ratchets. I deeply regret that. But the two I broke were purchased in the 70s and now I have two brand spanking new ones in my box, so even though it was a down grade I still consider both transactions a win for me.
Interesting. My local NAPA doesn't honored the Evercraft warranty. I was told to have my original receipt and price tag to my tool. Something I didn't have after purchasing my tool 6 years prior.
I'm a sales supervisor at Harbor Freight. The behavior of the first associate is absolutely unacceptable. We pride ourselves with our excellent customer service.
Great follow up video bear. You completely followed up on the first video the life time warrantee. You are a honest and though tester. Keep the videos coming.
Give home depot your bad reviews to the 800# then there customer service will get better. it takes them 10 good reviews to fix 1 bad but that's what they get.
I had this issue with Lowe’s. I brought in a ratchet that I had purchased from Sears(Craftsman ratchet). I was told that I had to call the 800-number for craftsman. The Lowe’s that I went to, stated that I would have to have a Lowe’s receipt showing that I purchased a craftsman tool from Lowe’s to get a replacement ratchet. When Sears is open I never had this issue.
Home Depot is weird at times. Mine has the same attitudes. I had a ratchet fail right out of the gate. I called and was told to bring it in. Get there, say I called earlier and why and gal working returns never said one single word to me. She pages the tool dept manager who informs me I had to return the entire set to exchange for an entire set as taking the single 3/8” drive would screw up inventory and my receipt showed it was part of a set. I asked why he couldn’t just bring up a set and exchange drives that way and it was all attitude from that point. I leave as I have no time for attitude but return the next day with the entire set and basically got the same attitude from return gal. Another guy is called up, I have to explain I have a defective drive and he just grabs a single drive to exchange it with. Im then told that’s all they needed to do in first place. No receipt either. I looked straight at the return gal who still has never spoken a word to me and told her to call up every manager in store and I wanted the district number as well. We needed a talk, lol. After all was said and done, all apologies garnered and my behind figuratively chapped, we walked back up front. They might thought I was leaving but I stopped at the return desk and returned it all for a refund. I rather enjoyed the look I received from the gal as I sweetly told her that there was nothing wrong with the set now, I just no longer wanted it 😎
I keep kobalt sockets and ratchet wrenches cause our lowes does a no questions asked thing. And its across the street from our shop. Walk in at lunch with a broken wrench, they thow it on the counter tell ys to grab another one and come back. They'll rip the tag off and send ya out the door with a new wrench in less than 10 minutes.
Nice video. I too went to Homedepot to return a husky pro 3/8 ratchet. Unfortunately they didn’t make them anymore and I had to settle for a standard one, it took a while because the manager had to decide which one was comparable.
You should try exchanging a craftsman ratchet to ace hardware, ive tried at least 3 different ace hardwares (by me at least) and they acknowledged that craftsman has a lifetime warranty but they don't honor the replacement policy and told me to contact sears ( that was told to me by 3 different store managers), LOL, that's why im don't buy craftsman at ace anymore
I work at an autoparts store. it's not worth fighting ba customer over a return/warranty. especially when it's obviously ours. the backlash is much bigger hit than one small return the only time I actually give some care is if it's gasket sets that's been opened or electrical parts. other than that, I typically don't question.
Thank you bear I’ve bin trying to decide if I’m going to stick with craftsman or move to harbor freight icon I’ve heard good things about them and the price is right
Home Depot gave me a problem when I tried to replace a husky 1/2 inch breaker bar. The return lady had to call a manager and the manager had to call the tool guy and then I got a new one.
i returned my icon 1/2 flex back to harbor freight, i stripped one of the star-bit screws, and i assume i overgreased it because the pawl was stuck and wouldn't come loose to grab onto the ratcheting mechanism. they did not have the same one on hand and ended up getting a refund over it. No questions that i can remember 50/50 satisfied
I wouldn't buy any handtools at Walmart. Service counter is usually faraway from tool department, some employees are terrible, usually there is a line at service counter. Harbor Freight is good if you hit the great employee. AutoZone or any other auto parts store, I think it depends on the store, not individual employee.
I found a Kobalt 3/8" drive 10 mm socket that I lost a long time ago. It was on the floor, under my tool box, behind a wheel, and I don't remember how long it had been missing (I bought a new one back then), so it wasn't exactly broken, but it was rusty as hell. The guy at the Lowes Customer Service Desk had no idea how to process a warranty return, but there was a young woman behind him looking over his shoulder who walked him through it. This guy did the return by the book (literally as he and the young lady were referring to a manual) and apparently their return policy is to write up a store credit and place it on a gift card. THEN they wrote up the new socket as a sale and paid for it using the gift card, handed me the new socket and wished me a pleasant day. Total time spent ... about 8 to ten minutes, most of which was spent standing there as the dude learned how to do the return. But they were very pleasant about it and asked me no questions about how it got so freaking rusty. Now I have an extra 10 mm socket and who couldn't use a few of those?
I can remember when Sears had the bright idea to give you replacement parts for ratchets. The employee would say the handle isn’t broken. Here’s your replacement. You wonder why Sears wound up in so much trouble. And you had to do the warranty repair yourself. And when the Harbor Freight store first opened up by me. I brought a Pittsburgh chain binder back the store to be warrantied . They insisted I had to mail it back for a replacement. Which didn’t happen because I kept wanting to speak to the manager. Finally they replaced the broken one and I left.
I did not show a receipt at any of these stores and I did not tell them any story about what happened. Just walked in and said, "I need a warranty replacement".
That's easy for the employee to just do an exchange and mark it as broken for the return to vendor label. Your information is desirable to prevent systemic abuse by exceeding the quantity/time frame quota by the vendor.
excellent video, minus Walmart every business was cool minus an employee or two.
Thank you again. Another great video. I have enough ratchets to last me until I retire, so I was watching for enjoyment / entertainment. Your video was both.
Now I know what a bear silounds like anf what a Fox says... LOL
I dont mind if the store does a bit of record keeping
as long as they dont try to interrogate me on how it broke so they can weasel out of replacement.
"will make it right no matter what" - I am willing to give the guy some time
The reason most of them didn't fight you is because they're too afraid to question a bear.
Lol
"I don't do warranty stuff." Nah, you'll just ring it up as a no receipt return, get an override from leader on duty, scan the new one, hit the end return button, scan the new one again (so it comes out of inventory) and that's it. Sign the receipt and you're good to go.
I might work at a Harbor Freight.
AGENT DEEP FREIGHT REVEALED
A few years ago I called AAA for a flat tire (for medical reasons I have been told not to do those things). The guy who showed up pulled out a HF cordless impact and quickly handled things. I commented on the HF cordless impact had to make his life easier and questioned how well in held up. His reply was I change about 8 tires a day, these thing last about 8 months so when it breaks I take it back to HF. The store manager keeps one in the back at all times so they will have one to warranty replace my broken (totally worn out) one. He then laughed saying he went to HF to buy something a few days ago and before he found what he was after they handed him a new cordless impact.
I am a huge Duralast fan. I work at a local heavy duty mechanics shop, and whether you want to admit it or not, stuff at that level, will break. I don't care if you have hyper-tough, Craftsman or Snap-on. I find myself always going to or driving past an Autozone, so their Duralast tools were a good choice. The way I found out about their return policy, is I was doing a brake job on my truck, and needed brake grease for the pad kit I bought online. While I was there, I picked up their T55 torx head socket because I knew I needed on. I was using it on a craftsman ratchet, blew the guts out of that ratchet and lollipopped the torx head. I went to ACE where I heard I could get Craftsman tools. They handed me a 5 page document asking if I had taken care of the tool, if it was maintained properly and whatnot. On the last page, it asked, was I a professional mechanic. I am. They wouldn't cover it if I was, so I checked no. And finally they stated, if i lied, I could be found under perjury of law. All of this BS For a $20 ratchet. I threw the ratchet on the ground and left. I needed a new caliper bolt from Autozone, so I went back to pick up the bolts, and also attempted to warrantee the torx head. I showed it to them, they asked me to grab a new one off the shelf. When i brought it up, they said; "have a nice day. Hope that one works better." No questions, no comments, just a simple return policy. I quickly went back to the aisle and got a ratchet which is also under the same warrantee and fell in love with their ratchet as well. Now most of my box is Duralast and the stuff that isn't is stuff that they just don't have like taps and dies, Square head sockets and really long ratchets. Most of which I go with snap-on or another respectable brand.
Sorry for the long story, just figured I would share my Autozone experience.
Awesome story bro!
Should have taken the ratchet to Lowe's.
They'll exchange with few-to-no questions asked.
I actually traded-in an old, crappy "Craftsman Industrial" ratchet that came in an inexpensive set (from a job I had over a decade ago) at my local Lowe's last year.
The ratchet 'worked' (barely ever used it, honestly), but was just bottom-tier, cheaply-made Craftsman. Lowe's gave me credit for that ratchet (credited me the price of a new, 'cheap' Craftsman) and let me put that credit towards the purchase of the nicer, Taiwan-made, flex head, 'Craftsman Professional'.
I'll have to keep the DURALAST tools in mind.
I'm fleshing-out my 3/8" ratchet collection and have been buying one or two ratchets of different brands and price points to compare.
Harbor Freight (HB) Cashier: “I don’t do warranty returns.”
The Tool Bear (TB): Oh really?
(The TB quickly removes his cell phone presses speed dial #9)
Eric L. Smidt: Only one person has this number. The Tool Bear must be in trouble!
“Yes TB what is it.”
“I see”
“Wait right their”
Eric hopes onto company helicopter and flies to TB’s location.
Makes the cashier make the return and then fires them.
“You don’t disrespect the Tool Bear”
At my cousin’s shop, I found a 1/4” drive Duralast ratchet at the bottom of the parts washer. It had been in there for years, soaking in diesel and other solvents, long forgotten. I took it to AutoZone and the manager looked up the item number. It wasn’t in the system anymore. He thought for a moment, then took me to the tool section and gave me a choice between a 100-tooth non-quick release ratchet and a 72-tooth quick release ratchet. I choose the 100-tooth and walked out. Easy peasy!
I had to warranty a Tekton wrench. I sent them a photo through the form on their website and received the replacement in the mail two days later.
sounds good... I have just recently heard of Tekton and I am going to buy a handful of tools that I don't have. I was impressed by the selection of tools they offer considering I had never heard of them.
Now I just have to convince my shop owner to get on board with it... since we have such trouble with the Snap-off guy, now using Matco which is a better experience but they get lost etc...
I bought a new set of Tekton sockets SECONDHAND and the set had a duplicate... I sent them a message and a photo and they sent me the missing one... even though I told them I didn't buy it new.
@@codemiesterbeats Tekton was formally MIT tools.
Heard they have great tools and service.
"Lifetime Warranty" has taken on a whole new meaning at Lowes when it comes to Craftsman brand tools. I went in to exchange a 4 inch, round shank, flat blade Craftsman screwdriver and the only thing they had that was comparable was a 6 inch size of the same style screwdriver. I carried them both up to the tool desk and the guy told me, "we're only supposed to do warranty exchange for the exact same item," to which I said, "so, if you don't stock the exact same item on the shelf, then your 'lifetime warranty' is worthless?" To which he says "essentially, yes." Then he took the old tool from me and laid it on the counter, and took the new screwdriver and pulled the tag and shelf hanger off of it and said, "just put it in your pocket and have a nice day, I'll take care of it." From this exchange, I would suggest to everyone out there to never buy a Craftsman tool if you are banking on the same warranty that Sears used to give. This nice fellow also told me that he has been instructed not to warranty any Craftsman tools that have "rust" on them, and to not warranty any Craftsman tape measures. So there you go, the Craftsman warranty is worthless. You will be much better served to buy Harbor Freight tools since their warranty actually means something. I will never buy anything else with the Craftsman brand on it.
So polish them before you take them in
or just contact the website where you get a more consistent procedure then whatever that shift lead made up
Thanks for the heads up 👍🏼
Last year the Lowe's here let me "trade in'' a functioning, cheapo Craftsman for store credit - then I just picked out one of the nicer, polished, flex-head Craftsman ratchets and paid the difference. They didn't seem to care.
I hate Walmart,
they have like 20 lanes yet theres always only 4 lanes open with big lines of people
I only go to Walmart to steal motrin liquid gels 😎
ARCHIE MEGEL haza
A man of culture as well
junkie
yea now they have the audacity to force you to self checkout... lmfao I will never self check out... next time I go and there is nothing but self check out I am setting my stuff near the checkout and telling them I don't work for free. They should offer a discount to people who self checkout.
@@codemiesterbeats I recently tried the self check out and it was painless. They have an employee watching all the people self checking out. That person was more than willing to show me how to do it. It works well for half a cart or less. If I'm buying a bunch of products I will stand in line for a cashier. (I've been told these self checkout areas are called shoplifter alley for amateurs). Side note: I personally know teams of professional "boosters". They absolutely do NOT steal from Wal-Mart.
I work in auto parts store, sometimes we have to ask seemingly dumb questions like that because it actually matters. Two-door and four-door Chrysler Sebring have different parts and they're both completely different vehicles than the Sebring convertible. If your Jeep or Mitsubishi says "sport" it's not the same as a non-sport. If you order brakes and I asked about your engine it's because the brake size depends on the engine size.
But do all of these models you mentioned have different wiper blades?
Recently took an older kobalt to local lowes they not only didn't have the same one apparently they hadn't sold it in quite a while. The super sweet lady when they didn't have the 3/8 kobalt she offered nice gun metal craftsman version that was a bit more expensive as an even trade. She went out of her way to make sure I was happy with the trade. Not my usual experience with lowes but was glad to see it!
I had some kobalt scissors that I found at work that lost their edge. I took then in and they gave me the newer version which came with an extra pair. After some chatting and pecking at keyboards of course.
About 45 years ago, a friend of mine found a large Sears Craftsman plumbers wrench in the alley behind his Chicago apartment. It was old, broken, and totally rusted from top to bottom. He brought it to the local Sears store, and even without a receipt he was promptly given a new one, no questions asked.
One more reason I decided to go with Carlyle as my go-to tool brand. Napa is everywhere (at least in my region), absolute hassle free warranty for tools that feel far better in quality than their price suggests.
Thanks bear for taking one (actually several) for the team!
I used AutoZone for brakes on my 98 Ranger with lifetime warranty. I had the truck for 16 years and put 189,000 on it. They replaced the brakes 4 times, shocks on both back and front twice. Loved them.......
Isnt that only if soemthing goes wrong? How can they replace worn brake pads when thats a wearable part?
Damn that's just for defects. How you get new pads after wearing them out? Tie rod ends or ball joints yes they will give new ones for free. But brake pads that are used?
No. If you wear them out, they will replace the parts. I had to provide the labor. I would replace them about every 40,000 miles. I didn’t buy the best ones. They also replaced an alternator. Their rebuilt lasted about 60,000 miles. I think they was very happy when I traded it off.
Autozone will take back worn out brake pads, but O’Reilly and Advance definitely don’t!
@@5roundsrapid263 Joe Smith just uses oreilys. Guess gonna have to ask AutoZone next time. Joe Smith has commercial account with oreilys though
Told ya. HD gave me a song and dance, accusing me of 'abusing' the wrench, and said 'we'll do it this time, but not anymore'. I enjoy you videos. Keep up the great work bear!
Home depot's plain suck.
Home Depot gave me an issue with my impact adaptor for husky with a lifetime warranty as well. Same problem. Didn’t want to warranty it they actually told me contact husky. Idiots working there
Thanks for the tip on picking up chicks at the auto parts store.lol
Now you have a lifetime supply of rachets
Lowe’s vs Craftsman. I’ve recently had two slightly different experiences returning (warranty exchanging) Sears era Craftsman sockets. The customer service rep at my local Virginia Lowe’s simply scanned the replacements, handed them back to me and kept the “bad” ones; total time ~30 seconds. However, a Pittsburgh area Lowe’s rep actually scanned the replacements in order to load credit on a store gift card, then the rep immediately rang up the replacements for sale and used this new gift card as full payment resulting in zero cost; total time ~6 minutes. Aside: recommend first locating the replacement tool, THEN take it and your broken tool to customer service.
That gift card from Home Depot is to track your return frequency. I have always had a terrible time with Home Depot warranties. When I used to buy a lot of Klein tools I’d take them in for exchange at my local Home Depot’s. Each time I’d have no receipt and each time they’d ring it out and have me put in my number or scan my drivers license. If warranty more frequent than most as I was hard on my pliers when I was a low voltage electrician. It’s been 3 years and I still am blocked from no receipt returns... and that includes warranties as that’s how Home Depot processes their warranties, as no receipt returns. Hence your gift card which I have recieved in the past when the pliers were out of stock.
As far as the no questions asked. It was always a nightmare as they were acting as if I was taking something from them. Each time I’d have to pull up the lifetime warranty/return policy on Klein’s website where it clearly states any vendor that sells Klein tools is required to exchange for a new one. One time they even had one of their department “specialists “ take my worn diagonal cutters and start cutting different gauge copper wire and romex and said “they’re still cutting “ and refused my warranty.
As Red Green of Canada says "If you're not handsome , at least be handy".
Interesting video.
Hope these stores don't compare notes. Lol
Red Green also had those, ‘If it ain’t broke, you’re not trying’ segments, lol.
@@timsimmons9042 I loved that show!
" If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy" - Red Green
@@armedappalachian you said it better! I can't remember anything due to my recent diagnosis of CRS.
I got to see him do a live performance back in 2015! I grew up on that show, Iowa was also one of the biggest supporters of the show and so they'd make appearances at the iowa state fair often as well.
Worked at homedepot in tools. People would weld stuff on ratchets or come in missing half the tool it didn't matter always gave them the closest replacement and got them out as soon as possible. All you had to do was scan the new item with your scanner gun thing and mark it as a warranty item then throw the old one away. Tool section manager later personaly decided we had to throw old warranty stuff in this drawer by key machine.
Hey, I work in the hardware department at home depot. Here's a tip to make it way faster next time.
When you go up to the service desk; tell them that you want to speak to a hardware associate. Don't bring up the exchange right from the get go. Explain that you need a exchange to the hardware associate and they will take it from there facilitating the process. The service desk associate still has to do the transaction, but most service desk associates have no idea what tools are or look like so they are slow as hell.
Try getting a tool warranted from snap on when you don't have a mortgage with them.
Had a similar horror story with snap-on about 5 yrs ago, had about 1000 bucks worth of snap-on ratchets & sockets etc... broken, found a snap-on truck and he laughed and said you didn't buy from me I don't exchange so call snap-on, so called snap-on told them all what I had broken they said no prob, gave them my info and they said they'll be shipped out tomorrow and throw the broken ones away I said ok, luckily I waited cause about a week later I get a call from a rep at snap-on wanting pictures of everything I had broken, so took pictures and emailed to him while he waited on the phone he received the pics and said no prob they'll be shipped out tomorrow, about a month goes by and nothing called snap-on again with my reference number they gave me and they said we need better proof of the broken tools besides your word or the pictures cause that could of been some picture you pulled off online and honestly dont think that you have the tools and that I have to send the tools back to snap-on so they can be inspected to confirm that there broken and I had to insure them for the 1000 value and if I dont they'll just throw them away when they receive if I didn't insure them and wont honor the warranty , so it cost around 50-60 bucks to ship the heavy package to them with the insurance and about another month later I finally got my replacements , so that ended my love affair with snap-on LOL
@@bigbob0042 and some if these people thought I was joking. Snap on is a joke
LOL, there great tools don't get me wrong but that experience soured me about buying anymore in the future, and ive been told by other ppl too that I was full of it and all I say is have you ever returned a Snap-on, NO, so who are you to tell me what happened
bigbob0042 no, they’re not “great” tools. Hell, the only thing they’ve got over any store brand is some of their specialty tools. I still know a few old timers who laugh at the kids who come out of school and dump 80% of their paychecks into overpriced S O garbage.
Im not a snap-on fanboy by any means the only reason I have some snap-on is cause like you said some of their specialty tools, most of my collection are mostly craftsman, some husky, cornwell & snap-on , few mac, & others, by me saying great is if they made ya money and get the job done quick , then that makes any tool great in my opinion
When Crafstman was owned by Sears and only carried by Sears, I used to be able to take any hand tool with that brand's name on it, walk up to the customer service people, hand it to them, and they'd go get me a new one of it. Even for stuff that I'd bought at a garage sale.
You can still go to Sears and do exactly that, I've done it with a yard sale ratchet that was stuck and only costed $1
I've always had trouble returning items to Lowes without a receipt (even Kobalt). I bought a 28 oz Eastwing which got ran over by a forklift. Lowes wouldn't take it exchange it, so I went to HD to buy a new one. Told them what happened and they replaced it on the spot.
You are gonna ruin lifetime warranty for everyone....
I know this is a joke but years ago (5-10), they were talking about doing away with lifetime warranty. If anything though it seems to be spreading and getting better. I have had a few issues with HF where I bought the "pro" tools, and a few people said I needed a receipt, or this or that and made it a pain in the ass to deal with but eventually I would get to someone that knew what they were doing.
It's like socialized healthcare or socialized anything, where every tax payer pays for it. It is factored in the price. The tool itself costs fuck all to make, in Mao's Wonderland. In any case, next time they raise the price on the wrenches, they'll make it all back and change.
If you don't think warranty and theft isn't already factored into pricing, you're nuts. I'll give you an example....rear view mirror adhesive used to cost 99 cents when I worked at the auto parts store in the mid-90's. By the time I left for my adult profession, it was up to $4.99. When the vendor came to town I asked why the price jump. I was told that four 99-cent packages were stolen for every package that was sold.
@@TrakSpock1 "If you don't think warranty and theft isn't already factored into pricing, you're nuts."
Of course it is. That's the smart way to do it anyway. -- just not to the extent you go into.
"By the time I left for my adult profession, it was up to $4.99."
That could be for a number of reasons. Most likely the reason was "what the market will bear". The reason this is the most likely reason is... if they had competition at that price point, raising the price that high would have dropped their volume to nil. Pricing structures / what the market can bear is tailored to how much you want to sell over a period of time. High volume low price, or low volume high price. If through market research they saw they were not selling that many and customers were willing to spend more for it, that could sustain low volume high price.
"When the vendor came to town I asked why the price jump. I was told that four 99-cent packages were stolen for every package that was sold."
Yes and vendors are beacons of honesty. /s? They are just like used car salesman sometimes worse. I can almost guarantee that kind of shrinkage would have caused other changes, not just an increase in price. and the increase in price wouldn't have been that much, especially if there were similar options on the market.
Also to note, vendors don't always know and rarely do know the reasons why prices jump around, so this sounds like it was freshly pulled from their ass.
@Fridelain
"The tool itself costs fuck all to make"
I agree in some instances, but shrinkage only factors into a small amount of the actual cost. The higher the volume the lower it will be. The other comments I could get into if you want, but they are equally as bunk.
True
I've had to return a set of Husky 3/8 drive allens that took about a half hour, and the cashier made me go get the replacement set from the aisle. I returned a Husky set of tin snips and the cashier literally told me that 'lots of stores sell Husky tools'. They eventually gave me a Wiss set, that I again had to go get from the aisle- and I was on my way. I haven't bought any tools from HD since.
Wiss snips are better than Husky!
Husky is a HD exclusive brand. What were they smoking?
@@michaspi
Apparently lots of smoking going on. As a teenager I smoked a little weed but figured out quick in the adult world that means getting stupid. Smoke away idiots!
Uncle Bob well how the f else is the tool you want gonna get from the aisle to the register? They want YOU to get it to mitigate the chances of you coming back to return it again... YOU picked out the replacement, not them. Dumb.
I had a duralast 1/2" ratchet a friend brought over to fix his car and broke in the process of doing so. That was 10+ years ago. The last time i went into autozone i noticed they advertised lifetime warranty. So i made an extra trip to replace it. I was in and out in a few minutes, No questions asked. So now i have a beautiful new ratchet for free!
Tekton, Harbor Freight, AutoZone. The only places I will buy hand tools from. They have never given me an ounce of trouble replacing anything.
You are correct. I always use craftsman tools and Sears sold the brand. I have hard time getting replace at Lowest store. Now I moving toward tekton tools.
You need a sign that gives the days since the last mauling, that may help.
YES! I need that.
Lol
Great video. Over the years, shopping at Home Depot and Lowes, I've learned that returns are easiest if you purchase using a store credit card and bring your receipt for a return or exchange. That's not always possible, but it sure streamlines a return.
I’ve been a mechanic for 30 years, never needed a short handle 1/2 inch drive ratchet. What are you people doing?
Bruh. That's not the only use for them. We used them for structural construction. When the impact didn't reach.
OK, I'm about 18 or 20 or so. A friend is repairing
a boat, for someone he knows. (Since this was
40 years ago, it could have been his boat.) I see
a COMPLETELY rusted Craftsman 3/8ths ratchet
in the bilge, and I say, "that looks like a brand new
Craftsman ratchet!"
And, after a trip to Sears, it was! No questions
asked!
(I just looked, I've currently got 5 of them.)
Oh, the 1/2 inch ratchet, I've got 2 of them.
One is in my "ratchet and socket" tool box,
the other is in my Homebrewing stuff, for
working on Coke (pinlock) Cornelius Kegs.
When I lived in Honolulu, about the same
time, the "bag in box" system was being
introduced, ALL the bars were setting the
useless Cornie kegs, out behind their doors.
I had about 30 FREE kegs, and one of them
was FULL of Root Beer. I also scored a
cold plate, (It sat under the ice bin, and was
cooled by that ice. Had 8 stainless lines
through a 5 pound block of aluminum.)
All of this was thrown out the back doors,
of most of the "gentleman's clubs" in
Honolulu, and left for scavengers.
steve
look in the pawn shops for cheap craftsman. look up alloy artifacts for the manufacture code to get the good ones
Bear, you never did mention how many cylinders your ratchet had, how did the guy at OReilly ring you up?
Jeremiah Galli single over head cam or dual? Do you at least have the vin?
I never had a problem in Sears I handed the tool to the sales man he handed me a new one I was out the door 5 min
Your lucky. Our Sears sucks.
It's funny I was thinking how Sears used to be like that the entire time I was watching this video. Used to be.
I had all pleasant experiences with Sears, except for one time, an older guy said that craftsman wouldn’t take back wrenches with a little rust on them and then he said that they would be stop doing the warranty soon, that was back when I still had a Sears lol
And then Eddie Lampert ruined everything
Bull crap 💩 I took my craftsman and they give me a refurbished ratchet they used to give you a brand new one off the shelf but now they give you a refurbished one that you take home and it breaks anyways I’m glad that series is under and I would never buy or on a craftsman ever again because they don’t back it up like they used to with a lifetime warranty they wanna just give you a refurbished one and not a brand new one off the shelf like they use to fudge craftsman tools!!! I buy Husky Tools 🧰
I had a similar experience with HD when i had a brand new ryobi battery kick the bucket in one charge. Woman told me to go get a replacement and I couldn't find any so I talked with a manager that was nearby to help me look. He couldn't find one and grabbed a 4a battery instead of the 2a i was exchanging. He came to the register with me and the woman told me (in front of the manager!!) I needed to go to another store because they couldn't help me without a replacement. The manager told her to give me a gift card and then discount the bigger battery to the same price and sell it to me. Took about 30 min total. I have way worse HD stories but I'll spare you those. I'll stick with Lowes and Ace in a pinch.
I would like to put my two cents in here for Lowe's. Their warranty clearly states a "No Hassle Guarantee" for their branded hand tools, Kobalt, for anyone that doesn't know. It clearly states that no receipt is needed. It only needs to be a Kobalt tool. Ok. Loving that return policy, I've invested lots of money in their branded tools. However, anytime I've ever needed to exchange a broken tool, I'm always asked for a receipt, an ID, when i refuse that, a manager is called, 50% of the time the item is discontinued, which leads to more disagreement about how Lowe's is going to honor their warranty, peppered with a lot of salty glares and snide remarks relating to why I'm demanding they honor the original warranty. Case in point, I purchased a 64 piece mechanic ratchet set quite a few years back. The 1/4" ratchet failed. I returned the set. I conceded that I would be happy with them just replacing the failed ratchet. They looked dumbfounded. Uh, bergerk, doo duh doo. Unfortunately, the set I owned was discontinued. We can't just replace the tiny 1/4" drive ratchet because, who the hell even knows? The option was, a set, with less pieces and less driver size options than the one I'd brought in, or a set with about 10 more pieces but the same number of drivers. They were genuinely upset that I refused to accept the set with less pieces than the one i had originally purchased and, after lots of back and forth, begrudgingly agreed to exchange my original set with the bigger set. The entire exchange, as far as I'm concerned, was not hassle free and really uncomfortable and unnecessary. What do you all think? Was I wrong?
How dare you treat those innocent employees with such disrespect. /sarcasm
LOWES is the worst! there is a Bit@h at the counter who is always there. I took my Kobalt tool in and she said no we don't do that, I said it a life time warrantee she said well first we would have to have one to replace it. so she called someone 15 minutes later kid came back and said no they dont have one (but later I found they did) I said I would call lowes,So I came back the next week same Bit@h said you cant just come in here! you have to call Kobalt and get a number! I explained to here that Kobalt is owned by lowes why don't you call them. She said I can't do anything without a number. So I left called kobalt got the number came back and she said she couldnt do anything without the original sKew # from the set. but that is ok cuz I have it at home. but I am waiting for the day I walk in to lowes and the bit@h is not at the counter I am in no hurry
A few years ago, I knew a team of 3 fellows that went around Oklahoma and Texas buying old Craftsman tools especially at flea markets. Broke ones they'd take and exchange. The odd thing was they would never go to the same store. They made money. Eaglegards...
I left that same home Depot ratchet in my trunk and it vibrated apart, they were out of them, gave me the next up model(adjustable angle) instead. Was easy.
Sounds like the lowest tier $4 40pc 1/4 ratchet they sell at harbor freight I was smacking it one day and the mechanism flew apart.
I have 2 Carlyle ratchets from Napa I use daily (auto tech). They used to just give me a new ratchet when one broke. Now they want to send them off and have them rebuilt. These ratchets used to me my full time first pick. Not anymore. They stay in the bottom drawer as a backup to Snap On. Yes, a substantial difference, I know. However, the Carlyle ratchets were nice enough and tough enough I wanted to use them daily and the (used to be) painless exchange made it worthwhile.
On the Stanley ratchet from Walmart... remember their motto... Satisfaction Guaranteed but if you read the small print after that... (but only if you call Bentonville, AR.) So call a complaint in to Bentonville, Arkansas & they'll call the regional manager, who will call the district manager, who will call the store manager, who will call you and tell you to come back in and get your replacement Stanley ratchet...!
lol thanks for the tip.
Good to see that the warranties are actually worth something more than the paper they are written on. Great video sir.
I’ve only been hassled twice on a very few warrant claims over 40 years, both on broken tape measures .One at Sears one at Home Depot . Both young guys and I asked for another person to replace. “What did you do to it” ,I recall.
Sears has the best for Warranty!!! Never had a issue with sears. That’s why I still buy at Sears.
There is still a Sears where you live?
Hf has always swapped tools under warranty for Joe Smith. And lowes too. Sears 3 years ago didn't want to swap a craftsman tape measure. But I made them. Now that 1 broke. So got to swap it again
The new tape measures sux from Lowe's. Get a dewalt
@@Tailgatesntoolboxes Joe Smith does have a dewalt tape measure and several dewalt hand tools from when the hand tool line was first released.
Me and home Depot don't get along it makes Wal Mart look good for customer service
You are insane
I never said I once liked Walmart and if you're telling me I'm insane try telling me something I don't already know lol
I went to HD to buy a Ryobi 18v drill to put a handrail at my parents house. I cut all the wood, bout an hour latter I open the Ryobi box, and the drill was greasy and used. Took it back to HD, told the guy I bought this an hour ago, and it was already used. He said "no problem, go get another." So I did, and asked him to please open the box to make sure it was a new drill. When he opened the second, it was used too. He said " that happens a lot, people use stuff, then return it latter for refunds."
You are just becoming aware of this now?
Sounds like my general experience with any Home Depot Employee other than my buddy that works there.
I’m waiting for my warranty from Matco still. The tool truck did not have my broken socket or locked up ratchet on stock so I had to wait 2 weeks for the tool truck to come back to my shop
Yep I’m going on week three on my seized ratchet.im ready to just move on to another brand.
Ace Hardware has taken my Sears aged (20 year) sockets back no questions asked. Im sure you all know Ace has been selling Craftsman way before Lowes. Has to be over 5 years. Always had positive experiences there. They are more expensive there but always clean and clear for a small town hardware store that's close to me.
Ace has by far the friendliest associates as well. My local one has free fresh popcorn too!
Buy in Lowes, return at Ace? Not American, is there a making in the tool or something like that preventing you from doing just that?
Alot of stores contract out merchandise. That way they don't have to tie up there money in inventory. Its stock ed and managed by another company and they get a cut. So as long a they get cut they don't care.
I agree about Ace, a little more expensive but very knowledgeable people and very helpful.
Maybe I expect stores to be jerks, but I likely would have had a big print out of the ad with the "NO QUESTIONS ASKED" part highlighted, and when they started their crap, slapped it on the counter. :p
My mechanic who has been wrenching for about 60 years said he tells the new kids to go out and buy all of their tools from Harbor Freight. He said as they break or get lost then they will begin to get a feel for which ones they need to invest more money in.
I haven't purchased any tools from Napa but they deliver parts and things like fuses to our dealership any time we call and they told me they would also deliver any replacement tool that broke in just a few minutes if they had it in stock. I'm mighty tempted to go see if there's anything I just have to have because no questions asked and free instant delivery is pretty hard to beat
Thanks bear for as always a great vid. Returned a 3/8" Craftsman fine tooth ratchet set twice at Sears years ago. They would install a rebuild kit while you waited. Best time is when they did not have a rebuild kit and gave me a better ratchet. Like they say Lowes blows. They suck returning Craftsman tools. Have to check out NAPA for next tool purchase. They closed the closest 3 Sears from me so know would have to go to another state and pay $5 bridge toll.
Nice to see someone testing tool warranty.👍🔧 I like Autozone & Home Depot because of locations & no hassle. The Napa is hit & miss if it's not in stock they want to charge freight. It also depends who is working.
Forty years ago I found an old Craftsman broken ratchet by the side of the road and brought it to a Sears Store. Five minutes later I walked out with a brand new Craftsman ratchet. I wasn't asked for a receipt, my ID, or what happened to it - the clerk just took the old one and handed me a new one.
Haha I love how you never break character... "I can count on one paw" lol love it!
Now test the Snapon warranty....
You’re more than The Bear, you’re a Sly Dog . This was interesting and very helpful. Mama Bear better not catch ya around
auto parts places on a Monday ! You may end up riding in the tool chest to Montana.
Great video! I love Stanley and have never had to exchange a hand tool. For the price I don’t think you can go wrong. For sure there is better but I like Stanley
I’ve had a mix bag at Home Depot. I’ve replaced a couple of screwdrivers (husky brand) and it’s been pretty painless, just went a grabbed another and they replaced it. Not so much when I took a hammer, it had a fiberglass handle and it was cracked, One store said no because they didn’t carry that model anymore, so I took it to another store and they pushed back a little bit replaced it after about 10-15 minutes.
So if you have a lifetime warranty, look into the eyes of the store employee and say, “I can’t *bear* to hear that my warranty will not be honored,” and your problem will most likely be resolved! 🐻 Harbor Freight is my favorite store to return LLW tools. Typically you hand them the tool, they quickly look at it and almost always say, “Go ahead and grab a replacement...” You grab the tool, wave to them at the cashier and you’re done!
Can you warranty replace the entire 130 PC tool box?
They'll probably replace just the damaged items of the set.
FYI, Sears will exchange just about any Craftsman no questions asked.
when wal mart used to have popular mechanics tools they would give me a hassle a lot of times and they were instant exchange items
So when did lows assist customers? The 3 in my area make you feel like a hunter out of ammo running down a deer.
That's pretty sweet that they all ended up honoring the warranty.
Went in Lowes one time to replace a garden hose that leaked around the fitting. It was years old but I had saved the receipt. The lady called a man to see how to do this and he said there was no lifetime warranty. I thought I was wrong but something told me to read the label which I also had. I said well then what does this mean, pointing to the part that read "lifetime warranty". He said well I guess it does and directed me to the hose section. I got a new one and went on my way after the scanning and everything.
Oh! Oh! Oh! O’Riley’s..... Auto Parts!!!
...Auto Farts!!!
Back in the 1970s I drove a 240Z, and made a "custom" tool for a specific need it had, by simply hacksawing a Craftsman combination wrench into two pieces. I even kept the useless open end fragment in my tool box, and eventually, some time after I sold that car in 1982, took both pieces to Sears and got it replaced *very* easily.
Why not pass it on with the car?
Test the Craftsman warranty with an older craftsman tool at Lowes
I have returned two "Made In USA" Craftsman ratchets at Lowes in the last two years, a 1/4" drive and a 1/2" drive. They handed me a new ratchet no questions asked. Of course that was before I understood that new Craftsman tools are "Made In China" and I should have tried harder to fix the old ratchets. I deeply regret that. But the two I broke were purchased in the 70s and now I have two brand spanking new ones in my box, so even though it was a down grade I still consider both transactions a win for me.
I got the same exact treatment at Home Depot for a broken pair of pliers
Usually at Harbor Freight I’ll go grab the tool and then go to the check out, they’re definitely the easiest as far as in store replacements.
Interesting. My local NAPA doesn't honored the Evercraft warranty. I was told to have my original receipt and price tag to my tool. Something I didn't have after purchasing my tool 6 years prior.
I recently snapped my Pittsburgh pro breaker bar end off. It was a painless return. About a 3 minute transaction.
Was it defective or did you abuse the poor thing?
It's a breaker bar breaker bars have abusive lives
@@donnybra1230 You are right Bra. I was just curious. No judgement
Very good to know. Thanks for doing that.
I'm a sales supervisor at Harbor Freight. The behavior of the first associate is absolutely unacceptable. We pride ourselves with our excellent customer service.
Great follow up video bear. You completely followed up on the first video the life time warrantee. You are a honest and though tester. Keep the videos coming.
Give home depot your bad reviews to the 800# then there customer service will get better. it takes them 10 good reviews to fix 1 bad but that's what they get.
That's true with dealerships too for service advisors and salesman.
I had this issue with Lowe’s. I brought in a ratchet that I had purchased from Sears(Craftsman ratchet). I was told that I had to call the 800-number for craftsman. The Lowe’s that I went to, stated that I would have to have a Lowe’s receipt showing that I purchased a craftsman tool from Lowe’s to get a replacement ratchet. When Sears is open I never had this issue.
Harbor Freight... Less expensive hand tools and free replacement. Hard to beat that combination.
Home Depot is weird at times. Mine has the same attitudes. I had a ratchet fail right out of the gate. I called and was told to bring it in. Get there, say I called earlier and why and gal working returns never said one single word to me. She pages the tool dept manager who informs me I had to return the entire set to exchange for an entire set as taking the single 3/8” drive would screw up inventory and my receipt showed it was part of a set. I asked why he couldn’t just bring up a set and exchange drives that way and it was all attitude from that point. I leave as I have no time for attitude but return the next day with the entire set and basically got the same attitude from return gal. Another guy is called up, I have to explain I have a defective drive and he just grabs a single drive to exchange it with. Im then told that’s all they needed to do in first place. No receipt either. I looked straight at the return gal who still has never spoken a word to me and told her to call up every manager in store and I wanted the district number as well. We needed a talk, lol. After all was said and done, all apologies garnered and my behind figuratively chapped, we walked back up front. They might thought I was leaving but I stopped at the return desk and returned it all for a refund. I rather enjoyed the look I received from the gal as I sweetly told her that there was nothing wrong with the set now, I just no longer wanted it 😎
lowes did that for a bad socket in a socket set.. I was pissed
Last time I had to try to get Lowe's to honor their warranty they couldn't help me since the no longer made that exact same tool.
I keep kobalt sockets and ratchet wrenches cause our lowes does a no questions asked thing. And its across the street from our shop. Walk in at lunch with a broken wrench, they thow it on the counter tell ys to grab another one and come back. They'll rip the tag off and send ya out the door with a new wrench in less than 10 minutes.
Nice video. I too went to Homedepot to return a husky pro 3/8 ratchet. Unfortunately they didn’t make them anymore and I had to settle for a standard one, it took a while because the manager had to decide which one was comparable.
blowes was a pain in the butt. had to wait on getting a mgr approve the return and got a store card for value of the saw.
You should try exchanging a craftsman ratchet to ace hardware, ive tried at least 3 different ace hardwares (by me at least) and they acknowledged that craftsman has a lifetime warranty but they don't honor the replacement policy and told me to contact sears ( that was told to me by 3 different store managers), LOL, that's why im don't buy craftsman at ace anymore
Love duralast ratchets!!
Cool warranty returns. Thanks for taking up the challenge so we all know!
Ok, after watching a few of your videos I went and subscribed...your bear is absolutely hilarious.
I work at an autoparts store. it's not worth fighting ba customer over a return/warranty. especially when it's obviously ours. the backlash is much bigger hit than one small return the only time I actually give some care is if it's gasket sets that's been opened or electrical parts. other than that, I typically don't question.
Thank you bear I’ve bin trying to decide if I’m going to stick with craftsman or move to harbor freight icon I’ve heard good things about them and the price is right
I had to send my Stanley ratchet in for replacement. Had to pay for shipping to them as well.
Home Depot gave me a problem when I tried to replace a husky 1/2 inch breaker bar. The return lady had to call a manager and the manager had to call the tool guy and then I got a new one.
i returned my icon 1/2 flex back to harbor freight, i stripped one of the star-bit screws, and i assume i overgreased it because the pawl was stuck and wouldn't come loose to grab onto the ratcheting mechanism.
they did not have the same one on hand and ended up getting a refund over it. No questions that i can remember
50/50 satisfied
I wouldn't buy any handtools at Walmart. Service counter is usually faraway from tool department, some employees are terrible, usually there is a line at service counter. Harbor Freight is good if you hit the great employee. AutoZone or any other auto parts store, I think it depends on the store, not individual employee.
I found a Kobalt 3/8" drive 10 mm socket that I lost a long time ago. It was on the floor, under my tool box, behind a wheel, and I don't remember how long it had been missing (I bought a new one back then), so it wasn't exactly broken, but it was rusty as hell. The guy at the Lowes Customer Service Desk had no idea how to process a warranty return, but there was a young woman behind him looking over his shoulder who walked him through it. This guy did the return by the book (literally as he and the young lady were referring to a manual) and apparently their return policy is to write up a store credit and place it on a gift card. THEN they wrote up the new socket as a sale and paid for it using the gift card, handed me the new socket and wished me a pleasant day. Total time spent ... about 8 to ten minutes, most of which was spent standing there as the dude learned how to do the return. But they were very pleasant about it and asked me no questions about how it got so freaking rusty. Now I have an extra 10 mm socket and who couldn't use a few of those?
I can remember when Sears had the bright idea to give you replacement parts for ratchets. The employee would say the handle isn’t broken. Here’s your replacement. You wonder why Sears wound up in so much trouble.
And you had to do the warranty repair yourself.
And when the Harbor Freight store first opened up by me.
I brought a Pittsburgh chain binder back the store to be warrantied .
They insisted I had to mail it back for a replacement.
Which didn’t happen because I kept wanting to speak to the manager.
Finally they replaced the broken one and I left.