Craftsman Torque wrench take 2

[khouse]

Well my call for action new channel said that they were going to contact me three times. They never did. They must be in with Sears. So today I took my two broken wrenches in to another Sears store for exchange. They as all the rest said they weren't covered after calling the Sears main office. I said to call the manager of the store. He did and told me that they were not going to cover them. The clerk said that's all I can do. So I said do you have the district managers number. He said yes and called him. He must have been aound my age and said he remembered that the early torque wrenches WERE covered for lifetime but the new ones were not. He asked the clerk for the model #'s of my two and said give him two new ones. I walked out of there with these two babies. All I can say is don't let Sears or any other company back out of a warranty. I spent countless hours on this. I'm just glad I got them before Sears goes out of business. That could be sooner than later.

[DBL]

its always good to keep the reciepts with warrenties together we have one folder jsut for warrenty info i know it was a long time ago so its alright im glad you got them covered

[khouse]

I was just lucky to find somebody that could remember the mid 70's

[DBL]

yeah thats a long time to keep track of a peice of paper with a warrenty like that on it. havent you been trying to get these things warrentied for a while now

[Restrorob]

Glad to hear you finally got some justice. :clapping:

[crab]

when i first read you're thread back when i was sure they were gonna screw ya .well good for you its about time.attaa boy stick it to em:laugh:

[khouse]

I know these are Crapsman torque wrenches - and now only carry a one year warranty. But they're new! I'm really not an a$$ hole but what's right is right. When Kohler told me for months that the clicking lifters in the Command was normal I said now wait a minute. I let them know that I knew better. Soon after a brand new Command Pro was waiting for me. And installed for free. It runs great! I'm not saying I'm perfect but stand behind all my work. Usually it's the part not the workmanship that's goes bad.

[DBL]

I know these are Crapsman torque wrenches - and now only carry a one year warranty. But they're new! I'm really not an a$$ hole but what's right is right. When Kohler told me for months that the clicking lifters in the Command was normal I said now wait a minute. I let them know that I knew better. Soon after a brand new Command Pro was waiting for me. And installed for free. It runs great! I'm not saying I'm perfect but stand behind all my work. Usually it's the part not the workmanship that's goes bad.

i never really said this in my two above posts but good for you you knew it and you got it i never heard the story about the kohler but you seem to stick by what you know and thats good

[khouse]

You don't have to be a mechanic to know that noisy hydraulic lifters is not normal. All I told them was "so you would drive your new car with noisy lifters and that would be OK?"

[johnwon]

I've had one of those for a good twenty-some years now. There is a problem with them not clicking if you don't hold it just right. I loaned it to a freind for torqing aluminum rods on a racing engine "when wrench was new" and he ended up ruining some rods. It became common knowledge in the racing community not to use them. You got to let off of it and reapply force to see if it has reached the desired torque. If you just try to torque something in a steady pull....it can over torque before clicking.

[khouse]

Yes I agree. The oldest one was all metal and had been replaced twice back in the late 70's for that reason and the ratchet was bad. Then I bought a back up wrench about 80 to 82 and it had a plastic handle on it that cracked.
Maybe the new ones are better?

[MarcSmith]

I'm not knocking you, and I do apluade you for getting things done that you were due. I dealing with Circuit city right now. I orderd some stuff online top pick up at the store. well when I get to the store they items are not in stock and they won't give my gift card....for their screw up...


the crapsman torque wrench is 59-99 bucks.... you have replaced them what 1/2 dozen times....After the second or third time i would have requested store credit and bought a real torque wrench...Now your screwed you have two new torque wrenches that a gauranteed to fail, or worse yet fug up a project you are working on....

[khouse]

The only reason I bought crapsman in the first place was price and lifetime guarantee. I can honestly say that all my other hand tools have lasted except for the 1/2 x 3/8 adapter (we all twist them off) and the ratchets in some wrenches. Mt whole point was if it's has a warranty - then stand behind it. I may sell them on ebay or I may keep them. When I worked on automobiles I used the 1/2 drive torque wrenches almost everyday. Now I mostly use my 3/8 drive inch pound SK wrench. So I think the crapsman will serve me fine for now.

[MarcSmith]

I agree, if they wont stand behind their policy, you take em down....

[Precision]

Don't they still have the satisfaction guaranteed or your money back thing.

I know when I worked there they did and the thought was it is better to not piss of a customer than to inform them of their stupidity or deceit. We had people trying to return Craftsman powertools all the time with lifetime warranties. We even had catalogs back to 1970 so we could match the picture to the tool and prove to the people the date code of 1 meant 1971 not 1991. Cracked me up, people bringing in all metal drills claiming they had bought them two weeks before. Yeah, at a garage sale, but not in any store.

However, you are right, torque wrenches used to be lifetime. Kinda dumb on the part of Sears but true.

[khouse]

they only have a 90 day satisfaction guaranty where you can exchange or get your money back. There's only a 1 year warranty on the new torque wrenches. Just about all other hand tool has a lifetime. I had people tell me all sorts of crap - here's a few over the past months.

1-that's an air tool - it's not lifetime
2-that is not a hand tool
3-you had it replaced twice in the 70's - what are you griping about
4-you do not have the reciept
5-our records do not show that you are indeed the owner of these tools
6-we have no way of knowing if the wrenches had a lifetime warranty on them at the time you bought them - we can't go back that far
7-we do not make torque wrenches
They'll tell you anything not to warranty some items

[prostriper]

they only have a 90 day satisfaction guaranty where you can exchange or get your money back. There's only a 1 year warranty on the new torque wrenches. Just about all other hand tool has a lifetime. I had people tell me all sorts of crap - here's a few over the past months.

1-that's an air tool - it's not lifetime
2-that is not a hand tool
3-you had it replaced twice in the 70's - what are you griping about
4-you do not have the reciept
5-our records do not show that you are indeed the owner of these tools
6-we have no way of knowing if the wrenches had a lifetime warranty on them at the time you bought them - we can't go back that far
7-we do not make torque wrenches
They'll tell you anything not to warranty some items




Those three are the best. You got to love the edjumicated people in stores sometimes. I'm glad you got it all striaghtened out.

[Proscapez LLC]

I went to return a 3/8-7/16" line wrench at sears yesterday.
The guy told me I couldn't return it because it was rusty.
What in the H*LL does that have to do with it.
I told him this has a lifetime warranty, and I want it replaced.
I told him to get his manager because I'm not leaving without my new one.
The manager came down several minutes later and ask him what the issue was.
The guy tells him I want to return my rusted line wrench.
So he come over and tells me the product has to be broken before I can return it, they just don't return them for rust.
So I told him it is broken, put it on a 3/8" bolt and put some presure on it.
So he did and the end flexed and the wrench slipped.
he ask me if the other guy ask me what was wrong with the wrench.
And I told him no. I told him it was broken and he went off saying it was rusty and they don't replace rusty tools.
Needless to say I walked out with my new line wrench.

I will tell you this, I will not buy tools from sears again.
I'm going to go look for a different line of tools.
For now on, I'll just replace my broken craftsman tools at sears as they break and buy New tools else where.

[khouse]

Echo, Probably a good idea. My tools were older than anyone that ever helped me. But what I don't understand is why all the resistance to a lifetime warranty. These people must have been taught to balk on replacing tools. Sears must have a class in where they show the clerks all the tricks of weaseling out of the warranty's.

[Precision]

Echo, Probably a good idea. My tools were older than anyone that ever helped me. But what I don't understand is why all the resistance to a lifetime warranty. These people must have been taught to balk on replacing tools. Sears must have a class in where they show the clerks all the tricks of weaseling out of the warranty's.


no it is a few different things going on.

One, tons of people try to warranty things because they don't look pretty anymore which has no issue with functionality

second, tons of people pick up tools at garage sales and want to exchange them to get new ones at store #1 then return the new ones for cash to store #2.

Third, Sears has gone to the lowest price producer and the quality of the tools has declined markedly so they have to be tighter on the rules

Not to mention that they used to just ship the broken tools to a site in Tennessee (i believe) and bury them. Well, someone figured that out and was digging them up and re-returning them. I have no idea why they weren't at least selling them for scrap to a reputable metal recycler.

[khouse]

I said it in an earlier post but do you remember the Sears commercial where they show crapsman tools falling from a truck down a mountain side? It was in the 70's. The commercial said "even if your tools are lost or stolen we will replace them" 100% satisfaction guaranty. A person sees the commercial - buy crapsman tools and thinks OK I'm set for life on tools. 100% satisfaction guaranty could mean to someone. My crapsman tool is rusty - I'm not satisfied. I'll get a new one. I know that's pushing it. But I can understand it. The lifetime warranty was Sears best selling point. Good tools, good price. They're not the best. Kind of bulky. If Sears didn't have a lifetime warranty we all would have bought another brand.