Tool Warranties... Who cares?

[Papablunt]

We all know how important it is to buy quality tools, but even quality tools can and will break. It seems no tool brand is immune to this.
In my opinion, a warranty is a great indicator that a company is willing to stand behind their products...
...but what happens when you actually need to use that warranty?


In your experience, what tool brand actually stands behind their warranty?
-- Tekton. I've had great experiences with Tekton. One night, I sent a warranty claim at 10pm just as I was going to bed. Tekton has an easy to access warranty form. At ~5am the next morning, I awoke to tracking numbers for a new, replacement torque wrench. I emailed Friday night, and received it Monday at lunch.
-- Harbor Freight. I've also had great experiences with HF. I walked in the store with a broken ratchet, and walked out with a replacement minutes later. Didn't need to show a receipt or anything.


Who doesn't?
-- OTC. This one is still in process, so they may still end up making it right. I have an extendable pry bar that stopped extending. There is absolutely no information on their website that mentions their tool warranty process. I emailed OTC customer service and they forwarded my email to their internal tech support. It's taken 5 days for them to ask me for my phone number to start the "warranty claim consideration" process. Very slow turnaround so far. Good thing I don't rely on these tools to make a living.
-- ABN. I broke a pry bar and emailed them directly to see about warranty replacement. They were very responsive in the beginning. After providing an order number, they told me to contact Amazon since they're the ones that "fulfilled" the order. It seems it doesn't matter who made the tool, just whoever shipped it.

 

[1952Chevy]

Most of my tools are older USA made Craftsman, and since Sears went belly up the warranty process has become a little more difficult. I am also not getting USA made tools for the warranty replacements.

Other than that, I've never really had an issue with breaking tools/needing warranty. I understand the warranty, and of course want a warranty, but when companies go defunct, or change ownership the warranty also becomes harder to deal with. Craftsman and S-K are both examples of this.

In the future I will be buying a lot more Tekton tools, I like what I have seen from them so far. The company is based out of Michigan(basically my hometown). Warranty is good, and I have heard no complaints about them so far.

I do need to warranty a Lisle tool(Oil pressure switch socket), so we will see how that goes. I purchased it at O'Reilly so I'm going to just start there.

 

[RichLo]

My local mom and pop hardware store sells craftsman and they are great with warranties still. Bring broken tool in and walk out with shiny new tool. No questions asked.

 

[454cid]

Yeah, I've heard Tekton is good, but dont have enough of thier stuff yet to have needed it.

I'm planning on ordering another ratchet from them....Amazon page open anyway.

 

[Schurkey]

Spent some Wuhan-Flu downtime maybe a year-and-a-half ago, going through my tools including the secondary boxes and the "forgotten stuff" that got put aside to deal with "later". Pulled many--almost all--of my ratchets apart for cleaning and lube; there were several that cleaning and lube didn't fix. Cleaned-up the drawers and drawer-slides of a NAPA tool box and chest; and made new drawer liners. Also had broken sockets; and a huge pile of broken or worn-out Torx and Allen bits-in-sockets. Some generic pliers, a Snap-On sidecutter. I was actually surprised at how much stuff needed attention once I took time to inspect it all. I'd been hoarding broken/damaged crap far too long.

Hateful:
OTC. I've told that story here before, and it goes back farther than Wuhan Flu. Others have told me that OTC was a reputable company before Bosch took over; and what happened to OTC is typical when Bosch takes over another company. OTC is a four-letter word. And their current product line? OTC means "Oh. That's Chinese".

Merely Unpleasant:
NAPA. Getting NAPA to exchange "Lifetime warranty" NAPA-branded Made in USA tools (and of course discontinued because of the switch several years ago to Carlyle Made in Asia tools) was...difficult. I ended up with Carlyle replacements; and they're of adequate quality; but the store manager clearly thought that having to honor the warranty was unreasonable. Which ****** me off because that NAPA store had been my first-choice for locally-purchased parts and supplies for decades. I buy more from O'Reillys now, because of the snarky NAPA manager.

I also need at least one Accuride drawer slide for my NAPA rollaway tool box; the folks at the store have absolutely no idea how to get one even if I pay for it. Making things more difficult is that there's NO model number of any sort on the box itself or on the slide; just the NAPA nameplate riveted onto the front of the boxes. I matched-up the gas struts that hold the tool chest lid up by comparing them to the gas struts "in stock" for car hoods and hatchbacks.

Mac. (non-warranty) The Mac dealer tried to get me a replacement chuck screw (flat head, reverse thread) for my ancient Mac air drill; we have the Mac part number but there's none available--discontinued. The drill was sourced from Viking; THEY discontinued it and don't stock parts any more. I finally found a replacement that I don't entirely trust (Stainless steel instead of "good" steel) so we'll see what happens. I bought three of 'em from a tool-repair place in Ohio.

Surprisingly Good
NAPA. My local store used to have a very-small rack of "Loaner tools". Back around 2011, I checked-out the front end service set (Made by KD, which is now called "Gearwrench") and liked it so much that I bought the thing. The tool that I used the most developed some damage. Called Gearwrench customer service, they told me to buy an OTC replacement as if the set didn't have a warranty. I went back to NAPA, they wouldn't warranty the one piece I needed replaced...but they'd warranty the ENTIRE SET. I purely don't understand that logic; but it's not me making the rules. I now have a new set, no problem, no snark.

Sunex. I had a broken Sunex impact socket. Contacted Sunex Customer Service; e-mailed them photos of the problem. Received a new replacement by mail. Totally satisfied.

Ace Hardware. Had a broken Ace-USA 1/2-to-3/8 chrome adapter. Ace Hardware doesn't have Ace-branded tools any more; they've switched to Crapsman. But the store manager took my single adapter, and pulled a three-piece set of Crapsman adapters off the display and sent me out the door with all three. I have the 1/2-to-3/8, a 3/8-to-1/4, and perhaps a 3/8-to-1/2 in a clamshell pack that I haven't opened yet. (they're in the Tool-Shaped Object drawer; I'll give them to some kid--they can draw his blood instead of mine.)

Mac. Had a broken Torx bit as part of a Torx socket. Expected to receive a new Torx bit. Mac has changed the design of the socket, so instead of a replacement bit, I got the entire socket.

Snap-On. About the same deal as the Mac Torx bit. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, something was different about the replacement Torx bit, I wound up with an entire socket rather than just the bit. Also replaced a chrome swivel socket. Snappy has lovely chrome swivels; the hinge pins are pressed-in then ground-down and chromed. When new, they're invisible. Given some years ('87 to a couple years ago--more than 3 decades) of use, and those hinge pins can loosen up and turn. Then they're a sharp edge spinning around with the socket. Turned in a similarly-ancient high-leverage angled side-cutter with a wobbly joint; received the new, updated unit as a replacement.

Wright. I bought a set of Wright SAE impact sockets in 1/2 drive, way back in the mid-1980s. The 9/16 in particular was worn-out. I also had a 6" impact extension that was pretty hammered. Wright's warranty doesn't cover "normal wear"; but the local Wright dealer exchanged 'em anyway.

Not Happening
Thorsen. Among the ratchets that don't work right any more is an ancient USA Thorsen. Out-of-business long ago. No hope. There's some other generic-junk ratchets in similar condition; but the Thorsen would be worthwhile if there were parts available.

Crapsman. I'd rather have a broken Craftsman USA socket or ratchet than a brand-new Chinese Crapsman replacement. The already-broken stuff doesn't get used, therefore it doesn't explode and draw blood.

Protoco. (NOT the similarly-named Proto tool company.) These guys mold plastic, and dip metal parts into a plastic coating. They sell wonderful wrench-racks, and they've got socket holders that feature a fabulous concept but the actual product is fragile. (They also mold the air-tool vinyl covers for impact wrenches and air-ratchets, drills, etc.) Anyway, I've got lots of their plastic socket-holder rails; and about a third of them are broken. Another third have plastic spring clips instead of the older "pegs" that could be stacked. The spring clips hold the socket so well that when you pull on the socket, the spring clip stays in the socket and pulls out of the socket rail.

 

[baxterday]

I have had great luck with Snap-on and Craftsman. My older Craftsman tools are being replaced with Taiwanese made stuff, better than china but not as good as the good ole USA.

 

[someotherguy]

I no longer do any full-time wrenching, totally just hobby/DIY now, so my experience will be far more limited these days in terms of exercising tool warranties.

HOWEVER. I will echo the Craftsman warranty woes since you can't just walk in a Sears and get a swap-out, as well as not wanting the junk you can receive these days IF you manage to find someone to honor the warranty.

According to Craftsman's website, you can go to "any stocking dealer" for warranty returns.

Have a couple of cracked Craftsman sockets, went into 3 different places hoping to swap them. Ace Hardware - they stock lots of Craftsman. Go to the service desk, ask, they start to hem and haw like they have no idea. Eventually get someone to meet me over at the tool area to discuss it. After much time wasted, discover they don't even have the sockets in stock that I need. Their solution? Check back in a couple weeks when they get some more in. NAPA - they stock 'em, too. "No, we don't do warranty exchanges." Can't remember the third place I tried but I was so frustrated at that point that I will not buy any more Craftsman tools.

For my older Craftsman ratchets, a few years ago I sourced some old stock repair kits off ebay and just rebuilt 'em myself. I would imagine at this point the old kits are long gone and what you find now is almost surely Chinesium. A lot of the kits I saw at the time were questionable as to country of origin.

Richard

 

[RedneckWithPaychecks]

When my sears was worth going to I loved the craftsman selection but redeeming the warranty was a nightmare (It took me 2 hours just to get things of worse quality than a high school shop lesson on metal working). Now that I tried and failed with many tool brands, the best I’ve gotten is snap on. The worst was the Walmart brand tool, used the spark plug socket and broke off the spark plug. Let’s say that 4.2 ford never was in my sight along with the socket that caused me to hate the truck.

Nowadays my snap-on tools are good quality but I will pay for something that isn’t awful. the warranty on it hasn’t ever been hard for me, and they don’t break often. When they do the customer service is helpful.

 

[88cheyenne]

My 20ish year old Craftsman ratchets were getting a little sticky. I thought I might have to replace them with Chinese stuff, but luckily a few sprays of silicone WD40 freed up the mechanism.

I had been putting off replacing them for years. They were doing the thing where they wouldn’t really ratchet either way. I am just a hobbyist, so maybe they don’t hold up as well for pros.

 

[Papablunt]

Starting to see some trends as far as what brands to stay away from.