Snap-On Warranty

I have a couple of Snap-On 3/4 ratchet wrenches that are broke. I heard various things about the Snap-On warranty, and I wonder how easy it is to get them fixed. Thanks

Reply to
Ignoramus8543
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Ignoramus8543 fired this volley in news:e6-dnfHKPtSCREDPnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:

The last experience I had with a Snap-On warranty was in 1999. I took the tool (ratchet handle, also) to a Snap-On truck I saw parked by an auto-repair. The guy took my information (address, name, phone), and replaced the tool on the spot!

Since then, I've heard they've gotten more profit-intensive, and have cut their route owners short; so they might not be so willing these days.

Lloyd

Reply to
Lloyd E. Sponenburgh

Find a Snap-On truck and do the swap instantly. It's much, much easier than the fights you get in with the sub-managerial assholes at Searz, believe me.

- To change one's self is sufficient. It's the idiots who want to change the world who are causing all the trouble. --Anonymous

Reply to
Larry Jaques

All depends on the truck. Some are real good, Walk up show them the tool, they repair/replace (depending on tool) and you walk away (usually with something else off the truck, or drooling)

Some are being a PIA and will ask you for proof that you bought the tool new, and not some pawn shop or flea market.

The new guy we have in the area now is so far a good one.

I keep complaining though, I liked the old square handled drivers better than these new ones. Seem to get a tired/cramped hand using the new ones.

In your case they might even stop by if the driver thinks he can make some money.

Reply to
Steve W.

Should be no problem, but they might ask you how long was the pipe.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

Haha

Reply to
Cydrome Leader

"Ignoramus8543" <

Many years ago I bought a snap-on double flaring tool for doing brake line flares and the internal threads of the operating screw stripped out clean on the first use. snap-on would not cover it. So I peeled back the snap-on label and low and behold it was made by Central Tool in China! No more snap-off tools here! A local body shop bought a snap-off welder that was both wire feed and tig (scratch start with no hi-freq) for over $5K and it turned out to be a major piece of shit...no way to tell who made it. f*ck snap-off... pdk

Reply to
Phil Kangas

My brother in law had a Snap On franchise for a few years back in the early 90's.

At the time, dealers were supposed to honor any and all warranty requests as part of their franchise agreement.

However, some dealers were a little reluctant for customers not on their route, as it temporarily consumed stock, and there was often a considerable lag and hoops to jump before they were finally reimbursed or stock was replaced.

If I recall correctly, they did the 'brokens dance' once a month... the dealer had to first go through that loathsome box and generate a list, then have his (often reluctant) field manager pick through the filth and approve said list before submission. This was back when computers were still new on the trucks, and a lot of stuff was still done manually... hell, a lot of the dealers of that era didn't even have computers[1]. The process is probably streamlined by now. All said & done, brokens alone probably consumed a couple of hours of dealer time a month.

Dealers who got a complaint/s for refusing to do warranty exchanges were often summoned to the 'branch office' along with their field manager where they got to unceremoniously stand on the carpet...

Incidentally, stuff like ratchets were usually not just automatically replaced. Dealers carried around rebuild kits, and rebuilt them on the spot... it's not difficult. (They even had a special tool for compressing the spring/ball assembly in the pear head ratchets.) If something was wrong with the head/body itself, then the whole thing was replaced.

Broken/damaged screwdriver blades were also replaced in the customers old handle...

If I remember right, at that time the most warrantied item was 1/2" to

3/8" adapters... probably still is.

Being a dealer is a real chore... they're usually up at the crack of dawn in a dead run, and don't slow down till late at night... assuming all is normal. Throw in something like a truck problem, and your out of business till it's running again. It's a wicked fast cash flow operation... cash whips in alright, but it whips out too. The 'out' part is stable & guaranteed. The 'in' part is fragile, with thousands of unpredictable variables, and is easily & often interrupted.

I could go on, but have to go...

Erik

[1] My brother in law was also one of the first generation of dealers required to have (and use) a cell phone... however, at that time it was usually a pager number distributed to customers.
Reply to
Erik

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