Craftsman tools not warranted/guaranteed forever

I encountered that attitude at a sears store in 1982. Suggested to the hardware manager that he look up the meaning of "unconditional" in any dictionary; got told that sears doesn't need my business that badly. Haven't set foot in a sears store since; haven't missed them one bit.

-jc-

Do what I do when looking for tools I don't use enough to warrant buying brand new high quality stuff. I buy used. My Rockwell 7 1/4" saw (I called it a delta last post - I was wrong - it is a Rockwell) cost me $5 at a garage sale with a cracked miter shoe. The part cost me $8 and change from the repair depot ($279 saw new)

The 8 1/4" Milwaulkee cost me $25 with a broken depth adjuster shoe - which cost me $8 or so from the depot. My Milwaulkee Sawzall I got free with a broken pitman drive. The repair depot in Windsor told my brother-in-law it wasn't worth fixing and the part was not available so he gave it to me. I bought the required parts for the newer model saw (3 parts instead of just one, to be able to use the now available, stronger parts) for $35. I should replace the switch sometime - it is a bit touchy the last year or so.

I bought my Myford Super 7 (about $8500 US new) for $1500 Canadian and but $200 Canadian worth of crossfeed screws and nuts in it.

My Beaver 8" table saw cost me $40 (the good old style cast base unit) and I put about $10 worth of bearings into it.

My 6" jointer planer I got for nothing with a bad drive pulley and worn shaft (where the pulley had run loose for too long). I reduced the shaft size with my hand grinder and installed a smaller bore pulley. Paid to have the knives re-ground.

I'd go for a used Bosch, Hilti, or similar

Thanks! To be perfectly honest, I hadn't considered a pawn shop, but will check our local ones Monday! I'm in need soon.

Harold

Simply not true. My father has purchased ONE 1/2" drive ratchet in his life, in the mid-60's. It has since been replaced and/or repaired several times. At one point the original handle had been repaired with new ratchet guts too many times and was just plain shot. The original had a handle about 18" long, unfortunately they do not make one that long any more so he was given the current shorter model.

The best deals are the tools that are sold in sets only, several years ago I bought a set of 6 T-handle allens. In the application I had at the time I only used 2 sizes with any frequency and they eventually became rounded off. Took the rounded ones back and they gave me a whole new set, as they are only sold in sets of 6?? Didn't take me long to figure out this game, I now have several sets, and my needs have since changed so I use most of the sizes now.

Tom

Sears joined the "bottom line" concept many years ago and it has cost them dearly. In practicing the "more-profit-for-less-value" theory, many of us have quit buying from them.

Like you, I quit and hadn't gone to one of their stores in many years. Since moving to a small community, I've returned to buying from them, due, in part, to my limited selection that is available locally. One product they carry, a dehumidifier, is not available from anyone else, and we've purchased three of them.

I'm still not real happy with their business philosophy, but I'm finding that, more and more, many businesses would rather skin the sheep than shear it, and don't give a damn that it dies. Sigh!

Harold

You are exactly the kind of customers any store does not need. In replacing the broken items they would have made your set complete, which is what you were enttiled. Your behavior is not something to be proud of.

- Bob

I tried to return an electric sander once. I purchased it, took it home and found that it did not work. Took it back and the store told me the warranty had expired while it was on the store shelf. Stupidest story I have ever heard. After creating a scene they replaced the sander. that was the last time I have ever had dealings with Sears. And I will never have any further dealings with them.

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 03:58:25 GMT in rec.crafts.metalworking, Gunner wrote,

You might even get some that used to be Gunner's.

No other way to get the meat out

WB ................

Recently Wall St Journal had article about Best Buys new marketing strategy. They are rating their customers as good or bad. Good meaning someone that wants the latest and greatest electronic gizmo and doesn't wait for a sale to get the best price. Bad meaning someone that generates little or no profit because they do things such as only buying when on sale, demand that they honor their best price policy, returns products and are generally a pain in the butt. They figure that let them buy from Wal-Mart and other discount stores. There is more money to be made selling higher end products.

Chuckle!!

Yep, that's true, but in the case of Sears, they weren't looking for meat. They wanted the wool.

Or do they?

Harold

Some of that cheap stuff is remarkably good - 4" angle grinders being one example that keeps on going longer than the price says that it should. A lot of the cheap tools seem to have really dodgy ergonomics - square handles, poor balance, etc. Not stuff that would add to the cost to make the tool

On my experience, I would recommend Hitachi :-) My DW20 (1/2" chuck,

20mmm holes in concrete) is a good machine. It's predecessor was good until someone stole it. The triggers should be an easy fix I would have thought. Geoff

snip-----

Interesting observation, and I'd normally pursue the advice based on a report such as yours, but I don't feel I should support a company that sold a device that was not suited to the application and then dismissed a dissatisfied customer when the problem came home to roost. No way in hell would I get involved with that company again. Screw me once shame on you, screw me twice, shame on me.

Yep! Dead easy installation which I was more than willing to do, just like I did the first one. I just didn't feel too good about paying for one that was supposed to work, then buying a second one that was also supposed to work, yet each of them failed with only a few minutes (less than an hour in both cases) of service. At what point was I supposed to quit buying switches @ almost $20 each? The second one was more than enough for me. It will be cheaper to risk a HF unit, I fear. Local pawn shops had nothing. Very small community, though. Sigh~

Harold

Going back 20 years or so the Craftsman drills were made by Singer.The Singer division was called Kearfott.While working on their phone trunk lines I asked them if this was true,the answer was yes.

I've never seen a Craftsman drill made by Singer. Most of the stuff from that period was Ryobi or B&D. Another company would be shown by the model number, and I've only seen sewing machines with the Singer prefix. No Kearfott in any product.

GTO(John)

Sorry but Singer did make a lot of Craftsman drills. Right here in Pickens, SC at the old sewing machine cabinet factory.

The same factory was sold to Ryobi and now to OWL. The made a few other brand names as well.

Howard Pickens, SC

So these were the drills with the 315 prefix all these years? The sheets I've seen only list Ryobi for that number.

GTO(John)

A quick search on Google turns up a number of hits claiming that Singer made all sorts of things for Sears besides sewing machines. One in particular is rather believable. It is a recall notice from the Consumer Products Safety Commission for a Craftsman hedge trimmer that was made by Singer. The release is dated 4/14/1985.

Robert

Thanks, I looked it up. The sheets I'm looking at don't seem to cover past companies that used the 315 model number.

GTO(John)