Sears Tools

My early experience with Sears stuff in the 1970s was that they had their stuff altered from standard so you could only get certain spares from them. My dad bought a table jigsaw, mainly for my use, it had IIRC

4.5" blades. The following year some new blades were required and Sears themselves didn't sell them, no one did as 5" was the standard. Adapt or not use the saw, a 1/2" Al block was added between the U frame a spring tip and 5" blades used from anyone but Sears.
Reply to
David Billington
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Note my lack of mention of the word "high".

It is painfully obvious they didn't sell high quality when you consider the machine tools they sold, which, in the scheme of things, are on the bottom of the heap, barely above the quality of HF----but the price, then, was in keeping with the product. Not so today.

I have never been delusional about Sears being the best, just being fair and honest in their dealings, providing reasonable quality for a fair price. All of that changed long ago, beginning, no doubt, in the early 70's, when the modern concept of "bottom line" thinking overtook the concept of treating the customer as if he/she had value..

It's as if the corporation adopted a page from a labor union's book of ethics, whereby they expected more money for lower performance. Sears, to me, lost the vast majority of its appeal long ago. While I will frequent their store on occasion, it's only because they may be the sole source of a given item. They rarely can compete with prices with other sources, and certainly don't have better quality in most cases. Hard to believe, but they make HF look quite good.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

Stu,

I would give customer service another call and before you describe your problem ask them if Sears still has the policy of complete satisfaction or your money back.

When they confirm this policy, explain your dissatisfaction and they will again send you to the local Sears store. Get the name of the person in customer service. Now when you go into the local store, at the first sign of bunk from the clerk explain that they have two choices, one is to give the satisfaction by installing chucks that will not auto loosen, or give you a refund.

Unfortunately, the clerk will probably refund your money, as this is the path of least resistance, but you can write a complaint letter and hope that that will be one of many that will filter down to someone that can do something about the problem.

Reply to
Roger Shoaf

SF:

Their indifference to supporting equipment--and supporting it at a reasonable unit replacement cost is evident. I recall trouble with an RAS where a cast plastic race melted resultant from a bearing problem. They wanted $225 years ago for their agent to recast the race. A visit to a local shop and $10 later, the problem was resolved.

As well, a vsr switch failed on one of their corded drills after 3 years of light use. I went to area parts and they told me no switch was available with the mention that the book-entry annotation for that part beside "unavailable" was "Buy new drill". Oh yeah.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey

Reply to
Edward Hennessey

Just a question -

Are you putting in a screw driver bit or a drill and holding the chuck and pressing the trigger to tighten ? If so that is the big NO No.

Hand tighten and then use it. Doing it electrically will harm the chuck.

Martin

Martin H. Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net TSRA, Life; NRA LOH & Patron Member, Golden Eagle, Patriot's Medal. NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder IHMSA and NRA Metallic Silhouette maker & member.

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William L> I bought the 19.4 volt combo kit from Sears. My electric drill does the

Reply to
Martin H. Eastburn

This trend you are seeing is rampant in Corporate America.

It is because the business schools are teaching that it is more profitable for a company to make a product that has a very limited lifetime in the consumer's hands which will in turn force the consumer to purchase another new product.

When all the companies do it...and most do....the consumer has few alternatives.

One alternative is to search out the old products...but that only works for so long and for a small number of consumers.

You will note that repair centers and parts are considered a profit center...as a company you can make repairing a product economically unrealistic so again the consumer is forced to purchase a new product.

This approach also allows you to reduce or eliminate part inventories and service centers that detact from maximizing profits.

You might notice that companies strongly urge the consumer to NOT bring the product back to the store if there is a problem but to send it at the consumer's expense to a far away centralized repair depot for weeks before it is returned. If the consumer had brought the item to the store, the store would have to refund the purchase price...not something corporations want to happen.

You as a company can also eliminate variations in products so one size fits all...again maximizing your profits. This approach means that the consumer has fewer choices in performance and quality...but one counters this by offering the product in a number of variations like colors, NACAR logos, NFL team insignias and different grades of minor modifications (like drill chucks) while charging a premium for the preceived but nonexistent improvements.

So yes....they definitely are not making it like they used to.

TMT

Reply to
Too_Many_Tools

if we as consumers buy quality and insist on quality, the market will provide it. When we buy price only, guess what we get?

Reply to
William Noble

Could be, but my experience says otherwise. I'm of the opinion that business picked up on these "good ideas" later, perhaps starting in the early 70's??

Sears was still selling reasonable quality in Utah when I was employed by the shop that was killed by the union. (Eimco crawler tractor division).

I recall getting respectable treatment from them, and, like you, had purchased a fair number of my tools from Sears. I have never worked as a mechanic, and found their Craftsman line of mechanic's tools more than adequate for the work I did, which included engine transplants, engine rebuilds, and general auto maintenance. Work I now abhor.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

There are some interesting exceptions to that. Dillon and RCBS, both manufacturers of reloading equipment have an unconditional warranty. You break it, they replace the broken part, no questions asked. I have had two issues with Dillon equipment - they sent me new parts no questions asked. RCBS sent me a part for my kinetic bullet puller no questions asked. No charge at all, not shipping, not handling, nothing. Part just shows up on the door step.

Neither company cares where you got the stuff, garage sale, E-BAY, Uncle Bob, doesn't matter. The part broke, all they want to know is your address so they can send you a new one.

It is so rare in today's society I thought it deserved mention.

Fitch

Reply to
Fitch R. Williams

Reply to
Stuart & Kathryn Fields

Welcome back Fitch...you have been missed. ;

Reply to
Too_Many_Tools

Sears has served the market according to what it wants and will pay for. The kinds of expert users who make up much of this NG hardly exist anymore. We're dinosaurs, guys.

My dad was a Sears store manager and executive from 1938 until 1963, with a break for WWII. Some of the change started in those later years, when several things hit at once: consumers cared less about long life and were buying from discounters; the government took an increasingly dim view of Sears' monopolistic manipulations with its suppliers; the catalog business went downhill, forcing Sears to compete with the aforementioned discounters; and house brands became declasse.

After my dad retired many more things happened to Sears, some of which I didn't follow. But the fundamental things that changed it were changes in buying habits of the public. Those of us who appreciate good tools are now a niche market and couldn't begin to sustain the volumes needed by a national retailer with traditional stores.

-- Ed Huntress

Reply to
Ed Huntress

Reply to
Stuart & Kathryn Fields

Heh!

I've lived by that credo for my entire life. I haven't made as much money as others have, but I sure as hell gained a respectable reputation for quality. Slept well at night, too, secure in the knowledge that I earned my pay-----I didn't screw anyone in the process.

I'd be proud to count your grandfather a friend.

Harold

Reply to
Harold and Susan Vordos

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