I've been a fan of Craftsman tools for years (I have a 'Craftsman Club' card that says 'member since '1991', which is probably when Sears started that program to get sales / deals....).
And if I had a problem with a craftsman hand tool, it would be no big deal to go to Sears and swap it out at the register with minimal time or paperworl.
Now that Lowes is selling craftsman (I heard they had the exclusive? but then I recently heard radio ads from Ace hardware advertizing Craftsman products?), most times it's a nightmare to try to get a replacement for a damaged / failed hand tool.
Knowing this, I saved up some tools that needed to be replaced to make 1 long trip instead of 3 long trips to Lowes.
Sure enough, this exchange took 1 hour at their customer disservice desk.* That was after I picked out the replacement items from the shelves).
1 item was a direct Craftsman replacement* so that only took 1/2 hour (a foldable utility knife).* The other 2 items - a Craftsman garden nozzle and a craftsman coping saw, took another 1/2 hour.* They don't have craftsman made versions of that. so they were stumped about making a substitution.
In that 1 hour, they pulled out a thick 8 1/2 x 11" stack of papers stapled together with a black cover page and 'Craftsman' in white.* Then they pulled out a spiral bound smaller book of glossy, thick pages to look at that.
In the process, I dealt with 3 people at customer disservice & 1 assistant manager and it wasn't till I called other stores trying to reach a regional manager while these people lost interest in helping me that the general manager and operations manager came over and made the replacements within 2 minutes.*
Me being me, I have to point out flaws in company's systems and avoid this if / when I have another Craftsman exchange and contacted executives at Lowes.**
At first they were apologetic and even sent a $50 gift card for my trouble.* Then as a follow up,*
I wanted to reach out and provide an update on the issue you had with exchanging the Craftsman products you had. Not all Craftsman products obtain a lifetime warranty and the items that were attempting to be exchanged did not. The Store Manager agreed to process the exchange as a one time courtesy due to the issues and inconveniences that you ran into.
I sent them links of the items involved showing that they did have lifetime warranties.* What were they basing the no warranty on?* Someone at the store trying to save face?)* I haven't heard back from them after repeated explainations.
Do you have nightmares with Craftsman tool exchanges?* At Lowes?* Is there advice you can give?**
I know I swore off Kobalt hand tools (Lowe's private lable) because they would give hard times replacing things.* They would come out with a set of screwdrivers, then stop making it.* So not having a direct replamcent threw them in a tizzy.
I am moving more to Husky (Home Depot) and Harbor Freight tools.**
I realized over the years - I would lose more tools than need to get them replaced.* So why pay more for the lifetime warranty only to more likely lose it.
Harbor Freight is much cheaper and their replacements have been a breeze.
If you have problems at a Lowes store, I have some executives emails. Not that it seems to help. They are very disinterested at the store and corporate level. I"ve been a fan of / shop only at Home Depot over the years because of the Kobalt issues and now this. And Lowes is closer!
THANKS!
And if I had a problem with a craftsman hand tool, it would be no big deal to go to Sears and swap it out at the register with minimal time or paperworl.
Now that Lowes is selling craftsman (I heard they had the exclusive? but then I recently heard radio ads from Ace hardware advertizing Craftsman products?), most times it's a nightmare to try to get a replacement for a damaged / failed hand tool.
Knowing this, I saved up some tools that needed to be replaced to make 1 long trip instead of 3 long trips to Lowes.
Sure enough, this exchange took 1 hour at their customer disservice desk.* That was after I picked out the replacement items from the shelves).
1 item was a direct Craftsman replacement* so that only took 1/2 hour (a foldable utility knife).* The other 2 items - a Craftsman garden nozzle and a craftsman coping saw, took another 1/2 hour.* They don't have craftsman made versions of that. so they were stumped about making a substitution.
In that 1 hour, they pulled out a thick 8 1/2 x 11" stack of papers stapled together with a black cover page and 'Craftsman' in white.* Then they pulled out a spiral bound smaller book of glossy, thick pages to look at that.
In the process, I dealt with 3 people at customer disservice & 1 assistant manager and it wasn't till I called other stores trying to reach a regional manager while these people lost interest in helping me that the general manager and operations manager came over and made the replacements within 2 minutes.*
Me being me, I have to point out flaws in company's systems and avoid this if / when I have another Craftsman exchange and contacted executives at Lowes.**
At first they were apologetic and even sent a $50 gift card for my trouble.* Then as a follow up,*
I wanted to reach out and provide an update on the issue you had with exchanging the Craftsman products you had. Not all Craftsman products obtain a lifetime warranty and the items that were attempting to be exchanged did not. The Store Manager agreed to process the exchange as a one time courtesy due to the issues and inconveniences that you ran into.
I sent them links of the items involved showing that they did have lifetime warranties.* What were they basing the no warranty on?* Someone at the store trying to save face?)* I haven't heard back from them after repeated explainations.
Do you have nightmares with Craftsman tool exchanges?* At Lowes?* Is there advice you can give?**
I know I swore off Kobalt hand tools (Lowe's private lable) because they would give hard times replacing things.* They would come out with a set of screwdrivers, then stop making it.* So not having a direct replamcent threw them in a tizzy.
I am moving more to Husky (Home Depot) and Harbor Freight tools.**
I realized over the years - I would lose more tools than need to get them replaced.* So why pay more for the lifetime warranty only to more likely lose it.
Harbor Freight is much cheaper and their replacements have been a breeze.
If you have problems at a Lowes store, I have some executives emails. Not that it seems to help. They are very disinterested at the store and corporate level. I"ve been a fan of / shop only at Home Depot over the years because of the Kobalt issues and now this. And Lowes is closer!
THANKS!
