Sorry Sears, but we need to start seeing other people

[NoBanStan]

I recently purchased an 11 drawer tool chest from Sears on black Friday for $200! I knew going into this that it would be a $200 tool chest.. but I'm a Systems Administrator by trade... I just need to place to put my home tools, not something super rugged to stand up to the demands of a full on shop. I rarely build anything beyond the occasional home repair or cub scout project.

 

This has been an awful experience sadly...and I haven't even put so much as a screwdriver into it yet!!!!!!

 

Rewind to black Friday: I go to the sears in rivergate (closest option) because I saw the sale online and wanted to go look at it before purchasing. They have it and it's in stock.. for around $400. I ask the sales associate and i'm told that the deal was "door buster" and that I can't get it at that price anymore. I check online, it's still the lower price. He says you have to order it online and that you can't get it in the store. So I look online and it gives me the option for instore pickup (that took a few to figure out because they somewhat hid that option online). 45 minutes later, I finally get to order it online and drive around the building to pick it up.

 

 

The following day: I put my new tool chest together only to discover that one of the drawers was never fully built. The bearings are just laying under the drawer and the only way to attach them is to cut open the back and push the tray in. Seeing how it's brand new, I'm not going to do this.

 

I call their support line to find out what to do. I'm told I need to package up all 3 pieces and ship them back. Ship them back!?!? At my expense!? I don't think so Sears.... They refuse to reimburse. I figured the person had no clue what they were talking about. Their English was poor, so I hung up and called back. The next person, who understood me a bit better, says "you can just ship back that one piece, but at your expense". I hung up again and called back. This time the person spoke fluent and said I could just take the one piece back to the store. Ok, i'll do that

 

A few weeks later (hey, I've been busy!): I load up the broken section and take it back to rivergate. They accept the toolbox and give me a return slip. I head to the register, tell them I need to exchange it, they have it in stock... easy money right? Wrong. They muck up the exchange and recharge my card instead of just exchanging it, I called them on it so they voided the transaction. Then they come back and say "Ok, that will be $10". "$10? For what?" I say. "Well we don't have it at the price you got it for online, so you have to pay the difference". I said "I'm not paying anything else, I already paid gas to bring this thing back. I give you the broken one, you give me the working one, it's simple". They go on to tell me how Sears online is their own competition and that they can't meet that price, but there's no place for me to ship it back to. So basically I have to keep the broken one, or pay that extra $10. I bust a blood vessel yelling and finally one guy says "well, I guess we can just price match it"......... Well, why didn't you just LEAD OFF WITH THAT OPTION.

 

At the pickup station: The very nice lady rolls out the replacement part. Before I could even mention it, she tells me to open it and look it over.

 

1st box: The top won't shut correctly so it won't lock

2nd box: The entire side is caved in

3rd box: one of the interior trays is slightly warped

 

They don't have any more so I just took the last one as the warp isn't terrible.

 

Conclusion: Craftsman used to mean something but it appears those days are over. I still haven't put anything in that toolbox yet because I'm debating on just getting my money back. I went into home depot and spotted a 12 drawer that's the same price and very similar.... it even appears to be more sturdy!

 

 

***edit***

 

TL;DR - Sears Craftsman is bad and they should feel bad for it.

Edited January 2, 2014 by NoBanStan

[charlessummers]

Sorry to hear that... I like Craftsman, but it has been a LONG time since I've had to purchase a tool. Maybe it had something to do with the merge with the K-Mart Co.?

[gun sane]

I've got a hunch this is why Roebuck pulled out years ago.

[jhc77]

I've dumped Craftsman as of the last 2 years. Everything in general I've been looking (tool wise) at Sears has been suffering from quality. I agree with your Home Depot comment too, although I'm partial to Lowe's for some reason. There Kobalt line of tools and boxes are still made fairly well.  I've got two Craftsman tool boxes/chest that are build well, but are 10+ years old. Last time I was at Sears the stuff has taken a drop in quality for sure.

[DaveS]

I've always been a sears man, but for the last 10 years or so, I avoid Sears like the plague for the same reasons already mentioned!

 

Dave

[TMF]

I won't even walk into a Sears any more. It's worse than walking on to a used car lot in terms of pushy sales folk.

[runco]

I bought all of my craftsman tool boxes 20 years ago, sturdy, and not one problem.  Probably have 500+ lbs of tools in them.  I do a have a fear that Sears will someday soon cease to exist.  They just don't have anything I want.  There goes my craftsman lifetime warranty.  Which reminds me, I need to exchange a 1/2 dozen of screwdrivers.

 

Hate to hear your murphy's law experience. 

[TripleDigitRide]

I got the following tool chest. I looked at some of the cheaper Craftsman options, and this is far superior. It's actually a great chest for the money. I got it on sale, but I'd say it's still worth the full price. http://m.harborfreight.com/26-in-8-drawer-roller-cabinet-with-8-drawer-top-chest-67831.html

[Guest TresOsos]

When the predominat force on the market is cheaper (less expensive) goods, quality is going to suffer.

[runco]

I got the following tool chest. I looked at some of the cheaper Craftsman options, and this is far superior. It's actually a great chest for the money. I got it on sale, but I'd say it's still worth the full price. http://m.harborfreight.com/26-in-8-drawer-roller-cabinet-with-8-drawer-top-chest-67831.html

Those sears craftsman tool boxes are probably made on the same production line.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Sears stuff made in china, just like wally world, northern tools, home depot, etc. Just fancier-decorated harbor freight stores.

China can make good quality at a price point, and some of the stores/brands seem to insist on better QC than others. I got a sears branded 10" Rikon band saw that is real good quality for the money, and they sell a sears branded 14" Rikon bandsaw about as low price as one can find.

Its just a matter of shopping around different places trying to find the least shabby chinese merchandise.

I bought 3 home depot tool chests over the last couple years and I've been happy with them for light duty home use, and the price beats any place else. No defects with any of em.

Especially the last few months, HD has had some crazy low prices on pretty nice big non-pro toolchests. Makes me wish I'd known to wait a year or two. But the ones I got in the past were more affordable chinese chests than anywhere else.

[DaveS]

I remember a time when your ratchet would break and you could exchange it and get a new one. About six years ago, I took an almost new 3/8th drive ratchet in for exchange because mine broke. I got a ratty beat up looking one in exchange. When I questioned it, the sales person said they give out "rebuilt" ones, because people were buying junk ones at yard sales and exchanging them for new ones. I was done with sears tools at that point. Then it didn't help when I found out that Craftsman Power Tools were manufactured by Ryobi which is way cheaper than the Craftsman name to begin with. I found this out when I sent a Craftsman saw in for repair and it came back from Ryobi. That's when I found out that Ryobi made power tools for sears. So now, I just by Ryobi.

 

Dave

[TNMTBik3r]

Growing up my dad always had Craftsman stuff, and parents bought me Craftsman tool sets. I still have them and they are quality items, but nowadays if I am buying tools I look at Kobalt first. 

[TripleDigitRide]

[quote name="Runco" post="1087936" timestamp="1388687020"]Those sears craftsman tool boxes are probably made on the same production line.[/quote] Possibly the same production line, but different materials. Mine is no Snap-on, but it is much better quality than the cheaper line of Craftsman boxes I looked at.

[Guest Lester Weevils]

Those harbor freight boxes appear built sturdy enough to actually serve as a mechanic's roll around tool chest. The biggest user complaint I've read about them is that the wheels are not close enough to the corners and can be a tipping hazard if you do roll em around a lot. Which is not the biggest complaint one could imagine on a tool chest.

I don't need something that tough, just lots of drawers to store my shop tools and random crap. But at least need good ball bearing slides.

The main thing that bothers me about the kobalt tool chests, is apparently too much wasted space, but maybe that is somehow necessary for rollaround lockable storage. Fer instance, there is enough wasted blank panel space at the top of the bottom chests to hold another drawer. And the kobalt middle chests, have almost as much top and bottom blank panel space, as is occupied by the drawer space.

And the extra space on both sides of the drawers seems excessive. Lose more than 4 inches of horizontal drawer space, for what purpose I don't understand, but maybe there is a good reason. I just have limited shop space, why I wanted chests. Seems counter productive to park some huge chest in the shop, when so much practical space seems wasted. For something that big in the shop, want it to hold as much crap as possible. Edited January 2, 2014 by Lester Weevils

[10-Ring]

I was employed by Sears from 2005-2010, in that time their quality really took a dive.  I think it was in 2009 they annonced through an internal memo that all Craftsman production was being moved to China, in their words "To give our  customers more value for their dollar."  So now if you have a 10 year old Made in the USA hand tool and it breaks you get a Chinese tool as a replacement.  I know that they would do ratchet swapping thing for most of the time that I worked there, if you insist that you wanted a new ratchet they would always give you one back then, though you would be offered a remanned unit first.  The 1/2" and 3/4 ratchets are easy to build, the 1/4" ratchets are a pain in the butt and usually don't last long after a rebuild.  While working at Sears I amassed a pretty good sized tool collection while taking advantage of sales and my discount.  I just feel that I'm left hanging should I break something now. 

 

On another note, I've kind of sworn off Sears over the past few years.  A couple of months ago I was on a motorcycle trip, ironically with a friend from my Sears days, who had been laid off from Sears the week before.  My wife called me and had a family emergency out of town and had to leave the next day to see a sick relative.  Our daughters portable DVD player had died and my wife asked me if there was any way we could buy her another one before the trip.  (Once you've given a 4 year old a DVD player and headphones for road trips neither of you will want to travel without them again.)  Anyway, I get online from my hotel room in Missouri and check several local stores trying to find one that has a portable DVD player in stock.  Sears is the only store in town showing an in stock status.  Ironically my buddy that is traveling with me filled online orders in his Sears days.  He describes the process to me, a guy in the store should immediately get an alert that there is an order.   He will retrieve the item from stock, place it in pickup for me, at which time my debit card will be charged, and I will receive an email informing me that the item is ready to pick up.  My wife tried to pick it up the next day but it was not in stock, even though their website said that it was.  I never received an email, and my card was never charged.  I mean I could have gotten that kind of service from Craigslist.

[NoBanStan]

***edit*** woops, wrong thread.

Edited January 2, 2014 by NoBanStan

[DaveS]

***edit*** woops, wrong thread.

How can you be in the wrong thread?? LOL Just Kidding Brother!

 

Dave

[TripleDigitRide]

[quote name="Lester Weevils" post="1087979" timestamp="1388691704"]Those harbor freight boxes appear built sturdy enough to actually serve as a mechanic's roll around tool chest. The biggest user complaint I've read about them is that the wheels are not close enough to the corners and can be a tipping hazard if you do roll em around a lot. Which is not the biggest complaint one could imagine on a tool chest. I don't need something that tough, just lots of drawers to store my shop tools and random crap. But at least need good ball bearing slides. The main thing that bothers me about the kobalt tool chests, is apparently too much wasted space, but maybe that is somehow necessary for rollaround lockable storage. Fer instance, there is enough wasted blank panel space at the top of the bottom chests to hold another drawer. And the kobalt middle chests, have almost as much top and bottom blank panel space, as is occupied by the drawer space. And the extra space on both sides of the drawers seems excessive. Lose more than 4 inches of horizontal drawer space, for what purpose I don't understand, but maybe there is a good reason. I just have limited shop space, why I wanted chests. Seems counter productive to park some huge chest in the shop, when so much practical space seems wasted. For something that big in the shop, want it to hold as much crap as possible.[/quote] I haven't noticed that issue with the chest I have, but I don't roll it around very often. It's loaded pretty heavy, and I haven't felt like it would tip. The bottom chest carries a majority of the weight in mine, so it keeps the center of gravity pretty low. My only complaint would be that it lacks a handle on the right side.

[Joseg]

okay, hint: lowes or Home depot has MAC or that other non-snap on company building their tools, when their contracts are up and renegotiating or switching companies that sell the tools at a serious discount. I have a HD tool chest that I got for 298. I have some kobalt socket set, for wrenches I just go to either Northern or Harbor Freight. Sears died to me when they stop honoring their lifetime warranty on rachets, sockets, etc..  plus just ain't worth it any more.. 

[hipower]

Growing up my dad always had Craftsman stuff, and parents bought me Craftsman tool sets. I still have them and they are quality items, but nowadays if I am buying tools I look at Kobalt first. 

 

Agreed. I have some Craftsman tools bought around 2004, when we moved. These have been pretty sturdy. I have a ratchet set I bought 2 years ago. The ratchet is stripped out and 2 sockets broke trying to loosen bolts on a tool chest. Ironic, isn't it? 

 

Possibly the same production line, but different materials. Mine is no Snap-on, but it is much better quality than the cheaper line of Craftsman boxes I looked at.

 

Started looking at tool storage boxes in 2004. Since I was working selling auto parts then, I looked at the major tool supply trucks. Really good boxes. Tremendously high, at least for my use.

 

Looked at Sears and was disgusted with price and quality of the boxes, even then.

 

Bought a big rolling chest at Sam's Club instead. Roller -bearing drawers that actually worked. And 10 drawer of various size.

 

99 I believe it was, but talked to the store manager and asked for a discount. Couldn't hurt, I thought. Didn't get one, but he offered me a damaged return box that was still packaged up for 300. I was told the side and rear were dented, but it had a full warranty and I could return it if I wasn't satisified.

 

When I got it home and checked it out, I found 2 dents the size of a half dollar on it. I' still very happy with it.

[peejman]

I worked at Sears for a number of years through high school and part of college, starting about 25 years ago. I've got a toolbox set and a lot of hand tools from those days and they've held up well through a bit of car wrenching and DIY home improvement stiff. I hate to think ill live in a world without the craftsman brand, but if they don't consolidate their feces, they'll go the way of the dodo soon.

[NoBanStan]

How can you be in the wrong thread?? LOL Just Kidding Brother!

 

Dave

 

I have no idea, but I managed to do it :D

[gun sane]

When I was working as an aircraft mechanic a lot of guys owed their soul to the Snap-On route salesman, but Craftsman was always my go-to.  I haven't had to buy tools in years, but for whatever I need to do I'm sure Home Depot or even Ace Hardware will suffice. 

[LagerHead]

The mistake that most people understandably make is thinking that Sears is a retail outlet. They are not. They are a credit card operation. Their money is made from their credit cards, which is why they (almost) always ask, "Can I put this on your Sears card for you?" Once you understand that, you will understand where their motivation comes from. I no longer shop at Sears either because they pretty much peddle junk nowadays. I can get junk cheaper elsewhere.