Thread: Sears sure has changed, for the worse!

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Originally Posted by robot

We use their shop vacs....I just bought 4 a month ago but they suck

Isn't that a good thing for a shop vac. Sorry had to say it.


I just came back from Joliet, bought a 195 pc. set of craftsman tools for the truck so I'm not looking for tools when I'm out on the road or job site. The case is a perfect fit in the truck box. I was feeling pretty good about my purchase ..... til' I read this thread. Maybe I should have bought the Husky set @ Home Depot. It was cheaper but didn't have nearly as many tools. They won't get used all that often so maybe they will last.

I still have my first Sears "tool box" that I got as a teen. How things have changed.

Get the tent out Don ... take pix & call the news station!!! Attica, Attica, Attica ....

REGS

I haven't had any problems with their Craftsman handtool guarantee, but I lost my respect for other Sears tools long ago. For a floor jack I have found the one at Costco to be a great value, $95 for a low profile, high lift jack that performs well.

I'll stop in occasionally - but their tools are getting too dam' expensive for what they are. I bought a set of Gear Wrenches from them - supposedly guaranteed for life. Sure they are - just send the failed ones back along with your receipt and pay postage both ways and new one will appear. I ended up taking those two wrenches to Lowe's - no problem except you have to turn them over to change direction - but they do work better. I still like my Snap-On's best. Then there was that almost new 2T jack that got replaced with a HF that doesn't let itself down automatically..................

My garage door openers are Craftsman - one stripped a nylon gear - photo attached below. By the time I got it home from the repair center, my wallet was $30 lighter for a $125 opener:

I bought 2 of those plastic gears for less then $30. I figured since I had to replace one of them I might as well keep a spare for the other one just in case. Odd thing is the other door got opened just as mush as the broken one BUT the one thing I did notice the good opener doesn't close as tight. I figured the gear stripped because of tight I had it closing && it might not be a bad idea to put a little grease on them also....joe

Originally Posted by IC2

I'll stop in occasionally - but their tools are getting too dam' expensive for what they are. I bought a set of Gear Wrenches from them - supposedly guaranteed for life. Sure they are - just send the failed ones back along with your receipt and pay postage both ways and new one will appear. I ended up taking those two wrenches to Lowe's - no problem except you have to turn them over to change direction - but they do work better. I still like my Snap-On's best. Then there was that almost new 2T jack that got replaced with a HF that doesn't let itself down automatically..................

My garage door openers are Craftsman - one stripped a nylon gear - photo attached below. By the time I got it home from the repair center, my wallet was $30 lighter for a $125 opener:

The main problem for sears is all the good people that take advantage of the return policy. Like everything else today, to many looking for a way around paying their own way in life . I could insert Unions here but I will refrain.

I was a witness to a clown that would get a law mower in the beginning of spring and bring it back in the fall, used the damn thing all summer. It was the norm here in Ga with the local hicks. That is what you have today irresponsible low life's gaming the system. So I do not blame the Sears of the world it is your neighbor that is the reason..

People steal and a store cannot stay in business and pay the employees loosing money. So if you steal it will come back no one gets away with it, problem is the rest of us suffer for the thief's bad habits . I do not know bout anyone else but I have never seen a thief ever have anything nice, they are alway broke down and their stuff is always crap.

rant over

I know I had a problem with one of thier torque wrenches that would not stay calibrated and they would not replace it. And I had some life time rechargable flash lights that the battery's went bad in and they would not replace those either.
Kurt

well after read this i reading this i do not feel so bad about the snap on P.O.S jet wash and just two more payments i will be the owner of a rusty jet washer that need to be gone thru turn table needs to be rebuilt and will not clean much and to think it only costed $10000. i told them on the first one i would not take it the door was welded on but not inline with the cabinet unlatch it and the door would fly back from the big bind to get the door to latch i had to lean on it with my body weight i am a 230 lb small guy so they took that one back sent me number two jet washer that had parts busted off and the side push in .the track that rolls out turn table run out of the washer on a table. that was 3/4 lower then it should have been so if you have a engine block on it they way it came from snap it off it would land on the floor after talking many time about this snap on told me they would take it back but i would loose money on it .i told them i would be happy not to pay on it any more... so... they said they would report me and then pick it up.. so i got it busted off in my back side... i can say i do not think its paid for its self. i had some big money deals go side ways .if its under 200 bucks i chalk it up with the way things are like my $3000+.worth of doctor bills for welding a $75 job and one for $700 that Doc put two shots in me and made a phone call we just keep rolling

Just like Jerry said.Find any kind of proof of purchase and then you got them by the short hairs.

Dan is like me, he tosses receipts as soon as he gets home. Don is the bookkeeper in the family and has files for everything he has ever owned.

It's such a shame that America has turned into such a throwaway society. I have some old sockets and wrenches that I bought from Sears probably 40 years ago and they still work great and the chrome is thick and tuff. The ones I bought recently from them are not made as well and the finish starts to chip off after several uses. It's not only Sears, but I have a Snap On 3/8 drive rachet that was slipping under torque and they "fixed it" by putting new guts inside. But that didn't really correct the problem and they said they are only obligated to fix it one time.

Just the other day Dan and I went into the marine store where we both worked at one time, Dan needed some wiring supplies to do his car. When I started there in the late 80's that store had 25 employees.......each department had a head, shipping had two people, the office had a secretary, etc. The manager at that store told us they now run the store with 2 people per day..........one opens at 9 and is alone until 1 pm, then the other one comes in and works until close.

Things sure have changed in the retail world.

Don

Originally Posted by Itoldyouso

Just the other day Dan and I went into the marine store where we both worked at one time, Dan needed some wiring supplies to do his car. When I started there in the late 80's that store had 25 employees.......each department had a head, shipping had two people, the office had a secretary, etc. The manager at that store told us they now run the store with 2 people per day..........one opens at 9 and is alone until 1 pm, then the other one comes in and works until close.

Things sure have changed in the retail world.

Don

Don, in recent years I think customer service has gone down because so many people were layed off and these companies are now seeing that they can "get by" with minimal employees. That does wonders for employee moral . That decrease in moral is often unfortunately passed on to customers. I am not in retail but I am an inventory manager for a truck rental company. A couple years ago they cut our inventory office from 24 people to 14 to cover a 1/3 of the country. Our daily conversations with the dealers (who we knew very personally) have turned into "I'm sorry you are who?". The trouble builds from there. I could go on, but I really did not want to thread jack.

Speaking of jacks I am sorry for your troubles. I know you do not intend to buy another jack, but Harbor Frieght has a aluminum low profile jack for about 70 bucks that is not the most sturdy thing in the world, but has worked for getting under a low car and much easier to throw around the garage than my heavier floor jack.

I'll add a little fuel to the fire. When I was starting the build on the coupe I bought a compressor and other misc. items at Sears. The cashier said Sears offered a discount if I would apply (instant) for a Sears card, stupid I did it.

When the card arrived sometime later I noticed it was a Visa card,I thought it was supposed to be a Sears card, as I had had one in years past. I sent them full payment and told them to close the account. Next month a bill came showing full payment had been received,but had been late by 1 day and a late payment was due in the amount of 35.00 dol. I informed them I had no plans to pay the 35.00. After 5 years and lot's of heated discussions with collectors the amount due had grown to close to 300.00. Finally they quit calling .

No more Sears for me.

Yeah, you bought it at sears SUCKER... hence the ol phrase searsucker suit.

Sears used to be great. That is done. Kmart in disguise, indeed.

Crapsman tools are getting worse. The ratchets and screwdrivers are to be avoided. Their starter tool kits are ok for the weekend hobbyist, but not for buisness.

As for Snapon.. here is a tidbit you will like to know..

Go to Lowes and buy the Kobalt tools. They are made by snapon, and are a great bang for the buck.

The first time the (late) wife bought me a screwdriver set from sears, they charged her for the guarantee! OOOH, I was hot. Told her to go back and get a refund on the 'guarantee' or else return the tools. What a crock!

When I first got the house rebuit after the fire, I went in and bought some of their top - line huge towels. They were awesome, so thick you could only put one or two in with a load of wash. About ten years later, I went back to buy a new set, as the old had worn thin. They don't carry them anymore! Just those crap, thin, chineese made towels. They are much MUCH less expensive, but where do you go to get real towels anymore?

[QUOTE=Itoldyouso;416175] I have some old sockets and wrenches that I bought from Sears probably 40 years ago and they still work great and the chrome is thick and tuff.

Same here, Don. I bought a lot of Craftsman hand tools when I got out of the Navy. That was in 1954 (no, that's not a typographical error, it was 1954) and I still have most of them. Fine tools. The reason I don't have all of them is that I'm the world's worst about using a wrench or some other item then laying it down somewhere under the hood, then driving off. Somebody else owns them now.

As cffisher (Charlie) mentioned, their power tools ...... not so good. Anytime I want to get good and mad I try to use my belt sander. That will usually do it.

BUT. That is not my main gripe about Sears. A company I had worked for for over twenty years very unexpectedly went out of business. I found myself with a newborn and a two year old, a new house on which I hadn't made even the first payment, and no job.

We sat down and wrote registered letters to all of our creditors and explained the situation. All of them were understanding and thanked us for telling them and asked us to keep them informed if we had to relocate.

Well, all of them but one. Sears.

I owed them about $600. They hassled the devil out of us with many phone calls. They also torpedoed my very good credit rating.

That despite my keeping them fully informed.

I HATE 'EM!

We paid them and everybody else off fully. Nobody lost a dime on us. It took a long time for us to get our good credit rating back

Thanks for this opportunity to rant.

Jim

I guess Sears no longer uses the catch phrase"Satisfaction Guaranteed or Your Money Back" welcome to the new way of doing business in America.There was a time a Kenmore washer and dryer would last 30+ years,now if you don't buy the "extended warranty protection" they will crap out after the first year,I found out the hard way same with a Kenmore vacuum.The Sears K-Mart merger is a mistake,I won't shop at either one anymore.