Complaint Review: Harbor Freight St Paul MN - st paul Minnesota

 I will try to make this short, if not at least it will be clear and concise. I have been a Harbor Freight customer for 10 years or so. I am always working on something, the house, the car, a race car, and have owned a variety of tools from HF whether air powered or electric. In the 10 ish years I have been purchasing tools there I have had a few tools that weren't worth the gas to get there. An air powered high speed metal saw, went through 2 of them and gave up, neither would cut through a pencil let alone metal. I had no problem returning either. I also purchased an 18 volt 1/2 inch impact gun to take the wheels off my race car in the pits. Two of those crapped out within a day, again no trouble returning, as a matter of fact, the second of those died in 2007 and I just returned it in late 2011. No questions asked. I recently opened an auto detailing shop and do some paintwork and light welding, Harbor Freight has been a great asset for me. I wanted a stand up sandblasting cabinet, a local tractor supply store gets $349 for theirs, HF had the same one (different name on the front) on sale for $209 and with the 20% off coupon FREE in the back of This old House magazine, I paid $163 for it. I say "winning" I needed a new welder since I traded my Millermatic for a sheet metal brake, I prefer a gas MIG welder but flux core is fine for the little that I use it. Again a coupon from the same magazine ad for $89 and the welding cart $35. Now, can you buy a better welder, and a sturdier cart, of course but I plan on letting my cart support the 40lbs of the welder and nothing else so why would I need to buy some NAME BRAND one for 5 times as much to hold a welder? Now for anyone who thinks that I might be a plant for the company, I assure you I am just a customer, mostly satisfied customer. Now, one beef I do have with HF is the Inside Track Club, after years of being very stingy with my hard earned money, I finally gave in and bought in to the hype. $30 with a $10 gift card right there on the spot so really cost $20. For many of the 10 years I have been going there I was probably only in the store 3-4 times a year, and not familiar with all the coupons out there, In the last 9 months since buying a fixer upper house and starting the business I have been there 2-3 times a week sometimes, so I have become an extreme couponer of sorts. I don't buy anything over $20 unless I have the coupon or can use the 20% off coupon. This is where my frustration lies. As an Inside Track member, I get monthly savings papers, different than the ones that everyone gets in the mail. Both have "super coupons" in them, the ITC paper has more........BUT.......i have compiled a binder full of coupons from the 2 page HF ads in many magazines, I keep any that I might ever buy in the binder, duplicates and all since they have different expiration dates. I have found that many times the ITC "super coupon" is a higher price than the "super coupon" in the magazine that any non ITC member can get.  That really burns my biscuit, I would suggest that before you buy anything from HF, look up the price on their web site, get your hands on the last few months of R&T magazine or This old House , or many others and look at the 1-2 pages of coupons in the back. You may find your need there cheap or at least the Free "whatever there giving away that month" next to a 20% off coupon. ......AND...... Read the coupon, there are a number of things that you cannot use it on, Air compressors being one of them. OK, so bottom line, you get what you pay for, if you need a tool one time to save some cash on a repair and the HF tool gets it done, GREAT, if it doesn't, take it back with the receipt and get square with them. Also, being nice helps, They didn't break what ever your fixing, nor did they manufacture the tool you're returning because it's junk. Guess you'll have to pony up the extra $ to get a name brand tool. I hope this was enlightening, and feel free to repost this (if they do that on here) and good luck with all your future projects...may the freight be with you...

I understand your frustration, but they do let you know this in advance.  Even though there was not a sign that says that the coupon couldn't be used for an air compressor, the coupon its self does.  Under the bar code, it states " Use this coupon to save 20% on any one single item purchased when you shop at a Harbor Freight Tools store.  *Cannot be used with any other discount or coupon.  Coupon not valid on any of the following: gift cards, Inside Track Club membership, extended service plans, compressors, generators, Tool Cabinets, Welders, Floor Jacks" etc.  Fine print is still print unfortunately.