C Ed Wright
Verona,#2Consumer Comment
Fri, July 03, 2009
First of all, everyone needs to understand that the use of the word "professional" is just marketing fluff to entice the stupid (i.e. all homeowners, in the minds of marketing dweebs) to buy something otherwise doubtful. Craftsman Hand Tools are made by Husky. Not the Made In China Husky-brand trash sold by a certain Big Box store; but by Husky Hand Tools, look them up. Various manufacturers will put any label you're willing to apply them to, on whatever products you're willing to buy enough of and sell in your own store. For example, a major high-quality shotgun manufacturer used to provide one or more of its products to Sears to sell under Sears' proprietary Charles Daly brand. But Sears wanted it cheapened somehow, and the result was that the [fired shell] extractor failed (broke) on a regular basis. So you went back to Sears every time and ordered a new extractor and replaced it yourself or had Sears do it. BUT WHEN YOU TOOK IT TO A KNOWLEDGEABLE GUNSMITH, HE RECOGNIZED THE GUN BY MAKER & MODEL, replaced the extractor with that original make & model extractor, and it was now FIXED FOR LIFE!!! Same with the entire Kenmore brand. Same with ALL Sears products: Sears is a buyer of the manufactured products of various manufacturers; Sears itself has absolutely NO manufacturing capabilities whatsoever. It is a buyer and reseller of other makers' products. It makes absolutely no difference whatsoever who makes what brands, who sells what brands made by whoever else, what matters is the quality of the product, and of course whether such maker stands being their products. What matters is whether such a product is of expected quality, and if not, will it be adjusted/replaced accordingly? And what is the customers' recourse? In the foregoing case, it seems very odd that someone somewhere in the Sears Management cadre failed to comprehend the bigger picture here and provide a replacement more-or-less-equivalent replacement high-lift albeit throwaway jack in order to maintain invaluable customer satisfaction regardless of petty technicalities.
C Ed Wright
Verona,#3Consumer Comment
Thu, July 02, 2009
The problem is not just with Sears, the problem is with anything and everything Made In China regardless of who it is sold by or what brand or label it is sold under. Not only is there absolutely no genuine quality control, resulting in virtually all products being either toxic or physically defective in some way, but also being made in mass one-of-a-kind dirt-cheap-at-the-source production runs, few or no extra replacement parts ever made in the case of products with moving or other component parts, all never to be seen again once that run is completed. No standardization like we were used to, no quality control or consumer safety as we were used to, just "whack 'em out, take the money & run", with none of the legal or other recourse we had for goods made in this country. Consumers that consent to buy anything Made In China concurrently consent to all the foregoing. If you buy Made In China, you condone & perpetuate these practices. "Well, everything is Made In China these days" is no excuse: Shop around or do without, find another way, do what you have or suffer the consequences of your own foolishness. Forewarned is fore-armed. With very little practice, you can spot Made In China packaging; then just check the labeling; Made In China. Move on. When many, many people became increasingly aware of the toxicity of Partially Hydrogenated a.k.a. "Trans Fats" and started reading ingredient labels and stopped buying such Soilent Green Foodah, more and more food manufacturers started to switch to other, natural sat-fats such as palm oil. Market Pressure WORKS, all we need to do is apply it and we will start to stem the tide of Made In China. So it's not just about Sears, it's about ALL the Big Box stores that demanded ever-cheaper-wholesale garbage-products, and this hi-lift jack is just ONE example out of BILLIONS of Made In China that we foolishly buy then throw away, then replace with even worse Made In China trash and then soon throw away too, every single day. (Worst of all, they're using a part of that revenue to build up & modernize their Peoples Liberation Army plus a new blue-water navy in hopes of winning WWIII against us, which only our own military cares to understand & believe.)
C Ed Wright
Verona,#4Consumer Comment
Thu, July 02, 2009
The problem is not just with Sears, the problem is with anything and everything Made In China regardless of who it is sold by or what brand or label it is sold under. Not only is there absolutely no genuine quality control, resulting in virtually all products being either toxic or physically defective in some way, but also being made in mass one-of-a-kind dirt-cheap-at-the-source production runs, few or no extra replacement parts ever made in the case of products with moving or other component parts, all never to be seen again once that run is completed. No standardization like we were used to, no quality control or consumer safety as we were used to, just "whack 'em out, take the money & run", with none of the legal or other recourse we had for goods made in this country. Consumers that consent to buy anything Made In China concurrently consent to all the foregoing. If you buy Made In China, you condone & perpetuate these practices. "Well, everything is Made In China these days" is no excuse: Shop around or do without, find another way, do what you have or suffer the consequences of your own foolishness. Forewarned is fore-armed. With very little practice, you can spot Made In China packaging; then just check the labeling; Made In China. Move on. When many, many people became increasingly aware of the toxicity of Partially Hydrogenated a.k.a. "Trans Fats" and started reading ingredient labels and stopped buying such Soilent Green Foodah, more and more food manufacturers started to switch to other, natural sat-fats such as palm oil. Market Pressure WORKS, all we need to do is apply it and we will start to stem the tide of Made In China. So it's not just about Sears, it's about ALL the Big Box stores that demanded ever-cheaper-wholesale garbage-products, and this hi-lift jack is just ONE example out of BILLIONS of Made In China that we foolishly buy then throw away, then replace with even worse Made In China trash and then soon throw away too, every single day. (Worst of all, they're using a part of that revenue to build up & modernize their Peoples Liberation Army plus a new blue-water navy in hopes of winning WWIII against us, which only our own military cares to understand & believe.)
C Ed Wright
Verona,#5Consumer Comment
Thu, July 02, 2009
The problem is not just with Sears, the problem is with anything and everything Made In China regardless of who it is sold by or what brand or label it is sold under. Not only is there absolutely no genuine quality control, resulting in virtually all products being either toxic or physically defective in some way, but also being made in mass one-of-a-kind dirt-cheap-at-the-source production runs, few or no extra replacement parts ever made in the case of products with moving or other component parts, all never to be seen again once that run is completed. No standardization like we were used to, no quality control or consumer safety as we were used to, just "whack 'em out, take the money & run", with none of the legal or other recourse we had for goods made in this country. Consumers that consent to buy anything Made In China concurrently consent to all the foregoing. If you buy Made In China, you condone & perpetuate these practices. "Well, everything is Made In China these days" is no excuse: Shop around or do without, find another way, do what you have or suffer the consequences of your own foolishness. Forewarned is fore-armed. With very little practice, you can spot Made In China packaging; then just check the labeling; Made In China. Move on. When many, many people became increasingly aware of the toxicity of Partially Hydrogenated a.k.a. "Trans Fats" and started reading ingredient labels and stopped buying such Soilent Green Foodah, more and more food manufacturers started to switch to other, natural sat-fats such as palm oil. Market Pressure WORKS, all we need to do is apply it and we will start to stem the tide of Made In China. So it's not just about Sears, it's about ALL the Big Box stores that demanded ever-cheaper-wholesale garbage-products, and this hi-lift jack is just ONE example out of BILLIONS of Made In China that we foolishly buy then throw away, then replace with even worse Made In China trash and then soon throw away too, every single day. (Worst of all, they're using a part of that revenue to build up & modernize their Peoples Liberation Army plus a new blue-water navy in hopes of winning WWIII against us, which only our own military cares to understand & believe.)
C Ed Wright
Verona,#6Consumer Comment
Thu, July 02, 2009
The problem is not just with Sears, the problem is with anything and everything Made In China regardless of who it is sold by or what brand or label it is sold under. Not only is there absolutely no genuine quality control, resulting in virtually all products being either toxic or physically defective in some way, but also being made in mass one-of-a-kind dirt-cheap-at-the-source production runs, few or no extra replacement parts ever made in the case of products with moving or other component parts, all never to be seen again once that run is completed. No standardization like we were used to, no quality control or consumer safety as we were used to, just "whack 'em out, take the money & run", with none of the legal or other recourse we had for goods made in this country. Consumers that consent to buy anything Made In China concurrently consent to all the foregoing. If you buy Made In China, you condone & perpetuate these practices. "Well, everything is Made In China these days" is no excuse: Shop around or do without, find another way, do what you have or suffer the consequences of your own foolishness. Forewarned is fore-armed. With very little practice, you can spot Made In China packaging; then just check the labeling; Made In China. Move on. When many, many people became increasingly aware of the toxicity of Partially Hydrogenated a.k.a. "Trans Fats" and started reading ingredient labels and stopped buying such Soilent Green Foodah, more and more food manufacturers started to switch to other, natural sat-fats such as palm oil. Market Pressure WORKS, all we need to do is apply it and we will start to stem the tide of Made In China. So it's not just about Sears, it's about ALL the Big Box stores that demanded ever-cheaper-wholesale garbage-products, and this hi-lift jack is just ONE example out of BILLIONS of Made In China that we foolishly buy then throw away, then replace with even worse Made In China trash and then soon throw away too, every single day. (Worst of all, they're using a part of that revenue to build up & modernize their Peoples Liberation Army plus a new blue-water navy in hopes of winning WWIII against us, which only our own military cares to understand & believe.)
Robert
Buffalo,#7Consumer Comment
Wed, July 01, 2009
You are correct. This exclusion of the warranty on their hand tools for commercial use is specified on the Craftsman website as well. Certain of their tools may have a warranty for commercial use but it's not worth it to me to check with them every time a purchase a tool. I go with Klein-no questions asked, the broken tool is replaced for free-period. Things have changed with Sears and the Craftsman brand over the decades. There was a time when I would ONLY purchase Craftsman hand tools-no more. Oh, and if you check the Craftsman website you will learn that Sears does in fact own the Craftsman brand.
Tech1
Laurel,#8Consumer Comment
Mon, June 29, 2009
They DONT warranty tools for professional technicians I was told this at six Sears's stores. They will take 15 tape measures that have been put in cement. They say the tools are meant only for home use even the professional series. So my ratchet sits at home. And I bought a Matco one.
Jim
Aberdeen,#9UPDATE Employee
Sat, May 02, 2009
By your statements, you make it out to be that Sears Retail OWNS the Craftsman name, and I pointed out that you were wrong. Another employee of Sears came on here to back my word, and you prompt everyone to check into your one source to prove your point, saying that you know what we don't. Here is the full run down of the way the ownership is. Sears Holdings is a parent organization that has controlling ownership over quite a few different companies, including Sears Retail, Sears Home Services, Sears.com, Sears Repair, Sears Auto Center, KMart Retail, KMart.com, and KCD IP. It is under KCD IP that you will find ownership of the Kenmore, Craftsman, and Die Hard lines of products, not the retail stores. KCD IP could at any time sell their products to other stores, but is under contract because of their relationship with Sears Holdings that the only nationwide chains that they sell to are also under the Sears Holdings umbrella. There are non nationwide stores that carry Craftsman products, but they will most often carry model numbers not found in Sears. Think about all of this heirarchy the next time you want to blame the poor sap at the counter for the way "he/she" makes the tools. That makes as much sense as complaining to the guy in the Pepsi shirt stocking shelves down at the grocery store about how crappy you thought your last Pizza Hut pizza was.
Robert
Buffalo,#10Consumer Comment
Wed, April 29, 2009
Actually, I'm right and these 2 alleged employees are wrong. The craftsman brand is owned by SEARS. Don't take my word for it. Go to the craftsman website and click on the "submit ideas" button and then click on the policy link to read about SEARS Holding owning the brand. Sears contracts several different manufacturers to make the line of craftsman tools. Sears controls the branding and Sears sets the warranty policies. This has been the way branding works for numerous DECADES. It's nothing new or illegal-just a normal part of retail branding.
Bananaloca
Dent,#11UPDATE Employee
Wed, April 29, 2009
The employee is actually right..
Robert
Buffalo,#12Consumer Suggestion
Wed, April 22, 2009
The employee is correct ONLY in that Sears does not manufacture tools. What Sears does is contract a manufacturer to make Craftsman tools and then Sears sells them EXCLUSIVELY under the Craftsman brand. Sears OWNS the Craftsman brand and SEARS sets the terms of any warranty Sears wants for the Craftsman brand-not the manufacturer. In some cases, the Craftsman warranty might be better than the manufacturer's (own brand) warranty and some cases not. The OWNER of the BRAND sets the warranty. I remember when Kenmore clothes washers (sears brand) was actually manufactured by Maytag, but BRANDED for Sears as "kenmore." The Kenmore warranty back then was BETTER than for a similar product under the Maytag brand (even though BOTH were manufactured by the same company.) The craftsman.com website is owned by guess who? Sears Branding LLC. and guess who owns that? Yup, Sears' holding company. Many retail companies do this.
Jim
Aberdeen,#13UPDATE Employee
Wed, April 22, 2009
One very large point made throughout this post is in error. SEARS does not, nor has SEARS ever, made Craftsman tools. SEARS is the exclusive nationwide retailer of them, but does not own them. The same can be said for Kenmore appliances, NordicTrack fitness equipment, Proform XP fitness equipment, and Ping Pong! When Craftsman changes a policy, revises a warranty, or discontinues a product, the general public takes it upon themselves to browbeat the salespeople at the local SEARS store, because it was apparently the fault of your local salesperson that the change was made. It can't even be considered that these people are trying their hardest to earn a living to support their families, and have enough stress without being chastised for decisions made beyond their control! Craftsman clearly states on each and every one of their jacks that the jack has a one year warranty from date of purchase. It is the ignorant consumer that assumes that everything labelled as a Craftsman tool will carry the same warranty that is titles as the "Craftsman Hand Tool Warranty." Read your packages, and listen to your salesperson. Chances are, the salesperson is going to try his/her hardest to give you good advice, since ticking off customers does not help them in their job, but repeat business does.