Sears & Roebuck Alert

time2roll wrote:
I do find it interesting that as originally a catalog company Sears seems to be getting killed by internet shopping.

That's an interesting point.

When I am looking for appliances, tools, whatever... "Sears" hasn't come to mind in 10 years.

Walmart is getting bad also. The closest Walmart to me is not worth going to - shelves seem to be chronically empty, employees are embarrassingly bad... just not worth it.

Lowes and Home Depot seem to be replacing Sears and Walmart.

dewey02 wrote:
Does Sears still honor the broken hand tool guarantee where if you break a screwdriver or pliers all you have to do is take it to the Sears store (no receipt required) and exchange it for a new one?

If so, I've got a couple of broken screwdrivers I need to bring in before the store goes kaput!

I believe so. I recently brought in a 24" ratchet that broke and they replaced it no problem. It shouldn't have broken, but at least they replaced it.

I agree with the others regarding how cheap their tools have becomever. It's unfortunate but there are a lot of tool manufacturers whose tools, hand or power, have gone from quality to throwaway junk.

No wonder places like HF thrive.

Does Sears still honor the broken hand tool guarantee where if you break a screwdriver or pliers all you have to do is take it to the Sears store (no receipt required) and exchange it for a new one?

If so, I've got a couple of broken screwdrivers I need to bring in before the store goes kaput!

I do find it interesting that as originally a catalog company Sears seems to be getting killed by internet shopping.

Almost all my hand tools are Crafstmen branded and were really decent tools at one time. I've had to replace some that I'd lost so I went to Sears for replacements. What a shock! The replacement Craftsmen sockets were some shabby and thick, crudely manufactured junk made in China that didn't even remotely resemble my other sockets and I absolutely refused to buy it. Also, I noticed that there was a long slow moving line of frustrated customers that were waiting to pay for their purchases.

I got back into my car and went to Harbor Freight and bought a smooth,shiny and finely made socket for 1/4 the price of the Craftsmen junk. Also I got the lifetime warranty. Some will say Harbor Freight tools are junk but I've not broken a socket yet and they look shiny and professionally made.

ford truck guy wrote:

We were able to get our first Credit Card at 16 thanks to Sears and start building our credit.

When I first started filing bankruptcy cases in the 80's everybody had a Sears card, and they all wanted to keep it. Sears had a representative at every creditors meeting. I bet I haven't seen a Sears card in 15 years. Now that anyone can get a Visa card, there is no need to shop at Sears. Easy credit was the foundation of their business.

dewey02 wrote:

jfkmk wrote:
However, Kenmore appliances are not made by Sears. They're rebranded from other manufacturers, including Samsung.

Yes, I'm aware that Kenmores have always been rebranded products. But they used to be GOOD rebranded products. The point remains, my daughter got two Kenmore washers that both failed almost immediately. She is still using her Samsung and is more than happy with it.

Years ago I worked for Admiral and in addition to their brand name products, they made "private label" products for stores like Sears, for example. The company would negotiate any modifications that were to be made to the product during manufacturing. To use this case as an example, the store might then sell Samsung and Kenmore (modified Admiral) side by side. Heck-there might even be a Sears brand on the floor made by yet another manufacturer.

Admiral offered this service for both white and brown goods.

I think Admiral may still be around although their manufacturing plants shut down years ago. Bet you can't guess what they sell :-)

ford truck guy wrote:
Sears was the EASY card to get with no credit..

This brings me a chuckle. In the 60s when I was a Sears employee, they rejected my credit application because I didn't make enough money.

Sears deserves to go broke, they have terrible customer service. Nothing worse than a clerk with an attitude.