Sears & Roebuck Alert

GordonThree wrote:
I still don't get what the problem is with claiming warranty on a second hand tool is.

Sears was originally paid full price for that tool, they accepted the risk that someday it might get returned under the lifetime warranty. Sears sold the lifetime warranty with that tool.

The problems I see are that if the replaced tools were originally stolen, so the warranty was never purchased. Second, the tools had already been exchanged and replaced, and were kept (or stolen) by a store employee, who then put then sold them at a yard sale, rather than destroying them... I see those as immoral acts, but as the purchaser, how do you verify the tool was not legitimately purchased?

Are the folks claiming it's immoral implying a lifetime warranty should not be transferable?

If you buy a perfectly good tool at a yard sale and then break it, there would be no moral problem with getting it replaced by the warranty (your comment about the warranty being transferable). However, if you specifically buy an already broken tool at a very cheap price (because it is broken) and with the clear intention of not keeping it, but trading it for a new one, then that is where doing the right thing comes into play.

Sure, it isn't illegal. And yes, it is likely covered under the warranty. But the morality question comes from your motives. You are paying for a broken tool with the expectation of "screwing the 'man'" (in this case Sears) and getting a brand new tool when you did not purchase or pay for a working tool. You purchased a broken one.

If you cannot see the moral problem with that scenario, then there little that anyone can do to convince you.

I still don't get what the problem is with claiming warranty on a second hand tool is.

Sears was originally paid full price for that tool, they accepted the risk that someday it might get returned under the lifetime warranty. Sears sold the lifetime warranty with that tool.

The problems I see are that if the replaced tools were originally stolen, so the warranty was never purchased. Second, the tools had already been exchanged and replaced, and were kept (or stolen) by a store employee, who then put then sold them at a yard sale, rather than destroying them... I see those as immoral acts, but as the purchaser, how do you verify the tool was not legitimately purchased?

Are the folks claiming it's immoral implying a lifetime warranty should not be transferable?

MEX,

Dad had a K-Mart Forever battery. They replaced it twice before the car was stolen. Must keep receipt for valid warranty. I do wonder if any of these could still be covered.

ernie1 wrote:
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.

Yes, my experience exactly. Back in the 60's, Sears Craftsman hand tools rivaled Proto and other top quality tools. Within the last 30 years Craftsman tools have slowly become junk. It's impossible to replace the original vintage quality Craftsman tools with a lifetime guarantee with the current Craftsman brand. Several times I've exchanged worn out vintage (60's era) sockets, socket wrenches, screwdrivers, etc. for their currently remanufactured junk which went right in the trash can. So much for the lifetime guarantee. IMO, Sears and all the old timers that run it deserve to go out of business. It's long overdue.

Chum lee

agesilaus wrote:
Ah Ok I had it backwards still a stupid move

Your old buddy W-Mart done them in, and now Amazon will take W-Mart down, and you all will have to stay in a Amazon park lot like a pack rat does.

But but but...

"J.C. Penney next"

?????????????????

But what about the FOREVER BATTERY?

You can't cure stupid. But it can die a slow painful death...

dewey02 wrote:
........
I am with you in that I don't think folks should deliberately buy broken tools at rummage sales and then trade them in for new/good tools through the warranty. But I guess those that do have to live with themselves and are willing to justify to themselves to soothe their conscience.

There is no conscience involved. Just someone who sees getting something for little to nothing as a good deal, no matter if it costs someone else. Every replacement tool that goes out the door is an added expense for the company. Same can be said for someone who buys something, uses it one time, then returns it knowing all along that was their plan.

CKNSLS wrote:
Let's go over this. I go to a garage sale and buy a broken wrench for .50 cents. I then go to Sears and trade it in for a new $10.00 wrench.

I guess you and I have a moral gap.

I know this post wasn't directed at me, but I'm the one who first asked if the lifetime hand tool guarantee would soon disappear.

The situation described above is something I have never done and would never do.
I have LOTS of Craftsman hand tools and many expensive Craftsman power tools (Radial Arm Saw, Large Table Saw, Dust collector, all kinds of shop tools, etc).

Generally my Craftsman hand tools have never broken, except for a couple of screw drivers that have had tips broken through the years. I think I've taken one hand tool back in 40 years, but I have a few broken ones that are laying around that I've always meant to return "when I get around to it."

I am with you in that I don't think folks should deliberately buy broken tools at rummage sales and then trade them in for new/good tools through the warranty. But I guess those that do have to live with themselves and are willing to justify to themselves to soothe their conscience.

The other part IMO is low cost merchandise. When I was a kid I remember I could have any shirt on the bargain rack at K-Mart that I wanted. Shirt was $5.

Today 40+ years later the bargain rack is $2 to $4. No way to make money on that and pay today's wages and rent. Volume will never make up the difference.

Sears distribution network and possible home delivery had such a chance to beat Amazon. No chance to even compete at this point. Sears could have done local delivery just like a pizza place out of the local stores and easily had the advantage of speed with same day delivery. Of course Sears would have had to stock items people actually buy. Maybe even groceries. Walmart and Target etc. have crowded the market in groceries now.

Like watching a slow motion train wreck.

It's the internet. It has killed a lot of industries, traditional retail being just one.