I'm done with Sears

I found it funny... sears bought kmart when that company was all but down the drain and brought them up... and now they ae better than sears.. even though they sell the same damn stuff?

AngryCorvair wrote:

DrBoost wrote: I'm done with Sears. I bought NEW tools. When they break I dont want used tools.

did it break while you were NEWing it?

It broke. It was new when I bought it. Had they told me many moons ago that when I brake a tool (and that'll happen too often) that they will give me a used tool that will break in 1/2 the time the new one took I have gone somewhere else.
Like I said, Snap-On gave me new tools when they broke. One exception was when a T-60 broke and he replaced the bit inside the socket. Being that it was Snap-On I didn't have much of a problem with that because their stuff don't break unless I'm seriously abusing it repeatedly.

They change prices several times a week to "put things on sale" which means, once in a blue moon you get a decent price, but 80+% of the time they are just gouging you to tempt you in the door when it "goes on sale"

Most stores do that. One year my wife and I were price shopping a few items because we wanted to buy multiples of each, and it was a lot of money. It was funny to watch the regular prices, and the sale prices flip flop at each store from spring to fall. Walmart was the only one that didn't do that, and had the best price consistently .

Sears is a joke anymore. I went in one a month ago looking through the tools. Had a couple of hundred dollars burning a hole in my pocket and just knew they would have a tool I needed. Nope, not a thing other than a zip case I now stick my Fluke meter in. It was on the clearance rack for $5. Most of the tools they had were some off brand that weren't any better than the HF stuff. Swirling the drain for sure.

Ended up with a couple of Kobalt socket sets from Lowes. The damn direction switches on their ratchets are backwards from every other ratchet I've ever used. Other than that, not bad. I do like the colored bands on their sockets. Red for SAE and blue for metric. Helps when working on a early 90s GM car where half the fasteners are metric and half are SAE.

mad_machine wrote: I found it funny... sears bought kmart when that company was all but down the drain and brought them up... and now they ae better than sears.. even though they sell the same damn stuff?

Actually, to be technical, K-Mart bought Sears, then changed their name to Sears Holdings. I gotz friendz in da biz.

When the two merged, I heard a good analogy: If you strap two drunks together, it doesn't make the walk down the street in a straight line.

Sear is now run by financial managers rather than retail managers. Their plan does not include making a better product..just making a more profitable product.

They must make it more profitable because quality has dropped along with sales. These types often brag about moving the profit margin up a percent and get big bonuses even when this means less dollars in the bank.

Now Craftsman tools are usually perfectly adequate for the bottom 90% of homes. Poor fellows who use their showpiece toolkit to put together a bicycle or spark plug change every now and then.

Most of my broken tools have been my fault for using tools that I know are not stout enough. recent example was head bolts on my Escort.

Broke my 3/8th drive 6 point craftsman socket, then I wised up and used the 1/2 drive impact socket with a breaker bar.

Kudos to HF, Kobalt and others that are filling the void being vacated by Sears/Craftsman.

I used to buy a lot from Sears...I left when they kept changing the rules for credit card usage.

Bruce

AngryCorvair wrote:

DrBoost wrote: I'm done with Sears. I bought NEW tools. When they break I dont want used tools.

did it break while you were NEWing it?

You would make a great insurance adjuster.

"You mean to tell me that your are not going to pay $10,000 for a new roof to replace my leaky 25 year old one?"

Well, the leaky 25 year old one blew off in the storm. Show me in the contract where it says "pro-rated."

Dr. Hess wrote: Well, the leaky 25 year old one blew off in the storm. Show me in the contract where it says "pro-rated."

That's why there is an add-on for "Replacement cost value"

As a side note, the Kobalt tools from Lowes are very nice and lately I've been buying everything I need from there instead of Sears. Sears has sucked ever since they trashed the Craftsmen Club program that rewarded people that spent lots of money on tools.

Kobalt tools are pretty decent... too bad i can really never find the sets i want in store anymore, and i can't seem to figure out how to order the sets online.

I would not mind an entire Kobalt tool set in a nice Kobalt box for my garage to replace my hodgepodge.

Dr. Hess wrote: Well, the leaky 25 year old one blew off in the storm. Show me in the contract where it says "pro-rated."

If its a replacement cost policy with storm damage then you get a roof. When you just have an old roof. Not so much. A random missing shingle does not storm damage make. If you have a 25 year old roof with 20 year shingles on it and a Dwelling policy I'm going to depreciate it accordingly.

I recently paid about $8000 to replace mine when I could have easily have fabricated storm damage. You don't call the insurance company to replace my tires when they wear out.

I believe this is as one of the big problems with health insurance. Why should it pay for everything? Insurance should be for accidents and major issues. Not for every sniffle and yearly checkup. When I was paying my own dental the cleaning and checkup was $60. When I got on my wife's plan it was all of a sudden $180.

Greg Voth wrote:

Dr. Hess wrote: Well, the leaky 25 year old one blew off in the storm. Show me in the contract where it says "pro-rated."

If its a replacement cost policy with storm damage then you get a roof. When you just have an old roof. Not so much. A random missing shingle does not storm damage make. If you have a 25 year old roof with 20 year shingles on it and a Dwelling policy I'm going to depreciate it accordingly. I recently paid about $8000 to replace mine when I could have easily have fabricated storm damage. You don't call the insurance company to replace my tires when they wear out. I believe this is as one of the big problems with health insurance. Why should it pay for everything? Insurance should be for accidents or unforseen or unexpected

Don't start! Big obnoxious thread on RRAX right now about health insurance, don't know if i've got another one in me.

I've heard that Kobalt tools are the new Craftsman.

Walk in, tell them what happened, get a new replacement.

Anyone know if its true or not?

Zomby woof wrote:

AngryCorvair wrote: did it break while you were NEWing it?

And that right there is why 90% of the time I think AngryCorvair is a berkeleying genius.

ga-ZING

it's true. They have a lifetime replacement on Kobalt tools.

The quality is spot on.. it may not be snapon.. but they look good, feel good, and do a good job.

Anyone have a good source of how to get them online for best prices? I tried the lowes website and it just sucks.

Disregard that... i tried again just now, they've re-done it. NICE.

Here's a good link: http://www.lowes.com/cd_Kobalt+Tools+at+Lowe%26rsquo%3Bs_283152089_

Kobalt tools are made by the same company as Craftsman. They used to be made by Williams (parent company of Snap-On).

spitfirebill wrote: I bought a tool set for my job from Penny's back when they tried to copy Sears. I still have many of those wrenches and they are some tough SOBs.

I remember going to JC Penney's Automotive with my Dad to get shocks and tires on his 1968 Oldsmoble "98". It was set back off the mall similar to Sears. He also had a Penney's lawn mower.

16vCorey wrote: Kobalt tools are made by the same company as Craftsman. They used to be made by Williams (parent company of Snap-On).

Obviously Lowes pays them more to make better tools...

For a parts store brand tool, I like Advance's AutoCraft line of hand tools. I do have a nice amount of Kobalt too.

Can you buy SnapOn, Matco etc not off the truck?

i used to be all Craftsman when it came to tools- mostly because they were decent tools that could be replaced on a sunday when i broke them on saturday night.. but i recently bought a Husky starter tool set from Home Depot to use at work- and i think the 3/8" ratchet feels a lot more solid than any of the low end Craftsman ratchets, and with less of a swing between "clicks". the sockets seem to be better built, the screwdrivers are identical to the Craftsman pieces except for the logo, and the wrenches aren't too bad, either..

all that and the local K Mart has a better selection of Craftsman tools than the local Sears, but they seem to be about 10% more expensive for some reason..

I'm doing my best to forget about the infuriating slop in my Craftsman ratchets and how much I miss working somewhere with twice a week visits from the Snap On truck.

Arg.

BoostedBrandon wrote: For a parts store brand tool, I like Advance's AutoCraft line of hand tools. I do have a nice amount of Kobalt too. Can you buy SnapOn, Matco etc not off the truck?

I've gotten 'em off of Craigslist, Ebay, and pawn shops, don't know of any online retailer, though.

Look into TopTul as well. It's seriously good stuff.