Well, all Craftsman stuff is life-time warranty, right?

Sears has been amazingly good with returns for me. I've returned 2 vaccuums that broke within 90 days. gave me no trouble, just replaced the vaccums, the second time with an upgraded model.

Are we absolutely certain that they didn't mean to say:
Man walks into Sears store with broken Craftsman shovel. Months later, walks out with brand-new, better, Craftsman shovel they let him pick out, for free.

Well, of course they did. The guy was brandishing a shovel.

Hahaha! I keep wondering if I should submit my BestBuy story, but I'll write it here instead. I had a Nintendo DS that someone gave me along with the extended warranty. There was a dead pixel on the screen that was bugging me, so I took it in to see if they'd replace it. They did! No hassle! Took the machine and told me to pick out a new one from the shelf. I was gobsmacked!

Sears has always been good to me with the replacements. I've gone in with saw blades, screw drivers, shovels, and a ratchet in the past, and never had a problem getting them replaced. They have always honored the warranty.

This is probably the only thing Sears has left going for them: Craftsman handtools are pretty good quality and have the lifetime warranty. The Craftsman name might be the only thing with any equity left over there! Let's hope they don't cheapen them up too much and really screw the pooch!

@pjsammy: Craftsman is pretty much already on its way out. There are fewer and fewer of that brand tools on their shelves every time I pass through the store. I think this is their subtle way of saying "The good stuff's almost over, guys."

I've done this with plenty of Craftsman shovels. If Sears goes under, I really hope that the Craftsman brand and quality continue on. I always turn to Craftsman tools because I know they last longer than most, and if they do break, they're guaranteed.

@brainwav: Customer: "Consider, if you will, this lovely store display..."

Sears: "Here's your brand new shovel sire. Please walk carefully and do not swing it in a haphazard fashion on the way out."

Customer: "I shall do my best."

Craftsman tools are always covered by a full, no questions asked, lifetime warranty. I've used screwdrivers as electrical bridges (works wonderfully, but melts the handle after a bit) and had absolutely no problem exchanging them. I'm perfectly willing to pay slightly more for my tools in exchange for that warranty.

Wait, wait, wait. Why is the Consumerist running articles from theonion.com?

Sears fouls things up so often, it's bigger news when they don't screw the pooch.

If you look around the inside of a Sears checkout in most stores you'll see the drop bins for broken tools.

I had a broken socket wrench and was given a new one (upgraded too) with no questions asked.

While other stores are carrying tools with similar warranties (Home Depot and Lowes do too, I think), I've always found Craftsman hand tools to be of better quality. I'd rather have a tool that isn't likely to break, over one that just comes with a warranty. What good is a warranty if I'm in the middle of a project and a tool breaks requiring a trip to the store? Craftsman tool are usually better, so it's not a concern.

Why isn't this a bigger headline? It seems like the negative Sears stories are prominently displayed while this one looks tucked away.

For what it's worth, even if Sears goes under, you can now get Craftsman tools at K-Mart.

@PixiePerson: Nintendo will usually replace 'em too.

I knew a guy in high school who would buy used rusty Craftsman tools at tag sales and then exchange them. Granted, he had to go to quite a few different Sears to do this I guess but he ended up with a rather cheap new set.

The cool thing was, that the old Craftsman were sometimes just great on their own.

I am firmly behind the notion of buying quality for life.

Craftsman hand tools are guaranteed for life, shovels not so much. As a sears employee, I think whoever let him do this was just being nice and trying to stick it to the man. I've done this before, when you don't want to deal with someone who things their product is guaranteed when it isn't, you just swap it out and play dumb employee.

@ChrisC1234: Free is unlikely, given Sears' recent track record. "Nominal" fee is more likely.

@Darren W.: Sears owns Kmart. If they go under, Kmart will be going with them.

@techstar25: Its also worth noting one important difference between the Home Depot (Husky) and Lowes (Kobalt) versus the Sears/Craftsman warranty.

Husky is said to be a Lifetime warrantied tool. Not 100% positive about Kobalt but I think its the same.

Craftsman has the Forever warranty.

The difference is that I have inherited many of my grandfather's tools and I have never had any trouble exchanging them (instantly) on the rare occasions I've had trouble. No forms, just go grab a new one off the shelf or board, show it to the cashier, he throws the old one in a bin. Done.

I've done instant exchange on a 45-year old ratchet driver, one bent combo wrench (abused with a hammer on a stubborn nut), and many many many dulled and bent screwdrivers.

This is what has kept me coming back to craftsman tools over the years. The only thing that might make my next set of handtools non-craftsman is that I might elect to spend significantly more money on a more comfortable pro-grade tool like snap-on.

PS - NEVER NEVER NEVER buy the Sears "Companion" brand tool. This is the stuff in the blue/green packaging. These are the cheap chinese-made Sears tools and I have broken a couple of these when I needed a size or special tool that wasn't in stock and "settled".

Totally agree with the OP!

Sears rules on their tool warranty replacement. Of all my Craftsman tools, I've only had 1 drive ratchet go bad and they instantly replaced it no problem. Definitely worth buying Sears Craftsman!

I've been taking back boxes full of hard commercially used/worn out/broken Craftsman tools for exchange monthly since the 70's... rarely do I get any guff of them. And on the rare occasion I do, It's almost always from a new Sears employee. (Note no receipts or anything other than the broken/worn out tool are required to get a replacement.)

Be aware that the Craftsman lifetime warranty is mostly limited to hand tools. Electric and pneumatic tools of all description are not lifetime, nor are most cutting tools. However, strangely enough, tin snips, side cutters, cold chisels and punches are covered.

Most items warranty's can be looked up on the Craftsman web site... unless it's something old they no longer carry. (If it's a hand tool though, they will usually let you have it's modern equivalent.) Also, most ratchet's are now replaced with refurbished units.

Erik

The last time I was in Sears, a man had a Craftsman saw and they wouldn't do anything unless he had a receipt (or had charged it to a Sears card), so there's more to this. I left before any resolution had happened.

Hmmm ...."even if Sears goes under, you can now get Craftsman tools at K-Mart"

Honestly, if Sears goes under before K-Mart, I will eat my Craftsman hammer...

K-Mart does not honor the warranty that I know of, just Sears. K-Mart only has a tiny subset of Craftsman tools, a fact I'm constantly reminded of (no ball-peen hammers, for example) when I trudge back to Sears.

Most likely, both will go kaput at the same time.

Some other store will buy the Craftsman name. Then, who knows? Will they keep the same quality tools, or just slap the Craftsman logo on their own store brand? Only time will tell.

They learned their lesson from the crazy (and lovable) Comcast woman who brandished a hammer! :)

I used to work in the Lawn and Garden department at Sears. Sears does have a handful of really great policies, but nobody I know had any clue they existed. It's like a third of the company wants to be the best, but the rest of the company wants to run the whole mess into the ground.

Anyhow, here is the deal with Craftsman warranties:

First, Companion is a line of hand and power tools, but Companion is not Craftsman! If you buy Companion, you'll have a fairly short warranty, which you'll find printed on the card.

Second, Craftsman is not warrantied forever across the board as a brand. Knives, saws, batteries, bulbs, drill bits and other consumables, power tools, and some precision tools that require calibration, such as torque wrenches are not covered under the forever warranty. Surprisingly, a bench vise isn't covered - no idea why. Anyway, read the labels - they'll tell you what you're in for. Most hand tools are covered. Other items include most stick tools, some grades of garden hose, lawn sprinklers, and hose nozzles, and measuring tape - which may be the most regularly exchanged item.

Last time I looked, most of the other brands mentioned elsewhere in the comments do not exchange at the checkout. If the product is in the store, they'll swap it for you right then and there, and the hassle is minimal - they really do make it easy for associates.

Occasionally, when Craftsman has gotten out of a product category, the store may offer you a replacement in the form of another brand of product with a forever warranty, and often, those swaps are performed in the same manner. Some lineman's pliers were treated this way.

One of the most common customer challenges came when customers had a non-covered Craftsman item and expected an in-store swap. It's important to pay attention to the labels. The coverage is great, but it's not on everything.

Other great stuff:
There is a kid's clothing program: if your kid wears out his or her clothes before they grow out of them, Sears will replace the clothes free.
Land's End exchanges like Craftsman, as I understand it. (I didn't work on that end of the store.)
If you bring an item to the checkout and it rings lower than the marked price, you get it for the lower price. If it rings higher:
* If under $5, your item is free.
* For items $5 and over, you get $5 off.
* For items $100 and over, you get 5% off.
Most cashiers don't even know about this policy, even though it's included in training, and signs are posted on most checkouts.

I replaced my grandpa's 30 year old Craftsmen post hole digger a few years ago for no charge. They have a wonderful warranty!

I've got a 50 year old craftsman torque wrench that was my grandfather's. If one day it breaks, there is no doubt in my mind that I can take it back and get a new one. I've split sockets with an impact wrench and had them replaced no problems, rounded off sockets, had them replaced. So long as Sears is around, they will give out replacments of anything with the craftsman name on it.

There was an episode of American Hot Rod a few years ago where blue bear (I think that was his name) took a torch to an open end wrench and bent it so that he could get at a bolt. One of the guys asked him what he was going to do when he needed the wrench for something else, and he said "I'll take it back to sears and get a new one". They even went with him when he got it replaced. No problems.

Craftsman will take back anything, even if you willfully destroy it. They'll ask you how you did it, and revise their design so it doesnt happen again.

@jlayman920:

Actually...K-Mart bought Sears. Sears holding being the outcome name is just branding...just like how America West bought US Airways, but they kept US Airways' name.