Craftsman to be sold to Stanley - Whats going to happen to the warranty ?

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sears-sell-craftsman-tool-brand-stanley-black-decker-140907321--finance.html

Most of the non professional tool companies require a receipt for lifetime warranties, Sears has not. I believe Stanley is one of them that does. I have had some a lot of my craftsman tools since the 80, and doubt I even have receipts for tools I have bought in the last year or two.

Wonder if this is a way to get out from under the warranty liabilities going forward. Think about the millions that would be saved as people like me would be out of luck when a tool breaks.

Guess I should get on the ball and return all the broken tools I have been sitting on.

Any industry insiders have any insight ?

Thanks Steve

Companies that made tools so they didn't break could sell them for enough dollars to afford to have lifetime warranties. Craftsman could no longer afford it because they haven't been that company since I was a little kid. What does that tell you is going to happen when a different company picks up their baggage?

Guessing they won't transition away from not requiring receipts immediately, but I bet it'll happen someday. Ever since they moved production of most of their hand tools to China, I tended to buy Kobalt or Husky when adding to my collection. A lot of their stuff is made overseas, too, but it seems like it's nicer that what Craftsman has become, and a lot of times it's cheaper. I am hoarding a few rebuild kits for my old Craftsman socket wrenches, though, and really need to get around to rebuilding them.

Personally, quality of both brands has been dropping the past few years, I don't see any good coming from this for either.

My guess is that as long as they are sold at Sears they will have the same warranty (and same questionable current quality). The question is, of course, how much longer will Sears be around.

I'm on my way to HF right now to buy a 1/4" ratchet handle. I have two broken 1/4" craftsman ratchets in my kit right now. I'd rather go pay HF for a cheap one that will last a year or two then drive to Sears for free replacements that last a few weeks. (If I'm lucky).

In reply to RevRico:

Stanley tool owns many tool brands, including a couple topshelf brands. They know how to make a good tool.

I have a craftsman socket wrench from my granddad that has been indestructible. It's from the 1950s. I have replaced a 1/4 drive that I bought a few years ago 3 times. Last time it broke I tossed it and bought something else. They have relied on a past reputation for far too long. I would expect them to drop the lifetime warranty

My local sears has been very difficult to warranty tools lately, so I don't see it getting better when the transition is done. Hell, I don't expect it to be open for much longer anyways. The place is a ghost town anymore.

I wonder if they're planning on slotting Craftsman above Stanley but below MAC Tools or just completely wrecking the brand and slotting them below Stanley.

I'm not a fan of Stanley/Black & Decker tools.

I have not had good luck with their replacement ratchets. I believe most of the time you get a rebuilt ratchet, new guts, old handle. The problem is the teeth in the handle are worn leading to premature failure of the new guts.

The last time, they pawned off a lesser ratchet on me, stating my ratchet was no longer available. When I got home I checkled online, it was aviable. Placed a call to sears, they made arangements to get me the right one, and it was a new one. So far it's lasted about three years compared to the 6 month to a year I was getting from my previously exchanged in store ratchets.

Next time I go in for an exchange (for as long as the warranty is in place) I will push for new.

Like alot of others ive had trouble just getting sears too warranty my tools anymore. I had an old 3/8 drive ratchet that lasted 20 years for my dad. The replacement they gave me a few years ago tends too break every 6 months or so. Ive been buying ampro or S&K as needed lately.

Doesn't matter much to me. Their new stuff is junk anyways.

I bought a bunch of Craftsman stuff a few years ago because it was the cheapest Made in USA available. It is holding up alright, but I'm very easy on my tools in general. Now I have no reason to buy them since they're mostly made overseas now--might as well get something that is quality if it isn't made in USA.

The money from this sale is only slightly delaying the inevitable, unfortunately. Sears is a goner.

In my local mall, Sears closed earlier this year.
Word came down today that the Macy's is closing too.
That leaves JC Penny and Elder Beerman (which is near empty too.)

This could leave a big void on my small town's landscape.

I have a large amount of Craftsman, but I've been buying Kobalt lately for the warranty and proximity of Lowe's. Has anyone been able to break a Kobalt open end wrench? I have not, but I have a theory here. They are slippery. Hear me out. When I compare the same size wrenches from Craftsman and Kobalt, the open-end gripping part of the Craftsman are thicker and feel "grippier". The cast finish of the handle also makes a nice surface to strike it with a 4 lb hammer quite effectively and without a care thanks to warranty. My Kobalt open-ends? No way, they slip right off the bolt or the ends of the gripping part deflect/bend enough to lose it. I can't use my Kobalts improperly enough to break them and that disappoints me.

I highly prefer using my Craftsman wrenches, but I refuse to buy new ones.

Roughly 8 years ago, I completed my set of "core" tools with Craftsman offerings.

Since then i have not bought anything from Sears. I bought additional tools of good quality, but my favored brands became Kobalt and Gearwrench from a value/ $$$ standpoint.

Sad to see them go, but the quality has been in steady decline for years.

My father still believes in craftsman. He just bought a new 1/4-1/2 311 pc ratchet set for the rental garage. Myself, I'll get by with HF or Kobalt if I'm spending real $$$.

The subject of the decline of the department store is an interesting topic. At the Ithaca mall Sears closed up several years ago, but later reopened a Sears Home appliance store in a smaller location. The others in the area are some how hanging on. The Macy's across the road from my work just announced they are closing.

i bought a a Craftsman tool box and full set of the 'base' tools and a handful of more specialty tools ~9 years ago. the only thing i have managed to break in those 9 years was a 1/2" to 3/8" adapter and to be honest if you need one of those you are pretty much using the wrong ratchet for that size of nut/bolt anyways.

Last hand tools I bought at Sears was a set of metric Craftsman ratcheting wrenches. Within a year of light use, they either all stopped ratcheting or became extremely unreliable when trying to ratchet. Compared to other ratcheting wrenches, they feel like they have 6-7 teeth.

I actually replaced them last weekend with some Kobalt ones I saw on sale at Lowes. I've had great luck with Kobalt stuff.

While I grew up using quality Craftsman stuff, their recent offerings are garbage when it comes to hand tools. It's sad.

I want to know what's going to happen with the power equipment!

The sky isn't falling. Stanley has actually pledged to return more Craftsman manufacturing to the US in the article I read this morning on Bloomberg.

Ooh! Ooh! I know the answer to this one! (I think)

Sears discontinued Craftsman tape measures a few years ago- the warranty was killing them. I figured I couldn't complain- I had bought 15 Craftsman tape measures on sale for $6.99 (worth more than $25 new). Every one of them had been replaced at LEAST a half a dozen times over more than 20 years. I got my money's worth.

They continued to honor the warranty by giving an equivalent Stanley tape measure when you traded in a Craftsman. But they made it clear that the new tape measure would be covered by whatever Stanley's warranty was, not Craftsman. (Of course this meant no warranty). I took my new Stanley, and thanked them.

So, I would strongly bet that they will do the same thing. They will replace Craftsman tools with comparable Stanley tools (at least as long as Sears is still solvent).

SVreX wrote: Ooh! Ooh! I know the answer to this one! (I think) Sears discontinued Craftsman tape measures a few years ago- the warranty was killing them. I figured I couldn't complain- I had bought 15 Craftsman tape measures on sale for $6.99 (worth more than $25 new). Every one of them had been replaced at LEAST a half a dozen times over more than 20 years. I got my money's worth. They continued to honor the warranty by giving an equivalent Stanley tape measure when you traded in a Craftsman. But they made it clear that the new tape measure would be covered by whatever Stanley's warranty was, not Craftsman. (Of course this meant no warranty). I took my new Stanley, and thanked them. So, I would strongly bet that they will do the same thing. They will replace Craftsman tools with comparable Stanley tools (at least as long as Sears is still solvent).

I'm pretty sure the Craftsman name will live on. Stanley didn't pay $900M to switch people over to their brand, they clearly see some value in the Craftsman name. Though I'd submit that the value is seriously reduced from what it was 10+ years ago.

all your tools belong to stanley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Black_%26_Decker

In reply to lnlogauge:

Wow. I didn't realize they own so many, but MAC, porter cable, and Bostitch are the only brands on that list I haven't had trouble with, at least as far as consumer grade brands go.

Corded dewalt stuff has been good to me, but you can't give me cordless stuff from past experiences.

lnlogauge wrote: ALL YOUR TOOLS ARE BELONG TO STANLEY

Fixord