I visited Sears in Port Richey, FL. at Gulfview Square Mall and was in the process of exchanging a collection of Craftsman handtools, broken and in bad condition. The tools would strip what ever I tried to use them on, which is why I brought them in. The cashier behind the counter hardly looked at them and said he wouldn't take them back after seeing they were defaced by fire. So I ask to talk with his manager who was Dee Crauford, the cashier told her his version of what the rules were and she in turn took one look at one socket and determined the cashier was right. I explained to her about the warranty and she told me its only on factory defects, when I asked her to show me where it was written she went and got a Craftsman handtool still in its package to disprove me and found on back the "FULL UNLIMITED WARRANTY" then I showed her where it was written over the entrance to the store that could clearly be seen from the counter the "SATISFACTION GUARANTEED OR YOUR MONEY BACK" sign. I asked her if she was not going to exchange my tools do I get my money back, she said "I'm not giving you your money back!" with sarcasm and ridicule. I had told her they were in a fire when she asked and that was her route to Sears not being responsible even after I informed her they were all broken and unusable, she even had the mordacity to claim and I quote "Your to make me pay for your fire." and "Your homeowners insurance should have paid for the tools." The home did burn, it was uninsured. My friend was with me in the store, he and I were really offended and embarrassed when she was making these claims in front of 6-8 other customers waiting while I was trying to work this out. Even the gentleman beside me was telling me "Don't worry they'll exchange them." To his astonishment and mine they did not... My last effort to resolve this issue was to ask if I could talk to someone above her, she told me not until Thursday and that she was the highest I could go. So I then asked if she could call someone to resolve this (another store) or if I could have the phone number of a district manager or anyone I could talk to and she told me they didn't have phone numbers like that but did end up giving me the 1-847-286-2500 number to Sears Roebuck that was closed when I called, when she wrote the number I asked her to write her reasoning for not exchanging the Craftsman handtools and I'll read it: " Tools are corroded not defective or broken no authority to return " I sincerely hope she is not correct in her crude evaluation of the term "FULL UNLIMITED WARRANTY". She really devastated what I knew and loved about Sears Craftsman handtools, she and the clerk were very rude and would not listen after they saw the tools were defaced by fire. It really effected me badly I have always bought Craftsman tools, my Dad has and my grandfather has also, I always tell everyone when the moment arises to buy Craftsman. On top of that they were always so nice about exchanging the tools before, when they were broken and unusable, the store is only about a mile from my house. I have around 800-900 pieces in my set, which I will need my tools exchanged sooner or later. I was only trying to exchange around 52 pieces. I explained as much as I possibly could to her...
I e-mailed Bob Villa and my letter was sent to his friends at Craftsman by Jack. Then I got a letter from the webmaster@sears.com saying I was right, the store was wrong and they would contact the store and set them straight.

I waited a week, went back in and a cashier named Judy who was very rude, "One question does this Port Richey store train their staff to be rude?” I told her I had left an e-mail on Bob Villa's website and she said "what does Bob Villa know about Craftsman tools?" then went on to tell me again what their policy is and is not, nothing had changed, she then said "Now that's enough, that’s all I want to hear about it, good-bye!" As I left the store, she followed me from behind the counter with a very mean stare all the way out. I was going to talk to the store manager "Kerry Algiere" But she made me very unwelcome. So I called Kerry from home to tell him how rude Judy was and to ask him if I could bring the tools in or not. He acted like he didn't hear that his cashier was very rude to a customer and said the policy was still the same except he added that fire, rust, and abuse to the tools wasn't covered also, right now I would rather drive the 30-40 miles to a real Sears store at Countryside Mall. At Gulfview Square Mall in Port richey the staff in Sears doesn't like to have customers challenge the "STORE RULES", they take it very personal... Now that I had a talk with Kerry, he said he was the man to talk to "THE STORE MANAGER" then they were just following his orders, which I figured in the first place since the entire staff that I talked to had the same opinion of the policy. He also informed me that he definitely had the documentation to back up why this store wasn't exchanging my Craftsman handtools (fire, rust, abuse etc.) I made a special trip to pick it up from him; I'll read it: Department: 609 Product: Craftsman Handtools Warranty: FULL UNLIMITED WARRANTY ON CRAFTSMAN HANDTOOLS If this Craftsman Handtool ever fails to give complete satisfaction, RETURN IT TO THE NEAREST SEARS STORE THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES, and Sears will replace it, free of charge. This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state.

Is he being a smart-a!! Or what? Also he said he wouldn't call another store for their opinion, and that he wouldn't call anyone in any main branch even though I insisted. I asked him why it didn't say anything about not covering my tools on his famed document and he said it didn't have to. So I told him if I took the policy his way then, I could break a tool while working on my car and he could claim abuse, he said it would be up to his discretion but that he could claim abuse, yes. Basically that he could say no to any tool that comes into his Sears for whatever reason. HE then told me he wasn't the real store manager and that Pam Price was. When you ask to talk to the main Sears store manager shouldn't Pam Price of talked to me first or at least shouldn't Kerry of presented himself to be the assistant manager. Well anyway what they want now is for me to bring in the fire report which they never gave me one so that the Sears store can claim it with their insurance is what they told me, but its gone too far now I want to be able to just walk in and exchange them like it should of been in the first place. If I agreed to let them make me the exception then everyone who has this type of problem will have to go through the BS I have gone through and its only with this store. Every other Sears I've been to has told me if I left the store after purchasing a Craftsman handtool and came back in with it saying it was broke their policy is to exchange it, no questions asked. This Store use to be that way a couple of years back I exchanged a feelers gauge that was rusty the same lady cashier was working at the time and tried to tell me rust wasn't covered then but when I talked to the manager that time he was really nice, apologized to me for the inconvenience and exchanged the tool. This is my story, its been rough and I guess I'm not finished yet but now its for the other Craftsman handtool owners, the Craftsman handtool owners to be and to be real myself if this happens again. My e-mail: terry.reinhart@gte.net Signed simply, Terry.

Hi all, Just to let you all know this started in Sept. 99 its now almost April 00... I lost... they never exchanged my craftsman handtools, so as of Feb. 00, I traded my entire 585 peice set in for Husky... It was a tear jerker but my local Sears store wouldn't honor the warranty... Husky has honored thier "NO QUESTIONS ASKED" warranty without question... Only one way I would go back ... An apology from my local store, re-exchange my Huskey set for craftsman, convince me they would honor the warranty without exception in the future and t

 

 

And they say New Yorkers are RUDE,well your story was to long for me to read but I just wanted to say that I love Craftsman hand tools and I have never had a problem making an exchange,I bring back screwdrivers that I used as chisels and pliers that I used as a hammer and I have never been questioned,all my hand tools are craftsman and will always be.I quess NYers are really not bad after all.

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Dave
L.I.Handyman

 

PS-We have Sears and Sears hardware on Long Island they are both good about making exchanges,one thing that really impressed me was I was given a router bit set for x-mas,it had an arbor with several bits that you could use,I used it and did not care for its perfomance,next trip to Sears I let them know about my problem,I was told to bring it in for an exchange or my money back which I did and got a full refund and did not even have a recipet.

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Dave
L.I.Handyman