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When I started wood working in '75, my first tool was the Shopsmith. Then came the Craftsman router and a Craftsman belt sander. Neither of which lasted a year. I did like the depth adjustment ring on the router, though. The router was replaced with a PC, which is still in service. The belt sander was replaced by one from Monkey Wards. They had a year warranty. That warranty was used 5 times in 3 months. The store told me that the 5th exchange would be the last. 

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35 minutes ago, John Morris said:

Hey! My 18 year old daughter just landed her first job at Sears and her first day at work was yesterday, still in high school, and she wanted a part time job so she went out and got one, and Sears gave her the first job of her life as a stocker and cashier in the clothing area. All the sudden I have an interest in supporting Sears, go Sears!!!! :D

I was surprised that our local Sears isn't closing down, she went to her job orientation last week, and they assured her that their store is in the safe zone and they are bringing in stock by the truck loads. I went in there a few weeks ago and it looked pretty dismal, bare shelves etc, but now they truly are stocking up.

I am not familiar with what is going on with Sears, all I knew is they were going to close ours down but a big turn around happened, and now they are hiring, and they hired our daughter at above minimum wage, a nice 12 bucks an hour for that kids gas money and fun money. Whatever is happening, they are employing Americans!

Good for her! We all had to start somewhere.

 

However, I don't care what Sears does to repair their name, I still will never set foot in another Sears store to buy their products. Their poor quality and the lack of customer service, along with striving NOT to honor their warranties has turned me off for good.

 

Stanley has a long road to repair the reputation of the Craftsman name brand, and then this slime ball Lampert, tries to usurp the brand name that he just sold. He is in the same company of that other low life Gass.

 

There has to be a school to teach these sub-humans how to "put it to" people!

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55 minutes ago, schnewj said:

However, I don't care what Sears does to repair their name, I still will never set foot in another Sears store to buy their products. Their poor quality and the lack of customer service, along with striving NOT to honor their warranties has turned me off for good.

I really gotta study up on Sears, I am completely unfamiliar with the owners, who did what and all the drama that is surrounding Sears, probably because like you, I have not bought a single tool from them since the mid 70's when I walked in a store with my dad and he bought one of their (venerable at the time) cast iron contractors saw, that was actually the last time I ever was involved in a purchase of any tool from Sears. Since then as an adult I have entertained the idea, but upon picking up a router, or playing with a CMS on display, I could see the quality was not there and never really bothered to even concern myself with their worries and woes or their woodworking products. Hmm, sounds like an interesting drama though!

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1 minute ago, John Morris said:

I really gotta study up on Sears, I am completely unfamiliar with the owners, who did what and all the drama that is surrounding Sears, probably because like you, I have not bought a single tool from them since the mid 70's when I walked in a store with my dad and he bought one of their (venerable at the time) cast iron contractors saw, that was actually the last time I ever was involved in a purchase of any tool from Sears. Since then as an adult I have entertained the idea, but upon picking up a router, or playing with a CMS on display, I could see the quality was not there and never really bothered to even concern myself with their worries and woes or their woodworking products. Hmm, sounds like an interesting drama though!

I quit dealing with Sear mainly over their failure to honor warranties.

 

Two cases in point (there were more); 3/8" Digi-torque wrench that no replacement parts are available for the head. Was told that this lifetime warranty tool was not going to be replaced. When I pushed back, I got a replacement with a one year warranty wrench. Next, four top of the line, heavy duty multi-ply, Michelin tires for my PU (not cheap) with a lifetime balance. They refused to re-balance the tires because an 8 ply tire on the front was starting to show some checking. This was cosmetic at this point and NOT a Safety issue. "Sorry sir, but we can't balance them, because they're not in the computer, besides, it's a safety issue.

 

What!? You sold them to me and have been re balancing them for the past several years. Sorry, sir, they're not in the computer. "Would you like to see YOUR past work orders, they're in the glove box". "No, sir, but we can sell you two new tires for the front".

 

A call to the district manager netted me a call from the same associate that offered to now, re-balance the tires. I refused at that point and informed them that I would do no further business with Sears.

 

All he wanted to do was sell me two tires and charge me to re-balance the other two.

 

Just two examples of dozens of similar experiences of my friends.

 

Most of the "tools/equipment" are now low quality crap. Even the Craftsman tools were starting to go south. You had to fight for the warranties to be honored. 

 

Now, Lampert (who ran Sears into the ground) is trying to still market his crap under the Craftsman name after selling the rights to Stanley for $900M! "I don't think so, Tim"!

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I can remember the years when Sears was just about everyone's go to store for tools and other household items. Over the years,service declined, warranties were not honored, poor inventories in the stores began. Now, the Sears reputation has been destroyed and customers have left. Sears will likely never recover from the mess they've created.

At least the store will provide the summer job for your daughter that she wanted.

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13 minutes ago, It Was Al B said:

I can remember the years when Sears was just about everyone's go to store for tools and other household items. Over the years,service declined, warranties were not honored, poor inventories in the stores began. Now, the Sears reputation has been destroyed and customers have left. Sears will likely never recover from the mess they've created.

At least the store will provide the summer job for your daughter that she wanted.

It's great experience for her too Al, any work is great experience for a kid.

Above all, I am rooting for Sears success, from the little bit of reading I did just now they have a huge uphill battle, but I would never pray or hope for the demise of any business in our country.

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I will not go into the long list of sears tools I have replaced in my shop. I am down to three corded tools and two almost never get used. The last a combo belt/disc sander is now what I use with a Beal buff attached to buff my turnings. I did not know the difference for years until I replaced a sears drill with a PC and boy what a difference. 

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1 hour ago, HandyDan said:

It is really sad to see both Sears and J C Penny struggling.  When I sit back and think about it they would have had a head start to online buying and ship to store had they not cancelled their catalogs.  Decisions, poor decisions. 

It is more than that...it was just poor business models.

 

I can remember when J C Penny was a true merchandise company. They sold clothing, appliances, tools, electronics, sporting goods and, yes, even guns! Then they decided to trash all of that and dump the diversified goods and concentrate on clothing, jewelry, and "soft goods".

 

Then they went into the toilet. Goods were made off-shore and there was no quality control and the prices reflected their pride in the shoddy goods.

 

The last piece of clothing I bought from JCP were Van Heusen dress shirts. The 18/34 shirts were a wonderful fit. I couldn't get the top buttons anywhere close to buttoning up, and the sleeve ranged from three inches ABOVE my wrist to half way up my forearm.

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