Posted on 12/27/2012 8:46:58 AM PST by MinorityRepublican
They USED TO warranty EVERYTHING for life, even power tools. Used to be that you’d crack the housing of a saw or the tub of your shop vac would break before motors died, for instance. They’d either give you a new saw, help you replace the house, replace the shop vac tub, or give you a new one out of the box. Now you’ll be lucky to get a year out of a drill/driver.
As far as their hand tools, even those aren’t specifically warrantied anymore. I snapped a 1/4” combination wrench in half trying to turn a rusted bolt off my work bench a year ago. I took it to the local Sears, and their answer was, “Well, we can sell you a new set with that size in it, but I can’t just GIVE you a new 1/4” combo wrench.”
I still have that set of Sears combo wrenches in my box, but I bought a set of Kobalt combo wrenches that took that stubborn 1/4” nut right off my work bench without so much as bending.
I’ll keep what I have and use it until it’s junk, but I’m not going back to Sears for power tools.
I bought an appliance at best buy, and while I didn’t have that experience I totally understand it. The silly girl I had to deal with had great difficulty completing the transaction. It took her 15 minutes to navigate her computer system. Quite pathetic.
Best Buy: generally there’s a lot (lot!) of employees around, but somehow they manage to make the service you get, suck. Returns section which also houses online store pickups is always busy and while there’s 10 people back there only 2 are actually taking customers to help.
JCPenney: the expected pro-homo craze backfired on them big time. Further trying to be Old Navy when you’re just “Old” doesn’t cut it. The insides and outsides of the stores look like what you’d think an upscale soviet department store from the 1980s would look like.
Radio Shack: the comic book stores of the electronics world. Helpful service folks, but the place is always understaffed. Often not in great neighborhoods but strip malls in iffy areas of town.
Sears: has some of the JCP issues without the I love homos failed campaign. Often can’t match prices elsewhere, stuffy store layouts that make people unsure where they are going (or even are currently), desperately needing modern store remodels, some departments have no people out on the floor for customers.
You can zip right on by my posts. Just like you have the option to zip right by LOGO, MTV, Late Night Comedy Channel, et al.
The words I used, and much worse, were all used there and multiple other places and with celebrities on prime time TV.
Please to deign to lecture. See it, hate it if you fell the need, and pass on by.
Radio Shack began pairing back electronic parts over the years, got rid of useful items. Harder to fix stuff if you can’t easily get the part there anymore.
We ordered a Kay banjo from Sears back in the early 60’s.
Great banjo. My sister still uses it for gigs in Austin.
My dad made my brother’s first guitar amp from parts ordered from Allied catalog ... he just looked in the back of a Fender amp and knew what he needed. We thought everybody did that. ;o) He also assembled all his own ham radio gear. He read schematics like we read the funny papers.
http://www.alliedcatalogs.com/
He was also a great fiddle/guitar player. Still is at 82.
Joining up with Kmart who has their own problems, didn’t help.
The Sears at my local mall is closing and being replaced by a Sports Authority. We could really use a place with a good selection of athletic shoes. These days Footlocker only sells the kinds of basketball sneakers people get shot over.
I still go there for common parts (resistors, transistors, capacitors) when I know they have it in the store. I go online and check first before I leave the house.
Anyone besides me remember their "lifetime" tubes? I lost track of how many of their "lifetime tubes" I burned up in an old amplifier before they finally stopped that program. ROFL!!!
For me Radio Shack is a emergency only option. Sometimes I need a part I don't have, so I try them. About 30% of the time they actually have it, of course, at about 10 times the online cost.
I try to plan mechanical/electronic projects way ahead and search for best prices at places like Mouser, ebay, McMaster-Carr (incredible shipping), Jameco, amazonsupply.com (which sucked up smallparts.com), numerous surplus stores, robotics sites (which are sucking each other up), etc. and just general web searches. The list is endless. Radio Shack carries about 0.001% of the variety of parts available online.
Radio Shack clerk to me buying a soldering iron. "Do you need any solder with that? No? You already have some? Wow. OK, how about some batteries? No? You're going to plug it in the wall? Do you need any wire or resistors? Got those, too? You must be an electrical engineer or something. Something, huh? Oh, a shoe salesman? Have you considered a new cell phone? No? You already have four of them? How about another one? Oh, you're building your own with the soldering iron? Is there anything else you need? A quad-core PowerVR SGX 554MP4? Let me check. Uh, no, we don't have that in stock. Thanks for shopping at Radio Shack. Well! Screw you, too!"
“Sears has awesome tools which don’t break and do the job,”
That is true but it might interest you to know that while the “Craftsman” tools are guaranteed for life, the tools that have only the “Sears” name are not guaranteed for life. The “Craftsman” name has to be on the tool to get the guarantee.
Rumor was back in the day that one reason they wanted your phone number was that they were tracking what you were buying. And if your purchases from Radio Shack began to resemble the parts list for a Pirate Radio Station you were liable to get an unexpected visit from the FCC.
Fortunately they never caught Mr. Al Kaholik and his Mighty 890 AM! :)
—You’ve held a grudge since 1981?
Heh. If its Sears, I can beat that, I’ve had a grudge against them since 1979.
I’m Irish, we’re world beating grudge holders.
I went to buy a 1/2 amp slo-blo fuse for an amplifier. They didn't have it so I had to order it on line.
If you can't find a fuse at Radio Shack, what are they good for?
The "Craftsman" (which I call CRAPMAN) guarantee is only good for hand-tools, specifically those without motors (gas or electric) and those that do not require electricity.
In short: wrenches, hammers, screwdrivers, pliers, etc.. all have the CRAFTSMAN "lifetime" guarantee. Power tools with the CRAFTSMAN name on them DO NOT.
I still have a failed socket wrench that says CRAFTSMAN on it that SEARS will NOT replace because it's not "completely broken" yet. Funny, it's been not "completely broken" for 20 years.
Bastards. I hope they go under. (And I say that as someone who put himself through college working for Sears.)
I love Radio Shack. I can go in there with my old book shelf stereo and find new speakers. No judgment, just product.
Sears Die Hard Batteries are the best. Have bought them for over forty years.
Yep, that was the rumor, I tested that rumor ALOT. I replaced so many 6LF6, 6LJ6 and 6LJ6A tubes from Radio Shack in my illegal CB amp's that I should've gotten a visit from the FCC - never did. LOL! And now here I am a "grown up" licensed Ham talking all over the world on 100 watts and a tri-bander. (And an Alpha 9500 "when needed" to break up a pileup.)
Fortunately they never caught Mr. Al Kaholik and his Mighty 890 AM! :)
Listening to Mark Belling in for Rush right now on the Big 89!!
Marvelous comparison! LOL!!
Radio Shack is a joke.
Sears / Craftsman used to be some of the best tools in the business. No more.
Best Buy is where I go to see the product and write down the model number. Then, I go home to check prices online.
J.C. Penney? Are they still around?
Carthage must be destroyed!
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