Anyone take advantage of a "lifetime warranty"?

[manning]

I was amazed at Costco.

I had keurig quit on me after several years. Wanted to send it in for but couldn't find any receipts (couldn't remember when I bought it). Called Costco to see if they had a record of it in the system. They said don't bother just bring it back for a refund. They did have a record.

 

[bcla]

I keep reading that Sears is in trouble, and that their shelves were bare. I made a point last weekend of going into Sears when I was at Arden Fair last weekend, and the shelves were full, and the lines long at the checkout. I know people who find broken Craftsman tools at garage sales, get them for free, and turn them in for new ones at the store.

Sears just sold off the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker. I think Stanley used to be one of Sears' tool suppliers.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-sears-sells-craftsman-stanley-20170105-story.html

Strange deal. Sears gets to sell Craftsman tools and collect a share of the brand's sales for 15 years. No word yet on how the warranty will be handled. Stanley always had a lifetime warranty on hand tools, but it wasn't quite like Craftsman. One could use and abuse a tool, and Sears would replace it. They also made it easy to replace at a store and pick up a replacement then and there. Stanley is like most limited warranties where the item has to be shipped to the manufacturer and they determine if it's covered. Who spends $3 to ship a tool that cost $4 and perhaps not even get a replacement?

 

[QueenIsabella]

My DH had LL Bean boots that he wore every winter for 15-20 years. The company used to re-sole their boots, so he called to ask--I guess they no longer do that. So, they gave him a credit towards a new pair. I was mortified--he wasn't trying to get new boots, he had gotten plenty of wear and his money's worth out of the old pair.

 

[tvguy]

I have an inexpensive pair of Koss headphones with a lifetime warranty. I've sent them in a couple of times because one side of the phones would short out. There is a shipping/handling fee of $6 or $7 dollars, but each time they just sent me a brand new set. They sell on Amazon for $40-$50 so it's well worth it to me.

I bet the handling fee is more than it actually costs them to make the headphones.

 

[tvguy]

Sears just sold off the Craftsman brand to Stanley Black & Decker. I think Stanley used to be one of Sears' tool suppliers.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-sears-sells-craftsman-stanley-20170105-story.html

Strange deal. Sears gets to sell Craftsman tools and collect a share of the brand's sales for 15 years. No word yet on how the warranty will be handled. Stanley always had a lifetime warranty on hand tools, but it wasn't quite like Craftsman. One could use and abuse a tool, and Sears would replace it. They also made it easy to replace at a store and pick up a replacement then and there. Stanley is like most limited warranties where the item has to be shipped to the manufacturer and they determine if it's covered. Who spends $3 to ship a tool that cost $4 and perhaps not even get a replacement?

Sears-K-Mart is strange in many respects. While sales may be declining, their business model is so different than anyone else. I think they own most of their store real estate outright, so no lease expenses. The K-Marts that closed here are still owned by K-Mart, and leased out to new tenants. They make more on the lease payments than they did running them as stores. So I am not sure they will go out of business, their business just may shift from retailer to landlord.
Craftsman is a valuable brand, so thus the high sales price. And I think Lands End also has value that could be cashed in on.

 

[bcla]

Sears-K-Mart is strange in many respects. While sales may be declining, their business model is so different than anyone else. I think they own most of their store real estate outright, so no lease expenses. The K-Marts that closed here are still owned by K-Mart, and leased out to new tenants. They make more on the lease payments than they did running them as stores. So I am not sure they will go out of business, their business just may shift from retailer to landlord.
Craftsman is a valuable brand, so thus the high sales price. And I think Lands End also has value that could be cashed in on.

All the Sears stores near me are in large shopping malls. I doubt they're anything more than tenants, although I have seen some malls where some of the major stores own the mall in a partnership.

The two big traditional Sears locations in the Bay Area were in Oakland and San Francisco. I'm pretty sure that Sears owned them, but after both were closed in the 90s, they stayed unoccupied for years. The one in Oakland became a loft apartment complex. The biggest tenant was Jerry Brown while he was Mayor of Oakland. The store in San Francisco is now a Target. I looked up the history, and Sears sold it earlier with a leaseback, so they were playing the real estate game for years. The cost of needed repairs and a general lack of business is what killed that store.

I remember when we needed something, we would go to Sears. The details about the deal are that Sears stills gets to sell it for 15 years without having to pay royalties. I'm assuming that means they get it at cost, unlike other retailers. Still, as a near exclusive brand, Craftsman would drive customers into Sears stores. Not sure what was up with the Ace deal. The last Craftsman tool I bought was a bottle opener. It looks almost like a wrench.

 

[tvguy]

All the Sears stores near me are in large shopping malls. I doubt they're anything more than tenants, although I have seen some malls where some of the major stores own the mall in a partnership.

The two big traditional Sears locations in the Bay Area were in Oakland and San Francisco. I'm pretty sure that Sears owned them, but after both were closed in the 90s, they stayed unoccupied for years. The one in Oakland became a loft apartment complex. The biggest tenant was Jerry Brown while he was Mayor of Oakland. The store in San Francisco is now a Target. I looked up the history, and Sears sold it earlier with a leaseback, so they were playing the real estate game for years. The cost of needed repairs and a general lack of business is what killed that store.

I remember when we needed something, we would go to Sears. The details about the deal are that Sears stills gets to sell it for 15 years without having to pay royalties. I'm assuming that means they get it at cost, unlike other retailers. Still, as a near exclusive brand, Craftsman would drive customers into Sears stores. Not sure what was up with the Ace deal. The last Craftsman tool I bought was a bottle opener. It looks almost like a wrench.

I don't know the breakdown of ownership of stores in all the malls. I do know that the Macy's store at the Country Club Plaza mall in Sacramento was owned by Macys. But Macy's insisted they were not a part of the mall. The mall sold gift certificates that could be used at any store....except Macy's because of that. That building used to be a Weinstocks Department store....I worked there 1973-1975. We were part of the mall then, not sure how a name change of the occupant changed that!

 

[Kae]

UPS ground isn't that pricey. And USPS has ways to ship with tracking.

kae

 

[DisAuntie]

Sears-K-Mart is strange in many respects. While sales may be declining, their business model is so different than anyone else. I think they own most of their store real estate outright, so no lease expenses. The K-Marts that closed here are still owned by K-Mart, and leased out to new tenants. They make more on the lease payments than they did running them as stores. So I am not sure they will go out of business, their business just may shift from retailer to landlord.
Craftsman is a valuable brand, so thus the high sales price. And I think Lands End also has value that could be cashed in on.

Sears destroyed the Land's End brand.

 

[bcla]

UPS ground isn't that pricey. And USPS has ways to ship with tracking.

kae

Well, that's the way I shipped my item - USPS first class package, which comes with tracking. The manufacturer actually said it should be insured, but I didn't do that.

Still, the Sears Craftsman warranty was always the gold standard. It was a full, unconditional warranty and one only had to go to a store to get a replacement. It made sense to ask for a replacement even on an inexpensive item. One might have even been going to Sears to buy a replacement, but could just get a free replacement under warranty.

Stores used to have superior warranty service on site. Even if it was to be shipped to the customer, it could be dropped off by the customer at no additional cost. It's pretty obvious that elimination of such service is both a cost cutting step as well as an attempt to dissuade customers from returning items.

 

[barkley]

As organized as I am about some things, I'm awful about keeping and using warranty information.

if it's an item with a serial number on it you might not need warranty info on it in the case of a needed repair or replacement. with some manufacturers when an item is sold the point of sale system at the seller automatically records the sale/serial number so all you have to do is call the manufacturer, provide the serial number and they can pull up the sales date to determine if it's still under warranty (and if the seller asks you to provide your name, address or phone number at the time of purchase you might find that when you call from that provided phone number the voice system for the manufacturer recognizes you and pulls up the warranty info automatically-or asks you to choose from a list of items you've purchased that they have a record of).

I'm dogged about checking warranties any time anything breaks-and I've been VERY surprised at some items I thought were WAY out of warranty only to do a google search and find out that in whole or part I've still got coverage.

I will say that sears has been going downhill for several years on their service-used to be that we always bought there b/c their service and repair was stellar but it got to the point a few years back after some flaky responses (no shows for appointments) and repairs/installations (where I had to contact manufacturers directly for resolution) that anything we've purchased in recent years from them I just contact the manufacturers directly for them to provide an alternate authorized/covered repair person. heck-when we had an issue with a craftsman power washer last summer and I called craftsman to see if I should drop it off at my local sears repair center they advised against it and had me take it to a local independent contracted place instead.

BEST stand behind their products companies I've dealt with in recent years-cabellas and wusthof knives.

 

[bcla]

if it's an item with a serial number on it you might not need warranty info on it in the case of a needed repair or replacement. with some manufacturers when an item is sold the point of sale system at the seller automatically records the sale/serial number so all you have to do is call the manufacturer, provide the serial number and they can pull up the sales date to determine if it's still under warranty (and if the seller asks you to provide your name, address or phone number at the time of purchase you might find that when you call from that provided phone number the voice system for the manufacturer recognizes you and pulls up the warranty info automatically-or asks you to choose from a list of items you've purchased that they have a record of).

A few membership stores have crazy return policies and will look up a purchase via membership number. Costco has been mentioned. However, their generous return policy is premised on their supplier agreements where the supplier agrees to compensate Costco for any returned item that's can't be resold.

REI used to have a crazy return policy too, but I heard they changed it. A lot of their returned items ended up in their "Garage Sales".

 

[tvguy]

Sears destroyed the Land's End brand.

Really? How? I say this as I am sitting here right now in my Lands End shirt that I got for Christmas. Same GREAT quality as always.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Most of my lifetime warranties aren't worth the paper they're printed on. I almost bought a frying pan with a lifetime warranty. Then I saw it didn't apply to the part that would break down and cause it to have to be replaced in less than a year, the nonstick coating. HAHA what a worthless lifetime warranty that is.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

We have a company in the U.K. That does outdoor type clothing like your LL Bean called Craghopper. I have sent several items back after years. They have always replaced them with an apology. Not an issue. They send the new product back and pick up the old. You can't argue with that! Plus great clothing.

 

[jakenjess]

My DH had LL Bean boots that he wore every winter for 15-20 years. The company used to re-sole their boots, so he called to ask--I guess they no longer do that. So, they gave him a credit towards a new pair. I was mortified--he wasn't trying to get new boots, he had gotten plenty of wear and his money's worth out of the old pair.

Bean's is so good about this stuff. We live easy driving distance to the main store. My DH had a jacket and the zipper broke, so we took it and just wanted it fixed, but they insisted on a gift card for the value of a new jacket. Same thing just happened to my niece. Neither was looking for a new replacement, but that's what they do!

 

[barkley]

My DH had LL Bean boots that he wore every winter for 15-20 years. The company used to re-sole their boots, so he called to ask--I guess they no longer do that. So, they gave him a credit towards a new pair. I was mortified--he wasn't trying to get new boots, he had gotten plenty of wear and his money's worth out of the old pair.

tell him to check out the doc martens "for life" line of boots-they will repair or replace if you ever manage to damage or wear them out FOR LIFE.

 

[bcla]

Most of my lifetime warranties aren't worth the paper they're printed on. I almost bought a frying pan with a lifetime warranty. Then I saw it didn't apply to the part that would break down and cause it to have to be replaced in less than a year, the nonstick coating. HAHA what a worthless lifetime warranty that is.

Many say "lifetime" doesn't apply to normal breakdown of materials. The nonstick coating peeling off is actually considered normal.

 

[Nancyg56]

I had a Zagg screen protector on my old iPhone 4s. It would scratch and/or start to peel up every 6-8 months of use and I would go back to the kiosk and have it replaced for $5 (the fee for them to do the work). Then the kiosk closed .

You can mail it back for a new one. We like the kiosk, but it is not always convenient to go to that mall so muy DD has had our glass zagg phone screens replaced by mail. I have used the kiosk for my iPad screen protector and gladly paid for them to put it on for me.

 

[tvguy]

Many say "lifetime" doesn't apply to normal breakdown of materials. The nonstick coating peeling off is actually considered normal.

The devil is in the details. My wife's company bought bought Steelcase office furniture with a "lifetime" warranty". Something broke and the warranty claim was denied due to abuse. Abuse was defined as furniture used in office where the normal business day exceeds 10 hours a day, and 50 hours a week. TV stations are 24/7/365 operations.