Dear Sears:
I've purchased and used thousands of dollars' in tools from your Craftsman brand. I know that over the years you've experimented and tinkered with your lines, but for the most part things have been fairly consistent, and despite a chorus of negativity surrounding Craftsman, I've stepped up to defend your products. Of late, I've been forced to reconsider this.
It started out innocently enough. I had a missing flare-nut wrench from my Model 42013 Craftsman Professional metric flare nut wrench set, the 10-12mm wrench part number 42096. I've had another flare-nut wrench set from a different brand to supplement the missing sizes, but I decided to spend the money to buy toolbox drawer liners, and seeing as how I had four wrenches with one in the middle missing, I wanted to get the correct wrench before I started cutting the drawer liners to fit the tools. So, after searching and stopping by various stores to never find any in the open stock area I ordered it online. Surprisingly, the Fiesta Mall store in Mesa, AZ supposedly had stock, so I placed a will-call order and got my wrench.
When I got home I was disappointed. I pulled out the rest of my wrenches and found that you've completely changed the wrench. It's now not only 5° angle-headed instead of straight as the rest, but longer than the packaging for the set will fit, and wider too. This is very disappointing, as I could have bought a Proto, or a Mac, or a Snap On, or even a Harbor Freight 10-12mm flare nut wrench if I wanted one that didn't match the rest in the set, especially as I plan to cut all of those neat little formed holes to hold these tools. Very disappointing. It also no longer bears "Made in USA" on it, or "Professional", and come to think of it, lacked any sort of country-of-origin information at all, as I believe is required by law.
As I said in my opening, I've been very consistent about using Sears and the Craftsman brand for my tools for many years. That time has now come to an end. I no longer plan to seek out Sears first for my tools. You no longer maintain the consistency or quality I demand in tools of this price point, and if I can't get the balance of quality and price that you used to deliver, then I may as well spend more for better quality with a vendor like Cornwell or Proto, or spend considerably less and get tools made as good as your current line from Harbor Freight, who coincidentally now offers a lifetime warranty on them. There's absolutely no reason to get bad tools for good money, and that's what you now offer.
I've looked in your stores, and more and more of your handtools are made in China. You would do well to reverse this trend. At this point the only thing that I probably must buy in Craftsman would be toolboxes as I like to key them all the same, and since you offer replacement locks, I can buy all the used toolboxes I want from back in the day when they were made well, and I only have to give you the paltry sum needed to change their locks.
I'm sorry that it's come to this, but the changes leading to this are entirely your company's decisions, not my own. Hopefully you'll take the opportunity to listen to consumers like me and to remedy this.
Mods/Admin, if this is in the wrong place please feel free to move it. I just needed to vent a little.
I've purchased and used thousands of dollars' in tools from your Craftsman brand. I know that over the years you've experimented and tinkered with your lines, but for the most part things have been fairly consistent, and despite a chorus of negativity surrounding Craftsman, I've stepped up to defend your products. Of late, I've been forced to reconsider this.
It started out innocently enough. I had a missing flare-nut wrench from my Model 42013 Craftsman Professional metric flare nut wrench set, the 10-12mm wrench part number 42096. I've had another flare-nut wrench set from a different brand to supplement the missing sizes, but I decided to spend the money to buy toolbox drawer liners, and seeing as how I had four wrenches with one in the middle missing, I wanted to get the correct wrench before I started cutting the drawer liners to fit the tools. So, after searching and stopping by various stores to never find any in the open stock area I ordered it online. Surprisingly, the Fiesta Mall store in Mesa, AZ supposedly had stock, so I placed a will-call order and got my wrench.
When I got home I was disappointed. I pulled out the rest of my wrenches and found that you've completely changed the wrench. It's now not only 5° angle-headed instead of straight as the rest, but longer than the packaging for the set will fit, and wider too. This is very disappointing, as I could have bought a Proto, or a Mac, or a Snap On, or even a Harbor Freight 10-12mm flare nut wrench if I wanted one that didn't match the rest in the set, especially as I plan to cut all of those neat little formed holes to hold these tools. Very disappointing. It also no longer bears "Made in USA" on it, or "Professional", and come to think of it, lacked any sort of country-of-origin information at all, as I believe is required by law.
As I said in my opening, I've been very consistent about using Sears and the Craftsman brand for my tools for many years. That time has now come to an end. I no longer plan to seek out Sears first for my tools. You no longer maintain the consistency or quality I demand in tools of this price point, and if I can't get the balance of quality and price that you used to deliver, then I may as well spend more for better quality with a vendor like Cornwell or Proto, or spend considerably less and get tools made as good as your current line from Harbor Freight, who coincidentally now offers a lifetime warranty on them. There's absolutely no reason to get bad tools for good money, and that's what you now offer.
I've looked in your stores, and more and more of your handtools are made in China. You would do well to reverse this trend. At this point the only thing that I probably must buy in Craftsman would be toolboxes as I like to key them all the same, and since you offer replacement locks, I can buy all the used toolboxes I want from back in the day when they were made well, and I only have to give you the paltry sum needed to change their locks.
I'm sorry that it's come to this, but the changes leading to this are entirely your company's decisions, not my own. Hopefully you'll take the opportunity to listen to consumers like me and to remedy this.
Mods/Admin, if this is in the wrong place please feel free to move it. I just needed to vent a little.