My pastor was having some issues with his car so I went over to help him this morning. It'a a tiny little Chevy Spark, so I just took my regular roadside stuff which is mostly 3/8 drive. Whatever lazy idiot put his wheels on last time needs to be hung from the rafters by his air hose. It's a four lug wheel, and every single one of them was massively over-torqued. I managed to get three of them off with a four-way, but just about gave myself a hernia in the process. The fourth one wouldn't budge, so I employed the ol' 3/8" Kobalt breaker bar with a 2' pipe over the end...and immediately sheared the drive lug off the breaker bar.

I called a buddy who came over with a Milwaukee cordless impact, which didn't budge it. Then he broke the drive lug off his ratchet on a similar manner to what I'd done with the breaker bar. We soaked it good with PB Blaster and I went home and came back with some 1/2" drive tools, and a torch. we heated it up, stuck a 1/2 bar on it and applied pressure while whacking it with a hammer....which only proceeded to twist the hexagonal part of the nut 90 degrees on the flange without breaking loose. I gave up at that point and told him to take it back to the shop and tell them to fix their mess.

On the way home I stopped at Lowe's to get my breaker bar replaced. Customer service sent me out to the shelf to go get one, but they didn't have any. I went back and told her, and she said I'd have to call Kobalt direct to get a replacement since it had been over 180 days since I'd purchased it. So I called the number, gave them the part number off the tool, and was told that they no longer carry a suitable replacement so I'd have to go to the store and tell them to give me a refund. I told him I'd just left the store and they had told me I had to call him. He said to go back and if they gave any trouble to call the number back while I was in the store . So now I've got a drive all the way back into town to not get my breaker bar replaced and argue about a refund for a part they don't have anymore. So much for "hassle-free."

The brake rotors are probably warped and need replacing.

While having your vehicle pass State Inspection yearly is good, most of the people working inspection have never turned a wrench and LOVE to use the CALIBRATED impact wrench.

You should thank them, because now you can replace your breaker bar with one that is up to the job.

quote:

Originally posted by 41:
The brake rotors are probably warped and need replacing.

While having your vehicle pass State Inspection yearly is good, most of the people working inspection have never turned a wrench and LOVE to use the CALIBRATED impact wrench.

It has rear drums....but who knows what's going on in there. Not my problem anymore. This is why I hate letting anybody else touch my cars.

quote:

You should thank them, because now you can replace your breaker bar with one that is up to the job.

I have one. It's clearly more than up to the job as it destroyed the nut. No I shouldn't have used a 3/8" drive tool in that application, but it was what I had with me at the time, as I was planning to use the 4-way to take the wheel off, which would have worked if it hadn't been for the freaking moron who put them on. I had to drive 20 minutes home to get the 1/2 drive stuff after the 3/8" couldn't get it done.

well, I went back to Lowes and the CSR couldn't do a refund because every single manager in the store was busy in a meeting all at the same time. She was able to determine that they actually have a truck coming in later this week that is supposed to have 2 on it, so she's going to set one aside and call me, which is going to involve a third trip to Lowes . Why Kobalt wasn't able to handle a direct replacement like I was told they were supposed to when they clearly still produce the tool will remain one of life's great mysteries.

I'm grateful for the CSR who put in some extra effort and was able to find a solution. Lowes' system still sucks, though.

Here's the straight poop . My wife is a retired Manager from Lowe's . She said that you can call a Manager out of a Staff Meeting if you need one . It's done all the time . Also , a Head Cashier can authorize a swap . If Kobalt is going to warranty the tool , it will be done through the store . Kobalt is owned by Lowe's .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:
Here's the straight poop . My wife is a retired Manager from Lowe's . She said that you can call a Manager out of a Staff Meeting if you need one . It's done all the time . Also , a Head Cashier can authorize a swap . If Kobalt is going to warranty the tool , it will be done through the store . Kobalt is owned by Lowe's .

Thanks for the inside scoop. I'm not sure why, but they wouldn't do it. Not sure if they didn't want to or maybe the managers at our local store are Nazis or something and the staff are afraid to call them. She looked at some little handheld tablet looking thing and said they were all "offline". It is what it is...I'll wait a few days and see if she calls me.

Never go to Lowe’s between 2-4pm on a Monday. That’s manager meeting time and though they can be called out of the meeting, it is a hassle. A properly trained head cashier can do the swap but for whatever reason, most of them are terrified of making a decision.

Here’s how the process should’ve been handled:

Oh you have a broken Kobalt tool? Let’s go get the replacement. Hmmm…we don’t have that. Here’s the next step up. Have a nice day.

Broken tool is taken to the RTM clerk in receiving to be submitted for credit.

No call this week but I was kinda in the area so I stopped by the store again this morning. They still don't have any. Was told they have two on order, but no idea when they will get there. I asked again about a refund so I could just buy something else...even in-store credit to just put towards a Craftsman one (ever since Lowes started carrying Craftsman their Kobalt inventory seems to have kind of taken a back seat). They said they couldn't do that.

They did look up inventory in some other stores about an hour away, and those locations do have some in stock, so I guess I'll just take it along next time we go to the city and try to get it done there. This experience has been the exact opposite of "hassle-free".

1/2" is the size needed to break lugs loose. 3/8" will easily shear for over torqued lugs, especially if you use a cheater bar.

quote:

Originally posted by Mars_Attacks:
1/2" is the size needed to break lugs loose. 3/8" will easily shear for over torqued lugs, especially if you use a cheater bar.

Again, I'm clear. And I would not have used it if I had anything else on hand. I'm not mad that the tool broke. It's was already tweaked from years of use, and I was asking too much of it. It's the replacement process that has been a pain in the butt.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
This experience has been the exact opposite of "hassle-free".

There is no excuse for them not remedying that situation . I asked my wife about it . She said she could have fixed that situation with no problem .

quote:

Originally posted by selogic:

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
This experience has been the exact opposite of "hassle-free".

There is no excuse for them not remedying that situation . I asked my wife about it . She said she could have fixed that situation with no problem .

Yeah, I don't know why it's such a big deal, but apparently it is. Thankfully I don't own many Kobalt tools, so this isn't something I should have to repeat often. Unfortunately since Ace Hardware and Sears both left town, Lowes is the only place to get Craftsman stuff anymore, too, so I'll be going there either way. They have a way broader selection of Craftsman stuff than they do Kobalt, though, so hopefully it'll be less of a problem. Maybe your wife could speak to this, but I get the feeling they're trying to phase the Kobalt stuff out since they started carrying Craftsman.

Update on the car: my buddy's cousin ended up pulling the entire knuckle along with the wheel, took the whole assembly to his shop and mounted it in a vice. He used a big pneumatic impact running on shop air with a broken-nut removal socket, and managed to get it off. I guess he got the brakes un-seized, too, so at least that mess got resolved.

Bottom line is I can understand you'd be miffed with getting the run around for no reason. Anyone of the people you talked to could have solved the problem one way or the other.

I got the run around at Lowe's when trying to return a front load washing machine that was less than two months old. They supposedly had a satisfaction guaranteed warranty. The machine simply did not get clothes clean. Lowe's refused to take it back so I sold it at a loss and bought a machine at Costco. That machine started having problems about a year later so I went to Costco to get a copy of my receipt so I could get a repair done under the factory warranty. The Costco representative said just bring it back and we will give you a new one. I avoid Lowe's even though it is a lot closer than Home Depot.

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Originally posted by Suppressed:
I avoid Lowe's even though it is a lot closer than Home Depot.

Yep.

I try to buy as much as possible from the local Ace Hardware, even if it's a few bucks more. Much better service, plus it's the closest option. I'm close enough that they even offer free doorstep delivery.

Plus there's a local builder supply store that has way better quality and pricing on lumber, fasteners, etc. than any of the big box stores.

If either of those options doesn't have what I need, I'll drive past Lowes to go to Home Depot.

It's a shame that the store gets a bad rap because management won't do the right the thing .

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Originally posted by RogueJSK:

I try to buy as much as possible from the local Ace Hardware, even if it's a few bucks more. Much better service

Better service because the stores are individually owned. It is fairly normal for the store owner to be on site, perhaps working the sales aisles or the register, and keeping an eye on things. The store owner knows that customer satisfaction drives his / her profit / loss spreadsheet.

I was a supplier to Ace Hardware stores for more than twenty years. I got to know a couple dozen store owners pretty well, and I saw the effort that they put in to training their employees. The "corporate culture" was very different from stores like Lowe's and Home Depot, much more emphasis on customer satisfaction.

I broke my 50 year old Craftsman 1/2" breaker bar.

Try getting Lowes to honor a Craftsman warranty, as they say they do.

They'll eventually do it, but it takes about two hours.

quote:

Originally posted by Sig2340:
I broke my 50 year old Craftsman 1/2" breaker bar.

Try getting Lowes to honor a Craftsman warranty, as they say they do.

They'll eventually do it, but it takes about two hours.

I miss our local Sears. Used to be if you came in with a broken Craftsman tool they'd send you over to the shelf to grab a new one and then out the door you went. No paperwork, no questions,no hassle. It didn't matter where you bought it or when, if it said Craftsman on it they'd replace it.

If they didn't have it in stock you got upgraded to the next level up. They gave me one of the "professional" ratchets one time to replace a broken basic one. They'd also rebuild them for you right there in the store if they had the parts.