As maligned as Kobalt is for being consumer grade, I've really bought hard into the ecosystem. I've got a drill, driver, cordless angle grinder, flashlight, bluetooth speaker and their second gen impact gun. I just hung a 4 gang charger on the shelf in my shop, and have somewhere in the neighborhood of 7-8 batteries, and I'm thinking about getting one of the DA polishers. Suffice it to say that it's going to be a hot minute before I get the coin to switch systems. Hell, that angle grinder is easily my favorite tool now that I've taken up welding.

That said, Lowe's today wasn't very helpful. Problem: My drill will run in reverse, but not forward. The little light at the bottom of the handle comes on and that's it. Dunno how it happened, but I was just drilling holes last weekend with it.

I was under the impression that it should be as simple as walking in, exchanging it, and walking out with the new tool. That seems to not be the case, even though I'm inside the 5 year warranty period (drill was manufactured 08/2017, so I'm not just inside 5 years from purchase I'm inside 5 years of manufacture). The girl working the returns desk told me to call Kobalt, which put me in contact with a very foreign young man who was extremely helpful (no, I'm actually being serious) who informed me that the store is supposed to be calling them, because his warranty replacement form can't proceed without an associate ID and store number.

So now I need to talk with a particular manager to get this straightened out.

In her defense, the girl didn't know much about warranty returns, and she admitted to it freely and openly, and offered to take my information to have said manager speak with me about it, so I'm still hopeful they can make it right.

This won't put me off the brand, but it might put me off dealing with that store for this kind of stuff.

https://www.lowes.com/pdf/Kobalt_Warranty.pdf

Per the PDF, the five year warranty remedy states you return it to the store where purchased with the receipt.

Print this out, put on your best "Karen face" and demand to talk to the manager.

"If you think your product meets the above guarantee criteria, please return
it to the place of purchase with valid proof of purchase and the defective
product will be repaired or replaced at no charge."

Talk to someone higher up at the store. If you don’t get satisfaction, look up their corporate management and there should be a way to contact them.
Politely and briefly explain the issue and state what you are looking for.
No, it’s not likely that person will call you back but you will hear from someone assigned to handle things like this.
I’ve done this a few times when some major corporation has really pissed me off and always had my issue promptly resolved.

Glad you got the PDF. I have run into this many times with the big box stores. They will not honor the warranty and insist you send it back to the manufacturer. Ofentimes the products they sell are the LOWEST tier of tools. Small hardware stores or dealers will not play these games.

Isn't Kobalt the Lowes house brand? If so, I don't understand how the store can kick that can down the road.

Nothing wrong with using consumer grade tools if that's what you need, we tend to have an attitude of overkill here on the forum. I used to work in construction so I'm a Milwaukee guy and bought into their ecosystem.

Kobalt is indeed the house brand. It's probably not as rugged as, say, Milwaukee, but it's also less expensive so I expected that.

I'll be heading there on my way home today. I expect a satisfactory answer as to why my stuff that hasn't aged sufficiently to have the possibility of being out of warranty isn't being warrantied.

I don't like getting people in trouble (or making trouble; I'm an introvert - I just want to get what I need and go home without incident) but I will make your life hell if I know I'm in the right.

I am happy to report that this finally got a positive conclusion. They finally took the drill, and I was able to get a slightly nicer XTR variant on sale for $80. That's a score because it comes with a battery and charger.

That makes something in the neighborhood of 9 batteries and 3 chargers.

Now, the new issue is my angle grinder. I just hope I can find the receipt...

While I can't help with your Cobalt issue, I can tell you that Ridgid Tools (Home Depots house brand) has been awesome to deal with.

Many year ago I bought a 24 Volt tool set with lifetime warranty which included the batteries. Fast forward about 12 years and the batteries finally game up. I called to replacement batteries and was told they don't make 24 volt batteries anymore and that I would be contacted by a supervisor.

To cut to the chase, they sent me a brand new set of 18 volt tools with batteries, free of charge. The new set even included an impact gun that my original set didn't include. I've since added a mini leaf type blower, several fans, handheld vacuum and a small air compressor, all that run off the 18 volt batteries.

I've used Ridgid and Milwaukee at work.

To be perfectly honest, if I wasn't so heavily invested in the Kobalt stuff I'd jump ship to Ridgid. They make some really good gear - I've got a shop vac powering my dust collector and love it.

Fun fact: While Ridgid is almost entirely exclusive to HD it's not the house brand. That's Husky. Ridgid has been around in some way since 1923.

Normally I would say that it's up to the individual after some point to deal with the manufacturer depending on store policies.
However, based on the the Kobalt Policy above the store should handle it.
I would at least call Kobalt at the number listed as this might streamline the process.

quote:

Originally posted by vulrath:

Fun fact: While Ridgid is almost entirely exclusive to HD it's not the house brand. That's Husky. Ridgid has been around in some way since 1923.

Husky for hand tools. But Ryobi for power tools? I always thought Ryobi was Home Depot's house brand...

Ridgid is actually owned by Emerson. Not sure who owns Ryobi, but neither have a relationship like Lowes and Kobalt. They just havve the largest and most obvious retail presence at HD.

Lowes is, to my understanding, the only "official" place to get Kobalt tools, while the other two can be purchased via a number of online retailers. Grainger and Amazon are both listed on the Ridgid website as authorized distributors.

Not dissing Lowe's but one feature I appreciate about Menards is that if you use a credit card to purchase there you can look up your receipts that was made with that card.

Lowe's can do that too; the issue with that is that I didn't buy the drill originally (it was a gift). Which ended up being the crux of the issue here; I went back the next day and we finally got to the bottom of the issue. I needed an RMA number from the Kobalt help desk to get the ball rolling in the absence of a receipt.

quote:

Originally posted by vulrath:

I didn't buy the drill originally (it was a gift).

I had a similar situation. They told me to contact the gift-giver for the information.

I replied that I did not know how to un-cremate her, but maybe I could go to Cassadega* to see if somebody there could get a receipt for me.

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*Cassadega is a small unincorporated community located in Volusia County, Florida, United States, just north of Deltona. It is especially known for having many psychics and mediums, and has consequently been named the "Psychic Capital of the World".