Totally agree Russ,

But I dont have loads of snap-on stuff, just some important things that I wanted to invest in...... and never broken any, so not had to face any issues. I did wonder if it was marketing....but snap-on is good.

It just feels nice !!....although the vans are all franchises....any experience when there are problems ?


....and I dont have any recipts for their stuff either, I am shit with paperwork, and its all years ago.....be interesting to see if they would honour their pledge if people break things and have no recipt...and the stuff I had I did pay full price for direct from the van......assuming, like Halfrauds....it would be a genuine lifetime guaruntee.

The guys at Halfrauds were as you say just idiots and I feel like being Mr Grumpy Old Man and writing to head office ......in fact sod it... I will do just that....and post the reply here!

However as far as tool porn is concerned...in my other capacity of doing building work, I brought a complete set of Bosch cordless gear a few years ago. (the proffesional blue range)...the works, cordless everything, even the chargers didnt need to be plugged in (well maybe a bit) and whilst it was expensive, it was really good stuff. Ive got DeWalt, Hitachi and Makita....but this set came with a 5 year guarantee.

....however I didnt realise you had to register this on line, so didnt. Four years later I dropped the jigsaw from a roof I was on, it wasnt happy. I phoned them wondering if it was worth fixing, they asked when I brought it and I told them. They confirmed that technically it wasnt their responsibility, but as it was a proffesional tool and should take wear and tear, they would fix it. The next day they sent a courier to me. One week later a completely repaired tool arrived back with the confirmation that all the other stuff was now covered.

Halfrauds wont swap me a sodding £3.99 socket !!

Bosch then asked me to test a new 18v Li-ion top of the range drill and write a review...I did and they let me keep it !!

Falcom good to, as is Elora and the old Britool stuff.

Tool Porn....I like this thread !!

TBH, I wouldn't bother. They're clear and up front about it on their website, at the very least.

Given a choice, I'll always buy Bosch - not just because it's good quality, but because they're one of the very few properly ethical companies out there - owned by, and all of the profits going to, a humanitarian/development charity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_Stiftung

Fair Comment....kind of what I got in the shop.....except when I brought the socket, there wasnt a Halfords website !!.....this was a long time ago. Even if I had the recipt I doubt it was now readable !!!

Point is do Snap-on have the same policy?

Damm....I so wanted to write a grumpy letter too !!



Bosch...I heard this too...apparantly they are good at being good....and I have to say the drill they gave me is bloody fantastic.

Bought a set of these a few months ago. I go out to the garage and just touch them occasionally.

I'm sure they'd have pointed you to the Ts & Cs if you'd asked - and I'm sure it'd have said something like "Ts & Cs apply" if you'd looked at the packaging...

Halfrauds might be a lot of things, but slipshod when it comes to the small print ain't one of 'em.

Unfortunately, their pro tools are about the best vfm about - and, yep, you can replace 'em several times for the price of Snap-On if/when their "lifetime" (of the receipt) warranty doesn't cough...

I wasn't aware of that about Bosch, I shall take it into account when I'm in the market for power tools.

The majority of my tools are relatively cheap quality but I been abusing them for over 15 years so far with only a couple of breakages. Some years ago I spotted a hacksaw on a market stall, and considering that all those I had in the shed looked like they'd been used to build the ark, and that this one was only a pound, I thought I'd have it. It was SH!T, and I mean bordering on unusable, it was virtually impossible to cut anything straight. I learnt my lesson and went and bought a Facom, it was only about 12 quid but it's a joy to use, seriously every time I use it I appreciate how much better it is than any cheap crap, or even a basic Eclipse. Is it 12 times better than the 1 pound saw? No, it's at least 50 times better .

I've got a few bits from the Halfords professional range. I was in there having a root around in the clearance bin, it's usually just full of air fresheners that look like they've been sat on, when one of the guys says he's got some tools to go in there. He disappears out the back and returns with a couple of ratchet handles and a selection of ratchet spanners, some of them had obviously been used by their in house fitters, but quite a lot was just missing it's packaging, including some I know to be over £15. I paid a pound each, I must have left with the best part of £100 worth, for which I paid £15.

I'd love a set of rachet spanners, and rate the Facom stuff I've used. Birthday's coming up.

Rachet spanners are the way forward. I've got a halfords bendy set. They make jobs so much quicker and easier and are brilliant for getting onto awkward bugger nuts and bolts.

I've never had a problem taking tools back to halfords. They genrally have shops full of idiot staff who know nothing and winde me up being usless un helpful and rude. But I have to say when I broke a halfords torx key trying to undo a brake disc on my saxo couldn't find the receipt so just took the set of keys back and they just changed it for another set no quetions asked.

Is it worth making a fuss for a four quid socket? I'd just buy another and accept that I should have kept the receipt.

It depends why it broke. I think if I'd had the thing on a couple step-downs on the end of a 3/4" rattlegun, I'd accept it was my fault, ut if it broke in normal use then I'd be quite annoyed. I'd buy things with a lifetime warranty because I'd expect it to last a lifetime of use, not because every few weeks for the rest of my life I get to take it back and get a refund.

I'll put up some welding porn later.