"SteveB" wrote in message
news

wrote in message
ups.com...
I broke the main cast iron frame of my Wilton C-3 vise the other day.
In shopping for a replacement, I noticed on the Wilton Tool website
that this vise has a "Lifetime Warranty". I called Wilton to get info
on warranty replacement or repair. The man asked me how old is the
vise....about 15 years, I said. After a moment, I learned that the
"lifetime" of a Wilton vise is 6 years. After 6 years, the "lifetime
warranty" expires.....how can they be comfortable in misleading the
customer?....why not be ethical and advertise a "6 year warranty".
This kind of thing pis_es me off to no end. Is this typical of how
industrial manufacturers operate? I thought I'd feel better after
venting here.....I don't.
waverly


After spending that much on a vise, I'd spend a day picketing in front of
the store with a placard that says XXXXX SELLS CRAP. Or XXXXX DOESN'T
HONOR WARRANTIES.


Steve:

A few footnotes to your effort.

Picketing is a useful way to get a quick adjustment. BUT learn the rules
first in your community. Usually they are, but not limited to: you have
to stay on the sidewalk,

You can't be on private property without permission in general. I believe if
the
private property is an area to which the public customarily enjoys
unpermitted access--like
areas the "donation" crowd use to station themselves in front of
stores--you should
have a kindred right of access even if you are picketing. The last one your
local PD
may neither be aware of nor sympathetic to.


you can't step into traffic (duh), you can't wave your
sign into traffic, you can't impede pedestrians on the sidewalk in any
way, you can't block ingress and egress of patrons or cars, you can't be
vocal,

You can be vocal. You just can't disturb the peace. Whatever the reporting
authority
decides that is.

you have to keep moving, you may talk to people about the issue IF they
ask you first, and your local PD may have others.

It's really a free-speech question and the local PD should have none that
are not
nationally applicable. Period.

They may or may not have to
be notified. The store may or may not need to be notified.

You don't have to notify anyone but see below for sage advice as to the
immediate
benefit of asking the store if they want to resolve things before or after.

Threatening to
picket and notifying them in advance may get it settled without picketing.
I have had issues twice where picketing came into play. Once, they
replaced the item rather than have me picket, and the second time, I was
there for about an hour and they offered me a new replacement tool.

It really should be a clear issue of a just cause. If you have a warranty,
blow it up
on picket signs with a notation "Would you want me to shop at a store that
wouldn't
honor your warranty?" That puts the other customers in your place. Have
hand-out
flyers. Blow up a dictionary definition of "lifetime" on a placard. Maybe
the famous
quote from Alice in Wonderland by the Red Queen "A word means what I say it
means, no more, no less."

I guess it all amounts to how much you want your pound of flesh.

And oh, yeah. Pick a nice weather day, and a busy one for them.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey