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

All the vises I have broken, it was my own fault.

If you can get a 100 pound old mill vise, they won't break.

I remember reading once that "A vise is the only tool that contains within
itself the means of its own destruction." Is this true? If a vice contains
the means of its own destruction, how can ANY vise be warranted at all?

wrote:
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.
This may actually be a federal crime, it is almost certainly a
violation of FTC rules. It most likely is a crime in your
state, as well. You can write a letter to your state's attorney
general and the FTC (they may have an on-line forms on their web
sites.) The term "lifetime" has an accepted legal definition,
and a company that uses that word is bound by what Black's Legal
Dictionary SAYS it means! They may have some fine print on
their actual warranty card that will get them off the hook, but
if the front of the card says "lifetime warranty" then a bunch
of weasel-words on the back in half-mm type may not undermine it.

Jon

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.

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 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 have to keep moving, you may talk to people about the issue IF they ask
you first, and your local PD may have others. They may or may not have to
be notified. The store may or may not need to be notified. 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.

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.

Steve

On Nov 13, 10:54 pm, wrote:
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". ...

Which lifetime, yours or the vise's? When it breaks its lifetime is
over.

On Tue, 13 Nov 2007 19:54:35 -0800, with neither quill nor qualm,
quickly quoth:

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

That's as bad or worse than Crapsman tool warranties, where you have
to nearly cap the manager to get him to exchange a clearly marked
Craftsman tool which bit the dust twice in three days.

F searz, F wilton. They'll get absolutely none of my business.

--
Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.
-- Charles Lindbergh

Larry Jaques writes:

That's as bad or worse than Crapsman tool warranties, where you have
to nearly cap the manager to get him to exchange a clearly marked
Craftsman tool which bit the dust twice in three days.

Interesting -- I've never had any problem getting a replacement from
Sears, including on tools that I'd basically abused to death (a socket
that had been used with a hammer to drive a friction-fit part into
place comes to mind).

On 14 Nov 2007 09:11:59 -0700, with neither quill nor qualm, Joe
Pfeiffer quickly quoth:

Larry Jaques writes:

That's as bad or worse than Crapsman tool warranties, where you have
to nearly cap the manager to get him to exchange a clearly marked
Craftsman tool which bit the dust twice in three days.

Interesting -- I've never had any problem getting a replacement from
Sears, including on tools that I'd basically abused to death (a socket
that had been used with a hammer to drive a friction-fit part into
place comes to mind).

My memories of this are from the mid/late 70s and early 80s, when they
had first gone with the trash vendors. I was in the store getting
replacement sockets, ratchets, and such 3 or 4 times a week, usually
with bandaged hands. Once I had to go to the store manager to get
replacements, but usually the threat to go to him did it. HE got an
earful that once, lemme tell ya. I don't recall having bought a searz
tool since.

Not too many years after that, they were indicted for their parts
replacement scams in the auto section, telling customers they needed
parts that they didn't need. It cost 'em plenty. I'm surprised they're
still in business. Their name is sure **** to me.

Given Wilton's ghastly pricing, their stuff should be built heavily
enough to never need to be warrantied. Shame on them for a fake
lifetime warranty.

--
Real freedom lies in wildness, not in civilization.
-- Charles Lindbergh

"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

Larry Jaques writes:

Not too many years after that, they were indicted for their parts
replacement scams in the auto section, telling customers they needed
parts that they didn't need. It cost 'em plenty. I'm surprised they're
still in business. Their name is sure **** to me.

I got caught by that one -- it was before I did my own work on my
cars, and they sold me several voltage regulators and alternators
that, in retrospect, I almost certainly didn't need.

Customer: "I'd like a refill. The sign says, 'All you can drink for 10
cents.'"
Vendor: "One cupful IS all you can drink for 10 cents."

"Leo Lichtman" writes:

Customer: "I'd like a refill. The sign says, 'All you can drink for 10
cents.'"
Vendor: "One cupful IS all you can drink for 10 cents."

I knew a guy who described a bicycle club descending on a small cafe
at the end of a day's ride, and ordering "all you can eat". When the
cafe was out of food, the owner did indeed explain that they'd had all
they could eat...

"Leo Lichtman" wrote in message
news
Customer: "I'd like a refill. The sign says, 'All you can drink for 10
cents.'"
Vendor: "One cupful IS all you can drink for 10 cents."


Now that one can't be disputed. Moxie.

Regards,

Edward Hennessey