Hope for Craftsman TS owners

[James Carmichael]

Just wanted to update those of you who were comisserating recently about the odd-sized miter slots and poor overall quality of their Craftsman table saws. After using mine for 4 months, I returned it last night for a full refund. This was despite it's having been used, scratches in the table top, and not even having the receipt.

To their credit, Sears has an excellent customer satisfaction policy. It took a little finagling and persistence, but when I politely enumerated the reasons I was unhappy with their product, they took care of it.

[Rob Bourgeois]

any idea how old of a saw will they accept. Under a year i suppose right?

[Lee Schierer]

I'm glad that you did okay. I had little luck or satisfaction dealing with Sears this weekend. I needed to replace a charger for a rechargeable spot light I had purchsed just 2 years ago. Apparently something in the primary windings of the transformer died. I took the model number off the bottom of the light and went to the store. (The latern says use only a 93196 charger) I was told that my model number was incorrect, it needed one more digit. We went over to the display shelves where they have a similar light. Guess what it had a different model number, but had exactly the same number of digits as mine. There was even a piece of paper inside listing the "replaceable parts" with five digit numbers. Sears couldn't find them in the computer either, though they did have batteries and bulbs on the shelf as replacements. You apparently can't buy a replacement charger for these lights at least not from Sears, despite the Craftsman name prominently displayed on the side of the case. I sure hope the bulb on mine never dies as I will not be able to replace it from Sears.

I did find a suitable charger at Radio Shack. Oh yeah, the slots on my table saw are 3/4 wide and the top is flat.

[James Carmichael]

any idea how old of a saw will they accept. Under a year i suppose right?

I think so, Rob. Here's how I did it:

I went to the Craftsman website and used the Customer Service link to contact them, and wrote them a lengthy message describing the problems I had with this saw (odd-sized miters, spliiter constantly getting out of alignment, bolts vibrating loose). I received a reply stating their customer satisfaction policy was a full refund if you had used the product a "reasonable" amount of time and were not satisfied. It gave no specific timeframe for what was "reasonable". Then I went to the Sears where I bought it and asked a lady in their customer service office who was very non-commital but said, yes, if I bought it there even without the receipt I could return it, they would have a record of the sale but would have to look it over first. I went home and gathered up everything, including the manual, then called to let them know I was coming and why. Got the same lady I had talked to earlier, she then tried to backout and say I had to have the the receipt. I had to gently remind her that's not what she'd said before and then let her know I had a letter in hand stating their cust. sat. policy was a full refund and made no reference to condition of the returned item (mine was ok except some minor scratches in the table top). So I hauled it back. The woman I had been dealing with never even met me or looked at the saw, they just took it back and gave me my money.

Persistence pays:-)

Good luck!