Mac Tools

[Capt. Mike]

I am posting this in hopes of getting some feedback on experiences with Mac tools. My own have been far from encouraging.

Mac makes some good tools, not of Snap-On fit & finish, but every bit as strong. Supposedly with the same lifetime warranty. I put them between Craftsman & Snap-On. I don't find a significant price break, though.

Well, I've got a bunch of them. When I worked with the factory race team, they had a super dealer and I bought a number from him. He's retired and I haven't found one worth diddley-squat since.

What bothers me most, is the corporate attitude towards customers -- sort of like their customer is the salesman and Mac can't be bothered with the end customer if the dealer won't do the job.

The dealer that followed promised the moon. The next time I needed something, I called & left a message. A couple of them -- no returns. He had quit. Apparently Mac didn't think it worth bothering to tell the customers. And he apparently left with enough bad feelings he wasn't going to tell them, either.

I called Corporate. Rude, arrogant and pretty much useless. It wasn't until I got to the president's office I could even get a return call. By then I had bought the necessary replacements elsewhere and was now demanding my money back. No problem according to the VP; but getting the check out of the District Mgr. that was told to do so was another story. 6 months!

Needless to say, my purchase of Mac tools dropped to zero. However, that same VP did get me hooked up with the District Mgr. and another dealer. Lots of promises, new catalogs, even some freebies for the stuff bag at our last car show.

Next time I needed a replacement for a broken crowsfoot, back to square one. No return calls. So it's all the way back to the VP, who has now been replaced by a new one that won't return calls, either.

Finally I get a message from the Corporate Customer Service Mgr. Tried to return the call and it was 'hung up on, phone Nintendo with no way to reach a human, boss isn't in BS.' Hold forever; repeat to every Tom, Dick & Harry in the building and the best I can get is a supervisor. Sound familiar? The ol' runaround?

Well, when I finally got the supervisor on the 4th call and told her what was going on and that I was going BACK to the new VP on her private line, she was able to "find" the Customer Service Mgr. who finally came to the phone.

Repeat the whole scenario again. Will check out & call back, which she did . . . to tell me she's "told" everybody up & down the line and THEY would follow up. Well, the next day I did get a call from the dealer that wouldn't return calls before. NOW he'll "take care of it," as soon as he figures out what tool I'm talking about. I've told everybody all the way up to the VP the part number right off the tool, but do you think any would tell him? Two calls later, he's finally found it in the catalog. I'm still waiting.

Later that day, I get another call from someone who didn't identify themselves. I was at a neighbors (getting my absentee ballot witnessed -- I'm the NRA & I vote! Unlike West Palm Beach, I know how to, also). So the Admiral told him I'd be back in a few minutes. He would call right back. Ha! Wanna bet it's the last I'll hear from him?

Anyway, like any business I'm sure there are some really great Mac dealers. I knew one -- once. Are there any others? Believe it or not, I like some of the tools. But I won't buy if I can't get service without a replay of the Battle of Gettysburg.

Is it just me, or has sorry customer service become the norm? A person's word just some ploy to get the customer off their back? I'm sorry, but when someone says "I'll call you at . . .", that's an appointment, not some 'if I got nothing better to do and you won't go away.'

So let us know your Mac experiences, both with tools and dealers.

[1/23/10: Update -- More warranty problems. My Mac CH42 deadblow hammer began to disintegrate. This was a delightful weight, about 6-8 oz, deadblow, usefull for all those little tapping & alignment jobs where you didn't want damage from the big guns. The plastic encasement began to chip off as if the urethane had become brittle. That size is no longer in the catalog. I asked for a refund and was pretty much told "send it to us at your expanese and we'll decide if we're going to do anything." Since it will cost me as much to send them the defefective one, and they are not quaranteeing they will even warrant it anymore, it a lose-lose scenario. Mac is now owned by Stanley, so I'm not excpecting any breakthrough. I can't get Customer Service to return calls.]

[Capt. Mike]

Update:

The crowfoot I attempted to report broken in October, and finally reported to Mac headquarters on November 1st, didn't arrive until November 11th. No paperwork; no explanations. It didn't come from the distributor so I don't know who finally sent it.

I was right. The guy that would call right back, never did! Never heard from the distributor again, or the area manager, either.

I did report everything back to headquarters yesterday, but am sure that's as far as it will go. Mac just got racheted down my list several notches.

[Capt. Mike]

Mac makes a wrench that is quite an assist when working with exhaust systems. S161 is a box-end wrench, 13mm one end & 14mm the other. It is shaped in an "S" so will reach around the pipes to the nuts or bolts that are usually up and behind. I'm sure other vendors do as well. I have one from Craftsmen that is half-moon shaped for US sized nuts. I prefer the "S".

This is also one of those areas where a flex-socket set pays for itself. The extra length and play of a regular socket plus u-joint often keeps a rachet and extension from fitting. Flex sockets build the u-joint into the socket and shorten the whole thing, as well as eliminating another area of play. Also look at wobble extensions for when just a tiny bit of offset is required.