Silverline lifetime guarantee?

[Flapdisk]

Hi Guys, I'm only a DIY chap and can't realy justify paying a great deal for top quality tools as they don't get much use. I wanted a set of those spanners with the ratchet at one end, so I searched on Amazon and found a set of 14 made by Silverline, and in the description it said

"The Silverline range includes over 5000 hand and power tools for use in the home, garden and workshop. All Silverline tools come with unbeatable guarantees - hand tools are guaranteed for life, and power tools are guaranteed for 3 years."

That swung it for me, I thought with a lifetime guarantee how can I go wrong. Well here's how it went wrong, two years later I finaly got to use the 17mm spanner to UNDO a bolt, one of four which hold the rear hubs on my Escort, I am 6'4" and well built, I gave it a good tug and the ratchet gave way

I thought never mind, it has a lifetime guarantee, That is until I went to the Silverline website and found that I was supposed to contact them to get some extended certificate within 30 days of purchase

Nowhere on the Amazon sales page did it warn you about this, and nothing came with the spanner set about this. It seems to me to be a deliberate trick to get out of giving the guarantee.

I phoned Amazon and told them they were giving false information and they couldn't give a monkeys, they just kept saying that they were not responsible as all they were doing was allowing someone else to sell through them. I asked if Silverline made their web page then, He replied no, we have our own Amazon people who create the web pages,
so I said so it is your responsibility for not supplying the information on your sales page that there is only a lifetime guarantee if you register the tools within 30 days then and that I felt claiming an item has a lifetime guarantee to sell a product without giving vital information that will lose the guarantee is probably illegal. He went very quiet and changed the subject.

I feel there is either a lifetime guarantee or there isn't, if there is what possible reason can the requirement to register the item within 30 days be for other than as a con and a get out?

I bet every single web page Amazon has where they are selling Silverline tools, does not state you must register within 30 days or lose the guarantee.

I have today packaged the spanner and posted it to Silverline with a letter of explanation and a statement of how I feel about this bloody extension certificate, it will be interesting to see what they do. I will let you know.

 

[richie00boy]

It's a good point.

For info, you are not really meant to use ratchet spanners for cracking off (or final tightening) really, use a fixed spanner then switch. The ratchets are much smaller than on bars hence weaker.

 

[Premiershipman]

I know that most items I buy recently if they have an extended guarantee, require you to fill out a guarantee form that normally comes with the item. This is to extend it beyond the 12 month guarantee you automatically get.

You could probably claim on the 'not of merchantable quality' as you have only used them once - maybe have a chat with trading standards ?

 

[Flapdisk]

ooh! didn't know that Richie, thank mate, I won't do it again.
Thanks Prem. Hmmm I don't have a lot of faith in them, I complained to them once before, spent hours filling in all the forms and supplying screen shots etc. to complain that a company I bought my compressor from were advertising fast next day delivery and charging for it, but not giving it. Months later if you go look at the website nothing has changed, so trading standards don't give a sh**

 

[TechnicAl]

What does "Guaranteed for Life" actually mean. Is it your life or the life of the tool. If its the latter they have met their promise. I had a Silverline router bit shatter very easily and it badly cut my hand. I avoid anything Silverline now. As far as Im aware they are all, or mostly, cheap Chinese copies.

 

[AndyStobbs]

Not to rub salt in the wound but buying tools online is always going to be a grey area if/when something happens. Pain me though it does to say it, halfords are probably best for a DIYer wanting spanners and the likes. They just swap anything regardless.

I would say you are responsible for breaking that spanner by (as mentioned already) using it for something it isn't designed to do.
Take it on the chin, buy another spanner and move on.

 

[Flapdisk]

I doubt very much that I will buy anything Silverline again Tech.

 

[Flapdisk]

Well I have only just been made aware that the ratchet end isn't actually meant for undoing or doing up nuts and bolts, gues it's just decoration then But yes, if that is a fact then surely it should be stated on the packaging?

 

[AndyStobbs]

Well I guess they assume the person weilding the gear has it sussed, else they would have to label tin snips as unsuitable for cutting 6mm ms sheet.

 

[Dave Sherwood]

With over thirty years with the Ambulance service I have lost count at the number of people I have seen lose or badly damage their fingers, Hands and even full arms not to mention facial injuries caused by cheap tools snapping or splintering. You buy cheap tools at your own risk. Buy quality it may save your life.

 

[pedrobedro]

Buy a breaker bar for cracking the tough nuts then use your ratchet to run them off and back on. Most firms will not guarantee ratchets because they have moving parts and are subject to abuse. One of my ratchets, a Stahlwille, has all the parts available to repair it from the manufacturer.

 

[Rocketman]

Well obviously though one of the purposes of the a racket ring spanner is to get into awkward spaces so there will be times when you will need break/tighten nuts and bolts - within reason though and high torque I would avoid.

I would say though I doubt very much the mechanism on the ratchet would have come under a life time warranty - no matter how good they are they wear and have a finite life. So all companies have a clause on the life of the ratchets.

 

[BrokenBiker]

this is the main reason I ont buy silverline and also don't lend my tools to anyone. both are an easy way to end up with useless crap

 

[Robotstar5]

We had a set of Aldi ratchet spanners each at work, they lasted well in an industrial environment, only had one 10mm spanner killed by a "hairy ar5ed" fitter in 5 years of use.

 

[Flapdisk]

Well I spoke to Trading Standards and they pointed out that how much guarantee they give is fairly irrelevant as in this country manufacturers are required to make products "Fit for purpose" If a spanner is made for undoing and doing up nuts and bolts, but when you try to use it for that, it breaks, then it is not fit for purpose. I sent the spanner back to them and pointed this out. They replaced it.

I also pointed out to them that they are advertising a lifetime guarantee but not telling anyone that you have to contact them after purchase to get it or you have no guarantee. They say they will look into it.

 

[Shox Dr]

To be fair to Silverline. As pointed out they are for running nuts on or off. Not cracking off or final tightening. So you didn't use them for their intended purpose. And by your own admission you "gave it a good tug"

So "fit for purpose" doesn't come in to it.

 

[PhillipM]

But if you buy a decent set the bolt will snap before the ratchet lets go.

 

[Bill Edwards]

Really you should not be able to break a ratchet - or indeed most tools - with ordinary hand force. It's when you start hitting them or putting levers on that you exceed what they are designed to take.
Plenty of Snap-on gear is guaranteed IF you use it correctly. If an ordinary socket breaks they will replace it, but only if it doesn't show damage from being smashed onto tight nuts or used with an impact wrench. If you want a socket that is guaranteed for that purpose, you buy the impact ones instead.

 

[atomant48]

This thread is an interesting discussion. I too was always taught not to use a ratchet (they didn't have ratchet spanners in those days!) for undoing / final tightening but I wonder if things have moved on. My tool guy tells me that the super long ratchets He sells have exactly the same head as the standard ones so surely that means the head can take a fair torque before failing?

It would make sense for manufacturers to take an average maximum force someone can exert, then size the length of their tools appropriately for the strength of the head - but I don't know if that's how it works.

As said above, this is all a good reason not to loan tools out!

 

[PhillipM]

It makes sense to size the ratchet to beyond the braking torque of the fastener size they're intended for, same as the handle.