Silverline lifetime guarantee?

[richie00boy]

No doubt there will be some kind of wriggle out, claiming the failure was due to use of an extension or something. But if it gets them to change the stupid tricky registration policy then at least that's a good thing to come out of it.

 

[AndyStobbs]

You must have a lot of free time to bother chasing warranty on a spanner worth no more than £10

 

[steviec_lj]

Its probably more to do with principle than anything else. Why offer a lifetime guarantee but make it difficult for the customer?

 

[Flapdisk]

You must have a lot of free time to bother chasing warranty on a spanner worth no more than £10

I have nothing but time, I am an Airline Pilot forced into retirement by major surgery for Cancer. I am a man of principles and I get angry when I see a deliberate con. Claim all hand tools have a lifetime guarantee to get people to buy them, but if the customer doesn't contact us to get a bit of paper from us, to give back to us when we ask for it, then there is no guarantee!
There can be no other reason for that bit of paper than to create a situation where they can say, "Well you have no guarantee then" Trading standards agree, and I for one will never buy anything Silverline again.

 

[Shox Dr]

Many Companies ask you to fill in a form, it has more to do with farming demographic information than weeding out of a warranty. I throw them in the bin. Know your rights and you'll be better informed.

 

[Farside]

I have nothing but time, I am an Airline Pilot forced into retirement by major surgery for Cancer. I am a man of principles and I get angry when I see a deliberate con. Claim all hand tools have a lifetime guarantee to get people to buy them, but if the customer doesn't contact us to get a bit of paper from us, to give back to us when we ask for it, then there is no guarantee!
There can be no other reason for that bit of paper than to create a situation where they can say, "Well you have no guarantee then" Trading standards agree, and I for one will never buy anything Silverline again.

That's even more a disgraceful trick than the one played by various cash-back and other companies when they promote something that depends on you keeping all the paperwork for 3,4,5 years etc. There, they simply play a numbers game, knowing that most people toss paperwork, lose it, forget it, etc, so can't claim the reward/replacement/refund.
Silverline are a shower anyway and I wouldn't knowingly buy any of their tat - it's on a par with basic diy Draper of the 70s, or worse.

 

[Flapdisk]

That's even more a disgraceful trick than the one played by various cash-back and other companies when they promote something that depends on you keeping all the paperwork for 3,4,5 years etc. There, they simply play a numbers game, knowing that most people toss paperwork, lose it, forget it, etc, so can't claim the reward/replacement/refund.
Silverline are a shower anyway and I wouldn't knowingly buy any of their tat - it's on a par with basic diy Draper of the 70s, or worse.

Exactly mate. I didn't know them, but I do now.

In fact wouldn't it be a good idea for the knowledgeable members of this forum to start a thread listing all the brands like Silverline that they know of to help the mechanical newbies like me from falling into these sort of traps? Obviously a DIY enthusiast working at home isn't going to pay the sort of money Snap on tools and the like want because we just don't use the tools enough to merit it, but it would be nice to know who to avoid and who makes reasonable quality tools that would last a reasonable time.

 

[ajlelectronics]

In fact wouldn't it be a good idea for the knowledgeable members of this forum to start a thread listing all the brands like Silverline that they know of to help the mechanical newbies like me from falling into these sort of traps?

That would be great until somebody got sued.

My personal stand is that I prefer not to purchase items branded Blackspur, Rolson or Silverline. I have no comment about the reason for this personal opinion.

 

[AndyStobbs]

There does come a point where the knowledge sharing has to end. As traders we have all made the mistakes and fallen into the traps already, paid the price and moved on. I realise that this forum is frequented by pretty handy people, but somewhere down the line we (as traders) need to actually fix cars and make a charge for doing so, give away too much knowledge and everyone who fancies it will be having a go themselves.

That sounds very stern, and I want to point out that I often try to help out when a vehicle related question comes up, but helping out with member's isolated jobs, and sitting down to compile a list of all my techniques and tips are two different things. Especially on a publicly viewable forum.

 

[DAPPH]

That's even more a disgraceful trick than the one played by various cash-back and other companies when they promote something that depends on you keeping all the paperwork for 3,4,5 years etc. There, they simply play a numbers game, knowing that most people toss paperwork, lose it, forget it, etc, so can't claim the reward/replacement/refund.
Silverline are a shower anyway and I wouldn't knowingly buy any of their tat - it's on a par with basic diy Draper of the 70s, or worse.

How interesting that you say that :-
My big bro (now 73 yrs old ) has a birthday present Draper socket set in a blue tin case with orange insert from me & my sis .. given in November 1973 . Whilst with him over the years I've used it many a time can't fault it. It's certainly much better than several of the nice shiny Britool sockets of that era that I bust using a 12" tommy bar plus my bare hands to undo nuts or when using them with a torque wrench to do them up.

If you're looking for a tools set to see out your days HAZET is very good ( if the are still around ).
I have quite a few of their sockets & spanners that are over 40 years old and still going strong despite me being an HGV , light & heavy plant mechanic for the majority of the time .several

 

[ajlelectronics]

I still have quite a few King Dick spanners. But then I would, wouldn't I? ;-)

 

[daleyd]

There does come a point where the knowledge sharing has to end. As traders we have all made the mistakes and fallen into the traps already, paid the price and moved on. I realise that this forum is frequented by pretty handy people, but somewhere down the line we (as traders) need to actually fix cars and make a charge for doing so, give away too much knowledge and everyone who fancies it will be having a go themselves.

That sounds very stern, and I want to point out that I often try to help out when a vehicle related question comes up, but helping out with member's isolated jobs, and sitting down to compile a list of all my techniques and tips are two different things. Especially on a publicly viewable forum.

To be fair, I think he was asking about advice on which tools were any good not a complete strip and rebuild of a ford Capri.

For what it's worth I would agree that I steer clear of silverline, rolson or blackspur because I tend to value my knuckles. Had a set of halfords ratchet spanners for a few years now which had some fairly heavy (industrial) use and they are still going strong.

 

[PhillipM]

Same, the Halfords advanced ratchet spanners are pretty good for the price.

 

[Rocketman]

OK here is something to look at

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/59283/ratchet-spanners-tested

I dare not even comment on it let you guys have a first bash other than

OK we aren't talking the likes of Facom, Elora, Gedore & Snap-on in the test.

And it would have been nice to see tested to destruction.

 

[Farside]

OK here is something to look at

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/accessories-tyres/59283/ratchet-spanners-tested

I dare not even comment on it let you guys have a first bash other than

OK we aren't talking the likes of Facom, Elora, Gedore & Snap-on in the test.

And it would have been nice to see tested to destruction.

I wonder who got the brown envelope...
Five stars, me backside.

 

[Farside]

How interesting that you say that :-
My big bro (now 73 yrs old ) has a birthday present Draper socket set in a blue tin case with orange insert from me & my sis .. given in November 1973 . Whilst with him over the years I've used it many a time can't fault it. It's certainly much better than several of the nice shiny Britool sockets of that era that I bust using a 12" tommy bar plus my bare hands to undo nuts or when using them with a torque wrench to do them up.

If you're looking for a tools set to see out your days HAZET is very good ( if the are still around ).
I have quite a few of their sockets & spanners that are over 40 years old and still going strong despite me being an HGV , light & heavy plant mechanic for the majority of the time .several

You got lucky with your Draper - that's all. They were mostly crap.
Nowadays though; the Draper Expert range is a different kettle of eels - they're actually bloody good and had to be introduced for the exact reason I allude to. Draper were synonymous with rubbish and had slipped into being shunned by anyone with a clue. Draper Expert changed that.
As for breaking Britool sockets; I suppose if you gorilla anything enough it will break, well done. None of mine have broken unless I did something really stupid with them.

 

[steveo3002]

Exactly mate. I didn't know them, but I do now.

In fact wouldn't it be a good idea for the knowledgeable members of this forum to start a thread listing all the brands like Silverline that they know of to help the mechanical newbies like me from falling into these sort of traps? Obviously a DIY enthusiast working at home isn't going to pay the sort of money Snap on tools and the like want because we just don't use the tools enough to merit it, but it would be nice to know who to avoid and who makes reasonable quality tools that would last a reasonable time.

dont be scared to have mismatched /used sets of the better brands , can get ok deals if you look hard enough

snap on , mac , elora , stahwille, gedore, hazet should all be top grade stuff

made in usa /germany /england would inspire me more than china

also need to think about what youre using for the job...an average quality socket set in 1/2" drive would be more suited to heavy use than a 3/8" set , where if youre undoing interior trims you can get away with the cheaper stuff if need be- so use the right tool for the job

id say you want decent ratchets and breaker bars- the rest get what you can afford and replace it as you break it with nicer stuff

 

[ronan]

Trouble is though you can't rely on the name on the tool anymore, some snap on stuff is made in china and looks like tat, record vices are made in poland or somewhere, i bought a britool hacksaw that broke after 2 weeks and found out it was made in france. Moore and wright mics etc are made in china, colchester lathes are certainly not made in colchester anymore. The way it seems to be is buy a respected brand name and stamp it on chinese junk, sell it by the boatload until people cop-on and the name is worthless.

 

[pedrobedro]

I've had my Kamasa 1/4" drive set for over 30 years and the other day I broke my 8mm socket on a Suzuki rocker cover stud I have another set by Bahco and they are tough as old boots tackle but I'll still have to replace the one I broke for a good one. I have a few Silverline bits like an angle gauge for tightening head bolts and a piston ring clamp which do the job at the right price.

 

[daleyd]

Trouble is though you can't rely on the name on the tool anymore, some snap on stuff is made in china and looks like tat, record vices are made in poland or somewhere, i bought a britool hacksaw that broke after 2 weeks and found out it was made in france. Moore and wright mics etc are made in china, colchester lathes are certainly not made in colchester anymore. The way it seems to be is buy a respected brand name and stamp it on chinese junk, sell it by the boatload until people cop-on and the name is worthless.

I remember when britool got bought out by Stanley/facom and things went downhill the old British made socket sets were solid.

I remember the old old draper stuff being not too bad for the DIY market but that went pretty poor some time ago now.

All I can say ref the auto express test is that they didn't keep them more than 6 months as a guy in work had a set of silverline ones and all the chrome wore off after a few months use.