Harbor Freight Tools that don't suck

[Oaktree]

I print mine out all the time and use them at the HF in my area.

I was specifically told that printouts were not acceptable anymore. This was a couple years ago, maybe they've changed their policy or else the revolving-door clerk was wrong.

 

[Oaktree]

Somebody didn't think that one through. The discount coupon could entice someone to buy ITC and become a more frequent customer. Worst case, they got the ITC fee but don't see the customer more. Win/win.

I don't buy enough there to make ITC worthwhile, but I do miss the free-with-any-purchase coupons. Even though it was the same 5 or 6 items, it did get me in the store more often.

 

[bcp]

I got a 25% off by email. Sent a screenshot to someone else. Later when I tried to use it, they said it had already been used. HF said they are barcoded individually, not like paper coupons or older email coupons.

Bruce

 

[California]

I got a 25% off by email. Sent a screenshot to someone else. Later when I tried to use it, they said it had already been used. HF said they are barcoded individually, not like paper coupons or older email coupons.

I wonder if the barcode is matched to the phone number they asked you to provide.

 

[Pixguy]

I was specifically told that printouts were not acceptable anymore. This was a couple years ago, maybe they've changed their policy or else the revolving-door clerk was wrong.

Littleton store?

 

[crazyal]

I got another one of the "we miss you" 25% off coupons. I didn't really need much but I always need tool boxes so I ordered the 56"lower cabinets. None of the stores around here have them on stock so it looks like I'll be waiting. The website says they will be shipping by the end of this month but the paperwork they gave me says it'll be May. I didn't see it in the paperwork until a few days later. I guess I assumed that if the website said shipping Jan 30th that was likely close to when it would ship to the store. Has anyone else ordered something and had to wait this long?

 

[Grumpycat]

I got another one of the "we miss you" 25% off coupons. I didn't really need much but I always need tool boxes so I ordered the 56"lower cabinets. None of the stores around here have them on stock so it looks like I'll be waiting. The website says they will be shipping by the end of this month but the paperwork they gave me says it'll be May. I didn't see it in the paperwork until a few days later. I guess I assumed that if the website said shipping Jan 30th that was likely close to when it would ship to the store. Has anyone else ordered something and had to wait this long?

Most importantly, are they going to honor the 25%?

 

[BravoXray]

I needed some 6" zip ties so I wandered over to HF this afternoon. I hadn't been in there for over a year, and was amazed how many new brands they have. I cruised up and down every aisle, was there for nearly an hour looking at their stuff. I was amazed at the huge tool boxes they have, and how reasonably priced they are.
Only other thing I bought was a pair of wire brushes, one with stainless bristles to use on the BBQ grill. Was less than $10 for the brushes and two bags of tip ties.

 

[LouNY]

It is easy to waste an hour or two wandering up and down the isles, it seems like it always costs me way more then $10 every time I go in a store.

 

[daugen]

how can you resist?

the trick is if you can create a fun buying experience that motivates customers to come back, and not just when they desperately need things.
I can't think of a better way to spend a few hours on a rainy or snowy day.
For five years I owned the only electronics business in my small town. It grew from a little Radio Shack to a
much larger retail electronics business where only half was Radio Shack and half was my imagination.
Folks would come in for a battery, and see stuff much more interesting, and then they think, this is a pretty cool place, let's look all around
And take home a pair of Infinity bookshelf speakers.
Unfortunately the very successful business ended with a divorce, and then it wasn't fun any more.
Besides five years of being inside those walls six days a week, sometimes seven,
well with my farm genes, I just had to get back outside again.

now if they can put an odor neutralizer back where those rubber tires are...but I think that is getting better.
too bad they don't just handle Carlisle, would generate a lot more business for them.
Besides Carlisle makes a lot in China now...at least you have (hopefully) higher specs when all this stuff comes from
the same area. I found the early Carlisle Chinese stuff awful. Sidewall cracked in a few years. Pure junk.
Do believe competition has forced the quality level up a bit. If the folks in India need a three dollar tire, ok.
I want a better one...such a hassle changing them anyway.

like any good fisherman, in retail you need bait.
HF does a good job of displaying their wares, would be better if they had larger spaces so not so jammed together.

We have a new HF in this area. I bet it is jammed today, particularly if they sell salt and shovels.

HF is smart selling good tool cabinets at lower prices.
After all, once you get them, you have to fill them up, right?

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

This is definitely a good tool:

5.7 Amp 6 in. Short-Throw Random Orbit DA Polisher/Sander

Amazing deals on this 8Mm Random Orbit 6In Da Polisher/Sander at Harbor Freight. Quality tools & low prices.

www.harborfreight.com

I had a Porter Cable D/A random sander that was 30+ years old that finally broke at the head.... couldn't get any replacement parts, discontinued.

This HF sander is as good, if not better than the PC. I don't think it will last as long, but at half the price, a great deal!

 

[BravoXray]

HF is smart selling good tool cabinets at lower prices.
After all, once you get them, you have to fill them up, right?

That was the problem I had with Snap-On for many years. Even now I wonder over to the local Snap-On guy's place and pick up some odd bit or bob I need for the current project.
I even got a free can of red pain to use on a utility cart I had that was looking pretty bad. He just gave me the can because it was rusty and he didn't know if it would even work, which it did. He said the can was in the inventory when he bought it from a retiring dealer over 15 years ago.

 

[bmaverick]

I got another one of the "we miss you" 25% off coupons. I didn't really need much but I always need tool boxes so I ordered the 56"lower cabinets. None of the stores around here have them on stock so it looks like I'll be waiting. The website says they will be shipping by the end of this month but the paperwork they gave me says it'll be May. I didn't see it in the paperwork until a few days later. I guess I assumed that if the website said shipping Jan 30th that was likely close to when it would ship to the store. Has anyone else ordered something and had to wait this long?

Its shipping on Jan 30th, but 6 weeks by boat, clear customs, trucked then to either your local store or your home. Yep, sometime in May.

 

[Hay Dude]

Are the Horrible Freight “Pittsburgh Jumbo Socket sets” worth buying?

94% positive reviews, but the 1 star reviews said the ratchet broke (which is what you’d expect).

 

[scootr]

Are the Horrible Freight “Pittsburgh Jumbo Socket sets” worth buying?

94% positive reviews, but the 1 star reviews said the ratchet broke (which is what you’d expect).

View attachment 847768

Somebody mistook the ratchet for a breaker bar? Been there done that to better name tools
I have HF Pittsburg sockets and wrenches that don't suck

 

[svendawg]

Are the Horrible Freight “Pittsburgh Jumbo Socket sets” worth buying?

94% positive reviews, but the 1 star reviews said the ratchet broke (which is what you’d expect).

View attachment 847768

I had my 1" drive ratchet break, after owning it for several years, took it the the store and they replaced it no questions asked. Life time warrant

 

[Hay Dude]

I had my 1" drive ratchet break, after owning it for several years, took it the the store and they replaced it no questions asked. Life time warrant

Were you really cranking on it when it broke?
How has the new one held up?

 

[LouNY]

I haven't bought the 1" set, I do have the 3/4" set actually a couple of them I have broken a few sockets over the years which they have replaced and the ratchet did give up the ghost once, I'm fairly sure that 4 foot pipe slide over the handle didn't have anything to do with it.

 

[Hay Dude]

I hear the breaker bar bends kinda easy….
Was thinking of buying the set, then buying a better quality ratchet. I hear the sockets themselves are tough as nails, but the ratchet is kind of bad.

 

[plowhog]

I was specifically told that printouts were not acceptable anymore.

I built a retaining wall recently. My little 24hp Massey tractor dug a good sized trench through extremely hard, rocky, miserable ground with embedded large boulders. The ground was so hard the 12" bucket just bounced off the hardpan. I downsized to a 6" bucket.

I rented a Multiquip plate compactor from Home Depot for $400 for a week to prepare the open trench for the wall. Because the wall had a lot of stair-steps going up a slope, it was slow going and after a week I was still not finished and owed the unit back to Home Depot.

Rolled the dice, and purchased the HF plate compactor instead of renting again. To finish the job, I used it for as many hours as the HD Multiquip unit, and it did a great job. Actually liked it slightly better. Not much to lose when owning it for $630 vs renting for $400.

Retail was $690, but I took in a printed coupon and got 10% off. So they accept printed coupons here.