The handle fell off of my Tools of the Trade sauce pan.

It's very clearly from a manufacturing defect. There are two weld-joints holding the handle on and the one that popped was pretty obviously a bad weld.

I have had this set since the mid 1990s when my mom bought it for me as a gift when I moved away from home to go to grad school. Macy's heavily promotes their Tools of the Trade lifetime warranty. I tried to get a warranty-replacement.

I first called my local Macy's and was told that all Tools of the Trade warranty requests had to go through their customer service web form. Can't get warranty service from a store once it's outside of the normal return/exchange period.

I emailed Macy's customer service via their online form and received this response:

In order to request for a warranty for the Tools of the Trade cookware, please submit your request to the address listed below:

macys.com Customer Service Dept.
P.O.Box 8215
Mason, Ohio 45040
Attention: Small Ticket Department - Warranty

You will need to include your first and last name, daytime phone number,
email, and the item description (and your mailing address if you are
requesting the warranty to be sent by mail).

(Why do they need my email address if they don't use email?)

Okay, bit of a PITA, but I like that sauce pan and want to get a replacement to match the original set, so it's worth the time and the stamp. I specifically wrote requesting a replacement of my pan and I included a copy of the email-message that I got from their online customer service rep.

A few weeks later, this is what I got back in the mail:

Enclosed is the information you've requested regarding warranty information for the merchandise. Please be advised that you also have the option to return or exchange your defective merchandise, along with the receipt, to any one of our Macy's stores.

1. Macy's stores don't take Tools of the Trade warranty exchanges. I called two Macy's stores after I read this and both told me that I had to make a request through customer service from their web site. 2. It was a gift 20 years ago and I don't have a receipt.

Along with this letter, I received a copy of the current limited Lifetime Warranty for Tools of the Trade pots and pans. This is the relevant text:

Limited Lifetime Warranty
This Tools of the Trade product is among the best available. It is warranted to be free from defects in materials or workmanship under normal use for the life of the product... Should the product have a defect covered by this warranty, simply return it to the store of purchase along with a copy of the sales receipt or proof of purchase.

...Except that it was a gift 20 years ago, so I don't have a receipt. And I'm supposed to go back to the store where it was purchased in Albany, NY, but I'm presently a 6-hour drive away in DC. And their stores don't take Tools of the Trade warranty exchanges.

I got 20 years out of this thing, so I don't think it was a rip-off. But I do think that if you're going to promote a lifetime warranty for a product, you ought to make it possible to get a warranty exchange without 1. holding onto the receipt until you're 6-feet under and 2. Having to return it to the store where it was originally purchased, especially when 3. The stores won't do warranty exchanges after the return period has ended.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2015 01:18PM by Onamuji.

Why I still love Sears Craftsman policies... it says "Craftsman" ? Here's a new one. We throw the broken one in the barrel over here.

yeah, it sucks. I never trusted these lifetime warranties, life time of what? item? buyer? asking for receipts after 20 years is to discourage you from seeking warranty replacement.

Quote
cbelt3
Why I still love Sears Craftsman policies... it says "Craftsman" ? Here's a new one. We throw the broken one in the barrel over here.

is it really that simple?

I haven't used the Craftsman warranty myself, but I understand it is that simple...for a hand tool. Power tools are a different story.

As to the validity of lifetime warranties, we all know the great stories about LL Bean, Lands' End, REI and a few others. But what has surprised me a little is the lifetime warranty on my fairly cheap Edge 2001 knives (like the As Seen On TV type). I bought one many years ago and the handle finally broke off. I happened to have had the box it came in and it mentioned the warranty. Granted, I had to pay to ship it back (about $2), and send them a check for $3 to cover return postage and handling, but lo and behold, about two weeks later, I got a brand new one in the mail. Yes, I recently discovered that a new one would have cost only about $8 from Amazon, but what the hell, $5 is a little better than $8.

Yes, craftsman is really that simple...
"Here's a broken screwdriver...", "ok, go grab one off the rack, and we'll toss this one in the bucket..".


With the Macy's deal..
Two things come to my mind... Printing out and highlighting the relevant text, and mailing a nice letter to someone higher up at Macy's.
And;
One can make a passable "receipt" in Pages in just a few minutes.. Print it out, crumple it, dirty it, photocopy it with a little lower toner density... And it looks very much like a "copy of the original sales receipt" from the mid '90's.
Of course to suggest such a thing would be unethical and possibly illegal.. I point it out for 'historical curiosity' only, of course.

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Paul F.
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A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Lucius Annaeus Seneca c. 5 BC - 65 AD
----
Good is the enemy of Excellent. Talent is not necessary for Excellence.
Persistence is necessary for Excellence. And Persistence is a Decision.
--

--

--
Eureka, CA

Following Paul F.'s historical curiosity suggestion, one might also buy a new one that's the same and hold that receipt until it seems appropriate to use it to return the old one. I think it would be easy to get confused as to which pot was purchased with which receipt.

Tools of the Trade is a Macy's house brand - no receipt should be required to prove the item was purchased from Macy's, as it is impossible to purchase Tool of the Trade cookware anywhere but Macy's.

I suggest contacting them again to explain that the reason you do not have the receipt is because the item was received as a gift 20 years ago, if you already haven't. Remind them that it is poor business form to turn a customer who is happy with the product into a customer who is unhappy with the company. Finally, mention that your state's Attorney General's office might be interested in the company's unwillingness to honor its warranty.

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It is what it is.

Twitter. Tell a shortened version of your story on Twitter, and I'll bet you dollars to donuts you will get a new pan. All the big companies HATE getting shamed on Twitter. Quickest way to get satisfaction for something. You should not have to do it, but it works, trust me.

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Roswell, GA (Atlanta suburb)

When it is a house brand with a lifetime warranty, paperwork is BS in my book. Sears Craftsman hand tools are a simple swap in store. Same with Harbor Freight, for that matter.

I have dealt with Le Creuset and Calphalon pans with lifetime warranties. Just mail them in with an RMA. Done. Same with Kensington computer mice, for that matter.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/19/2015 03:12PM by Racer X.

I just emailed customer support outlining my trouble with their warranty process and requesting that they escalate this case internally.

I don't do Twitter, but have no compunctions about blasting their CEO, president and board of directors with messages about how much this experience sucks.

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is it really that simple?

Absolutely.

At least with hand tools.

Snap-On and MAC make some very good tools. I don't know anything about there warranty.

But twice I've broken two Craftsman tools- an 8mm deep socket, and a 12" breaker bar (bent, not broken).

Both times were on the proverbial Sunday afternoon, and I needed to get the vehicles running for work the next day. Both times I walked into Sears, handed them the part, they walked over to the cases, got the part, handed it to me, and I was off.

Pleasantries exchanged, but no questions about how, no paperwork or info requested, done.

Yes, it's that easy.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Onamuji,

Take it to your local body shop and pay them to mig-weld the handle back on.

Or, take your case to you local tv station.

Personally, I'd take the body shop route as you know it will be tough without that receipt.

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Ed (modelamac)

I think I will just put an OUT OF ORDER
sticker on my head and call it a day.

Quote
modelamac
Onamuji,

Take it to your local body shop and pay them to mig-weld the handle back on.

Not a bad idea... although it should be a spot-weld.

I'll look into that.

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So, I was at the mall this evening and asked the clerk at Macy's what I should do to get a warranty-replacement for the sauce pan.

He told me that they always refer warranty requests to the Macy's web site or the manufacturer's web site.

He then told me that I should have brought in the sauce pan anyway as they have a"liberal return policy" and would have given me a replacement sauce pan with any sort of proof of purchase or a manager would probably take it without proof since it was a Macy's brand.

BUT then he told me that I might not want to do it that way. He told me that "Tools of the Trade" is now their lowest-quality brand and if I could get one to match my old set, that would be way better quality than I'd get from the store.

So, I'm gonna see how this plays out as a warranty-replacement request before I settle for a sauce pan that's not up to par.

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Quote
Paul F.
One can make a passable "receipt" in Pages in just a few minutes.. Print it out, crumple it, dirty it, photocopy it with a little lower toner density... And it looks very much like a "copy of the original sales receipt" from the mid '90's.
Of course to suggest such a thing would be unethical and possibly illegal.. I point it out for 'historical curiosity' only, of course.

Quote
Michael
Following Paul F.'s historical curiosity suggestion, one might also buy a new one that's the same and hold that receipt until it seems appropriate to use it to return the old one. I think it would be easy to get confused as to which pot was purchased with which receipt.

Great thinking.

KISS
The engineer's approach to solving a problem.....

Quote
Onamuji

Quote
modelamac
Onamuji,

Take it to your local body shop and pay them to mig-weld the handle back on.

Not a bad idea... although it should be a spot-weld.

I'll look into that.

not familiar with these pans, do they have some internal coating (ceramic, non stick, teflon?) that might be damanger by the high temperature when welding?

It makes me wonder if it may not just be cheaper in the long run for Macy's (or any company) to just give the customer what they promised when they sold the item instead of all this "wiggling" to get out of the warranty? Unless a massive number of warranty returns are coming back - which means the item was junk out the door - then the replacement item cost should be negligible and the ease of replacement should do nothing but garner more good will from the customer.

I give my customers either a replacement or refund if they have a problem with a shirt. This seems like a better use of my time than trying to deflect a shitstorm on social media. I wonder if the corporate bean counters consider the cost of the higher ups salary for the 30-60 minutes they may spend deflecting said shitstorm vs the $4 pan cost?

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- Jack D.




New tasteless sig coming soon!

On,

It'd be nice to have the sauce pan replaced under warranty. But, as the rep said, Tools of the Trade is a Macy's house brand and it is the lowest quality when it comes to their cooking gear. Definitely not the kind of cooking gear I'd put much effort into having replaced under warranty.

At this point, you've spent more time than it's worth on trying to get it replaced under warranty. Just get rid of it and buy a quality sauce pan from one of the better manufacturers. It's what I'd do under the circumstances.

FWIW, Tools of the Trade pots and pans are the kind of gear I'd give to someone who rarely cooks or to get him/her started with the assumption it'll be replaced quickly with a higher quality version.

Robert

Quote
space-time
not familiar with these pans, do they have some internal coating (ceramic, non stick, teflon?) that might be damanger by the high temperature when welding?

Solid steel.

Can't find a pic of this set online. Having gone through Macy's website, I can see why the guy warned me off of the current Tools of the Trade sets. My set was made out of thick steel with substantial handles. Cost around $300 in the 1990s. A similar set costs $49 now, is visibly thinner and lacks the disk at the bottom of each pan that distributes heat evenly.

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You can go to almost any Marshalls/Home Goods and find the type of pan you're looking for for less than $50. They have high quality Cuisinart Tri-Ply cookware (both full and base-only) in stock almost all the time. I've seen the occasional All-Clad pan pass through, but at much higher prices than the Cuisinart pans.

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It is what it is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2015 12:21PM by N-OS X-tasy!.

Quote
Onamuji

Quote
space-time
not familiar with these pans, do they have some internal coating (ceramic, non stick, teflon?) that might be damanger by the high temperature when welding?

Solid steel.

Can't find a pic of this set online. Having gone through Macy's website, I can see why the guy warned me off of the current Tools of the Trade sets. My set was made out of thick steel with substantial handles. Cost around $300 in the 1990s. A similar set costs $49 now, is visibly thinner and lacks the disk at the bottom of each pan that distributes heat evenly.

Then get it fixed properly!

Can you post a picture of the defective joint? we may come up with creative solutions

Weigh and photograph it before you send it off to Macy's.

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Saint Cloud, Minnesota, where the weather is wonderful even when it isn't.

I am convinced now that Macy's has no actual customer support center.

The emails that I've received from "customer service" have come from "custhelp.com" which is a clearing house site and the responses have come in broken English in a form that suggests to me that it's coming from India. (Domains en route between mail servers all belong to Oracle.)

Moreover, they keep referring me to "the vendor's web site" for warranty support even though I have repeatedly pointed out that Macy's is the owner and trademark-owner of "Tools of the Trade" and as they are ostensibly Macy's' customer support it's their responsibility to honor the warranty.

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State's Attorney General. Stir up some @#$%&.

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It is what it is.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/24/2015 12:35AM by N-OS X-tasy!.