Sears = dumb.

[GRH]

I have a Sears Radial arm saw in my garage, well it makes a lot of saw dust
so I got the bright idea of connecting a Sears wet/dry shop vac to the 90deg. fitting on the top of the saw guard to suck the saw dust. As this is the purpose of this fittingaccording to the instruction/parts booklet.
Now the problem starts as the fitting is a goofy size and Sears has no adapter
to connect it to their small vac hose 1-1/4
Good thing I own a lathe etc. as I will have to make one.
I checked their catalog and parts and found nothing, so I guess in to-days world their marketing people are too stupid to realize this problem.

Anyone else here had this problem??????????????

Regards Graeme

[dp]

Anyone else here had this problem??????????????

Regards Graeme

I have two different vacuums and a dust collector system - might as well have all been made for Martians for all the compatibility they have.

I have an old DeWalt RAS that has the same problem with the elbow. Apparently the machine people didn't talk to the hose people who didn't talk to the customers. I also have a rather new cutoff saw that has the same problem. Nothing new here.

[john hobdeclipe]

I've acquired hoses from as many different sources as I have tools that need them. No standardization here at all. But a lathe, some PVC pipe and fittings, and some duck tape, and everything sucks very nicely.

[BadDog]

As stated, not just Sears. I've got the same problem with a Baldor grinder. Takes some sort of different hose fitting that can't easily be hooked to a vacume. And it's not even round...

[Rich Carlstedt]

Very common to see that in Products when one group does not talk to another.
How is this one?
We have ATT phone service.
We have ATT long distance phone card ( which requires two sequences of numbers to access the 3 cents a minute rate, plus the desired phone number=28 digits
We bought new ATT phones for our home, and then found out they do not allow pre-programing the numbers above ( called chain dialing) ??
So we have new phones, with an old Radio Shack phone, still used ONLY for speed dialing long distance.

When I called ATT about this obvious shortcoming, I was told the products are from different divisions........I guess !

No surprises

[wierdscience]

If you have a Homedespot store nearby they have a shop-vac stepped adapter,rubber,cost me $6.00 for mine.Find the step you like and lop off the rest.

You actually need two collection points on a RAS.One on the guard and one behind the blade.

[Rif]

Well, this is not quite machining related; but it is Sears related...

My dad has a car with Sears shocks in it and one of the struts is bad. So he went to Sears to take advantage of the lifetime warranty. They told him the strut was good. Then he went to a junk yard and got another strut so he could swap it with the one on the van. Once the Sears strut was off and the spring was removed, it is obvious that the strut is bad as it returns very slowly. So, he called Sears and told them what he found. He was told that their mechanics are certified and the strut is good.

Recently, Dad received an e-mail offering him something from Sears. He replied and told them that he isn't buying anything from Sears because they don't honor their warranties. They replied with instructions on how to get his name removed from their mailing list.

How's that for customer service?

[wmgeorge]

Well, this is not quite machining related; but it is Sears related...

My dad has a car with Sears shocks in it and one of the struts is bad. So he went to Sears to take advantage of the lifetime warranty. They told him the strut was good. Then he went to a junk yard and got another strut so he could swap it with the one on the van. Once the Sears strut was off and the spring was removed, it is obvious that the strut is bad as it returns very slowly. So, he called Sears and told them what he found. He was told that their mechanics are certified and the strut is good.

Recently, Dad received an e-mail offering him something from Sears. He replied and told them that he isn't buying anything from Sears because they don't honor their warranties. They replied with instructions on how to get his name removed from their mailing list.

How's that for customer service?

That is why I have not shopped at Sears for years. Oh I did purchase torque wrench from them last year. Found the number online and took it with me to the store. The clerk insisted they did not stock!!! I showed them the printout of the website page showing they did. He went back and looked, it was in a locked cage area. Duh!.

[darryl]

We have a couple Princess Auto stores near here. In one, you can ask anyone (so far) about a product, and somehow they will get back to you with an answer, whether another person gets involved or not. In the other store, you can ask if they have a certain product, and the answer is no. Then you look on the shelf about 5 feet away and there they are, lots of them. Happened to me twice out of three times that I've been there. The third time I didn't ask anyone anything, but I did tell another customer where to find the thing he was looking for. I'm getting pretty good at giving back the doe-eyed look .

There's a couple places here where I go into and after a recongition by a staff member I go directly into the storeroom and get the part I want. I get the sort of underhand wave that says 'be my guest'- it's quite funny actually. Some of the sales people have actually let me make up my own price- 'what do you think this is worth?' A bit of shoulder shrugging on both our parts, a sales transaction, and off I go- one time it was an $1100 piece I got for $25. (new, but with a $10 cord missing).

I think the smartest person I know at the local sears is my friend, the drummer from our band of years ago. There is a really hot chick working in the tool department, but instead of doe-eyes, all I get from her is an icy stare, so it's not even fun asking her questions.