How many of you have had a positive experience with Harbor Freight?

I ordered a few things from them & all arrived except one item, a 12 ton press. That Item was back ordered but amazingly enough only for about a week & when it finally arrived, I was pretty happy; until I noticed not all of it was there.

I contacted Fed-Ex & they informed me one of the three packages the press was shipped in was damaged in transit & returned to Harbor Freight, no door hangar, no call, no idea what happened until I investigated to find out where my 12 ton hydraulic jack was.

(Fed-Ex isn't as reliable as UPS is in my area, I know that is contrary to the rest of the country according to what I've read on the web)

I called Harbor Freight immediately after I talked to the Fed-Ex customer service rep. & they told me nothing had been returned to them. After three weeks of trying to find out where the rest of my purchase has ended up...you know I'm still no closer to knowing.

Fed-Ex still claims the package was returned to Harbor Freight & they still say Fed-Ex didn't return anything & I'm left holding the bag & wondering how long this is going to drag on. I've had to charge back only one purchase through a credit card & that was a purchase from Frozen CPU (worst experience ever purchasing on the web) & my credit card co. Capitol one was very helpful at first & then a year later they reversed the charges back to me! So I hope I don't have to resort to that, that was a nightmare.

Any experiences with Harbor Freight you'd like to share? I'd like to hear it.

 

I have ordered from them once, it took forever (6wks for an in stock item) and their customer service was terrible. I will only buy from them in person now. I wont go through that again..

BTW - it was a shop press as well.. what a coincidence.
I am located in Georgetown KY...

 

I take it there are no Harbor Freight's around you?! I just drive to my local store..

Sorry to hear about your problems though. That is horrible.

 

We have a store locally now, but years ago I ordered from them a lot. I never had any problems. In your case, I am wondering if this is a Fed-Ex problem or a Harbor Freight problem. Let us know how it goes.

 

Yeah, no local Harbor Freight store here or anywhere in Arkansas that I'm aware of.

 

FYI:

Arkansas


FAYETTEVILLE, AR 5320 W. SUNSET 479-927-3864
FT SMITH, AR 3400 ROGERS AVE STE 100 479-783-8090
JONESBORO, AR 2111 E. PARKER RD Opening Soon!
LITTLE ROCK.AR 5820 ASHER AVE. STE 7D-E 501-562-6262

 

Damn that sucks man. What a pain! I've had great experiences with HF, although I have only bought local as well.

 

So there are three, wow I learn something new everyday. The closest to me is the one in Little Rock & that's quite a ways away; something like a 120 mile round trip.

 

I have one a few blocks from my girlfriends house. I used a coil spring compressor from there to install my 2/1 lift, and I thought I was going to go through 2 or 3 of them. The threads started to strip, the whole thing bent, I'm surprised it lasted for both front coils. I only buy Craftsman, so I would never use their tools. Wasn't too impressed.

 

I like looking through their catalog but I have been to their store and it seems that most stuff they sell is very cheap so you get what you pay for.

some hand tools are worth the price but a lot of the stuff we looked at was junk

the store reminded me of those truck sales that set up at the fair grounds or national guard armory they have one of each item you go around with a little card and write down the item number then go pay then walk out side to one of the semi trucks and get your junk.

all that said I still like looking around the store just not buying anything.

 

Call HF again, I've had great customer service when packages were damaged in shipping. Fedex says they returned it back - get the tracking number. Make sure you document everything.

 

Some items work and some dont--it is hit and miss--almost

Both of my air grinders/cutt off wheels are HF--had to adjust the air setting to make them work right. MY Compound miter saw is HF and it works well except for the cheesy Laser and the dust collection system.

So of my better purchases have been Big ol cresent wrench, hammers, micrometers, grinder, angle drill, colored ratching wrenches, pass through socket set, air compressor--It is just hit or miss basically

 

I have called them once a week every week since the package didn't arrive complete. There was no tracking from Harbor Freight to me, so Fed-Ex didn't track it back. Harbor Freight told me the last time I called (this morning) that it'll be at least two more weeks before they know anything & that they just initiated paperwork on Feb. 27th; (hey, that's only a month from complaint to action)....if only it had all arrived as scheduled, even with the back order I'd have had it all within 14 days of order which I'd have been satisfied with.


As far as the quality of the Harbor Freight tools; you get what you pay for. All I have purchased from them is a 50ft. air line, a dial indicator & this press. I purchased a floor jack from one of those "civic center truck sales" twenty years ago & I still use it a couple times a week, it's been great. It was the 2nd best $80 I ever spent.

 

I have purchased a few items from HF. The stuff was O.K., but you do get what you pay for. It helps to know what you are buying, and sometimes it is cheaper in the long run to buy say Craftsman or Snap-on. We moved to Tennessee about three years ago, and most of our shipping received here since, has been by UPS. Have not had any problems with them. However, we recently ordered an item and it was shipped via FedX. When we got the item, it looked like the box went thru the Battle of The Bulge, and part of it was missing.

 

I wouldn't buy anything from HF anymore. I bought a creeper, some shop lamps, and a hydraulic jack from them. The creeper's caster wheels stripped the threads on the nut and I spent forever finding a replacment and using thread locker on them. The lights work still, but my hydraulic jacks leaked within a week after I used them and they slowly leak the pressure. You have to jack your vehicle up then put jackstands immediately (as you always should) to keep it supported.

 

def a fedex issue.
if you didnt rec it (fedex) then how could it be a HF problem???

i drive past the corp offices to/from work

i avoid all tools 'hecho in china'.

 

on the $2 garage sale special i have, it leaks pressure until the handle is all the way back up

 

Simple, I'll re-cap what you missed. I called Fed-Ex who said it was returned to Harbor Freight, not on it's way back there.....there.

I called Harbor Freight the same day & they claimed to have no record of the return, fine...find it.

I called the week after & was told they would send in the paper work to find it & they would have it all taken care of by that Friday, then they'd send me a tracking number for my missing piece when it shipped out from Harbor Freight that Friday. Fine...file the paperwork. That was on Jan. 28th iirc so the tracking should have hit my email by Feb. 1st

I've called every week since the first contact & was told today they didn't even bother trying to do anything to find my missing part until the 27th of Feb. & that's a month after they were notified I hadn't received all the shipment. For all anyone knows they got it back within the two days it took me to begin looking for it, that would make sense because it only took four days for the other two packages to get to me from the time Harbor Freight shipped them.

I don't know where the package is right now, Fed-Ex claims Harbor Freight has it & Harbor Freight says they don't know so it's in no way "def a fedex issue". What I do know is that I don't have it & either Fed-Ex or Harbor Freight does & Harbor Freight was the one who has customer service reps that mumble & talk too fast to understand, then tell you in some urban ghetto dialect that they are going to do something by a certain day & don't.

The Fed-Ex rep. was helpful, spoke clearly & stayed on the phone with me until I had all my questions answered. They may still be at fault, but I'd give them the benefit of the doubt over Harbor Freight all things being equal...so in the end it's impossible to know who is at fault for the magical disappearing package as of yet.

What I can say is Harbor Freights customer service SUCKS & Fed-Ex should have left a door hangar to let me know part of my shipment was damaged & returned to the shipper so on that count THEY SUCK. In my honest opinion.

 

The last time I talked to Harbor Freight they said it'd take two weeks from the time the paperwork was submitted to Fed-Ex for a "driver track" on the item (whatever that means) until they know anything & that they would let me know when they know.

I'm going to call after the fourteen days are up & if I get the run around again I fully intend to file a reverse payment on my credit card. The bad thing is, Capitol one will reverse it back to me after a few months & say "the seller refused the reversal blah-blah-blah" so I'll be stuck eating it like they tried with the attempted screwing by Frozencpu last year. I had to threaten them with legal action to get a refund on an item they shipped but had Fed-Ex turn around before it got to me over a personality conflict! (I wasn't even aware a shipping company would stop a shipment after it was sent & send it back but they will, not that I cared by that time I was pissed.)

 

Sorry, i didn't even bother to read the whole forum, but if i were you i would go to the fed-ex and get them to sign something saying it got returned! then you have proof, not just he said she said! Sorry if thats been stated, i didn't read it all