Kobalt Ball Bearing Drawer Slides

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After writing up yesterday's deal post about a Craftsman ball bearing rolling storage cart, I turned my attention to my Craftsman 6-drawer Griplatch storage chest. The bottom draw makes a horrible metal-on-metal noise when it opens and closes.

I disassembled the drawer a few times and futz around trying to correct the problem. I don't think the drawer slide is worn, but it's definitely damaged. Coming to the conclusion I couldn't fix it myself, I tried searching for replacement slide. I wasn't finding anything via the Sears parts finder, so I emailed Craftsman.com's customer service.

The top drawer makes a similar rubbing sound, but it's not as loud and the drawer slides smoothly nevertheless. The bottom drawer, not so smooth.

I have dealt with Sears.com customer service before, and really hoped that Craftsman.com's emails were directed to associates more knowledgeable about tools.

My email, while not a literary work of art, said:

Hello, I have a Craftsman 6-drawer 16″; Griplatch ball bearing storage chest, model 95487 , and one of the drawer slides has become defective. When opening the drawer, the slide sticks and jams and makes an awful noise halfway.

I have disassembled the drawer and slide and cannot find a cause for the issue.

This was a heavy duty ball bearing chest that I believe I purchased in mid-2010.

I wish to obtain a replacement drawer slide (right side), or pair of drawer slides so that I can replace myself, so that I can once again have a fully functioning Craftsman ball bearing storage product.

I could not find the part via Sears' part finder, and am hoping I can get a replacement slide or pair of slides as a warranty replacement.

If a replacement slide cannot be provided at no cost as a warranty part, then can you direct me to where I can purchase a replacement?

Their response:

Dear Customer,

Thank you very much for contacting sears.com regarding your warranty question.

We would like to assist you with your warranty question, please direct all inquiries to 1-800-827-6655.  If you are needing repair, please contact us at 1-800-4MY-HOME and we will be happy to assist your service needs.

Thank you for allowing Sears to assist you today.

This is an automated response.  If the information above did not properly address your question or concern, please reply back with your original information.

Sears Customer Care

I replied to the email saying I preferred for an email response. I then went back to the contact form, pushed the browser back, and submitted the email with different topics, such as "product information" and "other" rather than "warranty information."

I have spent time on the phone with Sears customer service in the past, and it's something I would avoid doing again if possible.

A few hours later I received another message. It's a bit long, so you'll have to click the button below to show the full email.

Thank you for contacting Sears. It will be our pleasure to assist you with your tool chest.

We regret that you are experiencing problems with your tool chest. There may be a number of possible causes for the symptoms you describe.

Sears offers a great website where you can ask expert technical questions, search for answers from other homeowners, find product manuals and trouble shooting guides. All of this and other great advice and ideas can be found at www.managemyhome.com!

If you determine that you do need replacement parts for your tool chest, please visit us at http://www.searspartsdirect.com/partsdirect/index.action or call us at 1-800-4MYHOME.

Click for the Rest

If you are unable to resolve the issue, you may arrange a service appointment by contacting Sears Home Services at 1-800 4MY HOME or schedule service online at http://www.sears.com/shc/s/nb_10153_12605_NB_HomeServices?adCell=AF

We would also like to introduce CLICK TO CHAT, on our SearsPartsDirect.com website! Here, we have chat representatives available and ready to assist you with your part ordering needs.

Simply, click on the Get Help section on our SearsPartsDirect.com website and select, CLICK TO CHAT, where one of our chat specialists will be happy to place this order, along with any other part or product needs you may have.

As a reminder, refrigerator water filters are recommended to be replaced every 6 months. Please keep this in mind when you are placing an order for replacement parts.

At Sears PartsDirect, we strive to provide the best service with the highest regards to your satisfaction.  Your perspective is very important and we would like to know how well we are doing.  Please take a moment to complete the survey that follows this e-mail. To complete the survey refer to case ID #####.

We at Sears PartsDirect want to make sure that all of your needs are met. Please feel free to contact us via chat with our live online representatives, email us at [email protected] sears.com or call us at 1-800-4MY-HOME (1-800-469-4663).

We appreciate your business and thank you for choosing Sears!

*Facepalm*

Yes, I know there are a number of things that could be wrong with the product. It seems to be internal damage of some kind that could not be remedied, and a replacement was needed.

When I first searched for a part on Sears' parts site, I used the model number taken from my 2010 order confirmation, 00995487000. I chopped off the 0's and extra 9 to get 95487.

After getting frustrated with the lack of help from Craftsman.com and Sears customer service, I hunted around and found a the sticker on the inside of the top drawer. Model 706.954870. Bingo! It also says 69343, which I suppose could be a serial number.

Part number M15864 matches the M15864-D printed on the side of the drawer slide. Perfect.

$15.94 + 8.99 shipping + 1.75 tax = $26.68 total. Ouch. That's just for one right-side made-in-Taiwan 14″ or 16″ full extension drawer slide. Maybe I should have ordered a left slide for the top drawer while I was at it.

So help me if I get sent a non-GripLatch drawer slide.

Lesson learned: Email Craftsman with a warranty request and they'll tell you to call. Reply to that email or send another email with different "topic" selection, and you'll receive a reply with a link to the parts website complete with a tracking link so the associate gets credit for the sale.

There was also a bunch of unnecessary fluff about replacing my water filter and Sears' community site where I can find "great advice and ideas."

Emailing them was a waste of everyone's time.

What I did wrong: While Sears' customer service emails were about as least helpful as could be, the last paragraph in their second email made me realize I was wrong to contact Craftsman or Sears – I should have contacted the parts team directly.

I had not contacted the parts department at first because I hoped a Craftsman or Sears associate would be able to process the replacement at no charge as part of the chest's warranty. I believe the warranty period for the heavy duty chest is 3 years, maybe 5.

Past experiences with Sears' phone customer service makes me reluctant to call them unless I really have to. Besides that, I prefer how email leaves a paper trail for future reference.

Every tool chest and cabinet comes with a service parts list, but I misplaced all of mine.

In the end, I found the correct model number, which is apparently completely different from the product number, and was able to get the part I needed without assistance.

If I didn't find the model number, I suppose Sears' parts department would have been able to direct me to the label's location.

I kind of get the feeling that I was expecting too much with my email, and that it's almost as if I wanted someone at Craftsman or Sears to hold my hand throughout the part-finding and replacement process. But that doesn't change how it looks like all Sears' customer service representatives read from my emails were the words tool chest.

I imagine the process went something like this:

• Sears customer service associate opens new email
• They scan and see the words "tool chest"
• They pull up standard canned warranty email and scroll to "We regret that you are experiencing problems with your [Product]
• Replace [Product] with "tool chest"
• A associate-specific tracking link is added to the parts finder website link
• *Send*

Granted my email was a bit long and imperfect, but I know deep down that there's nothing that could have been said differently that would have changed the responses I received.

Despite all this, I'm heavily considering ordering the ball bearing rolling cabinet discussed in yesterday's deal.

Next week: How to Replace Drawer Slides on Your Craftsman Ball Bearing Tool Chest. It's actually quite easy, as I disassembled and reassembled all the parts when trying to locate and remedy the frictiony drawer slide.

Kobalt Ball Bearing Drawer Slides

Source: https://toolguyd.com/so-i-contacted-craftsman-about-a-damaged-ball-bearing-drawer-slide/

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