will they stand behind the tools still

Don't know if you realize it. But sears/craftsman has been selling the evolve line which is HF stuff. But at a higher price. Sometimes much higher.

If you just spent 900 million on the company, what would you do?

What you paid for a company has nothing to do with whether you honor old guarantees/warranties or not.

You may or may not be obligated to honor those warranties.

You are simply the new owner of the company, the company still has legal obligations.

Depends what they bought. In many cases a company buys the right to use the name, and the designs, and possibly other assetts of the company, but not the company itself. In the case of Craftsman, I'm not sure a Craftsman "company" exists. I believe it is just a "brand" owned up until the sale, by Sears.

Maybe some legal eagle can weigh in on this.

If B&D bought the manufacturing arm (there isn't one, AFAIK) or the sales arm, then I think the issue would be moot. The buyer of a corporation assumes both the assets and liabilities of the corporation.

B&D under that scenario is required to honor the existing warranties but is not compelled to continue issuing that warranty with new tools any more than Sears is. Since there did not appear to be any requirement such as proof of purchase, etc. with Craftsman tools, it might be real hard for Sears or Black & Decker to back out now other than by coming out with Craftsman II tools, so marked, but no lifetime warranty.

I would hope that B&D looked at this and said, "let's buy the Craftsman line if Sears will sell it. It has a sterling reputation and is profitable. Buying it separately from them will likely cost us more than what it will go for if K-Mart puts the entire company on the auction block; and if we're going to spend damn near a Billion dollars for it, let's keep doing it the way Sears has sold the brand with added value and not screw it up.

OTOH, if B&D, like Sears did many years before it, only purchased the exclusive rights (eventually) to produce tools under the Craftsman brand name, I'm not sure what liability they assume, if any, with regard to warranties on the preexisting tools sold by Sears.

Calling Perry Mason, calling Perry Mason, please report to rec.woodworking! ;)

I'm pretty certain Craftsman is a company, Sears bought that company about 92 years ago. ;~)

What all that company manufactures is probably limited. Lawnmowers, power tools etc is probably just the name like Ridgid ww tools.

Perhaps you missed this information which was shared early on in the thread about this sale. Not sure just how accurate all the info is on the current sale to Stanley B&D, but historically, I think the info on how Sears came to use the brand name is solid.

How do you think that the shareholders of S felt after the bankruptcy and reorganization? I would suppose that any legal liability for old tools would have ended there. The new owner may feel it is in there best interest to maintain the warranties, but they may also not. My point was that as the new owner, I think you get to "call the tune", especially on a tools sold before the reorganization--which represents almost "pure liability" to you (I am not a lawyer). How about those folks who collect old tools and turn them in for new ones? They are angle shooters, and, IMO, everyone deserves protection from people who would seek to profit from "loopholes" (that are "out of the spirit" of the warranty). S and SHLD have both treated them more charitably than I would have...

Well put. Thanks.

It all has to do with the details of what they buy but unless the company simply disappears some one is still going to be liable to uphold the warranty. As far as people taking advantage of the warranty, Craftsman could simply ask for proof of purchase or a copy of the warranty that they received.

But, Craftsman did exist as a tool company before Sears bought. It may still exist.

I don't think that's necessarily true, Leon. As someone said, it depends on the terms of the sale. I do remember reading about one or two corporate sales where the seller kept the responsibility for old warranties but I don't remember the details.

The problem here is that there's no "money back", there's just replacement. What if the tool is no longer available or the new owner drops it from the line?

I think this is a good issue to work on after you've protected our social security benefits from possible default.

And out of left field comes a whistling fast ball.

Except they cannot unilaterally change the requirements for the warranty, and no "copy of the warranty" was recieved wit the tools at purchace, other than "lifetime warranty" on the packaging - which I, for one, have not kept for 48 years over numerous moves and life changes

The original company that sold Sears the rights to the name is LONG gone.

I think it is a fair argument that has already been made that the company with whom the warranty was created no longer exists. If someone owes you money, and they die, you can't go back to one of the family members after probate and make a claim. I'm not a lawyer and don't know the degree to which that analogy is appropriate.

Absolutely and I'm sorry if I did not make that clear. Arbitrarily the new owner cannot just decide to stop honoring the warranty, it will be governed by the terms of the agreement/sale. The new owner may or may not have to honor the new warranty depending on the agreement. That will/was decided before the sale.

If their, the new owners, acquisition does not require them to honor the warranty, I suspect that Sears will have to continue to honor the warranties up to that point.

This happen all the time, products being discontinued. Typically something of equal value is substituted.

Exactly, that would be their out. But I have photo copied packaging showing the warranty in the even that this comes up. Much easier to do now than in the past.