Are Klein Tools Under Warranty?
One of the high quality tool brands we work with is Klein Tools. Klein is well known for being a primarily “Made in the USA” high quality tool brand. That being the case, their tools do occasionally break or fail to measure up to Klein’s stringent quality standards. When that happens it’s nice to have some sort of warranty to fall back on. Like Wiha, Klein’s Warranty essentially covers any damage caused by a defect in materials or workmanship under normal use of the tools. But there are plenty of different criteria for warranty claims depending on the country you’re in. Should you be eligible for a warranty return, Klein will give you a Warranty Return Authorization number and you’ll get your replacement tool or a refund. Pretty easy.
In essence Klein covers when a tool breaks or doesn’t work due to their materials, designs or manufacturing issues. Understandably, they want the tool back so they can make sure it was damaged during normal use, not abused, and also so they can do some quality control on their materials and production if needed. This helps Klein make improvements in future products, so sending your defective tool directly to Klein helps everyone. If you need help with that process, we’re happy to work with you.
Although Klein’s warranty is pretty comprehensive and will help you out should your tool break in normal use, they understandably have an oddly specific list of things that are covered as well as for how long. Probably a good idea that they spell it out because certain tools can have a longer lifespan than others and trying to get a warranty claim on a 20 year old tool really isn’t the point of the warranty.
For the normal lifespan of the product, Klein’s warranty covers most specialty hand tools which can include insulated tools, specialty and box wrenches, cable cutters, steel and concrete tools, torque tools and more. Lineman buckets, harnesses and climbing belts are also covered in this manner. It’s not super clear what the normal life of the product is, but it’s probably safe to assume that each tool has an approximate lifespan and they’ll make a judgment based on that. So if you’re using the tool properly and it breaks, Klein will likely replace it.
Covered for a much shorter period of time are high voltage test and measurement equipment. This stuff is covered for two years. Covered for one year are ratcheting hand tools, PPE, tools with rechargeable batteries, and certain cordless power tool accessories. That’s not unexpected because of the nature of these tools. They tend to wear quicker, especially if they are misused. Other items that are consumables like drill bits and hole cutters are guaranteed to be free of defect upon arrival and that’s pretty much it. Any longer and they’d probably have people abusing the warranty.
It’s always the best case when a tool works as it should right out of the box or after a reasonable period of use, but since it is an imperfect world, and sometimes “screws fall out” and the tool breaks, it’s great to have a warranty in place. With a manufacturer of Klein’s caliber, this means a lot, because of their reputation for quality. If something goes wrong with a Klein tool, then there’s something REALLY wrong. When selecting a tool to buy it’s important to not only focus on quality, but also on whether or not they stand behind what they make.
