Harbor Freight Lift 1000 lb Lift - Fatal Flaw - Read This

[Placerville]

Current status:

I sent four emails to both tech@harborfreight.com and cs@harborfreight.com (Harbor Corporate) with photos and a description of the problem. All, but one, have gone unanswered. That single email asked for the OD and length of the bar. Since then, nothing. So, I've given up that route as it's clear I'm being ignored.

I've since been in touch with the Manager of the HF store where I bought the lift. He's ordering another one for me and asked that I send him copies of all of the emails I'd sent (including the photos) so he could pursue it. He was apologetic and had no answer as to why no one at HF tech. support or corporate personnel seemingly have no interest in resolving this.

When I pick up my replacement lift, if it doesn't have the larger support bar, I'm going to buy some stock at a local welding shop and then have the shop add some support structure to both my lift and my friends. This should resolve the problem as I see it.

After all is said and done, I'm going to document everything I went through. I'll send that, along with copies of the receipts for the support bars and the welding job to Eric Smidt, CEO, and sole owner, of Harbor Freight. The purpose will be to ask him to respond to the problem (because no one else who works for him seems to want to do so) and ask him to reimburse me for the additional expense of bringing these lifts up to a usable condition. It will be interesting to see how he responds.

Harbor Freight is a 27 year-old family owned (non-public) business and is headquartered in Calabasas, California. The Manager of the HF store told me that he (Eric Smidt) is very 'hands on' and, because he's the sole owner of the company, has a strong personal interest in customer service. We'll see what happens.

[ritalz]

Go get em Placer.

[backwoodz]

It should have pipes welded between each of the lift arms where the safety bar slides through to help the bar from bending in the middle. I would also like to see a wider out rigged stance on a table built to hold a 1000 lbs from tipping over on a person.

[Placerville]

SNIP "It should have pipes welded between each of the lift arms where the safety bar slides through to help the bar from bending in the middle."

Excellent idea.

[VintageGW's]

Check the HF website. There are two lifts (same picture) but we know they are different. I think the preferred model that has the better bar and better overall construction is the earlier number.
http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive ... tands.html

[Placerville]

Hi Vintage,

Interesting. I asked the store manager about that a few days ago and he said it was just a model number change. My receipt actually shows #69904. I think my replacement will be in today. I'll see what I get. Nice catch.

[Recycled Roadkill]

Looking at the two items one pic looks like a flipped pic of the other. Notice the #69904 has no reviews. I'm thinking the #69904 superseeded the #68892 which may have been the better constructed model. This is not the first time HFT has done this with other items.

[Placerville]

I've seen them do this with other items as well. Here's one. A decent wheel chock that has just changed item numbers. It used to be #96349, had a ton of reviews but, that old number is no longer searchable. I suspect they do this to rid the item of negative reviews and start fresh. My negative review of the lift (posted on July 30) was prevented from posting. I've noted that a 'positive' review from another buyer of this lift was allowed to post on July 31.

[CYBORG]

kind of defeats the purpose of reviews...at least for the buying public.

[tlbranth]

I noticed the same thing with Jafrum. All reviews are glowing. Makes you wonder. Amazon seems to let the chips fall where they may so I put some trust in their reviews which I generally find very useful.
Maybe it's time to shower HF with some suggestions.

[CYBORG]

they just opened a store near me. a mixed blessing in my opinion. i have been in the new store a couple of times , and have had to remind myself to consider the quality of the stuff, against how i will be using it, or how i can modify it to make it better suite my needs. i think they sell products that scream out "you get what you pay for". a good source for "consumables", but even then i am careful

[tlbranth]

Actually, some of their stuff isn't bad. I haven't had any trouble with their wrenches and stuff holding up. The M/C lift scares me a bit when I hoist up my GL1500 but it's done OK so far. I did have to chuck most of their bolts & nuts and use US made.

[CYBORG]

i guess i agree with that. i bought a cordless drill for my wife, so she would stop borrowing mine, and so far shes happy. and so am i. (she's not borrowing mine)

[Recycled Roadkill]

The cost of everything is rising. I believe that HFT is cheapening what they have to keep their pricing in line. I've also noticed that in my local store the media blasting cabinet is the old, and better one than what they're selling now. Lots of bad reviews on the newer one.
I'd sent a few reviews, some glowing but they never made it to their site. I figured since I'm not on facebook they weren't interested.

[Placerville]

kind of defeats the purpose of reviews...at least for the buying public.

As stated above, HF has just re-listed this lift under a new product number (69904) and, until now, there are no reviews. So, I decided to change that and I just added this review to the new listing:

"My friend and I both purchased this lift (formally listed as #68892 with many reviews). Both lifts came with the same size 19mm OD support bar. When I ran my 600lb M/C up onto the ramp and (per the manual) lowered the ramp on to the support bar (to take the pressure off of the pump), the bar collapsed, the frame bent and the lift went to the ground. HF Tech. Support has been evasive and painfully slow in communicating with me on this issue and, to date, has not provided any reason for this defect. I'm in the process of returning the lift to the store for a replacement. My friend and I will then need to spend additional time and money to purchase larger support bars and possible frame reinforcement. I'm very disappointed with the level of customer service I've received from HF with this purchase."

I'm anticipating that they'll not let it post.