Harbor Freight Tools Reviews 488

I will never buy from Harbor freight again after being treated like crap.

10yr+ loyal customer of Harbor Freight across multiple states where I have property rentals. I purchased Harbor Freights most expensive top of line brand new 18" gas powered Portland chainsaw to cut down 2 x 30ft trees on a property. This was a big project, involving hiring of boom lift, and tons of costs to make the day go smoothly. I used an electric craftmans 12 inch chainsaw to cut branches upwards and then going to use Harbor Freight for the stump on way down. Craftsman got me up no problems and Portland BRAND NEW saw would not even start! I've used many chainsaws before and I followed the Portland instructions to the tee, actually using dedicated 50:1 chainsaw fuel (92 octane and no ethanol) in order to get the perfect first start. The so called easy start did not start at all. All attempts to start it failed and the entire day was ruined. This was clearly a manufacturer issue. Returned it to Harbor Freight Sandy Utah store and got screwed for a $37 restock fee!?? wtf! They said I could have bought a $70 protection plan to save me the $37 fee, go figure out that one! SCAM

Contacted corp office and Snr Associate customer service, Maeghon, stuck policy in my face. Lets review the BS policy:

1. Harbor freight corp office decided in their internal meetings that they would like to pass on the cost of faulty, dead on arrival products, to the customer, to increase their margins rather than make sure the customer gets the product they need for the job. Why is it the customer's fault? The manufacturer needs to pay 100% of this. Why exchange for another crap Portland when their quality control is this bad, risking me paying $1k of dollars for it to only fail again?
2. I did actually look at exchanging it for a different brand and the other products were all worse or smaller size that would not do the job. Why is it my fault that Harbor Freight merch assortment team has NO VIABLE OPTIONS to chainsaw a 19" trunk tree!
3. how does Harbor Freight you equate buying a $70 protection plan to save me from paying $37 fee???!!! Why does that make sense??!!
4. This Harbor Freight caused issue cost me $1k as I need to reschedule and rehire all my tree cutting equipment and personnel.

Another lost customer! Never Portland. Never Harbor Freight. I can buy the same products on Temu for half Harbor Freight costs, let alone Walmart or Vevor!

Go craftsman or any tool that stands by their gear with lifetime warranty!

I ordered a CENTRAL MACHINERY 20 lb. Pressurized Abrasive Blaster from Harbor Freight. It seemed like a good price so I figured even if it's not that sturdy, if I get a few dozen good uses out of it, then it would be good enough, and lesson learned.

The instructions to assemble it are not correct, if assembled in the order shown, you physically cannot complete the assembly. Luckily I am mechanically inclined and I figured out the correct procedure and eventualy got it assembled. I have not used it yet, because the air input is a simple threaded inlet and not a quick connect compression fitting as is normal for pressurized air tools and components. So now I need to go order a quick connect adapter for it. It looks sturdy enough for occasional home use. Time will tell.

I've been customer purchasing from Harbor Freight for many years, but I refuse to buy anything else from them because of a hypocritical situation that occurred today. When I go there to browse or shop for a specific tool, they are always trying to get me to sign up for Inside Track Club Membership, which costs an extra $29.00 for one year, to get additional discounts on their products.

This came after years and years of them soliciting me for my phone number and email address so that they can send me those discount coupons. Well, low and behold, I finally gave them my information in order to get the discount coupons emailed to me.

But today, something really weird happened. I returned an unused and unopened item to one of their stores, and got a note from the cashier saying that they might not honor any more of my returns. He made sure that the note was read before he gave it to me. The reason he gave was that I have returned too many items within a certain timeframe, and this put out a red flag in their system.
I feel like this was highly hypocritical because every time I purchase something there, the cashier always makes it a point to tell me that I can return it within 30 days for a full refund or exchange if it hasn't been used.

My problem with this whole scenario is that I have never returned anything to Harbor Freight that I had already used. The only things I ever return are things that I haven't used and I always return them back in their original packaging with my original receipt. After getting that note today, it felt highly hyprocritical because I have never returned anything that they couldn't immediatley put back on the shelf and sell to another sucker.

The note I was given reads as follows:

"Dear Customer,
This return has been approved, however, a warning code was returned, and future returns or exchanges may not be accepted.

Your return acitivity report (RAR) may help you understand the reason for the decision. You can obtain a copy by visiting wwwtheretailequationcom

If you prefer, a customer service agent can be reached at 1-866-585-6465 (Monday-Friday, 8am-5pm PST)."

This is an insult and I hope someone from Harbor Freight reads this review. You people are hypocrites. You solicit sales telling customers that they can return the items, then when we do it, we get these insulting flags and notes from your system in front of other customers in your store.
Quite frankly, I will never ever shop at Harbor Freight Tools again, and in these tough economic times, you really ought to be ashamed of allowing a policy such as this to insult loyal customers. I mean, how much can you really save by doing this? If your leadership is allowing this, you have poor leaders who obviously doesn't care about running customers away from a crowded and competitive tool marketplace.

I'm sure I'm not the first person to receive a flag like this, and if you keep doing this, it will certainly drive customers away and put you out of business becasuse your tools are cheap and are of lower quality, anyway. The nerve of you to insult customers that bring back products unused, and threaten to not take future products back when they have not been used and if the customer has a receipt. Shame on you and I look forward to seeing you go out of business.

Extremely low quality tools
Poor customer service.
Stay clear of this business

John Szabo

If you like buying mostly China made crap, then this is your place to support a Communist Party!

Geuss what - 90% of what you buy in this joint is made in full or in part in China thanks to american greed!!!!!!

I’ve been a harbor freight tools customer for many years but a recent experience have changed my view.
I purchased a pressure washer to use at a location 35 miles distance, When the unit was attached to water it had a internal leakage , rather than driving 70 Mile to replace the defective unit since my wife was coming to my location I had her to purchase another pressure washer at harbor freight for me and I could return the defective unit later. Two days later I did return the defective unit to the store for a refund . I was shocked that harbor freight wanted to charge ME 15% because they sold me a defective item——
This type of harbor freight attitude isn’t going to fly with customers———I bought the item in good faith and expected the selling merchant to respect its customers in good faith. This transaction is definitely going to affect my future business purchases.

I just needed a pack of blades for my utility knife and two different employees told me the wrong location and one guy working went to the wrong location with me and said they were not in stock. So I searched the store awhile and found them myself. Hire someone who wants to help and knows something please.

If you like buying mostly China made crap, then this is your place to support a Communist Party!

Got charged for membership renewal months early without extending my term. Support just said their logic works that way—never again.

Bought a shop fan several months ago for a shop under construction. When construction was complete we opened the still unopened box to set up the fan. Upon removing all the parts we found there was no fan blade included with the fan. It had been some time since purchase so the store said tuff luck out of warranty. Customer service wasn't much better refusing to supply a replacement part or fan. Just an offer for a gift card for a future purchase. You should not have to open a box of something you purchase to insure all the parts are there to make the item operable. We did not need the item for several months why open it with the chance it may gat damaged or lose parts. You should be able to have confidence in a product you purchase that it is fit for use. You should have confidence that the business you purchase products from will do the right thing when there is a problem A missing part that makes the product completely unusable is hardly a product warranty issue but is an implied warranty of merchantability issue. I guess Harbor Freight could care less if products that leave their stores are not fit for their intended use. Once they have your money they hide behind their product warranty and tell you too bad. It's sad for such an inexpensive item they cant do the right thing and just replace the item. I will never have faith in their products or services again. Caveat Emptor !

I bought a $799 generator that was supposed to be $34 a month for 2 years. My first invoice was for $150 after going back and forth with harbor freight and synchrony back 5 months now its still not settled. The bank says they misled me and harbor freight says the bank is at fault. I don’t recommend anyone making a large purchase from them.

Abysmal
Just absolutely sick and tired of Harbour Freight Spam, its constant and eachbtime it arrives I think the owner of this business must be......

Bought a product there last week. Brought it back today to return without a paper receipt. Had credit card statement and could show them charge online. They refused to accept return. Salespeople that sold it to me suggested that I photoshopped my online credit card statement. Terrible return policy. Terrible customer service. Suggesting your clients are committing fraud. What a way to do business

A terrible experience. Lost money trying to renew my membership today, before it expire in June 15th, my subscription was renewed but for May 26th, 2026, not June 15th 2026! Their costumer support were unable to assist, since their system "logic" works in that way and I should only renew it at the last day of my previous membership. Doesn't make sense, I cannot pay in advance to extend my membership. It will be my last year using it.

tried to get help locating the battery in a welding helment and they just brushed me off . they told me to buy a new helment withg a extended wattanty and when it goes dead bring it back and get another one. what a way to run a business in bartlesville okla.i guess ill need to start going to tulsa again .

Harbor freight hires scam sites to identify customers and spams them religiously you can't block them we need to stop buying harbor freight and get them to out of business

Tried to get a copy of receipt, only a week old. Went to the store as advised. spoke to the asst manager or manager (lady). If you have no phone no listed with them ....no go....she stated she would have to go thru all transactions that day. Did not offer to do that for me. I had all the information CC ,my name, date of trans.,. They have a crappy system to be able to give you a receipt. Even if they pull up the trans #, still have to ph no. Thats pathetic Horrible customer service

DISGUSTING...ITS A SAD DAY WHEN YOU CANT EVEN BUY AN AMERICAN FLAG MADE IN AMERICA. GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER HARBOR. YOUR EITHER FOR US OR AGAINST US. STUDY LATE 1800S WE ONLY HAD TARRIFS AND NO TAXES N WE WERE SO RICH. MAKING AMERICA GREAT AGAIN. BRINGING BACK OUR JOBS. HARBOR TRY MAKING chinas FLAG N SELLING IT TO THEM. NO WORDS DISGRACE FULL.

Harbor freight mt Holly NJ all female employees and no customer service at all. No one acknowledges you're even there and God forbid you have a question ! Would not recommend.

I have purchased 2 different tools from Harbor Freight and they don’t last anytime and I hardly even used them any so don’t buy their tools. Unless you buy an extended warranty which can’t remember them asking your out in the cold. Had these less than a year. If a product doesn’t have at least a one year warranty the company knows it’s junk. I couldn’t even find on the product how long the warranty was. They may have a good price but more than likely you’ll end up with nothing in a short while