Harbor Freight Tools

Every time I get here there is a 20min wait. This store chronically lacks sales clerks. Needless to say that there is not a single assistant in the store which is expected from a harbor freight.

Inexpensive place to shop for tool & supplies. Staff are friendly & helpful. Missed the ‘free gifts w/​out purchase’…

Good place to go to get cheeeep tools!
If you know what you’re looking for you can get great values here.
This is a great place to find end user tools at a fraction of the price of name brand tools.

Skip the store and buy online.
I’m writing this review as I’m waiting in a line of 25 people to buy a replacement floor-​jack. I had to buy a replacement ASAP since my old floor-​jack cracked and lost all of it’s hydraulic fluid. The jack was pinched under my car and I had to buy another jack to resolve this ordeal.
Reason I say to buy online is this store has always been painful when paying for items at the cashier. The speed of the line is like highway 85 at rush hour, you might as well park your car and walk. I spent close to 50 minutes waiting in a line of 25 people.
And to make it worse you always have that one token guy who is super duper upset that they won’t take his 5 dollar coupon whom then refuses to move out of the line and causes a total scene. This always happens at this store without fail.
Why do these stores always have 4 checking stations but yet only one person checking items? Why does the manager always run to the back to «check on something»? I don’t get it!
TL;DR — If you absolutely need something double check the lines before you go in.

Good quality and very economical

While I myself usually do not have a hankering to come to tool retailers full of men and DIY moms, I usually accompany my do-​it-​yourself other half as he navigates the store for cheap tool offerings.
While I cannot rate based on the quality of the products, I can rate on customer service. The staff at this location are usually very friendly and not in the «I hate my job and possibly my life» mood. Well, not any that I’ve encountered at least. Everyone here has been super helpful and pleasant to be around. You might even say they are more help here than at Home Depot, because at Home Depot it appears impossible to reach any associates because the stores are so big.
The lady who manned the register today was very nice and sent us off with a smile. This was at 7ish at night on a Saturday evening so I applaud her for smiling and giving friendly vibes.
The tools at Harbor Freight are meant to be affordable and are most likely made in China, so don’t come here expecting the highest quality products when you’re here expecting cheap prices. The nice thing about Harbor Freight is they offer ‘free’ product coupons from time to time, probably on stuff you don’t need but hey, good marketing push!
The store sort of reeks of plastic and chemicals so don’t stay in there too long or you might get high off of it! And Chromatic Coffee is right next door so you can grab an overpriced cup of hipster joe after browsing the tool selection are HF.

Great place to buy the best quality tools in a reasonable price. Great customer service from Daniel. It will be great if they can add a feature to pickup from a store for online order.

I go, at times, to Harbor Freight to buy low-​cost tools. Their staff are helpful, fast and knowledgeable. To me this sets them apart from some other tool stores where the staff don’t know much. Their store is well supplied with a great inventory.

Usually no problems here. Today, ripped out a 20% off coupon from the front of page of the in-​mail flyer and was told that what I had ripped out (with dotted lines around it) was in fact not a coupon. No bar code. So I paid full price and wrote a negative review instead. Thank you, Gasolo.

Quite a few very low quality tools and some good ones at a great price. Not uncommon to wait over 10 – 15 minutes to get to a cashier, thus I typically buy tools down the street at Sears.

That was my last visit to this cheap store because quality even worse than just bad. Don’t purchase here anything what could be broken because it will.

So Cal’s Harbor Freight has two stores in Silicon Valley. This is absolutely the cheapest (aka made in China) store for buying trade tools. Their store brands are: US General, Pittsburg Pro and Chicago Electric.
If you are looking for power tools, generators, welding torches, tool boxes, wenches, drill presses, air tools or solar panels then this is the place.
Their website always has discount coupons and free stuff. It’s so cheap I usually don’t bother. The quality is meh, but their return policy is 90 days, with some items requiring a 20% restocking fee.
If you like to build things then this place should be on your list of places to stop by. I’ve bought countless wheels here for various projects for my kids and love their prices.

Let’s keep in mind that the one star has been awarded because of the cheap prices.
Jeffrey… What a joke. I’ve never met someone as rude, and ignorant as this individual. He was rude to the customer in front of me. Trying to talk down at the older gentleman, literally, like he was an idiot.
And this isn’t the whole story.
When we told him that we just wanted some good customer service… his own words «maybe I should go back to cashier school.»
Oh JEFFREY you’re a 50 year old cashier.
REMEMBER THAT NAME PEOPLE. JEFFREY.
You’ve been warned.
But do enjoy the cheap prices!

Decent selection of tools. However, lines are incredibly long and front staff seems to be poorly managed.

The following review is not for harbor freight as a business but this particular Harbor freight location:
One solid star for being a solid hub with cheap tools. –4 stars from management /​staff being arrogant/​ignorant. Harbor freight has a lowest price guarantee if I can show that a competitor has an item for cheaper. I asked them if they could price match and 2 cashiers & 1 manager never heard of such a thing. I showed them their website and the manager said that he only price matches that which is on Harbor freight’s online website. I read out loud to him the pertinent portion and he was still a jerk about things.
It really sucks that the harbor freight location in Santa Clara has poor management. The location in Bellevue Washington is pretty slick with decent employees. to sum it up, your mileage may vary when visiting this place.

They got all kinds of hand tools here, tool carts, air compressor, home repair tools. Chain saw, flash lights, drills, diagnostic tools, you name it they got it. The price is very affordable. Compare to the name brand tools which cost an arm and a leg.
Location on Stevens Creek and Lawrence Expressway

So I am here to exchange a power generator
That we bought the extended service plan on… They now made me spend $ 8 on a pump to empty… Ok our bad but once I wait on line for the 3rx time Ramsey states I don’t know how to do exchange and without even looking me in the eye states «I don’t know how to do that she will help you!» The takes next customer and leaves me standing there!!! Then Liz who he points to also takes next customer!!! I pay for extended warranty but when need to use your not that important… Wow

Disclaimer: If you’re looking for a set of MUST-​HAVE quality tools, such as a set of screwdrivers or a set of sockets+wrenches, look elsewhere and buy American (Craftsmen, Husky, etc).
HOWEVER, if you’re looking for a specialized tool that you’ll probably use only a few times, Harbor Freight is the place to go! For the life of me I was trying to unscrew a phillips screw that appeared to be FUSED to my idle air control valve for my car. I had spent hours already trying to take off the throttle body so I was determined. At a recommendation from a friend, I headed to HFT to buy an «impact screwdriver» that cost me 7 bucks and came with an assortment of flatheads and philips. After pounding the impact driver the screw came off effortlessly. I also needed a needle nose plier to unclip some hard to reach bands. TWO BUCKS!

I never dreamed I’d be a Do It Yourself addict.
Yet here I am. Since moving into our new house a month ago, I’ve been to Harbor Freight several times. Their prices on most things are ridiculously low, cheaper than the competitors.
The secret? They sell mostly store brands like Pittsburgh and Chicago Electric and pass the savings onto you. Despite the brand names, that stuff is all made overseas, usually in China (but you’ll be hard pressed to find stuff NOT made in China these days).
No, you won’t find brands like Craftsman, DeWalt, Stanley and Bosch here. For something like a drill with moving parts, I prefer to go with well-​known brands. But for hand tools, Harbor Freight is just fine, and their lifetime warranty on hand tools makes it even sweeter!
Finally, despite their prices already being so low, I get tons of coupons in the mail for 25% off any one item and a free item with or without an accompanying purchase. Only one free item per customer per day, though. So far I’ve gotten two utility scissors, a tape measure, flashlight, screwdriver set and a tarp for free. Maybe that’s the biggest reason why I’ve come in so many times!

This place is like the dollar store version of Home Depot or Osh.
Came in to buy electric fly swatters for me and my coworkers since they were having a deal on them.
Electric fly swatters (2.00) x 3 = 6.00
Batteries for the swatters (4.00) x 1 = 4.00
–25% (on the flyer)
Came out to like 9 something.
Now I can kill flying bugs with no problem.