Harbor Freight — Local services in Crystal Lake

The staff is friendly, but pretty much uniformed about tools or their use, or if they even carry any spares like replacement blades or replacement sanding belts, discs or other consumables. The tools are cheap - both in price and quality - so if you are going to give a gift of say, a mechanics tool set to your up-and-coming teen mechanic, do both of yourselves a favor and buy a good set of Craftsman tools. Harbor Freight may have what you need, but chances are even they don't know it. I wonder what third-generation-wealth family sold the Pittsburg Tool name to the Chinese - but it is now well and truly crap. This is a place you go for - as other posters have said - one-time use tools that finish the job and get thrown away. I stripped the gears in a brand-new Harbor Freight "Pittsburg" ratchet just by removing spark plugs from my son's car's cylinder head - I have a pair of Mack and Craftsman ratchets I inherited from my WWII vet dad that have been used (and abused) and keep on working. I bought a cut-off recipro-saw from Harbor Freight that got so hot while I using it (to cut through 1/4 plywood!) that it burned the palm of my hand THROUGH the plastic casing. I can only imagine how hot the motor must have got INSIDE the casing. You get what you pay for, but cheap tools can be...

I'm not certain the name of the female at the front of the store but I am so utterly appalled at the amount of disrespect and arrogance in her tone towards customers. Within less than a minute of walking in the store (mind you we were popping in quickly to see if the item were needed was even available) we were huffed at and snottily told, "you guys need to leave. We close in five minutes and I have to have the computers shut down by then." It took me a moment to realize she was not only serious but glaring at us at the same time WITH A CUSTOMER AT HER REGISTER. Had an employee at any other company said anything like that to a customer they would be written up on the spot. As a long time customer at other locations I know this is not the standard that Harbor Freight upholds. I will miss shopping in these stores but I cannot and will not condone such behavior. I can only hope the company can understand that such actions can unravel years of building strong relationships with customers and hopefully nip this in the bud before it...

I highly suggest that you do not purchase an icon toolbox from any harbor freight store in the united states. I purchased an Icon toolbox at the Crystal Lake store in Illinois on april 4, 2025. The store manager promised me that the toolbox would arrive at my home within two weeks.

I contacted the store on April 28, 2025, and it was advised that there is no scheduled arrival date for my toolbox, hutch or stainless steel top. The store manager advised me to contact Icon support at 800-279-0727.

Icon support person advised me the expected arrival date for my toolbox is May 20, 2025 and the expected arrival date for my stainless steel top and hutch is June 18, 2025. But the customer support for Icon made it clear that those are expected delivery dates only. There is no guarantee that any of the products will arrive on those dates.

PURCHASING AN ICON TOOLBOX IS A COMPLETE WASTE OF YOUR...