That reminds me of when a buddy of mine was taking his floor jack apart and couldn't get a screw to turn. One guy stood on the end of the screwdriver with it point down into the screwhead and another guy grabbed the square shank with a crescent wrench. He got the screw loose but the screwdriver was toast. He got a replacement (of course, he didn't say how it broke!! Another buddy of mine broke his Craftsman flexhead ratchet (it the '70s when they were made in the USA and sold from Sears). He took it to Sears and wanted a replacement. They gave him a rebuild kit instead and sent him home. Some time later, it broke again. He went to Sears and asked for a replacement again. As I remember they gave him another rebuild kit. Well, that broke again so he went back to Sears. They wanted to give him another rebuild kit but he raised enough hell that they gave him a new ratchet. That's the worst experience I've heard from Craftsman customer service.
For my part, much of my Chraftsman stuff is 50 years old and I've never had a problem with any of it - well, I did have a click torque wrench seize up. I've also bought some "cheap" stuff at Harbor Freight or Northern Tool. I've had no problems with them either but they have not had a really hard life. Or maybe I've been lucky...