My dad had a similar experience. Broke the wood handle on a shovel - they provided a new handle. Then that broke and they replaced it with the fiberglass model.A number of years ago I managed to split the wooden handle of a Craftsman shovel. When I took it to the store, they told me that model with the wood handle wasn't made any more, and offered me a Sears brand wood handle shovel. I pointed out that there was a fiberglass Craftsman model, but they didn't want to give it to me because it cost significantly more. After I made a stink about it, they reluctantly gave me the better Craftsman one.
I've heard that the power tools haven't been covered for years.