What to do when the SnapOn guy refuses to warranty tools?

So, apparently the local SnapOn guy refuses to warranty anything unless it was something he sold you. I was under the impression the SnapOn name was good for lifetime of the tool.

One of the guys at work had a ratchet that was slipping, the SnapOn guy wouldn't fix it ($10 kit) because he bought the ratchet from the previous SnapOn guy and not the current one. And I was looking at picking up some second hand stuff off eBay, but if the warranty is bogus then I'd be better served paying for it new.

Is this typical? Is there anyway to get the tool warrantied? Have I been mislead about this whole "lifetime warranty" bit?