A story of a bad Whippersnapper and awesome customer care

Sent the following:

Hi,


I've received my order #327555 today and immediately upon opening the package noticed something's not quite right with one of the items - the Olamic Cutlery WhipperSnapper WS097-W (article ID OLM310).

First off, the case had two stickers applied to it, one on top of another, and on top of a large "10" sticker which i assume came from some QC process. These are, to my knowledge, not normally applied by Olamic Cutlery.

https://i.imgur.com/Iji8g6w.jpg

Second, the blade is scuffed on the lockbar side:
https://i.imgur.com/Q87Y55E.jpg

The lockbar relief has odd scratches in it completely inconsistent with the finish of the knife:

https://i.imgur.com/6tpG7ce.jpg

The bevel on the tip of the scales appears worn and scuffed:

https://i.imgur.com/RWMasjH.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/JwIrkYu.jpg

The area around the pivot was full of lint:

https://i.imgur.com/ep6R7Uv.jpg

There's black residue on the inside of the thumb hole and on the tang of the blade:

https://i.imgur.com/bARaEvy.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/LTzqKay.jpg

Finally, and this does not seem like an indication of use, but a manufacturing defect, the Timascus inlay has a gap on one side:

https://i.imgur.com/Q6ytgeM.png

Was this knife a used, returned item by any chance?
And what should my next steps be?

Regards,
Ante Vukorepa
Click to expand...
 
My immediate thoughts were that this knife was likely returned by a customer and the vendor did a poor just of inspecting the return, then passed in on to the next customer as a new knife.

My next thought was that this could have been a display model that’s been handled by a ton of people, scratched up, etc. before being sold to you.

This is all speculation, but regardless, I really doubt this is a new knife and it certainly shouldn’t have been sold to you as such. Even in the unlikely chance that this is how it came directly from the manufacturer (if this was the case, yeah OC should have caught it, but this would be a big assumption) you would hope the distributor would do at least a minimal quality check on an item of this price before shipping it out. If it was was a return/showroom model, etc. that makes it even worse that they wouldn’t document it and thoroughly inspect it before sending it to you.
 
My guess is they don't have the manpower to inspect every knife very carefully, as they have a pretty huge stock.
They open the knives to take photos of them, and sometimes there are empty images for some knives for weeks after they become available, presumably because they're pressed for time and it's taking a while to open them up and take product shots.

Which leads me to another thought - maybe the person taking the photos scuffed it up (dropped it?)
 
Ughhh. Opened the case again and took a look at the knife, and damnit, it's a nice looking WhipperSnapper.
Now having "maybe i should just ignore it all" thoughts, and i hate myself for it.

Hate this bit of buying and collecting... well, anything.
 
Ante Vukorepa said:
Ughhh. Opened the case again and took a look at the knife, and damnit, it's a nice looking WhipperSnapper.
Now having "maybe i should just ignore it all" thoughts, and i hate myself for it.

Hate this bit of buying and collecting... well, anything.
Click to expand...

For what it's worth, I've found that if my first reaction is "there's something not right here" there usually is a problem. If the defects you showed in your pictures bothered you enough to post and contact the dealer, they will bug you every time you carry the knife if you don't address them.

I have one Olamic, a custom Wayfarer and it was perfect from Eugene @ Olamic, so I don't think you're over reacting.
I just bought something from Lamnia so, I'm very interested in what they do for you. Eugene is also a BF member so if the dealer won't help you can contact him here.

Good luck!
 
Ante Vukorepa said:
Ughhh. Opened the case again and took a look at the knife, and damnit, it's a nice looking WhipperSnapper.
Now having "maybe i should just ignore it all" thoughts, and i hate myself for it.

Hate this bit of buying and collecting... well, anything.
Click to expand...

I only feel like that if I got the last one and can't get another.
 
jideta said:
I only feel like that if I got the last one and can't get another.
Click to expand...

Well, it was the only one available that was:
- a blue/purple hardware combo
- had pivot screw trim ring
- wharncliffe blade
- timascus inlay
- plain jane clip
- satin finish on the blade and scales

Picked it out out of 70ish different variations available.
Although i guess if pressed i could find a different one i'd like.
 
Ante Vukorepa said:
Well, it was the only one available that was:
- a blue/purple hardware combo
- had pivot screw trim ring
- wharncliffe blade
- timascus inlay
- plain jane clip
- satin finish on the blade and scales

Picked it out out of 70ish different variations available.
Although i guess if pressed i could find a different one i'd like.
Click to expand...

Well if its the last one and you really want it. I only see the course of action to that is to talk to Eugene at Olamic and see if it can be repaired. There was a youtuber “Doctor Frunkey” that had a custom Rainmaker. He received with scratches like yours. He came to an agreement with him and even had some options changed, free of charges. Upon receiving once again. The scratches were still present and after a chat with Eugene, he vowed to get thing right for the third and last time. The guy finally had his perfected Rainmaker.
 
Step by step, let's see what the dealer says first, then Olamic, then let's see what the next steps are...
I whine quite a bit, but i'm patient when i compose myself :)
 
Just took a look between the scales with a flashlight.

Definitely either been in someone's pocket, or left on display somewhere. There's a fine layer of dust and lint in the backspacer grooves, where you couldn't get it cleaned out by just wiping the knife down with a cloth. I'm now getting convinced this might've been left on display in the store.

Think i'm gonna stop obsessing over it now, get a few beers, wrap up some remote work and forget about it until i get a reply, lol
 
You did the right thing, I would have sent it back. Now if it was on closed out or open box that would be different. Beautiful knife I hope you get a NIB replacement.
 
Lamnia is known to sell returned knives as brand new ones. Nothing surprising here.

And Knives and Tools are also special case, they weren't shipping the item but were refusing to return the money, I even filed a report of fraud through the bank. At the end I had to wait for the item to come to my doors just for me to refuse it and then they finally gave me a refund since it is "impossible to cancel". But I will give them the props as they even gave me a call to talk to me, explain it and try to sort it out. But it still left bad taste in my mouth.

Availability and offer here in Balkan countries is extremley bad.

I have literally 0 desire or need to keep buying knives as of now.
 
Guys, don't forget that as euro Knife nuts, it is not easy for us to send back knives to the US. As for me, I would send it back to Lamnia without any hesitation. An Olamic is in the pricey range, and you should receive a perfect knife, especially since Olamic is known for their perfect fit & finish. I'm just afraid that Lamnia is gonna tell you they don't have another item for exchange.

I managed to snag a TRM neutron a few months ago from the biggest knives dealer in France. But while perfectly working, the uneven edge kept bothering me. Until I noticed the 2 dots on the blade, meaning that it was a blemished Neutron. I managed to get a refund, but was not for my OCD, I would have never known that I paid a faulty knife at full price.
 
Mister_Punchy said:
is gonna tell you they don't have another item for exchange.
Click to expand...
That's what local retailer told me when I contacted them about 3V Mini Pendleton having gap between tang and the handle.
They apologized for inconvenience and offered me to send it back for a refund as they don't have another 3V Mini Pendleton they can send me...

At this point I'll just keep the knife, dump ton of epoxy in that gap and call it a day.
 
No response on the WhipperSnapper from Lamnia yet, although i find it kinda funny they chose today of all days to respond to my previous unrelated RMA from a week or so ago (by sending a replacement), lol
 
The Aflac Duck said:
@OlamicCutlery
Click to expand...

Beat me to it.

I can tell you that knife has definitely been used. Eugene and co. would not let a knife leave their facility looking like that. Shame on Lamia for dropping the ball. I'm inclined to agree that this was a return that was poorly scrutinized upon its arrival and just returned to their stock room shelf.
 
What are the odds the timascus inlay gap was the original reason someone returned it (i can't see a possible way this would've been caused by use or previous ownership, and TBH, if that was the only problem with the knife, i would've kept it)?

And everything else was from the use, packaging, repackaging etc.
 
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