Battle of the Warranties: Benchmade vs. Spyderco

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dragonist2

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I've dealt with Benchmade's service department a few times, and I have nothing but good things to say about them. In short: they are fantastic. Send them you tires, your poor, your hungy, and you will get a knife that for all intents and purposes is pretty much brand new.

That said, I have heard pretty amazing things about Spyderco's service department as well. People seem to love the company, and for good reason. I have not dealt with Spyderco's service department, so I cannot say anything firsthand.

What I want to do is compare these two excellent companies just to see with one's warranty/service department is better. I would love to hear some stories about your past experiences with them!
 
I haven't dealt with neither of them personally, but I tend to lean towards Benchmade in this category. Mainly because they will replace blades and Spyderco won't. Not saying I beat the crap out of my knives or pry with them, but stuff happens. For example I could accidentally drop a knife on a hard floor like concrete and snap the tip off. Spyderco would grind a new tip but Benchmade will replace the whole blade for ~$25, which I think is a better option. Kershaw/ZT has a better policy compared to both of them IMO.
 
My personal experience with Spyderco customer service has been poor. Asked them for some screws a couple times and they responded with how I'm voiding my warranty just looking at the screws. They eventually do agree to send you some, but I've never actually had it arrive even tough I've asked a few times for different knives.

A company like ZT on the other hand sent me like 4 pocket clips and 10 screws when I asked for a spare after some of the threading rounded off.

I've never had to use a Benchmade warranty yet.
 
100eyes said:
A company like ZT on the other hand sent me like 4 pocket clips and 10 screws when I asked for a spare after some of the threading rounded off.
Click to expand...

They did the same for me. I asked for a replacement clip for my ZT0300 and they sent me 2 new clips, a set of washers and an assortment of screws. So, Kershaw/ZT lets you take apart your knives without any hassle. If only I liked more of their designs I would be all over their knives :p.
 
In my opinion, good customer service means the manufacturer has the ability to replace parts as needed. This includes a reblade for a fee of course, screws, clips, and other such items. One of the biggest drawbacks to the CQI principle is that it does not allow for replacement parts to become available as time goes on.

I've had experience with Spyderco customer service before on one occasion. I can't say enough good things about Charlynn. She was very nice and a pleasure to work with. I did get scolded and accused of disassembling a knife though, but that was not the case. I may have been confused with someone else? The issue was with a compression lock on a Para that would barely engage and the lock would slip. They could not fix the lock so a replacement was sent. Even though the knife was brand new to begin with, I was happy. I've noticed the frustration that people seem to have because there are no screws and clips available for the Seki City or the Taichung production knives. As a user of knives, that leaves very limited recourse should something happen, which can leave a sour taste in some peoples mouthes.

My experience with Kershaw Customer Service was terrific. I sent back the original 0551 when rust developed on the liner on the G10 side. I received my knife back in a reasonable amount of time and the process was painless. Later on, I had sent an inquiry to them and Cheryl responded, Sarah also responded on another occassion, even Thomas responded. All experiences exceeded my expectations. Clips, screws, silly questions are all handled with a lot of professionalism and kindness. These experiences have lead me to place them in the number one spot in my own list, and they have a customer for life.

I have no experience with Benchmade customer service as of right now. I do have some knives that I am having mild issues with. I have a brand new 806 AFCK that has stripped liner screws. I cannot move the position of the pocket clip, as the screws just turn and turn. I have a 275 that has developed some lock rock and it's noticeable more now than before, and finally an old Nimravus knife with stripped handle screws.
 
My experience with Spyderco's warranty department was great. I had a Phoenix that the had some issues, they agreed right away but the knife was out of production so they couldn't replace it. So they offered me full retail to retail with any knife (including sprints) in the line. How can you beat that.
Fortunately my dealer still had a Phoenix in stock so I replaced it and got a Delica Jig bone sprint from Spyderco. Win, win.
 
I haven't had experience with Spyderco or Benchmades customer service, but I have dealt with other companies. One thing I have noticed is that with the same company, I have had very different results with warranty issues. Basically what I am saying is I think sometimes it just depends on who handles your call, or what mood they're in. One persons bad experience doesn't mean the company has bad service and vise versa. I have read good and bad about both companies you mention.
 
Benchmade has a phenomenal customer service. I ask a lot of questions and I double check a lot, so I really appreciate them working with me. My best experience was actually a while back when I had bought a broken Benchmade lockback for under $30. The part where the pocket clip would be attached to is completely gone. That side of the handle was broken down almost to the pivot. It was maybe a Pika before they were produced in Taiwan, but I thought to myself that it could be a little project for me to fix. When I got the knife, I realized that the pivot was riveted, so taking the knife apart is out of the question. I read on the warranty page that they don't send out scales or handles, but I asked them anyway. The man just told me to send it in and see what they can do. When they received the knife, someone else informed me that the knife was a discontinued model and nothing can be done to fix it. I wasn't surprised, and I was expecting to just get my broken knife back. However, they offered me a brand new BM555, 556, or $100 coupon. I couldn't believe how generous they were. Of course I took the coupon and bought a 530 Pardue. They could have easily told me to "retire" my knife like some of the other warranties from other companies, but no they gave me options. Major thumbs up for Benchmade.
 
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Only experience I have with BM's CS was to request split arrow oxide clips as I prefer them over the stock painted. I received them in a week. I never used their blade replacement program but I think it is a great thing to offer their customers.

I had sent a Caly 3.5 superblue out because the lockswitch was very stiff unlike my other lockbacks. It was verified that it was a warranty issue, but Charlynn said that since it is pinned construction, they cannot fix the problem. They offered me a new knife equal to the knife's msrp, or just take the knife back the way it is. Since I value the knife as it is a coveted sprint run, I opted to just take the knife back a little disappointed. She said that she'll do her best to get it right before she sends it back. I received the knife back with the issue seemingly fixed and compared to my backup of the same model, I could barely tell a difference, just a minute amount of drag remained. Happy with the outcome. I also asked for a replacement screw for my Techno during my warranty call and received it no problem.

I requested a replacement torsion bar for my Kershaw Piston because no matter how often I adjust, the blade just wouldn't fire out like my other Kershaw A/O's. It was really lame how the blade would come out lol. I received a reply that they will send it out. I never received it actually, but I'm not gonna hold it against them, this was during the end of December 2012, and they had disclaimers up at the time on their website that, they were currently in the process of inventory and they may not be able to reply for a few weeks so they were probably busy. When I get to it, I'm sure I can give them a call and they'll send it out this time but that was my experience with them.
 
Had nothing but good experiences from Benchmade with a out of production afck, rate it a 10


I have had mixed results with Spyderco,with small things anyhow clips,etc a so so they can get a little frutrating,but I think they are working on it..but have also had some great experiences with them on a knife that was an extremely limited production they pulled one out of their stash which was awesome.
rate it an 9.0 ...ps love that Sal gets on the Forums for input an info sharing.

It is hard to expect these knife companies to keep all small parts in stock/production so to me we have to live with that I guess.
 
No experience with BM.

On a knife made overseas (Puukko), Spyderco refused to acknowledge that the problem even existed, admitted in writing it existed, then denied it existed. Then they threw a bunch of legalese at me (post sale so of no legal effect) and offered a refund because they "could not" fix the problem/do not do repairs. I did my own repairs. Not very high-class treatment IMO.
 
I have received excellent customer service from Spyderco in the past and they have promptly sent me replacement screws when requested at no cost.
 
My experience with Benchmade has been extremely positive so far. When I asked about a clip one was sent out right away with extra screws, no hassle at all. Their customer service rep was also good to deal with.
 
I have no experience with Spyderco's customer service, but I've had to use Benchmade's customer service a few times now. A couple of times for a Presidio I used to own that had to have Omega springs replaced, once more for a Bradley Alias that had lots of lock-rock, and most recently for another Presidio.

The first two were fair experiences - I was bummed about having to pay to ship the knife to Oregon, which is expensive and takes a long time, but the knife was repaired perfectly well and they even put a brand new pocket clip on it the first time I sent it out.

The third time was less good, because they weren't able to fix the issue with the Bradley at all.

The most recent time was an absolutely outstanding experience - I had another Omega spring break in the 2nd Presidio I bought, and called up BM's warranty department. I explained that it was a major hassle to send the knife to them just to have a spring replaced (20$ shipping plus the danger of the border-nazis messing around with it to boot), and they were extremely accommodating - the fellow was able to send me two sets of Omega springs so that I could just replace the broken part myself.

I can say that their service has always been friendly at the very least and that they've made an effort to help in all four cases, but the end results have varied from not-so-good to out-friggin-standing.
 
Benchmade has excellent customer service, treats your fairly and with respect. When I questioned a heat treat on my Alias 2 as well as up and down blade play., a customer rep took it upon himself to see it checked out. Despite all this my knife had been modified/polished and taken apart many times however they still took it in and fixed it up.
Every time I send a knife to benchmade it comes back fixed.

Kershaw too. Great people, albeit it did bother me that they sharpened my knife even thought I stated I did not want it sharpened. Still, their service is superb.

Spyderco so far has been top notch, albeit their emails are blankly answered they treat you fair and I havent had issues sourcing screws. Albeit I do think twice about buying Taiwan or Seki produced knives due to part issues. A $200 shouldnt become a paper weight or become a 6 month project due to lack of parts imho.

Overall all companies have been more than kind enough to send screws on their dime. Only company to charge me was CRK, but that's understandable since they are now milling their own screws.
 
Haven't had to contact them a lot, but in the few cases (once with Spyderco and twice with Benchmade), I've had good experiences with both. The Spyderco case was a request for replacement washers. I told them I knew the warranty was void, since I had obviously disassembled the knife. They went ahead and sent me replacement washers anyway at no charge. With Benchmade, one was a request to get a pair of pocket clips (replacing the painted ones with some oxide ones), and the second was to request some handle screws to replace ones I had stripped. The original clips had no problems (just prefer the look of the parkerized ones), and the stripped screws were my own doing (applied too much torque to break the threadlocker). They sent all those parts out too at no charge.

Thumbs up to the customer service departments at both. :thumbup:
 
I haven't used Spyderco, nor ZT service, but I have had the pleasure of dealing with Benchmade.

I've told this story before, but one time I posted about modifying a knife that I have. The mod was completely out of the realm of regular knife maintenance, a true mod, and I received an email OUT OF THE BLUE from a concerned tech. He asked to do it since what I was suggesting could damage the knife. I thought that that was pretty crazy! The knife came back modded and tuned up perfectly. I still chat with that tech from time to time about knife stuff.

Benchmade is awesome, plain and simple. They are the knife nuts of the biz imo. I will be a life long customer because of their amazing CS.
 
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