Boker Trance - Very dissapointed.

Aarong50,
Thank you for your post and letting us know about your problems with one of our products.

To me, it is primarily not a question of money. It should work, for the money you have paid!
I know, as thousand other users, that the knives are not bad for the bucks, otherwise, we would have only sold a few dozens of it instead of a few hundreds.
Or all the other users are wrong.

If you are looking for a lightweight, inexpensive and RELIABLE blade, you can't go wrong with any CLB design!

You have had a bad experience with one of our products, we are honestly sorry for that!

If you want to throw it away, it is your private possesion and you can do what ever you want to do with it.

But, if you want to be satisfied with your knife, give us a chance to fix it.

There is nothing more we can say.
We have offered our support and our help, this is what we can do from our side.

How it will turn out in the end, this is up to you!

We hope to hear from you soon and that you do not turn you back on Boker.

Heinr. Böker Baumwerk GmbH
Tobias Leckebusch
Marketing und Design
Schützenstr. 30
42659 Solingen

Tel. +49-212-40 12 -23
Fax +49-212-40 12-88

BÖKER MESSER
- Design
- Konstruktion
- Produktion

www.boker.de
 
I don't have a Trance, but having read this, got intrigued and wanted to see if my keychain Subclaw (very thin and acutely beveled as it is) would show edge deformation cutting through some plastic pens.. and it did not. Very effective cutter at that thinness, did a better job than a convexed quite sharp Endura I tried for comparison.

p.s. Chad: the Subclaw is a gem. Even my wife, who is normally wont to roll her eyes at these sorts of things, took one for her own. Would be interesting to make one that's waved or otherwise engineered to open on being pulled down and out from a neck sheath.
 
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It doesnt matter what company or price range the knife is. There will always be few that don't come out right. Of all my Trance's (or any other CLB Boker knives) i never had any problems. Actually, they are as people say, much better then their price range would suggest! Aarong50, you said you would much rather spend another 25 and buy a spyderco. Its not like spyderco (and i don't mean to put them down) didn't have knives with problems, that being blade play or lock or whatever. Dodo, one of my all time favorite had known problems with the lock. And it was a lot more then 25$. I never had any problems, but i know some people did. What would you say if you got a bad spyderco? You rather just spend 25$ and never buy their product again?
Of course you have the right to your opinion and all that shit, but the thing that really bothers me here is that this kind of thread and posts can make damage to the company that does not deserve it(IMO opinion they were very very helpful and nice) and to the designer ( who even offered you new free knife...which says a lot. Not only being a great person that he is but also standing behind his design and Boker). If i didn't had trance and was looking for a new 25$ knife(whatever that means) and stumbled on your thread, i probably wouldn't read all 4 pages, the thing that would stick in my mind would be that CLB Trance is a piece of garbage. Which couldn't be farther from the truth.
My opinion is that you are full of it. Not all agree, but i thinks so.I think you should except the knife you were offered, test it properly and then write what you think.
 
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Tomso said:
It doesnt matter what company or price range the knife is. There will always be few that don't come out right. Of all my Trance's (or any other CLB Boker knives) i never had any problems. Actually, they are as people say, much better then their price range would suggest! Aarong50, you said you would much rather spend another 25 and buy a spyderco. Its not like spyderco (and i don't mean to put them down) didn't have knives with problems, that being blade play or lock or whatever. Dodo, one of my all time favorite had known problems with the lock. And it was a lot more then 25$. I never had any problems, but i know some people did. What would you say if you got a bad spyderco? You rather just spend 25$ and never buy their product again?
Of course you have the right to your opinion and all that shit, but the thing that really bothers me here is that this kind of thread and posts can make damage to the company that does not deserve it(IMO opinion they were very very helpful and nice) and to the designer ( who even offered you new free knife...which says a lot. Not only being a great person that he is but also standing behind his design and Boker). If i didn't had trance and was looking for a new 25$ knife(whatever that means) and stumbled on your thread, i probably wouldn't read all 4 pages, the thing that would stick in my mind would be that CLB Trance is a piece of garbage. Which couldn't be farther from the truth.
My opinion is that you are full of it. Not all agree, but i thinks so.I think you should except the knife you were offered, test it properly and then write what you think.
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I understand your concerns and if you did read all 4 pages you would see that I said customer service is above and beyond compared to some companies. But the fact remains that MY boker trance really is garbage and whether the one I received is a bad one in the batch or a honest representation of the quality control of product line as a whole is a different issue entirely.

Folks, take my 1 bad review with the 200+ good ones and make an informed decision. If you think I received a rare dud due to the overwhelming popularity with the blade then take it as it is and move on. I am not telling anyone not to buy this knife simply pointing out the problems I had with MY knife. I am not saying Boker is a bad company that makes poor knives. I am saying the knife Boker made for ME is a bad knife. If 1 negative review (which is really not that negative if you read all my posts) stops you from buying a knife that is something I can't answer for. I am sure you can search around and find bad reviews for every single top manufacture of knife, car, boat etc.

I didn't mean to cause such a debate just wanted to give my impressions on the knife that I purchased.
 
aarong50 said:
... I posted proof as to what happened and why and I am unwilling to engage Boker because its not worth the time and hastle.
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I do not undrstand - you did not have time for one e-mail to Boker yet you wrote a review? I always received excellent service from Boker and do not see why you should not receive the same. There was no hassle, no questions asked. And I was never the original owner of the knife.
 
David1967 said:
I do not undrstand - you did not have time for one e-mail to Boker yet you wrote a review? I always received excellent service from Boker and do not see why you should not receive the same. There was no hassle, no questions asked. And I was never the original owner of the knife.
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I like to engage in conversation on these message boards and give details about purchases/reviews. I do not want to pack up a $25 knife and ship it back to the manufacture. I am sorry if this is hard to understand but if I was actually out a reasonable amount of money I would send it for repair but shipping it back and all of that just doesn't interest me. I want to keep my knife, chipped blade and all.

Also I never expected this to turn into the discussion it had so I feel compelled to respond.
 
Yeah, the bokerplus line... I dunno, for the same price you can get a decent Kershaw like the Skyline which is much less mall ninja, much better built with much better steel for around $30.
 
No_b00st said:
Yeah, the bokerplus line... I dunno, for the same price you can get a decent Kershaw like the Skyline which is much less mall ninja, much better built with much better steel for around $30.
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:eek:!!!

"Mall Ninja"??? This???
TranceDropPoint001.jpg

TranceDropPointBackside.jpg

TranceDropPoint002.jpg
 
I rarely post and almost never post replies, but this is one I had to comment on. I bought a Trance about 3 months ago and was shocked with the product I received. I was expecting a $25.00 knife and got something much better. I have cut through everything with this knife and the blade looks brand new. The blade keeps its edge amazingly well and is one of the easiest knives to sharpen I have ever owned (and I have a lot). How it is not worth your time to return the knife or receive a free one makes no sense to me. I hate to stir the pot but I agree with other members here that something does not add up.
 
whitty said:
I rarely post and almost never post replies, but this is one I had to comment on. I bought a Trance about 3 months ago and was shocked with the product I received. I was expecting a $25.00 knife and got something much better. I have cut through everything with this knife and the blade looks brand new. The blade keeps its edge amazingly well and is one of the easiest knives to sharpen I have ever owned (and I have a lot). How it is not worth your time to return the knife or receive a free one makes no sense to me. I hate to stir the pot but I agree with other members here that something does not add up.
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What does not add up exactly? I got a poor knife and I posted about it.
 
You got a poor knife, posted an over-the-top and somewhat rude criticism without first seeking warranty service, then refused warranty service when it was offered you by a representative of the company, saying it "wasn't worth your time" -- when it was worth your time to write the original lengthy post, complete with photos.
 
tomcrx said:
Wow... The guy got pumped up for a knife that everyone sings praises for and was disappointed when a 25$ knife turned out to have the quality of a 25$ knife....
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What I like about the $25 Sub Coms is they do not act like $25 knives.
Not discussing the design, which is excellent.
They are user, and I have gotten hard use out of these small knives.

I recently received two knives from a very reputable company.
There are some problems with the knives, considering the price range, it is not acceptable.
I wrote the company a polite email, leaving lots of space for a discussion.
By return of email, they just tell me to return them and they will fix the problem.
Postage will cost me, and it is a major hassle to send and receive knives in the post.

But will I diss the company in a review before they have dealt with the problem?
Does not sound fair.
If they do not fix the problems, then I will air the situation on the forum.
 
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Sharp Phil said:
You got a poor knife, posted an over-the-top and somewhat rude criticism without first seeking warranty service, then refused warranty service when it was offered you by a representative of the company, saying it "wasn't worth your time" -- when it was worth your time to write the original lengthy post, complete with photos.
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Pretty easy to write a post on a message board and take a couple quick pictures. Packing up a knife and going to the post office is a little more involved. If I had a defective $25 knife I wouldn't bother shipping it back. Maybe if it was more like $40-50 I would.
 
Pretty easy to put a knife in an envelope, address it, and mail it.

Basically the argument here is that it's easier to whine and moan and badmouth the company, but when that company actually tries to stand behind its product, well, that's just not worth the trouble.
 
I have one that I have in my EDC rotation and it's great. I am actually in the process of getting 2 more. This knife is a great value, imo.

Kind regards

Shike.
 
No_b00st said:
Yeah, the bokerplus line... I dunno, for the same price you can get a decent Kershaw like the Skyline which is much less mall ninja, much better built with much better steel for around $30.
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And so you mean to say that the Skyline is somewhat mall ninja, and by extension other Kershaw flippers are somewhat mall ninja? That's choice dude, choice! :jerkit:
 
For $25, he took possession of a knife. He can use it, carry it, toss it in a safe, burn it, and post about it on the internet. Whatever interests him. He does not have to send it in for warranty service or replacement.

What if he has a dozen or more other knives to carry as alternative? What if he has customs costing hundreds more? What's the value in taking time out of your day to make a trip to the PO, pay for shipping, and wait for the return?

I have 17 tabs open in my browser (sigh). It takes a minute to start a thread here, in the midst of my browsing. Afterward, I'm not waiting on the postman or an email ship notification. He does not place enough value on a replacement for a $25 knife to wait for it after already experiencing something negative. It's not that we necessarily expect the replacement to be just as bad or worse, but that there is little enthusiasm left for the tool after the initial impression.

Everyone has a different threshold. Would you drive back to the store, receipt in hand, to exchange a mini Bic that wasn't working, or would you toss it and buy another one? Not everyone will have the same answer.
 
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