Case returns?

solphilos

solphilos

Joined
Oct 17, 2009
Messages
1,076
Morning gentlemen. I have a question for those of you that have had to return knives to Case. What kind of turnaround time should I expect, and does Case communicate with you at all during the warranty process?

I sent in a knife 5 weeks ago and haven't heard anything back from them. I just don't know whether to expect an email or to have a knife show up unexpectedly in my mailbox. Either is fine of course, but some kind of news would be nice :rolleyes:
 
I recently sent some knives in for repair. It took a while to get the emailed confirmation of receipt.
  • 7/6 USPS delivered.
  • 7/24 Emailed that it was received.
  • 8/6 Emailed that it was shipped. Says to expected 1 to 2 weeks for delivery.
It may be in your junk mail filter. Emails came from repair@wrcase.com
 
Same here. 2x took long time, 6ish weeks?, to get email that it was received. But once I got that email, repair and return happened in short order both times.
 
Thanks guys, so it seems this amount of time isn't unusual. I'm not in a rush, just wanted to know what was going on.
Thanks again
 
It seems to me that they must sit there for a while and when they start working on them, they send an email saying they received them.

When I sent a couple in, the website gave a time estimate range for how long it would take and it took right up to the longer end of that range to get them back. Maybe 8 weeks, don’t exactly remember, but it was worth the wait. The repairs were well done.
 
I just sent one in about 3.5 weeks ago. Got an email 4 days later saying they received it. Never heard another word until it showed up in my mailbox yesterday. It may depend on what they have to do to it, but its probably just where it lands in the que.
 
Sacto said:
It seems to me that they must sit there for a while and when they start working on them, they send an email saying they received them.

When I sent a couple in, the website gave a time estimate range for how long it would take and it took right up to the longer end of that range to get them back. Maybe 8 weeks, don’t exactly remember, but it was worth the wait. The repairs were well done.
Click to expand...

From what I seen from Case in the past couple of years I'm sure their repair department must be flooded with returned product, that could also explain the wait.

I'm glad to hear that the warranty is good at least.
 
solphilos said:
From what I seen from Case in the past couple of years I'm sure their repair department must be flooded with returned product, that could also explain the wait.

I'm glad to hear that the warranty is good at least.
Click to expand...

I've been buying Case for 25 years and only had to return one for a problem caused by me. They fixed it for free. Case makes a good product for a lot of different types of customers. Their warranty service works fine.
 
I personally find it quite annoying to receive three knives out of five with functional defects, especially at that price point.

Of course, I'm only one person and five is a relatively small number considering that vast quantities produced each year, so it really could just be bad luck.

Still, it can be a real drag when an old name with a reputation for quality fails to deliver.
I love Case knives but I don't enjoy the crap shoot of purchasing them.
 
brownshoe said:
I've been buying Case for 25 years and only had to return one for a problem caused by me. They fixed it for free. Case makes a good product for a lot of different types of customers. Their warranty service works fine.
Click to expand...
We've just had different luck. I know for certain that Case makes a really good knife, but they make mediocre ones too and I've been unfortunate enough to receive more of the latter.
If I spent the past few decades purchasing Case knives at a brick and mortar dealer the story would be different since I wouldn't walk away with a defective knife.
 
Modoc ED said:
Do you also find it distressing that GEC, Buck, Spyderco, Benchmade, Lionsteel, and others also have repair departments to remedy their QC issues?
Click to expand...
Its not that, but it does seem from reading posts on various threads on the porch,that Case has been having more than normal QC issues. Just seems that way to ME, I just meant if their QC is slipping more, that's a bit disheartening. I for one don't consider Case a cheap knife, I think their great. I would own more but for now I'm sticking to a tight knife collecting budget. I also find it really good they stand by their products and will correct any issue. I hope in a hundred years people will STILL be buying NEW Case,Buck,GEC and so on.
 
I sent a case in to have a blade replaced once. 6ish weeks turned around. Got an email and the knife back in the last week. Different repairs probably take different amounts of time, and it probably also depends on the production cycle they're in.
 
Misplaced Hillbilly said:
Its not that, but it does seem from reading posts on various threads on the porch,that Case has been having more than normal QC issues. Just seems that way to ME, I just meant if their QC is slipping more, that's a bit disheartening. I for one don't consider Case a cheap knife, I think their great. I would own more but for now I'm sticking to a tight knife collecting budget. I also find it really good they stand by their products and will correct any issue. I hope in a hundred years people will STILL be buying NEW Case,Buck,GEC and so on.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. It does seem that there are more lemons out there than ever, but I don't know enough to say that the quality has decreased. What we have is a collection of anecdotes from posts on these forums and others that make it seem that way, but there are many other factors that could cause that appearance.
It could simply be that the quality hasn't changed at all, but an increasing number of knife nuts and people with higher standards are getting into the hobby and joining these forums, giving a voice to new complaints that before would have never reached anothers ears (or eyes in this case).

I don't want this to become a Case bashing thread, and I don't think that it is, but I do hope that people continue buying Case for another century at least. I will, so long as they don't go the way of Schrade and the others.
 
traumkommode said:
I sent a case in to have a blade replaced once. 6ish weeks turned around. Got an email and the knife back in the last week. Different repairs probably take different amounts of time, and it probably also depends on the production cycle they're in.
Click to expand...
Good point. Just out of curiosity I'd like to see what the repair dept. looks like and how its run. Is it a small area of the facility dedicated to these repairs? Are returns such a small number of jobs that it's a part time gig for cutlers that typically work in other parts of the factory, and they get to it when they can? I need to make my way up there one day, The Case and GEC factories are on my bucket list for places to visit at some point.
 
I always find this discussion interesting - regarding the QC of Case knives - and how much of it is based on actual QC issues - as in, defects that the company would find unacceptable if they noticed them - and how much is customer perception of what constitutes a defect.

I have probably over 100 Case knives, the majority made between 2000 and 2014 (a few older ones too) which is when I stopped buying them because I have enough. I have never had a single one that I needed to send back to the factory. Maybe I was lucky, maybe the QC fell off since 2014, or maybe I am a less discerning customer and there are things that don't bother me that do bother others.

The last batch I bought was a group of 5 I bought for myself as a late Christmas gift in Dec 2014. Out of those, I could tell (based on the condition of the paper wrapper) that the dealer had re-sold two knives that had been returned to them. I could see what what the problems were with those two and they were easily resolved. They are two of my most carried knives to this day. The other three were new-in-wrapper and were fine.

I have other Case knives that I carry that have minor gaps between the backsprings and liners and with blades not centered (I never even knew that was something I was supposed to care about until I read others' complaints - as long as the blades open and close fine I am OK with it). These things have never worried me and are well within the "QC envelope" I expect from the knives.

I look at posts complaining about something that can only be seen with high magnification, go pull out of few of my knives and look really closely, and sure enough, some of mine have that "thing" too. A knife I have used and enjoyed for years was horribly flawed all this time and I never realized it. I usually just shrug and go back to enjoying it the way I always have. Blade rub on crinked-blade knives is a prime example; 1- yes, why wouldn't there be, and 2- seems to cut stuff fine and I end up with more scratches from cutting cardboard. Again, as long as it opens and closes, and doesn't dull or damage the blade edge, good by me.

I know that Mike Latham has expressed several times an observation that pocket knife collectors have become more "picky" to use a term that sounds derogatory but I don't intend to be, and that they may be expecting a higher fit and finish from traditional pocket knives than they are realistically going to get.
 
jc57 said:
I always find this discussion interesting - regarding the QC of Case knives - and how much of it is based on actual QC issues - as in, defects that the company would find unacceptable if they noticed them - and how much is customer perception of what constitutes a defect.

I have probably over 100 Case knives, the majority made between 2000 and 2014 (a few older ones too) which is when I stopped buying them because I have enough. I have never had a single one that I needed to send back to the factory. Maybe I was lucky, maybe the QC fell off since 2014, or maybe I am a less discerning customer and there are things that don't bother me that do bother others.

The last batch I bought was a group of 5 I bought for myself as a late Christmas gift in Dec 2014. Out of those, I could tell (based on the condition of the paper wrapper) that the dealer had re-sold two knives that had been returned to them. I could see what what the problems were with those two and they were easily resolved. They are two of my most carried knives to this day. The other three were new-in-wrapper and were fine.

I have other Case knives that I carry that have minor gaps between the backsprings and liners and with blades not centered (I never even knew that was something I was supposed to care about until I read others' complaints - as long as the blades open and close fine I am OK with it). These things have never worried me and are well within the "QC envelope" I expect from the knives.

I look at posts complaining about something that can only be seen with high magnification, go pull out of few of my knives and look really closely, and sure enough, some of mine have that "thing" too. A knife I have used and enjoyed for years was horribly flawed all this time and I never realized it. I usually just shrug and go back to enjoying it the way I always have. Blade rub on crinked-blade knives is a prime example; 1- yes, why wouldn't there be, and 2- seems to cut stuff fine and I end up with more scratches from cutting cardboard. Again, as long as it opens and closes, and doesn't dull or damage the blade edge, good by me.

I know that Mike Latham has expressed several times an observation that pocket knife collectors have become more "picky" to use a term that sounds derogatory but I don't intend to be, and that they may be expecting a higher fit and finish from traditional pocket knives than they are realistically going to get.
Click to expand...
You raise a good point and I think you're right to a large degree, that's what I was getting at when I was saying that we seem to have more collectors than ever before.

In my case three of the knives I received had issues that I couldn't live with. A teardrop had really lazy springs on both blades and slight front to back play on the secondary. A Texas Jack had a pivot issue where the tang and spring were grinding in some way, constantly filling the pivot with steel shavings and binding up. A peanut had a pivot pin that started to sink and the clip began to get side to side play.

Cosmetic issues are, well, a non-issue for me. Gaps, blade rub, funky bevels all are acceptable for me at this price point.
I recently got a mini Trapper with a bad bone cover on the mark side. It has since chipped out quite dramatically but the knife is otherwise very well built; Beautiful action, great snap and perfectly centered blades. I glued up the covers and the knife is still in my pocket, easily my favorite knife at the moment, even over my GECs.
 
solphilos said:
In my case three of the knives I received had issues that I couldn't live with.
Click to expand...
All three of those are issues I would not have found acceptable either. If it affects function, it's a defect. Sufficiently severe cosmetic issues are also defects in my opinion.

I was not trying to imply that anyone who sent a knife in was doing so for insufficient cause.

Just that MAYBE in aggregate the perception of QC issues may be partially because Case knives have always been like that, say plus-or-minus 20% off of perfection, and now the user community here will only accept plus-or-minus 10%. I made those numbers up for conversation purposes. I have no idea what Case considers acceptable in their QC processes.

Or maybe they just aren't on their game as well as they once were and are hoping people will accept sloppy work and it not impact their sales or profits. I do know that total number of returns, and the cost of performing warranty repairs, is something that usually tends to get management's attention at most companies, since those are clear signs of customer satisfaction problems AND it increases cost to the company.
 
I've had to send a few back and it does take a while but they will take care of you. The reason they are so backlogged is due to some qc issues but mostly because a lot of folks send them back expecting perfection. If by defective you mean a blade that doesn't sit straight when closed...you will find most Cases over the last several decades are like that. If you are looking for perfection, don't expect it from a standard production Case.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top