Cold Steel Customer Service...

GregB

GregB

Gold Member
Joined
Dec 18, 2000
Messages
3,431
Have been a fan of the Trailmaster, Kukri, and Recon Scout's in Carbon V for a while. Have had several I've used hard over the years. Currently have a USA 4Maxx that's a bit heavy to carry often and a Rajah II that stays in my yard work shorts and gets used to trim limbs when I'm weedeating or mowing. Had bought a new old stock Carbon V LTC off the bay a while back. Paid @$125 all in. The firs time I used it to limb a small tree the edge shed 2 pieces in a half moon shape, larger than half a silver dollar. I was shocked. I sent it in to Cold Steel for Warranty evaluation. I paid the shipping (@$20). I received back one of the @$22 import Kukri machetes in a box with the damaged LTC and no note or explanation. I emailed customer service and let them know that this was unacceptable. I've heard crickets. To say I'm disappointed and disgusted is an understatement.

GregB

P.S. Anyone want to buy all of my Cold Steel blade?
 
As your Carbon V LTC is a long discontinued model, and from what you described the blade damage is of such a nature that it can not be "repaired", what exactly do you expect Cold Steel to do?
 
KenHash said:
As your Carbon V LTC is a long discontinued model, and from what you described the blade damage is of such a nature that it can not be "repaired", what exactly do you expect Cold Steel to do?
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I sent a Citizen solar watch in for service about a month ago. It won't hold a charge no matter how long I out it in the sun, so it probably needs a new capacitor. Wrote all of that on the paperwork and sent it in. I

-Got an email when I received it with expected turnaround time, next steps, and a phone number to call to inquire about its status.

-Got an email saying it was shipped back to me with tracking info.

-Got paperwork with what they did before sending it back.

The idiots just recharged it and sent it back to me so did effectively nothing (it was out of charge by the time it arrived to me, within 24 hours of it shipping). I have to call them up and waste more money sending it in again. However, unlike Cold Steel, at least they told me what they found/did, stayed in contact during the process, and are available to contact about the warranty service. Even if you're right they can't fix or replace his knife, Cold Steel should at least do those things. Not even including the what or why it was sent back is just a waste of everyone's time.
 
I'm getting old and life has taught me a few things:

Winds blow;
Fires Burn;
Crops fail;
Shit happens.

I would not be upset that the knife broke; see above.

However, with products, especially knives it would seem, you are buying a not only a product - but a relationship with a company. The expectation is higher when buying a smaller, personal item like a knife compared to a house or a vehicle. With a Becker knife, KaBar is wonderful and Ethan Becker answers email and inquiries here at BF. Spyderco cares about its customers as did Lynn Thompson when he ran the show. You had a discontinued model and perhaps the company thought sending you something they felt equivalent would be sufficient; I dunno and, as a wise man once said, I don't have a dinosaur in this orgy.

More and more I am finding, to my chagrin and dismay, companies that do not even so much as answer the phone anymore!
 
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kreole said:
I sent a Citizen solar watch in for service about a month ago. It won't hold a charge no matter how long I out it in the sun, so it probably needs a new capacitor. Wrote all of that on the paperwork and sent it in. I

-Got an email when I received it with expected turnaround time, next steps, and a phone number to call to inquire about its status.

-Got an email saying it was shipped back to me with tracking info.

-Got paperwork with what they did before sending it back.

The idiots just recharged it and sent it back to me so did effectively nothing (it was out of charge by the time it arrived to me, within 24 hours of it shipping). I have to call them up and waste more money sending it in again. However, unlike Cold Steel, at least they told me what they found/did, stayed in contact during the process, and are available to contact about the warranty service. Even if you're right they can't fix or replace his knife, Cold Steel should at least do those things. Not even including the what or why it was sent back is just a waste of everyone's time.
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1) What exactly should Cold Steel have done to be satisfactory?
2) Are you the OP posting under a different name?
 
Greg is a solid guy, certainly isn’t posting under 2 separate names.

Certainly is a conundrum with out of production blades. Folks buy $1000 Busse that’s out of production and if it breaks, they aren’t going to give you $1000 for it.

You’d probably something near the original cost. But a $22 machete......I’d lose my $hit.
 
Gravelface said:
Greg is a solid guy, certainly isn’t posting under 2 separate names.

Certainly is a conundrum with out of production blades. Folks buy $1000 Busse that’s out of production and if it breaks, they aren’t going to give you $1000 for it.

You’d probably something near the original cost. But a $22 machete......I’d lose my $hit.
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That's nice to know but you can see how the post looks answering my question to OP.

So you, like me, recognize that with a long discontinued model CS obviously can't replace it. And you also feel that a $22 replacement isn't satisfactory. So what would be under these circumstances?
 
I’m not familiar with the original cost of that particular model, but at least offer a SRK or something that cost roughly the same. Cold Steel has amazing pool of blades that would be comparable in price, even if not in function.
 
CS does not know, or is in any way responsible for how much the old NOS LTC was purchased. It may have been $20 or $2000.
Manufacturers are responsible for their products, not the price that was paid for it.
What CS did was attempt (and poorly perhaps) to "replace" the broken discontinued product that the OP sent in.
True, CS could have offered the OP some other choice.
But considering what a mess CS Customer Service seems to be right now following the GSM sale, I'm not surprised.
 
The warranty response could have been better , ideally . The "old" Cold Steel might have done more .

But , it would be difficult for the company to determine what this rather old kuk had been subjected to . Just to be fair .

I'm also pretty sure the newly hired bunch of customer service employees has no freaking idea of what Carbon V even was , or can differentiate relative values for anything not in the catalog currently . They may have sent what they thought was an equivalent replacement .

Makes me wonder though about what kind of support you'd get for one of their new ridiculously pricey 3V choppers .
 
KenHash said:
But considering what a mess CS Customer Service seems to be right now following the GSM sale, I'm not surprised.
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Exactly... instead of this being considered the OP gets accused of having a duplicate account.
 
Boru13 Boru13
It was not an accusation, it was a question.
If you read the first 3 posts of the thread carefully you will see why I raised that question.
Please look at my past history, I don't accuse or insult,. Thanks.
 
KenHash said:
Boru13 Boru13
If you read the first 3 posts of the thread carefully you will see why I raised that question.
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I have and still don't see why you raised the question.

kreole kreole reply was nothing more than his opinion on how CS should have handled the situation using his experience with Citizen as a example.

KenHash said:
Boru13 Boru13
Please look at my past history
Click to expand...
I have and I find you to be a wealth of information that benefits BF's greatly... just didn't agree with you this time is all.

Personally I think the Cold Steel that many believe in and trust is gone... the same as Camillus, Schrade and others, while the brand name is still be there, the company many have supported over the years is gone.

Gravelface Gravelface mentioned Busse, if I'm not mistaken their policy is if you break or damage beyond repair a discontinued item you receive a shop credit for the original sale price... not the current market value which sucks but is completely understandable... has to make one think about the so called lifetime warranty's that some company's offer.

In the Op's case, it should not have been that hard to find out the original sale price of the Carbon V LTC and compensated him for that instead of sending him a $22 imported machete... their actions tell me all I need to know about the "new" Cold Steel and their customer service.
 
I know many here will disagree with me on this, but I think that many knife aficionados have really excessive expectations when it comes to both knife strength and warranty. In my opinion it is not reasonable to beat the crap out of a knife, batoning hardwood logs for example, then complain when you break it. That goes as well for prying, chiseling, hammering the blade through basically anything, or (as Cold Steel demonstrated) using your knife to suspend a car. Simple rule here: if you see someone doing it in a Cold Steel video that is an excellent indicator that you should NOT do anything like that yourself.

As for this instance, the new owners of Cold Steel have no idea what this knife even is, they only know it isn't in the current catalog. They have no idea what it should be able to do, they have no idea what it's worth, or even if it is real. How could they?

The knife is no longer in production. In practical terms this makes it irreplaceable. Nor do they have anything comparable in their product lineup to offer as a fair substitute. Even writing the OP a check (for breaking his own knife) might not satisfy. More than anything else, what this thread illustrates to me is just what a nightmare purchasing a knife company would be.

It seems Esee has the right idea: sell cheap 1095 knives at a monstrous markup knowing that most purchasers will never even strap it to their belt, and if they do you can afford to replace it a half dozen times if they manage to break it. Cold Steel generally took the opposite approach, instead of charging a lot and giving very little, they charged very little and give you a whole lot. Something to think about before hating on them too much.
 
That's why they make hatchets, just saying, I like to use the best tool for the job.
 
I've only got the one account. I paid like $125 for it off an auction site. It was new, old stock. I was the first to use it. Happened first time I used it. I was hoping that I'd get a shop/store credit for @$100/$125. It's actually what I asked for. Heck, I wouldn't have even been that upset if they had replaced it with the current Taiwan version, but the $22 machete? Really?
 
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