First [and last] Benchmade

Gollnik I was LMAO when I read the bit about the car seats.
biggrin.gif


Nakano if I ever double post (god forbid) I will just fill in the second post with some witty quip about something I had not planned to comment on in the thread like the fact I have never had a problem with any of my Benchmade knives and while I do have Spyderitius and consider them a level below Spyderco they are still some of the best production knives you will find. In fact, my Blue andonized Spike is one of my favorite automatics.

Later,
John
 
I've had excellent teatment from BM service.

The way the thumb stud is mounted probably has something to do with not being able to replace it.

------------------
Ron Knight
Scottsdale, Arizona
 
My experience with BM customer service has been positive. I sent my AFCK in twice for repair, and the second time I called and voiced my concerns. One of the repair people (was his name Dave???) called me back and spent about 15 minutes on the phone, looking for my knife, discussing with me what he saw, what was missed the first time. It seemed to me he really wanted me to be a satisfied customer. Shortly thereafter I received a brand-new AFCK with improvements and none of the problems of my original.

As I'm sure is true with any company, though, you have a large group of indiviuals with differing personalities and temperaments.
Jim
 
I own 3 BM knives and fortunately I did not need their service yet.

But I have an interesting story about other company. I got used Boker Specialist and decided to remove scales and clean it. I sent e-mail to both Boker Customer Services (in US and Germany) requesting the size of the screwdriver - so I could remove the scales.
From US I got a note that the knife should not be taken apart.
From the other CS I got not only the size but they also sent me 3 sets (9 pcs) of replacement screws.

David

 
Hi Dave,

I have noticed that alot of Eurpopean companies take much better care of their customers than their U.S. offspring do.

Later,
John
 
Dave, there are some great points in this thread about liability, design infringement, etc. that you should take into consideration before you decide to write off any company and their products.

You have praised Buck Knives, but are they any more willing to modify their designs to suit your desires? You don’t seem so much upset as petulant. If a company that produces what could be considered an inherently dangerous product has decided to take a hard line about the warranty they offer, I have no doubts that it is because of hard won experience.

------------------
James Segura
San Francisco, CA


 
I checked the catalog, and no designer is listed for the 750. And the “coin-type” studs used on the Strykers mount to the blade spine, so a simple replacement would be out of the question.

------------------
James Segura
San Francisco, CA


 
I have been less than thrilled with Benchmade's customer service. The thing that thrilled me the least about their customer service is that I needed it on 3 new knives in a row. Obviously, this is more a QC problem than a Cust Serv problem, so I will get back on track.

I was very disappointed with my new Sentinel (this was obviously some time ago) as the blade hit the spacer and the grind was off. When I got it back from customer service, the blade no longer hit the spacer, but they didn't bother to replace it, either. So a $100 new knife had a nicely chipped up spacer. As a user, I didn't care, Until I tried to re-sell it. The grind lines were off still, only were they had been too thin, they were now too wide.

I don't buy Benchmades anymore and probably won't for a while. I am not as P.O.'ed as I once was, and they may have improved, but I still don't care nearly so much for them. Guess it just kinda left a bad taste in my mouth.

Spyderco, on the other hand, is the standard I think other knife companies should look to...

YMMV, JMHO, etc., etc.

------------------
Clay Fleischer
clay_fleischer@yahoo.com
AKTI Member A000847
Currently: Indianapolis, IN
Hometown: Kingsport, TN

On the internet, no one knows you're a dog...
 
I agree with Clay. The fit & finish of my CQC-7 isn't quite up to the standards set by other mfgr's. I still like the knife, but that bit of overhanging G-10 "bites" me sometimes. You shouldn't have such a problem on a $90.00 to $100.00 knife. Am I right?

------------------
"Blessed is the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle..." excerpted from Psalms 144.

 
This turned into quite an interesting thread.

I never asked BM to modify or change anything.

I first asked if they had a longer stud.

When they did not, I asked if I could buy one of the coin type studs that they use on their other knives.

The folks at Buck Knives [and a few other companies that I deal with on a regular basis]have always done everything that they possibly can to provide me uncompromising service. Period. I have some Buck Knives that most folks would not even recognize as Bucks. Their customer service folks have raised the issue of liability a couple of times over the past couple of years. I am not going to put Buck on the spot in this forum, but they have ALWAYS found a way to accomodate me.

When I posted this original note I fully expected everyone to jump in and defend BM. Many of you did. I never expected to hear from so many others with similar stories about poor service from BM.

I, for one, choose not to spend my hard-earned dollars with retailers who cannot be bothered with a simple, straight-forward request.

"Petulant"? I think not. I just have the right to spend my money where I choose. And I choose not to support companies who are not interested in providing me a quality, useable product.

You folks spend your where ever you like.

Thanks for all the feedback!

Dave
 
Windancer,
I agree with you completely. I'd sure like to hear BM's take on their internal quality assurance situation. I wonder what their defect sigma(ppm defective)is?
-Redleg out.

------------------
"Blessed is the Lord my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle..." excerpted from Psalms 144.

 
Has anybody had problems with BM's axis locks? The majority of the quality control problems I've seen are from their liner locks. I haven't heard any reoccuring problems with their axis locks. Anyone know of any common axis lock problems?
 
Just want to say that in the last couple of days I corresponded with Travis at BM about a problem of my own making. He immediately corrected it for me. No company can do better than that, a lot of them won't even try.
Thanx Travis and BM
cool.gif
 
For ThomM . . . How, pray tell, did you correspond with Benchmade? I have sent them two emails over the past two weeks and absolutely no answer. Is a very simple request that would take one of their people about five minutes to accomplish . . . but I am still totally ignored. Own three BM knives and like the originator of this thread, may never own another . . . regards.

------------------
ralph
 
Question: What if you're ready and willing to void the warranty on the knife, just as long as you can modify it to your personal tastes, and wanted to buy parts from them, but they wouldn't sell it to you (with accompanying lame excuses)? Odd isn't the word.

I wrote them an email, asking if I can just purchase a blade to replace the one I broke. I told them beforehand that I cannot ship the knife out of this country, due to legal reasons. Imagine my surprise when I got a reply, telling me to ship it via FedEx or UPS! (Talk about redundant! Hello! Anybody home??).

frown.gif


Dan
 
ThomM . . I did exactly the same with no results. Today, after my earlier post, I called the Benchmade toll-free number and ended up talking with Travis who advised that Angie had tried to respond to my email only to have it "bounce". So, Benchmade tried to respond but their effort fell into the bit-bucket. Travis was able to get an answer to my question; and he was aware of my critical post here on BFC . . . actually I owe Benchmade an apology because they made the effort only to be stymied by a technical problem beyond their control. So . . . maybe I am still on the Benchmade customer list!
redface.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top