Goodbye Cold Steel - Won't Provide Replacement Parts

[RokJok]

Well , at least these medium priced , mass market knives, could come supplied with a little bag of spare parts . I don't think that would cost much extra?

Business 101:
(Fraction of a cent extra cost per unit) x (# of units sold) = lost profit.

The cost of including anything extra is $$ moved out of the profit column. We need to remember that the business of business is to stay in business. Otherwise they tank & we lose a source of goods to pursue.

Good to hear that you're one of those willing to roll up their sleeves to at least attempt a repair vs the "toss & replace" approach.

Edit to add: Lawyers & risk managers do their best to implement CYA diaper policies in terms of marketing & management that minimize the company's liability exposure and obligations if/when something fails. Providing parts, free or otherwise, to untrained or unauthorized persons is an open ended risk that would give said lawyers & managers night sweats.

 

[jbmonkey]

No but seriously if it were your knife would you be able to figure it out? There's gotta be video of someone taking one apart. I know it's a PITA and I think CS should send the part but if they won't it will still need a pivot.

I'd just call my pal detective Simp to take the case and find the parts......

 

[Quiet]

Well it is better than the old days when they're all just pretend nothing was wrong.

Accurate!

 

[DocJD]

Business 101:
(Fraction of a cent extra cost per unit) x (# of units sold) = lost profit.

The cost of including anything extra is $$ moved out of the profit column. We need to remember that the business of business is to stay in business. Otherwise they tank & we lose a source of goods to pursue.

Good to hear that you're one of those willing to roll up their sleeves to at least attempt a repair vs the "toss & replace" approach.

Edit to add: Lawyers & risk managers do their best to implement CYA diaper policies in terms of marketing & management that minimize the company's liability exposure and obligations if/when something fails. Providing parts, free or otherwise, to untrained or unauthorized persons is an open ended risk that would give said lawyers & managers night sweats.

Yeah . I understand the principles of capitalism . More or less . And a civilization overrun with lawyers .

But the blind pursuit of short term profits alone , while degrading the quality of goods and services provided, has been the doom of many once great corporations .

Greed is only" good" , in the long run , if balanced by wisdom . IMO .

The changes for the worse, with GSM running Cold Steel, go far beyond customer service /parts . IMO .

 

[JohnnyGalt]

"We do not send out any internal parts, including springs, washers, liners, spacers of any kind, and latches. If you require any of these internal parts, we suggest sending your knife in for warranty service so that we can evaluate why the part broke and make the necessary repairs."

Per second link.

Yes, they specify those parts are covered under warranty and can be replaced if you send in the knife.

You said "Benchmade also refuses to send out replacement parts, no matter how much you beg or offer to pay, unless you are an overseas customer."

That's just not true. They offer many parts and those that are not offered to be sent are covered under warranty if they are defective.

 

[whp]

They have a replacement parts request form at https://www.coldsteel.com/parts-request/

Did you try that, what is it for if not to get parts? Or did you try sending it in for repair?

Nice find. Maybe customers should try this service.

My personal experience with a couple of dozen Cold Steel purchases in recent years, is that I only had one with any problem. An Airline bought when it first came out had back and forth lock rock, very unusual for a triad lock in my experience. On disasemlby and reassembly, the problem persisted. But after opening and closing the knife about 100 times, the mechanism seated. The lockup became tight and has remained solid through a couple of years of use.

 

[marrenmiller]

Yes, they specify those parts are covered under warranty and can be replaced if you send in the knife.

You said "Benchmade also refuses to send out replacement parts, no matter how much you beg or offer to pay, unless you are an overseas customer."

That's just not true. They offer many parts and those that are not offered to be sent are covered under warranty if they are defective.

I'm not the original person you quoted.

I'm just pointing out that they had said Benchmade doesn't send out parts. That's substantially true; you can get clips and screws, but no internal parts that really matter. That's pertinent to the discussion at hand, where OP is looking to get a replacement pivot.

Nobody here said Benchmade won't PROVIDE parts.

 

[A.L.]

Pinned and rubber handle gang!
Seriously though that sucks. Being able to fix your knives should be this day.

 

[The Whip]

I've never personally had any need to send anything back to Cold Steel ; but , I'd swear I remember a post on the Cold Steel sub forum , about Demko , himself ,repairing a early model 4Max . For a Cold Steel customer service , not his own co.

But, my memory its no longer too reliable .

Demko had to rework a bunch of the early US 4-Max's due to some issue (proud lockbar maybe?). He worked for CS at the time, and it was his design, so makes sense he would be heavily involved in the resolution.

I just wanted to clarify this for the record. It was I who discussed the repair of my 4-MAX, which was a third-run model (if memory serves) with a proud lock bar. I contacted Cold Steel and they said they were aware of the issue (which they learned about from Blade Forums posts in the Cold Steel subforum, by the way) and would fix it. They sent me a pre-paid FedEx label and asked me to box the knife and send it in. When the label arrived, it was addressed to Pennsylvania (turned out to be Andrew Demko's address).

I received the knife from Andrew several weeks later, perfectly repaired. At the next Blade Show, I saw Lynn Thompson and Andrew Demko and asked them about the situation. It turned out that the American manufacturer of the 4-MAX had screwed up on the milling specification on a batch of lockbars but constructed and shipped the knives anyway. Lynn was quite angry about it, particularly as it was his initial return to U.S. manufacturing in many years, since the closure of Camillus. He said that he preferred to use U.S. makers, but sadly found that those kinds of mistakes tended to occur more frequently than with overseas suppliers. I'm fairly certain that's why the manufacture of 4-MAXes went to Italy after the U.S. company completed its contract.

Andrew didn't have to do the repairs at all. He told me that he volunteered to do them on his own because he cared about Cold Steel's reputation and wanted to ensure that the repairs were done properly. It's a testament to his character and professional integrity that he took on a burden that wasn't his responsibility.

While the repair of my 4-MAX was a small pain to deal with, it didn't cost me a dime. And having a 4-MAX that Andrew Demko worked on personally has made it one of my most cherished knives, particularly because of the reasons that he gave for fixing it.

As for the thread topic, I think a company has an obligation to correct its own production mistakes, as Cold Steel did for me. But I definitely don't think a company should be blamed for failing to accommodate customer mistakes, such as disassembling a knife and losing some of the parts.


-Steve

 

[jlauffer]

I just wanted to clarify this for the record. It was I who discussed the repair of my 4-MAX, which was a third-run model (if memory serves) with a proud lock bar. I contacted Cold Steel and they said they were aware of the issue (which they learned about from Blade Forums posts in the Cold Steel subforum, by the way) and would fix it. They sent me a pre-paid FedEx label and asked me to box the knife and send it in. When the label arrived, it was addressed to Pennsylvania (turned out to be Andrew Demko's address).

I received the knife from Andrew several weeks later, perfectly repaired. At the next Blade Show, I saw Lynn Thompson and Andrew Demko and asked them about the situation. It turned out that the American manufacturer of the 4-MAX had screwed up on the milling specification on a batch of lockbars but constructed and shipped the knives anyway. Lynn was quite angry about it, particularly as it was his initial return to U.S. manufacturing in many years, since the closure of Camillus. He said that he preferred to use U.S. makers, but sadly found that those kinds of mistakes tended to occur more frequently than with overseas suppliers. I'm fairly certain that's why the manufacture of 4-MAXes went to Italy after the U.S. company completed its contract.

Andrew didn't have to do the repairs at all. He told me that he volunteered to do them on his own because he cared about Cold Steel's reputation and wanted to ensure that the repairs were done properly. It's a testament to his character and professional integrity that he took on a burden that wasn't his responsibility.

While the repair of my 4-MAX was a small pain to deal with, it didn't cost me a dime. And having a 4-MAX that Andrew Demko worked on personally has made it one of my most cherished knives, particularly because of the reasons that he gave for fixing it.

As for the thread topic, I think a company has an obligation to correct its own production mistakes, as Cold Steel did for me. But I definitely don't think a company should be blamed for failing to accommodate customer mistakes, such as disassembling a knife and losing some of the parts.


-Steve

When I said "had to" I didn't mean it like he was forced to, just that he did. Guess I should have just said "Demko reworked a bunch..."

 

[JohnnyGalt]

I'm not the original person you quoted.

I'm just pointing out that they had said Benchmade doesn't send out parts. That's substantially true; you can get clips and screws, but no internal parts that really matter. That's pertinent to the discussion at hand, where OP is looking to get a replacement pivot.

Nobody here said Benchmade won't PROVIDE parts.

I simply pointed out his blanket statement was not 100% correct. For example if you bend a pocket clip and need a replacement part for this Benchmade will not “refuse no matter how much you beg or offer to pay”.

The links I provided were clear in identifying that Benchmade does not send out every single replacement part. The site indicates that knives needing “internal parts” should be sent in for warranty service.

Not sure why my reply bothers you so much (especially when it was not directed to you) but so be it. As far as a replacement pivot goes from Benchmade, the availability of that part is not clear. Their replacement request form indicated replacement pivot screws are available but makes no mention of availability for the pivot itself. If you are genuinely curious about that specific part they do list an “other” category on their request form.

 

[The Whip]

When I said "had to" I didn't mean it like he was forced to, just that he did. Guess I should have just said "Demko reworked a bunch..."

I wasn't trying to call you out, but I didn't want anyone to get the wrong impression from what you wrote, especially since Andrew Demko actually raised his hand to resolve a problem not of his making that should have been fixed by the manufacturer responsible for the error. He deserves recognition for that kind of integrity.


-Steve

 

[stabman]

Cold Steel's customer service sucked before too; that's why I had to make a new handle for my Master Tanto when the Kraton turned to goo.

The difference is that in the past, the price point was low enough on many models to justify still buying them. You could get two XL Voyagers for the price of what a single one is now.

More price should equal more customer support.
Since it isn't, well, kind of makes buying new Cold Steel products less enticing.

 

[not2sharp]

A company that does not respect its customers deserves no respect. There are fleets of good makers out there who care; why would you continue to buy junk from an overpriced source that doesn’t care about you, the quality of its products or its reputation?

The owner damaged the knife in the OP by his own action. Nothing is owed to him. But, a good company would give him an option to send it in for fair repair quote.


n2s