Horrible Problems with Cold Steel's Warranty... You?

[knives-n-stuff]

Hey guys, I have 4 Cold Steels (1 Trailmaster, 1 Recon Scout, and 2 SRK's). I have issues with the handle separating from the tang one of my SRK's (thats krayton for ya'), and my Recon Scout has a huge crack next to the hilt. When this happened, I figured it would be a "no-sweat" deal, and that Cold Steel would honor their warraty (which is only a five-year guarentee... nice :grumpy And when I called up Cold Steel they said they can't so anything about it, and that I'm an unresponsible owner!!! To say the least, I was PISSED...
Not gonna lie, CS has seen the very last of my business. Have you guys encountered any issues with their warranty? And do you know of any knives ($190 or under), that can stack up to the trailmaster, that actually HAS a warranty, and good customer service (knife has to be over six inches, and at least 1/4" thick...)?

Thanks Guys, for any help!!! :thumbup:

 

[slapper]

Is the 1/4" a nescessity? If not a Becker BK9 or an ESEE junglas would be good. They both have excellent lifetime warranties

 

[jbmonkey]

dealt with cold steel warranty once with a crap trail boss axe that had bad heat treat and a deformed shape of the head. sent them an email, long before i knew they wouldn't answer emails. actually got a response months later that said and i am paraphrasing.....we are so busy we can't address this right now. we will get to it when we have the time.

well they never had the time. so i bought a fiskars axe to replace it, and i stuck the trail boss out in my garage as a bang around axe for those times were you need a tool you can risk destroying. doesn't work well since it can't hold a very good edge, but it's fine for smashing rotten logs and such like that.

so my take on cold steel now is simple. lower dollar stuff, like the lawman, recon1, pocket bushman, voyager, etc.... i will take the risk with their poor warranty and customer service attitude. cause i like the tri-ad lock and i like those knives. high dollar stuff, i go elsewhere.

 

[knives-n-stuff]

Is the 1/4" a nescessity? If not a Becker BK9 or an ESEE junglas would be good. They both have excellent lifetime warranties

I have a BK9... I like it, but it's more of a soldier option to me... it's just too light for my taste (although, I have no doubt they're good... I've seen Nutnfancy's videos of knives that were close to it, and they did perform quite well) As for the Junglas; I have an ESEE 5, and 6, and I LOVE them! I might get one of those later, but for right now, I am looking for a 1/4" blade. Thanks for the suggestions though... ESEE does have a great warranty, and it's just cool that the come in a bag!

Best Regards, Jared :thumbup:

 

[knives-n-stuff]

dealt with cold steel warranty once with a crap trail boss axe that had bad heat treat and a deformed shape of the head. sent them an email, long before i knew they wouldn't answer emails. actually got a response months later that said and i am paraphrasing.....we are so busy we can't address this right now. we will get to it when we have the time.

well they never had the time. so i bought a fiskars axe to replace it, and i stuck the trail boss out in my garage as a bang around axe for those times were you need a tool you can risk destroying. doesn't work well since it can't hold a very good edge, but it's fine for smashing rotten logs and such like that.

so my take on cold steel now is simple. lower dollar stuff, like the lawman, recon1, pocket bushman, voyager, etc.... i will take the risk with their poor warranty and customer service attitude. cause i like the tri-ad lock and i like those knives. high dollar stuff, i go elsewhere.

I agree... although, I will NEVER buy another CS, no matter how cheap. And it's funny, I was actually thinking of getting a Trail Boss for a while... Glad I didn't, and went with my AWESOME Wetterlings instead (although, I do LOVE my Pipe Hawk...)

 

[hughewil]

Agree with BK9 or junglas

 

[neuron]

Wow, that's pretty ridiculous. Just out of curiosity what were you doing with the knife when it broke that led them to say you were an "irresponsible owner"?

To be clear, I'm totally on your side on this and not trying to set you up for some sort of "you were abusing it blah blah" reply. It's a big, supposedly tough fixed blade, so even if you were chopping, batoning, prying, or whatever else with it, it should have stood up to it. (All the more so given that in the same price range as the SRK and Trailmaster, there are fixed blades from Scrap Yard and Swamp Rat that come with an unconditional lifetime warranty; even if you break it doing something completely ridiculous like trying to chop/pry a bank vault open, they'll still cover it as long as you broke the knife unintentionally.)

 

[sqoon]

I used to be a big Cold Steel fan. Got really tired of the company, their BS marketing tactics, crap way they treat customers, and BS warranty. I have since gotten rid of almost all my CS products. I think I might have a machete or two and their shovel. I have made good money selling some of their discontinued items, but I doubt I will ever buy another one of their overpriced, overseas, ripped off design products ever again. 5 year warranty on a fixed blade and 1 year on their folders (this is what I recall their warranty being, but it looks like their website has taken down this wording) is complete garbage, especially for a company with such an insanely huge mouth as they have.

 

[Dorito Monk]

I can definitely see where you're coming from - you have every reason to be pissed off. If their extremely limited warranty won't even cover a problem like that, there is a pretty big problem with that company.

I agree with the ESEE and Ka-bar recommendations...I haven't dealt with them personally, but I've heard nothing but great things about their warranty and customer service.

 

[neuron]

Oh, as for a replacement for the Trailmaster, check out Swamp Rat's current offering, the Rodent 9: 9.5" blade, .25" stock, price of $199 for the standard model with micarta handles. And, as mentioned above, it comes with the same unconditional warranty as all Busse Kin knives.

 

[jeepin]

Hey guys, I have 4 Cold Steels (1 Trailmaster, 1 Recon Scout, and 2 SRK's). I have issues with the handle separating from the tang one of my SRK's (thats krayton for ya'), and my Recon Scout has a huge crack next to the hilt. When this happened, I figured it would be a "no-sweat" deal, and that Cold Steel would honor their warraty (which is only a five-year guarentee... nice :grumpy And when I called up Cold Steel they said they can't so anything about it, and that I'm an unresponsible owner!!! To say the least, I was PISSED...
Not gonna lie, CS has seen the very last of my business. Have you guys encountered any issues with their warranty? And do you know of any knives ($190 or under), that can stack up to the trailmaster, that actually HAS a warranty, and good customer service (knife has to be over six inches, and at least 1/4" thick...)?

Thanks Guys, for any help!!! :thumbup:

What are they stupid?. Do they not realize how many customers they just lost over this thread


I will never deal with a company that treats there customers like that

 

[sasquatch1]

for me what comes to mind when i think 6 inch or over fixed blade with a 1/4" thickness with a great warranty. i think grayman knives. they're warrior 7.5 inch model is $215 and the warranty is about the same as swamp rat and esse. and well if you manage to break that then your doing something crazy! while i havent had to use the warranty and havent purchased a grayman yet. i have heard nothing but satisfied customers. espicially with military personel.

 

[OrdnanceBubbaUSMC]

Hey guys, I have 4 Cold Steels (1 Trailmaster, 1 Recon Scout, and 2 SRK's). I have issues with the handle separating from the tang one of my SRK's (thats krayton for ya'), and my Recon Scout has a huge crack next to the hilt. When this happened, I figured it would be a "no-sweat" deal, and that Cold Steel would honor their warraty (which is only a five-year guarentee... nice :grumpy And when I called up Cold Steel they said they can't so anything about it, and that I'm an unresponsible owner!!! To say the least, I was PISSED...
Not gonna lie, CS has seen the very last of my business. Have you guys encountered any issues with their warranty? And do you know of any knives ($190 or under), that can stack up to the trailmaster, that actually HAS a warranty, and good customer service (knife has to be over six inches, and at least 1/4" thick...)?

Thanks Guys, for any help!!! :thumbup:

Can you put up a picture or two of the Recon Scout that has a crack in it? Only ever seen a couple photos of ones online where they actually had a break - including the infamous blade stuck in huge log photo.

 

[jerrinfla]

I had a trail master that broke in half at the tang while I was using it to baton some firewood during the second winter I had it. Even though I live in Orlando, I use a lot of firewood during the cooler part of winter, cause it's cold enough and I like watching the flames.
Anyway, I emailed them and attached a few pictures of the tang where the blade broke off and a descriprtion of what I was doing with the knife when it broke. I didn't here from them for about a week, but then I received an e-mail from them saying they were going to replace my knife and also said that they do not recommend using a knife to baton logs. I received a new trail master about 2 days after.
This was in the beginning of last year, so I'm not going way back in the past, and I had no problem with the warranty at all. I don't know how long the CS warranty is, but I thought I was out of the warranty period and was surprised and happy to get a new knife.

 

[crom]

A guy a while back used a Long Hunter to baton through the rib cage of a cow in an animal autopsy. He wrecked the edge, any knife would have faired a similar amount of damage. They sent him a new knife. I know it was a cheap model, but he admitted what he had done with it and they still honored it. I'm sure for every crap story there is a positive one. Not everybody is going to have stellar CS the likes of Kershaw. FYI, the SRK's handle is held on with the lanyard loop, just how did yours separate if you don't mind me asking?

 

[knives-n-stuff]

Wow, that's pretty ridiculous. Just out of curiosity what were you doing with the knife when it broke that led them to say you were an "irresponsible owner"? QUOTE]

I was bottoning with it, but at the time, I only had it 3 months, and up until that point, I had done only carving with it (I have since switched to actual, Bushcraft knives). I just don't get it...

 

[knives-n-stuff]

Oh, as for a replacement for the Trailmaster, check out Swamp Rat's current offering, the Rodent 9: 9.5" blade, .25" stock, price of $199 for the standard model with micarta handles. And, as mentioned above, it comes with the same unconditional warranty as all Busse Kin knives.

LOL... I acually JUST looked at that... It's pretty promising!

 

[Bigfattyt]

I had a trailmaster in SanmaiIII. Only reason I passed it on after 10 years of good service was the Krayton handle was not too comfy. For a cushion grip, I love Resiprine C!!! Much much denser and tougher than krayton! I don't know why everyone does not use it!

I had a real issue with a Black Rhino. The lock is faulty by design. The spring moves forward till it contacts the edge. I sent it back and the sent me a new one that did the exact same thing! I tried two fixes, neither of which worked! I am planning on getting a new lock bar made for it to correct the problem.

I still buy products. Especially hawks. They are tough and cheap!

 

[knives-n-stuff]

for me what comes to mind when i think 6 inch or over fixed blade with a 1/4" thickness with a great warranty. i think grayman knives. they're warrior 7.5 inch model is $215 and the warranty is about the same as swamp rat and esse. and well if you manage to break that then your doing something crazy! while i havent had to use the warranty and havent purchased a grayman yet. i have heard nothing but satisfied customers. espicially with military personel.

I'll have to take a look at this one too. I do like the superb quality of customs (I have a few from Koyote, VERY nice).

 

[knives-n-stuff]

Can you put up a picture or two of the Recon Scout that has a crack in it? Only ever seen a couple photos of ones online where they actually had a break - including the infamous blade stuck in huge log photo.

Yeah, I currently don't have a good camera, but that'll change next month.