KAI Suspends Warranty and Sharpening Service

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Tigerfan

Tigerfan

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Didn't see this posted elsewhere, so here is Kai's official announcement about suspension of warranty and sharpening service due to 'rona.
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Tigerfan said:
Didn't see this posted elsewhere, so here is Kai's official announcement about suspension of warranty and sharpening service due to 'rona.
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I don't care much about the warranty and sharpening service tbh - they are good a very high % of the time

The fact they also shutdown parts orders is more of a problem for most of us I expect?
 
Saw this on Facebook. Cannot say anything nice about it, so I will just say, I think it is a poor decision to "discontinue" their warranty.

I would say I am not going to continue to buy Kershaw, but LOL not happening, just bought another Kershaw this week.

Own 29 U.S. made Kershaws. Not going to count the Chinese-made ones. But to hear the warranty is kaput, even temporarily, is concerning.
 
Whoa, that's a heavy decision. You'd think they were close to shutting down.

As far as I know, they are the only one doing this. Did they get hit harder? Is is there something else going on?

Is this even legal? I mean, if you offer warranty with a sale, that is a binding agreement, isn't it?

Do they need the money? That's what it seems like, prioritizing sales over service. And what of the people working in the service department? Are they getting sent home without pay?

This is an ugly decision for an ugly time. But I'm not convinced it's all just because of COVID-19. KAI is one of the bigger knife companies, isn't it? What about business continuity? Why haven't they saved some capital to have some meat on the bones for meagre times?

Anyway, as long as the retailer will still take care of me, there is no impact for me. I don't buy many KAI knives anyway. Nothing against them, just my tastes. However, if I should find out they've been f**king over their employees, I will all-out boycot them. (Same as I do for Amazon).
 
I would guess, and hope, that everything will be made right, and things will be okay, eventually, someday, when the crazy times we are living through become less crazy again.
 
It says that it is temporary and I think to make a big deal over something like this is pretty ridiculous. At least thay are able to still employ people. A lot of us do not have jobs right now, myself included. Jeez guys just use a different knife for a while until they get past this Covid BS. Get a grip on reality, is this really that big of an impact on your life.
 
vjb.knife said:
It says that it is temporary and I think to make a big deal over something like this is pretty ridiculous. At least thay are able to still employ people. A lot of us do not have jobs right now, myself included. Jeez guys just use a different knife for a while until they get past this Covid BS. Get a grip on reality, is this really that big of an impact on your life.
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Bravo and well said!
 
vjb.knife said:
It says that it is temporary and I think to make a big deal over something like this is pretty ridiculous. At least thay are able to still employ people. A lot of us do not have jobs right now, myself included. Jeez guys just use a different knife for a while until they get past this Covid BS. Get a grip on reality, is this really that big of an impact on your life.
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Hell, yeah!! Right on point. I hope they are taking care of their families and one another.

I live in a city where we are having as many as 2000 cases of Covid reported a day, along with about 9 deaths a day. Deaths in all age groups from infants, 20s and 30s, to our seniors. No one is safe.

While maintaining the integrity of my knife collection is important, (maybe not as much as it should be sometimes) I sure as hell wouldn't want anyone to be required to come to work just to send me a new screw, fix a blemish or to sharpen a blade.

I think until this Covid business gets sorted out, I can probably get by with a loose pocket clip or missing screw as opposed to putting someone at health risk.

Or if disaster hits... I could just go over to the drawer and take the next knife in rotation out, clip it to my pocket and go on with my day. Guess I have become so old I just don't sweat the little things.

We'll know when they are back. Some here will be able to breathe again. Soon I hope.

Robert
 
I know a lot of factories and business have had issues where 1-2 get COVID, then even more get it. I’ve heard of a few factories or essential businesses having to temporarily close or scale back due to insufficient number of healthy trained workers. This may be their attempt at trying to continue what they deem the most important operations until employees get healthy again.
 
Sos24 said:
I know a lot of factories and business have had issues where 1-2 get COVID, then even more get it. I’ve heard of a few factories or essential businesses having to temporarily close or scale back due to insufficient number of healthy trained workers.
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Yup, 1-2 cases can quickly balloon out of control in a workplace. My job has been affected by a similar scenario. They probably have a handful of confirmed cases, or they're waiting on official test results for people whom they're reasonably sure have it. In that case the best thing to do is minimize everyone's exposure. The last thing they want to do is put their employees and their families at greater risk than they need to be.

I think the fact that they said they're holding on to packages is a little telling, they could just refuse delivery, and have them returned to the senders. Either they're afraid of spreading it from their factory via the packaging (very unlikely) or they're planning on it being a very short halt in service.

Lodd said:
Is this even legal? I mean, if you offer warranty with a sale, that is a binding agreement, isn't it?
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You're joking right? Any warranty offered by a company is always at their discretion. They could have announced that they will never warranty another knife, and it would be completely legal.
 
Silent H said:
You're joking right? Any warranty offered by a company is always at their discretion. They could have announced that they will never warranty another knife, and it would be completely legal.
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I sincerely hope you're the one that's joking? In my country, consumers have rights and there are laws governing those rights. There are also laws binding you to agreements made at a specific point in time. I hope you guys have those too. Right?

I mean, I'm all for being chill about it given the circumstances (even though their statement is pretty vague), but legally there would be some issues if this happened in my country.
 
They didn't say the warranty is discontinued or void. They said it is suspended. Meaning, they will still honor it when conditions allow them to return to something resembling normal operations. Good grief.

I work in manufacturing in a "hot bed" state and let me tell ya, COVID19 has made things extremely challenging. Heck, one confirmed case can shut down an entire department for fourteen days while everyone who had contact with the person goes on quarantine. It doesn't matter if any of those people have negative results, out for fourteen days. Then the area has to be shutdown for at least a shift so it can be fully sanitized by a pro-crew. And that's just the tip of the ice berg.

Cut them some slack. What we should all be genuinely hoping for is that all of our beloved knife companies actually survive.
 
I think we're going to see a lot more of this soon. Cases are spiraling out of control, people are being stupid and not protecting themselves (and others) because they think this is a hoax or it doesn't apply to them. Someone even got shot because they were told to leave an establishment or put on a mask!

We didn't shut down soon enough, and we opened up too soon. We need to shut down again, and anyone who goes against it needs to be made to take precautions. I'm sorry, but if you're dumb enough to think this is a hoax or that you're somehow above taking precautions then you need to be forced to comply. My poor kid has had cabin fever for months because he won't wear a mask and we are not putting him in danger. So no shopping trips with mom and dad. I feel bad for him, but I'm keeping him as safe as possible.

I could see benchmade and other companies do this too. Just be prepared! I have plenty of knives so I'll be able to weather the storm.
 
Lodd said:
Whoa, that's a heavy decision. You'd think they were close to shutting down.

As far as I know, they are the only one doing this. Did they get hit harder? Is is there something else going on?

Is this even legal? I mean, if you offer warranty with a sale, that is a binding agreement, isn't it?

Do they need the money? That's what it seems like, prioritizing sales over service. And what of the people working in the service department? Are they getting sent home without pay?

This is an ugly decision for an ugly time. But I'm not convinced it's all just because of COVID-19. KAI is one of the bigger knife companies, isn't it? What about business continuity? Why haven't they saved some capital to have some meat on the bones for meagre times?

Anyway, as long as the retailer will still take care of me, there is no impact for me. I don't buy many KAI knives anyway. Nothing against them, just my tastes. However, if I should find out they've been f**king over their employees, I will all-out boycot them. (Same as I do for Amazon).
Click to expand...

Lodd said:
I sincerely hope you're the one that's joking? In my country, consumers have rights and there are laws governing those rights. There are also laws binding you to agreements made at a specific point in time. I hope you guys have those too. Right?

I mean, I'm all for being chill about it given the circumstances (even though their statement is pretty vague), but legally there would be some issues if this happened in my country.
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I believe you sir are grabbing at air here. Your speculation is just that. KAI is good people. Maybe take a moment and calm down then reassess. Your post sounds a little entitled.

Yes its legal, and no this isnt a money issue. Just protecting their employess because they care about them.

I believe most sane people here can see where KAI and any other companies are coming from with the current situation.

Best,

Justin
 
Lodd said:
I sincerely hope you're the one that's joking? In my country, consumers have rights and there are laws governing those rights. There are also laws binding you to agreements made at a specific point in time. I hope you guys have those too. Right?

I mean, I'm all for being chill about it given the circumstances (even though their statement is pretty vague), but legally there would be some issues if this happened in my country.
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I'm curious, how much money would you be willing to spend in order to sue KAI to get them to fix your $28 Kershaw?

LOL You're being ridiculous. As someone else stated, this is a suspension in warranty work, not an outright cancellation of the warranty.
 
L Lodd wow, such insight! You should totally reach out the them and inquire if they are hiring in upper management, help them right the ship. At the very least, get a job with their legal department to make sure they don’t get themselves sued since they are breaking international law...

CRK closed their we store during the initial impact of COVID, I remember cuz I went to their site and it said so, and they weren’t alone. A slew companies reduced operations or closed temporarily or are still closed, and I don’t see an issue with that. KAI wanting to protect their staff from possible infections seems like a good play to me, and most companies or corporations have been doing the same from the jump. How many people right now are working remote?

Seems like not a big deal to me, if I need warranty assistance from KAI USA, I can wait. No biggie, luckily I saved some capital early on and made sure I had some meat on the bone knife-wise for these meager times.
 
soc_monki said:
I think we're going to see a lot more of this soon. Cases are spiraling out of control, people are being stupid and not protecting themselves (and others) because they think this is a hoax or it doesn't apply to them. Someone even got shot because they were told to leave an establishment or put on a mask!

We didn't shut down soon enough, and we opened up too soon. We need to shut down again, and anyone who goes against it needs to be made to take precautions. I'm sorry, but if you're dumb enough to think this is a hoax or that you're somehow above taking precautions then you need to be forced to comply. My poor kid has had cabin fever for months because he won't wear a mask and we are not putting him in danger. So no shopping trips with mom and dad. I feel bad for him, but I'm keeping him as safe as possible.

I could see benchmade and other companies do this too. Just be prepared! I have plenty of knives so I'll be able to weather the storm.
Click to expand...

I've taken my kids out to an actual store once since this all started. And that was only to get a new wet/dry vac when my basement flooded a little. So I feel ya...

I really can't say that a company taking care of their employees is a bad thing....ever. Honestly, there's not enough of that regardless of our current situation. Good on KAI....
 
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