Kershaw -VS- Spyderco Customer Service

I sent in an SNG to SKI that needed work on December 30, 2011, the knife was delivered to San Marcos on January 3, 2012, and back in my hands on January 10, 2012.

I didn't have to send them any money (not that I judge customer service by that)

The knife was repaired perfectly and as good as new.

So my recent experience is opposite of your suggestion.

I've used KAI and Spyderco service and both are well serving. If I did have to find a compliant, it is the notion that vertical place play is often considered "within specs" by Spyderco. I sent in a SuperLeaf because of some vertical play and the reply after sending it in was this knife is within specs. They did return my $5.00 though.

So the only downside to that experience was I had a knife that lost more value on the secondary market when I decided to trade it away. I obviously had to disclose the vertical play and the trade value was not in line with the appearance or the and conditon of the knife beside the vertical play. It was like new otherwise. That was disappointing but I can't dig Spyderco's service when they do "fix" a knife. I've had about two other experiences with that and it worked out fine.

harleyguy02 said:
I think Strider could learn a thing or two from both companies ��
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Missing screws, clips, pivots etc, Spyderco has taken care of me. I've sent in a few knives, and they took care of me in that regard too. I've only dealt with ThomasW at Kershaw, and he has taken care of me. I think that Spyderco's approach is reasonable. I need to send a lockbar issue in, and a kitchen knife that has a chipped blade. Chipped blade will be a resharpening job and will cost me, I'll be surprised if the lockbar will cost me at all.
 
I bought a new Spyderco from a dealer (NIB) when I received it the clip had a lot of marks on it. So, I call Spyderco and the lady tells me. "You didn't buy it directly from Spyderco, so no we won't send you a new clip" (free of charge, I had to pay for it). I've bought a NIB Kershaw (from a dealer) and called them about a missing thumb stud. The lady took my name and address and sent me 3 thumb studs! (free of charge)
 
I’ll send you a few replacement screws.


Thank you and have a great day,


Charlynn

Spyderco Customer Service/Warranty/Repair

Received the screws within a week at my home in the Netherlands. Came with the new 2012 catalog etc.

Pretty good service in my book
 
Never had any experience with Spyderco CS, but I have emailed Kershaw for replacement screws. I bought a heavily used Skyline off a forum, and while taking it apart to clean, found that a few screws were stripped. I emailed Kershaw CS, told them the situation (including the fact that I got it second hand) and had a set of body screws, clip screws, pivot screw, and clip in my mailbox a few days later. Emails were quick and courteous--perfect customer service!
 
harleyguy02 said:
I think Strider could learn a thing or two from both companies ��
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I bought a used SnG CC with weird lockup issues from a guy who didn't want to send it in after putting it through some questionable work.

Sent it out via FedEx to their facility, I get it back like 5 days after they receive it, they tightened the pivot, hand-tuned my lockup (without the bigger lockstop pins), oiled and loctited everything on my knife, reapplied my tiger stripe, and gave me a brand new edge.

Customer service for a 60 dollar knife is exemplary and wonderful, but customer service for a 500 dollar knife is absolutely expected so we don't rant about it.
 
Thankfully I've never had a need to use the customer service of each company. I have had defective knives from both. I own a byrd rescue that the blade exhibited stress fractures (probably from me trying to pry open paint cans) and a lock that disengages when I wear gloves and hold it in a particular grip (Boye dent is too shallow.) Spyderco offered to replace the Byrd multiple times, that itself was a replacement for a knife that I lost overboard that they gave me in the first place.

The kershaw is a blackout, the lock failed when the lock face peened and the blade can be closed by hand. I haven't made any effort to contact kershaw, and am sure they would replace the knife (this knife wasn't used to pry or otherwise abuse the lock, it's construction was just not able to hold up to the rigors of commercial fishing. It is not even close to the quality of a spyderco of equal or even lesser value.)

Brand loyalty is nice but what is with the "Company A is better than Company B" or Company A is great Company B sucks!!" threads lately? Are people that bored or petty that they are amused by arguments over knife brands?

I have my own opinions on Kershaw vs. Spyderco but unless it is regarding the knives I'll keep it to myself.
 
I've never dealt with either Spyderco or Kershaw's CS. I do expect them to be awesome. The $5 shipping thing is fine by me. I mean, its not an unreasonable charge. If they demanded $25 for shipping then I'd probably balk.

What I will say is that, IMO, Spyderco generally produces higher quality knives the Kershaw does. My point of reference is my current EDC (a Skyline that I recently picked up from kershawguy) vs. spydies of similar type/price point (in this case a Tenacious.) My skyline has developed side to side wobble relatively quickly (I've owned it for a little over a week) which my Tenacious didn't do this at all for the 3 months that I carried it. That said, I do expect KAI to fix the problem if I reported it but for now it seems less then prudent for a $40 knife.

Just my two cents.
 
I accidentally over tighten the screws in my Manix and stripped it, half the screw was left inside the knife.

I sent it in for warranty with $5 cash for return shipping, 4 weeks later I get my Manix back (fixed), along with my $5 and a note thanking me and notifying me that it was covered under warranty.

I love Spyderco CS!
 
Wow, weak. Really weak. All the sleazy knife companies out there and you call out Spyderco? Good luck with that.
 
I've had three very good experiences with Spyderco CS:thumbup: They never charged me the $5, fixed the problem well, and had them back to me in about 3 weeks.

Both great companies.
 
jill jackson said:
I bought a new Spyderco from a dealer (NIB) when I received it the clip had a lot of marks on it. So, I call Spyderco and the lady tells me. "You didn't buy it directly from Spyderco, so no we won't send you a new clip" (free of charge, I had to pay for it). I've bought a NIB Kershaw (from a dealer) and called them about a missing thumb stud. The lady took my name and address and sent me 3 thumb studs! (free of charge)
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If I contacted the company for marks on a clip on a NIB knife (some just attract them, esp on BMs), Id be on the black list.
 
dericdesmond said:
If I contacted the company for marks on a clip on a NIB knife (some just attract them, esp on BMs), Id be on the black list.
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If there is marks all the way through the finish on a brand new knife, that I am not using yes I will replace the clip. (which I did at my expense) And yes I do use some knives, I own and keep some others in NIB condition, just as you do.
 
My Tenacious AND Resilance screws stripped also. I haven't had any trouble with the 10-15 other knives in which I have moved the clip. Even my loctited Para 2 clip screws held up with no problem. Maybe we have a trend occuring in the country of manufacture??
I have sent 3 knives into Kershaw. I am satisfied with the outcome, but a brief explanation of the repair, or reason why they could not be repaired would have been nice.
 
mwhich50 said:
My Tenacious AND Resilance screws stripped also. I haven't had any trouble with the 10-15 other knives in which I have moved the clip. Even my loctited Para 2 clip screws held up with no problem. Maybe we have a trend occuring in the country of manufacture??
I have sent 3 knives into Kershaw. I am satisfied with the outcome, but a brief explanation of the repair, or reason why they could not be repaired would have been nice.
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I am really ticked at the lousey attention to my Kerhaw Random Leek 1660TGRYST. This is not a cheap Leek with an S30V blade. I can't find one less than $80 and up over $100 (if you can find them in stock. I have 4 Leeks and 2 are of the kind I sent in.

It arrived NIB from an authorized dealer. The blade was so stiff it wouldn't fully deploy and the framelock isn't solid but when fully engaged has wobble in it. I loosened the pivot a bit and got it to fire open nicely but with play in all 4 directions. I contacted the dealer who told me to contact Kershaw for a torsion spring replacement which they sent me. I'm still in the same condition though, the blade is too tight and will barely open or loosened to fire open with the a/o nicely, it has blade play and the blade lays "on" the handle making a sound you can hear.

I then downloaded their warranty repair form and sent it in Priority Mail with insurance, delivery confirmation and the back of the warranty paper filled with a note describing the problems. I requested a replacement since this one clearly has a lockbar issue that isn't tuned properly.

So, after a month or so I got it yesterday and opened the bow with great excitement and there was my knife in the box (now sightly buggered up) and wrapped in a dirty piece of brown paper and my warranty paper I sent in with the return was laying on the bottom. I have no idea if anyone even looked at it. It still opens at the speed of a snail and is exactly the same in every way as I sent it in. No note, no phone calls or emails regarding the issues. :mad:

Heck, my 2 year old $5.95 Sanrenmu 710 framelocks are rock solid and thumb flick open hard several times every day to open the mail and other stuff whch crosses my desk.

This is strike 2 for me with Kershaw (1 being the ZT 0551 with rust, that I sold instead of returning it).
 
cziv said:
I have no idea if anyone even looked at it. It still opens at the speed of a snail and is exactly the same in every way as I sent it in. No note, no phone calls or emails regarding the issues. :mad:
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I am sorry you got stuck with a Leek lemon. I would be super-pissed. I would definately talk to your dealer. I am sure mine would exchange it. I had a similar experience. Two of my Kershaws came back apparently untouched with no explanation. I'm assuming they were flawed within "acceptable standards for value knives" (Sog's typical excuse for not fixing their universal up and down play). My S30V Blur had some serious problems that they did a good job fixing. I was suprised that they fixed it considering it was a blem. Kershaw seems to excel at sending parts quickly and for free. The repair work that they do seems to be hit or miss, probably more hits than misses.
 
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