Kershaw -VS- Spyderco Customer Service

I have never seen the owner of Kershaw hop on the forum and offer to personally take care of someone's problem. I have, however, seen Sal Glesser do this several times. Also, Kershaw is really funded by your average Joe walking into Walmart and picking up a cheap Kershaw model. I am sure they make quite a bit more money every year than Spyderco. That's probably how they can afford to pay the shipping fee.
 
Murdamook said:
I have never seen the owner of Kershaw hop on the forum and offer to personally take care of someone's problem. I have, however, seen Sal Glesser do this several times. Also, Kershaw is really funded by your average Joe walking into Walmart and picking up a cheap Kershaw model. I am sure they make quite a bit more money every year than Spyderco. That's probably how they can afford to pay the shipping fee.
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Good one dude! :D
 
I just bought a new Spyderco Stretch and there was a gap between the frn and the clip. The knife wouldn't clip to my pocket due to the bad retention of the pocket clip. I contacted Spyderco's CS requesting a new clip. This the reply I got: "To purchase a clip kit for your knife you can call the Spyderco Factory Outlet. We need to ask a few questions to make sure we get you the correct clip for your knife. Clips usually range between $3.95 to $7.95 and Salt H-1 Clips are $11.95 Shipping and Handling for USA is $1.95 and International Shipping and Handling is $5.00. Our store hours are Monday - Friday 9 am - 5 pm and Saturday 10 am - 5 pm Mountain Standard Time. If you have any additional questions, feel free to reply to this email."

This was my reply: " Actually I just bought this knife and the clip doesn't 'clip' the knife to my pocket, there's a space between the frn and the clip. I have a delica 4 which I have used for over a year and has a much better clip retention than my new Stretch does."

CS reply: "If you are careful you can remove the clip with a Torx #6 and slightly re-bend the clip and then reinstall. Note: The clip is stamped steel so if you bend it too far it can snap. In that case you will need to order one from us."

On the other hand, I stripped the screws on my ZT 0200 and requested new screws from ZT. I received a new pocket clip with screws within a week.
 
My one CS experience w/ Spyderco: I emailed to ask for replacement screws for my original Vesuvius when it disassembled itself during a trip through the washing machine. Screws and a catalog came in the mail free of charge some days later.

My one CS experience w/ Kershaw: I emailed to ask about buying some replacement parts for my original Random Task, which I freely admit to buggering up through my own stupidity. Received an email to the effect of "Sorry, we don't have any leftover parts for that one, but since all our stuff has a lifetime warranty we'll be happy to swap it out for any current production knife of equal value." I didn't send them the knife because I felt that would be taking advantage, since the problem with my knife wasn't even remotely their fault. Edit: I was so impressed I started a thread about it back then: http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/s...ustomer-service-you-ve-gotta-be-kidding-right

I count myself 100% satisfied with both interactions.
 
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My two experiences with Spydero customer service:

1: Bent out my Endura pocket clip, called and was asked for a credit card number. Paid I think $7.50 or something plus shipping just for a pocket clip. Are they making $5 on it or what?

2: Shabaria developed up and down play and the blade was so off centered it was hitting the liner. Send it in along with $5 check. They took the $5, send back the knife after 3 weeks with a letter explaining they tried their best to fix it and sharped it as a curtsey. Well, the knife had MORE up and down play although the centering was slightly better. Oh and the factory resharpen knife didn't even slice paper, I doubt they really sharpened it at all.
 
Neomentat said:
My two experiences with Spydero customer service:

1: Bent out my Endura pocket clip, called and was asked for a credit card number. Paid I think $7.50 or something plus shipping just for a pocket clip. Are they making $5 on it or what?

2: Shabaria developed up and down play and the blade was so off centered it was hitting the liner. Send it in along with $5 check. They took the $5, send back the knife after 3 weeks with a letter explaining they tried their best to fix it and sharped it as a curtsey. Well, the knife had MORE up and down play although the centering was slightly better. Oh and the factory resharpen knife didn't even slice paper, I doubt they really sharpened it at all.
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Not good. While there are differences that might be vast, such as Kershaw being a larger company overall and having more people to handle warranty and repair issues and possibly more fasteners and clips readily available in stock, Spyderco has only one person that handles the W/R process and has stated in previous posts on the forums that they have no room to inventory and stock extra clips and screws.

As a consumer, I wonder why not have 2-3 more people set up to take calls, answer emails, organize a document that has accurate answers to the most commonly asked questions. Spyderco is still a relatively small company, but after being in business for 30+ years, it makes no sense to me. Again I say this as a consumer only (not a a moderator of this particular forum). I own many Spyderco products, and take great care not necessitate a trip for repair for fear that the item may be sent back as it was initially sent in. In this day and age, it is an inevitability that people are going to disassemble their knives out of necessity or simple curiosity. Many companies will provide clips, screws, etc free of charge, while others charge a premium for a replacement screw set and clips alike. We cannot expect that all companies be outfitted with the same stuff and handle their warranty issues the same way according to one generic procedural model.

As a long time fan of both Kershaw and Spyderco, I think the clear winner in this scenario is the better prepared one, that would be Kershaw. Does that mean they make no mistakes too? Of course not. It means they have more folks available, more inventory in stock to help with the little stuff, and yes it adds up. Sending clips and screws out for free dozens of times per day and hundreds of times per week does have an impact on their bottom line I'd imagine. But the pay off is that they may have customers that are possibly happier knowing their smaller needs will be covered quickly and willing to buy their products over some of the competitors that maybe cannot match that level of service. It is also less expensive to ship clips and screws over having the customer send the knife in, and have their skilled labor replace screws, clips, and pivots themselves.

I hope Spyderco does expand their US production facilities and hire some quality help for Charlynn. I cannot imagine getting 600-700 emails a day or more. At work when I hit the 100 mark it is enough to make me go nuts, I can relate. I like Spyderco and their business philosophy and they treat their employees like "family". So I hope they get a chance to do what they said they've been doing for the last couple years now. Just some random thoughts is all.
 
All companies should stop issuing freebies and charge money for any spare parts. Using Kershaw as a yardstick to measure Spyderco's competence seems a bit far fetched. I find Spyderco's CS to be fair - true to what they believe in, while Kershaw's free showering of parts an unsustainable practice. Most of it will be factored in the cost of the knife, and the more abuse of the system, (yeah it's for free so why not get a couple extra), the more price increase we shall see on ZT/kershaw knives in the future. And it spoils the consumers because they feel entitled for free parts from everyone.

And for response time, I give it a week before checking again. And no company has failed to respond in a week, ZT, Spyderco and Benchmade included. Being on this forum is a guarantee of having more than one knife as a backup (and backup to a backup and so on) ;-)

Spyderco's response on bending the pocket clip back was spot on - there is no need for a warranty service on that one. And pocket clip snags and bends - not unusual, and there is no saying if the customer is telling the truth. Customer is NOT always right is a reality.

Spyderco (with its fair policies) scores an A+ on warranty, while kershaw with its freebies scores an A, because I know when I buy a ZT knife I partly pay for those who abuse the system, but when I buy a Spyderco, I pay fully for the cost of the knife. I get more knife per dollar with Spyderco, and that's what I prefer.
 
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choombak said:
All companies should stop issuing freebies and charge money for any spare parts. Using Kershaw as a yardstick to measure Spyderco's competence seems a bit far fetched. I find Spyderco's CS to be fair - true to what they believe in, while Kershaw's free showering of parts an unsustainable practice. Most of it will be factored in the cost of the knife, and the more abuse of the system, (yeah it's for free so why not get a couple extra), the more price increase we shall see on ZT/kershaw knives in the future. And it spoils the consumers because they feel entitled for free parts from everyone.

And for response time, I give it a week before checking again. And no company has failed to respond in a week, ZT, Spyderco and Benchmade included. Being on this forum is a guarantee of having more than one knife as a backup (and backup to a backup and so on) ;-)

Spyderco's response on bending the pocket clip back was spot on - there is no need for a warranty service on that one. And pocket clip snags and bends - not unusual, and there is no saying if the customer is telling the truth. Customer is NOT always right is a reality.

Spyderco (with its fair policies) scores an A+ on warranty, while kershaw with its freebies scores an A, because I know when I buy a ZT knife I partly pay for those who abuse the system, but when I buy a Spyderco, I pay fully for the cost of the knife. I get more knife per dollar with Spyderco, and that's what I prefer.
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Just curious, how exactly do you have inside information on the cost models of each company, being that they are both not for public consumption. What I always thought (unless told otherwise) when you buy any knife, you are getting the knife and the warranty. The breakdown of how much is for what makes no difference to the end line user. Making sweeping assumptions on how a company has their cost breakdown isn't a sign of wisdom. You are asserting that Spyderco (with its fair policies) is in effect better than Kershaw. I'd love to know why, and how you can even begin to make this statement.
 
my experience with spyderco has always been AAA+
strider has a no BS attitude just ship the knife.
 
RevDevil said:
Just curious, how exactly do you have inside information on the cost models of each company, being that they are both not for public consumption. What I always thought (unless told otherwise) when you buy any knife, you are getting the knife and the warranty. The breakdown of how much is for what makes no difference to the end line user. Making sweeping assumptions on how a company has their cost breakdown isn't a sign of wisdom. You are asserting that Spyderco (with its fair policies) is in effect better than Kershaw. I'd love to know why, and how you can even begin to make this statement.
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From what little knowledge I have about how a business works, I made that statement. I'd rather not go into the specifics of why I feel the way I feel, and leave it there at a point where we agree to disagree. Thanks Rev.
 
choombak said:
From what little knowledge I have about how a business works, I made that statement. I'd rather not go into the specifics of why I feel the way I feel, and leave it there at a point where we agree to disagree. Thanks Rev.
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Thank you. As a fan of both companies, I fully appreciate and respect your position.
 
usarmy74d said:
I'm waiting on Sal and Eric to address why there warranty that came with my box and on there website differs from what there telling people here on blade forums and spyderco.com. here is the thread http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1165192-spyderco-warranty-clarification
I'm hoping they'll stand by what they chose to publish as there warranty.
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This topic is another discussion entirely. We won't be mixing things up in that way, so leave it be. Waiting patiently is a virtue.
Thanks!
 
I have only had experience with Kershaw/KAI, but it was absolutely fantastic. Sent my ZT 0550 (gen 1) in due to blade play and difficulty opening. The titanium back was replaced with a gen 2 at no charge. No more play, much easier to operate. E-mail response time was always next day at the latest. Five star!
 
Murdamook said:
I have never seen the owner of Kershaw hop on the forum and offer to personally take care of someone's problem. I have, however, seen Sal Glesser do this several times. Also, Kershaw is really funded by your average Joe walking into Walmart and picking up a cheap Kershaw model. I am sure they make quite a bit more money every year than Spyderco. That's probably how they can afford to pay the shipping fee.
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I have never seen the owner but I have seen Thomas and Jim help customers countless times.
 
I haven't read this whole thread. I read most of the first and last pages.

I don't understand these threads. I've never had anything but good experiences with knife warranties. I've had to use the warranty services of all kinds of companies too, some not at all reputable here.

I'm gonna start a industry wide warranty praise thread in feedback.
 
I currently have two Spyderco knives that need repair. I have a PM 2 that has a screw that got cross threaded in the stop pin, and a Military that has a stripped back spacer so the screw falls out of the knife. I've sent multiple emails to Spyderco regarding information on how to resolve the issue and have not received any email in response. I am more than willing to send the knives to them (and even pay a small fee if necessary) but I am a little concerned at the fact that they haven't responded to even one of my emails.
 
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