Microtech warranty trouble

E

effer

Joined
Feb 13, 2009
Messages
797
Hi, I need an advise.

I got Microtech socom elite framelock. Very nice knife. I bought it used. Actually knife looks great, almost no signs of use, and the blade is just like new. Probably it was carried couple times, played with (open/close), but never used. The problem is that it had a little blade play, both vertical and horizontal, and lock bar goes all the way to the other side. Pretty much the bar is worn out. I'm not sure how that happened and how it was when new, but one way or the other it is unacceptable for me.

OK, so I called Microtech and sent in my knife for repair on May 6th.
Today (July 9th), two months later, I got a call and here is what they told me.
First of all the girl on the phone said that the play is normal. I told her that definitely it is NOT. I pointed out once again that lock bar is on the other side and it is worn out, that's the reason for that little vertical blade play. OK, she put me on hold and I heard she was talking to someone later. Her response was that currently they don't have a replacement lockbar for this knife and I should call them in the FALL and CHECK if they have one later. That got me pretty upset. Two months I have waited just to hear this and now I have to wait another 3 or 5 months just to check if they got a part to repair it? Wow. I understand that this wasn't a regular liner lock knife and they are possibly busy working on the guns, but still... When you pay premium for a quality knife, shouldn't you get a bit better service? Ok, she did offer a T-shirt for the troubles. Nice gesture, but I really want my knife fixed, not a T-shirt. And sending my knife in a second time will cost me more than what this t-shirt costs, so it really doesn't make me less upset at all.

What do you guys think? Any advise?
 
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That is the reason to buy knives from companies like Benchmade, Spyderco and Kershaw. These companies have EXCELLENT CUSTOMER SERVICE! I read here on the forums what terrible customer service Microtech has. Such a shame as they make a fine product but with that kind of warranty service I would not buy anything from them. I know how dissapointing that kind of service can be. Good luck.

RKH
 
grumpyxtremes10 said:
Microtech is well known for their horrible customer service. Maybe STR can fix it
Click to expand...

Thanks for an advise. I will keep it in mind. I'm pretty sure that STR (don't really know who he is) or someone else can fix it, as all it needs is a replacement shoe that goes on top of the framelock (pretty smart microtech design I should say). But that would mean letting a company fail on it's promise and letting them think that it is OK to do so. Just doesn't seem right to me. And I'm talking not just about Microtech.

I haven't really read or heard about horrible service from Microtech, just thought it would take 1-2 months. I was kind of prepared for that. They told me 4-6 weeks before I sent the knife in. I wasn't too thrilled about it, but I thought, I'm a patient man, I could wait a month or two and my knife will be all fixed up. But not half a year, just to call and check if they have a part.
Now I know how horrible it can get.
 
That is the worst customer service I've heard about. Actually worse than no contact, since it strings one along with dissatisfaction.

I own a few Microtechs, because, as you alluded to, they do have some good design features.

I wish someone would take over the Microtech knife business and let it be "all it can be".
 
Imo get your knife back, flip it, and move on. Chalk it up to a lesson learned not to deal with them any more. In essence they just blew you off instead of owning up to their responsibility under the "lifetime warranty".

IMO, don't buy any knife costing over $100 that you can't get fixed or replacement parts for. If you really use a knife chances are it will need fixed at some point. Just sharpening a knife over the years will eventually require a blade replacement.

Parts for warranty work has always been a problem at Microtech. They pretty much assemble every good part into knives and never have leftovers for warranty work. Always been like that...
 
Now an important message from a concerned reader: All my Microtechs have developed blade play. Microtech doesn't keep parts on hand or numbered/catalog from my many years of trying to get even simple things like pocket clips for blades that are numbered and marked with their creation dates. Microtech customer service is not good. I have sold/traded all my Microtechs.
 
There was a development in the story. After reading about Microtech CS in this and other forums, I decided that I needed to do something, because there is a big chance that after waiting for 6 month my troubles will not be over. I also decided that getting knife fixed by some third party is not an option. So I made another call to Microtech, just 3 hours after I was told that blade play is normal (on a framelock) and that I have to wait several months to call and check if they have the needed part. My suggestion to Microtech was that if they don't have parts to fix my knife, then they should check if they can replace it with a similar one. Or I can even accept a different model, depending on what they have to offer. I really wanted that framelock, but I would rather have something else that I like now, then waiting forever. I was told that she will talk to their "NICE" person, who can make this decision.
OK, now comes the most interesting thing. Couple of hours later I get a voicemail that MY knife is FIXED! and they are sending it back to me. That got me really surprised and also concerned. I still yet to receive my knife back, but all these voodoo dealings got me worried. They have tried to convince me that blade play is normal, they also told me that they didn't have a part to fix it (wait 3-4 months). So how did they managed to get it fixed in the last hour of the same day? I really hope that they checked all their drawers and found a part, or took some employee's knife apart to repair mine. If that's the case and if my knife is truly fixed then I will be a happy camper. But if they just tighten the pivot screw thinking that it is good enough and I would just give up, then it will make me really pissed.
Well now, I'm waiting for my knife back and really hoping that it will be the first case.
 
IMO even if its fixed the first thing id do is sell off the nife and never ever buy from them again. In fact I personally was looking into their knives now I never will. Crap service will hurt you in the long run--they now just lost money from me.
 
sounds like they will only satisfy a customer's needs if they really push the issue and play a little "hardball".

the cs issues have always been the main complaint about microtech. unfortunate, since they do have some really great designs.
 
effer said:
OK, now comes the most interesting thing. Couple of hours later I get a voicemail that MY knife is FIXED! and they are sending it back to me........ So how did they managed to get it fixed in the last hour of the same day? I really hope that they checked all their drawers and found a part, or took some employee's knife apart to repair mine.
Click to expand...
They probably had an employee hit the forums, including this one, saw STR's name mentioned, checked his forum and read about how to fix the problem. That'd be my guess.:D

Good luck,
3G
 
Well, I really do like Microtech knives design and build quality and I won't say that I will not buy Microtech at all, because even though microtech's warranty is total crap, in my experience knives very rarely need service from manufacturer. At this moment I have very low opinion about Microtech as a company, but still very high opinion about their knives. And yes, this experience definitely made me think about what I would buy and what I wouldn't buy from them. I do know that I probably will never buy any frontal automatics, because I feel they are more fragile. But if I buy one, it probably will go into collection safe and will not see any use. I also probably would be too scared just to play with frontal auto. This is a shame, because I think automatics line is the strongest in Microtech's inventory. I also think that MT might have better support for auto's (correct me if I'm wrong), but there still an issue of waiting 2 months for them just to open the package and check what is wrong with it. Also there is a matter of pretty much lying to the customer saying that the issue is a normal thing.
I probably will also not buy any fixed blades from MT, as they tend to get used hard more often then folders, and I would be really avoiding this company for the things that I think might need manufacturer's service.
Side autos and liner/frame locks are still Ok in my book (till MT proves me wrong again), just because I think the issue with the lock on my knife was something not very common.
Still yet to see my knife back, but I can tell that my MT knives wish list already lost 75% of potential "buys".
 
Wunderbar said:
Now an important message from a concerned reader: All my Microtechs have developed blade play. Microtech doesn't keep parts on hand or numbered/catalog from my many years of trying to get even simple things like pocket clips for blades that are numbered and marked with their creation dates. Microtech customer service is not good. I have sold/traded all my Microtechs.
Click to expand...

What a shame this is. I have a first-generation Lightfoot LCC and it is as
close to custom quality as my Sebbies; time was Microtech commanded huge respect. My mini socom has seen a lot of EDC time and there is no blade play and perfect lock-up. If you find an old one you won't be disappointed.
 
Received the knife back from repair today along with the t-shirt. They did replace the lock bar shoe. Here are couple of comments written on a work order:

"Don't have a lock 2 replace other at this time"
"Tony fix w/new lock out of his stash."
 
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