Nice gesture by Condor

upnorth

upnorth

Joined
Nov 25, 2006
Messages
7,038
I have had a Condor Hudson Bay knife for several years now. I have always had fun with it in the bush, but there was always something about it that bugged me. The blade had a terrible warp near the end. I tried, and basically did live with it because the knife was inexpensive and fun, not something to make a fuss about. But every time that I sharpened it I was reminded once again of the irritating warp. I also read a post a ways back from Joe Flowers that Condor was trying to make good on the warped stuff and that they were trying to up their game across the board. So I sent the email and I got a package today. For those of you thinking that you can just complain and whammo, you get a free knife, it doesn't work that way. You send in the defective product and Condor does good by you. But I live in Canada and shipping the messed up knife would just add another twenty bucks to my initial cost anyway. So Condor was decent enough to send the new knife, without the old. I'm sure that it helped that I sent pics of the old warped tool. So as I said, no freebies without proof of defect. Anyway....I was REALLY delighted at what popped out of the box. The new blade was straight as an arrow, had a much improved grind on it compared to how much work I had to do with my original, the blade stock is thicker than my original, the rivets are larger, the leather belt loop for the sheath is now thicker at the rivet point, and the blade finish is more attractive to (my) eye. Finally, and this is VERY noticeable on the new knife, the overall fit and finish of the knife has improved noticeably. I didn't have to bang all this out after a night shift, but I believe in acknowledging a good deed. And, I really was delighted by the product improvements. Thanks for stepping up Condor. The bottom pics will be my warped original that I bought several years ago. The dimpled finish blade is the oldie.




 
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That was very nice of them. I like the old hammered look better than the current look personally. It just makes the knife look more rustic. On mine, you can see the marks where they held it in a vise to grind the edge or hammer it (probably hammer it actually) which bothered me a little. But not enough to cry about.
 
22-rimfire said:
That was very nice of them. I like the old hammered look better than the current look personally. It just makes the knife look more rustic. On mine, you can see the marks where they held it in a vise to grind the edge or hammer it (probably hammer it actually) which bothered me a little. But not enough to cry about.
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Yes it was nice of them indeed. I flip flopped on this for quite a while, but that warp kept chewing on me.
 
LG&M said:
Impressive , says a lot about Condor.
enjoy your new blade.
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Thanks. I almost took it out yesterday but it was -17 and I was squealing like a little pig when that cold wind started biting. I wanted to see how I could perform with my Wetterlings Scandinavian instead in that moderate cold. Of course the axes performance was better than mine but I learned that I could give it another sharpening session, as it's fair but could be better. I made a little fire and found out that the local dead Manitoba Maple (or Box Elder I believe it's called in the U.S.) was considerably harder to get burning than the dead Choke Cherry, in these conditions.....As much as I try to B.S. myself that I only need a Mora or some small to medium knife, I get off on handling and using that big booger (Hudson Bay). Oh well, life is short and we should allow ourselves some good clean fun. :)
 
Condor has always had very good customer service.

My only complaint about my condor hd kuk is that it came with a less than acceptable edge grind. I fixed that, and it's a chopping beast of a knife. (and for what I paid, I'm happy to re-edge it, because I'm going to do that to any knife I buy and plan on using, to be honest. Factory edges have never been good enough for me. Even on spydercos.

I really need to get some more condor stuff because for the $$$, there's just no competition. Their steel is great, they aren't afraid to go big (but they also have models that aren't huge), and their leather sheaths are awesome, especially at the price point that they exist at (a leather sheath like the one that came with my kuk would have run me $40-50 by itself, which was about what I paid for the package).
 
I couldn't believe my eyes when I read "Condor has always had very good customer service." I filed a warranty claim with them on October 15th. I followed up with another email on October 18th and then a third on October 23rd. 9 days after my initial claim, I had no response whatsoever. Finally, later that day (oct 23rd), I received the following reply..." Thank You for writing, we apologize for having replied before, I comment that the department of quality already has your information will get in touch with you as soon as possible, I will be aware of your resolution."

I then replied on October 24th asking when I might expect a resolution. NO REPLY from Condor.

I then sent yet another request for an update one more week later. NO REPLY from Condor.

Today it is December 5th. It has been 52 days since my initial warranty claim and still NOTHING. I am aghast that this company enjoys any kind of reputation at all. I'm actually dumbfounded that they're still in business. I know my business would have closed if I treated my customers with such disregard.

I can promise this. I will never again buy another product from Condor. I'm going to throw my defective knife in the trash and go buy something of actual quality which has been through a quality control process.

CONDOR SUCKS as a brand, a product and a company.
 
What exactly is your claim anyway? You didn't say. Did you talk to the dealer?

You're probably emailing the wrong person/entity. Try Joe Flowers. Their rep in FL is very good. He is always at Blade now manning their booth.

Condor has been trying to up their game a bit with higher end steels. The cost has been incrementally going up as well to the point that I am becoming hesitant to just buy something to try out. That has always been my MO with their knives and products. I love their machetes. The last "buy it to try out" was the Two Rivers. Like it for it's simplicity.
 
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tlcrawford said:
I couldn't believe my eyes when I read "Condor has always had very good customer service." I filed a warranty claim with them on October 15th. I followed up with another email on October 18th and then a third on October 23rd. 9 days after my initial claim, I had no response whatsoever. Finally, later that day (oct 23rd), I received the following reply..." Thank You for writing, we apologize for having replied before, I comment that the department of quality already has your information will get in touch with you as soon as possible, I will be aware of your resolution."

I then replied on October 24th asking when I might expect a resolution. NO REPLY from Condor.

I then sent yet another request for an update one more week later. NO REPLY from Condor.

Today it is December 5th. It has been 52 days since my initial warranty claim and still NOTHING. I am aghast that this company enjoys any kind of reputation at all. I'm actually dumbfounded that they're still in business. I know my business would have closed if I treated my customers with such disregard.

I can promise this. I will never again buy another product from Condor. I'm going to throw my defective knife in the trash and go buy something of actual quality which has been through a quality control process.

CONDOR SUCKS as a brand, a product and a company.
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^ Because one guy had a problem that was not resolved? You are using a sample size of 1 to make an assessment on an entire company that has been around for decades because you're pissed off, understandably so. Consider ALL of the people who have issues with <insert any make of vehicle here> and yet... all of the major car manufacturers remain in business and overall, are good companies.
 
JasonJ said:
^ Because one guy had a problem that was not resolved? You are using a sample size of 1 to make an assessment on an entire company that has been around for decades because you're pissed off, understandably so. Consider ALL of the people who have issues with <insert any make of vehicle here> and yet... all of the major car manufacturers remain in business and overall, are good companies.
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The thread started with sample size of one telling what good customer service
For the sake of parity
Please complain about that too
 
The snark in your comment comes through clearly, I don't need to waste either of our time nor space on a web server to "complain" about how one guy posting about good customer service and making an assessment from that differs from one guy having a bad experience.

If a Condor rep wants to defend that position, let them do it. I merely want to point out the silliness of such an absolute conclusion being made from one negative experience as opposed to a positive experience leading others to be more inclined to perhaps buy from a company with a decades long history of good customer service.

If we all applied tlcrawfords logic and reasoning behind abandoning Condor to every other product and company we purchase and consume from, none of us would ever buy anything.
 
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