Like I said on page one, the knives I've gotten from Queen are great and they're a much better bang for the buck than GEC. Buying knives that are years old and then deciding that Queen should stop making knives and regroup after they've fixed those problems seems like an odd suggestion to me. My wife had a 1997 Ford Probe that had all kinds of problems. I don't think Ford should stop making cars now in order to address the issues with that Probe.
As for not being able to get a response from them, who are you emailing? They have a list of addresses on their site. There was a thread a little while ago where somebody was saying that they couldn't get a response. They asked how others were getting good customer service and they got referred to an email address for the proper person for their issues and all of a sudden their problems were solved. It's quite possible that your emails are going to the wrong person and that this is adding to their response times. Have you tried calling Queen? I'm just trying to offer some solutions that might help. I have had some issues trying to get answers from Canal Street Cutlery, so I understand the frustration here. As far as I see it, if you put an email address on the website the person responsible for that address should be staying on top of getting those emails responded to quickly. I gave up on Canal Street because they can't be bothered to respond to me, so I can't really fault somebody for giving up on Queen for the same reason.
On the topic of waiting a month to get a knife repaired, if you're not willing to wait a month you shouldn't send your knife in to any manufacturer for a repair. GEC and Case both have had reports from multiple people who waited multiple months to get a repaired knife back. Which company is it that is turning around repairs more quickly? Maybe CSC? I don't know. From what I have read it seems like this is an area where most knife companies could improve. I had a GEC with some problems and Chris was very honest in telling me that if I sent it in it would likely be a couple months before I got it back. They were willing to do the work for me, but I wasn't willing to wait that long. I ended up trading the knife off to somebody that was. Obviously, we as customers don't make quick turnaround for repairs a big enough priority. If we did we wouldn't see the same lame approach being taken by all the major players. I know that I personally have sent Queens and GECs back to dealers because of flaws. If the dealers have enough of that happening I'm sure they'll get word up the line and the policies will change. Until then I'll keep ordering from dealers that are willing to stand behind the knives that they sell me. It's really no different than any other purchase I make. If I purchase an item that cones out of the box with problems I go back to the store. If the item develops problems later on down the line I go to the manufacturer. The problems here are mostly things that I'd take up with the dealers and let them figure it out with the manufacturer.
The conversations I've had with the Daniels family has led me to believe that they know that they've had some rough spots, and they're working hard to get things back on track. They've largely succeeded. They bought a company that had big issues, and they've done a great job of fixing those. I have been very impressed with how they've taken responsibility for their mistakes, even if those mistakes were made before the Daniels family bought the company. They've done a great job of standing behind their product. The best thing about Queen is the people. Here you have a family that is passionate about traditional pocketknives to the point where they have risked their own financials to try to save a historic company from going under. Yeah there have been some bumps in the road. The other option is to let Queen go the way of Schrade and Camillus. I couldn't have more respect for the people that decided to do something to stop that from happening. They've even started a program where they give free knives to kids in order to ensure that future generations grow up with an appreciation for traditional pocket knives. I don't see any other company doing that.
Reading through this thread you'd think that Queen was having some kind of quality crisis right now. That couldn't be further from the truth. As people keep saying, all indications are that the 2015 knives are much improved over recent year's offerings. If you go into the purchase with the understanding that you're supporting a company that is still recovering from the mistakes of previous ownership you'll end up getting a great deal on a great knife that's backed by great people that are doing great things for the knife community. What more can you ask for? They might not yet be at GEC's level of consistency, but for the difference in price I am more than happy to send back an occasional knife. On the plus side, when you get a good one they are fantastic. They've even managed to solve the flush pin puzzle that's been stumping GEC for years.
