Randall knife disapointment

[AV8R]

Over the past few years, I've been more and more disappointed with the new Randalls that I've seen and owned. The 2 or 3 Randalls I've received in the last year have been horrible. Just thrown together. I recently received a model 1 that had the ridge of the buttcap sticking out so far from the handle that you could slide a business card into it. The buttcap would hold business cards all the way around. To make matters worse, a friend of mine was in orlando and decided to visit Randall. He came back very "down" on the folks, saying they strut around with a pretty smug attitude. Kind of like what you experienced from Gary. Bad fit, poor grinds, horrible sharpening, I've had them come with absolutely mutilated nuts on the buttcaps, crappy solder, ......the list goes on. I cancelled all my future orders. I won't touch aother Randall. If you want a better knife, you have all kinds of choices for $150 and less.

Pete

 

[AV8R]

I guess more than anything else, it's the attitude that gets me. "Legends in their own minds".

 

[Jeff S1]

I guess more than anything else, it's the attitude that gets me. "Legends in their own minds".

Well said! The fact that Gary Randall offered a customer the easy way out with a refund is a joke. Further more after he/Gary got involved, the refund was declined, he still allowed a product with his name and reputation on it to go out a second time with two major flaws (metal shavings & massive burr) is a pure shame. I guess a five year back log of work relaxes ones duty owed on a quality product in this case with this knifemaker. However in the grand scheme of things, fives years in a short time and poor quality catches up very quickly in todays information sharing networks.

I may be new here, but this situation is what it is...a shame it went this way off the cuff of Randall Knives.

DW-it would not have taken much to fix the two items and have a customer feel they made a solid purchase. It is your employers duty to recount this process and make sure it should not happen again. Any future adverse comments regarding a paying customer will show what Randall knives is made of....

 

[the gimp]

I'm over it.

Saving for my new hunting knife now.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

If you're referring to the thread on KF, it isn't locked. I can still reply to it.

 

[Jos]

You were not happy with the knife.
You were offered a refund.
You refused the refund because you thought you could get more money on e-bay.

So what are you complaining about if you're making money out of it?

Kind regards,

Jos

 

[RWS]

If you didn't like what you got and they offered your money back, you should have taken the refund.

Randalls have always appealed to me but I never ordered one from them. Based on AV8R's post, I probably never will.

 

[Jos]

Based on AV8R's post, I probably never will.

Shame. Recently I received my two Randalls ordered in 2004, and I'm completely satisfied with them. They don't look "thrown together", they are actually nicely made. Maybe I was just lucky? But really I don't think so, and I think the knives I received are representative for the Randall quality.

Kind regards,

Jos

 

[Guyon]

If you didn't like what you got and they offered your money back, you should have taken the refund.

I'm not so sure about this. Right now, a current Randall order will deliver in 2013 according to their website.

If I wait five years for a knife, then by golly, I'd better get a knife that's well made when the waiting's over. NOT a knife with flaws followed by an offer to refund.

Five years and then all you get is your money back?! I'd be pissed as well.

 

[whitie]

I'm not so sure about this. Right now, a current Randall order will deliver in 2013 according to their website.

If I wait five years for a knife, then by golly, I'd better get a knife that's well made when the waiting's over. NOT a knife with flaws followed by an offer to refund.

Five years and then all you get is your money back?! I'd be pissed as well.

Agreed!! I think Gary Randall is very arrogant to simply offer a refund to a guy that has been waiting 2-5 years for a knife. Show any disappointment at all and Gary is quick to offer the refund, which of course solves nothing except to make the disatisfied buyer go away. I.e., a refund only benefits Gary.

If Gary accepted knives back for necessary repairs, maybe the Randall shop would improve their quality. Just a thought.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Gary really had no options open to him. The nickel silver has a slightly yellow colour. There is nothing that could have been done to change that. If the gimp was unhappy with the nickel silver, the only option that Randall had at that point was to offer a refund. It wasn't a problem they could fix.

 

[whitie]

Gary really had no options open to him. The nickel silver has a slightly yellow colour. There is nothing that could have been done to change that. If the gimp was unhappy with the nickel silver, the only option that Randall had at that point was to offer a refund. It wasn't a problem they could fix.

I agree with you. Metal color isn't something you can "make right".

I received a Randall last year with a crappy handle. Gary offered to buy it back, rather than replace the handle... I was just ranting a bit.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

I really do understand the disappointment that must be felt when you have waited four or five years for a knife and it doesn't meet expectations.

Just offering to refund the money would be totally unacceptable to me, but Randall did get the customer to send the knife back, and when they were informed about the burr and shavings, they gave the customer the option of sending the knife back again to be touched up. It is a pain in the butt to have to ship the knife back twice (actually, once is a pain), but there is really nothing more that Randall could do besides offering something as compensation, and that is not something that should be expected of a company. All that should be expected is that the company do the best they can to correct the problems that customers have with their products. Sure it would of been best for Randall to have made sure that the knife was correct right off the bat, but screwups happen.

 

[Parker]

Gary really had no options open to him. The nickel silver has a slightly yellow colour. There is nothing that could have been done to change that. If the gimp was unhappy with the nickel silver, the only option that Randall had at that point was to offer a refund. It wasn't a problem they could fix.

Keith, sorry man, there is a LOT that can be done to fix this -

First, have the client send it in

Second - REPLACE the fittings. While you are at it, fix the other problems

Third - Send the knife back with a letter of apology on an overnight basis. In fact, this should be made an IMMEDIATE priority.

This is not a matter of the client using the knife and damaging it, this is a matter of damaged goods being let out the door and then having an amazingly arrogant attitude about it.

I like Randalls. I like OLDER Randalls, made when Bo Randall was around and in charge. One day I'd like to own and use a VN or older number 1, 3 or 14. The new ones are so sad in comparison, it's a wonder not to see complaints like this more often.

 

[RWS]

I'm not so sure about this. Right now, a current Randall order will deliver in 2013 according to their website.

If I wait five years for a knife, then by golly, I'd better get a knife that's well made when the waiting's over. NOT a knife with flaws followed by an offer to refund.

Five years and then all you get is your money back?! I'd be pissed as well.

I'll take your word on the wait time as I'm not familiar with their delivery schedule.

I can live with the yellow tint, but if their quality control has become what AV8R experienced with his new business card holder knife, combined with gimp's observation of metal shavings falling out of a thong hole that they had originally forgot to drill in the first place along with a good sized burr on the end of his blade, I know I'm not waiting till 2013 for one of their knives.

In fact, I wouldn't wait till October 2008 for something like that.

Although I must admit, I am a little intrigued at AV8R's use of his Randall model 1 as a business card holder. That card holder might look good on my desk at work. :thumbup:

 

[John T Wylie Jr]

2013 ? For a production like knife ?

I think you have every right to be ticked , wait 5 years and have to send it back a 2nd time and hope that it is made right.

I guess I just don't see the allure of them.

 

[Keith Montgomery]

Second - REPLACE the fittings. While you are at it, fix the other problems.

I understand that things could have been done better, but from what I understand, the nickel silver fittings are going to look the same even if they are replaced. When the knife was sent back the first time it was determined that the fittings were correct.

Also, the customer had the burr fixed himself and removed the shavings from the lanyard hole, so did not consider it necessary to send it back the second time.

 

[Winston Smith]

...but there is really nothing more that Randall could do besides offering something as compensation, and that is not something that should be expected of a company.

keith,

i really respect your opinions here and don't think i've ever disagreed with you before on a variety of issues that i've seen you speak out on, but... given what has gone on here, i do think that randall could step up and offer something, if nothing else then at least to compensate the poor guy for having to potentially ship a knife back on two separate occasions. i don't think he should get a free knife out of the deal, but for what he is paying for and the wait on top of it, he shouldn't have to eat the shipping costs to have his knife made the way he expected it to arrive in the first place. i'm not talking about the variance in color, that is totally subjective, but to not have a thong hole in the knife, and then have it arrive without having been touched up after having it drilled out? he should definitely expect more than just an offer of a refund. people reading here make their decisions in large part on how customers are treated, and in this case the customer hasn't been treated too awfully well.

Winston

 

[Keith Montgomery]

i don't think he should get a free knife out of the deal, but for what he is paying for and the wait on top of it, he shouldn't have to eat the shipping costs to have his knife made the way he expected it to arrive in the first place. i'm not talking about the variance in color, that is totally subjective, but to not have a thong hole in the knife, and then have it arrive without having been touched up after having it drilled out? he should definitely expect more than just an offer of a refund.

From what I gather, reading the comments from Randall on KF, they did cover the cost of shipping for the one time the knife was sent back, and I'm sure would have covered the shipping cost on the second return if the customer had opted to go that way.

As I have posted already, I think things could have been handled better by Randall, and possibly by Gary himself (the reason I say possibly, is because I wasn't privy to the conversation he had with the gimp), but I do think that Randall tried to make things right. Things aren't always going to work out perfectly. I think that the gimp has a right to be disappointed in the way this went down, but I don't think Randall should take a hit to their reputation for the way they handled the situation. Others may have a different point of view, and that's understandable.

 

[Melvin-Purvis]

After reading all comments to date on this matter, both here and on knifeforums.com; as a Randall Knives collector; and as a person who makes a good portion of his living buying and reselling Randall knives, I'll throw in my two cents worth...

We're not always completely happy with the knives we buy, both old and new, for whatever reason - we typically sell those knives at a small profit, and typically the buyer is happy with the knife...

If a knife is particularly striking in appearance, or has great balance, or is tastefully optioned, we'll keep it - if not, we'll sell it. We also buy knives that a previous owner isn't tickled with, knives that we may not see the problems with.

Case in point, a friend and fellow BFC poster recently took delivery of a Model #3-5 after a five year wait. He called me up, pissed, he hated the stag handle, said it was ugly as sin. So, we bought the knife. It looked fine to me once it arrived, I didn't see the problem. We later sold the knife, and the buyer raved on about what a beautiful stag handle it had.

Three owners, one knife, three different perspectives...*shrugs*

Shel