Possibly the dealer wanted you to keep the knife so he could keep your money. Discouraging returns is a time honored method of maximizing sales income. In addition, there are vendors who check their knives upon receipt or before shipping; this dealer appears to not be one of them. If he truly believes there are problems with a manufacturer, why does he not check their knives before shipment. Returns are part of life, if the dealer gets "mad" they should not be in mail order sales.
Agree. But then, not every feels like they have to agree with us, right? A couple of vendors I have bought from (like Knifeworks, but not the same vendor I bought the knife I referenced from) told me they simply ship waaaaay too many knives to look at them before they go out.
If you all "walk the talk" of supporting traditional patterns made in the USA, then you need to foster competition. Idle speculation on quality w/o a knife in hand can kill a company in these days of instant mis-communication through the internet. Not contacting the company when you have a quality problem does both yourself and the knife maker a disservice. Quality is a two way street and customer satisfaction is the goal. If you don't tell Queen when you are dissatisfied, you do your hobby, or if you prefer, this community, a disservice.
I owe the current ownership of Queen nothing. To extend the fact that I didn't work out the knife situation with them to your specifications being tantamount to
slighting the traditional knife community is absurd. Queen should be responsible for their own manufacturing protocols and techniques or they will fail.
Take a look at car manufacturers. How many have had the idea of collaborative quality control? How many repeat buyers do you get when you are putting out an inferior product? Think of all the failed brands... it applies to
all industry. People buy products based on expectation of quality, not with their fingers crossed that they won't have to do a lot follow up to make things right. I bought 9 - 10 knives from that same vendor, and three of the knives were problematic. One took a pair of pliers to get open (literally, as I couldn't get the pick to seat well enough to pry it open), one was a Dan Burke Barlow that had nippers used to cut the pins and were left sharp enough to cut my hands (sent back - I figured if I filed and polished the pins it would void the warranty, was informed by vendor I was correct), and the last one I had problems with, the round bolstered stockman with the pathetic spring.
I understand that not all manufactured goods are the maker's best efforts. It comes with having employees, and I can accept that from myself as well. But when you have a 30% failure rate, I can't find an excuse for that. I have heard them, too. Mostly insulting excuses, but they are there. I am a contractor, but I started out my company on fine carpentry work, and that is what built my business. Like any other proud craftsman, I am completely insulted when someone says "you need to expect problems since there is so much hand work involved". Hand work, building by hand, etc., used to be a promise of quality, not an excuse for second rate goods.
I don't know if you have your own business or not, but I have for a little over 30 years. You are incorrect in your assumption that quality control is a cooperative, collaborative effort. All responsibility for me, my employees, and any subcontrators I use all fall directly on my shoulders to deliver the quality of product I promise when I sign a contract. I don't expect my clients (nor do I know of any successful businesses that do) to be involved in what amounts to daily running of my business to ensure that I turn out a quality product. They pay me to turn out a finished product they cannot. My name is on the door, the 10 - 20 guys on the job work for me under my supervision, and the buck stops with me. Period. I don't shirk any responsibility for any aspect of my company.
Quality control is not a collaborative effort, or a goal setting exercise between client and company. Quality control is the sole responsibility of the manufacturer (or service provider) and customer service is the result of unmet goals or expectations, or to resolve the occasional mistake or poor quality end product that happens now and then.
Perhaps you should consider too, that when I called Queen at the suggestion of the vendor, they told me that there really wasn't anything they could do for a weak spring on a knife. So back to the vendor I go, with his prediction I would get a knife with a different problem. That being said, if I had known that the spring would get even weaker, I would have sent it back, hard feelings or not.
Lest this get too preachy, you should know as well that the vendor is a well respected contributor to this sub forum, a good guy, and I trust his judgement. I have bought several knives from him. Some had annoying problems, nothing serious, and one he even fixed himself and sent back. Personally speaking, I was glad that he told me that with the stock he had on hand I could wind up with a worse specimen of that model from Queen instead of just slapping a box in the mail with another knife using so I could see if the next one was better. When he told me that something else would likely be wrong, I took him at his word.
It is true, that when some key individuals of a company leave to start a competing business, this leaves the long-standing, respected company with a gap, but also an opportunity to change for the better. Why not be more positive, instead of saying you will only buy old stock?
First, I never said I would only buy old stock. You are either making false assumptions or have juxtaposed my post with someone else's.
Second, in fact I never said I would buy anymore Queen products. I said
"no more Queens for now".
I trust the folks in this sub forum and their candid reporting on their experiences with vendors, manfacturers and end products. That is the real value of this community for me; unvarnished, truthful reporting of facts and experiences. I won't be sending the current owners of Queen any money so they can keep experimenting and trying to "get it right". According to their own bios, they have all been in the knife production business well long enough to get their product right, which to me makes it even a little less excusable for them to put out a poor product. A couple of Queens I have now are the best fit an best finished knives I own, and with their D2, I rarely looked at other knives for purchase. When I start seeing reports here on BF from happy customers that they have reversed things, I will likely be interested in Queen again.
Robert
but here's my impressions of the ones I have.
