Spa Service

hasco said:
I love my fiddlebacks. Although I have never used the service, I am thankful that it will continue for a fee. In the end, we all need to get paid for our time. As the business grows there has to be someway to charge for the time of so many knives coming in for service. Although it is a hard thing to announce, it is a wise business choice. If the business is not doing well, then ultimately everyone who loves fiddlebacks will suffer. I want you guys at the shop to be happy and to know how much I appreciate what you are doing.

Thanks for the great knives,

Tod
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I feel the same.
 
Thanks for your support folks. I am blessed to make knives for you.
 
I have to admit I was surprised to see the spa service jump from $0 to $50. HOWEVER, in my case, I am a modest Fiddleback user and not a collector or even a spastic hoarder/user that would mod or abuse a knife then send it back to the maker for a free fix. I have only sent in 1 knife since I started hanging out here in 2009.

That being said, after hearing Andy's description of how this courtesy service has been abused, I don't blame him for the change. It sounds like a perfectly reasonable move for a business to take. And it doesn't bother or deter me at all. I would still gladly send in a knife for the spa service and include the more than worth it, $50.
 
Fiddleback said:
The Spa service was offered aside from the warranty and was never a promised service or a part of the warranty at all. It was always an added bonus in addition to the warranty. Today it is some kind of entitlement program, and we can't continue offering it for free.

I would hope the knives themselves, the people that make them here, and the very excellent warranty were the deciding factor. You're saying it was the 'Andy's going to fix my oppssses for free' that made you want to buy Fiddleback Forge Knives? I was worried folks would feel this way when I made the requests to limit the service before and tried the regulation route. You were here for that. Since then there has been no break in the pace, no break in the 5 knife boxes, no break in the requests for customization. Most knives we get for the spa service are user caused minor damage, and/or end user applied patina's that are regretted. There are knives in the tray this week with requests to blueback a knife and a bluebacked knife with a request to de-blueback a knife. I've had requests for handle thinning, and handle thickening. We're not Busse, and we don't have a custom shop. Handle dings, edges chopped into fencing wire, and end user caused knife damage are common and have been fixed for free. Up to now I have never charged anyone for any repair or warranty service ever. This has all just gotten rolled into the spa service. Its out of control and the company can't maintain the cost of it.

I'm very sorry you feel duped by my company. This is sincere, that hurts, and it isn't true. I've never tried to dupe anyone in the knife community. We make excellent quality knives and stand behind them as always. If we make one that fails due to our fault, its covered. If you aren't satisfied on arrival, its covered. The only change is that we are asking the end user to be responsible for end user issues. We fixed the ooopses for free until now, but we just can't anymore.
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Hey Andy, perhaps duped is not an accurate reflection of the way I feel, and I am sorry if my post gave you that impression. I think that the terms that I used were bummed and disappointed. This was an honest communication of how I felt regarding the situation. None of this takes away from my appreciation of the knives or the people making them. None of this has changed or is effected by this decision on your part at all.

Personally, I have never used your Spa Service. I own new knives, used knives, natural patina knives (from use), forced patina knives (not by me), scratched knives and I appreciate them all. I do have an EDC II received in new condition that I was thinking about sending in next spring as it has some scratches in the handle from daily carry and use that I was going to get spruced up. I have never sold a Fiddleback Forge knife that I have purchased, and I have utilized them in some far off places doing some things that they were not necessarily designed to do, such as field necropsy on dead animals. I never hesitated to place these knives into the hands of people to perform these tasks, even though I did not know anything about their willingness to care for the knife as I do. I did this because if there were scratched handles and other signs of hard use that I wanted taken care of, your remarkable service was there to spruce it back up. If they abused the knife that resulted in damage or failure, then that was on me.

I love knives, I use knives and your knives are as good as any that I have come across for my use and liking. Your spa service placed you one significant step above your competition in the way that I looked at it. I do not feel duped, but I am disappointed. I understand that you had to do something. I understand that people were taking advantage of the service. I understand that people were using the service for that which it was not intended. I assure you that it was not me. I also assure you that I am a big boy, and I will get over this disappointment.

Your knives still have a place in my heart for all of the reasons that you have stated. But this will fundamentally change the way that I look at and use your knives in the future. In business, hard decisions are made every day for the sake of the business. Sometimes they are popular, sometimes they are agnostic and sometimes they disappoint a portion of the customers. So it goes. I understand the decision, and I would have probably made the same one if I had the information that you have.
 
MVM, the words you used were broken and promise and it read misled, and swindled somehow. The fact is that I never promised to offer the spa service for free forever. I never broke that promise, because I never made that promise. I simply offered the spa service for free till I couldn't afford to do so anymore. To imply that it was a promised service that was used as a sales tactic is grossly misleading. Yes you also said disapointed and bummed. But it was the 'broken promise' part and not your disapointment that I was addressing. And that is what is upsetting to me.

Point of fact: Fiddleback Forge did not mislead any customer, or break any promise in our warranty what so ever.
 
Not a problem for me since I'm in Norway and shipping back and forth is a bit of an issue.. The only one I would consider sending in is a Hunter with a slightly off plunge line close to the ricasso on one side.
 
Buying something second hand and then expecting manufacturer to refurbish it for free and absorb the cost to them in labor, materials, logistics of logging it in inventory, return shipping, and time away from paying work, is simply expecting too much. There is only so much goodwill work you can perform and eat the cost of before having to pass some of that on to the customers. Redoing the logo, I would definitely do that no charge.
If you have 5 trays of knives there sent in for hair and manicure treatments then I would be changing some things myself...That's alot more new knives the rest of us could be seeing :D
 
Fiddleback said:
MVM, the words you used were broken and promise and it read misled, and swindled somehow. The fact is that I never promised to offer the spa service for free forever. I never broke that promise, because I never made that promise. I simply offered the spa service for free till I couldn't afford to do so anymore. To imply that it was a promised service that was used as a sales tactic is grossly misleading. Yes you also said disapointed and bummed. But it was the 'broken promise' part and not your disapointment that I was addressing. And that is what is upsetting to me.

Point of fact: Fiddleback Forge did not mislead any customer, or break any promise in our warranty what so ever.
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Andy, you are absolutely correct. You never made this as a promise. I apologize as this was a poor choice of words on my part. I now understand why you were hurt, and for this I apologize. I typed my initial response based on how I felt rather than what you ever said when you offered this service. I posted my response based on my feelings rather than considering how it is that a manufacturer makes promises to their customer. If this was misleading to anyone here, let me be clear, Andy never promised to offer his spa service free forever in his warranty or in any other post that I recall reading. This was clearly a value added service that he has provided to his customers that clearly set him apart from any other maker that I am aware of. I am bummed, disappointed and sorry to see it go, but in no way do I feel duped, swindled or did I mean to imply that it was schister sales tactic to offer the service. If anyone felt that I implied this from my post, this is not what I intended. I apologize to you and to the Fiddleback team.
 
I honestly this move was inevitable for Andrew. When a guy has made a few dozen knives, sure he can afford to clean them up for free. A few hundred knives? Well, probably. Statistically, the chances of getting overwhelmed with knives sent it for the spa are slim. But Andy has moved from a one man maker to a custom knife shop business that produces dozens of knives in a week, well, he has made knives in the THOUSANDS now. This is a big time operation, not a guy grinding in his basement anymore. :)
 
And you can't put a low-cost new employee in the Spa...or else the knives will just end up back there!
 
Exactly what I meant. Offered service, changing at the time to try your regulation approach. No effect, as stated above. No promise it wouldn't be cancelled.
 
Here is our warranty, which is listed in the Intro Thread has not changed at all.

Warranty- I back my knives with a satisfaction guarantee. When you get the knife it should make you happy. If it doesn't, return it in unused condition within the first month you own it. I'll refund your purchase price, plus shipping (domestic) back home to me when I receive the knife in unused condition. I guarantee my work to be free from mechanical defects under normal usage, and will repair or replace such a knife/problem as necessary as long as I remain able to make knives. Natural handle materials such as stag, bone, wood, pearl and ivory may shrink, crack, and/or discolor with change in temperature, or humidity or age. As this is normal, expected, and can normally be avoided with maintenance these issues would not be covered under this warranty.

Machete Warranty - Machete's are guaranteed for satisfactiion on arrival same as my knives. I also guarantee that the blade won't break, and the handle won't pop off. Either of those two happen, and you get a new machete. However, edge damage is common to machete's, and to be expected from machetes, and is therefore not covered under my warranty. File it out like any other machete and go on having fun cutting.

Stupidity - I don't cover stupidity. Ask yourself why your knife failed. If you're batonning a skinner, then you have fallen into the stupidity catagory. They're designed to cut flesh. I can likely fix your knife, and will do it as cost effective as possible, but you are not getting a free knife. Skinners, kitchen knives, Nessmuks etc are designed, and intended to be used for their specific intended function. Get an outdoor knife with a thicker edge if you are going to be batonning it through knotty wood. I believe this is common sense, but it had to be said.


There is lots of good information in the intro thread. Check it out here:

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/695747-Fiddleback-Forge-Intro-Thread
 
A little off topic, but since you brought up the intro thread which is great info all the way around, please add the link for Bladeco to the selection of dealer links.

Thanks,

Phil
 
Maybe a short tutorial or a few words added to one of the stickies on pads/compounds and methods used by the crew to hand buff out minor scratches and dings on the scales and to remove unwanted patinas would provide some relief to individuals sending in knives for the Spa Service. A How to Maintain your Fiddleback DIY if you will.

I for one would enjoy seeing a video of Andy's sharpening one of his blades.
 
Bush.Hacker said:
Maybe a short tutorial or a few words added to one of the stickies on pads/compounds and methods used by the crew to hand buff out minor scratches and dings on the scales and to remove unwanted patinas would provide some relief to individuals sending in knives for the Spa Service. A How to Maintain your Fiddleback DIY if you will.

I for one would enjoy seeing a video of Andy's sharpening one of his blades.
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I agree this would be very helpful.
 
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