Spyderco Backs Down On Warranty@Repair

TonyKnives;
Here's your answer!

http://www.swampratknifeworks.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=10;t=001891

Here is their warranty!

We regret to inform you that due to our low prices and high cost of manufacturing that we are unable to offer you a conventional guarantee like so many others found in the cutlery industry today. To be quite honest... we simply cannot afford it. Legalese, doublespeak, and smoke and mirror loopholes cost way too much nowadays. It is for these reasons that individual warranty issues are to be handled solely by you. That's right... YOU decide whether or not your knife should be covered by warranty. Do you want to give yourself a five year warranty... a ten year warranty... a lifetime warranty? Do you want to guarantee your knife against normal use... or do you want to guarantee your knife against insanely stupid over-the-top extreme abuse? Don't ask us... it's your decision. We will honor any guarantee that you give your knife against major damage. Makes sense doesn't it? It is your knife. We're telling you to trust your life with our knife. Shouldn't we trust you with being the warranty claims specialist?

TRANSLATION: LIFETIME WARRANTY... NO QUESTIONS ASKED
 
I too am surprized that this thread is still going, and I've been gone for a couple of weeks.

I haved offered to take another look at the piece and put it under some additional testing. To date, I have not seen the returned piece.

Perhaps keeping the "complaint" alive is more important than receiving possible satisfaction on the knife?

Every company creates it guarantees. When we investigated, we found that most companies required an original receipt of purchase or required that one be the original purchaser.

On companies that make simple fixed blade knives, where there is little mechanics involved, warrantees are much easier. More often than not, these knives are rarely used. But even if used hard, there is little that can go wrong.

Some companies charge very high prices, which means that you are payng for that warrantee when you purchase the knife.

We try to be honest fair and proper with our customers. That's the best we can do.

sal
 
Swamp Rat (and Busse for that matter) until very recently only made fixed blades. That's part of their warranty -- it's a LOT harder to break a FB than a folder.

SRKW, is, if I understand the thread, currently reevaluating their warranty policy for folders because of this difference.

It really doesn't apply in Spyderco's case.

-j
 
I call BS on the original post.

I hate to be ugly but come on man. I have an Endura that's a few years old. It was my first Spyderco. I would never ever send it in for warranty work or sharpening. It is used up. It performed admirably well and I got my money's worth 10 times over. I use it to practice sharpening now.

That knife pictured is almost as ugly as my Endura. My old Endura is retired now.

I have had many Spydercos and I will have many more. I have had trouble with ONE and Spyderco took care of it admirably going far above and beyond the call of duty. That's the reason I'm buying a round of Spydercos (5 or 6 of 'em I hope) for Christmas presents this year.

I like knives. I like good knives to be more specific. I've gotten rid of everything except my custom neck knife, my SAKs, my Buck Special, and my multitools. Everything else? Spyderco. I know what I like.

You can spend $400 on some other manufacturer's folders that don't deliver the performance of a Spyderco that may cost a fifth of that.

The reason Spyderco offers a warranty is that really they don't need to offer a warranty. They're just that good.
 
indeed, i totally agree, i think it was a shame that he abused his knife that way, and from the posts i read i think the majority of the people inhere agree with me that this was a customer trying to get a new knife from Sal. IMHO no knife whatever its brand should be abused in that way, he clearly mistook his Spyderco for another tool , but not a folding pocket knife.
Maybe the moderator could close the thread because the "problem" was discussed more then we could expect for, and the seeying the same thread popping up every time doesn't do Sal or the Spyderco crowd a favor.

CLOSE THIS THREAD PLEASE! :(
 
Sal, just a humble suggestion:

Whatever be the case with this knife, you have offered to inspect the knife a second time. You said that would even cost more than a new knife. Whoever may be right or wrong, wouldn't it be easier to just hand out a new knife ? It would satisfy the customer, and you'd get rid of the problem.

regards, keno
 
With all due respect ...., I can't believe this thread has resurfaced ...
Somebody shoot it and let it RIP ....
 
For What its worth, Tony and I had a great conversation in New York, he's ok, I'm ok, problem is not a problem, cool guy.

Keno, we try to do what's right, not necessarily what's convenient. I will admit that we have on ocassion yielded to convenience, but it is not the rule.

sal
 
I've returned one Spyderco knife for warranty work, and that for the most subtle cosmetic shortcoming.
Spyderco refinished the blade and returned the knife to me without question.
I mean subtle, too.
Had to hold it in just the right light.

I have carried and used my Spyderco GIN-1 Native forever.
I wish I knew how long I've had it.
How long could I have had it?
Ten years?
It remains in perfect condition, except for cosmetic wear and tear.
If it broke tomorrow - went sproing into three or four pieces - I would think I got my money's worth.
It would embarass me to sweep up the parts and ship them back to Spyderco and expect them to fix it.
Let's get real, eh?

I expect my Chinook II to last several generations, with a little reasonable care; but my Native has already lasted longer than I would have expected.
Thanks, Spyderco.
If I've had my Native ten years, that comes out to $3.50 a year. :)

So what year did the first Golden, Colorado, USA, Earth Native first appear?
 
I sent a new Peter Herbst Spyderco back to the company because it was too stiff to be opened swiftly with one hand. The knife was dissembled, lubed, reassembled, and returned, and I was treated with exceptional courtesy every step of the way. Even got a Spydie keyring and a couple of lapel pins in the bargain. I guess I own about eight Spydies, and just bought a karambit. Not only is the Spydie karambit beautifully designed and executed, it's pretty much the only karambit that's small enough to legally carry in nearly every state. Great knives from a great company.
 
A knife that fails is a knife that should be left in the box. In the factory on a shelf. Knives are not disposable, they are to be pasted down to your children. A knife is very powerful.

I broke the tip off my Endura. It was my favorite knife and it had the discontinued plastic pocket clip. Spyderco wouldn't fix it. So now I'm a happy customer of SOG. If a folder breaks, it could cut off your fingers, there is no room for doubt.

I do still respect Spyderco for their visonary designs and contributions to knifemaking, but I expect a lot out a knife. I will have a knife in my suit pocket when I am laying in my coffin.
 
I must agree with Sal,reality must rear it's head.
In the majority of cases,a fair and equitable agreement with the customer
is reached.
But the line must be drawn somewhere,and some things just aren't covered.
The thing is,it is included with the knife,either a warranty card,or printed on the box.
In my company,we try very hard to satisfy customers,and I think Spyderco's C/S-Repair guys are top notch as well,but the company also has to survive,to be able to continue making the knives.
FWIW,I think sal did go above and beyond.

Thanks,TJT
 
I use my knives hard everyday in construction too, and like all my tools, I buy high quality. Also like my other tools, they wear out. My EDC for work for the last ten years or more has been the Rescue Jr., and I've gone through at least six that I can remember, with one lost and one stolen. I'm with Spyderco. Use the opportunity to get something new.
 
To someone who doesn't have faith, no explanation is sufficient. To someone who does have faith, no explanation is necessary.
 
in regards to a knife that is used for a long period of time, then breaks

there is "broke"
there is "worn down"
and then there is "broke because it was worn down"

in a car, when you have a ball bearing, there is no clearence. if the grease gives way at any time, or the metal simply fatigues, clearance will form. because of that clearance, it will eventually fail, the parts becoming so warped that they cant keep themselves together. they break because they are worn down, and because the materials simply cannot maintain under the amount of stress that is put on them

that is what it is to be worn down, a materials inability to maintain shape, form, and construction do to stress, and eventual fatigue.


it is possible that over so much time of heavy use (wich may not consitute "abuse", wich could be defined as say hammering on the knife to break wires, wich puts a lot of localized stress on the lock area, enough to quickly distort the mechanisms parts creating failure; heavy use may just be putting pressure on the knife as you cut), the metal around the locking mechanism fatigued enough to distorn to an extent that created an environment that was prone to breakage.

to that extent, the craftsmenship of that knife did not fail, the materials did.

from what ive read and seen, spyderco warrenties the craftsmanship and function as a result of the craftmanship of their knives. if the materials fatigued to create a knife that was not within the original perameters of what they sent form the factory, it is a problem with the materials, not the work of spyderco.

with that in mind, knives do wear out. wich is part of what swamp rat is having to deal with, trying to maintain a long term warrenty on their knives, a common suggestion is that they fix the knife, having the customer purchase the parts that have worn down. because swamp rat isnt responsible for the wearing of the parts, its simply what happens to that material over time given extended amounts of stress.

i believe that with that in mind sals response was fair, if he beleived that the knife failed due to excessive wear.

but i also believe that partly because i work in the pizza industry... a lady a few nights ago said that her pizza was the worst pizza she had ever had, it was dry, the cheese was burnt and it was just terrible. so i made her another one with extra sauce, and past it through the oven a little less. when we recieved the pizza in question, we found that it looked exactly like ever other pizza that had been made that night, albeit with slightly less sauce then normal. the pizza tasted just like all the others as well. what the lady really wanted was a pizza with xtra sauce, xtra cheese (maintains more uncooked cheese on top due to thickness (less heat transfer)) and slightly underdone, wich isnt what she ordered. we hope to do more bussiness with her, but if we get that complaint again, and we find that the pizza is like every other one we made that night, she wont get a replacement, just a "sorry you arent satisfied with your pizza, it is our standard offering. we can recomend to you some other pizza companies in town that may be more to your liking"
 
Sal Glesser said:
For What its worth, Tony and I had a great conversation in New York, he's ok, I'm ok, problem is not a problem, cool guy.

Keno, we try to do what's right, not necessarily what's convenient. I will admit that we have on ocassion yielded to convenience, but it is not the rule.

sal
Click to expand...

If I understand correctly; Tony and Sal have met and worked out the problem?

That is great to hear and the fact that both are "ok".

Why is this thread still going?
 
I am in no way trying to cast any disparaging remark at TONY. I am sure he is a good guy as most fellow knife enthusiasts that I have met throughout the years. However I will say that I have been a devout Spyderco collector, user, trader for the past 8 years and I personally have well over 100 of their great knives. I have never had anything but the best of service, always been treated with the utmost of respect, and I truly believe that they are one of the most quality minded companies of any sort I have ever had the privaledge of dealing with. In all fairness that Merlin is really not one of their very top of the line knives. I personally have 2 of them. What I am about to say to Tony ( and I mean this with all due respect) is to consider getting a little more durable knife out of the line. As much as you Sir use the knife and with the demands that you are probably putting on them I would recommend a Stainless handled Harpy with a VG-10 blade. I would be willing to bet that it would be very hard to wear that one out. It is also very comparable to the one you have as far as function, blade style and the overall purpose it is intended for. The stainless handled Harpy is simply engineered for much more punishment in my opinion. I wish every one involved the very best. And please understand Tony I only mean this feedback to be helpful and I don't mean any ill will to anybody. Thank you all for hearing me out. JD Spydo :)
 
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