Spyderco is JUNK

G

Gunnerguy

Joined
Jan 28, 2002
Messages
15
I'm sorry to post this but I've had nothing but problems dealing with the Spyderco customer service and the poor quality of their knives. I was a HUGE Spyderco supporter when I was GM of the largest gunstore in LA back in 1989 and I had the entire line of Spyderco's available for our customers.

I've always carried a stainless Mariner, I've loved it, it's been a great knife for many years but after what I went through with Spyderco, I'm selling off every one of their knives in my collection. I was cutting some thin wood planks with my Mariner, when the blade snapped in 1/2, much to my suprise. I took my knife, packed it up, sent it to the factory to have them evaluate it and they got back to me in 2 weeks. They said that they wouldn't warranty OR repair the knife, they said that I had been prying with it, which I wasn't, and then they said that for $73 + SH, they would replace the entire knife for me.

PARDON ME???????? Ok.....then I asked how much just to replace the blade and I was told that "We don't replace blades, we'll only replace the knife or we'll just send it back to you broken". Gee......Had I known that this is the way I was going to be treated after actively supporting Spyderco, I would have dumped them long ago. After their arrogance, their rudeness and the attitude that I received from their customer no-service, I will NEVER purchase another Spyderco.

I was sent my knife back unfixed and I ended up turning the stub of the blade into a tanto shape which works well. However, I've also gone out and bought a very cool Benchmade liner lock tanto blade which is smoother, nicer looking and lighter than any Spyderco I've ever owned.

Sorry for the rant, but when you invest your money & trust in a company and then get spit in the face by them, I wanted to let the members know how I was treated.

Ray:mad:
 
Interesting, but the only time I had to deal with Spyderco Warranty and Repair the service was excellent.
 
Do I smell a TROLL?


Blades don't just magicly snap in half without being used in a capacity beyond what the blade was designed for. I am having serious doubts about just how factual your account of what happened is. Either your exagerating or not telling us the whole story. I once had to send my Lil' Temperance back for warrenty after I VOIDED THE WARRENTY by adjusting the eccentric pivot point myself. I had to send it back because I couldn't get the Eccentric pivot point adjusted correctly and the knife opening smoothly. I called and gave an HONEST account of exactly what I did. SPYDERCO'S RESPONSE was. "We will adjust your knife at any time free of charge if you ship it to us with returnm postage, That way you as the user don't have to worry about it". I PLAINLY TOLD THEM I VOIDED MY WARRENTY and they STILL did the WARRENTY work and ALL I PAID was POSTAGE.

Thus endeth thy rant.
 
Sorry to disappoint you but I have no ulterior motive nor any specific agenda, other than to let the members of this board know how I was treated by Spyderco.

As far as me leaving something out, I have no reason to make myself look good, I'm the one who's been treated like crap by them and I don't like it. I offered to pay for a replacement blade and to have them install it but they refused, WHY??? Every other reputable knife company offers post warranty replacement blades to be installed on their knives? Even if it broke because of something I did, why wouldn't they install a new blade on their knife and charge me for it? Why would they treat me like yesterday's garbage?

For years I sold their entire line and brought them hundreds of customers, only to have them treat me like I was doing them a favor?
Sorry but you're on the wrong track and I have nothing to lose or gain, I'm only informing what happened to me and how I was treated.

Ray
 
I snapped the tip off of my Gunting. It was an accident, but it was still my fault. Not abuse: an accident. Since it was not a manufacturing defect, however, the warranty did not cover free repair. For $10, Spyderco replaced the blade and shipped the knife back to me (Colorado to Baltimore). So they do in fact replace blades. I saw it as quite a fair price for a brand new blade and cross-country shipping.

Oh, did I mention the fact that they laser engraved the collector's number on the replacement blade? So my replacement blade still had the number that the first one did.

They did all of that for $10. They must have certainly lost money on that deal.

How would cutting with the edge snap the blade laterally? Or did the blade just crack all the way from the edge to the spine? I'm confused.

Spyderco doesn't just accuse people of abusing their knives for no reason. They look at the way the break occured on the knife. They look which way the steel is bent towards the crack, etc. Maybe you were prying the day before, caused cracks in the blade, but it didn't actually separate until you started cutting the boards?

I'm trying to give you the benefit of the doubt here, but I just don't see how you could have done what you claimed.

Can we see some pics of your knife perhaps?
 
I would LOVE to pay $10 or $20 or even $30 to have this blade repaired and can you please give me the name of the person that you dealt with. I'll contact them on Monday, resend them this knife and ask them AGAIN, to repair this knife.

I NEVER asked them to cover this under warranty and to do the work for free. All I asked them to do was to install a new blade and they refused, then they tell me that they're going to "sell" me a replacement Mariner for their cost of $73 + SH. That's BS anyway you slice it and I'd like to speak to the person you dealt with at Spyderco.

I don't know why you're making this out as a personal attack, I was a very happy customer of their's for many years and I wouldn't have posted here if I didn't have a major problem with the way I was treated by them.

Ray
 
I've been a big fan of Spyderco's for about 10 years now. I own, or have owned, probably 15 or so. Many I gave away as gifts, either as new or used. I still carry a Spyderco as an EDC. I love them, they are great inexpensive knives, they work for me.

That said, I've broken every Spyderco that I ever kept and used. Every single one except my latest, and at only two months old, I'm not holding my breath.

All of my breakages, 6 at last count, were blade tips, from prying.

I still like them, I still use them, I still pry with them, and when this one breaks I'll just buy another.

Broken while cutting? Stranger things have happened. And no, you're not a troll (from your other posts), and no, this isn't personal (from the other BFC members), it's just that fanatics are...well, fanatics.

Anyhoo, sorry to hear you had a bad CS experience, but it may have just been your POC at Spyderco.

Mel

(You guys actually send knives back for repair? I've never thought of that...lol)
 
First of all, with you being a prior distributer, you should know that spyderco is not &#115hit.

Second, its possible you got a bad one. There is the occasional one that gets a bad heat treat. if it was uneven(creating a brittle spot) that could be your prob.

I haven't read your other posts, so I can only guess at the uses you have. I've beat the living(can <img src="http://www.spyderco.com/forum/spyder.gif">'s live?) &#115hit out of my Delica for the last 3 yrs. I have only scratched the blade, and just recently had my father break my tip. They don't break that easy. I was using it cutting shingles and it survived. I've cut wires off lamps, and it survived...
 
I don't recall who I dealt with. I simply sent the knife in with a letter explaining the problem. I was contacted via phone and was told the situation. I wish I could tell you who I talked to on the phone but it was a while ago.

There is a difference, however. The Gunting has a removeable pivot assembly (allen screw). The Mariner model is a SS handle and therefore everything is pinned. I don't know how they're put together exactly but it seems like you would have to destroy the Mariner to get it apart. Maybe the nature of the knife simply wouldn't allow them to replace the blade without replacing the entire knife.
 
Gunnerguy doesn't necessarily sound like a troll to me. He sounds like he has a reasoned complaint. He may not be right, who knows, it's his word against Spyderco's, but from his point of view he has a problem that has not been properly handled, and his story sounds measured and reasoned, not trollish. Spyderco also has a point, though. The positive Spyderco service stories indicate that Spyderco generally has a pretty good service record. Maybe this just one of those situations where both sides have a good point to make for their side, but only one side can win, with the other side losing. I guess every company, no matter how good their reputation in general, will have some reasonable-sounding complaints against them that are in opposition to said good reputation. Gunnerguy's story is interesting.

I like Spyderco knives a lot. My favourite knife company. I have a number of Spydies and will continue to buy them. I've never had a big problem with any of my Spydie's, just a small one with my Starmate, and that I fixed myself. I bet that I'd get good service from Spyderco if I did have a problem. But sometimes a problem will slip in between the cracks and not get handled properly. Maybe this is one of those times. If that's the case, too bad for both parties.
Good luck, everybody.
 
I think Gunner's beef was with Spyderco's CS, not with the knives.

Ya wanna laugh? For a job at work I bought a generator from Northern Tool and Equipment...it was damaged in shipment, poor packaging, so I sent it back.

They sent me a deer hanger as a replacement...you know, the thing you hang a deer up with while you gut it. I called to tell them I needed a replacement generator, not a deer hanger.

The Northern CS guy asked what was wrong with the deer hanger? Nothing said I, it's just not what I needed.

Well, being that there was nothing wrong with the deer hanger, they couldn't take it back he said...period.

It took two layers of increasingly more incompetant supervisors asking what was wrong with the deer hanger before I finally just said "Phuck it, cancel the order, we're not paying"...and bought the generator elsewhere.

Bad CS can be a real frustrating bitch....

Anyhoo, I believe it was a CS issue that Gunner had the beef with, not the knives.

Mel
 
BTW, I would guess that people are taking your post as an attack because of the title. It's nice of Mel to say that it's just because we're fanatics, but your title is misleading.

You state that you loved Spyderco products and sold them until this incident. If they were in fact "junk," wouldn't you have found out about it before from customers?

Your thread title should read something like, "Dissapointed with Spyderco customer service." Or if you want to be more harsh, "Spyderco customer service screwed me." But saying, "Spyderco is JUNK" is just flat out name calling and doesn't even reflect the body of your post.
 
AFAIK Spyderco never replaces blades on knives, and has never offered this as a service. If a tip is broken they will often offer to regrind it, but a broken blade has always called for replacement (if a manufacturing fault) or return.
 
Why all the hostility? Spyderco wouldn't have just rejected you. There must be something that you are not informing us about....

I recently purchased a used Spydie Native, 35/65 combo edge. The serrated portion had been worn by the previous owner's sharpening attempts. I contacted Spyderco and was told that they would completely regrind the blade for a fee of $5 plus the return shipping charge of $5. This brought my out of pocket expense to $10, that I would have to pay in order to have my Native reground back to like new condition. As a matter of fact, a rep from Spyderco CALLED me personally to reiterate the fee and other related information. I have not dealt with any other company who has this kind of one on one customer support.

I suggest that you call the Spyderco Warranty and Repair department and start all over....without the attitude. They can and will help you.

One more thing, if you were a dealer of theirs, you would have a Spydie dealer catalog, right? I think that you should reread the section where it gives you info about the warranty and repair. Look for this statement;

"If the problem is determined not to be caused by defects in manufacture or materials we will inform you of the cost for repair. Upon agreement and payment, we will perform the repair. If we are unable to improve the condition of the knife, we will return it to you with the recommendation that it be retired from use."

I think you should read that catalog again.
 
Agreeing with TOTC, I don't think it would be econimically viable to replace the blade on a S/S handled Spydie. Looking at my S/S Harpy, the pins are ground and polished so smooth into the handle that I cannot even identify their location, and to attempt to drill them out, source and fit a new blade, and replace / grind / polish new pins wouldn't be worth it unless for sentimental reasons I really wanted it back.
But I do think Gunnerguy could have been given a more sympathetic customer service - can we have an official comment from the other side?
 
I recently had an excellent experience with Spyderco's customer service department.
 
Gunnerguy, if Spyderco is such "junk" then why are you even bothering to look at their forum. You should find something better to do with your time.


Chris
 
Yeah. Sure Jeff! You're not going to buy anymore Spydercos. ROTFLMAO The 3 new ones yesterday must have broken the bank :D
 
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