Spyderco Warranty & Repair / Customer Service - Response from Spyderco

tazkristi

tazkristi

Spyderco Moderator
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There has been much discussion of late regarding Spyderco’s Warranty & Repair/Customer Service department. This is a response to multiple threads on both our own forum at Spyderco.com as well as here on BladeForums. Please forgive the length, but this is a convoluted topic and given the responses from some observers I felt it deserved a thorough reply.

Spyderco is a small family-owned business; we take great pride in what we do and we are passionate about both our products and our loyal customers. We believe in doing the right thing simply because it’s the right thing to do. We have never been in business to be “big” business. We have a unique culture within our company and that shows in our products and in our commitment to our customers. Sal’s personal participation on the forums for years is proof of just how strong that commitment is.

The forums have always been a means for discussion about our products and Spyderco as a whole. We make every effort to be as transparent as we can be. In that spirit we have consistently welcomed both positive and negative feedback. That isn’t going to change, ever.

In recent weeks there has been an uptick in negative feedback pertaining to our Warranty/Repair/Customer Service department. Please realize that the following information is not to make any excuses but rather to paint a realistic picture of that department. Department is a misleading word; the “department” is one person. Charlynn has one of the most difficult positions within our (or any) company. On average Charlynn replies to over 800 e-mails, receives more than 1400 phone calls, handles 400 knives and processes 180 requests for various parts each month. Charlynn does receive some administrative support from time to time, but generally speaking she is a one-woman department. The unique skills and knowledge necessary to perform her job also make it extremely challenging for us to find other workers qualified to assist her.

Are we perfect? No. Is there room for improvement? Of course, there is always room for improvement. CQI (Constant Quality Improvement) is not just a philosophy applied to our products. It is applied in every part of Spyderco and includes our processes, our resources and our crew. No one on our crew wants to do something poorly but mistakes have happened and it’s only truthful to say that mistakes will happen again. Hopefully not the same mistakes, but you get the idea.

We do not discuss specific details of our interaction with our customers. We believe it is private and should be between our customer and Spyderco. We could write a best-seller though about some of the things we are told. Some customers choose to post details on forums but rarely do they ever post every detail. Typically it is only the details that suit their needs the most that get shared.

I have gone through each of the recent posts (on both forums) and personally reviewed all of the communication and notes. My responsibilities at Spyderco do not lie in W&R/Customer Service so it took a bit of time to complete (hence the delay in posting a response). Nearly every complaint posted recently is missing details. Those missing details reflect a different situation all together.

In the past week I’ve also tracked and verified multiple posts/threads by what appeared to be different people but in reality were all from the same person. He had a clear agenda and only wanted to accomplish one thing; that wasn’t a resolution to their “issues” with Spyderco.

I have also seen a post or two indicating that although someone had a positive experience of their own with us that the recent “rash” of issues has convinced them to sell off their Spyderco knives and pursue other brands. I find that to be a very curious response.

I would ask and respectfully suggest that prior to making a judgment on anything or anyone that you are not personally involved with please keep in mind that you are only hearing one side of what is probably a complex story. If anyone has a specific question, concern, complaint, etc. on Customer Service or any other issue we are happy to listen and will handle each issue appropriately and to the best of our ability. Again, we’re not perfect, but we will always be fair, proper and honest.

Kristi
 
Thanks Kristi,
In my dealings with the warranty dept, you guys have ALWAYS been prompt, courteous and extremely professional.
Some folks you can't please and some folks just have a chip on their shoulder... To me Spyderco inspires confidence, I know when I purchase one either on the secondary market of from a vendor....I know what I'm getting! You guys make a great product (s) I will now and in the future continue to buy Spydercos. I buy quality knives from friendly makers who stand behind them.... You guys certainly fit that description.

Continued Success

-Martin
 
I have always had the same type of response with Spyderco Warranty as dcmartin. Always been fast and prompt and took care of everything I asked. I would not hesitate to have to communicate with Charlynn, she has been absolutely wonderful. Send her my regards she is amazing!
 
tazkristi said:
In the past week I’ve also tracked and verified multiple posts/threads by what appeared to be different people but in reality were all from the same person. He had a clear agenda and only wanted to accomplish one thing; that wasn’t a resolution to their “issues” with Spyderco.


Kristi
Click to expand...

Having multiple accounts is a bannable offence here on Blade Forums. I hope you ban that person.
If you didn't, or don't wish to, PM a supermod and they'll take care of it.
 
I've traded a few emails with spyderco's warranty department, the replies have always been prompt and quite friendly:) so if you're out there reading this Charlynn, thank you for the good work and keep at it! and I would like to apologize for the people that decided to go off bad mouthing a wonderful company.

Soyderco has a life long customer in me, sound off if you feel the same!

-Kirby
 
I've been reading those posts lately, but don't really have a dog in the fight because I've never had to use your warranty service. I really appreciate your professional response. It is much different than some of the crazy and completely unprofessional responses to criticism I've seen from some other small knife makers and suppliers on these forums.
 
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They have a life long customer in me as well, providing they keep (at least some) of their manufacturing in the US.
 
Thank you for taking the time to respond, Kristi. My only contact with W&R has been extra clips now and then, all of which have been dealt with cheerfully, professionally and promptly. I wish I could say something about W&R service on knives, but in spite of the fact that I've been buying Spyderco knives since the mid-1990s, I have yet to have a knife that needed to return to Golden for service or repair. Oops - there was one: my younger son broke a bit of the tip off a D3 about ten years ago. For $5 the knife was resharpened so that the break basically disappeared and returned to us very quickly. Thank you! :thumbup:
 
In my workplace, I also like to scrutiny any complaint to understand what went wrong. There were two cases where customer stated that the information was unclear and that the officer(s) had not kept what was promised. Upon checking the whole recording (some are 15 mins, some are 30 mins long), the conclusion I personally got was that the officer(s) did follow protocol and courteous. If the customer did not listen well and misinterpret what was being stated, it is only unfortunate. The most important thing is no one dropped the ball and improvement can be made from the experience.

Knowing Spyderco (and many of the previous interaction with forum member, all highly critical), I trust that Kristi has reviewed all the cases and her response here is general but informative.

Keep up the good work! It's a rare thing to know a company that still really cares.

I second the notion to ban the member that has multiple accounts.
 
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I appreciate this thread. This is the Internet, and as a result there are a ton of haters and fanboys out there who tend to stretch the truth on both sides of any issue, but this sub-forum has been sort of changing for a while now where there's more and more bitterness, whining, and overall negativity.

The same thing happened over in the KAI thread back when they had Thomas and as a result, they had to make some serious changes that have really affected the overall atmosphere of that sub-forum (and I totally understand why they made the changes - it was 100% the fault of the members/consumers). I hope we don't have to resort to those same sorts of things over here.

Just remember - we're all in this hobby together and without the support of the community (including forum members and consumers) and especially these manufacturers to cater to us, we'd be left with few options and a lot more boring hobby. Let's not bite the hands that feed us.
 
Kristi, I love your products and have only had great experiences with your company. Now I do think that multple accounts is not allowed, and hopefully your working on banning such user?
 
But I read the complaints on the Internet - the HAVE to be true! Lol! I've never had a single issue with any Spyderco knife and I won't let Internet "reviews" keep me from buying one. It's the same in the Emerson forum....a few individuals with an agenda.

Thank you for the clear response. :-)
 
I have never had a warranty issue with Spyderco, but then again I've been buying Spydies since 1982 or so when I purchased the C01 Worker (which I still have), and never have had to call you guys for help. That said, I've noticed throughout the forum that there are any number of members who suffer from "The Three Faces of Eve" syndrome, who have multiple sock puppet accounts, and some are quite obvious with one account posting a negative troll post, and typically another account follows with a bandwagon post to support the first troll post...I've noticed it several times, but it's not my business to monitor these things, but it does not escape me there a several here with multiple accounts.

Now, if you don't mind, will you please bring back the Rookie with full liners and G-10 please!!!!
 
Nothing weird about my decision, and the recent feed backs ARE not the only reason. There's been issues in the past with limited editions, no parts for foreign made production knives, etc. Also some private conversations.
No problems with Spyderco yet, but would rather avoid any future problems.
I think you guys are good honest hard working people, and your products are darn great. But it's just not my cup of tea.
 
Kristi - Spyderco is one of my top three favorite brands of knives, and my No. 1 favorite in larger clipped pocket knives. You guys - and this includes everyone there all the way up to Sal - have always been friendly, fast, and responsive. Even my wife & son like Spyderco, and they're not "knife-people", really.

I'm always suspicious of ulterior motives when people post critical comments, especially when it pertains to a product like Spyderco. I know no one's perfect, but you guys have always gone above & beyond.

I worked customer service for seven years, and to my mind, Spyderco is the epitome of what good customer service should be.

I'm a life-long customer.

~Chris
 
Nice post Taz:thumbup: Gail said something like it a few years back (sat next to her at a dinner in the UK)

Charlynn has always been good the few times I've contacted her (nicer than she has needed to be if she stuck strictly to the rules).
 
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