The weight of a lifetime warranty?

L

Leemah1

Joined
Jan 4, 2001
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What is the true weight of a lifetime warranty?
It seems more and more products feature and promote a lifetime warranty. Does this really affect the purchasing decision? I work in a retail environment and regularly comes across some pretty crappy products with these warranties. I suppose the Manufacturer accepts the returns as being a cost of business and this cost is offset by the number of additional "lifetime warranty" sales. It just seems to cheapen the whole idea.
The terms usually state that normal wear and tear or abuse is not covered. A Manufacturer could potentially refuse any return informing the customer it was abuse...etc. The customer really is at the mercy of the Manufacturer. You really depend on the good faith and good will of the maker. Perhaps it should be called a "Good Faith warranty" which both parties should honour.

Your thoughts are welcome.....

Gord.:)

Edited for piss poor spelling...
 
Mike...
Some good points. Think I will spend some time on that thread. Must have missed it.
One could say the more words after "Lifetime Warranty" the weaker it becomes. It would only take one word before "Lifetime Warranty" to make it stronger and that is.... Unconditional....

Gord.
 
warranty on any kind of product doesn't really affect me at all, i mean when i buy something knowing that it has a warranty is nice but i usually don't really care if there is a warranty on it or not. Cause i never assume i'll need to claim warranty on things i buy, and from experience i've maybe claimed like warranty once or twice in my whole life
 
I work in retail as well and I have noticed that many ppl are sold by the fact something has a lifetime warranty. Most things that do not have warranties do not sell as well. This depends of course on the product.


I think lifetime warranty is great in that it allows a companies to stand by its product. At the same time, it has been abused by many ppl.


There are also many customers that don't really give a dam that something is not covered under warranty or they must send it in to the company. They always threaten the retail ppl with the same threat, that they will never ever shop here again or that they will tell my boss that I did not do as they wished. Many ppl don't realize over the counter warranty is alot different than life time warranty. Even with life time warranties, it is a limited life time warranty most of the time.
 
A lifetime warranty is great, but especially with the cheaper knives is it the lifetime of the owner, the lifetime of the company or the lifetime of the knife?
 
I think you need to watch the movie Tommy Boy to see what is said about warranties ;) .... "hey, if you want me to take a dump in a box and mark it with a warranty I will, I've got the time..."

Any reputable company will stand behind their knives as long as the problem is not from abuse. A lifetime warranty is nice but if the company does not support it or if you have no idea where to send it to claim the warranty it's worthless.

Most companies will not honor a warranty if the knife has been disassembled, sine knife people also seem to like to tinker most of us end up voiding our warranty. Chris Reeve is one exception, they send you the tools to take your knife apart and have a lifetime warranty.
 
If the product is cheap and easily replaced, who cares about a warranty, but when a company charges a premium price the warranty should get stronger. This is a $200 piece of steel it better not break. Your life can depend on the preformance of your knife, it should never fail and if it does then it should be fix or replaced. We're not talking about VCRs here, knives are mostly used for hum-drum tasks but they are also used in the most dire of emergencies.
 
Warranties really carry a lot of weight with a large percentage of

the sheeple. I work as a sales rep for a wholesale flooring

distributor and pride myself on being somewhat of an expert in my

particular field. It's always interesting to note the responses

from retailers who will knowingly purchase a lower quality product

just because it has a better warranty even after they're shown

technical evidence proving the difference. Statements

like, "They'll never use the warranty,,it just sounds good" or "Your

product can't be better cause it ain't got as long a warranty" or "I

know your product is better quality but this product will sell

better with the longer warranty" are common place. The fact

is,,edcuate yourself before making any substantial purchase

because warranties(for the most part) aren't a true measure of

quality and retailers want your money.


Phillip:)
 
I broke the blade on an old Gerber FS II, sent it back, and Gerber sent me a new knife free of charge! Hurrah for Gerber!

I don't know what Spyderco's policy is, but I also broke the blade on my Delica. I emailed Spyderco to ask them how much it would cost to fix, and they told me something like "due to the construction of the knife, it isn't practical to replace the blade."

Bummer. At least they responded in a timely fashion.

Marty
 
My current opinion on lifetime warranties is that I'm distressed at the number of makers of high-end products who don't or no longer offer them. I tend to feel that if I'm spending hundreds of dollars on a fountain pen or a thousand dollars on a watch that I ought to expect the maker to stand behind their work more than a 1 or 2 year warranty.

On knives... the companies I buy from offer lifetime warranties with caveats I am generally willing to accept.
 
Originally posted by KScaldeferri
My current opinion on lifetime warranties is that I'm distressed at the number of makers of high-end products who don't or no longer offer them.
Click to expand...

Sure...I agree. When you are paying top dollar I would expect more then a 1 or 2 year super conditional warranty. I suspect that makers have experienced unacceptable levels of abuse of the lifetime warranties by customers and choose to no longer offer them.
Shame....

Gord
 
Knife Makers should take after Craftsmen tools. You could find one on the side of the street 100 years old, broke into 50 peices and all you do is take it to Sears and it gets replaced on the spot. I know this might not be practical in knife applications, But I bet any company that offered that type of deal would make one hell of a tough knife!!
 
Originally posted by Bruise Lee
I don't know what Spyderco's policy is, but I also broke the blade on my Delica. I emailed Spyderco to ask them how much it would cost to fix, and they told me something like "due to the construction of the knife, it isn't practical to replace the blade."
Click to expand...
Marty: The Delica's blade is basically riveted together, I suppose there are destructive ways to extract the blade, but that wouldn't be a good thing. I think they would access whether they could replace the blade depending on how you did break it.
 
Originally posted by calyth
Marty: The Delica's blade is basically riveted together, I suppose there are destructive ways to extract the blade, but that wouldn't be a good thing. I think they would access whether they could replace the blade depending on how you did break it.
Click to expand...

I'm a cheap bastard, so I hoping Spyderco would send me a new knife like Gerber did when I broke my FS II. ;) Seriously, I was hoping I could at least pay to get it repaired, but like you said the blade is riveted in so there is no easy way to disassemble the knife for parts replacement.

Bruise
 
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