Zero Tolerance Warranty/Repair/Customer Service

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RamZar

RamZar

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The past month I've had a chance to experience KAI/ZT warranty, repair and customer service.

On two occasions I asked for torsion bars for assisted opening ZT 0350 and 0770 folders In both cases they arrived in about a week.

Sent in my ZT 0770CF due to one pivot screw not being flush against the scale and the liner lock sticking. Both problems were fixed well, blade sharpened and returned in 10 calendar days.

Sent in my ZT 0801CF due to pivot spinning and coming loose which resulted in blade not being centered and the lock tough to disengage. I have another ZT 0801CF which has been perfect from day one. Problems were fixed, blade sharpened and returned in 12 days. The reason it was slightly late was due to Memorial Day weekend in there plus they mistyped my address. Called them up yesterday and they intercepted the package with UPS, corrected the address and delivered it today.

Great follow through and customer service. Very fast turnaround and excellent repair work.
 
Agreed; love Kershaw's warranty service. Just got back my Shallot this week and my first experience has shown their customer service is excellent even with their lower end knives. Sent it in due to a chip in the blade and a broken Speedsafe, the knife came back the week after chip free and sharper than when I first purchased it. They even replaced the pocket clip. Makes me feel slightly better about owning 50 or so Kershaws. :D
 
I have nothing but good things to say about KAI/ZT and their customer service and warranty dept.
 
I called and asked for a screw for the clip on my 350, which was stripped. They sent me a new clip and screws at no charge. Love their product and will keep buying them.
 
I purchased a new knife, very expensive, and the blade grind was atrocious, so I sent it in under the warranty. Easy fix, but only if you have good customer service. What they did in this case was to tell me I should be happy with the knife the way it is. I talked to Elizabeth in customer service who transferred me to Dan who transferred me to Josh. Josh is apparently the manager of the warranty department and he told me anyone would be happy to buy that knife. He said he could see the difference in grinds from one side to the other but the badly ground blade was within tolerance for them. I'm thinking they should change their name to Massive Tolerance. I asked him if he would be happy receiving that knife as a buyer and he had to lie through his teeth to say yes after stuttering about "well, not everyone would notice that", and "knife people have higher expectations than normal people" and that if he had bought that knife he'd just return it. Why? Why would he return it if there is nothing wrong with it? Poor company with poor customer service in my experience, unfortunately.
 
Passin' Through said:
I purchased a new knife, very expensive, and the blade grind was atrocious, so I sent it in under the warranty. Easy fix, but only if you have good customer service. What they did in this case was to tell me I should be happy with the knife the way it is. I talked to Elizabeth in customer service who transferred me to Dan who transferred me to Josh. Josh is apparently the manager of the warranty department and he told me anyone would be happy to buy that knife. He said he could see the difference in grinds from one side to the other but the badly ground blade was within tolerance for them. I'm thinking they should change their name to Massive Tolerance. I asked him if he would be happy receiving that knife as a buyer and he had to lie through his teeth to say yes after stuttering about "well, not everyone would notice that", and "knife people have higher expectations than normal people" and that if he had bought that knife he'd just return it. Why? Why would he return it if there is nothing wrong with it? Poor company with poor customer service in my experience, unfortunately.
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So why didn't you return it to the dealer? That should always be your first step.

ETA: Oh I see now. You joined yesterday and this is the third thread you have brought this issue up in only to bash on ZT. In the third thread you do explain that you will send it back to the dealer which is the thing you should have done in the first place. Lesson learned.
 
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I've contacted Great Lakes Outfitters where I purchased the knife, about a return. So I'll send it back to them, they'll send it back to ZT. The result is an angry customer who had to jump through hoops and waste money for no reason, an authorized ZT retailer who now has a disappointed customer PLUS has a lemon they have to give a refund for and send it back to ZT, when they already have the knife in hand. They can correct the problem themselves, right now, resulting in a happy customer and a happy ZT retailer. I can't fathom what they're hoping to gain as a company from such poor customer service.
 
Passin' Through said:
I've contacted Great Lakes Outfitters where I purchased the knife, about a return. So I'll send it back to them, they'll send it back to ZT. The result is an angry customer who had to jump through hoops and waste money for no reason, an authorized ZT retailer who now has a disappointed customer PLUS has a lemon they have to give a refund for and send it back to ZT, when they already have the knife in hand. They can correct the problem themselves, right now, resulting in a happy customer and a happy ZT retailer. I can't fathom what they're hoping to gain as a company from such poor customer service.
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So you post the same story in multiple threads upon joining the forum, no pics or anythimg to show this atrocity of quality. When you sent it in did you request replacement/repair or are you one of those types that is looking for something more? Seems as though you had a motive for sending it to ZT as opposed to doing what everyone else would have done normally, refund or replace through the dealer.
 
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Rival1314 said:
So you post the same story in multiple threads upon joining the forum, no pics or anythimg to show this atrocity of quality. When you sent it in did you request replacement/repair or are you one of those types that is looking for something more? Seems as though you had a motive for sending it to ZT as opposed to doing what everyone else would have done normally, refund or replace through the dealer.
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Just so I don't offend you by posting the same thing on multiple threads, you can re-read the reply I just sent you.
 
That really doesn’t sound like standard KAI service.


When you take into account that they don’t sell any ZT’s at their factory sale should be an indication that they really don’t have many ZTs that are out of spec, at least not enough to warrant selling at their factory sale.

I get that maybe you weren’t happy with your knife for whatever reason and that’s understandable but to question the integrity of their employees for a possible rare occurrence (I say possible because a blade that has what would resemble a hollow/convexed grind doesn’t sound like anything ZT’s QC would allow out of their factory) is ridiculous and uncalled for. In all my dealings with KAI’s warranty dept, I’ve never had an unpleasant one and they’ve shown me they go above and beyond to keep customers happy. And I’m sure that plenty of members here can echo my sentiments.

But hey, they are the brand who allegedly burnt edges, ruined the reputation of Elmax and charge people for premium pocket clips that should be free so of course they did you wrong.

No one is going to buy a new Ford and bring the car back to the Ford Motor Company because of a mishapen steering wheel...
 
metsfan said:
That really doesn’t sound like standard KAI service.


When you take into account that they don’t sell any ZT’s at their factory sale should be an indication that they really don’t have many ZTs that are out of spec, at least not enough to warrant selling at their factory sale.

I get that maybe you weren’t happy with your knife for whatever reason and that’s understandable but to question the integrity of their employees for a possible rare occurrence (I say possible because a blade that has what would resemble a hollow/convexed grind doesn’t sound like anything ZT’s QC would allow out of their factory) is ridiculous and uncalled for. In all my dealings with KAI’s warranty dept, I’ve never had an unpleasant one and they’ve shown me they go above and beyond to keep customers happy. And I’m sure that plenty of members here can echo my sentiments.

But hey, they are the brand who allegedly burnt edges, ruined the reputation of Elmax and charge people for premium pocket clips that should be free so of course they did you wrong.

No one is going to buy a new Ford and bring the car back to the Ford Motor Company because of a mishapen steering wheel...
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So there's some sort of law now against posting about your experience with a knife manufacturer's customer service, or lack thereof? Maybe you should tell someone about that. I don't know who else's experiences you're referring to because I'm not them. I related my experience with my first and last dealings with ZT. Period. Are there just a lot of ZT fanboys on here who sit around waiting to flame anyone has the audacity to call out ZT for a poor customer service experience? I'm glad you've been happy with their service, may it be ever so. Cheers and happy new year to you!
 
Passin' Through said:
So there's some sort of law now against posting about your experience with a knife manufacturer's customer service, or lack thereof? Maybe you should tell someone about that. I don't know who else's experiences you're referring to because I'm not them. I related my experience with my first and last dealings with ZT. Period. Are there just a lot of ZT fanboys on here who sit around waiting to flame anyone has the audacity to call out ZT for a poor customer service experience? I'm glad you've been happy with their service, may it be ever so. Cheers and happy new year to you!
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hello, maybe it would have suited you better to post a separate thread instead of trying to derail a positive one from 2014? Seems extremely petty to me. I totally understand it being an expensive knife and wanting to be happy with it, but from my experience if you freak out over something because of that..... maybe its time to scale back on the dollar amount of your purchases in that arena. Buck, Boker, and a few other brands come to mind with lower pricing and high fit and finish. I'm certainly not a fan boy as I only own 1 ZT, but I'm my experience I have always been treated fairly by their warranty department and they have mailed me free pocket clips and hardware in the past. I absolutely agree that customer service is paramount to doing business.... especially with us in this hobby being so OCD(me being one of them). That being said..... I truly believe its an absolute shame that 1 experience ruin your day(or several) the way it has. I also recently purchased an older discontinued 0550 gen 3, and called them about possible future warranty service..... they explained to me that while they couldn't fix it in the future they would in fact give me a FULL price credit if it ever came to it. I call that excellent customer service!

In my experience its not a poor company with poor customer service. It's actually a very high end company who sells A LOT of knives to many happy customers as well as giving them excellent customer service. I'm sorry you had a less than stellar experience(no one is perfect), but you should probably move on and leave more knives for the rest of us :).
 
Passin' Through,

The norm is to return the product to the dealer for a better sample or a refund.

No knife maker is perfect.

Finally, it’s bad form to take a positive thread from 3.5 years ago and go off on vengeful tangent. Create your own thread and have at it. How many other threads that have positive things to say about ZT’s quality and customer service do you intend on ruining?
 
This is one of the threads that convinced me to make my purchase and there's nothing vengeful about it. If someone else had posted this experience it may've saved me the trouble of going through it myself. The least I can do is relate my experience.

Their own website says to return it to them, take a gander.
 
So, your mission is to repudiate all positive posts about ZT because of your singular “bad” experience?
Also, you feel that other people’s positive experiences are not to be believed?

Enough said!
 
RamZar said:
So, your mission is to repudiate all positive posts about ZT because of your singular “bad” experience?
Also, you feel that other people’s positive experiences are not to be believed?

Enough said!
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Easy there killer, I did believe other people's positive experience, hence my purchase. I expect no less than to relate to others my negative experience. Do you have some reason why my experience is less valid than someone else's?
 
RamZar said:
So, your mission is to repudiate all positive posts about ZT because of your singular “bad” experience?
Also, you feel that other people’s positive experiences are not to be believed?

Enough said!
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Yup that’s pretty much how I took it LOL. Unfortunately his negative experience has turned into a bashing campaign against this specific company. He can’t accept the fact that they didn’t do exactley what he wanted so he’s trying to burn them down one positive thread at a time :thumbsdown::poop::poop::poop::thumbsdown:

If only he would have started a NEW thread..... he could have said whatever he wanted without consequence.
 
Passin' Through said:
Easy there killer, I did believe other people's positive experience, hence my purchase. I expect no less than to relate to others my negative experience. Do you have some reason why my experience is less valid than someone else's?
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Everyone is entitled to their opinion and you should have expressed yours in a separate new thread instead of tracking down every positive thread about ZT and then thread crapping! It's about etiquette.
 
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