601-211 Gold Class Tengu Quality Issues??

[BULLITT_19]

I was curious if anyone else has the new 601-211. My awesome wife knew I was watching this knife, and ordered it on release day for me. It just arrived Friday, and I was really surprised to find that the back spacer is loose on one end. The spacer has around 1/8” of play (up and down). This causes the spacer to not be flush on one side, and it dips down into the liner of the knife. When you close the knife, the blade actually hits the back spacer and pushes it somewhat back into place. It would appear that there is a spot for a 3rd pin drilled into the back spacer, when shining a light through it though, there is definitely not a pin in place. It would appear that an extra pin would eliminate the play.

I was curious if anyone has the original TENGU or the Gold Class variation and could chime in on whether they experience the same issue. I plan on calling Benchmade on Monday to get their take on it. This is my first Gold Class knife, and I have to say that I had really high expectations that certainly weren’t met. At this point I can either send it back to Benchmade to see if they missed a pin, or just return it and get something different. I’ve owned quite a few Benchmade’s now and in the past, and I’ve never had an issue with any of them other than a broken omega spring that they fixed very quickly.

On another note, the knife itself is beautiful, pictures don’t do it justice. Any input from other owners would be greatly appreciated.

 

[JonesE]

@BULLET_19, Wow you have a awesome wife. I would contact your dealer for an exchange. Or at the least let them know the issue you are having with the knife so they can be on the look out for others that might have this issue. It suck that you have to be Benchmade’s QC on a Gold Class Knife. I am sure Benchmade would take care of the issue if you contact them. Thanks for sharing photos. It is a very interesting looking knife.

JonesE

 

[BULLITT_19]

Thanks for the response. I am definitely going to reach out to Benchmade this week to see what they say. I’m sure they will take care of it. I was more or less curious if anyone else was having a similar issue. I’d hate to swap it out for another knife if it was not an isolated issue.

 

[Eljay2]

Thanks for the response. I am definitely going to reach out to Benchmade this week to see what they say. I’m sure they will take care of it. I was more or less curious if anyone else was having a similar issue. I’d hate to swap it out for another knife if it was not an isolated issue.

It can be a bit of a pain to return/exchange/deal with Benchmade over things like this, but I find that it's always worth it in order to get a perfect knife.

 

[BULLITT_19]

Update: I spoke with Benchmade today. The girl I spoke with was nice, but basically just told me to call wherever I bought the knife for an exchange.

A quick shoutout to Knivesshipfree.com, they were awesome to deal with. I spoke with Josh over the phone and he quickly apologized for the experience and offered to go through their remaining inventory and hand picked one to hold for an exchange. They emailed over a return label, and hopefully in another week or so I’ll have a replacement in hand.

I’ll update when I get the new knife, hopefully it won’t have the same issue.

 

[Silent H]

I spoke with Benchmade today. The girl I spoke with was nice, but basically just told me to call wherever I bought the knife for an exchange.

That's not great. Clearly something was wrong with that knife. I expected much better from your customer service @Benchmade

 

[BULLITT_19]

She did admit that there was definitely an issue, and said the easiest thing was to exchange it from where it was purchased. I inquired about sending it back through warranty, she said they would do that, but it would take a lot longer. They were definitely pushing to have the exchange done at the dealer level and not through warranty.

I’m guessing they are backed up at the moment, and it was easier to push this off onto the dealer since it was a new knife.

Either way KSF took care of things, so I’m happy on that end. Looking forward to seeing what the replacement looks like.

 

[DDBZ06]

Fingers crossed I won’t have the same issue, expecting one from KSF later this week. Out of the many Benchmade knives I’ve had, and Gold Class in particular I’ve never had an issue where it actually affected the build or operation of the knife. Sounds like you just got a lemon.. I’ll chime in later when I receive mine if it has an issue similar to yours.

 

[BULLITT_19]

Fingers crossed I won’t have the same issue, expecting one from KSF later this week. Out of the many Benchmade knives I’ve had, and Gold Class in particular I’ve never had an issue where it actually affected the build or operation of the knife. Sounds like you just got a lemon.. I’ll chime in later when I receive mine if it has an issue similar to yours.

Thanks for the response, looking forward to hearing what yours is like when you receive it. I'm assuming my issue was just a one-off, please let me know your thoughts when you receive your knife. Thanks!

 

[DDBZ06]

Happy to report that the one I just received from KSF is perfect. OP, I hope you get your replacement with the quickness! I absolutely love mine.. it’s very strange having a flipper tab Benchmade on bearings that is borderline drop shut. It’ll go well in the collection

 

[BULLITT_19]

Awesome, glad to hear that. KSF received my return today, with any luck I’ll have the replacement on the way soon. Thanks for the response!

 

[BULLITT_19]

I received the replacement today from KSF. They shipped it out the same day they received my original knife.

The new knife has a 3rd pin holding the backspacer in place, the first knife only had 2. This 3rd pin keeps the backspacer from moving around. Looks like this was definitely a one off issue, glad KSF took care of things quickly. They are definitely highly recommended.