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Review Before you order @ Blade HQ

Have you had problems with Blade HQ?

  • Yes. But they resolved them appropriately.

    Votes: 30 14.0%

  • Yes. And they didn’t seem to care.

    Votes: 27 12.6%

  • No. They’ve been great.

    Votes: 157 73.4%
  • Total voters
    214
M

Mike McKenzy

Feedback: 0 / 0 / 0
Joined
Mar 20, 2019
Messages
1
I love to share happy fun stories. Stories of great service, surprised and delighted experiences, etc.

This is not one of those stories.

I have gotten all of my knives from my local knife shop. I heard from all of you knife junkies that Blade HQ was worth a look. So I ordered.

Got the knife quickly. Excited for my Micarta scale, chisel ground folder that was on sale! Took it out to try it on a cardboard box and it closed on me. Realized quickly that the knife was defective. Wouldn’t properly lockup. Slips closed with very little pressure. Scary. Dangerous.

I reach out to BHQ, fighting their broken web form, to send a message, no response. Days go by. Nothing. I found an info email so I sent an email that way. Days go by. No response.

At this point I reach out directly to CRKT. They were horrified at my experience and were helpful. They asked that I send the knife back to them directly as it was a safety concern. They implied that this knife should not have been sold but there is nothing they can do to stop dealers selling them if they still have them.

Turns out this knife was discontinued, never worked right and all over the internet this locking issue has been well documented for over SEVEN years. Now I’m upset.

I finally get a response from BHQ. All it says, “send the knife back, we’ll refund you.” No mention of my concern. Nothing about my potentially catastrophic failure. I reply back explaining that CRKT wanted the knife back and that I’m not concerned about a refund, I’m upset that my concern has been ignored and that I’d be happier with a replacement knife (I even offered to take a knife of lower MSRP!). Again I wait days for a response back.

They respond again. This time offering a refund “we normally require you send the knife back, but we’ll make an exception this time, don’t stress it.” Don’t stress it??? Now they’re just being rude. And still zero acknowledgement of my MAIN concern. The safety issue that They’ve known about since 2012 that would have been easily avoided had someone at BHQ simply opened the knife to make sure it locked up. At this point I’m disgusted. I gave them every chance to make it right. They are actively avoided taking responsibility for their error so now I’m sharing my story. This wasn’t just a shipping error. What if my 10 year old (fledgling knife collector) had been the one using it? All the knife safety teaching in the world wouldn’t have prevented him from potentially cutting his fingers off due to the out right neglect and lack of care that Blade HQ has shown they have for their customers.

I am still waiting To hear back.

End, rant.
 
BHQ is in my top five dealers. Never had a problem .

I also call when I have an issue with any product, bill or company for an immediate solution.

DLT makes top two though.
 
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So you acknowledge that the issue was well documented all over the internet; but you bought it anyway? And BHQ is at fault for selling it to you? Why not chastise CRKT for not recalling the defective & dangerous product they produced/distributed?
FWIW, my own experience with BHQs online communication was that it sucked...and I rarely purchase from them, as a result. (The only exception I recall was the M4 PM2). If I had a problem with a purchase & didn't get a timely response, though, I would call.

They offered you a refund/substitution without a return. Accepting it seems like such a simple response...
 
Now I've never dealt with BHQ but imo: it it's not their job to check if it's safe to use. The manufacturers QC should catch it, but in case they don't I think it's common sense to check if a tool is good to go before using it.

EDIT: also: What do you expect them to do apart from refunding and even letting you keep it at that?
 
Blade HQ is a very good company. :thumbsup: All successful businesses get overly busy at times and communication tends to slip. :( I think you are WAY overreacting to the whole situation. :rolleyes: Do you know if CRKT notified all the dealers who stocked this knife and told them not to sell it? I doubt it. "Don't stress it". ;) Accept their generous offer and move on.
 
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Blade HQ is on my "use only if they are the only ones in stock or have a sale running and have the best price" list. They monopolize google search results so my first few online knife purchases were through them. They were very, very slow to ship back then (admittedly, they are better now) so I eventually found other places to try to spend my money with first.

There are shops with more of a presence here AND have a reward program AND ship much faster.
 
This is the wrong forum, agreed.

FWIW, I pretty much gave up on BHQ myself after a couple of negative experiences.
 
I've not had a problem with BHQ, but they are not my preferred dealer. They have goofy shipping which is not their fault, it just seems that their location is in a Bermuda triangle where all shipping takes 1-2 days longer.

DLT and GPK are my dealers of choice. KnifeCenter is third.
 
madcap_magician said:
I've not had a problem with BHQ, but they are not my preferred dealer. They have goofy shipping which is not their fault, it just seems that their location is in a Bermuda triangle where all shipping takes 1-2 days longer.

DLT and GPK are my dealers of choice. KnifeCenter is third.
Click to expand...

DLT is my favorite too. I just wish they had everything I liked so I didn't have to use other people. Even though they are really remote to me the shipping is always fast and I can call their number and an actual person answers the phone. Plus I can reach out to Jordan here and he gets back to me very fast. It is also nice to talk to people that know exactly what you are talking about since they are intimately familiar with the products.

Dealing with people that sell what they are familiar with and believe in (in addition to the usual business requirements---honesty, integrity, CS skills) is a pleasure.

EDIT: Oh, and I guess it is more of a side note when they have all the personal touches nailed down but they also have a reward program where you can earn discounts.
 
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Maybe I've been lucky, but I've never had a problem with Blade HQ. I always order over the phone, and also always ask them to check for possible flaws, that I have pre-listed. I've never been disappointed, and always gotten my orders in a timely fashion.

Jim
 
I have no problem with BHQ but I have noticed that they are slower responding to email than other knife dealers.
Also they seem a bit less willing to go the extra mile than say gpknives or newgraham.
I shop at BHQ for their exclusives.
 
AF said:
I have no problem with BHQ but I have noticed that they are slower responding to email than other knife dealers.
Click to expand...

I've emailed them before and never, ever got a response. My assumption is that they are like many large online retailers in this day and age---large on-hand inventory, access to more inventory direct from distributors, and minimum employees and as much automation as possible.
 
I've also noticed that they do the amazon thing of adjusting prices. I'm talking about knives "on sale" or closeout. They seem to raise the price up after selling a bunch and reducing inventory. Nothing wrong with that but it doesn't give as warm and fuzzy a feeling as some other dealers. They also don't share the size of their exclusive runs. They are masters of social media marketing.
On the flip side, their size and apparent efficiency means they have deeper pockets and keeping bringing more exclusives to market than any other dealer. So that's nice.
 
BladeHQ, knifecenter, USAmadeblade are gréât places to deal with
I have a couple of other good shops but not sure they are registered here
 
Nothing but good on my end but I research for weeks on a knife I have my eyes on plus I use that search bar up in the top right corner of this website. Years of reviews to be found and you would be well served to use it before the next purchase. You can also subscribe to people like Nick Shabazz or Banter 247 on Youtube for hours of reviews. There are some poorly designed and possibly dangerous knives out there and it never hurts to see what some respectable reviewers have to say.
 
I'm confused. Did CRKT announce that the said model was defected AND dealers should not sell it anymore but BHQ continues to do so? Or is it just that many people reported the problem of the model on the Internet? There is a huge difference between them.

Also as others said, email may not be the fastest communication method for BHQ and many other dealers. You could very well have picked up the phone and given them a call.

Finally what do you OP expect BHQ (or any other decent dealers) to do? You are given the option of taking a full refund without even returning the knife. Should BHQ send a customer rep to your door to apologize or award a medal to you for being patient?:rolleyes:
 
I have bought from BladeHQ since they opened
My last purchase from them was a Reate Jack Damasteel
The knife was $660.00 and then they charged me $42.00 in sales tax
That was a deal breaker for me, none of my other 5 go to dealer charge any tax
If it's a $100.00 knife it's no big deal, but $42.00 is a big deal in my opinion
I believe it's hurting there sales
 
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