Broke my small tinker

Wild Willie

Wild Willie

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Good evening all, I just cranked the spring on the bottle opener of my small tinker. I bought it used off of the big auction site several months ago and have used it hard. I've got a spare and a pioneer... I thought I'd ask everyone here and see if in good conscience I should send it in for warrantee work, use one of my others and chalk it up to a lesson learned and have a parts knife, or try to use a small punch to reset the spring... It doesn't appear to have broken. If anyone has done the latter I'd appreciate some advice on how you did it.
 
So sorry to hear of your wounded Tinker. There are a couple of us that frequent the Multi-tools & Multi-purpose Knives forum that have sent their Swiss Army Knives in to Victorinox for warranty service in the last few months. Mine was sent in on June 19, 2020 and was back in my possession 21 days later. You will need a returned materials number and the information you need to return your knife is on the Victorinox, USA website. Victorinox service department is top notch!
 
My biggest concern is that I'm not the original purchaser... Does anyone else have qualms about sending in something bought used? Or am I nuts?
 
W
Wild Willie said:
My biggest concern is that I'm not the original purchaser... Does anyone else have qualms about sending in something bought used? Or am I nuts?
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Well, I can not say if you are nuts or not at this time. ;^) The knife I sent in was not purchased by me, but, by an old friend and left for me before he went to the other side. My experience has been that no one even wondered if I was the original purchaser. I suspect that Victorinox knows that their servicing any product with their name on it has brought a lot of International customers for their products. Happy customers create loyal customers and word of mouth advertising that would be impossible to purchase any other way.
 
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Wild Willie said:
My biggest concern is that I'm not the original purchaser... Does anyone else have qualms about sending in something bought used? Or am I nuts?
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Sorry to hear of your Tinker.:(
Because you asked I'll share this with you. I have a Vic I bought used that could use some minor repair and I considered the same questions myself awhile back.
Coming to the conclusions that Vic did nothing wrong, did not receive a dime from me for it, therefore owes me nothing and I can afford to replace it myself. That's my reasoning, I will not be sending it to Vic for repairs. :)
 
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I was leaning that way myself, if I'd bought this one new/had it left to me like Hairy Clipper Hairy Clipper I would probably feel differently. I'm not disappointed in victorinox in any way, and I will continue to purchase/use their products. If any that I bought new break then I won't hesitate to use their warranty service.

Thanks for your opinions guys!
 
What happened with me and a Leatherman years ago.. I broke the wire cutter..
I sent it to LM along with a letter stating what I did and to let me know how much it would cost to fix and I'd sent them a check..
I fried the end off a Buck 112 years ago and did the same thing .
Letherman didn't charge me a dime ..
So send it in and offer to pay and see where it goes.. either way you get your knife fixed.
 
I'm with redsparrow on this. I've been in the same position regarding damage on used knives. However the scales are practically shot on one of them (oddly enough, a Small Tinker) and I'm thinking of asking the local distributor for replacements, if they have them.

If you're in the US, Small Tinkers in particular are common used and cheap enough new. Aside from the ethical issue, you'll also save time without your knife.
 
Luckily I enjoyed the used one enough that I bought a replacement months ago. So I simply slipped the new one in my pocket this morning. I think I paid 12 bucks for the used one back in January so I got my money's worth out of it. I'm just going to chalk it up to learning the limits of a knife and at least I'll have some parts kicking around should I need them.

Again I appreciate everyone's input. I'm glad that others share my apprehension about sending it in.
 
redsparrow said:
Sorry to hear of your Tinker.:(
Because you asked I'll share this with you. I have a Vic I bought used that could use some minor repair and I considered the same questions myself awhile back.
Coming to the conclusions that Vic did nothing wrong, did not receive a dime from me for it, therefore owes me nothing and I can afford to replace it myself. That's my reasoning, I will not be sending it to Vic for repairs. :)
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That would be my approach. But I'm generally anti-warranty as an adult. The fact that there is a warranty to me means that Vic believes in their product. I have a Leatherman Ps4 Squirt that the spring broke on the scissors. I am debating returning it. I did buy it retail. That was the first time I used the scissors and honestly it may have been broke a long time or never had a spring in the first place....

If I were a child, I would send it back for warranty service for sure and with Vic that just means they give you a new knife.
 
Wild Willie said:
Luckily I enjoyed the used one enough that I bought a replacement months ago. So I simply slipped the new one in my pocket this morning.
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That's why you keep a spare of knives you use often (especially SAKs as most aren't real expensive). I have a new spare for my Small Tinker just waiting for the day that I need it due to breakage or loss. Frankly, there aren't many knives I want a spare of as my tastes change. But change is VERY slow with SAKs. If Vic discontinued the Small Tinker, I would probably buy several more in a rush from available stock. Did that with my side locking Adventurer (111mm) and was always glad I did that. Prior to the Small Tinker, the Adventurer was THE sak I carried daily.

Good for you!
 
Here in Finland the importer of Victorinox has authorized Swiss army repairer who apparently has been trained and equipped to take apart basic SAKs (not alox) and replace whatever tools you need for a little charge. I have sent my SwissChamp in once and it was good to know that I will receive the same knife, just with fixed/replaced tools.

Obviously if something breaks because of manufacturing defect (yeah right) that get’s fixed for free. I did send my wood handled forester that got wobbly and they agreed to send me something more suitable for me back.
 
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