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Do not buy from Hinderer Knives

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Chris Bruce

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Hey guys,
So I have had a rather negative experience recently with a certain "higher end knife manufacturer": Rick Hinderer Knives. I had ordered one of Southern Edges exclusives from them, a 3.5" Eclipse Bowie. I do not blame Southern Edges at all for this and I believe them to be a spectacular place to buy knives from. I cannot say the same about Hinderer as a company. I would also like to preface this by stating that their company model states that, "All RICK HINDERER KNIVES products are guaranteed against material defects and workmanship, and they carry a life time warranty." Upon receival of the knife, I discovered an issue in the finish. A large scratch was on the right side of my knife from the middle of the blade through the tip of the knife. This knife was stonewashed, however the finish was severely damaged by this imperfection. I emailed RHK and dealt with someone named Sam. After speaking with him and sending the knife in, which they had for over a month, I was informed that the issue was a, "grind line," and that he would ask if it could be refinished. Now we get to today where I am informed that the knife was not refinished as I had requested and that the knife is being shipped back to me. They did not contact me before they sent the knife back and did not provide me an option of how to proceed. To truly understand this issue, the price of this knife is 425.00 and came to me damaged. They did not acknowledge this issue nor did they seem to care about the fact that the knife was sent to a dealer with an imperfect finish from factory. My advice: do not order from these people because they will sell you an imperfect product for a large amount of money and then ignore the fact that they made a mistake.
 
Chris Bruce said:
Hey guys,
So I have had a rather negative experience recently with a certain "higher end knife manufacturer": Rick Hinderer Knives. I had ordered one of Southern Edges exclusives from them, a 3.5" Eclipse Bowie. I do not blame Southern Edges at all for this and I believe them to be a spectacular place to buy knives from. I cannot say the same about Hinderer as a company. I would also like to preface this by stating that their company model states that, "All RICK HINDERER KNIVES products are guaranteed against material defects and workmanship, and they carry a life time warranty." Upon receival of the knife, I discovered an issue in the finish. A large scratch was on the right side of my knife from the middle of the blade through the tip of the knife. This knife was stonewashed, however the finish was severely damaged by this imperfection. I emailed RHK and dealt with someone named Sam. After speaking with him and sending the knife in, which they had for over a month, I was informed that the issue was a, "grind line," and that he would ask if it could be refinished. Now we get to today where I am informed that the knife was not refinished as I had requested and that the knife is being shipped back to me. They did not contact me before they sent the knife back and did not provide me an option of how to proceed. To truly understand this issue, the price of this knife is 425.00 and came to me damaged. They did not acknowledge this issue nor did they seem to care about the fact that the knife was sent to a dealer with an imperfect finish from factory. My advice: do not order from these people because they will sell you an imperfect product for a large amount of money and then ignore the fact that they made a mistake.
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ferider said:
OP, do you have a photo ?
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I’d like to see a photo also. A good clear one please.
 
Stonewashed does often lead to irregular marks. Quite honestly, my first move would have been to return to SE or ask for a discount by sending them a pic. They are indeed a very good dealer and would have taken care of you. I understand you wanted more from Hinderer, but the flaw is apparently cosmetic, thus not technically a defect. Sorry for your bad experience.
 
Photo please. A large scratch from the middle of the blade to the tip sounds defect, definitely not something I'd attribute to the stonewhasing process. And I agree the OP should have contacted the dealer for a refund in the first place.
 
Hi Chris I have a few questions for you.......

Did you take any photographs of the knife showing the defect before you sent it in? If so please can you post them.

Why did you not return the knife to the dealer you purchased it from for a full refund rather than sending it to RHK?

You say the knife is being shipped back to you. Has any work been done on the knife by RHK? If so, what? I assume you have not received the knife back from RHK yet?
 
Hey guys, so I wanted to give you all a little update; Hinderer did ship the knife back and did not fix the issue. I received the knife back yesterday and after inspection of the knife discovered that the issue was still present. The link to the photo is here
https://imgur.com/9arPLze
As you can see there is a dark grey scratch that runs deep into the finish. Now, to address the issue of why I did not send the knife back to Southern Edges. Although I know they would have taken care of me, this was not their fault nor was it their issue to address. The knife came from Hinderer knives with a damaged finish and I wanted to give them the chance to correct the issue. During this process, all I received was an email saying that my knife was going to be shipped back. I was not given the option to have it refinished, or to have the issue corrected in any way. Hinderer offers a refinishing service on their website but claims they don't and haven't in a year. Yet there is a price, a service, and the option to have it done. The knife was brand new and has not had any work done to it by RHK because they claimed it wasn't a defective knife. While this was only an aesthetic imperfection, the knife costs 425.00 dollars. For that price I can purchase a Chris Reeve Sebenza 31 small which will arrive absolutely flawless. Not only that, but anyone can order a knife for less than $100.00 dollars from Civivi that arrive perfectly. There is no excuse or any reason for a knife of the caliber which they claim these to be to arrive in the manner it did. I cannot stress how disappointed I am by the customer service of Hinderer knives and I recommend people avoid them.
 
I have received a handful of knives from various brands in stonewashed finishes and any can have similar markings. If it bothered you, you should have sent it back to the dealer and asked for a different knife. Most good dealers will happily accommodate that type of request.

Hinderer or any other manufacturer can't refinish knives like this as it is just part of the process not a defect. I can understand if it bothers you returning it to a dealer for exchange. But I just use them and don't worry about the cosmetics on a finish that naturally has blemishes and differences in each knife.
 
If the stone washing is on top of the mark, I also agree it isn't a defect. If it was scratched sometime after, it should have been rectified by the dealer I'd think.

I am a bit surprised they didn't over to refinish it considering they offer that service, but maybe they figure that's not going to cover it up.
 
JJ_Colt45 said:
I have received a handful of knives from various brands in stonewashed finishes and any can have similar markings. If it bothered you, you should have sent it back to the dealer and asked for a different knife. Most good dealers will happily accommodate that type of request.

Hinderer or any other manufacturer can't refinish knives like this as it is just part of the process not a defect. I can understand if it bothers you returning it to a dealer for exchange. But I just use them and don't worry about the cosmetics on a finish that naturally has blemishes and differences in each knife.
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This.

Sorry, call me a fan boy, but I don't see a defect either. BTW, SE probably still will take the knife back if you ask them, it's a great shop.

Roland.
 
Chris thanks for you concise reply.

My only disagreement with your actions is that you should have returned the knife back to the dealer. Your transaction originated there and should have been rectified there. Had you done so, by now you would either of had another knife, or a refund.

That said the bottom line is that you should have been refunded or offered another knife. Returning the knife back to you in the same condition as it was sent in, without addressing your concerns, or suitable communication, is very disappointing. The mark of a good brand is how they deal with problems.

If it were me I would still return the knife to the dealer for a refund and move on. I hope you get it sorted out quickly.
 
Personally, I didn't see much in the image to cause alarm, but maybe it's just me. I have great respect for both Steven and Roland, so, obviously there is room for differences of opinion on the matter, and ultimately the OP's choice. It's unfortunate it wasn't dealt with through the dealer, however. C'est la vie.
 
Hey guys, so I did want to address the opinion that I should have gone through the dealer in a more detailed manner. Southern Edges is an amazing dealer that I have had amazing experiences with and I highly recommend them. However, I do not place blame on them for the issue I had with the knife. The reason is was not returned to them was that the choice I made for the knife itself was due to the lack of availability of a replacement. Hinderer's finishes overall are not appealing to me although I do enjoy a stonewash. The bowie blade variation of the knife went quickly and I had my heart set on a Hinderer Eklipse at the time. Do I regret not sending it back to them? At this time I do not. I do not disagree that the dealer themselves would have refunded me or provided a replacement. However, this post was not to address the customer service of a dealer. It was to address the customer service of Hinderer Knives as a company. After discovering the issue, I decided to send the knife back to the original makers of the knife to have the issue corrected. In my opinion, the way that the situation was handled was less than satisfactory and their website is deceitful. My advice is still to ignore this company as a whole.
 
I think preferably it should have been handled through the dealer-not their fault but easiest way to deal with a problem on a new knife
Not that it may have changed the result, but preferably Hinderer would have communicated with the OP and gone through the why's they were sending it back unchanged. I don't like it when things I have paid shipping for are just sent back without any discussion to get us all on the same page. But as I said- likely wouldn't have changed anything.
 
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Danke42 said:
The customer is always right; that's what people like about us.
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My first retail boss said, "The customer is always the customer." There are definitely when the customer isn't right but at the end of the day - they pay the bills.
 
This is the second upset Hinderer customer I've read about in recent days. Both have contacted Hinderer customer service and both "NOT" happy with the there out come! I really like Hinderer knives and own a couple dozen and have never had a problem. I hope this is just a fluke and not the norm!
 
ickkey said:
This is the second upset Hinderer customer I've read about in recent days. Both have contacted Hinderer customer service and both "NOT" happy with the there out come! I really like Hinderer knives and own a couple dozen and have never had a problem. I hope this is just a fluke and not the norm!
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Look I think it's important to be clear that Rick Hinderer makes a brilliant knife. Worth every cent and more. Unfortunately there seems to be some disconnect in his customer service department. Easily rectified, which I am sure he will do.

Had the OP returned the knife to the dealer he originally purchased it from this thread would not exist. Better communication and systems are required, but that takes nothing away from the knives. They are excellent.
 
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