Victorinox Swiss Army - useless warranty

barcbsa

barcbsa

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I sent in six Victorinox Swiss Army knives to the USA repair center for repair under their LIFETIME LIMITED WARRANTY program.

http://www.swissarmy.com/multitools/lifetimelimitedwarranty/Pages/LifetimeLimitedWarranty.aspx

These were knives that had broken handles and springs, not from abuse, but from everyday use.

Their warranty is apparently only good if you don't need to use it.

They want $38 to repair my knives...

I called them on the phone, they said since I sent in more than 4 knives, they will charge me to repair them. If I sent in 4 or less, there would be no charge.

I told them to repair 4 and send those back with the 2 they are not repairing.

Great warranty, eh?
 
They have always repaired any knife that i have sent them without charge but i have always sent them in one at a time. My advice would be to send the damaged knife in as soon as possible and not wait until you have several damaged ones to send together. sounds like you were understandibly trying to save on shipping but they have always gave me excellent service!! I once sent in a WELL used swiss tool for repair and even offered to pay for the repairs since i had caused all the damage to the tool from many years of extreme abuse and they sent me totally new tool without charge and it was in a new sheath to boot!!! I would hardly call their warrenty usless!!!!,,VWB.
 
Victorinox has one of the best warranties you will ever find for any product - not just knives. Despite the limitations on damage due to obvious abuse, they usually replace knives with broken blades no questions asked. They had a facility in Derby CT and I went over there with a buddy who was a carpet installer. He had a knife with a small pen blade which he had broken prying staples and I had one with a can opener blade broken during some drunken and unremembered rampage. What do you have - step over to the service door - brand new knife NIB - thank you very much. As good as it gets!

I don't blame them for limiting it to four at a time - it will slow down the scumbags who want to pick up a box of old beaters at some roadside flea market, have Victorinox repair or replace them with new knives, and then turn around and sell them on eBay.
 
I hadn't thought of that angle.

I've always had very good experiences with Victorinox, which exhibit very high day-to-day quality, consistently across their product line. I've never had to send anything in for repair, though.
 
mycrofft made a very good point - I can understand why Victorinox puts a limit on quantities.

A friend of mine in San Francisco ran a little tool repair & used tool store, and he charged what some considered unreasonable prices for some brands of tools. He found out that some guys would come in, buy all the decent brands, then go to Sears and exchange for brand new tools (Craftsman - I think Sears has finally put a limit on that kind of thing now); or flag down the next MAC truck they saw and do the same thing, if they had MAC Tools.

A "friend of a friend" who drives a Snap-On truck (he's the tool supplier to my mechanic) told me he stopped exchanging worn-out or broken Snap-On tools except for his better customers (if he knew they were bought from him); he found out guys were going to flea markets, garage sales, etc. and buying used, beat up Snap-On tools, exchanging them with him, then selling the new ones on eBay.

thx - cpr
 
IV Scenarios
Hmm.... Owner of a guaranteed tool breaks it. Then he:

1) Sends it back to the manufacturer and gets it repaired.

B) Sells it to someone who sends it back to the manufacturer and gets it repaired.

Third) Sells it to a second-hand dealer who sells it to someone who sends it back to the manufacturer and gets it repaired.

IV) Sells it to a second-hand dealer who sends it back to the manufacturer and gets it repaired, then sells it.

Questions to Ponder
From the manufacturer's viewpoint, how are these scenarios different?

Should any of the people in any of those scenarios be described as "scumbags?" If so, which people and why?
 
Cougar Allen said:
IV Scenarios
Hmm.... Owner of a guaranteed tool breaks it. Then he:

1) Sends it back to the manufacturer and gets it repaired.

B) Sells it to someone who sends it back to the manufacturer and gets it repaired.

Third) Sells it to a second-hand dealer who sells it to someone who sends it back to the manufacturer and gets it repaired.

IV) Sells it to a second-hand dealer who sends it back to the manufacturer and gets it repaired, then sells it.

Questions to Ponder
From the manufacturer's viewpoint, how are these scenarios different?

Should any of the people in any of those scenarios be described as "scumbags?" If so, which people and why?
Click to expand...

1) No scumbag because the original purchaser acts within the parameters envisioned by the manufacturer when pricing the product.

B) The second purchaser borders on being a scumbag because they did not purchase the warranty from the manufacturer yet they take advantage of it. Since the motive is not profit, he isn't really a scumbag, so I'll categorize him as a scumbubble.

Third) The person purchasing it from the second hand dealer is a scumbag because they have purchased an item from a dealer not authorized to offer any warranty so they turn around and scam the manufacturer to increase the value of the damaged item.

IV) The second hand dealer is a scumbag because he interferes with the normal attrition of the goods and takes advantage of the manufacturer solely to make a profit. The person purchasing the item from the second hand dealer is blameless.

I think the scenarios differ in the way the attrition rate of the item is manipulated by subsequent owners to increase their own profits. The original pricing of the items takes into consideration the attrition and the projected cost of repairs/replacements. Any manipulation of that attrition and replacement rate will result in the projected costs being increased and a higher price for the consumer who purchases the next one from the manufacturer.
 
barcbsa said:
These were knives that had broken handles and springs, not from abuse, but from everyday use.
Click to expand...

You do this in everyday use a lot?

Been carrying Vic' SAK's going on 30 years, never had a spring break and the only handles I've broken were from dropping the knife on pavement as an EMT.
 
I sent a Victorinox Tinker to the spanish dealer of Victorinox (Muela) and about a month and a half ago I had a brand new one at home. It was almost new but somehow it had a broken spring. My uncle showed it to me and I noticed the broken spring so I told him I would take care of it. It took a while but their warranty seems to work.
Mikel
 
Buy a bulk of flea market or airport confiscated Vic beaters > Send en masse to Victorinox to be repaired for free > List for sale on Ebay/Forums > Make some money.

I'm thinking it's something like that scenario that made Victorinox implement that rule.
 
Unless the warranty specifies an "original owner/purchaser" clause, in other words the warranty follows the item, not the person, then the maker should fix regardless of scenario 1-4 above.

They made the claim, and should understand that there is potential for any of the scenarios...
 
It seems to me that sending in six at once would be a bit unusual. I might have called or e-mailed first to get authorization.

Thanks for the link to the warranty center for Victorinox. I have a Pocket Pal like this one:
vn53281.jpg


With a broken tip on the main blade and a chipped piece out of one of the scales. I am going to send it in.

I will let you know how it goes.
 
Six knives all failed at once?? If a knife breaks you usually send it in, not wait for the same thing to happen to another five...

Victorinox knives have never given me any trouble at all, they're robust, excellently machined, keenly priced and I feel they offer a fair&valid guarantee. Try sending six broken knives to any other manufacturer and see if they behave differently......
 
Pretty sketchy how that many Vics failed on you from "everyday use"...
Are you hiding other details?
 
I emailed Victorinox (Dutch office) about some old knives and what they could do for me.
They told me to take them to a dealer..

Since I buy all my knives online or second hand I'm not going to a dealer where I never bought something and never will to hand over some old knives for him to send in.
Especially since I still don't know what Victorinox can do for me.

For me, they might as well not have customer service or warranty.
Which is okay because the knives are brilliant which last for many years and I will continue to buy them.
 
They'll repair 4 knives for you, no questions asked, and that's bad customer service? But here's my real question: how in the world did the springs on 6 of your Vics break?
 
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