Victorinox Warranty/Repair, 60+ days and counting...

S

Siggyhk

Joined
Feb 8, 2006
Messages
1,645
Had a OHT with a spring that was faulty. Called them, they cheerfully said to send it in, wont be a problem. I sent it in feeling good. They recieved it Oct., 20th. I called them sometime in Nov. to make sure they recived the knife, and they had, but it hadn't been fixed yet. Called back today, still hasn't been fixed, but they'll "put a rush on it". -Thought that should be shared. I'll be looking at more LM Juices in the future, I think.
 
Yeah, I only point this out because I originally spoke highly of their warranty based on my initial call. Now I've been proven an idiot for basing (and sharing) my opinion of their service on the first phone call. -Customer service should go beyond pretty/kind sounding voices for 30 seconds on the phone.
I'll report back when/if I get my knife back.

I imagine their SOP is to just send out a new knife, but I guess that's not efficient enough...?
 
File this under "easy for me to say," but I'd take some solace in the fact that they acknowledge they have the knife and are expediting the warranty repair. Sounds like some glich in their typical warranty procedure to me.
 
After a search I saw other reports of similar time-frames with Victorinox warranty/service. -I regret to say that I'm not the only one. But...maybe it's rare.
 
I sent in my OH Parachutist due to a faulty spring and it took three months to get it back. I emailed them several times but couldn't get any responses from them. I think that maybe since they are the largest cutlery company in the world and thier products are pretty cheap they don't seem to care much about customer service. Realistically speaking many of thier knives are almost disposable. If someone was to break thier Spartan I think it would go in the garbage and another one would be bought off Amazon for $10 or $15. I doubt that this sort of thing would happen with the likes of Spyderco or Benchmade but with them you are paying a lot more and can expect or even demand better service.
I still love my SAKs though and that Parachutest was the only on I've had a problem with.
 
Siggyhk said:
After a search I saw other reports of similar time-frames with Victorinox warranty/service. -I regret to say that I'm not the only one. But...maybe it's rare.
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Oh, I'm certain you're not the only one. Remember Victorinox has sold millions of knives. Millions. And people with bad customer service experiences tend to post about them on the internet far more than those who are satisfied.

Don't get me wrong. I think you're getting pretty unimpressive customer service here and are fine for posting about it. I'm just speculating, however, that your experience is probably not completely typical. In any case, I hope you get your new or repaired knife back very soon and are happy with it.
 
Perhaps you have to attach an 'extra' check to receive reasonable service. That kind of wait time is just patently wrong on multiple levels.
 
This does seem to be a long wait. I've sent a few in over the years for warenttee work, but it took a bout a month. I can only think that like was said, they have a huge back log of knives since they are the largest knife company in world. They make more knives per year than Buck has made 110 folding hunters since it's begining in 1963.

On the other hand, thier warenttee is soooo god, that you can break a sak doing something insane, and they will just send you another knife.

Carl.
 
I had sent a note asking that if they intend to replace/exchange the knife with a new one that I'd greatly appreciate a plain-edge version. Got an e-mail last week saying they'll be fixing the existing knife, so an exchange can't be done.
-I have no problem with that at all. But it goes to show I was mistaken in thinkin they would just send a new knife as I assumed that would be more efficient for them as a company. -My thought was it would cost Vic more to pay a worker to fix a knife that to just send a new one out as they do make so many.
Anyhow, I agree with the disposable aspect of these knives. These are fine knives, but they're inexpensive, generally. And it's simply not worth risking the wait if you should be one of the unlucky ones that needs service.
I will report back once I get the knife and just for fun at this point, post the days it took in total.
 
Well, lucky for me I own about twenty of them. So wait time on service isn't a real issue.

I've paid less than $10 for a lot of them, however. Thanks largely to TSA seizures, most common models can be bought very cheap on eBay. So this makes paying for a return shipping kind of iffy, depending on the value of the knife and/or any sentimental value.
 
I recently had a similar experience but things turned out really well for me and my previous enthusiasm for Victorinox has turned into devotion. I sent in a very old swisstool, no paperwork and the only problem was a decade of over-abuse, no defects in the product. I mailed it to the Monroe, CT service center in early August and did not receive a package back from them until just before Halloween! Even worse, inside the package was the exact thing I had sent them, untouched and with no explanation. I contacted them via telephone and was immediately given a UPS label in order to ship it back free of charge. Two weeks later I had another package from them... Containing a swisstool spirit instead of my swisstool. On my next call I was asked to give them the product # for the tool I originally sent and was assured things would be fixed in a jiffy; one week later I had another box on my door with a brand new version of the original tool I had sent.

Something I learned along the way is that the service center closes over the summer months creating a tremendous backlog on repairs; send your SAK in at the beginning of the calendar year for quickest return!

In the end it took three months for me to get my Swisstool fixed but I ended up with two brand new tools and experienced nothing but kind and enthusiastic customer service, for me this is more than acceptable.
 
justsomedude said:
I recently had a similar experience but things turned out really well for me and my previous enthusiasm for Victorinox has turned into devotion. I sent in a very old swisstool, no paperwork and the only problem was a decade of over-abuse, no defects in the product. I mailed it to the Monroe, CT service center in early August and did not receive a package back from them until just before Halloween! Even worse, inside the package was the exact thing I had sent them, untouched and with no explanation. I contacted them via telephone and was immediately given a UPS label in order to ship it back free of charge. Two weeks later I had another package from them... Containing a swisstool spirit instead of my swisstool. On my next call I was asked to give them the product # for the tool I originally sent and was assured things would be fixed in a jiffy; one week later I had another box on my door with a brand new version of the original tool I had sent.

Something I learned along the way is that the service center closes over the summer months creating a tremendous backlog on repairs; send your SAK in at the beginning of the calendar year for quickest return!

In the end it took three months for me to get my Swisstool fixed but I ended up with two brand new tools and experienced nothing but kind and enthusiastic customer service, for me this is more than acceptable.
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Thats freakin awesome...
 
Never had to send anything into them yet, but sounds like they are not the quickest or most organized. I have sent in NUMEROUS Leathermans, a couple Gerbers, a few Benchmades, a SOG, a few Bucks, a Kershaw, and a couple Spydercos. I can honestly say that all the above companies were both fast and almost always fixed the problems the first time around.
 
Just got my knife back today. Almost exactly 90 days from when they received it. On the positive side, they did replace the knife with a different one (my first choice) that I requested if they were to exchange the knife for a new one. -And yet, this makes me think this all should have went much quicker.

The knife I asked for was firstly was the Swiss military version with the green/rubber handles and that's what they sent me in the end. If not that, I asked for a basic OHT w/plain edge.
I had recently received an email stating they wouldn't do an exchange as my original knife would be repaired. I responded that wasn't not a problem. So this was a pleasant surprise. Doesn't make up for the wait, but it is appreciated. -Also the knife I got has a slightly higher value (I think) than the basic OHT I sent in.

I will continue to buy/use these knives, as they are great, but it's very doubtful I will ever send one in for warrant work again. -Hopefully I'll never encounter another reason to.

Anyhow, that how this story ends. If you send one in, be prepared for a wait.
 
Now that wait has passed down to me I guess...sent in a small Classic SD that I found in a drawer last October.
I didn't get any notification from them that they've received it. So I sent them an e-mail and they responded saying that they received in on mid November and the turnaround time should be 7 weeks.

Over 7 weeks later and still nothing, I e-mailed them again. They responded saying the turnaround time should be 8 weeks. It's been more than 8 weeks now and I don't wanna e-mail them anymore because I'm afraid they are gonna add 1 additional week each time I send them an e-mail.

I know, it's just a small Victorinox Classic SD...but boy it's taking too long...
 
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