Warranty and old product

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Jul 25, 2010
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I remember reading something about people being upset with the new warranty from the people who bought cold steel. Is having proof of purchase the only negative and is it safe to still purchase old stock?

looking at a backup AD10 since the prices are right
 
I don't think anybody really knows what level of customer service is going to be offered yet.
The older models are consistently, excellent in my experience, but it will probably be more difficult to identify new/older counterfeits now that Lynn's crew is gone.
 
I don't think anybody really knows what level of customer service is going to be offered yet.
The older models are consistently, excellent in my experience, but it will probably be more difficult to identify new/older counterfeits now that Lynn's crew is gone.

but is his crew really gone? I’m sure some stayed at the very least. I agree with the consistency
 
I really hope that the new ownership has solid intentions in not only making Cold Steel successful and profitable for themselves, but also successful in keeping it's brand's loyal supporters happy.
With that said, I have to admit that my gut feeling is that it all looks too similar to the situation that happened to Remington, Bushmaster, Marlin, New England Firearms, Tapco, and a bunch more big names bought out by a single big investment firm.... Some of those names eventually wound up going DoDo bird, while the the remaining brands wound up on the Bankruptcy Court' chopping block.

There is a lot of product out there done by Lynn Thompson' company, and one of the ways that a new ownership can start off in showing it values the brand's loyal following, is to show that they have not been forgotten. How they handle the warranty situation can be a part of that.

As the poster above mentions, a Representative being on this board could also be a good way of getting the word out that the original customer base matters to them, and that has not occurred.

We shall see, but I still got a feeling that the Remington Firearms saga may be the situation that will unfold here too.
 
I think by the end of this year we’ll have a better idea which direction CS is headed (keeping fingers crossed). BTW, last I read, Remington was starting to make shottys again (hoping they come back too).
 
I have not posted on blade forum in a long while. I felt compelled to write this post because of how bad the customer service has been with GSM outdoors. This seemed like a good spot to tell this story, so far. I will try to make a long story short. I sent my ultimate hunter to the cold steel warranty location in California in early December, 2020. This was after an email conversation with cold steel customer service. The knife arrived in CA on 12/10. I waited a couple of weeks and emailed the cold steel to find out what was going on with my knife. I was informed that the cold steel customer service e-mail address was no longer being monitored and to contact GSM because of the sale of the company. I emailed GSM on 12/23 and again on 1/04, and never heard back. I called that same week and spoke with one representative, after being on hold with them for over 60 minutes. As a side note being on hold with customer service at GSM is awful. They play a loop of 2 or 3 commercials of their products nonstop. The representative I spoke with told me I would be contacted within a week or two. That never happened after a few unanswered emails I called again. Another representative told me that she would escalate the case and make sure I would get a response in a week or two. Again, I never got a call or email, and my emails went unanswered. I called again and was on hold for 45ish minutes before someone picked up and again heard the same story. This person guaranteed I would hear back within one to two weeks. Now it has been well over 2 weeks and again I have not received any info. Emails again unanswered and on hold today for almost 60 minutes on the dot before someone in customer service picked up. After another 15 minutes of holding, she found out they knew nothing about where my knife was. She told me she was putting me in for a replacement and that the stock has been tricky for them so it might take some time. She also said she will continue to look for my knife, as it was a cts-xhp model, and I really wanted it back. She said I would get an email by the end of next week or the beginning of the following, 4/1 through 4/6. We’ll see. At this point I feel like they do not have any competence with their customer service department at all.
 
It totally sucks to hear this, very disappointing. Somebody (official representative) needs to join this board and let us all know what’s going on with CS. I was planning on purchasing the S35VN version of the Recon 1 in Clip & Spearpoint. Now seriously wondering if it’s worth it. I just bought the Tanto version a few weeks ago and like it. But I’m not swimming in money, would appreciate knowing their is someone we can turn to if an item needs fixing or replacement (especially when dropping down serious coin).
 
I'm right there with you Sean. I love a lot of cold steel designs. I own 5 cold steels, a bushman, srk in 3v, ad-10, ad-15, and the ultimate hunter that is now lost (edit: 7 cold steels, forgot about my storm cloud and golden eye tanto). I would love to pick up the recon in s35vn as well but I don't think I'll buy another product from them if they don't fix some of these issues. In Conversations with them they have blamed the sale and moving of operations. That may excuse the loss of my knife, or at least explain it, but it doesn't at all explain no email responses and no phone responses or tyne extremely long hold times. And as I said above they need to change the hold recording. I've heard all about their saddle hunters seats and game cameras. After an hour on hold, it's borderline torture.
 
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What crappy news, I was a big fan of Cold Steel, but I won't be buying anything Cold Steel anymore. I hate this huge corporations and their bait and switch strategies. Columbia is one of the worst, they buy a company with a good rep and good following then completely cut quality, warranty and customer service and milk it to extinction. Sounds like GSM buying Cold Steel is yet another example of this disappointing trend. I guess I'll be retiring my XHP Recon 1 since it will be irreplaceable and warranty won't be honored by these scrubs.
 
Still no knife. No contact from them at all. I've sent 3 emails and nothing. Called and they said I'll be sent a replacement but the knife is on back order and won't be sent until June. I will never buy another cold steel product.

They did change the hold recording. Now it's a generic hold music. Much better than the looped advertisements.
 
Thank you for the update and sorry things turned out the way they did. I will probably get 2 more models that I’ve always wanted. If for no other reason than to have them as “collector” items. Will get them from a source that allows hassle free returns, in case there is an obvious issue with the product.
 
This is all saddening news for Cold Steel's future . :(

Terrible customer service along with premium prices is a surefire formula for longterm failure . :mad::thumbsdown::thumbsdown:
 
I guess the moral of the story is....get what you want now before it may become unavailable, etc. Yeah, sucks to hear all this.
 
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