You Might Want To Avoid Bestech!

H

Hermes Trismegistus

Joined
May 10, 2021
Messages
15
I always will take a chance, generally I will avoid Chinese knives with but a few exceptions, We/Civiv, Kansept is also decent enough. Recently I made the mistake of obtaining a pair of Bestech Rockface folders, the name alone should have warned me they were a junk dealer, but I gave them a shot, both folders are defective, the first exhibiting serious lock rock and vertical blade play when closed, the second developing vertical blade play in its arc as it is closing or opening, which means it will soon be failing altogether.

The first knife was returned to reputable vendor and refunded, the second is outside its 40-day return window and I am stuck with it. Bestech is not easy to contact, their warranty apparently a scam, requiring photos, detailed paperwork in triplicate, and your receipt of purchase, which I no longer have, so I am SOL. They do not even know their own product, and their so-called service center is some guy in a garage somewhere. I see they have many knives listed in the hundreds of dollars ranges, I would never even consider such sums for product from this vendor. Neither knife was ever used, only played with, neither knife would have survived even mild use, such as cutting down a box, or whittling wood, camping chores ect, I am told by my vendor of choice to avoid them altogether, that they have a very high defect ratio, I will comply with that henceforth....

Caveat Emptor Americans....
 
Hermes Trismegistus said:
exhibiting serious lock rock
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Hermes Trismegistus said:
Bestech Rockface
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Eyyyy! 🤣

Seriously though, that's a bummer. I've owned a couple budget Bestechs and they weren't great. The one more expensive offering I've owned, though, was excellent; its quality matched its price point. I've found Kizer to be similar: the main line is fantastic, the Vanguard line is a mixed bag, and Tangram is not worth the money.

By contrast, QSP and WE seemed to have both their budget and fancy offerings nicely dialed in, with no dip in QC or functionality in their budget lines.
 
Sorry you got some bad knives. I personally own no Bestech knives. No plans on buying one.

I gotta ask.... if the 2nd knife was so bad, how did you manage to "play with it" for over 40 days and manage to miss the 40 day return window?

Also, unless it is Amazon (who takes everything back), it isn't unheard of to supply pics of defects. I deal with that all the time at work.

Also, did you pay with a credit card. You should have a transaction listed with the CC company or your bank.
 
Dadpool said:
Eyyyy! 🤣

Seriously though, that's a bummer. I've owned a couple budget Bestechs and they weren't great. The one more expensive offering I've owned, though, was excellent; its quality matched its price point. I've found Kizer to be similar: the main line is fantastic, the Vanguard line is a mixed bag, and Tangram is not worth the money.

By contrast, QSP and WE seemed to have both their budget and fancy offerings nicely dialed in, with no dip in QC or functionality in their budget lines.
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Yeah, I'm not gonna whine to much about it, they were just $70.00 a piece, they looked okay on web site but alas they were fated to fail. The real thing, the reason I thought to even post it, is the lack of a genuine warranty service, or actual stateside venue. That could piss folks off if they drop serious dough on one of their knives, the proof of purchase thing amazes me, they do not know their own product? Well, based upon quality of the two I received I'd not want to own up to them either... WE/Civivi are an entirely different experience, I have several that were near half the price of these Rockface sheepsfoot blades and they are gorgeous and capable.
 
gazz98 said:
Sorry you got some bad knives. I personally own no Bestech knives. No plans on buying one.

I gotta ask.... if the 2nd knife was so bad, how did you manage to "play with it" for over 40 days and manage to miss the 40 day return window?

Also, unless it is Amazon (who takes everything back), it isn't unheard of to supply pics of defects. I deal with that all the time at work.

Also, did you pay with a credit card. You should have a transaction listed with the CC company or your bank.
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I don't mean played with it all day, I ordered the pair, returned the one day of delivery, and then hung on to the other as it appeared to be fine, by playing with it I refer to just flipping it open and closing it, I did slice some computer paper, but thats it. I never carried it, only show & tell if you will, it was just this afternoon that I picked it up again and was playing with it when I noticed the new looseness in the blade, you can now hear it clicking about in its arc, with both vertical, and horizontal blade play throughout its arc, its stablemate exhibited exactly the same play while fully closed, which I hate in a folding knife!
 
I don't care what the perceived quality to value ratio may be.
I'm not buying from or supporting companies from a country where lying and cheating is considered a legitimate practice.
There are too many other great companies here at home or other countries that honor warranties and intellectual property rights.
 
220-9er said:
I don't care what the perceived quality to value ratio may be.
I'm not buying from or supporting companies from a country where lying and cheating is considered a legitimate practice.
There are too many other great companies here at home or other countries that honor warranties and intellectual property rights.
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One of the ironic issues stemming from that is how many of these Chinese manufacturers products revolve around expat American's, particularly in design, and engineering, who then produce a product in China for pennies, then ship it back to the states and swiftly mark the product up to the level of obscenity compared with cost of manufacture, including shipping costs to the states!

That practice I hate & despise, many of these knives they sell in the USA from even the most reputable Chinese manufacturers, could be sold for good profit in the USA at just 25% of their listed prices, again all of them were produced for just pennies compared to costs in the USA, even with ultra premium component's and steels!
 
Hermes Trismegistus said:
One of the ironic issues stemming from that is how many of these Chinese manufacturers products revolve around expat American's, particularly in design, and engineering, who then produce a product in China for pennies, then ship it back to the states and swiftly mark the product up to the level of obscenity compared with cost of manufacture, including shipping costs to the states!

That practice I hate & despise, many of these knives they sell in the USA from even the most reputable Chinese manufacturers, could be sold for good profit in the USA at just 25% of their listed prices, again all of them were produced for just pennies compared to costs in the USA, even with ultra premium component's and steels!
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That may all be true but regardless, we have almost endless options for quality knives sourced from people close by. We can pick up the phone and talk with them if there's a problem or question. They are the makers I would prefer to support.
 
I've had several Bestech knives over the past four or five years. They were all decent. The main exception was that older models used permanent thread-locker and had T6 pivots, but that went out back when they moved from 12C27 to D2 for their budget line.

I don't think they are "decent" as in I flipped them for a few minutes and called it good. Except for those obvious exceptions, I take all my new knives apart for inspection. Some of those went on to see significant carry time. On average, my sampling of Bestech has been solidly "decent" but arguably a step below Kizer or WE (including sub-brands). Some of Bestech's budget knives really do have exceptional action. The heat treatments seem to be at least okay. If they release another design I like at a reasonable price (and it isn't D2), I wouldn't hesitate.

As far as customer service, I contacted them once. I had a knife that I liked but it had a funky-colored back spacer that stuck out like a sore thumb. I was going to try to do a part swap but figured it might be easier to reach out and ask if I could buy one directly. It took a little while but they sent it free of charge. BTW, companies asking for pics or videos of an issue before sending replacement parts seems to be the new norm.
 
Yes reasonable quality digital pictures and copy of a receipt for a knife purchased online are pretty much grail level asks.
 
I broke a pivot screw on a WE Banter…..totally my fault. Contacted their Cust. Service via email explaining my error and asking if I could purchase the part. They requested a photo of the knife and part + $5, which I accommodated. Three weeks later I received a complete pivot assembly to repair my knife. (I was/am very impressed with their customer service.) But, as Chronovore stated, without that photo I was SOL.
 
elde66 said:
I broke a pivot screw on a WE Banter…..totally my fault. Contacted their Cust. Service via email explaining my error and asking if I could purchase the part. They requested a photo of the knife and part + $5, which I accommodated. Three weeks later I received a complete pivot assembly to repair my knife. (I was/am very impressed with their customer service.) But, as Chronovore stated, without that photo I was SOL.
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I messed up a single screw on one of my Civivi knives. It was the same deal. They wanted a picture and $5 for the shipping. Of course, they sent me a complete hardware set for the knife. That was cool. I put the rest of the spare parts into the box with the original bearings and the stickers.

Nicer or more premium knives sometimes come with replacement hardware, just in case. I really appreciate that. A good knife could end up sticking around for years, decades, or who knows depending on use, etc. Time flows. It's not even just you. Imagine your heirs using your knives long after you are gone. (Providing, they or theirs like knives and either value what you valued or value it because it was handed down to them.) Sure, the prospect of treasured mid-techs or customs might make more sense but a good budget knife in good condition can still be a very useful tool.

If somebody happens to take out my old Civivi and carry it in the year 2072, I'm glad that they'll have easy access to fresh screws. 😜
 
Hermes Trismegistus said:
I don't mean played with it all day, I ordered the pair, returned the one day of delivery, and then hung on to the other as it appeared to be fine, by playing with it I refer to just flipping it open and closing it, I did slice some computer paper, but thats it. I never carried it, only show & tell if you will, it was just this afternoon that I picked it up again and was playing with it when I noticed the new looseness in the blade, you can now hear it clicking about in its arc, with both vertical, and horizontal blade play throughout its arc, its stablemate exhibited exactly the same play while fully closed, which I hate in a folding knife!
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Have you checked the pivot? If it was good before and then lose after flipping maybe the pivot screw backed out. Just a thought.
 
I dunno. I have a Bestech "Swordfish" that's a pretty damn good knife. Blade is sharp, action's slick and lock-up is positive. Now this was a vendor exclusive with an S35VN blade, and it cost more than a standard 'fish. Based on this knife, I would buy from Bestech again . . . but I will watch the return date carefully.
 
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