Haste wrote:I've been following this from afar.
Taking no notice of The Deacon's post - I'm very pleased with this outcome.
Thanks Spyderco!
Taking no notice of The Deacons post......why? Because you'd rather have your head in the sand and not accept that your favorite brand might have said/done anything even slightly head scratching?
The deacon raised a fair point, and it should be addressed as to what the EXACT policy regarding the warranty is, because it seems like there is some confusion even within spyderco.
And don't call me a hater, I own literally hundreds of spyderco knives.
My tongue was planted partially in cheek.
Sometimes I forget it’s difficult to infer tone through text.
My apologies.
What I’m driving at is this - in my experience; once you’ve struck oil, it’s time to stop drilling.
This is an official position from Spyderco that seems to address the communities concerns.
I’m happy and require nothing further.
Michael Janich wrote:Concurrent with our change to medium-strength Loctite, we are also amending our warranty policy, which has unfortunately been misunderstood as it applies to this topic and the disassembly of our knives in general. Currently, our policy states “Spyderco’s warranty does not cover damage caused by abuse, misuse, loss, improper handling, alterations, accident, neglect, disassembly, or improper sharpening.” Please note that it specifies “…damage caused by…disassembly.” This aspect of our warranty has been widely misinterpreted to infer that disassembly of a Spyderco knife automatically voids its warranty. This is not the case.
In fairness, Michael, the statement that you are now labeling as a "misinterpretation" of Spyderco policy was the direct result of the post below in this thread started by Kristi on this Forum. Kristi's statement seemed crystal clear at the time, and this is the first time it's being contradicted.
TazKristi wrote:Hey ya'll. Reading through a few different threads this morning and a couple of things popped out at me that I think need to be clarified.
1st - Disassembling a Spyderco voids the warranty. Period. There was a question about this being a "myth". It is not a myth. It does not matter if you don't break anything when you do it. If we can tell that a knife has been disassembled (whether it's a FrankenSpyder or not) the warranty is technically void. We manufacture knives with all screw construction not because we want you to take them apart. We do so, so our Crew can take them apart for maintenance and repair. I'm sure there might be some other questions, but bottom line, if you take your knife apart, the warranty is void.
Every item that is sent in to W&R is evaluated individually and on a case by case basis. Every situation is different. We will always handle W&R issues in a fair and proper way. But it's important to understand the warranty as we state it, not as it's interpreted by others. There are a lot of great, knowledgeable, helpful people on our Forum. However, they cannot make a judgment on a Warranty issue. Only we can and we can only do that by having the knife in question in our hands.
2nd - Lightweight Manix2 Country of Origin is the U.S.A. The Lightweight Manix2 will be made using FRCP, Fiberglass Reinforced Co-Polymer. Not FRN. It will be produced right here in Golden, CO by our amazing Crew.
Really interesting point and I'm anxious to hear Spyderco's response on this. I've always read the warranty as Michael said, "Damage caused by dissassembly" voids the warranty. I'd never seen that post by Kristi.
Liquid Cobra wrote:Well done Spyderco! I found that bit about how red loctite works very interesting. Their use of red loctite makes much more sense to me now.
It cracks me up how many people were ready to riot, making claims about them forcing owners to not be able to "service" their knives. Couldn't possibly be a good reason for using it. Perspective is difficult for some people I guess.
Liquid Cobra wrote:Well done Spyderco! I found that bit about how red loctite works very interesting. Their use of red loctite makes much more sense to me now.
It cracks me up how many people were ready to riot, making claims about them forcing owners to not be able to "service" their knives. Couldn't possibly be a good reason for using it. Perspective is difficult for some people I guess.
Social media and the sad fact that negatives will normally get more traction than positives....
Deacon is right. While I believe Michael's post sums up their current policy and is a welcome notification their warranty did say one thing while people were told something very different by spyderco reps. I think Deacon just wants to see if all the employees will be brought up to speed and whether they'll continue spreading incorrect information since it does not appear all if them were adequately informed for a long, long time.
They who dance are thought mad by those who do not hear the music.
Bodog wrote:Deacon is right. While I believe Michael's post sums up their current policy and is a welcome notification their warranty did say one thing while people were told something very different by spyderco reps. I think Deacon just wants to see if all the employees will be brought up to speed and whether they'll continue spreading incorrect information since it does not appear all if them were adequately informed for a long, long time.
Nothing really changed other than the wording from what I can see.
Damage by Disassembling, something that does seem to be a focus.
The knives go back together a certain way and Spyderco can tell if they have been taken a part or not is a big hint to that fact.
So not putting them back together the correct way could damage the knife operation from what I read over the years.
There is a rather large difference between taking apart a CRK Sebenza (Comes with tools, thread locker, grease and directions on how to) and a Spyderco Military.
Nothing more than an example:
Way back I can remember Strider had an unconditional lifetime warranty until things got so bad with people taking apart, damaging, pimping their products that Strider had to do a major change in their warranty. People were damaging $500+ knives..... :eek:
So personally I wouldn't be blasting the Spyderco for their warranty as sometimes things are a reaction to what is seen coming back for service than the other way around.
Ankerson wrote:
Way back I can remember Strider had an unconditional lifetime warranty until things got so bad with people taking apart, damaging, pimping their products that Strider had to do a major change in their warranty. People were damaging $500+ knives..... :eek:
Strider just announced they're shutting down the company. The last of their knives are to be sold at blade show 2017.
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Liquid Cobra wrote:Well done Spyderco! I found that bit about how red loctite works very interesting. Their use of red loctite makes much more sense to me now.
It cracks me up how many people were ready to riot, making claims about them forcing owners to not be able to "service" their knives. Couldn't possibly be a good reason for using it. Perspective is difficult for some people I guess.
How true Evil. There were quite a few people screaming conspiracy from the rooftops.
Joe
That is great news I just bought another Advocate because of it thank you Spyderco.
Ankerson and evil D the other people who wanted this are customers as well. Spyderco already has you guys who NEVER ever take your knives apart now Spyderco has satisfied more customers.
Mic1 wrote:That is great news I just bought another Advocate because of it thank you Spyderco.
Ankerson and evil D the other people who wanted this are customers as well. Spyderco already has you guys who NEVER ever take your knives apart now Spyderco has satisfied more customers.
Oh you have me totally wrong my friend. I take apart almost every knife I own because I use bearing grease in the pivots and I've modded more than a few. I never liked the idea but I also understood the reason for it. I don't however believe it's absolutely necessary to take one apart just for cleaning like most people claim. I also don't believe being a customer gives anyone the right to make an *** of themselves just to get what they want, and that's exactly what many people have done with this whole ordeal. And, I also believe this same result would have been reached through civil conversation but some people felt the need to throw around ridiculous claims and cut down Sal and the company.
Thank you for the follow-up, the follow-through, and I will continue to follow Spyderco knives for as long as I draw breath.
Also, Deacon has a valid point. Given his history on this forum and the Spyderco community, I'm sure there will be a response. He's a good guy and isn't one to "sharpen his pitchfork." He's just looking for some clarification. It's not like he's calling for a boycott or anything silly.
Thank you for reminding us of Kristi's post of August 2010. Like my post of this morning, it represented Spyderco's stated policy as established and defined by our Management Team. And, like my post of this morning, Kristi's post was made to clarify our policy in response to a specific issue.
If you think back to the early part of 2010, our new product releases included the Endura and Delica Lightweights with various handle colors. Unlike the limited selection of basic black, foliage green, and British Racing Green (ZDP-189) that had been available prior to that time, our customers suddenly had a choice of orange, blue, green, gray, brown, and purple--but only with full-flat-ground, PlainEdge, VG-10 blades. Many customers wanted a bright handle color, but also wanted a different blade--like a saber-ground CombinationEdge. So, they bought two knives, got out their Torx kit, and went to work. Most had no problem, paid attention to detail, and created their perfect FrankenSpyderco. Unfortunately, a significant number of customers who attempted the handle swap could not complete the project (getting a back lock together is actually harder than you think) or ended up damaging parts of their knives (especially the backspacer) in the process.
Of the latter group, some were honest and upfront about their intent, sent the parts for their knives back to us in a baggie, and asked us to assemble them into a knife again. They also understood that the labor involved in assembling a product from raw parts has value and were willing to pay the fee we typically charge for such services. Unfortunately, other customers were less understanding and less forthright, insisting that their purposely disassembled knives should be reassembled under warranty and free of charge.
By August 2010, this problem had become a serious issue and a tremendous drain on the time of our Warranty Repair technicians. Sal and Eric considered the issue thoughtfully and tasked Kristi with posting on the forum to clarify our policy. As Kristi's post states, "If we can tell that a knife has been disassembled (whether it's a FrankenSpyder or not) the warranty is technically void."
With the benefit of that history, it's now important to understand the difference between our warranty POLICY and our warranty PRACTICE. As Kristi's post also states, "Every item that is sent in to W&R is evaluated individually and on a case by case basis. Every situation is different. We will always handle W&R issues in a fair and proper way."
Truth be told, our Warranty Repair technicians receive knives that have been disassembled all the time. In most cases, the knives have been reassembled with proper attention to detail so as not to compromise the proper mechanical function of the knife. If that's the case and one of the parts fails because of a defect in materials or workmanship, they exercise their discretion to repair or replace it at no charge as if the warranty were still in full force. Because the warranty is technically void, they are not OBLIGATED to honor it, but CHOOSE to.
Conversely, when they receive a bag containing most of the parts to a Spyderco knife and a nasty note claiming the knife "fell apart" in the customer's pocket, they are once again free to use their discretion. In that case, they understandably adhere strictly to the letter of the stated policy.
I wrote this morning's post on Spyderco's behalf and take full responsibility for its wording. After I wrote it, it was reviewed and approved by our Management Team before I posted it to the forum. To be honest, I did not take Kristi's six-year-old post into consideration when I wrote mine and actually didn't even remember it. My focus was on explaining the changes to the wording and intent of the current stated policy in our catalog and on our web site. Having reviewed Kristi's post, in hindsight, my use of the word "misinterpreted" was inaccurate. I apologize for any misunderstanding that may have caused.
The world changes with time. Like everyone else, Spyderco does its best to change with it. Our values and our deep commitment to our customers, however, remain constant and steadfast.
Michael Janich wrote:Currently, our policy states “Spyderco’s warranty does not cover damage caused by abuse, misuse, loss, improper handling, alterations, accident, neglect, disassembly, or improper sharpening.” Please note that it specifies “…damage caused by…disassembly.” This aspect of our warranty has been widely misinterpreted to infer that disassembly of a Spyderco knife automatically voids its warranty. This is not the case.
Michael, I think I may have found a source of the misunderstanding regarding the warranty:
What's funny is that the warranty has always been crystal clear that, as you mentioned, damage caused by disassembly isn't covered, NOT that disassembly voids the warranty. The confusion is entirely attributable to statements by Spyderco reps that contradict the plain words of the warranty.
Last edited by brancron on Thu Apr 06, 2017 12:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Ankerson wrote:
Way back I can remember Strider had an unconditional lifetime warranty until things got so bad with people taking apart, damaging, pimping their products that Strider had to do a major change in their warranty. People were damaging $500+ knives..... :eek:
Strider just announced they're shutting down the company. The last of their knives are to be sold at blade show 2017.
The team at Spyderco have been beyond classy in this whole matter. When I mentally put myself in their position, I am impressed by their courtesy and professionalism. Some purchasers of Spyderco goods are difficult to deal with, and the company as a whole does a fantastic job handling input from customers, whether it is positive or negative. Special thanks to Sal and Mike for modeling how to handle this type of situation.
now Spyderco has satisfied more customers.
