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I am wondering if anyone has had a recent experience with Benchmade customer service? I have had a bad experience which makes me wonder if their service has gone downhill or was it just me?

To give a short synopsis, I got a code for a discount. I cancelled my original order to place a custom order. I confirmed before cancelling that I would be able to reuse the code on the custom order. I was unable to reuse the code. After a couple of attempts to allow them to resolve the issue always with delayed responses and me having to follow up with a phone call I finally recreated my order using a new account. Then when I received my order there was an error with it. I emailed them about the error and that went unanswered for three business days. I called them to see if they could just send me the parts needed to resolve the error so I didn't have to send the knife to them.

Am I out of line being upset and having a sour taste in my mouth?
 
I can understand you not being thrilled with your experience. I get a little put out when having to repeatedly deal with something.
While I don't know the details in the OP's instance, very few companies will "authorize" you to do work on their product. If that's the way Benchmade is, then the decision has to be made, send it back or live with it the way it is.
 
Kershaw has the best customer service. I've never been impressed with Benchmade. The Ascent was an overpriced hard to open Spyderco ripoff. Bad ergos with no grip. The screw grommets for the belt clip pull out easily. One of the worst production folders I've owned.
 
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I took my ole Infidel 3300 in a while back to have it repaired, I threw it into a deck, it hit a screw and broke off the tip. i live in the area of the factory so I just dropped it off, they said they could repair the blade for free which ment welding on a tip and grinding it down or for $30 they would replace the blade. When I got the knife back the only thing they didnt replace new, was the two peices of the body of the handle. Those were re-ceracoated. Even the screws were new.
 
No one's talking about Kershaw, and their warranty is no different than Benchmade, Leatherman, or Gerber. They do however have their fanboys that like to camp out for their garage sales.

Benchmade makes a great knife, but it sounds like you came at them sideways. Give them a little while to figure out how to put the monkeys back in the barrel before you get upset with them.
 
SO........... My squad were sent a Gift package of knives from Bench Made ( and all the other Oregon Knife and tool makers) while we were deployed over in the sand box. Great knives, and we all really felt good about a company that thought enough about us to send us high end knives free of charge and a nice thank you card signed by every one at Bench Made! Pretty Cool, Yea??!?! Fast forward several years and I had broken the blade on my Bench Made. When I e mailed them to inquire about sending it in for repair, I was told they no longer made that particular blade and that they would be happy to sell me a new one, but couldn't do any thing about my old one! Now, I got it for free as a gift so I shouldn't be bent too much, BUT, They do sell their products with a life time warranty, and that should cover every single knife or other product they ever made, if they advertise a life time warranty, they should honor that RIGHT?!?!?! SO One of the times I was visiting Orygun, I stopped in to the factory and was greeted by the most rude, and obnoxious female humanoid on the entire planet, who after telling me there was nothing they could or were willing to do, to please leave and to end further correspondence! Not what I would have expected, and for those that know me, I'm a pretty laid back dude who never looses his temper, and it took a lot for me to keep cool dealing with the chief test pilot of the broom factory!!! SO.............I will NEVER own or recommend a Bench Made product to any one friend or foe alike, the way I was treated was beyond bad, it was bad business! I did send one further e mail to the president of Bench Made, but never got a response! Suk It Bench Made, I only buy CRKT, Gerber, Kershaw, and Leatherman, ALL will honor the warranty of their products, and in the case of Leatherman, Replace it with one of equal or better if they cant fix the one you brought them!
 
cancelled your order, created a new account and tried to use the same discount code.
Yah I can see how they could see this as fishy.

None of it has anything to do with quality of Benchmade knives. Their knifes that are made in house up in Oregon City are great knives.
I worked at Benchmade for a number of years. We would make a run of knives, and replacement parts. Say we would make 10,000 sets of parts for one model. Then make lots of spare parts. All of it gets put into stock and slowly used up. Blades being the most used. After spares parts where all used up they never manufactured more Replacement parts. Not sure why.

So every so often you break a blade that cannot be fixed. I do wonder why they didn't offer a large discount on a replacement tho?
 
I had problems with Kershaw knife warranty stuff and their knives not being tough enough to handle the abuse I do to them. So that's when I switched to Benchmade and I personally have never had a bad experience in there. I always go in i have never shipped anything.
 
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No one's talking about Kershaw, and their warranty is no different than Benchmade, Leatherman, or Gerber.

That's right princess, I'm talking about Kershaw.

Kershaw goes above n' beyond for their customers. I've had nothing but great experiences with Kershaw over the years. They used to be a great company back in the early 00's. I haven't bought anything Kershaw in a long time. Lost interest after they started selling cheap chinese knives with soft steel screws. Never bought a factory 2nd or waited outside their factory for discount knives. But so what if I did? I try to buy American whenever I can. I don't own a ZT but they seem to be high quality. The Boa is one of the best mid-priced production folders from the early 00's, CPM440V steel, tight lockup, very well made. The only thing I didn't like about that one was the sliding lock so I removed it. That knife started the Zero Tollerance series.
 
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That's right princess, I'm talking about Kershaw.

Kershaw goes above n' beyond for their customers. I've had nothing but great experiences with Kershaw over the years. They used to be a great company back in the early 00's. I haven't bought anything Kershaw in a long time. Lost interest after they started selling cheap chinese knives with soft steel screws. Never bought a factory 2nd or waited outside their factory for discount knives. I try to buy American whenever I can.


You cant really comment on a customer service issue when you havent even used there customer service in over a decade.;)
 
You cant really comment on a customer service issue when you havent even used there customer service in over a decade.;)

Things there could've changed a lot since then. Their chinese made Emerson wave folders aren't anything to write home about. Even their Camp machetes are made in china. I did buy a Zing as a gift for someone and it turned out to have a stress line on the lock. It was exchanged and replaced for a new one, so I'd say they still have good customer service.
 
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See this is a great example of what I have said for years. Companies need to treat people right. I have a couple Benchmade knives. Have had them a very long time. Now with what I read here I will not be looking at anything else they make due to this. The response Ura-Ki got from them is enough for me. My two knives came with the "lifetime" warranty. To me this means nothing if they are going to tell me tough we don't make them any more.
 
cancelled your order, created a new account and tried to use the same discount code.
Yah I can see how they could see this as fishy.

I never used the same code. I gave them three chances to correct the problem. I wouldn't have cancelled my original order if they had told me I wouldn't be able to use the code again. They assured me I could use the code again. Each time I contacted them, except the last time, it required a phone call after not getting a response after 2-3 days. It comes down to the saying, "Once shame on you, twice shame on me, three times...".

The biggest issue I had is they failed to respond in a timely manner and I had to end up calling them. How long should I have to wait for them to respond to an email? I emailed them because it is more convenient and I don't have to stay on hold for 10-15 minutes waiting to tell someone the same thing I told them in my email.

It doesn't make me confident how they would treat me if I ever have a warranty issue.
 
I get 50% off every time I shop with them i have never heard or read a bad review till now
why don't you just drive over go in a talk to them they are very reasonable
 
I get 50% off every time I shop with them i have never heard or read a bad review till now
why don't you just drive over go in a talk to them they are very reasonable

Assuming you are still talking Benchmade here? If someone lived next to them that would be fine. One poster who I trust here said he tried that and got a VERY unpleasant response. For me I don't live right close by to them. Even if I did I doubt I would drive over to talk to them about something like this. This is the problem with a company deciding to act like this. Every customer they treat badly will tell others.
 
Assuming you are still talking Benchmade here? If someone lived next to them that would be fine. One poster who I trust here said he tried that and got a VERY unpleasant response. For me I don't live right close by to them. Even if I did I doubt I would drive over to talk to them about something like this. This is the problem with a company deciding to act like this. Every customer they treat badly will tell others.

WELL IF YOU WOULD NOT DRIVE OVER I DON'T SEE YOUR POINT , IF EVERYONE STOPPED BUYING HONDA CIVICS BASED ON ONE NEGATIVE POST WELL YOU GET THE IDEA ANYWAY THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT AND HAVE A GREAT DAY
sorry about the caps
 
I got a real issue with a life time warranty that is actually only a tail light warranty. You pay a premium price for something expecting the company to leep its word amd then you pizz on the customer when he brings back a product you made and made poorly, asking you to honor your word! I guess Bench Made dosnt care about it's claimed warranty, instead going for the quick buck and who cares attitude after!!!
 
WELL IF YOU WOULD NOT DRIVE OVER I DON'T SEE YOUR POINT , IF EVERYONE STOPPED BUYING HONDA CIVICS BASED ON ONE NEGATIVE POST WELL YOU GET THE IDEA ANYWAY THANKS FOR YOUR INPUT AND HAVE A GREAT DAY
sorry about the caps

It's not the one negative review. It's that it's someone who I have come to trust here. I don't see from what I have read from him for some time now that he would make up something like what he said happened to him. I am certainly not saying others should stop shopping this place or brand. I am saying since I trust this poster to not make up something like this I will not be looking at another Benchamde. Now if one of the old ones I have fails I will get to see for myself how they treat me. If I knew nothing of the person putting out a bad review I would take it with a grain of salt so to speak. This is not the case here. Again though if others want to buy these knives it will matter not to me. Hopefully they will not get a bad one and be treated badly.
 

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