Shipping of internal parts

Discuss Spyderco's products and history.
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sal
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#221

Post by sal »

Hi Double D,

Best to contact Charlynn in customer service.

sal
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MichaelScott
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#222

Post by MichaelScott »

DOUBLE D wrote:
Mon May 04, 2020 8:16 pm
MichaelScott wrote:
Mon May 04, 2020 6:36 pm
Who did the stripping? If it was you, very likely not. Have you actually read the warranty?
I could be misreading your reply but you sound like you are being condescending which I don’t appreciate. I’m a long time spyderco knife user and purchaser, and have bought well over 100 spyderco knives and spent a ridiculous amount of money over the years. All I’m asking for is the info on how or if I could get a part for one of them. If I’m not correctly reading your post then I apologize.
No, apology is mine. I can often be blunt (my children remind me of this frequently) and posts, messages, email can be difficult to convey what we intend. I suggest a call to Spyderco and discuss your situation. They are well known for taking care of us SpydiePeople.

Best regards,
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Monty
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#223

Post by Monty »

I guess I'll need to contact customer service after tonight. I took apart my Caribbean to dye the scales and stripped two screws in the process. 😭 I've always dyed salt models in the past without breaking them down first, lesson learned.
ryan.s
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#224

Post by ryan.s »

As a consumer I would prefer if parts were available for purchase. I recently had an experience where I needed a replacement pivot pin for the Ambitious. I first checked the web to see if I could find a suitable replacement and was a bit surprised I couldn't find anything. So I contacted Spyderco's CS (first time ever contacting CS) asking if they could direct me on where I could source the pivot pin and was told I would have to send the knife to have the part replaced. The knife was purchased several years ago and it's not something I carry or use so it really didn't make sense for me to pay probably half the cost of the knife for shipping and repairs to send it in. It would have been nice to have been able to just purchase the part. Now it just sits in a ziploc bag in pieces because I'm unable to put it back together without the pivot. I've seen Sal mention to others in this thread to contact Charlynn in CS but not sure how to contact her.
SDCowboy
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#225

Post by SDCowboy »

I gotta be honest, I find this to be silly. The one thing I love almost as much as Spyderco knives is taking them apart. I do so, though, knowing full well that I've voided the warranty. To me, part of the hobby of owning nice knives is taking them part and cleaning all the individual pieces and servicing the knife as needed - myself.

As long as a customer isn't trying to make a warranty claim, I don't understand not selling individual parts to them.

I also don't get the bit about keeping inventory of all the parts... Are you telling me if I need something as basic a new pivot screw for a Native 5 lightweight (just as a random example), that the company might not be able to come up with it? If so, how would they service the knife in the first place?

So again, I see zero reason why SELLING internal parts wouldn't be something the company is willing to do.

Car dealerships sell the consumer parts for their car, so why can't a knife company sell parts for the customer's expensive knife?
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sal
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#226

Post by sal »

Hi Cowboy,

Thanx for your input. This is something we've been dealing with since we began screw construction. I understand that you see zero reasons, but you'll have to trust me, there are many reasons that we have to deal with that you may not be able to see?

Also, if you are knowledgeable and skilled enough to to that, you are a much smaller group than the group that takes it apart and doesn't have the skill or knowledge to re-assemble it properly.

We've made hundreds of models and add about 50 per year. We are always improving our models and it's simply not possible to carry all parts for all models, especially those that have been discontinued for a while, sometimes 20 years.

sal
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#227

Post by SDCowboy »

Thank you for the reply Sal. Fair enough. I do hope the company can find a way to make selling parts eventually work, though. It would be a great service.
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Abyss_Fish
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#228

Post by Abyss_Fish »

While I've never had to deal with customer service or anything like that, mostly because I've never had significant issue with a spyderco knife that I couldn't fix myself, I do wish screws were available.

I absolutely understand the reasoning behind not shipping parts, especially with the number of models in production. However. With factories having standard hardware (Ikuchi screws fitting the spydiechef and the watu, Native screws fitting the para 2 and 3, etc), I don't see how difficult it would be to be able to sell these standardized screws. Are they different lengths depending on the model? Yes. Is it difficult to sand down the bottom of a screw to fit it? Not in the slightest.

I would be perfectly fine hand fitting screws if they were simply available. I agree with most of spyderco's policies and opinions, more than most I think. I even prefer knives without sharpening choils now, thanks Sal. But this is one place where I'm a little confused. The threading on knives are almost always their weakest point, and having a decent way of replacing these parts would extend a knife's life by quite a bit.


So, in conclusion. Offer standard screws! We're happy to pay for them and fit them, at least I am. If there's something egregious in my proposal, tell me! I don't know much about how this stuff works. But I love my spydercos, and I want them to last.
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#229

Post by tomcatt1 »

I'm new to the forums, but have found this discussion interesting. I can see where it would be nice to be able to get parts, if needed. I do enjoy disassembling and cleaning my knives and a missing or damaged part could mean the difference between a functioning knife, and one that gets tossed in the junk bin. There also seems to be a good amount of used knives that can be purchased from various places. Some are models that have been discontinued and are not available any other way.

I have been a Spyderco fan for many years. My first was what I believe to be a Pro Grip, maybe Pro Hunter, from the early to mid 90s. I have a Meerkat, a couple ot Tenacious (would really like to get washers for one) ,and more recently a SpydieChef and a Smock. I plan to hang onto them all, and being able to repair would be a good thing, IMHO.

I feel that paying for any replacement part is only fair, including shipping.
Tommy

Current Spyderco knives: SpydieChef, PM2 Maxamet, Meerkat, Pro-Grip, and a couple of Tenacious.
Previous: Smock, Kapara, Manix 2 LW Rex45, Manix 2 FRCP S90V, Manix 2 FRCP BD1, Manix 2 G10, Caribbean, Sage 2, Shaman
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sal
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#230

Post by sal »

Hi Tomcatt,

Welcome to our forum.

You might contact Charlynn in Customer Service on those tenacious washers.

sal
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#231

Post by clovisc »

I had a great experience recently, getting a new pivot screw for a much-beloved H1 SE dragonfly. Thanx much, Spyderco team!
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PayneTrain
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#232

Post by PayneTrain »

I just sent my Southard in for a bearing job. I would have much rather purchased them or even just been directed to a third party supplier so I could do it myself and saved everyone a bunch of time (I guess mostly saving me the time that I am apart from one of my absolute favorites). It's not quite the same as the experience of asking a popular, innovative, dare I say pioneering electronics manufacturer a simple question about what an error on my car stereo is and getting the robotic response of "send it to your nearest authorized service center", but my ego would of course rather have you acknowledge my technical expertise and utter mastery of a torx set and just gimme gimme gimme what I want. One day I'll rule the world, but until then I guess we'll do it your way. ;)

Edit: Got it back today and it's super slick, almost like new. Very grateful to have it back in working order because a flipper that doesn't flip is like having the macaroni without the cheese.
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LanM
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#233

Post by LanM »

SDCowboy wrote:
Wed Sep 02, 2020 11:17 am
I gotta be honest, I find this to be silly. The one thing I love almost as much as Spyderco knives is taking them apart. I do so, though, knowing full well that I've voided the warranty. To me, part of the hobby of owning nice knives is taking them part and cleaning all the individual pieces and servicing the knife as needed - myself.

As long as a customer isn't trying to make a warranty claim, I don't understand not selling individual parts to them.

I also don't get the bit about keeping inventory of all the parts... Are you telling me if I need something as basic a new pivot screw for a Native 5 lightweight (just as a random example), that the company might not be able to come up with it? If so, how would they service the knife in the first place?

So again, I see zero reason why SELLING internal parts wouldn't be something the company is willing to do.

Car dealerships sell the consumer parts for their car, so why can't a knife company sell parts for the customer's expensive knife?
I feel the comparison to an auto dealership is a bit apples to oranges, although I understand the premise. I'm assuming the main difficulty for Spyderco would be changes in parts dimensions based on production run changes, etc.

Unlike car parts which rarely ever require modification for original fit (Former dealer, repair shop, and collision),
with Spyderco it is likely that there may be changes throughout the production run with hardware diameter, pin diameter, bushing thickness changes, screw pitch changes, etc. I highly doubt all those changes would ever be cataloged nor recorded and the best you could ever get is identifying by being a CQI model or date code may likely still be insufficient.

That said, I understand that given the degree of variability of particular parts, tolerances, etc. that sending out parts just based on model sounds like it is potentially "hit or miss" prospect and would only serve to generate the financial burden of handling a myriad of returns, exchanges, tech support "how do I tell which one I have" calls, and the like. Cheaper and easier to maintain the policy of "send it in", so it is a one and done repair.

Implementing internal production change tracking naturally would help remedy that difficulty for future models, with the hope that all the production plants involved in the 4 countries they operate in adhere to it which doesn't sound promising...
79bolo
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#234

Post by 79bolo »

Hi.Is possible to buy just blade for my PM2?My is heavily used and i would love to try tonto blade.Also new pivot washers would be good idea.
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Matus
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#235

Post by Matus »

... without reading a 12 page long thread AND without any current need for replacement parts ...

What might help to somewhat mitigate the issue of high cost of shipping knives privately to US (talking from a perspective of an EU citizen) AND having to possibly deal with customs when the knife would be coming back - maybe setting up a few collect-centers (some larger online shops like Lamnia, KnivesAndTools, etc. for example) who could serve as intermediaries and collect the knives that need to be sent for a service to Spyderco could possibly streamline the process and make it less cumbersome and a bit cheaper for the customer. And if one could print out a form where the problem could be described and then ship it with a knife, it could possibly also reduce the overhead for Spyderco handling the servicing.

... just a thought ...
... I like weird :bug-red :bug-white-red :bug-white ...
Zive
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#236

Post by Zive »

Stuman wrote:
Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:32 am
Collecting and shipping parts overseas is expensive. Will you pay for that service?

sal
Matus wrote:
Wed Feb 17, 2021 1:00 pm
... without reading a 12 page long thread AND without any current need for replacement parts ...

What might help to somewhat mitigate the issue of high cost of shipping knives privately to US (talking from a perspective of an EU citizen) AND having to possibly deal with customs when the knife would be coming back - maybe setting up a few collect-centers (some larger online shops like Lamnia, KnivesAndTools, etc. for example) who could serve as intermediaries and collect the knives that need to be sent for a service to Spyderco could possibly streamline the process and make it less cumbersome and a bit cheaper for the customer. And if one could print out a form where the problem could be described and then ship it with a knife, it could possibly also reduce the overhead for Spyderco handling the servicing.

... just a thought ...
Hi Matus,

This has been discussed previously and ruled out for the time being.
Last edited by Zive on Fri Mar 12, 2021 9:47 pm, edited 4 times in total.
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sal
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#237

Post by sal »

Hi Zive,

It is a problem for which we have not found any adequate solutions. A trained knife maker in Europe would be very challenging. Parts are always an issue because of our CQI (Constant quality Improvement) and often the "new" parts won't fit the "old" knife?

sal
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#238

Post by Zive »

Sorry Sal,

The formatting of my post didn’t render correctly. I understand your situation and was attempting to provide a quote to Matus (about why a European service center is not feasible) to illustrate your point.

Aloha
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Wartstein
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#239

Post by Wartstein »

79bolo wrote:
Sat Jan 23, 2021 8:59 am
Hi.Is possible to buy just blade for my PM2?My is heavily used and i would love to try tonto blade.Also new pivot washers would be good idea.

I think you could probably get new washers when contacting the Spyderco customer service, but certainly not just a spare new blade.
This is even more true for the tanto blade you´re looking for, cause that shape on the PM2 is kind of "property" of BHQ (since the Tanto PM2 is a dealer exclusive)
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Wartstein
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Re: Shipping of internal parts

#240

Post by Wartstein »

Matus wrote:
Wed Feb 17, 2021 1:00 pm
....

What might help to somewhat mitigate the issue of high cost of shipping knives privately to US (talking from a perspective of an EU citizen) AND having to possibly deal with customs when the knife would be coming back - maybe setting up a few collect-centers (some larger online shops like Lamnia, KnivesAndTools, etc. for example) who could serve as intermediaries and collect the knives that need to be sent for a service to Spyderco could possibly streamline the process and make it less cumbersome and a bit cheaper for the customer. And if one could print out a form where the problem could be described and then ship it with a knife, it could possibly also reduce the overhead for Spyderco handling the servicing.

....
Good point, and something I too have recommended before. Could be a win / win, cheaper and easier for the (European or any non US) customer, but also for Spyderco: For example: They sent me screws for free twice to Europe, if they could do such things in a large package with lets say 100 repaired / serviced knives, this could be of advantage for them.

Questions are though:
- Would any dealer in Europe be willing to open the one large Spyderco package and forward all the knives in it individually to their European owners?
- How much longer would it take since one gets a knife back from repair? Spyderco would have to wait till a certain number of repaired knives has accumulated before putting them all in one package and send it to Europe...

Fact is: Non-US- citizens realistically can´t make use of parts of the Spyderco service (for example sending in knives for sharpening from Europe to the USmakes no sense at all from an economical point of view).
But I guess this is just what it is, after all Spyderco is an US company, and there are no real good ways to change things

Though now that I mentioned it: Perhaps Spyderco could establish just sharpening services in other parts of the world?! Not that I´d personally need that, but I think many customers who perhaps are not really deeper into knives, might appreciate that and it could even be a selling argument for Spyderco?!
Top three going by pocket-time (update March 24):
- EDC: Endura thin red line ffg combo edge (VG10); Wayne Goddard PE (4V), Endela SE (VG10)
-Mountains/outdoors: Pac.Salt 1 SE (H1), Salt 2 SE (LC200N), and also Wayne Goddard PE (4V)
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