Willey Knives customer service success

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tvenuto
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Willey Knives customer service success

#1

Post by tvenuto »

As some of you might remember, I had plans to add Spyderco style serrations to my BHQ M4 Yojimbo 2. Willey Knives is a shop that has the capacity to add them, so after calling to discuss the job I sent my knife in per their instructions.

A few days later, I called to check on the job and they said that there had been an issue. Apparently the M4 was harder than their process was prepared for and the blade was mangled :eek: . They said they were in contact with Spyderco to try and get a replacement blade. Now, knowing what I do about how Spyderco runs things, I was quite sure this would be a dead end. However, given that the knife was now sold out, I figured it couldn’t hurt to let them try.

A week later, I called again to check, and indeed the story was that Spyderco was unable to provide the replacement. So they offered to either reimburse me the cost of the knife, or buy a replacement if I could find one on the secondary market as long as the cost wasn’t “astronomical.” I found one for $20-30 over what BHQ charged originally and sent it to them, which they purchased that day. It has just arrived to me, a perfect example of this fine knife.

So, my dream of a SE Yojimbo must wait, but I did want to relate this story of successful customer service. They were forthcoming with the mistake, expressed empathy for the loss, and proposed (and executed) a satisfactory solution. They did more than they had to to be sure I was happy with the outcome. You can’t ask that a business never makes an error, so it’s always best to give them a chance to make it right, and to communicate with them calmly.

In the end, I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for something in the future (as long as it’s not M4!).
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Evil D
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#2

Post by Evil D »

Wow. This is probably part of why not many companies even offer a service like this. At least they made it right. Maybe you can try again with the S30V version.
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#3

Post by Sjucaveman »

Just goes to show how lucky we are to have spyderco doing production knives in such exotic steels.
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#4

Post by StuntZombie »

Wow, that's amazing customer service. It's a shame they weren't able to perform the work, but at least they made things right for you.
Chris

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tvenuto
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#5

Post by tvenuto »

Evil D wrote:
Mon Oct 29, 2018 1:45 pm
Wow. This is probably part of why not many companies even offer a service like this. At least they made it right. Maybe you can try again with the S30V version.
Yea it’s still on my list, but I don’t currently own an S30V version. I’ve been keeping an eye out for a beater but these things hold their value so well!
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Evil D
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#6

Post by Evil D »

This is really a bummer. Of the steels that I have, M4 is real high on my list that I'd like to try with serrations.
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vivi
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#7

Post by vivi »

Shame you couldn't get your dream knife, but what an example of keeping things right by your customer.
:unicorn
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SpyderEdgeForever
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#8

Post by SpyderEdgeForever »

That is amazing and incredibly great customer service! Thank you for sharing this.

What I want to find out now is: Who out there can cut those quality Spyderco-style serrations into the Yojimbo for you? I understand M4 is a durable tool steel but there must be someone qualified with the right skill and machine tools to do it.
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anagarika
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#9

Post by anagarika »

I recall sometime back, over BF, there were some GB 1 that had serration done to them, so it’s doable.
Chris :spyder:
JD Spydo
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#10

Post by JD Spydo »

There are 2 Spyders with XHP that I was truly thinking about going to Wiley Knives around Christmas time>> but after hearing this I don't even think I'll try it. I am glad however to discover that Wiley Knives is a reputable company to deal with just in case they ever had something I wanted. But I will not even consider them to add serrations to any blade I have. Now I have heard that VEFF not only sells tools to sharpen serrations I've been told over at BF that they have that same service. I wonder if they are aware of the fact that these supersteels pose the problem they do by adding serrations?
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tvenuto
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#11

Post by tvenuto »

I was pretty surprised that they had trouble as well. I had assumed they used a grinding wheel with the serrations shape in it. If that was the case, then no steel should pose an issue to cut. It might take longer but it wouldn’t mangle the blade. It seems like they instead use some sort of machining process and perhaps the blade wasn’t clamped sufficiently and the feed rate or removal depth was excessive?

I had also long thought that M4 would be good for serrations, so it does suck that this didn’t work out. I might contact Veff but I was going for Spydercos pattern.
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sal
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Re: Willey Knives customer service success

#12

Post by sal »

Willey is a good company.

sal
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