I bought the Spyderco Sage at S&R Knives in Toronto on a whim on my first time visiting the shop - what an awesome knife. The red price tag on the knife was $279.99 and he offered to "make me a deal" and dropped it down to $225 tax incl. which included a Fenix light diffuser ($10 value).
I get home only to find that the pivot screw on one side of the knife was damaged to the point where I don't know whether I will be able to unscrew it (threaded / stripped?) so I need to have it serviced on warranty.
A few days later I found the same knife on the S&R Knives website (their own site) for $99 USD! They sold it to me for $225!?
Then I noticed the number on the blade but you can't seriously tell that paint on the blade is worth that extra money can you? The only other place I found a Sage DH was on the BladeArt website but there's no price listed.
Was I ripped or what? What would you do? How should I go about getting the screw replaced?
If you paid $225 for the Sage, you way overpaid. But then you might have done some checking around before laying out that kind of cash. At least that's what I would have done.
Well your first port of call should probably haveb een the Spyderco catalog it's lists the Sage's MSRP at 179 USD. Most retailers in the USA sell their Spydies approx MSRP less 30%.
You paid MSRP for a it, but nobody ever pays MSRP. You didn't have to pay shipping though, but I think that is still more then most internet prices.
The stripped screw is really not acceptable though, but that can be replaced.
It is a collectors knife, so if you were looking to fix the screw and keep it on the shelf I would say you got an OK price. Otherwise I would take it back and get the $99 knife for EDC purposes.
First you have to get your numbers correct, $225 CAD is the out the door price, which means the knife was sold for $199 CAD before Toronto 13% tax, but if it is in the mall ( I dunno ), then I can see that happening.
$99.99 USD is what is shown on their web site, so it is around $130 CAD right now, than 13% tax. So it should be around 147 CAD out the door. They over charged you by $78 CAD
The photo doesn't show very clearly where the damage is, what size of Torx you are using btw?
Did you deal with the white guy or the Indian guy. :D
I myself have much better luck dealing with the Indian guy :D He likes to haggle and I love to haggle. :p
I have been to that shop many times.
Kris for $100 cad out the door
manix $98 cad out the door
Lum Tanto Ti $200 Cad out the door
Dodo $75 Cad ( My first dodo ever) :D
and other knives as well at very awesome prices. Simply the thing is you didn't do your research before going in, and now you feel like you got screwed. Online sites are very different than brick and mortar stores. Overhead of a website is much more different than the overhead of an actual store. Next time do you research before you buy my friend.
Netsquash wrote:aj1985, you make me wish I was able to shop there. There are no knife shops around my area that sell any decent knives. They are all cheap garbage.
.... well the only Spydies you find down my neck of the woods are Discontinued 10 year old collector items being sold as the "latest and greatest" with price tags most collectors wouldn't even pay :rolleyes:
jezabel wrote:.... well the only Spydies you find down my neck of the woods are Discontinued 10 year old collector items being sold as the "latest and greatest" with price tags most collectors wouldn't even pay :rolleyes:
The price is not very good but I think you are lucky to be able to handle a Spyder before you purchase it. I think it's also great that you can touch a decade out collectible without having to purchase it.
Man I wish their was a Spyderco dealer around here. I went to a Outdoorsmen sports show over the weekend hoping I might see a Spyderco and there were hardly any decent knives and not a single Spyderco. The only exhibit with any good knives said they had Spydercos a few years ago but they didn't carry them anymore. They said the average knife buyer only wants to spend $25 on a knife and Spyderco was just too expensive. That really sucks, I wish the market could understand how much better a decent knife like a Spyderco is compared to some of the unmentionable companies out there.
Yeah I know how you feel, not so long ago I spotted an advert on a local website claiming to carry NZ's largest selection of knives. I travelled out there during peak hour traffic in the rain for an hour. Only to find a couple of small walls in the shop filled with no name el cheapo Chinese knock off's, half a dozen Buck's, the odd CRKT and two or three Byrd knives... boy was I fuming that day :mad:
if someone offers me a used car at $1000 over the blue book price, and i accept without researching the blue book price... then do my research later, and figure out that it wasn't a great deal... and also discover that, well, maybe i should have checked out the headlights, because they're not working... did i get ripped off??
if someone offers me a used car at $1000 over the blue book price, and i accept without researching the blue book price... then do my research later, and figure out that it wasn't a great deal... and also discover that, well, maybe i should have checked out the headlights, because they're not working... did i get ripped off??
jezabel wrote:Yeah I know how you feel, not so long ago I spotted an advert on a local website claiming to carry NZ's largest selection of knives. I travelled out there during peak hour traffic in the rain for an hour. Only to find a couple of small walls in the shop filled with no name el cheapo Chinese knock off's, half a dozen Buck's, the odd CRKT and two or three Byrd knives... boy was I fuming that day :mad:
I would be fuming too. I learned having a refined taste in anything often leads to disappointment. Most business accommodate the average to below average. They prefer to make a quick buck on the uneducated then earn that money from a sharp and educated consumer. Spyderco is a premium knife company, it is unfortunate that the market is training consumer to partake in our disposable way of life. They would rather sell you a $25 knife that might last you a year, if that then a Spyderco that will last you a lifetime and longer.
This leads me to think about Spydercos approach to knives. They continue to sell them to people not because their old one breaks, but because they are innovative and find a way to make something better. I find a lot of other knife manufactures make the same POS year after year without much serious though because they have trained the consumer to simply replace their POS knives when they break with a new POS.
The screw looks normal to me. You do realize it's a Torx, not an allen?
As for the price, if the currency converter I just used is correct, it converts to just about the $180USD MSRP for the Sage. So you didn't get ripped off, you simply paid full list price for something which can easily be found at a substantial discount, at least here in the US. There are brick and mortar stores here in the US which charge full list also. Some folks will pay it, some won't, some will consider those who do to be foolish, but you can't really call list price a rip off. Better, I suppose, than paying half that from a US source only to have it siezed by Canadian Customs as a "flick knife".
The number is a Collectors Club number. While it does not change the price some do think it adds a bit of value to a knife, others don't.
I wouldn't say you were ripped off, but the shop owner made good on your lack of price research. It would cost more here in Norway if that is any consolidation
The torx screw does look slightly damaged so you could use that as an excuse if you want to return it.
Sverre
PS! it is a great knife and a wonderful deal at the normal price. Not a bad deal for what you paid for it either..
The knife is definitely worth what you paid for it. And I believe its good to buy from "brick and mortar" stores... even if it does cost a little more. I've spent hundreds of extra dollars "unnecessarily" in town, supporting local business... when I could just be ordering the same things on ebay, being sold out of peoples' garages and basements with no overhead costs. I like stores. They show us cool stuff, and provide jobs to people. And afford us the luxury of instant gratification. Ah... instant gratification... :D
I paid full MSRP for spydies at Country Knives in Intercourse, PA (... I know, I know). Spendy, yea... but the owners are cool as heck, and its pretty great to see tons of spydies in person... and to get to handle them. Can't do that online, no matter how good the photos are... :cool:
So yea, you could say you were ripped off... or that you are supporting businesses you believe in. Just a matter of person opinion.
I don't consider one of the only decent sources of Spyderco knives in the UK to be cheap, damned good, but not cheap. They sell the Sage for £112.95 which seems to equate to about CAD $203. Sage at Heinnie.
Ripped off may be a little strong but you definitely seem to have paid a bit over the odds.
