Kershaw rust and their response

[taylor6400]

I just posted this as a reply to another thread but felt i wanted to share in a new thread.

Last October i was given a Kershaw as a groomsman's gift. It was a great knife. Good edge out of the box, held an edge, and was easy to sharpen. But it started rusting...you can read my email to Kershaw and there responses below. Needless to say i wasnt very impressed...

My initial email to their website contact email:

I have a Kershaw that is getting some pretty heavy rust spots on the blade. It is a 1560 with 14C28N steel. I had been able to polish them off fairly well, but recently they are getting worse and you can still see the rust after a fair amount of poolishing and they come back faster. Is this covered under your warranty? I can send you pictures if you want to see them. Thank you

The initial response from Kershaw:
Good Morning,

Unfortunately rust is not covered under our warranty program unless you can send a copy of the receipt showing it is a new purchase. If you have this receipt you are more than welcome to send the knife in for evaluation. If the knife is not a new purchase, we recommend you try a compound called “Flitz” to clean the blade. You will then want to keep your blade slightly oiled when not in use. I hope I have helped you a little bit. If you have any further questions or concerns, I would be happy to help you.

Thankyou,

Cheryl Kalleck
Warranty Supervisor
KAI USA, Kershaw Knives,
Shun Knives & Zero Tolerance
WARRANTY DEPT.
18600 SW Teton Ave
Tualatin, OR 97062
Phone: 800-325-2891 Ext 1110
Fax: 503-682-7168
cheryl@Kai-USA.com

My response back to her:
I was given the knife as a Groomsmen’s gift last October. I have 2 other Kershaw knives that I have bought since given that one, because I love your speed assist opening. Neither of them have any rust issues at all. As I said polishing compound takes most of it off, but it eventually comes back in the exact same spots. Personally I have carried multiple pocket knives for the last 15 years and none of them required any maintenance to resist rust other than a very occasional oil-wipe after sharpening. Which is exactly what this one gets. I think the fact that your warranty requires a receipt and it does not cover rust is a bit of a joke; its carrying your name on the blade, there should be some pride involved with that. If you spend good money (again this one was a gift, but I have spent $100 in 2 other knives) on what I would assume is a good quality knife I don’t think I should have to worry about rust issues and would ASSUME that would be covered under warranty if there are issues with no questions asked.

I have attached pictures of the blade. If you think that is normal and not covered under warranty and you will not do anything for me that is fine. I will return to buying Buck Knives as I had in the past before coming across Kershaw. None of the Buck’s I own have ever had a bit of rust on them, and I sure don’t need to use Flitz to clean them. Regular old Dawn gets them looking new again.


Thank you


Her response back to me:
You are welcome to send the knife in for evaluation, but I do not make the final decision the research and development department does this. If the blade is found defective they will have it replaced. If the blade is not defective but found to be rusting from neglect or abuse we will not replace the blade.
Please send your knife in for repair. See below:
Thank you so much for your inquiry into the warranty of your knife. All of
our knives carry a limited lifetime warranty.
If you need to send the knife in for warranty service we need you to
do the following:
1.Please enclose with the knife, inside the box, a copy of the "warranty shipping instructions and form"from our website with your personal information attached. This is necessary to help provide accurate info in the processing of your order.

2 .We suggest sending the knife back to us via U.P.S or Federal
Express. This automatically provides you a tracking number so you may
verify the knife's arrival at our facility.
3.Please address the box ATTN: Warranty Department and send it to
the address listed below. Our website also asks that you please allow 4 weeks for our processes and shipping before inquiring into the status of your knife.
Thank you again for your inquiry.

Thank You


So, what are your thoughts? Im not even going to bother sending it back now because her first email left such a bad taste in my mouth. I am going back to buck...

[chameleon]

I've never had an issue with my Kershaw Blackout so I would say just send it in and see what they say. If it is only happening on the one knife then it could very well by that particular knife itself. Worst case scenario is they send it back to you. You still have the other 2 knives.

[js12278]

Since the knife was given as wedding gift, I wonder if it is a normal, retail knife. Sometimes these comapnies put their names on inferior products, close enough to MAYBE be assumed it has the same quality as a full retail product.

I was given a really nice flashlight at work. It was a Zippo brand flashlight. Made from nice aluminum. Black finished. Etched with the company name, year and reason we were given the award. Safety record. One end was a real nice flashlight. Other end was a seatbelt cutter head. Real nice item. I kept it in the van so the wife had a flashlight if she needed one day. The problem I had was the rubber switch popped out and I couldnt turn it off and on anymore. I contacted Zippo, they basically told me I was out of luck, It isn't a real product. Nice. Just some promotional item not covered under the Lifetime Zippo warranty. Enjoy the knife as long as you can I guess. You tried. You got nothing to lose by sending it in and see if they cover it.

[UnspokenVendetta]

I think her reply was perfectly reasonable, and you were the one a bit out of line. After all, she's just giving the answers she's told to give, and she can't assume that everyone maintains their knives properly. In fact, I would guess that a very large majority of the emails she receives are from people who know little about what they are doing. I don't mean to imply that you are one of those people, because you clearly know how to maintain your knives. Her suggestions were based off instruction she received or from her experience in dealing with most other customers. I think you got a bit hasty with calling their policies a joke. First off, she doesn't make the policies. Secondly, even if they are a joke, calling them such in the manner you did isn't the best way to get your point across. Thirdly, she kindly offered for you to send the knife in for evaluation, which is the best she can do in her position. I'm not sure what else you'd like done. Also, as a side note, never assume what a warranty does and doesn't cover. It's usually pretty easy to find this information, so you can read it for yourself or contact the company for clarification instead of assuming.

Just my opinion, of course.

[nuhler]

Yea i would just throw that kershaw whirlwind away its on amazon for 20 bucks, any knife that cheap reguardless of who makes it is gonna be pretty crappy. If you want a high value blade from kershaw get a blur. Otherwise there are tons of other great options cold steel is a favorite of mine i carry my Cold steel AK47 as a defensive blade and a blur, or spyderco as a utility knife. Spyderco is real good too. I wouldnt worry about ur whirlwind i have never even heard of it till now. I bought a 25 dollar kershaw clash cas i thought the blade shape looked good but it is nothin but a piece so i just keep it at the house to cut cardboard and crap that i dont want to waste the blade of my other knives on.

My Uncle ships his kershaw knives to the factory every other month and they sharpen em for free. Kershaw is an excelent company.

[taylor6400]

Originally Posted by UnspokenVendetta

I think her reply was perfectly reasonable, and you were the one a bit out of line. After all, she's just giving the answers she's told to give, and she can't assume that everyone maintains their knives properly. In fact, I would guess that a very large majority of the emails she receives are from people who know little about what they are doing. I don't mean to imply that you are one of those people, because you clearly know how to maintain your knives. Her suggestions were based off instruction she received or from her experience in dealing with most other customers. I think you got a bit hasty with calling their policies a joke. First off, she doesn't make the policies. Secondly, even if they are a joke, calling them such in the manner you did isn't the best way to get your point across. Thirdly, she kindly offered for you to send the knife in for evaluation, which is the best she can do in her position. I'm not sure what else you'd like done. Also, as a side note, never assume what a warranty does and doesn't cover. It's usually pretty easy to find this information, so you can read it for yourself or contact the company for clarification instead of assuming.

Just my opinion, of course.

Her initial response only says I can send it in with a receipt, which I don't have since it was a gift. They also have a limited lifetime warranty to cover defects. Which I would say this knife has...cheap or not it shouldn't rust like it is. My 20dollar kershaw from walmart isn't rusting. What is a defect if pretty severe rust isn't a defect?

[nuhler]

Originally Posted by taylor6400

Her initial response only says I can send it in with a receipt, which I don't have since it was a gift. They also have a limited lifetime warranty to cover defects. Which I would say this knife has...cheap or not it shouldn't rust like it is. My 20dollar kershaw from walmart isn't rusting. What is a defect if pretty severe rust isn't a defect?

Rust can depend alot on where you live. I live in washington where it is very moist from rain and it is pretty common for knives to rust. Especially if you work around snow or water they can rust overnight. I fish the puget sound which is saltwater alot and i have to be real careful when i bring my guns or knives on the boat cas if they get one drop of saltwater on em they can rust within the hour. I have had my leatherman multitool rust just for touching the fish once.

I was dropping crab pots for the first time and i was using lawnmower blades as weight and they had no rust on em to start. I dropped em in 70ft of salt water and one hour later they were literally as orange as a pumpkin. haha

[agould27]

I contacted weber about my grill the other day because the back burner was not lighting all they way. The grill gets heavy heavy use. The email response I got was very detailed instructions on how to break down and clean the burner. The burners carry a 10yr warranty. Would I have rather them have just sent me a new burner? Yes. I cleaned the burner and it works fine now. Send the knife back and get it fixed.

[mf40]

Send it in for evaluation like her second email said to do. Worst case scenario is they send it back without any work done on it and you're out of $2.00 for postage fees. The limited lifetime warranty may not cover the rust like she explained. Like others, I don't see anything wrong with the associate's replies. It is a defect, but it's a natural defect that occurs over time to any metal... might just be a bad batch of steel that Kershaw has no idea about because no other customer decided to pay any attention to it.

I bought a kershaw that wasn't opening properly with the speed assist so I sent them an email and in a week they had sent me a new mechanism and a nice keychain screwdriver with bits to disassemble the knife with no questions asked. As it turned out, the assist was in perfect working condition but the screw that held the blade in place was too tight.

[murphy12]

I had a warranty/QC issue with a ZT 301. Cheryl was absolutely first-rate to deal with. Heck, send it in. At least that way, you'll get some kind of response.
Good luck.