Very poor customer service

[Breezy12]

"Leatherman" offered nothing other than condolences.  A Leatherman employee offered his own F&F discount out of kindness and generosity, and perhaps out of some embarrassment for the response given by his employer.  I realize that my tool will not be returned because of their egregious error, however their response to the situation was entirely inadequate.  Nothing can replace that tool, but as a manager I would have offered my customer a tool, any tool, of their choice.  Honestly, the more I think about this, the madder I get about their response to the situation.  Saying sorry and expecting a customer to accept that along with an refurb substitute is not an acceptable response. 

I must have misread/misunderstood... I originally thought that the manager had given the other guy permission to offer you the F&F discount. Now that I read it again, I see that's not the case.

This is just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own. It does not mean anyone is right or wrong.

well said. my post should have said, "I respectfully disagree with the Captain..." I apologize if that wasn't clear.

[captain spaulding]

"Leatherman" offered nothing other than condolences.  A Leatherman employee offered his own F&F discount out of kindness and generosity, and perhaps out of some embarrassment for the response given by his employer.  I realize that my tool will not be returned because of their egregious error, however their response to the situation was entirely inadequate.  Nothing can replace that tool, but as a manager I would have offered my customer a tool, any tool, of their choice.  Honestly, the more I think about this, the madder I get about their response to the situation.  Saying sorry and expecting a customer to accept that along with an refurb substitute is not an acceptable response. 

I must have misread/misunderstood... I originally thought that the manager had given the other guy permission to offer you the F&F discount. Now that I read it again, I see that's not the case.

This is just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own. It does not mean anyone is right or wrong.

well said. my post should have said, "I respectfully disagree with the Captain..." I apologize if that wasn't clear.

I knew what you meant. I just did not wan't you to think I was ragging on you. 

[Breezy12]

"Leatherman" offered nothing other than condolences.  A Leatherman employee offered his own F&F discount out of kindness and generosity, and perhaps out of some embarrassment for the response given by his employer.  I realize that my tool will not be returned because of their egregious error, however their response to the situation was entirely inadequate.  Nothing can replace that tool, but as a manager I would have offered my customer a tool, any tool, of their choice.  Honestly, the more I think about this, the madder I get about their response to the situation.  Saying sorry and expecting a customer to accept that along with an refurb substitute is not an acceptable response. 

I must have misread/misunderstood... I originally thought that the manager had given the other guy permission to offer you the F&F discount. Now that I read it again, I see that's not the case.

This is just my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own. It does not mean anyone is right or wrong.

well said. my post should have said, "I respectfully disagree with the Captain..." I apologize if that wasn't clear.

I knew what you meant. I just did not wan't you to think I was ragging on you. 

no worries, Captain. just wanted to make sure you knew what I meant as well.

[captain spaulding]

[Grant Lamontagne]

I decided to give some friends at Leatherman a heads up on this.  They asked me to post this on their behalf:

We at Leatherman Tool Group thank the folks at Multitool.org for bringing a recent customer service situation involving warranty service on sentimental tools to light.  We’ve contacted the consumer directly with a solution, which he has graciously accepted, and a plan is in place to ensure that similar issues don’t arise in the future.  We apologize for the poor experience, and again are thankful the issue was brought to our attention so we could make it right and grow from our mistakes as a company.

Everybody makes mistakes. I'm glad to see Leatherman is going to some effort to learn from them, and I hope everyone can walk away happy.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

[Higgins617]

I decided to give some friends at Leatherman a heads up on this.  They asked me to post this on their behalf:

We at Leatherman Tool Group thank the folks at Multitool.org for bringing a recent customer service situation involving warranty service on sentimental tools to light.  We’ve contacted the consumer directly with a solution, which he has graciously accepted, and a plan is in place to ensure that similar issues don’t arise in the future.  We apologize for the poor experience, and again are thankful the issue was brought to our attention so we could make it right and grow from our mistakes as a company.

Everybody makes mistakes. I'm glad to see Leatherman is going to some effort to learn from them, and I hope everyone can walk away happy.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

That was a very nice gesture of you, stepping up for one of the users. And very nice(i hope) of them to come back with what I hope is a solid solution.

This is something you absolutely never want to see happen, but unfortunately things do get screwed up and usually in the worst sort of ways. The fact that the tool had serious and understandable sentimental value just makes the case that much more serious. But hopefully Leatherman really will use this as a stepping forward point to ensure that someone else doesn't lose something dear to them.

s2mason I am really sorry you had this happen, and I do hope they were able to do right by you at least to some extent. As crappy as the whole situation is, it can't be marked as more than a very unfortunate mistake. They need to slow down and make sure they take care of the customers that made them as successful as they are. They are spreading themselves too thin, and it shows. But at the end of the day, smurf does happen. I hope you are able to find some sort of happiness in the situation my friend, I'm truly sorry

[Mr. Whippy]

I decided to give some friends at Leatherman a heads up on this.  They asked me to post this on their behalf:

We at Leatherman Tool Group thank the folks at Multitool.org for bringing a recent customer service situation involving warranty service on sentimental tools to light.  We’ve contacted the consumer directly with a solution, which he has graciously accepted, and a plan is in place to ensure that similar issues don’t arise in the future.  We apologize for the poor experience, and again are thankful the issue was brought to our attention so we could make it right and grow from our mistakes as a company.

Everybody makes mistakes. I'm glad to see Leatherman is going to some effort to learn from them, and I hope everyone can walk away happy.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

Personally, I'm very glad to see Leatherman step up in this instance.  They're a large corporation and things will be missed.  Sounds like they're going to make changes to try to prevent this in the future.  Good job, Leatherman! 

[captain spaulding]

That was a very nice gesture of Grant to use his "multitool celebrity status" to inform Leatherman of the mistake and find a resolution that makes everyone happy. Most importantly they will hopefully set something in place to make sure this is a one time incident and does not happen to anyone else. Bravo to Leatherman for making it right and thank you so much Grant for doing this. Good show to both of you. 

[Breezy12]

I decided to give some friends at Leatherman a heads up on this.  They asked me to post this on their behalf:

We at Leatherman Tool Group thank the folks at Multitool.org for bringing a recent customer service situation involving warranty service on sentimental tools to light.  We’ve contacted the consumer directly with a solution, which he has graciously accepted, and a plan is in place to ensure that similar issues don’t arise in the future.  We apologize for the poor experience, and again are thankful the issue was brought to our attention so we could make it right and grow from our mistakes as a company.

Everybody makes mistakes. I'm glad to see Leatherman is going to some effort to learn from them, and I hope everyone can walk away happy.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

Personally, I'm very glad to see Leatherman step up in this instance.  They're a large corporation and things will be missed.  Sounds like they're going to make changes to try to prevent this in the future.  Good job, Leatherman! 

+1 to all of this, and great work by Grant to put things in action!

I'm really happy to see a good outcome to this story.

[Grant Lamontagne]

All I did was send an email.  The bunch at Leatherman were the ones to decide to act on it.  They could have just as easily ignored me, but they didn't.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

[Aloha]

I decided to give some friends at Leatherman a heads up on this.  They asked me to post this on their behalf:

We at Leatherman Tool Group thank the folks at Multitool.org for bringing a recent customer service situation involving warranty service on sentimental tools to light.  We’ve contacted the consumer directly with a solution, which he has graciously accepted, and a plan is in place to ensure that similar issues don’t arise in the future.  We apologize for the poor experience, and again are thankful the issue was brought to our attention so we could make it right and grow from our mistakes as a company.

Everybody makes mistakes. I'm glad to see Leatherman is going to some effort to learn from them, and I hope everyone can walk away happy.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

I dont want to stir anything up but, everyone does make mistakes but it always seem we tend to forget this and hold others to impossible standards.  Moreover sorry never seems to ever be enough and while I agree sometimes it's just not enough in some cases, I look back on the impossible standards others are being held to.


I'm glad that this matter is resolved but I would be remiss if I also didnt say what if Leatherman gave a 100 tools?  This resolves the missing sentimental tool how?  Now what I'm saying is it seemed the apology wasn't enough, the employee FF discount wasn't either, so the FREE tools somehow puts this to rest?  I don't get it I guess, I'm missing something somehow.   

Sometimes there just isn't recourse, sometimes there isn't anything more than a heartfelt sorry.  I personally would have been crushed in this situation but a NEW FREE tool wouldn't have done ish for me. 

Good job Leatherman  and whatever you put into place regarding sentimental tools then all the better. 

I'm not pissing on the outcome or the OP issue its more of a rant regarding "compensation" somehow cures all mentality. 

Sorry if I pissed in the pool of resolve I mean no disrespect at all to anyone.     

 

[Grant Lamontagne]

I don't know the details of the outcome.   That's between Leatherman and the OP.  I hope he is as happy as they seem to think he is.  My contact at Leatherman is the type to take this kind of thing very seriously so I believe it when she says they have reached an acceptable compromise. 

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

[Aloha]

I don't know the details of the outcome.   That's between Leatherman and the OP.  I hope he is as happy as they seem to think he is.  My contact at Leatherman is the type to take this kind of thing very seriously so I believe it when she says they have reached an acceptable compromise. 

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

Leathermans CS has been nothing but outstanding to me and those I know who have dealt with them.  I sure do wish nothing but closure for the OP and it's terrific that you stepped in Boss. 

Again I mean no disrespect nor judgment on either side.  I know Leatherman has and will continue to be top notch in taking care of its customers.   

[Higgins617]

I hear you though Aloha, but I don't think it's the fact that an object is being offered up that makes the difference. I know, for me personally, I assume companies are faceless and simply in the business of making money. While offering up a free tool for them is like tossing pocket change, it at least shows some sort of humanity where none was expected, at least in my eyes. So I guess it's the gesture that makes it any different.

That being said, the matter of sentimental value totally negates that. 243253664264353245356457 free waves will still not have the same personal attachment as the one that accompanied him through one of the darkest times in his life. It then becomes more than just a tool, and, while thoughtful, no gesture can really rectify the wrong that was done.  I would never fully get over it.

[captain spaulding]

I hear you though Aloha, but I don't think it's the fact that an object is being offered up that makes the difference. I know, for me personally, I assume companies are faceless and simply in the business of making money. While offering up a free tool for them is like tossing pocket change, it at least shows some sort of humanity where none was expected, at least in my eyes. So I guess it's the gesture that makes it any different.

That being said, the matter of sentimental value totally negates that. 243253664264353245356457 free waves will still not have the same personal attachment as the one that accompanied him through one of the darkest times in his life. It then becomes more than just a tool, and, while thoughtful, no gesture can really rectify the wrong that was done.  I would never fully get over it.

Well said.

[Aloha]

I hear you though Aloha, but I don't think it's the fact that an object is being offered up that makes the difference. I know, for me personally, I assume companies are faceless and simply in the business of making money. While offering up a free tool for them is like tossing pocket change, it at least shows some sort of humanity where none was expected, at least in my eyes. So I guess it's the gesture that makes it any different.

That being said, the matter of sentimental value totally negates that. 243253664264353245356457 free waves will still not have the same personal attachment as the one that accompanied him through one of the darkest times in his life. It then becomes more than just a tool, and, while thoughtful, no gesture can really rectify the wrong that was done.  I would never fully get over it.

I totally understand this and yes I totally agree.  I can personally attest to an items intrinsic value as I have one.  I do hope the OP can find some closure in whatever they decided on. 

I guess in the end we can all hope Leatherman has put a better system in place so this wont soon happen or never happen again.

   

[BASguy]

 Update:  I was working out of town (near Gallup NM) all week and had ZERO Internet access.  On Tuesday I got a call (one of the rare moments I was perfectly aligned to get a cell phone signal) and the call was from a lady at Leatherman.  She informed me that her team had been reviewing what had happened with my tool.  She expressed, what I considered to be, extreme regret that the warranty had been so badly botched.  She was extremely apologetic and sincere.  She very carefully explained that she was calling with an offer to "attempt" to minimize the damage and not to offend me with an insincere gesture.  She explained that her team spent a considerable amount of time attempting to locate my handle set, but were unsuccessful.  She then stated that they were able to find another 2001 handle set in pristine condition, and asked if I would be OK with them taking my toolset and transferring it to this handle set.   
I thought that was a phenomenal and sincere gesture that enables them to make things as right as possible.  It certainly works for me, because this handle set, although not the tool original, certainly signifies that value of the sentiment involved here and its importance to Leatherman as much as me.  They couldn't have responded in a better fashion. 
Thank you to everyone for your support, and extreme thanks and gratitude to you Grant for the amazingly kind and thoughtful gesture.  I will gifting this tool to my grandson and now I can do that with all the sentiment intact.  I am very grateful...


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[zoidberg]

 

[JBW1]

wow Gallup huh? I'm in abq and grew up only 45 miles from that mud hole . Hope you got a green chili lotta burger when you were there. I'm glad that after the run around they finally made it right. Anyone know if Gerber warranty is at all good?

[enki_ck]

[Grant Lamontagne]

I was wondering what they had done for you.  As I said, it's none of my business and I'd have satisfied myself with that, but I was curious and I'm glad you took the time to let us know that you are happy with the outcome.

I'm glad they managed to make things right for you.

Def

Sent from my smurfing hunk of techno sorcery

[Toolslinger]

Glad to see such a positive outcome from a heart-breaking scenario. Glad to see Leatherman making the effort to rectify this even if it took a bit for them to get rolling.

[Aloha]

Glad LM and you found what made this right for you.   

[sawman]

Jolly good

 

[Kampfer]

  Now this tool has two major stories to tell. 

[BASguy]

Lol...... That's a good point.  He went off for his "new" old handle set today.


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[BASguy]

Grant, again..... Thanks so much


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[Kampfer]

MTO bucking rocks!

[AimlessWanderer]

The perpetual cynic in me wonders whether this would have ever been resolved so courteously if they didn't know this issue was being discussed globally on the worlds premier tool forum. The perpetual cynic in me also realises that most other companies would probably have failed to notice the significance of that.

Really glad to hear you reached a conclusion you were happy with, and I hope everything goes well this time  Well done to Grant for the tip off, and to the LM crew for responding so well

[Grant Lamontagne]

Possibly, possibly not.  I imagine they would have discovered this thread sooner or later as most manufacturers do keep an eye on us.  However if this thread hadn't existed, they may have found out through old fashioned means- phone calls, nasty letters etc.

Really this forum is just an extension of the means by which customers and manufacturers communicate.

Def

Sent from a digital multitool