Gerber shortcut

[BIGDOG]

Hello I recently acquired a gerber shortcut 2nd hand. Unfortunately after I cleaned it for the first time as it was filthy one of the scissor spring/locking bar snapped. I was just wondering if anyone had a broken one of these stashed away somewhere that I could get a replacement part from as it is no longer in warranty and gerber uk do not do repairs.

Cheers in advance

Al

[Gareth]

Any reason you think it's no longer in Warranty?  I know it's a retired tool, but all that would happen is that you should get a Splice instead.  If that's not what you want, I can understand.

[BIGDOG]

Email I received today told me these only had a one year warranty.

[Gareth]

Really?   Who's that coming from, Gerber themselves or the UK distributor?  There seems to be nothing about limited Warranty on the Gerber main site: http://www.gerbergear.com/Meet-Gerber/Support/Warranty-Info

If it's not Gerber themselves telling you that, then I would absolutely forward them a copy of the email and check with them directly as to it's accuracy.  I genuinely can't think I've ever heard of a 1 year guarantee before.

[AimlessWanderer]

Really?   Who's that coming from, Gerber themselves or the UK distributor?  There seems to be nothing about limited Warranty on the Gerber main site: http://www.gerbergear.com/Meet-Gerber/Support/Warranty-Info

If it's not Gerber themselves telling you that, then I would absolutely forward them a copy of the email and check with them directly as to it's accuracy.  I genuinely can't think I've ever heard of a 1 year guarantee before.

Agreed! I had a very disappointing experience with UK Customer Service recently, but at that time you could not contact Portland through the main site. I'll be interested to hear what they have to say 

[BIGDOG]

This is the email I got.

"Hi Alan,  We dont repair anything hear @ Silva we replace under the warranty however the Short cut only holds a warranty of 1 year if this is still within the 1 year and you have P.O.P please send this back and we will replace this.    Kind Regards  Christine Marson Silva Ltd  01506 406277"

Have emailed gerber USA will see what they say and keep you posted

[Grant Lamontagne]

This is the email I got.

"Hi Alan,  We dont repair anything hear @ Silva we replace under the warranty however the Short cut only holds a warranty of 1 year if this is still within the 1 year and you have P.O.P please send this back and we will replace this.    Kind Regards  Christine Marson Silva Ltd  01506 406277"

Have emailed gerber USA will see what they say and keep you posted

While I am usually tolerant of typos, I have to wonder about the usefulness of a customer service rep who doesn't know the difference between "hear" and "here."

 

Def

[BIGDOG]

No response from Gerber as of yet do you think they will respond to me as the form I used was designed
for use in the US. I told them I was from the UK in the content just wondering if anyone from this
side of the pond had used it before and got a response.

AL

[Grant Lamontagne]

Given the time difference they are only a few hours into Monday morning and simply may not have gotten that far into the weekend backlog just yet.  I'd say it's a bit too early to be concerned.

Def

[BIGDOG]

I havent received a reply from Gerber USA which Im not that surprised about if Im honest.

So I ahve sent the following to the UK supplier.

"Hi Christine



Sorry for the late reply my shortcut is over a year old. However I was under the impression that Gerber products have a lifetime warranty.  Looking at the gerber website Im hard pressed to find a tool with anything but a lifetime warranty. I cant find the shortcut on the website anymore as it has been discontinued however its replacement is on the american an UK website stating lifetime warranty and its identical twin with pliers instead of scissors is on the UK website with lifetime warranty.



http://www.gerbergear.com/Essentials/Tools/Splice-Pocket-Tool_31-000013



http://www.gerbergear.co.uk/index.php/product/id/371



http://www.gerbergear.co.uk/index.php/product/id/372



So Im really just wondering why the shortcut only had a 1 year warranty. I look forward to your reply.



Regards



Alan"

I will keep you all posted as to the response as I think the shortcut more than likely did have a lifetime
limited warranty.

We will see

[Gareth]

I'm certainly very interested to hear what they have to say to that.

[Grant Lamontagne]

Bigdog- PM sent. 

Def

[BIGDOG]

The plot thickens gentleman.

So just to fill you in Grant contacted someone from Gerber USA on my behalf and I have now sent my shortcut off to them. Cant knock Gerber USA response time or customer service top notch all round.

However this morning I received an email from SILVA the Uk distributor 15 days after I last contacted them. Now two week response time isnt awful however this is with regards to on going issue as you all know and I think my first email was responded to in 2 days. Anyway this is what I was sent.

"Hi Alan,
 
The Clutch and Short cut did only have the 1 year warranty but I will replace this FOC for you as the newer replacement units now include the Limited Life time, please send this back along with your returns address and I will book a replacement up for you, as the shortcut is discontinued this will be replaced with the new unit which is the Dime.
 
 
Kind Regards
 
 
 
Christine Marson
Customer Service Administrator
Silva Ltd
 
SILVA - GERBER"

So still stating that the shortcut only has a one year warranty yet now they will happily replace FOC this got my goat a little that all of a sudden even though its got a supposed limited warranty they will now replace. The second thing that made me chuckle was the replacement I would receive would be a DIME now Im all for getting a DIME I hopefully have one coming from the group buy however I think offering to replace a scissor based tool with a plier based one is a little silly. I really wouldnt mind myself however if the shortcut or whatever tool you sent to them was a scissor based tool and you used it for that I dont think you would be very happy receiving a plier based replacement.

My resposne is below

"Hi Christine
 
Thank you for your reply. However since it has now been two weeks since I last heard from you I have contacted Gerber in the US and they automatically offered me a replacement no mention of 1 year warranty. Also just wondering with regards to your email below you mention that my replacment tool would be a Dime which by all accounts is a very nice tool however this is a plier head based tool when my shortcut is a scissor based tool so not really a suitable replacement. I have already sent my tool off to gerber in the US if you want to contact them and confirm that they have received the tool and then send me a replacement instead of the hassle of them shipping from the US I would be very greatful.
 
Regards
 
Alan"

This is a lot of hassle for such a little tool Im only really pursing this now to see what SILVA actually do I guess we will find out in two weeks when I get a reponse. As my reply states my tool is on its way to gerber US to be replaced with a splice I believe they have been great and just a little worried about Silva as at the moment there customer service would put me off buying another Gerber.

Sorry for the rant

[dks]

I thought that according to EU regulation 2 years was the minimum guarantee you could get on anything..
Or maybe this is only for electronics...?

[Grant Lamontagne]

I wonder if your email to the US office is what prompted this "spontaneous" goodness on behalf of Silva?  I've noticed that international companies re-write the policies of the manufacturer to suit their needs sometimes, and often you can get an answer by pulling a string that goes a bit higher up.

Also, feel free to mention this forum in any/all warranty dealings.  I can't guarantee that it will help the process, but in cases like this it's a lot easier for any company to replace a tool and go "above and beyond" when they think that thousands of people will read about a bad experience with a company.  Each keychain tool probably costs Gerber (or any company) less than $5 to make and that's not worth getting a bad reputation over.

Def

[Gareth]

I can actually believe that Silva think that the warranty is for 1 year, I just suspect that they are wrong.