My Excellent Experience with Zero Tolerance (Kershaw) Warranty Service

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  • esrice

    Certified Regular Guy
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    Thanks to INGOers' helpful suggestions, I picked up a Zero Tolerance 0556 a couple months ago from Bradsknives. I've been VERY happy with it and I was satisfied with what the Zero Tolerance brand offered in terms of quality and value.

    A few weeks ago I was approached at work by someone who carried a ZT 0350. He was hard up for some cash and knew I enjoyed guns and knives. He offered me his 0350 for just $30. It was a few years old, had some carry wear, was a bit gummed up inside, and had a less desirable (to me) stonewash blade. But it was only 30 freakin' dollars! Of course I jumped on it.

    I brought it home and was thoroughly impressed with my score. Here it was:

    10710957_863059857052292_5422484124384631201_n.jpg


    According to its model number it was originally sold as some kind of special run through Knifeworks.com. It was an "0350KW". The blade needed sharpening, and the SpeedSafe assisted opening mechanism was slow (probably because of all the pocket lint). I had heard that Zero Tolerance and Kershaw offer free sharpening for life, so I thought I'd send it to them and try out this service. I thought if I was lucky they might even clean it up and fix the slow SpeedSafe action.

    I started by visiting the warranty page on their website: Warranty | ZT Knives

    I followed their instructions and filled out the provided warranty form, printing 2 copies. On the form I asked for the blade to be sharpened and the SpeedSafe to be fixed. I indicated a "No" where it asked if the knife held any sentimental value.

    I took the knife to my local shipping store. I didn't have a box so they packaged it for me (ZT says no padded envelopes). I had it shipped with a tracking number, per ZT's instructions. It cost me $10 to ship it, plus the cost of the packing materials.

    ZT says to allow 6 weeks for processing, but everything took only 14 days in this case.

    Though I did receive an initial "confirmation" email from ZT after I filled out the warranty form, I will note that I never received any updates or communications once they received the knife, or once they closed my claim. This is not a big deal, but worth mentioning. I imagine they process so many claims that doing so would be too time consuming.

    I arrived home from work today to a box on my porch. Inside the unnecessarily large box under a bunch of packing material I found my original warranty form, and a small bubble-wrapped envelope. Nothing else.

    Eager to see if they cleaned up the knife I opened the envelope. Damn it was clean! But wait . . . . something's not right. It had a black blade! Giving it a good once-over I then realized that they had REPLACED THE ENTIRE KNIFE. Wow!

    I'm not sure what their thinking was-- maybe the SpeedSafe issue was bigger than I realized, maybe they don't want to work on the KW knives, maybe they broke the old one while sharpening it. I dunno. But I'm not one to look a gift horse in the mouth!

    Here's the new 0350:

    erxvg7.jpg


    Not bad for a $40 investment!

    I believe Zero Tolerance is one of those rare companies that feels so strongly about their products that they don't want older sub-par knives out there in circulation. They also appear to want to keep their customers happy. And I am!

    If you've never owned a Kershaw or ZT knife I would encourage you to consider them. Obviously they take care of their products and their customers. If you do have a Kershaw or ZT lying around you might want to think about utilizing their free sharpening service. I'm not promising a completely new knife, but you'll certainly get back something better than what you sent.

    I'd be curious to hear others' experience with Kershaw/ZT warranty service. Anyone else ever sent their knives in?

    Here's the new 0350 next to my EDC 0556.

    2sae9gx.jpg
     
    Last edited:

    Limpy88

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    Damn, thats weird to replace the knife for the speedsafe. Must have been a bigger issue. I do like there products and there warranty service.
     

    seedubs1

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    Their warranty and customer service is one of the best. I wish spyderco had the same policies...(mostly the cheap blade replacement policy).
     

    Bigtanker

    Cuddles
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    Aug 21, 2012
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    Osceola
    My Tanto Blur has seen better days. The blade is dull and chipped in a few places. Might have to give this a try.
     

    nate77

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    Apr 15, 2009
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    Nice, can't beat a new 0350 for $40.

    I need to send my 0350ts in; the blade is so off center that it rubs the liner, and if you tighten the pivot to center it, the knife won't open.
     

    chezuki

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    Mar 18, 2009
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    Question for the ZT/Kershaw gurus. I have a Blur that needs a little work (handle slabs are a little loose and screw holes seem to be stripped).

    The person I got it from said he thought it was a "blem" (not covered by warranty), but it does not have the "XXXX" on the blade like all other blems I've seen. Are there other ways to determine if its a blem? Should I just send it in and see what they say?
     

    esrice

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    it does not have the "XXXX" on the blade like all other blems I've seen. Are there other ways to determine if its a blem? Should I just send it in and see what they say?

    I would send it in and see. I've only read about the "XXXX" meaning it was purchased at their annual warehouse sale. They don't warranty those. I'm not sure if they have an actual "blem" program or not.
     

    nate77

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    Send it in, no xxxx, means it is probably not a blem.

    Speaking of blurs, I just picked up my third today; I didn't need it but couldn't pass up $32.00 on Amazon.
     

    G19ccer

    Plinker
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    Oct 19, 2011
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    I just sent in my tanto blur yesterday. I'm anxious to see what the turnaround time will be. It sounds like I can be pretty confident that I will be pleased with the results!
     

    Dean C.

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    This is good to hear. I just had to send in my 0454 for some warranty work the steel lock bar insert came loose and needed fixed.
     

    esrice

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    UPDATE

    So things just got a bit strange.

    I got a voicemail from a rep at ZT last night. He wanted to confirm that I had received a black bladed 0350 and not the one I originally sent in. He said there was a mix up and apparently they sent me the wrong knife. He wants to send me a return envelope so they can "correct the error".

    By the time I called back they had already closed up shop for the day (and the weekend). I left him a voicemail telling him I did indeed receive a black bladed 0350. I also told him that I could keep this knife, or return it-- it didn't matter to me.

    Really I'd prefer to keep this new one, but understand if that's not what they intended. I'd still be happy if they sent me back the original knife all clean and sharp.

    I'll update again when I talk to ZT on Monday or Tuesday.
     

    esrice

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    Ok so I talked with "Steve" from ZT this past Monday.

    Turns out they sent me another customer's knife, and they sent him my knife. Oops. So ZT sent me a free shipping label that I can slap on a box to return the knife. Once they have it back they'll inspect it and then return it to the rightful owner.

    So I'm kinda bummed I didn't get a new black-bladed knife after all, but still look forward to seeing how the old one looks now. Maybe they'll toss in some free stickers or something. . . .
     

    chezuki

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    Any idea why the warranty form asks for credit card info? It says "if applicable" on the sheet, but when generating the sheet it said:

    Thank you. Your warranty form is now being downloaded. Please print it out and fill in the remaining credit card information and include it with your knife shipment.
     

    G19ccer

    Plinker
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    When I talked to the warranty folks they said I only had to include cc info if the work required payment (blade replacement, etc). I only needed sharpening so I was told to leave cc info blank. Hope that helps.
     

    esrice

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    UPDATE

    I finally got back my original 0350 yesterday. No extra stickers in the box... :(

    Though I still would've preferred the black-bladed knife, they did a GREAT job cleaning this one up. They did exactly what I asked them to-- sharpened the blade and sped up the SpeedSafe action. On top of that they cleaned all the pocket lint and grime out, and may have even replaced the pocket clip. It really looks like a brand new knife again. I'm very pleased with my $40 investment.

    jsod8y.jpg



    Having had some time with a few KAI products now and dealing with their warranty department, I have to say that Kershaw/ZT is good to go. I'll be recommending them to folks who are looking for an affordable high quality knife. :yesway:
     
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