Victorinox Lifetime Warranty

[Wook]

On March 26th I posted two of my old, very beat up SAKs off to Burton McCall (the UK distributor of Victorinox and UK agent for repairs) for repair under their lifetime warranty. I was a little dubious since I have not been kind to my knives, using and abusing them. I was almost sure it would fall outside the definition of reasonable wear and tear. Nonetheless, today they arrived back, no questions asked and no charge beyond the initial cost of postage to them - 2 months and 22 days after I posted them off.

BEFORE

AFTER

They've straightened bent blades, replaced broken ones, cleaned the crud out of the SAKs many nooks, sharpened and polished everything, replaced springs, replaced the toothpick and tweezers, and even replaced the little pin in my SwissChamp that everyone always loses. I'm not sure, but I think they also replaced the SwissChamp's space pen. They even cleaned the velcro on the belt pouch! It was covered in fluff when I sent it off, and they've picked all of the fluff out of it so it grips much more securely. I really glad they were able to fix up the small Alox blade on the right - it was my first knife and as far as I can tell Victorinox no longer even make that specific model. Clearly they still have the expertise to repair it though. I can't quite tell if they've replaced the broken blade or reground it.

Also, it's not to obvious on that photo but the scales on my SwissChamp had a big chunk missing underneath where the magnifying glass attaches. That scale has been replaced, in fact it looks as though they replaced both scales even though the back one was fine.

 

[copper_head]

Good to hear about excellent service.
When I looked at the first picture I thought you had a gold plated sak, now that would be bling!

 

[Goatboy]

Burton McCall are a good bunch, dealt with them a lot in my time in outdoor retail. They service is invariably excellent (they must've been busy as they're usually quicker than that). They were always as helpful and smiley on the phone as you could wish too. (But picking the lint out of the Velcro makes me smile, I thought I was the only person retentive enough to do that when servicing someone's gear.)
Take it you're a happy chap with that?

 

[Ruud]

Now that's real service, nice of you to credit them for doing so too.

 

[Wook]

Good to hear about excellent service.
When I looked at the first picture I thought you had a gold plated sak, now that would be bling!

I took a few photos before I posted it off. I've changed it to one with less "bling" (i.e. reflections off the blades).

 

[Wook]

Take it you're a happy chap with that?

Extremely

 

[dwardo]

Now that's service with care and attention. Something not too common now.
I used the same "Life-time" warranty with my 14 year old gerber multi-tool. They were happy to just replace the whole tool which was great but sentimentality made me want my original tool back repaired. I would guess that rather than employ an engineer its easier just to send a new one. They were kind enough to send back my original tool too so I butchered the new one and repaired my old one

 

[Wook]

I mostly sent the SwissChamp pouch back out of curiosity. I wanted to see what they would do with it. The velcro is a tad worn out and the case a bit bashed and paint-stained in places. As I said they picked the fluff out of it for me, although they obviously felt a bit bad about not replacing the velcro altogether since they attached a note in the receipt stating that the case was not under warranty due to it being normal wear and tear. I wasn't seriously expecting them to do anything with the case, so what they did was a pleasant surprise.

 

[cjackson]

Just wondering if you needed any paperwork for the warranty? I have one sat in my drawer with a broken main blade ( the end has snapped off) this was my first knife bought for me by my grandfather on my 16th birthday. I'd love to get it sorted.

 

[sxmolloy]

Great service. The small SAK looks like a Pocket Pal, I've just got one to use for whittling but it has plastic scales, still a really useful tool though.

 

[Wook]

Just wondering if you needed any paperwork for the warranty? I have one sat in my drawer with a broken main blade ( the end has snapped off) this was my first knife bought for me by my grandfather on my 16th birthday. I'd love to get it sorted.

No. No paperwork required.

Just get in touch with this guy:

Gary Bottomley
Customer Services Administrator
Burton McCall Ltd

Customer Services Telephone : 0116 2344646
Customer Services Fax: 0116 2358031
Email: customerservices@burton-mccall.co.uk
Website: www.burton-mccall.co.uk

Burton McCall Ltd
163 Parker Drive
Leicester
LE4 0JP

 

[Wook]

Great service. The small SAK looks like a Pocket Pal, I've just got one to use for whittling but it has plastic scales, still a really useful tool though.

I believe my one is an Excelsior. The receipt from Victorinox called it an "Excelsior (Pocket Pal SA)" and I guess they would know. It is about 24 years old.

Pocket Pal, Excelsior and Secretary are apparently used more or less interchangeably to describe this knife. All I've been able to figure out for sure is it isn't made any more.

 

[sxmolloy]

I believe my one is an Excelsior. The receipt from Victorinox called it an "Excelsior (Pocket Pal SA)" and I guess they would know. It is about 24 years old.

Pocket Pal, Excelsior and Secretary are apparently used more or less interchangeably to describe this knife. All I've been able to figure out for sure is it isn't made any more.

Shame that as I prefer the Alox scales.

 

[cjackson]

No. No paperwork required.

Just get in touch with this guy:

Gary Bottomley
Customer Services Administrator
Burton McCall Ltd

Customer Services Telephone : 0116 2344646
Customer Services Fax: 0116 2358031
Email: gary.bottomley@burton-mccall.co.uk
Website: www.burton-mccall.co.uk

Burton McCall Ltd
163 Parker Drive
Leicester
LE4 0JP

That's brilliant thanks for that mate, I'll get in touch.

 

[cranmere]

Brilliant service! I wish I'd known they did that because I threw away my at least 40 year old SAK recently when it disintegrated. I can't complain though, it survived an awful lot of abuse.

 

[widu13]

Yes, Burton McCall are a good bunch. Just be wary of US manufacturers Lifetime Guarantees; in the UK/Europe Leatherman and Gerber restrict it to 25 years and Jetboil won't honour the warranty at all (but BM do).

 

[ozzy1977]

Great to know, my sak needs the pivot and spring sorting on the scissors, I have had the thing since I was 10 or 11 so 25ish years

 

[Samon]

I didn't know they had a lifetime warranty...!

The best pocket knives just got better. XD


I've got a horribly beaten up single bladed lock knife from Victorinox that has a chipped blade that's been sharpened on a grinder, smashed, melted and beaten scales and some lock rock. Wonder if they'd fix that up?


Does warranty cover a clean up job? Or just damaged goods? Cuz your two didnt look bad from what I can tell!

 

[Wook]

On mine the blade tip was broken on one blade, several were bent and also badly scratched. They fixed all of that and polished out the scratches. The scales were smashed on my Swiss Champ, and the badge had fallen off. They also fixed that.

The question seems to be what is their definition of "normal wear and tear" which their warranty covers. My knives apparently fell under it, more damaged ones perhaps not. The only way to find out is to try.

 

[Tengu]

Ive never had any trouble with them.