Should I have bought a microtech?

[Interesting Moniker]

Soooooo, I jump on blade HQ to finally order the ultratech I've wanted for so long. I think the final total was 235ish when the smoke cleared, which is a good chunk of change but worth it for a good knife. A couple weeks later, and I'm like an idiot farting in the bathtub I'm so happy with my new purchase. A little over a month of carrying it, and not cutting down trees or prying open car doors, I find a screw missing. Of course microtech is too cool to use hardware store stuff, so customer service here we come. I got my "RAA" number to return the sucker 4/9/13. I just called wondering where the hell my knife is, seeing how all they needed to do was a couple wrist rotations with a screw driver, and was told to call back in June?!? "Sorry sir, we're building for blade show and haven't had the time for repair orders", are you F****** kidding me? Am I being an ass here, or does 2 months seem completely stupid for a screw replaced? BTW, they don't send out repair parts, and their proprietary screwdriver is $40.

 

[FredAlert]

I'm surprised that they took it back in RMA at all ... it says right on the form that they will only ship a knife across state lines to a leo.

The ones that I carry I have replaced all of the screws with these hex head screws

http://www.assistedknife.com/index.cfm/fa/subcategories.main/parentcat/33882/subcatid/84339

 

[WyldeDime]

Microtech has some of the worst customer service in the Blade industry.

 

[BlackRifler42]

I would call back and RAISE HELL!!!

 

[FredAlert]

Suggesting they have "some of the worst service in the knife industry" is total BS. 90% of the semi-custom knife shops like this have way worse service. They are a small like 5 man shop in PA dealing in heavily regulated stuff. You can't begin to compare them to something like benchmade or buck who has hundreds of employees to deal with this stuff.

In addition to that the biggest knife show in the country is coming up in barely more than a weeks time. For people their auto knives are primarily a novelty for collectors and no service issues are life threatening so they put it behind the livelihood of their business.

The idea that operators are using this stuff in the field etc is movie myth so no service issue is life threatening. No operator that trusts their life to the knife working would ever, ever carry a microtech DA knife like a troodon or ultratech because some lint, a dime, some dirt etc are enough to trip the safety mechanism and make the knife not deploy.

Calling and "raising hell" in any small shop is going to get you put on the back of the pile not the front. This is just common sense.

Either bear with them or ask them to just return your knife.

 

[jkaczyn18]

I had one Microtech that needed work and sold it at a big loss after finding out how much of a pain it is shipping it there and then getting it back. They have some cool knives, but not that cool, not to mention ripping off the ZT 0777 design. That is a whole other discussion though.

 

[Interesting Moniker]

-In addition to that the biggest knife show in the country is coming up in barely more than a weeks time. For people their auto knives are primarily a novelty for collectors and no service issues are life threatening so they put it behind the livelihood of their business.

I get that, but it's a screw. It's literally a 10sec job, hell the reseptionist could do it in 20. If you're going to sell a knife to the public for over 200, have the man power to service what you've sold.

I don't know where operators come into everything, but I definately don't think this is a "class A" priority by far. I will say that lint or pocket change isn't going to trip anything on the one I own. Don't know how much time you've had with a microtech or what model, but all the ones I've messed with aren't finiky at all.

On top of all that, the s35v blade was dull within the month. As I stated, I never used it to pry open car doors or scrape concrete. Just "regular use" stuff that my $40 kershaw keeps an edge over. Just another point of failure to me.

 

[Interesting Moniker]

PLUS Jack Bauer uses a Halo....or is he not an "operator"?

 

[ATLEMT]

That's why I can't bring myself to spend more than 100 on a knife. I've had kershaw, crkt, and buck knives lose screws and never had to wait more than a week for a new screw. And I've never been in a situation where one of those knives couldn't handle the job at hand.

Not saying no one should spend 100+ on a pocket knife. But ultimately it's still just a pocket knife.

 

[thorn]

I made a new rule for myself: $50 limit on pocket knives. Anything that I might have to use it for that may result in it breaking, chipping, bending, etc...I won't cry about $50 for long. I'd cry a lot over $200+.

I owned a Microtech Troodon and carried it for a long time...but I got tired of keeping a "show car" and stuck with my "pickup" that I could actually not be afraid to use.