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Bruce Esquibel[_2_]

wrote:

All true. But my direct experience with Fluke is that they will send on
the "next best thing" when a piece is unfixable. NOTE: they have fixed,
also in my direct experience, some pretty sick puppies.

Yeah I don't think the warranty they lived by early on was anything to write
home about. Somewhere in time I dropped some good coin on a 97 scope meter
and within 3 years of owning it, the backlight for the display went out, the
battery pack didn't charge anymore and eventually (using it as a bench meter
of sorts at that point) the charging wart failed.

They wanted somewhere around $300 for a repair on everything and I just
didn't think it was worth it. I found another ac adapter at a hamfest
(remember those?) and continued to use it but these days it's in a box
buried in the basement somewhere.

Zippo will repair their lighters similarly, even if it is only a strike
wheel that remains of the old device. Their factory tour (Bradford, PA)
goes by the repair room where these lighters come in - and the dedicated
(in every way) staff that does the repairs. A fascinating operation. Many
here could learn a few things. I certainly did.

This is what I really wanted to comment on, those guys really do that.

I had a plain chrome lighter (but engraved) someone gave me years ago and
pretty much was a daily use item, always carried it around and in use. It
didn't "click" anymore, that steel spring thing was broke, the hinge was
loose (you needed 2 hands to use it at that point) and the fence/wheel was
blackend with use along with the wheel being wobbly.

One day while trying to slide it back in my pocket I missed, it bounced off
the wood stairs I was on and fell over the edge onto concrete basement
stairs.

At the bottom it was in peices, everything just fell apart.

So I knew about the "no matter what" lifetime warranty, filled out the form
from the website and mailed it in. I figure they would say something like,
are you nuts or something but surprise, surprise, in a about 3 weeks it was
returned, totally repaired and even came in a new box and old parts thrown
in as well.

No charge.

I mean it's just a lighter but I can't think of another company or product
that is backed up by a real lifetime warranty like that. Someone should give
Zippo an award or something.

-bruce