There have been a few discussions over the years here about multi-tools;
those little all-in-one gadgets we carry around that can do almost
anything. My favorite is the Gerber line of products. I have several,
and I abuse them severely.

So it's no wonder that they break occasionally.

I emailed Gerber yesterday afternoon concerning three of my tools that I
need serviced. One had a completely broken jaw, the other had a couple
of bits broken off and the third was the original 'hand-biter' model
discontinued years ago.

Long story short, all three are covered under their lifetime warranty.
I had a reply within an hour. They're sending me a new plier kit for
the first one--gratis--along with instructions. The second, they will
repair for free, but won't send me the parts. Fair enough. The third,
which was just basically worn out, and not particularly well-engineered
in the first place--they will replace with an equivalent current model
for the cost of shipping it to them.

Because I had remarked that this third one had some sentimental value,
they said send it in, they'd replace it AND send it back to me,
unobtrusively marked to prevent it being replaced again.

WOW!

I don't know what the repair policies are for other brands of
multi-tools. I do know that I've tried most of the others and prefer
the Gerber...mostly for the 'instant on', one-handed operation of the
pliers/cutters.

This just seals it for me...the Zippo of modern tool manufacturers.

jak

On 9/5/08 9:22 AM, in article ,
"jakdedert" wrote:

There have been a few discussions over the years here about multi-tools;
those little all-in-one gadgets we carry around that can do almost
anything. My favorite is the Gerber line of products. I have several,
and I abuse them severely.

So it's no wonder that they break occasionally.

I emailed Gerber yesterday afternoon concerning three of my tools that I
need serviced. One had a completely broken jaw, the other had a couple
of bits broken off and the third was the original 'hand-biter' model
discontinued years ago.

Long story short, all three are covered under their lifetime warranty.
I had a reply within an hour. They're sending me a new plier kit for
the first one--gratis--along with instructions. The second, they will
repair for free, but won't send me the parts. Fair enough. The third,
which was just basically worn out, and not particularly well-engineered
in the first place--they will replace with an equivalent current model
for the cost of shipping it to them.

Because I had remarked that this third one had some sentimental value,
they said send it in, they'd replace it AND send it back to me,
unobtrusively marked to prevent it being replaced again.

WOW!

I don't know what the repair policies are for other brands of
multi-tools. I do know that I've tried most of the others and prefer
the Gerber...mostly for the 'instant on', one-handed operation of the
pliers/cutters.

This just seals it for me...the Zippo of modern tool manufacturers.

jak

That's good to hear. A great report on an apparently great company.

Don Bowey wrote:
On 9/5/08 9:22 AM, in article ,
"jakdedert" wrote:

There have been a few discussions over the years here about multi-tools;
those little all-in-one gadgets we carry around that can do almost
anything. My favorite is the Gerber line of products. I have several,
and I abuse them severely.

So it's no wonder that they break occasionally.

I emailed Gerber yesterday afternoon concerning three of my tools that I
need serviced. One had a completely broken jaw, the other had a couple
of bits broken off and the third was the original 'hand-biter' model
discontinued years ago.

Long story short, all three are covered under their lifetime warranty.
I had a reply within an hour. They're sending me a new plier kit for
the first one--gratis--along with instructions. The second, they will
repair for free, but won't send me the parts. Fair enough. The third,
which was just basically worn out, and not particularly well-engineered
in the first place--they will replace with an equivalent current model
for the cost of shipping it to them.

Because I had remarked that this third one had some sentimental value,
they said send it in, they'd replace it AND send it back to me,
unobtrusively marked to prevent it being replaced again.

WOW!

I don't know what the repair policies are for other brands of
multi-tools. I do know that I've tried most of the others and prefer
the Gerber...mostly for the 'instant on', one-handed operation of the
pliers/cutters.

This just seals it for me...the Zippo of modern tool manufacturers.

jak

That's good to hear. A great report on an apparently great company.


Surprisingly, all three of the major multi-tool manufacturers (Gerber,
Leatherman, and SOG) have similar practices and policies. I've had all
three and have had the same similar experience with broken or worn-out
multi-tools. SOG is the easiest for me to deal with, their plant is
about 3 miles from my house... walk-in service!