Victorinox Warranty: My Experiences

I recently found my childhood Swiss Army Knife and noticed that the tip on the large blade was chipped. The toothpick portion was also gone after many years which I assume is quite common.

This tool was used for many years camping and fishing. The knife used to be on my keychain for a long time until one day I attended a bunch of court trials for a law class back in university. Of course, I forgot this was on my keychain and I couldn’t enter the courtroom. I ended up burying it in the planters outside the courthouse. Since then I do not carry it on myself anymore and is a liability especially in these times.

Time to see what the warranty is like on knives. The Swiss Army brand is owned by Victorinox.

This is where the fun begins.

https://www.swissarmy.com/ca/en/Swiss-Army-Knives-Product-Support/cms/service-swiss-army-knife

contains an email for the Canadian Service Centre repairs@swissarmy.ca. I have a couple of questions so I email them. A week passes with no response. so I use their online form on the same page. I must note that I still have not received a single response from this email address.

I receive the following response from their contact form 3 days later:

We recommend sending your multi-tool into our repair center In Vaughan, ON. We recommend sending your multi-tool into our repair center In Vaughan, ON. Once your repair is received our technicians will perform an evaluation on your multi-tool. If there is a problem with repairing your multi-tool, we will keep in contact with you after we have received it to go over your options. Contact information for our Vaughan, ON repair center is listed below.

Canada Service Center: Victorinox Swiss Army Canada Repair Center 1000 Edgeley Blvd, Unit 2 Vaughan, ON L4K 4V4 NOTE: The turnaround time for the repair/replacement can take up to 4-6 weeks.

Along with your knife please include a brief description of the problem you are having with your knife as well as your name, address, phone number and email address. If the multi-tool is sentimental, please mark sentimental. Please be advised there is a $5.00 processing & handling fee that is associated with repairs per knife for processing and handling, which is payable by cheque or money order. If there is any additional cost, you will be contacted. The cheque or money order should be included with the repair.

We appreciate your business and thank you for selecting Victorinox Swiss Army. If you need additional assistance, please feel free to give us a call at 1.800.665.4095 and we will be more than happy to help.

I end up calling the 1-800-665-4095 number to speak to a human and get their take on things. Unsurprisingly, the information they give out is the opposite except for the repair centre address.

Not too impressed with this so far, I decide to roll the dice anyways. I dig out my chequebook that I haven’t touched in years and write a cheque out to Victorinox. The knife is packaged up and I apply the appropriate postage. This ends up being a little over $13.

This time I decide to hunt down a Canada Post mailbox. I find my local box and notice that the pull handle is somewhat ajar. I look inside and see a package lodged in there and it won’t accept any mail. I push my hand into the opening trying to dislodge the package and it simply becomes more wedged in. At this point I’m really annoyed. The temperature is -15C and I’m there in front on the mailbox rocking it back and forth trying to dislodge the package. The thing will not budge. At this point, I’m seriously debating tilting the whole mailbox on its side so it would at least indicate there are problems with the mailbox. In the end I leave it as it is and will try back a couple of days later.

3 days later I go back to the same mailbox, this is now late January, 2021. Lo and behold the same package is stuck and I see other people have been trying to jam lettermail and packages around it. The mailbox is supposed to be emptied and checked every single day by Canada Post. I’m now livid.

I know there should be another mailbox around my vicinity but it is another couple of kilometres walk in another cold snap at -15C. I trudge my way to the other mailbox and find it to be working without issues. I return back and find out the next day I have the worst wind burn I’ve ever experienced. The package has been successfully placed in a mailbox.

Upon arriving back I decide to see what the process flow is for dealing with mailbox issues that I was experiencing with Canada Post. I call their support number 1-866-607-6301. There is no optimal option for routing the call through their ivr system. A human is eventually reached and I explain the situation. I soon find out that there is no system in place for the issue of a stuck/malfunctioning mailbox. They confirm that the mailboxes should be emptied and checked every single day. I give them the postal code and intersection and I learn that Canada Post is unable to look up this information on their “system”. 20 minutes on the phone and a ticket is supposedly put in to fix the stuck mailbox.

I learnt that Canada Post has no way of looking up your local mailbox. There simply is no customer facing means of doing this and they don’t seem to be able to do it themselves either. This is very surprising.

The package didn’t end up being picked up by Canada Post for several days which is I guess how things are now. The package was delivered several days later according to the tracking number.

A week passes and I receive a confirmation receipt from VSAI Repair repairbkgd@swissarmy.com via email.

Please be advised that we have received your item for repair at our Victorinox Swiss Army Repair Center and it is awaiting evaluation. Once our evaluation is complete an estimate will be generated if requested or if the estimate exceeds your pre-approval limits. Questions? Comments? If you have questions about this repair, please do not reply to this email. Please contact consumer support at repairs@swissarmy.ca or 800-665-4095. VSAI reserves the right to decline any repair based on abuse of product or our reselling policy.

Good news, they received it.

An unexpected package arrives on February 25, 2021 from Victorinox.

The package includes my original knife, cleaned, oiled and repaired. The broken blade and outside shell was replaced. A new toothpick and tweezers were replaced along with a keychain loop. The old shell pieces were even in the package. Very impressive!

I am very pleased with the outcome.

The next day I receive an invoice letter from Victorinox demanding payment. Really? I call up their 1-800-665-4095 number asking why I am being invoiced. The tell me it’s an error on their part and they have a note it the service was already paid for. I am told to simply “ignore” it. Sigh.

Getting to this outcome could use some refining.