Leatherman Disappointment

[JoshMos]

Good day to All,

I recently purchased a new Leatherman, a Charge + Titanium. This is probably the 10th Leatherman I have owned over the years, everywhere I go I sing Leatherman's praises.

Honestly, I am in the bush a lot and my Leatherman works hard, it does real work and I rely on it as an essential tool, one which you will rarely see me without (I got married wearing my Leatherman). I have used my Leatherman to do jobs that I suppose some can only imagine and I think they are brilliant pieces of equipment... until recently.

I bought this most recent Leatherman as my last one finally had to be retired after years of good service. My only gripe (until now) was that I have nowhere nearby to have my multitool serviced or repaired.

My complaint is this; recently I was on a job in the field and I was cutting some 1.6mm tying wire (the very soft wire) with my new Leatherman, imagine my absolute shock when after only the 3rd or 4th cut I noticed the wire cutters looked like old teeth that had been chewing on rocks for a lifetime! Seriously, what rubbish steel has Leatherman used to make these cutters? I'm not even trying to be funny here, I am extremely disappointed. It gives me serious concerns about the integrity of the entire tool, not to mention Leatherman as a company... I feel like maybe they are going the way of so many companies that finally fail due to cutting corners and compromising on quality in order to increase profit margins!

I've tried emailing Leatherman but with no joy. My point with posting this here is to find out who I can complain to in the hopes this can be resolved. I am really concerned that another quality product is not one any more!? Buyers beware!

Please see pictures attached.

[Uys]

It looks like you have the new serrated wire cutter!

[PJ SA]

Contact these guys, I believe they are the official distributor in SA

[fransjcloete]

Contact these guys, I believe they are the official distributor in SA

Not just Leatherman. I sent in 2 LED Lenser lights that stopped working and they replaced them with 2 new ones out the box

[Keith Newnham]

Contact these guys, I believe they are the official distributor in SA

A bit OT but they are also warranty exchange for Stanley flasks. Was there yesterday, super helpful people ��
Seem to be renovating so signs say no walk ins for now but having just driven down from Port Nolloth I think they took pity on me. Suggest you call them before pitching up

[Skylark]

Contact these guys, I believe they are the official distributor in SA

These are the guys, send your old one with the new one and both will come back with anything broken or worn replaced free of charge

[Vormoto]

You will only ever have to buy 1 leather man in your life.

I got one a a gift when i turned 18, and bought myself when in my early 20s. (wave2 - The best quality )

I still have both of them, sort of, they have been replaced many times over the last few years. No questions asked, they might tell you to clean your knife after prying frozen pilchards apart with your blade and sending it to them in a wrapped container for repair

Send it off to Awesome tools in Cape Town, and they will REPLACE it for you.

[IanK]

Disappointed for the quality of those blades, but please do keep buying leatherman, they are awesome in terms of after care for customers.
I rather stupidly used my sons leatherman to baton a piece of wood . Unsurprisingly the blade became a little loose.
I took the tool to Cape Union Mart, explaining exactly what I had done and requesting repair.
They replaced the five year old knife without any fuss - needless to say I was a little shocked.
D

[cruiser]

These are the guys, send your old one with the new one and both will come back with anything broken or worn replaced free of charge

Can vouch for Awesome Tools... Great Service

[WAJ]

Perhaps, the company, as you mentioned, decided screw this quality stuff, and proudness and lets go for the bottom line - perhaps these are even now made in china, as almost all good brands of the U S of A has done and thus the quality is not there anymore.

[plunger]

Looks like they got the heat treatment wrong. It looks like a replaceable insert so you should be able to replace the cutting edge or even make your own if you cant get them. Quite a clever design to be able to replace it . Ive never owned one but some thought was put into a tool that is meant to be a tool and not a cheap throw away gimmick.

[Dwayne P]

Awesome tool has been good with service in the past. Although Leatherman policy has changed a bit. Used to be a lifetime of the tool warantee. Now you pay for certain repairs. I have always sent my knife and wingman in for service + replace parts once a year.

I have a Wingman. After the last service I also noticed the cutter is absolute rubbish. Only cut soft wire. The pliers are brilliant.

[pwgg]

Those cutters are replaceable. Awesome Tools will do it, my last Leatherman service at Nampo they just gave me a new 300 Supertool. Old one went into the museum.

[JoshMos]

Looks like they got the heat treatment wrong. It looks like a replaceable insert so you should be able to replace the cutting edge or even make your own if you cant get them. Quite a clever design to be able to replace it . Ive never owned one but some thought was put into a tool that is meant to be a tool and not a cheap throw away gimmick.

Possibly? I've since had a reply from Leatherman, and they have asked for an address to send a new set of wire cutters. As I pointed out to them though, if this was the first time I cut wire with them and they look like that then how many times will they have to replace my wire cutters? I also explained to them that I am genuinely worried that their product is declining in quality for some reason and they need to look into it. Maybe it's an isolated incident, but I have heard of others who are not all that imprssed with their quality these days... in fact, only yesterday I was speaking with a colleague who is looking at Victorinox now as a possible alternative.

Leatherman is great with the warranty and how they are always keen to repair or replace, but for us in remote areas this is difficult, and if this is the quality they are now producing they will have to alter that policy as they will never keep up. It simply isn't convenient (or profitable) - just produce a quality product as they did before and be done with it!

[JoshMos]

Perhaps, the company, as you mentioned, decided screw this quality stuff, and proudness and lets go for the bottom line - perhaps these are even now made in china, as almost all good brands of the U S of A has done and thus the quality is not there anymore.

This is what I'm worried about! I love these tools... I'm just dissapointed, and concerned that maybe now they are focusing more on becoming a fashion accessory than a useful tool!?

[Bulletjie-3]

Are the replacement ones of beter quality?

[JoshMos]

Are the replacement ones of beter quality?

I don't know yet. For now I am going to use the removable wire cutters from my old Surge.

[Alan Exton]

Only 2 things. Either the material used was not correctly heat-treated during manufacture in which case Leatherman must repair or replace.
Secondly the wire that you cut was not mild steel binding wire, but high tensile fencing wire that is harsh on any cutter.

[JoshMos]

Only 2 things. Either the material used was not correctly heat-treated during manufacture in which case Leatherman must repair or replace.
Secondly the wire that you cut was not mild steel binding wire, but high tensile fencing wire that is harsh on any cutter.

Hi Alan,
Thanks! Definitely soft wire, we use it to tie our nets to cables when catching impala in nets, anything thicker (or HT steel wire) is too hard to tie short pieces bare hand and can also hurt the animals...

[JoshMos]

It looks like you have the new serrated wire cutter!

Yes, that's the one... ha ha!