I've always felt you can tell the good companies from the bad companies by the way the handle customer problems.  While I'm not the kind of person to complain about bad service, I have always felt that good deeds need to be recognized.  As such I want to mention a recent problem I had with a knife purchase and what the seller did for me in return.

The seller was World Knives Ltd. (Web page at:  http://www.worldknives.com/ )  

I purchased the JKR90 Mushroom Hunter Picnic Knife.  a href="http://www.worldknives.com/products/jkr-mushroom-collecting-picnic-knife-jkr90-1517.html" target="_blank">http://www.worldknives.com/products/jkr-mushroom-collecting-picnic-... >

Upon receiving it I noticed that ruler on the side was upside down and smudged. When I rubbed my thumb over the ruler it actually came off.   I also had some issues with the main blade which was dull and seemed to have a weak snap )  I decided to oil and sharpen the blade, which in theory voided the World Knives return policy. But if you've been around and bought as many knives as I have then you know sometimes all a knife needs is a little oil on the joints.  The blade sharpened up nicely and I saw improvement in the closing snap, however there was nothing I could do about the missing ruler.  I could live without it and convinced myself that no ruler was better than a smudged ruler.

Yesterday, I decided to email World Knives about the problem.  I explained my situation and told them I was not looking to return the knife as it is such a hassle these days to get to the post office ( I have to take off work just to mail a package!)  not did I want a refund.  My main concern was that if the quality of all of the other knives was the same as this one, then they may want to reconsider selling this knife because it would have a negative impact on their business.  (I had bought another knife in the same purchase and it had exceeded my expectations.)

Less than 24 hours later World Knives contacted me.

World Knives did more than just email me back, as other companies had done.  They took the time  to inspect their inventory and noticed that indeed the ruler was now reversed on the knives (they will update images on the page).  They also checked the blades and said they are indeed somewhat dull (This tends to be the norm on many mushroom knives) but they also mentioned that it sounded like mine was indeed defective.

They offered to replace it with another copy and told me to keep the defective one.  They also said that if the new one is not up to my satisfaction I can return it for a refund or I can exchange it for a like priced knife.

I feel a company that provides this type of Customer Service deserves mention and also business.  If you are a collector of knives made from places other than the United States, I suggest you check out World Knives. They not only have great customer service but they have knives from around the world in patterns you've never imagined.  There shipping charges are also reasonable especially when purchasing more than one knife or over $150 worth of merchandise.