Flaw in Old Boy Warranty

[Piper]

I love my I.M. Corona Old Boy lighter in the natural briar. Within several months of purchase, however, the briar case developed a hairline crack. I sent it to Savinelli in Morrisville, NC for repair along with a check for $8 to cover handling. I.M. Corona says that their lighters have a lifetime guarantee but if you check the fine print at the bottom of the Savinelli site, you'll see that they don't warranty the case. Of course, I didn't read the small print until they cashed my check and mailed back my lighter in the same shape as I sent it to them with a note telling me that a new case would cost $25. There is no phone number to talk to them beforehand about the details of a repair and they didn't try to contact me after they got my lighter to ask if I wanted a new case. Presumably I'd have to waste another $8 handling fee in addition to the $25 to purchase a new case. Maybe this isn't a ripoff but it's not quite a lifetime warranty either. In any case, the I.M. Corona warranty doesn't cover the case.

[brianwalden]

Unfortunately that sounds fairly standard. I know Zippo doesn't cover the finish the case - but with a Zippo you're paying $25 for the whole lighter.

They should have contacted you before sending the lighter back so you could have paid the $25 dollars if you wanted a new case instead of having to pay shipping again.

[wescoaststogie]

did they have your phone number available to call you? if not, i could understand them just sending it back. playing mail tag is a waste of time.

if they had your number though, then i agree that is lame that you were not contacted. how hard is it to pick up the ****ing phone and call a loyal customer, and then maybe take a credit card for whatever additional is required. you obviously did not know about the case not being covered otherwise why would you have sent it in.

[DubintheDam]

Sloppy business procedure...in times of economic downtown it's a bad way for a client service department to behave...they should have called/emailed you first. But hey...at least it still works.

[dmkerr]

Agree with Dub... these days manufacturers/vendors cannot afford to piss people off with poor service. Whether or not they assumed you saw the part about the case not being covered and sent it back anyway is not the issue. Plus the fact that they could have contacted you and possibly made a "sale" for the $25 repair bill. The person that sent it back without trying to contact you would not work for me very long.

[Mad Hatter]

I guess the days are gone when they would have just fixed it and then sent you a bill when they returned the lighter.

[Piper]

Originally Posted by wescoaststogie

did they have your phone number available to call you? if not, i could understand them just sending it back. playing mail tag is a waste of time.

if they had your number though, then i agree that is lame that you were not contacted. how hard is it to pick up the ****ing phone and call a loyal customer, and then maybe take a credit card for whatever additional is required. you obviously did not know about the case not being covered otherwise why would you have sent it in.

I actually can't remember whether I included my phone number. They ask for your address and a brief description of the problem. But they do say they'll contact you if there are additional charges -- so they could have mailed me a card asking what I wanted to do. I haven't decided what I'm gong to do. I might just use it with the hairline crack.