Oneida Actually Means The Whole "Guarantee" Thing

 

 

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Oneida Actually Means The Whole "Guarantee" Thing

via The Consumerist by Laura Northrup on 2/25/10

Thomas bought a set of Oneida flatware about a dozen years ago. He writes that he assumed that he just needed to buy new knives when his came apart at the handles, but someone advised him to contact the company. He did, and was amazed at Oneida's response to his request.

About twelve years ago, when we were first setting up house, we decided on Fiestaware for our china and picked a simple, utilitarian looking pattern for our everyday silverware. We went with Oneida, as it was on deep discount at our local home store, and we liked the look of the pieces.

Over time, the knives we had in our set began to separate at the seam
where the handle meets the blade. I shared this with someone and they
recommended that I contact them (Oneida) and see what they could do.
So, several years ago, a broken knife was sent back and a replacement
was dispatched to us post haste.

I noticed that several of our knives were separating again, so I took
a chance, almost a decade later, and called them to see what they
could do for us at this late date. It appears that there is no such
thing as a late date with Oneida as their flatware has a lifetime
guarantee. I stumbled with the customer service rep on the phone and
admitted that after almost twelve years, I no longer had the receipt
for purchase. She laughed and pointed me in the direction of their
website so I could find info on how to return ALL of the knives so
that they could be replaced with a newly designed, single piece knife.

Really? Are you kidding me? I was stunned, but packed them all up and
sent them off with insurance to their replacement center. About a
month later (my only complaint with the whole process is the time it
took) a box full of shiny, brand new, single cast design knives showed
up on my doorstep.

My faith in humanity and commerce has been restored
by this company standing behind their product, even if it is a decade
later.

Not bad for a company that was started in a free love cult's commune. In all seriousness, this is particularly impressive considering that the company entered Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2006. Some companies would cite that as a (perfectly valid) reason not to replace decade-old flatware for free. Oneida is evidently not one of those companies.

 

 

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