Replacement Guarantees; Ginsu Knives and Norwex Microfiber Cloths

I want to talk about warranties and replacement guarantees.  It is not uncommon when making a purchase to come across warranties and replacement guarantees.  Often times, this is a selling point for me.  If I can buy with confidence, then I am more likely to dish out the cash.  But I haven't utilized many warranty or replacement guarantees.  I usually think, "Why bother?" because the company will just find a loophole and not honor it.  But this year I ended up putting some companies to the test: Ginsu and Norwex.  Find out how it went below!

GINSU
UPDATE 3/22/2023:  I no longer like Ginsu knives.  The company switched ownership hands (from Douglas Quikut to Scott Fetzer Company) and I have not been able to get a replacement on a claim (they handle claims via email now) for the 5-inch Santoku.

Instead, I recommend this Dexter Russell 38463 iCut FORGE Duo-Edge Santoku Knife, which is on clearance at Central Restaurant Products.  It is by far superior!  I have also ordered some Tramontina knives to replace my old Ginsu knives.

ORIGINAL POST: Back in 2007, I bought a $40 Ginsu Essential Series knife set from Amazon.  A selling point was that they promised to replace the knives if they went dull.  I used the knives for years even though they all went dull with time (I got by hand sharpening them).  I finally thought, "I have had it", and wanted to see if they would indeed replace the knives.  I selected my favorite knife (the 7-inch Santoku) and securely packed it up with a $3 handling check (no receipt required), and sent it away using parcel post.  I had no idea if I would ever see it again.  Sniff.  Sniff. Well, in about three weeks the replacement came in the mail.  Ginsu did make good on their replacement claim!

My new Santoku loves garden fresh tomatoes!

NORWEX
I am mostly a chemical-free cleaner.  But I am still on the fence about how awesome microfiber cloths are and whether or not they do all that the sellers claim they do.  I prefer to buy my microfiber cloths from Ecloth because they are almost identical to Norwex quality, warranty, and all this at a fraction of the price (free shipping and no awkward "party" required).  Also worth noting is that I have received a refund from Ecloth when I wasn't happy with some items in my order.  However, if you are a die-hard Norwex snob (I mean "fan"), buying their Baby Body Cloths gives you the most bang for you buck.  But I did not like how mine held up over time, even with proper microfiber washing and care.  After a year of use, I decided to make them honor their 2-year microfiber warranty on the stinky cloths.  So I emailed my consultant about it.  But she never got back with me.  Grrr.  So I emailed the company about it and after months (yes, MONTHS), they finally got back with me.  They emailed a return form to fill out and email back to them.  They needed information off of my first order form (so save yours!) to fill out all the areas of the return form.  Luckily, I did NOT have to mail in my old stinky cloths.  Within about a month, I had new Norwex cloths.  Honestly, I would have rather preferred a refund in this case, but I was happy that I was able to get a replacement without having to mail anything in.  But, the wait time between emails initially did make the process seem like FOREVER.

New, fluffy cloths on the left.  Old, stinky cloths on the right.

So what about you?  What has your experience with companies and their warranty/replacement policy?  Comment below and let me know!  

I plan to update my experience with other companies in the future.  The main point is this: if you can put in the effort required, I encourage you to use warranty and replacement guarantees.  It is always a gamble and the company could be lousy and not care about your experience, but I believe that many companies will make good on their claims.  The hard part is finding out which ones.  ;)