Poor customer service from Helko Werk North America. LIKE, COMMENT, AND SHARE! Lets see if we can reach out and touch Helko and get a response. knotbreaker7@gmail.com
Right, just send it back and get your money stop whining like a baby about a TOOL!! You think men 70 or 80 years ago only bought the prettiest tools to put them through hell??
I own a Helko and it is just what I expected for the cost, obviously not what you received. Respectfully I would say once they offered a refund or exchange the person you are writing has done what they can do to help you. I was raised to speak and treat people how I want to be treated, you seem the same way. Take this and turn the tables and ask yourself if you answered emails for a job how you would respond if someone wrote what you wrote. Do I agree with Helko's representatives response to you? Absolutely not but it is a moment I would ask myself how I could handle this better so I get the outcome I want. Control what you can control and learn from each interaction, especially when it doesn't go the way you want, makes it way easier to adjust in future similar situations. I am a project manager by trade and holding myself responsible for not only my action but my teams actions helps me have better results in the finished product. I am not perfect, no, do I try to help when I feel like I can, yes. Be well and stay sharp!
I agree with you. I guess in our interaction, I was mostly looking for answers while feeling slighted. A world renowned company sends me one messed up axe. Then instead of replacing it with a good axe, they sent me ANOTHER even worse axe. An axe that I paid $200 for. So, I suppose I acted somewhat irrationally. And my temper certainly got the best of me. Also, the thoughts that I would be ashamed if I were sending my customers shoddy products after telling them that all of our products are "hand crafted" and charging them a premium price. Could I have handled it differently, sure. But I'm running an informative RU-vid channel and I felt like I needed answers as to why this was happening. Thanks for the advice, and thanks for watching!
@@knotbreaker Well I enjoy watching your videos and can see that you try to be informative on which tools and companies you feel best live up to your standards for the price we pay. You have me thinking about buying the FE6 even though I don't "need" another splitting axe but it looks fun and it's on sale right now. Have a great day!
It's an excellent splitter! Just be prepared to possibly spend some time tuning it and possibly fixing the handle. Thanks again for watching! Comments like yours is exactly why I keep doing it for free
I bought 4 of the Hults Bruk Anneby’s off of Amazon , only 1 of them was acceptable . 2 of them had bad ,wonky grinds & 1 had handle issues . Had just about the same experience that your having , this is sad it really is !
Yep. Got one good hult axe, said to myself ok. Found a good company. Bought another from a seller that supposedly stands for good values and is supposedly supposed to have integrity and i got something so wonky so bad, a grind so uneven, so badly done it looked like someone of the street did the forging. I just couldn't believe it. For all the talk of don't buy Chinese it was more frustrating because i spent 200 for the same quality. I did reach out to same seller that sold me the two axes. But it was more like well, thats weird. Send me some pix and ill see what i can do. He did offer to refund, but having to go through the hassle of finding the time to go to ups i just reground and have never bought one thing from them again. Not that they probably cared. Its a numbers game. And they know that.
That's unfortunate. There is a disconnect for cost of tools and the quality you expect. QC for products bought over the internet are sometimes substandard IMHO. Not many brick and mortars carry items such as "premium" axes and if they do it is at low inventory. I'd get the refund and find a retailer you can purchase from where their staff can check the product for you over the phone.
Most certainly a defective grind. This is actually what is referred to as a "skipped process". SOP, standard operating procedures, were not followed. The response from the company email also contains incomplete/incorrect grammar. "IF YOU DON'T THE AXE", this matches the workmanship. And no sir Mr. Knot, no rant, you are justified....
I hate seeing this because I was just about to buy there hatchet. I'm so confused right now on what to do. I need a 1.25lb hatchet and don't know what to buy.. everything I've seen say gransfors bruks for the last couple years have really bad edge damage and council tool is a cross your fingers shop. I just bought a 40 dollar hatchet and the blade or edge is EXTREMELY warped like a rainbow. I don't want to spend 150 or 200 for a 1.25lb axe and 14 inches of hickory and get what you did... SO FUSTRATEING
Me too I was really checking reviews and saw your video and everyone knows that crap happens it’s just the way it is but the part that makes me not want to buy one is the customer service part. It could’ve gone way different and I would have bought one but with bad customer service I won’t buy one now. Please keep us informed maybe the person you were dealing with will be taken care of and someone with some dedication to the company will call out to you and make this right. If so then and only then would I consider buying one. I have a Hults Bruk axe and I love it but I’m not to partial to the splitting axe they make but I might give it a try. Thanks for the video
@@knotbreaker the vario 2000 splitting axe. It looks interesting I also like the classic splitting axe as well. I enjoy splitting wood I grew up in Florida and never touched and axe well at 52 I’m living in NC and I have found that busting up a cord of fire wood is so relaxing and stress relieving so I’ve been doing it now for 5 years with an 8 pound fiskar maul. It works well and not to bad for all day work but a 5 pound splitting axe would be a lot nicer to use. I like the Grandsfor Bruk splitting axe looks good right weight but high priced. Still looking for the right one till then 8 pounder will work.
It is a sad thing when customers service and satisfaction can’t match up! At this point, and at how much money and time has been spent, you would think that a company would make it right one way or another! At least cheap “Harbor Freight” axes can be returned with less hassle!
Shame on Helko Werk. HW gave you no answers and instead insulted you, imo whoever responded to your emails and whoever is incharge of QC needs to be retrained or fired unless thats the level of quality (or lack of) they are maintaining. I would absolutely be embarrassed if i owned HW. Ive been looking at their saxon splitter but now i might reconsider. Im looking for a splitting axe; suggestions are welcomed.
You were corresponding with some person involved in 'sales' who is used to speaking in jargon, and who has no appreciation or understanding of a customer who has received a sub-standard product. It added insult to injury to receive a replacement that had more negative issues than the original product. Obviously there is a serious 'quality control issue here. Take the money and bring your business elsewhere.
@@knotbreaker Contrast your experience with mine. I bought a large (11lb) maul about 8 years ago from an obscure company in Austria called Muller. It was a premium product. Everything about the tool was quality. It held a good edge, The handle was fitted with a wooden and metal ring wedge, which is still completely solid today. There were no gaps between head and handle. It has done a lot of splitting for me especially on tough, knotty, twisted stuff and has performed faultlessly. If it is maintained properly after I'm gone, it will still be perfectly functional in a 100 years from now (not an exaggeration). It was not cheap, nor was it overly expensive, but it has been a brilliant workhorse. On the other hand, Helko Werk are making excuses for imperfect workmanship, and expect you to accept what they are saying. If you pay a premium price, expect premium workmanship. Get an address for their head office, or a Director, if you can, and stay away from 'customer service'. Write to them, and It might wake up somebody somewhere, who can see the damage that is being done to their company. It's worth a try.
Contrary to popular belief axes are not heritage tools or what ever they are like hammers. I don't expect any of my axes to come with a good hang or grind. Knowing how to tighten a loose hang or grinding a axe is just axemanship. However for the amount of money these companies are charging they better be perfect or pretty dam close. I mean thats like a $200 dollar axe. Unacceptable imo.
Dang, this is disappointing. I thought I had found a company that made quality products but didn't hurt my wallet as much as Gransfors. I'm going to be splitting mostly as a hobby so I don't mind spending some money on a couple pieces and really liked the old school look of the Helko traditional line. Do you recommend other companies that makes premium products that might fit that criteria?
Well, they're all about the same in cost, these days. What kind of wood will you be splitting? What does your budget look like? How knowledgeable are you about edge geometry and sharpening? As far as my personal recommendations, if you want a Helko without the price tag, get an Adler Super Splitter
@@knotbreaker I'll be getting most of my wood from my father-in-law who is a landscaper so it'll be a variety of different woods. The majority will probably be bradford pear and maple though if I had to guess with a variety of other things like black locust, oak, etc. I'm willing to spend ~$150-$200 if it is worth it but won't complain about spending less if there is a good option out there. I know some about geometry and sharpening but that experience comes from knives.
Definitely look at the Adler I mentioned earlier. Some of the Stihl mauls are nice and made by a reputable brand with decent steel. Prandi makes decent stuff from what I've seen. Few others out there as well
"Bizarre rant"??? I dont think so. Seemed like a completely justified response to being sold a terrible product at an inflated price. I understand your frustration.
