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Leatherman Warranty No Receipt
Let me guess, the screwdriver on your trusty 9 year old Leatherman multi-tool has finally thrown in the towel. Now you’re thinking about Leatherman’s warranty and where you put that receipt for it. You looked everywhere including the box of papers in the corner of the attic but the warranty is no where to be found. If you’re anything like me you might use this problem as an excuse to get a new multi-tool, something like my Heavy Duty champion, the Leatherman Surge. But is it possible to make a claim on the Leatherman warranty with no receipt?
Leatherman make a big deal about their 25-year limited warranty and rightfully so. They’ve openly advertised their warranty for many years and a lot of their customers know about it and have taken advantage of it. But can you – with no receipt.
Like most warranties, Leatherman’s warranty is limited. This means there are conditions that need to be met to be covered by the warranty. And also like most warranties, the conditions are the usual ones like you being the original owner, having bought it from an authorized dealer for personal use, and you haven’t misused it. All fairly standard stuff.
The important part of the limited warranty is “proof of purchase from an authorized dealer may be required”. If you can’t find your receipt then according to that statement you could be out of luck getting your multi-tool repaired under warranty. Well, that’s the official line BUT…..
The word on the internet forums is that you don’t need your receipt. There are so many people who say they got their Leatherman repaired under warranty without a receipt. They sent it in hoping for the best and the best happened. There wasn’t one person who said they were asked for a receipt.
So officially you need a receipt to be covered by the warranty but you probably don’t. Leatherman cover themselves though by making the statement that you need a receipt. If they ever wanted to start enforcing it, they could. It’s just they don’t seem to.
What do Leatherman do with your multi-tool under warranty?
Reading about everyone’s experiences of the Leatherman warranty and service, here’s what I reckon happens when you send in your multi-tool. Because Leatherman didn’t start selling his first multi-tool until 1983 – 34 years ago – there aren’t many multi-tools that are older than their 25 year warranty. Besides, there is a month and year manufactured date stamped on the inside of the multi-tool that they can check. So no one seems to have had their multi-tool NOT covered by the warranty because it’s more than 25 years old.
Then the Leatherman repair people look at what’s actually wrong with your multi-tool. Does it just need an adjustment or maintenance or does it require a part to be replaced? If it needs a part, is the part in stock or coming into stock within days. If they can’t just repair it quickly, they will replace it. If they have the same model available then you’ll get a new one or in some cases a refurbished one.
The difficulty comes when your model has been discontinued and they don’t have any old stock. Then they will replace it with a multi-tool of the same value. The “same value” is not the same multi-tool or the same tools so you’re unlikely to get a multi-tool that does exactly the same as the one you sent in.
In my opinion, that’s a good service. Some people have complained they didn’t get their same multi-tool back but if it’s been out of production for years, I don’t expect Leatherman to keep endless stock of old models. That’s unreasonable – so to replace your old worn multi-tool with the closest new version is pretty good. There are many companies who wouldn’t bother even trying.
When you need to be careful about sending in
There is one circumstance though where you need to think about whether you would be OK if Leatherman replaced your multi-tool with one of similar value. Perhaps you have a multi-tool that has sentimental value to you – say it was your first multi-tool and your Dad gave it to you. You might not be really happy if you get a shiny new multi-tool back. Leatherman would think they’ve done the right thing but you’ve lost your original valued multi-tool.
Leatherman have a special procedure for multi-tools with sentimental value. There’s a section on the warranty form for you to say the multi-tool has sentimental value. That means that if Leatherman can’t repair your multi-tool, they WON’T replace it with another one. They will just send your same un-repaired multi-tool back to you. I imagine it’s important to tell them when you send it in otherwise your un-replaceable multi-tool could end up in the Leatherman dumpster – never to be seen again.
How long does the Leatherman warranty take?
A lot of people have reported their experiences of how long it took from the time they sent their multi-tool to Leatherman to the time they got it back. If you’re used to having your favorite multi-tool with you at all times, every day counts! The times range from less than 7 days to 21 days but most report a turnaround of between 7 and 10 days total. That’s a pretty good turnaround I think. It means you might have to give your second favorite multi-tool some love for a few days. And don’t expect that you will get any emails from Leatherman while it’s away. It seems that because they don’t have it for very long, they just do their thing, and it turns up back in your mailbox.
If you’re an international Leatherman customer, there are different instructions for you. Instead of sending back to the US, it will get looked at by your local authorized Leatherman dealer. Full details are on Leatherman’s site.
Conclusion
Don’t let the lack of a receipt make you think you have to leave your troubled Leatherman in the bottom of your drawer. If your multi-tool is under 25 years old, fill out the warranty form (it’s online here), send it in, and there’s a very good chance Leatherman will repair or replace it for you. Whether you have the receipt or not.
Not only do Leatherman have a great warranty they also have some great multi-tools. So good in fact that I’ve given a couple of them the best in category crown on the Recommended Multi-Tools page.
Multi-Tools – Don’t Leave Home Without One!
Was your experience good? Have you had experience of Leatherman’s warranty service? Did you provide a receipt from an authorized dealer? How long did it take to get it back?
Want to claim under the Leatherman warranty?
Here’s what you do.
- Fill out the warranty form here
- Keep your sheath and accessories at home.
- Ship your multi-tool – use an insured and trackable method (if they don’t receive it, they’re not liable for it)
- Start checking your mailbox (your old school one, not your email one). You should see it back in around 7 to 14 days.
That’s it, enjoy your returned Leatherman multi-tool for many more years.
Other warranty options
- Sentimental value – see the main article if you don’t want Leatherman to replace your multi-tool under warranty.
- If you live in Portland Oregon – you can go into the Leatherman store and fill in warranty form. I don’t think they will fix your multi-tool on-the-spot though.
- If you live outside the US – find your local authorized dealer and they will decide whether to repair it or replace it with an item of equal or greater value.