One week ago, I posted about a bizarre bug I encountered with Amazon, where their “approve this delayed order or it will be cancelled if it doesn’t ship out soon” alert system seemed to have been broken.
Amazon’s customer service didn’t understand the issue, repeatedly telling me that the item was temporarily unavailable. Then, once the issue was understood, I at least had a record of a rep saying they wouldn’t cancel my order.
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My hope was that they would honor the sale price if the order was delayed past the start of February and Amazon’s almighty operations computer did automatically cancel my order.
A lot of things happened since then.
A day later, everyone commented that they had received an ETA notification email. My first email, which arrived the day after my post, mentioned an estimated arrival between 2/23/16 and 3/20/16. I could live with that.
The day after that, I received an ETA of Monday, 1/25/16. My pliers arrived on 1/22!
While a part of me wanted to see what would happen, with my order constantly saying I needed to approve the delay by early February or it would be automatically cancelled, I’m thrilled it didn’t come to that.
I haven’t used the pliers yet (I only retrieved them from the snow-blocked mailbox an hour ago), but they look decent enough. They’re more or less exactly what I expected.
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It’s a little strange, though, that they didn’t arrive with any typical Knipex packaging. Knipex tools usually arrive in little branded cardboard boxes, unless they’re packaged for retail, in which case they’re attached to display cards.
I’m thinking that either these pliers are simply sold unpackaged, or Amazon ordered a LOT of them really quick to fulfill all of our orders, and they either discarded the plain packaging, or Knipex didn’t bother with it.
In thinking about it again, I still don’t think this was a price mistake, since the price was $8.03 for a while. And Amazon tends to be forthcoming when there’s a price mistake.
Do you remember the Bosch 18V drill and impact driver combo deal from back in December 2011? Some time after I ordered the kit, I received an “oops we made a price mistake” email. At the time, they said:
We’re contacting you about order #123456. Unfortunately, we recently discovered that an error caused the following item(s) to be displayed at an incorrect price:
Bosch CLPK232-181 18V Max 2-Tool Combo Kit
At any given time, despite our best efforts, a small number of the millions of items on our site may be mispriced. However, this was our mistake, and we’ll honor the incorrect price for one of the items you ordered. We’re unable to honor the price for multiple quantities of this item. Therefore, we’ve adjusted the quantity of your order to “1”. We’re sorry for the disappointing news.
That might still be their policy, and if so, they probably would have called this deal a price mistake if it was one, and honored it anyways.
Anyway, this concludes the story of the wildly inexpensive Knipex pliers and a rather confusing order delay approval bug, at least for me. Hopefully all of you that ordered one or two have your pliers in-hand without further drama.
Dane
Got mine last week, too.
Hang Fire
So, Stuart can’t mention what day his original order was? Dane either?
Mine order was on 12/7. I haven’t gotten any notification yet. The order is still marked “Delivery estimate: We need a little more time to provide you with a good estimate. We’ll notify you via e-mail as soon as we have an estimated delivery date. “
Stuart
Ordered on 12/4/15.
Jeff
Got mine yesterday!
Adam
I want Sunday mail delivery!!
Brian
Bulk packaging for Knipex is no card, just a plastic bag.
Stuart
I didn’t even get a bag. I got 2 pliers with barcode stickers, in a DVD-shipping-style fold-over box.
Jordan KCT
In my experience with Knipex it’s often that the smaller size pliers such as the 37 13 125 are shipped from Germany as 6 per box (carton). There is no retail (carded) packaging for these items. The only way to identify it is by the model code on the handle (or joint) depending on the model.
Patrick
Can someone explain why this brand seems so sought after, I never heard of them before and obviously have never used them.
Adam
Your more likely to see tradesmen using these. I usually first think of plumbers when I hear Knipex, but I own a pair of cable shears for cutting coax. They are down right the best. You pay more, but you end up with a quality tool
fred
We bought our first few Knipex Plier Wrenches (86 series) about 16 years ago based on recommendations from other plumbers. Passed them around – soon bought about 30 to 40 more – they were that good and just so much more convenient to use than alternatives- for faucets – chrome and polished brass fixtures etc..
Stuart
Some of their tools offer innovative benefits (Pliers Wrench, Cobra adjustable pliers, Cobolt cutters), others offer a step up in fit and finish compared to more common brands, and some are just plain okay.
fred
I can’t comment about Knipex pliers across their entire line – but we sure liked their Plier Wrenches (86 series) and Cobra groove-lock pliers (87 series) – finding them just so much more refined than the Channellocks we had used before. This is not to denigrate Channellock – which make nice pliers (mostly in the USA) at a price point that is much lower than the German-made Knipex.
BTW – Toolguyd had introduced me to NWS (NÖTHEN WERKZEUGE SOLINGEN )– another German brand of pliers – that also make some nice tools – in some areas competing with (also very good) Klein Pliers (mostly USA-made)
Jim Felt
I ordered my two (for Christmas gifts) the day of Stuart’s original post. According to my iPhone update just now from Amazon they’re out for delivery today.
All pretty bizarre. But kind of fun too.
Todd
I just wish I would have seen the original posting and made the order. I really like Knipex pliers.
Hepdog
I, too, ordered same day this was posted and still show backordered
Farid
Mine now shows delivery by 8PM tonight and at the same time shipping today?!
Cory
I have the same status on my order
Cole
I canceled my order 🙁
Harley
On January 21 I received an email from Amazon informing me that the item would be delivered on January 26. I tracked the package on the 25th and it said it was out for delivery.
Today, January 26, I received another email asking if I wanted to cancel the order, or continue to wait with an expected delivery window of March 3- April 7.
I called Amazon and got nowhere. Do you still want the item? You have to wait.
So I will keep waiting.
Art
This exact thing happened to me also. Was updated to the 26th after the prolonged wait (December 4th order). I only ordered one. I kept on approving but it would never update that stated it would come just that it would cancel. Today, the updated window is Mar 3 – Apr 7. I approved multiple times, it keeps stating I need to approve it. Same circus as before. It now states it will be cancelled by Feb 2 even though I approved it a few times. Here we go again.
Harley
3 phone calls. 4 or 5 emails, most in response to negative feedback I left with regards to Amazon customer service and low and behold my Knipex pliers magically appear via UPS today, January 28th.
I had resigned myself to not seeing them till March or April like so many of you.
It seems that Amazon pays some attention when you leave negative feedback regarding customer service calls. Overall I am dissatisfied with how Amazon handled this transaction. I am happy with the Knipex pliers for $8.74 but wouldn’t do it this way again.
Caveat emptor.
Tom
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005EXNY42/?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
$10 for flat nose pliers. 1-3 month wait. Who feels lucky on this deal?
dave
My order now shows it is being ‘shipped today’ but is not going to arrive until between March 3 and April 4th. Guess I feel lucky and am going to bite on the flat nose ones listed above also.
voodooaw
For electronic flat nose pliers, I recommend erem 542 which is having a discount on amazon. It has a higher quality than knipex.
Stuart
$15 + $5 and change shipping is a great deal on Erem pliers!
I bought one pair a few years back at a liquidator at a regional Woodworking Show. I like them, and wish the rest of Erem’s lineup wasn’t so darn expensive. Then again, I’d rather have that high quality option than for Erem to cheapen their products in some way.
Harley
Just ordered the Erem pliers. $15 is quite a deal for them.
Erem tools are of the highest quality and generally priced accordingly.
Harley
Erem 542 flat nose pilers arrived today.
If I would have known of the Erem deal beforehand I would not have ordered the Knipex flat nose pliers.
The Erem pliers feel amazing. Spring action, comfortable grips. I would not have purchased them at full price, where as I have purchased Knipex tools in the past at full price.
Thanks for sharing this deal.
Greg
Got a text today that the item has shipped and will be delivered on Thursday, April 7. WTF???
John
Same for me. Yesterday the system finally updated that it would ship April 7 abd they are delivered this morning. Bytm hey, I got them so I’m content.
Scott
I just received mine, too. What is strange is, the pliers do not have any stamp on the steel – they don’t have “Knipex” on them. Just on the plastic handle sleeves. They also don’t have the same level of finishing on them as any of my other Knipex products (more than a few). It makes me wonder if these were actually farmed out to China by Knipex?
And is “Chrom-Vanadin” a German way of spelling “Chrome Vanadium”. It’s on the handle.
Hilton
These are genuine Knipex pliers. Their website has an image of the pliers that is identical to the one that I received.
Hang Fire
Card finally charged Friday evening and will arrive in a few days. Did absolutely nothing but wait since I ordered it 12/7.
Peter
Well … I was worried but my pliers, but they showed up today. Only needed to approve the late delivery once on Amazon. Wonder if they will ever to this again.. I could use those nice little electrical stripping pliers for 70% off.