Bad experience with Boardsmith

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dannynyc

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I feel a little bit bad taking the time to write a post just to trash a vendor, but I just have to vent here.

I have had a Boardsmith cutting board for years. It's a great board, and I have recommend BS to many posters looking for cutting board recommendations.

Yesterday I was trying to pull the trigger on a new item, but I could not get the website to work. I kept hitting a jam where I was asked to put in a zip code before shipping costs could be calculated, but it kept not working (yes, the shipping address was in the U.S.). I tried many times, then finally wrote Dave and suggested that he might be losing out on business from frustrated customers in my position who weren't willing to spend the energy to go to him for help.

You'd think that a vendor would want to assist his customer in making a purchase: instead, I got a snarky, condescending email from him suggesting that I was just too clueless to do this correctly. Putting aside that I am a pretty smart guy with tons of experience buying things online from all sorts of vendors, I really could not believe that someone who is not only selling expensive products, but who is marketing to a pretty small audience who tend to communicate with one another (such as on this forum), chose, instead of trying to help me (say, by offering to call me up, or suggesting I call him, or saying anything helpful at all), rudely blew me off. I wrote back and gave him several chances to either apologize or be helpful, but he kept digging in his heels, and insisted the problem must be at my end.

When buying anything, including knives and related wares, quality is the most important factor. But I'll be damned if I'm going to give my hard-earned money to a vendor who can't even treat me with basic respect. I don't know if this is function of success going to his head and taking his customers for granted, but this whole experience really pi**ed me off, and I won't be shopping there again, nor will I recommend his products.

Ok, that's my rant. Make of it what you will.
 
Hard to think much one way or the other without seeing the text of your helpful email. Doubt your post is going to survive long anyway. I know the way Dave crafts his emails sometimes make them read with a different tone than he may mean them to. I've always found it best to call him. And I think it's too bad you put so much info into this post when you could have simpoly called him. Many of the vendors here are craftsmen, not people who sit in front of computers crafting Word documents and emails all day long; I definitely try to keep that in mind when corresponding with many of these guys.
 
I feel a little bit bad taking the time to write a post just to trash a vendor, but I just have to vent here.

I have had a Boardsmith cutting board for years. It's a great board, and I have recommend BS to many posters looking for cutting board recommendations.

Yesterday I was trying to pull the trigger on a new item, but I could not get the website to work. I kept hitting a jam where I was asked to put in a zip code before shipping costs could be calculated, but it kept not working (yes, the shipping address was in the U.S.). I tried many times, then finally wrote Dave and suggested that he might be losing out on business from frustrated customers in my position who weren't willing to spend the energy to go to him for help.

You'd think that a vendor would want to assist his customer in making a purchase: instead, I got a snarky, condescending email from him suggesting that I was just too clueless to do this correctly. Putting aside that I am a pretty smart guy with tons of experience buying things online from all sorts of vendors, I really could not believe that someone who is not only selling expensive products, but who is marketing to a pretty small audience who tend to communicate with one another (such as on this forum), chose, instead of trying to help me (say, by offering to call me up, or suggesting I call him, or saying anything helpful at all), rudely blew me off. I wrote back and gave him several chances to either apologize or be helpful, but he kept digging in his heels, and insisted the problem must be at my end.

When buying anything, including knives and related wares, quality is the most important factor. But I'll be damned if I'm going to give my hard-earned money to a vendor who can't even treat me with basic respect. I don't know if this is function of success going to his head and taking his customers for granted, but this whole experience really pi**ed me off, and I won't be shopping there again, nor will I recommend his products.

Ok, that's my rant. Make of it what you will.

you're not wrong... even if the error was a problem on your side, it is simply bad customer service to just say its on your end and not give an alternative method to try and make your purchase, do some due diligence into seeing if there IS a problem on his end, or at the very least provide some assistance in navigating you to make the purchase.
 
Hard to think much one way or the other without seeing the text of your helpful email. Doubt your post is going to survive long anyway. I know the way Dave crafts his emails sometimes make them read with a different tone than he may mean them to. I've always found it best to call him. And I think it's too bad you put so much info into this post when you could have simpoly called him. Many of the vendors here are craftsmen, not people who sit in front of computers crafting Word documents and emails all day long; I definitely try to keep that in mind when corresponding with many of these guys.

I understand your point David, but that "I'm a craftsman so I don't have to be civil" mentality doesn't fly with me. I would have been happy to talk on the phone if he'd shown the slightest interest in engaging with me. I did put all the info in this post in my email to him, and, as I mentioned, he basically blew me off and appeared uninterested in helping me. This was not an issue of improperly crafting Word documents. He was straight-up dismissive and, in my opinion, rude.

So is the onus on me to call him? Isn't sorting out situations like this on the seller? In my opinion, yes.
 
Someone is going to buy the board from him regardless if it is you or not. Either try calling him and get things straitened out or someone who isn't expecting it to be sold to them will buy it.
 
Someone is going to buy the board from him regardless if it is you or not. Either try calling him and get things straitened out or someone who isn't expecting it to be sold to them will buy it.

Probably true, but missing my point. I personally will not do business with someone who treats his customers this way, and I wanted others to know about my experience. Obviously everyone can do what they like with this information, including nothing at all.
 
Mom taught me to praise in public, criticize in private. Served me well for many years.

You've had a frustrating experience. Accept it, move on, but your post/vent/rant does not belong here.
 
Mom taught me to praise in public, criticize in private. Served me well for many years.

You've had a frustrating experience. Accept it, move on, but your post/vent/rant does not belong here.

Respectfully disagree. I don't see why sharing vendor experiences is not relevant to this forum (though I accept that it may be more appropriate in another category). Is the rule that I'm only supposed to relate positive experiences? If so, that's a dumb rule.
 
I agree with you on that point danny; this forum's advantage is that there exists both positive and negative feedback. If we take that away, what differentiates this one from the next?
 
It means sometimes you can shoot your mouth off too quick before you take into account he's a human with emotions and stress just like everyone else. I had a bad experience with DT and wanted to do what you did. Held off for a week to find out his son graduated college and his daughter got married...
All I'm saying is take a breath..
 
There's no excuse to be an *******. Everyone and their online siblings shout out boardsmith any time a cutting board is mentioned. a non gaga feedback tells a different side of what you might encounter..
 
There are other board vendors out there, we live in the era of the internet and semi-free market. The Australia or Kamchatka is the limit. Even big corporation with millions of clients are trying their best to retain the clientele, you would think small business should focus on that two. Never underestimate the word to mouth adverts.
 
2 sides to every story. Maybe you weren't so pleasant in your query to David? Either way, maybe this should be moved to David's sub forum instead of here in the general kitchen knife area?
 
The site seems to be working for me. At least I could get it to calculate shipping.
 
I find it interesting that so many people assume that this must be my fault. Isn't it possible that BS has bad customer service?

Talim -- it could be that I'm using an incompatible browser. I used Chrome and Mozilla, neither worked, hence my resort to email.

Dave M. is free to move this post if he thinks it's in the wrong place.
 
Mom taught me to praise in public, criticize in private. Served me well for many years. You've had a frustrating experience. Accept it, move on, but your post/vent/rant does not belong here.

Not sure what the point of this forum would be, if not to discuss the good and bad of relevant products and service. Completely disagree.
 
I used chrome and just used mozilla right now, unless it's a different type of problem you're describing, then it seems to be working just fine.
 
Either way, maybe this should be moved to David's sub forum instead of here in the general kitchen knife area?

I do agree that this should be moved to his subforum.

As to the appropriateness of this thread, I'll just write a few things. First, Dave has occasionally complained about customers publicly in this forum. Second, this isn't the first public complaint a member has had with Dave. Third, this isn't the CKTG forum.
 
You should be able to write and rant if you want to. I've had wonderful dealings with vendors here but there is a lot of tippy toeing and if you feel strongly about a bad experience go ahead. I don't have any experience with boardsmith but he bashes customers on here
 
Mom taught me to praise in public, criticize in private. Served me well for many years.

You've had a frustrating experience. Accept it, move on, but your post/vent/rant does not belong here.

criticize in private is a good rule in general, but is this board not built on reviews, suggestions, and experiences both positive nd negative so long as it is done in a respectful and positive manner(of which i thought the OP was).

I find it a bit suprising those here are coming to the defense of poor customer service. Its one thing to be a craftsman, but if you are selling somethng that also makes you a vendor and in my mind that comes with a responsibility to polite to potential customers be it in person, on the phone, or via email.

i know when i had my restaraunt i had some VERY wrong and VERY rude customers, but would never treat them with anything other then respect and do whatever i could to please them(which sometimes wasnt possible).

it seems like all the OP needed was help making a purchase or an alternative method. i dont see why this would be diffiuclt
 
Had someone, anyone, posted "I'm thinking about buying a Boardsmith board, what do you guys think?" , the post would have been entirely appropriate, relevant and on-point. Instead it was an unsolicited, one sided rant. I've had "issues" with vendors here and the one who shall not be named. I look for resolution, not to see who can pee highest on the tree.

My 2 cents. Out of coffee, out of here. No more fuel for this fire.
 
We have a saying over here which translates roughly to 'the client is always king'. However a client reacts, you should try to facilitate them as well as you can. Sure as hell dont blow them off like mentioned in the opening post.

I also dont see the point of keeping negative reviews quiet. That would be cheating. Aspiring costumers should be getting the chance to make up their minds based on a balanced set of fair reviews.
 
I also dont see the point of keeping negative reviews quiet. That would be cheating. Aspiring costumers should be getting the chance to make up their minds based on a balanced set of fair reviews.

Exactly, and if this kind of thing is a one time occurrence or not the norm, it will be reflected in the amount of positive review far outweighing the negative ones.
 
It's okay to seek a resolution, it's not okay to seek to damage a vendor.

Money is not a license to get angry.

@ OP, sorry this happened.

Hoss
 
It's okay to seek a resolution, it's not okay to seek to damage a vendor.

Money is not a license to get angry.

@ OP, sorry this happened.

Hoss

I really am not trying to take this up a notch, and I think I have got my message across. But I would just like to understand what the KKF policy is for the future. Is it the case that reporting on negative experiences with a vendor (whether or not in response to someone asking about that vendor) amounts to "seeking to damage" that vendor and is therefore verboten? Wouldn't this apply to all negative reviews? And if I have gotten this right, wouldn't the effect of this policy simply be to limit reviews of vendors to those that are positive, prohibiting all the negative ones, thereby depriving members of the forum from getting balanced information?

Please let me know if I have misinterpreted what you are saying.
 
I think it's absolutely valid to post negative as well as positive experiences. Otherwise, the feedback becomes a distortion.

FWIW, about a year ago, I had some concerns about customer service based on my experience. I didn't express them publicly, but rather did so privately. It does concern me that there seem to be continuing issues with customer service.
 
I really am not trying to take this up a notch, and I think I have got my message across. But I would just like to understand what the KKF policy is for the future.


From KKF's Vendor & Membership Terms of Use...Guidelines & Expectations for Vendors and Hobbyists:
-You must respect members’ opinions, and cannot argue with or badger members on negative reviews as long as they are factual and respectful...


Our policy has always been that objective respectful opinions and reviews are welcome.
 
A balance of information is a good thing. If we did that there would have to be 1000 positive reviews for every negative one so there would be a fair representation of the vendor. There is no vendor here or elsewhere that can meet all of the expectations of all of the customers.

Negative reviews do have an effect on vendors, sometimes it's the only thing that we hear.

Small business get bogged down with trying to make everyone happy. If a guy could just make things and sell them, it would be easy to be in business. The making of things is the easy part, managing everything else is the hard part.

Negative reviews are intended to drum up support for the offended person, somehow asking for everyone to take sides and support that by their own experiences. I also like to be a competitive arguer, I want there to be a clear winner and looser for every argument. Usually, both sides are both right and wrong.

I am not opposed to your posts, I just wish that there was a better solution.

Hoss
 
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