I want to start this off by saying this thread is solely intended to get some constructive feedback and to inform others of my unfortunate dealings. Call it an inquisitive cautionary tale if you will. It will most likely spark some negativity, though I hope it will not get out of hand. I do not want this to become a crap show of mud slinging. So please, if posting a comment here, keep it civilized.
*Moderators- please help, if possible to keep this clean. I realize I'm walking a pretty thin line here, but I feel compelled to share this unfortunate experience.
This ordeal started back in October of 2013 as a fairly positive experience. One that highlighted the positive vibe this Forum offers in spades.
I purchased a knife off of BST from a respected member here for a very good price. The member made mention of a flaw it possessed, and the original maker of this knife offered to help right this flaw. So off to the original maker it went. Once he received it he sent me a message with some pictures showing me that the flaw was worse off than he had thought, and that he may not be able to fix it. After some goings back and forth, the maker offered to replace the knife. Free of charge (minus some handle material costs, I believe). This was extremely generous, as I think anyone would agree. So happy me.
Time had passed, and the original seller and I had reached out a few times to check in on the knife's progress. The maker had told me that it would be finished soon. More time had passed, and the maker apologized for the length of time and told me that he had received the knife blanks, insinuating it would be finished soon. Or at least that's how I read it. This was followed by another message 7 months later saying he had the original gyuto sitting center stage as a reminder to get it started ASAP. This message came almost a year after the original purchase was made. There were other pm's in between this time, I don't feel that some of them show well for the Maker, so I will leave them out.
Fast forward 2 more months- The Maker had posted a knife for sell that I thought looked very nice. In this posting he had mentioned several flaws about this knife and was selling it for a very affordable price. I shot him a pm asking if he'd consider using that knife as the replacement we had been waiting for. The knife didn't sell for almost 2 days and was even discounted more off the original fantastic price. I thought we could work something out here. The Maker got back to me later mentioning it had already sold. Nothing wrong with that, I just thought I'd throw that offer out there.
Fast forward a few more months- We had been keeping in touch from time to time regarding this, and he always apologized for the amount of time it had taken. I always understood and was never upset about it. After all, how could I be? He was still committed to this more than generous offer and for that I was always appreciative. In hindsight, maybe I should have expressed this more often in our correspondence. During our messaging we would wish each other Happy Holidays and such, and I'd inquire as to how he was coming along with his personal/professional struggles. I thought we were getting along well actually.
Then late last year he posted another knife for sell. I bought it as I thought it would be interesting to see his work in stainless steel form, which this knife offered. We messaged back and forth about it after I received the knife, I mentioned how well I thought it performed and that I had some reservations about a specific detail. I mentioned I liked his handle work and I thought this specific knife didn't really offer his full potential. I then offered/inquired about sending him a Carter 240 gyuto along with handle materials to have it re-handled. I asked about pricing and ball park time for turnaround. The Carter doesn't get used too much as I'm currently not really digging the existing handle. There was more than one way to acquire a sample of his work, I thought.
It's around this time that all heck broke loose, which included him "publicly" insulting me in another thread.
Up until now I've referred to this guy as the maker during this recount, just to keep his name somewhat out of it. I know full well that most members here will quickly figure out who I'm referring to, especially after the recent handle dilemma I just mentioned. This is where I fear this thread may go poorly, or simply just disappear as the person I'm speaking about is a highly regarded member here. I realize that by posting this I may be subjecting myself to some negative focus, but I feel very strongly that this ordeal needs to be discussed openly.
After the whole handle dilemma, I reached out to the maker and asked him to simply return the original knife that I had bought over 2 years ago. I figured it would just be easier this way, for the both of us. An easy way to make this all settle a bit softer. He then replied by telling me the original knife was ruined from an experiment he tried in an attempt to fix it, prior to his offering a replacement knife. So now I know why the maker offered a replacement knife in the beginning. I still think it was a generous offer, but he had never mentioned this prior to this message about a month or so ago.
He then went on to ask me what I had paid for the original knife (2+ yrs ago) and asked if I could provide some proof showing this. I thought this was weird but I fwd him the correspondence between the original seller and I so he could see.
Another month passed by and on Monday I received another email from the maker. In this email he stated that he will no longer be offering the replacement knife that he initially committed to quite some time ago. He then offered me a credit for the price I paid, to be used towards a new knife that must be twice the amount. As of now, I don't think this maker charges $700 for a knife. At least not that I'm aware of? Lastly, he told me that he will need to see formal proof that did I indeed pay for this knife, and it must show the amount I paid. This, he closed, will be his only offer.
Now, to me, this is in its purist form straight downright dirty dishonesty. I also think this can be considered a form of theft. And it's absolutely crazy for this person to think that I would ever consider giving him my hard earned cash again. Technically, that was my knife that he "ruined". Technically, if he refuses to make me the replacement he obligated himself to, he would owe me $350. What's a credit worth with this guy? Nothing as far as I'm concerned.
Let me rewind to over 2 years ago here. The original seller was very surprised by the maker's photos and comments regarding just how damaged the knife was. The seller had contacted me and apologized, making note that the knife wasn't that bad when he had sent it. At least not that he had thought. And the pictures he had posted on his BST thread didn't look that bad. The seller than offered to mail another knife he had just received to let me toy around with until this fiasco had come to pass. Well, I'm a knife addict so naturally I was quite impressed with this second knife. So the seller and I worked out a deal- he'd sell me the second knife (for an amount that I don't recall) which meant he kept the original $350 plus I would owe him a few more $$. And that's what we did. The other part of the deal was when the maker finished the replacement he would send it to me. If I decided to keep it I would then owe the seller the original asking price. If I decided it wasn't for me, I would simply mail the knife back to the seller and that would be that. Pretty amazing if you ask me. That there is what this forum is all about.
I bring this little factoid up as I think it's pretty relevant to the current status this whole ordeal is in. After reading the maker's last email I decided to bow out. He had gone too far and I simply do not wish to continue dealing with him and his dishonest ways. I informed the seller of this and thought it best that he deal with it, as it is really him that's still out the $350, not I. Yes, I felt somewhat bad pawning off this problem to someone else who has been more than fair during the original transaction. I have to be honest though, I also feel a bit relieved that it's not my $350 that this maker is choosing to screw me out of.
And this brings me to my questions at hand:
What would you, the reader, do in this situation? Had I done something wrong somewhere along this crazy timeline? Is this acceptable behavior from a vendor here and I'm just being a sensitive ninny?
If this thread is still up, and if anyone has questions, please feel free to hit me up by either posting here or through pm.
Obviously I feel wronged by the maker here. But perhaps there's some outside wisdom that can be shared to put this in a better perspective. One can always hope...
And if all else fails, well, I've made some pretty good friends here. Ones that I've met in person and will continue to keep in touch with.
*Moderators- please help, if possible to keep this clean. I realize I'm walking a pretty thin line here, but I feel compelled to share this unfortunate experience.
This ordeal started back in October of 2013 as a fairly positive experience. One that highlighted the positive vibe this Forum offers in spades.
I purchased a knife off of BST from a respected member here for a very good price. The member made mention of a flaw it possessed, and the original maker of this knife offered to help right this flaw. So off to the original maker it went. Once he received it he sent me a message with some pictures showing me that the flaw was worse off than he had thought, and that he may not be able to fix it. After some goings back and forth, the maker offered to replace the knife. Free of charge (minus some handle material costs, I believe). This was extremely generous, as I think anyone would agree. So happy me.
Time had passed, and the original seller and I had reached out a few times to check in on the knife's progress. The maker had told me that it would be finished soon. More time had passed, and the maker apologized for the length of time and told me that he had received the knife blanks, insinuating it would be finished soon. Or at least that's how I read it. This was followed by another message 7 months later saying he had the original gyuto sitting center stage as a reminder to get it started ASAP. This message came almost a year after the original purchase was made. There were other pm's in between this time, I don't feel that some of them show well for the Maker, so I will leave them out.
Fast forward 2 more months- The Maker had posted a knife for sell that I thought looked very nice. In this posting he had mentioned several flaws about this knife and was selling it for a very affordable price. I shot him a pm asking if he'd consider using that knife as the replacement we had been waiting for. The knife didn't sell for almost 2 days and was even discounted more off the original fantastic price. I thought we could work something out here. The Maker got back to me later mentioning it had already sold. Nothing wrong with that, I just thought I'd throw that offer out there.
Fast forward a few more months- We had been keeping in touch from time to time regarding this, and he always apologized for the amount of time it had taken. I always understood and was never upset about it. After all, how could I be? He was still committed to this more than generous offer and for that I was always appreciative. In hindsight, maybe I should have expressed this more often in our correspondence. During our messaging we would wish each other Happy Holidays and such, and I'd inquire as to how he was coming along with his personal/professional struggles. I thought we were getting along well actually.
Then late last year he posted another knife for sell. I bought it as I thought it would be interesting to see his work in stainless steel form, which this knife offered. We messaged back and forth about it after I received the knife, I mentioned how well I thought it performed and that I had some reservations about a specific detail. I mentioned I liked his handle work and I thought this specific knife didn't really offer his full potential. I then offered/inquired about sending him a Carter 240 gyuto along with handle materials to have it re-handled. I asked about pricing and ball park time for turnaround. The Carter doesn't get used too much as I'm currently not really digging the existing handle. There was more than one way to acquire a sample of his work, I thought.
It's around this time that all heck broke loose, which included him "publicly" insulting me in another thread.
Up until now I've referred to this guy as the maker during this recount, just to keep his name somewhat out of it. I know full well that most members here will quickly figure out who I'm referring to, especially after the recent handle dilemma I just mentioned. This is where I fear this thread may go poorly, or simply just disappear as the person I'm speaking about is a highly regarded member here. I realize that by posting this I may be subjecting myself to some negative focus, but I feel very strongly that this ordeal needs to be discussed openly.
After the whole handle dilemma, I reached out to the maker and asked him to simply return the original knife that I had bought over 2 years ago. I figured it would just be easier this way, for the both of us. An easy way to make this all settle a bit softer. He then replied by telling me the original knife was ruined from an experiment he tried in an attempt to fix it, prior to his offering a replacement knife. So now I know why the maker offered a replacement knife in the beginning. I still think it was a generous offer, but he had never mentioned this prior to this message about a month or so ago.
He then went on to ask me what I had paid for the original knife (2+ yrs ago) and asked if I could provide some proof showing this. I thought this was weird but I fwd him the correspondence between the original seller and I so he could see.
Another month passed by and on Monday I received another email from the maker. In this email he stated that he will no longer be offering the replacement knife that he initially committed to quite some time ago. He then offered me a credit for the price I paid, to be used towards a new knife that must be twice the amount. As of now, I don't think this maker charges $700 for a knife. At least not that I'm aware of? Lastly, he told me that he will need to see formal proof that did I indeed pay for this knife, and it must show the amount I paid. This, he closed, will be his only offer.
Now, to me, this is in its purist form straight downright dirty dishonesty. I also think this can be considered a form of theft. And it's absolutely crazy for this person to think that I would ever consider giving him my hard earned cash again. Technically, that was my knife that he "ruined". Technically, if he refuses to make me the replacement he obligated himself to, he would owe me $350. What's a credit worth with this guy? Nothing as far as I'm concerned.
Let me rewind to over 2 years ago here. The original seller was very surprised by the maker's photos and comments regarding just how damaged the knife was. The seller had contacted me and apologized, making note that the knife wasn't that bad when he had sent it. At least not that he had thought. And the pictures he had posted on his BST thread didn't look that bad. The seller than offered to mail another knife he had just received to let me toy around with until this fiasco had come to pass. Well, I'm a knife addict so naturally I was quite impressed with this second knife. So the seller and I worked out a deal- he'd sell me the second knife (for an amount that I don't recall) which meant he kept the original $350 plus I would owe him a few more $$. And that's what we did. The other part of the deal was when the maker finished the replacement he would send it to me. If I decided to keep it I would then owe the seller the original asking price. If I decided it wasn't for me, I would simply mail the knife back to the seller and that would be that. Pretty amazing if you ask me. That there is what this forum is all about.
I bring this little factoid up as I think it's pretty relevant to the current status this whole ordeal is in. After reading the maker's last email I decided to bow out. He had gone too far and I simply do not wish to continue dealing with him and his dishonest ways. I informed the seller of this and thought it best that he deal with it, as it is really him that's still out the $350, not I. Yes, I felt somewhat bad pawning off this problem to someone else who has been more than fair during the original transaction. I have to be honest though, I also feel a bit relieved that it's not my $350 that this maker is choosing to screw me out of.
And this brings me to my questions at hand:
What would you, the reader, do in this situation? Had I done something wrong somewhere along this crazy timeline? Is this acceptable behavior from a vendor here and I'm just being a sensitive ninny?
If this thread is still up, and if anyone has questions, please feel free to hit me up by either posting here or through pm.
Obviously I feel wronged by the maker here. But perhaps there's some outside wisdom that can be shared to put this in a better perspective. One can always hope...
And if all else fails, well, I've made some pretty good friends here. Ones that I've met in person and will continue to keep in touch with.
