Iida-tool (http://www.japantool-iida.com/) is a scam site?

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Moooza

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Not sure if this is the right forum to put this, but Iida tool (owner is Tomohito Iida) has gone bankrupt supposely but still seems to be trading. I've waited 7mths for a refund, but there was always a delay or an excuse on why my deposit can't be returned. He delayed until buyer protection, etc. is expired. His site is still up, please be very careful if purchasing. I don't want to say too much publically, pm me if you are interested.
Another site saying a similiar thing: buyer beware. iida tool declares bankruptcy. No tool. No refund.
/facts

My guess after hearing stories from other people who went through the same, that he never even ordered the item I requested, just took the money then delay, excuse, etc until the person gives up and has no ability to get a refund because of how long it has been.
 
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Same. I really do not recommend, inflated prices without necessarily better service, doesn't like to explain, there are better dealers like kurashige tools or hokuto pro shop. Had some ok buys, then it went bad. Mine was delayed for years, and I don't think he has the buyer's best interest in mind, and likes to upsell and stuff, nor does he necessarily say why something will be good, or a good fit
 
I suppose he might be a scammer, my situation is similar as yours.
I received a knife I ordered from him, the quality wasn't as expected so I enquired directly the blacksmith that supposedly made that knife.
The blacksmith told me he didn't make it. He talked directly with Tomohito and I received a full refund.
 
I had some dealings with him a few years ago and most were good, but the last order he didnt include some items i ordered and when i asked him about it he said he would ship them out asap but never did. This was a few years ago and i just took the L because it wasnt a whole lot of money. That was a few years ago and he still emails me from time to time about his “special sales” and i just ignore him. Think the last time he emailed me was a month ago. Kinda sucks he fell off like that because he had some good deals in the beginning.
 
Moooza said:
Ok, I'm at about 10 people now saying they have lost money. Some from years ago, some recent. All with the same story. This is absolutely confirmed.
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Try to get the blacksmith involved like I did. Hopefully he will help you.
 
Wow, what a bummer.

Had one transaction "back in the day" before I had joined here and everything was fine, but I do remember not loving the overall experience as the knife took far too long to be delivered, and communication was spotty at best.
 
My experience with Tomohito Iida san:

I ordered a 600mm honyaki maguro bocho by Yoshikazu Ikeda - the blade was still raw stock - it had been forged but was still covered in scale and not sharpened. I paid the full amount (yes, thousands). I was told the blade would take 6 weeks to sharpen by Shinpei Ino san.

I also PRE-ordered another 450mm honyaki. It had not been forged yet so I was told it would take about 5-6months. I paid a half deposit with the other half to be paid upon completion.

The first blade took about 6 months to sharpen. Fine. Longer than quoted but shorter than some people wait for custom orders.

The second blade had not even been started after about a year or longer, so I *recently *politely asked for a refund. He agreed and told me that he would issue the refund in two payments. One instalment on a particular chosen date in a few weeks and the second instalment on another particular chosen date a few weeks after the first.

I waited until the first particular date before gently reminding him. Same day I was issued the first refund instalment. I waited until the second date before gently reminding him of the second repayment. Again, same day I was issued the final amount.

On a side note. I was told the tang had not been stamped by Ikeda san, so I requested it be returned to him for engraving on the hira. This added another few months to complete, I was told about a week or two.

I also asked for the handle not to be epoxied on so I may have the blade polished professionally one day. The handle was epoxied on. So I have sent ti to Hakata to have a detachable handle with mekugi pin. Upon destroying the original handle it has been discovered the tang had indeed been stamped by Ikeda san. If I had known this I would not have had the engraving done on the blade. And if the handle had not been epoxied on I would not have to destroy it for blade polishing not have to buy a brand new handle for hundreds of dollars.

All in all was not an unpleasant dealings with this man. I got one of what I wanted, and was refunded for the item I did not get. His communication was always quick and polite. Just nothing regarding timing and information was anywhere near accurate. Things he said would take days, took weeks, and things that would take weeks, would take months. Some things were just wrong (epoxy & tang stamping) I just put this down to "old-school" Japanese.

I was not scammed. Everything was OK in the end. But the whole experience was awkward.
 
I haven’t bought anything from Tomohita for a few years, but for what it’s worth and as above he always communicated quickly and politely and with lots of photos of the various knives ahead of posting. I first purchased a Tanaka R2 Ironwood from him that he sourced for me. Next was an Ikeda Honyaki that he offered me and this arrived very promptly and I also ordered a Shig Kitaeji Gyuto from him that had an ETA of 4 years but came in just under 2. I was very pleased with the service he provided to me.
 
arthurfowler said:
I haven’t bought anything from Tomohita for a few years, but for what it’s worth and as above he always communicated quickly and politely and with lots of photos of the various knives ahead of posting. I first purchased a Tanaka R2 Ironwood from him that he sourced for me. Next was an Ikeda Honyaki that he offered me and this arrived very promptly and I also ordered a Shig Kitaeji Gyuto from him that had an ETA of 4 years but came in just under 2. I was very pleased with the service he provided to me.
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I have shig on order too. When have you received your?
 
“buyer beware. iida tool declares bankruptcy. No tool. No refund.
Long story short. I made advanced payment for Tasai chisel set that is not delivered. No refund. He said he goes bankrupt and his lawyer will send me letter.

Please share below if you fall in the same situation as I do.

Below is what happen.
I placed an order for Tasai chisel set in Mar22 where the iida is supposed to ship in Sep22.
After several follow ups with repeated excuses from iida (citing Tasai is busy with many orders and will complete in 2 weeks time), I realize something doesn't look right when this drags on to Nov22 so I ask for a refund.
iida promised to refund in early Dec22 then shift to late Dec22. Coming to late Dec22, he told me he goes bankrupt and he is asking his lawyer to send me the letter. No refund. He said he will 'try' to ask the wholesale guy to send me the chisels when it's done.

iida knows the limitation of paypal that it will not protect buyer after 6 months. so he created the order system where he claims that it takes 6 months to complete.

so anyone who is considering to buy a tool from Tomohito iida, whether from his website or any other platform or name, please be careful. I don't want people to fall in the same situation. iida bankrupt.JPG”

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f111...res-bankruptcy-tool-refund-249863#post2299123
 
I haven't been on the site for a long time. I just saw this thread and it's very disturbing. I've purchased numerous high end knives from Tomohito-san along with custom orders and all have been exceptional. This was over 7 years ago though. He always sent many pictures and constant communications. It's sad to see something like this happen. I feel for anyone who was scammed.
 
Moooza said:
Not sure if this is the right forum to put this, but Iida tool (owner is Tomohito Iida) has gone bankrupt supposely but still seems to be trading. I've waited 7mths for a refund, but there was always a delay or an excuse on why my deposit can't be returned. He delayed until buyer protection, etc. is expired. His site is still up, please be very careful if purchasing. I don't want to say too much publically, pm me if you are interested.
Another site saying a similiar thing: buyer beware. iida tool declares bankruptcy. No tool. No refund.
/facts

My guess after hearing stories from other people who went through the same, that he never even ordered the item I requested, just took the money then delay, excuse, etc until the person gives up and has no ability to get a refund because of how long it has been.
Click to expand...
Oh mate you may have to forget about getting anything back. It's totally farked.
 
knspiracy said:
Sorry to hear guys :(
I count myself lucky in the successful exchanges I had with him. I will not do any more business.
Thanks for the heads up and warning the community.
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Depending on when you did business with him and considering what @friz said, your knife might not be what he claimed.

friz said:
I suppose he might be a scammer, my situation is similar as yours.
I received a knife I ordered from him, the quality wasn't as expected so I enquired directly the blacksmith that supposedly made that knife.
The blacksmith told me he didn't make it. He talked directly with Tomohito and I received a full refund.
Click to expand...
 
https://m.ebay.com/fdbk/mweb_profile?username=kanamonoya71&user_context=BUYER&page_id=2
Here he is on ebay

kanamonoya71
Screenshot_20230107-083943.png
 
My experience with him is similar to that some people above have mentioned...We were in contact from 2016 until 2021, I got altogether 10 knives from him (4 for me, the rest for my Czech friends), except for 2 honyaki which came with terrible grinds all the other knives were at least good or very good and the Y. Ikeda AS gyuto I have from him is a knife which I love a lot and also a knife with the best edge retention I have ever experienced...

But...until we got those 10 knives, I have exchanged with him almost 1000 emails, so just imagine how much time it cost...All the more that the quality of his service had a strongly decreasing tendency (so, I had to explain lot and lot details within the emails) and we never got that what was ordered on the first try...Once kanji were completely absent, then he wanted to send knives with axe-like grinds, then provided 3 knives being 3 mm narrower than ordered, then he even sent a wrong, 3 mm narrower honyaki although he sent pictures for another one, which was OK, another honyaki got a totally ugly kanji, etc, etc...There was always tons of excuses from his side, everything lasted much, much longer than was his estimate and I realized step by step that he is lying more and more often (for instance, he claimed to be able to order honyaki knives from makers which don't make any honyaki knives) and finally that I can't believe him any single word...So I asked him to pay the balance (it was just something like 40 USD at that moment) and was happy to close this chapter...It was overall a rather negative and really exhausting experience, even remembering it makes me tired again :D ..
 
Filipe Lazzuri said:
Always answers the e-mails. Now he is gone. **** i Will have any hope maybe.
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Yeah we're screwed, I ordered a Shig Yo Kasumi Gyuto from him going on 3 years ago, I've messaged him on Facebook on 4 separate occasions since our last contact in December, he reads my messages but doesn't respond.
 
knspiracy said:
I feel terrible.... He paid back my $1500 deposit as recently as about 12 weeks ago....guess I got lucky?
Click to expand...

He was probably trying to salvage his business back then, but as of 3 months ago I guess he knows his business is done and he's more than happy to straight up steal money now. It's a shame because I had great dealings with him before on Two Ikeda honyakis, shame a little hardship turned him into an absolute scumbag.
 
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