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Alexander Dietz - worst customer service ever. Still don't have my knife 5 months

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Jul 15, 2013
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Well, it seems as though I am not the only one. This is hoping that I'll at least get a response from him and get my knife back.

I sent my payment to Alex on 8/6/13, it was for carbon and g10 scales and a g10 backspacer on my Benchmade Barrage, albeit a small order for him. It was an order none the less. He was extremely prompt to respond in the beginning, basically talked to him all July about stuff and he was always responding within 24 hours.

I lagged, because I also run a business and work a day job and kids and a masters program, and didn't send my knife in until 10/9/13. That is my fault, definitely. However, he was still prompt to respond. He said he had received it and when asked about ETA he said 8 weeks. Which would lead any normal person to believe that I'd have my knife back and completed by roughly late November.

As any customer would do, I politely emailed for status about 4 weeks in. On 11/13/13 and got no response, again on 11/19/13 and no response, 11/22/13 and I said

"Hey Alex,

I'd like a status. This is the 3rd email in the last 10 days. We're coming into week 8 right now, just wondering if there's an outside shot of it coming. Frankly wondering if I'll ever see my knife again right now.

Let me know."


This was the response

"Frankly you don't need to be emailing me constantly a bout your knife it's here its fine and will get done I'm pretty behind so It will be a bit.
Alex"


I was flabbergasted.

I responded like this

"That's no way to respond to a customer asking for a status update. 3 emails in 9 days is not emailing you constantly. I didn't email you every day. I asked for a status, got blown off twice. As a customer, that is frustrating. Especially a paying customer where you already have my money, with no way to get recourse through paypal. It doesn't instill confidence when I get no response for 10 days.

I know you're busy, I run a small business. I also know it takes less than 30 seconds to respond to a customer and say "We're on schedule for your ship date."

That's literally all you had to say.

So my question is, is it on schedule for 8 weeks, or is it now a longer timeline?"


I get this response (edited out of respect for Alex)

"The wait is 3 months there's no reason why I should be receiving emails like this . To be honest I have a lot going on and if you are in any way following me you would now that iv made videos post's on blade forums and instagram stating there is a stall and I am behind. Looking back I don't even see your previous emails in my inbox except for the ones attached to this email. There are people on my list who have been waiting for there blades over twice the time you have and the range from 400 to 1000 dollars . I'm not a thief and your email previous to that was suggesting that . I am a single guy not a huge company when I hit stalls In my life orders go on standby.
I really hate to have to explain this to the few people hounding me about there knife , so here it goes
*FAMILY ISSUES*

I am not a thief and your knife will get done your just going to have to wait like everyone else does I can't cut corners to finish a order because someone wants me to. I also can't dig up ever Old email order and let people know own it's just to big a task. Therefore o reach out on all my social media sites wich in return let's I'd say 98% of my customers know what's going on .

Alex"


I follow Alex on Instagram, that's where I found his work. Never once saw mention of a family issue, I have no idea. I understand that stuff happens. I get it. I still do not deserve to be treated like that. Now all the sudden because I am an angry customer he is responding. We exchange a few more emails and he says he's a little over a month behind, so I should have it in time for Christmas, maybe.

On 12/14/13 I email again, asking for status and get no response. Then again on 12/21/13 and I get this

"your are still down there on the list sorry i couldn't make it before xmas
Alex "


Little frustrated, but I'm going out of town and won't travel with my knives anyway so no biggy. On 12/24/13 I get a response saying he'd have it done by 1/12/14, I said ok and please let me know if anything changes.

On 1/7/14 I email and ask if he can sharpen it while it's there for me. He says no problem.

1/12/14, 1/14/14, 1/17/14, 1/20/14 I email and finally get a response on the 20th!

"You are literally the next person to get there knife done I juat need to finish this bladehq order before I can start yours. I appreciate your patience and I can assure u you will get your moneys worth"

Doesn't respond to my question about the 12th, ignores it. But assured me I'll get my moneys worth. Frankly at this point I've almost considered the knife gone.

1/25/14, 1/30/14 I email and get a response that he's working on the bladeHQ order.

1/30/14 and 2/7/14 I email asking for an ETA and on the 8th he says I'd have it by February's end.

2/20/14 & Today I emailed asking for a status and have yet to receive a response.



So pretty sure that my knife is gone. I apologize for the long thread, but god I hope this persuades someone from working with him. Going on 20 weeks (5 months) from when he received the knife and told me 8 weeks. Great. Not to mention, he's been posting updates about buying knives and everything else, but can't finish my job. So frustrating.

Send me my knife back and my money back. I'll take it somewhere else.

Anyone have any suggestions for a decent priced replacement for my tanto tipped Barrage that I'll never see again?
 
If you mailed it on 10/9/13, he likely received it on or about 10/12/13. His 8 week turnaround, if exact, would then be 12/12/13. I suppose he might have said, "about 8 weeks", but whatever, somewhere around that timeline.

What we know for sure is that you wrote, "Frankly, wondering if I'll ever see my knife again right now". You sent him an email which contained the aforementioned quote on 11/22/13..............2+ weeks prior to the tentative completion date.
I don't routinely request status checks, but can understand one doing so. Status checks are however, likely more of a PITA for the service provider than the person receiving said service. Sure......an email/status update may only take a few moments to send, but when there's nothing to say, especially when the completion date is more than a 1/2 month away, I suppose that the service provider then prioritizes such things. I know most of the knifemakers I deal with so we communicate quite often during a build, but it is oftentimes the case that they contact me, which I enjoy and appreciate. I consider many of these gentlemen as friends.

Alex then responds to your email saying that you need not email so much, it will get done and he's running a bit behind. To be quite honest, Alex's response was much more reserved and professional than your previous email inferring that Alex was somehow going to deprive you of your knife. That's exactly what you said and how I would have taken it.....no question.

You then respond, "that's no way to respond to a customer....". Really......really? Alex's response was very, very tame considering that your previous email was disrespectful, accusatory and totally unnacceptable on any level. You impuned his integrity........pure and simple. You then try to put him in his place by berrating him for treating you, his customer, disrespectfully after you 'set the table' with as rude a statement as I've seen when there was absolutely no reason to do so. And no..........not responding to an email or 2 does not justify a member painting another member in such a bad light and being outright disparaging. All this, when Alex still had 2+ weeks to complete your project.

I've never thought it very prudent to PO anybody that is providing me a service. It just doesn't seem to make much sense to me. A bit like kickin' the big dog 'cuz he looks timid. More importantly and disconcerting............your initial inferred accusation and then your response to his very reserved response to your inferred accusation tells me that you feel more entitiled to be treated much more respectfully as a customer than Alex should be providing you a service. How could one decipher your statements any other way...?

Alex certainly could have kept you in the loop a bit better, but given all that had transpired early on in your transaction, that this went a bit sideways doesn't surprise me very much. My comments don't go to Alex's business practices nor to your end goal here, they go to how we get into these situations when they were more often than not, completely unavoidable. The vinegar and honey mantra applies here as it does with most things.

I hope that this gets resolved soon and that Alex comes through for you ASAP. It's an unfortunate situation that didn't need to be further stoked by questioning another man's integrity.
 
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Let me clarify something, 10/9/13 he had already received the knife. The email prior to asking the ETA asked if he had received it. So he'd already received it.

Alex's response was tame? Really? I impugned (sp) his integrity, no I had not. I had sent multiple emails asking for status. MULTIPLE times getting ignored is unacceptable. I run a small business, my phone is always in my pocket. It takes less than 5 seconds to send an email saying "we're still on time, it'll be shipped as soon as it's finished." So no, there is NO excuse for not responding to a customer, period. Regardless of how you want to mask it, that's not how you run a small business.

All I was asking for was the communication, I was not hounding, when i don't get a response I get frustrated. That is the normal reaction. When you get ignored multiple times there is 100% a thought that I will not receive what I've paid for. Especially since now paypal is past the 45 days, I have no way to get my money back if that is the case.

Of course it's never good to piss someone off that is providing a service, however, on that same token it's never a good idea to continue to lie to a customer and piss off a customer. 1 bad review will go further than 10 good reviews, anyone is business knows this is true.

I expect to be treated like a customer, not waiting weeks between emails. Zero communication and no idea of if my parts are actually going to get done or not. Especially after months and months of missed deadlines. 12 weeks I can understand, you're busy. But after talking to Alex (in emails today finally) it is a 1 day job to do the work to my knife. So he instead has pushed it off multiple times and ignored, and I am left sitting here without my knife, service, or money. So yea, I'm a little pissed off.

Completely unavoidable? I don't understand how you come to this conclusion, 5 months after I was told 8 weeks and I still don't have my product. That definitely should call into question his integrity and his business practices, because frankly in my opinion they are both poor. At this point I am frustrated and I feel lied to, multiple times. When on 1/20 you get an email saying you're next in line and then on 2/26 you don't have anything, from what should be a 1 day job, it's a little frustrating. 1+1 does not equal 2 in this situation. That is no way to treat a customer, ever. Under any circumstances. You may be more willing to wait and be ignored multiple times, but I am not, and as a paying customer I am not supposed to be. Regardless of the price, you just don't ignore customers.

According to Alex I will have a tracking number by the end of the week.
 
Don't worry, you are not alone. He has had my knife since July, and for a piddly little $40 job that was supposed to take 10 days.

I have almost written the knife off, and will consider Alexander Dietz a thief unless he contacts me explaining why it has taken so long. It should not be my job to hunt this guy down and email him repeatedly, he should be staying in contact with every single customer until the jobs are fulfilled.

Until then, I subscribe to his instagram and youtube channel, watching him spend time enjoying himself playing with high end knives, and shooting his expensive guns, all the while my knife likely sits in his workshop/garage gathering dust.

Guys like this are a blight on the custom knife community, and make it hard for me to trust sending a knife out for work ever again.
 
I sent him a PM. Hopefully he will respond to those waiting.
 
I spoke to him today after I made this thread, he says I'll have a tracking number Friday. I hope this is the case. If not whatever just ordered a paramilitary 2 and some custom scale division lime green scales.

Just a giant headache, hope it's over soon. I assume he'll make it right, he does seem to come through for most people. At least from what I can tell.
 
You are not alone bro.I got the idea from working with him that he works on certain knives when he feels like it.His quoted time frame is meaningless.
 
I have a knife with Alex now that has been there exactly as long as yours (since early October). While I am a bit disappointed by how long it has taken, I haven't had any problems reaching Alex (which I did at most once a month) and he did finally explain the personal issues that was preventing him from working on things in a timely fashion. Believe me, they were very serious. I am confident I will get my knife eventually and the quality of the work will be outstanding. There's literally maybe two people out there who still do "po boy" Emerson's so I find myself more inclined to be patient. Nevertheless, it is a bit frustrating when the initial quoted time was very short by comparison.

You are not alone bro.I got the idea from working with him that he works on certain knives when he feels like it.His quoted time frame is meaningless.

That was your Anso Nemo, right? I remember that thing being in his videos for what seemed like a year! I was always curious why it was still there.
 
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There's a right way to handle a disappointed customer and there's a wrong way. If your that behind on scheduled work expect to have concerned customers emailing you. I'm sure all the op was looking for was some reassuring that their order was coming along and will take longer than expected. When you agree to take on a customer and you have their knives and money you should be doing all you can to meet the agreed upon deadline. And if not than communication is key.
 
I have a knife with Alex now that has been there exactly as long as yours (since early October). While I am a bit disappointed by how long it has taken, I haven't had any problems reaching Alex (which I did at most once a month) and he did finally explain the personal issues that was preventing him from working on things in a timely fashion. Believe me, they were very serious. I am confident I will get my knife eventually and the quality of the work will be outstanding. There's literally maybe two people out there who still do "po boy" Emerson's so I find myself more inclined to be patient. Nevertheless, it is a bit frustrating when the initial quoted time was very short by comparison.

That was your Anso Nemo, right? I remember that thing being in his videos for what seemed like a year! I was always curious why it was still there.

Oh they were definitely serious, however, for a job that was supposed to last a day and he's off shooting and vacationing and all those things when there's customers that have been waiting for months that's not OK. His response when I called him out on that was "I'm a person, I'm allowed to live a little." - well yea, that's true. However, you're also a small business owner and you have work that you have to do. It definitely seems like he just works on whatever he wants and customers just get the short end of the stick.

The frustrating thing is I've read a few of these threads, not a single one has he ever responded to. I get personal things happen, but don't over promise and under deliver.

According to him, I'll have tracking tomorrow. I'm not holding my breath.
 
I don't understand how some members come to the defense of behavior like this; if it's bias or something more complicated, but there is no excuse for running a business like this, not even personal issues. There comes a time that if you have issues that bad, you need to ship everybody's stuff back and close up shop. Not to mention the propensity for the people that bite off more than they can chew to thrust personal issues to the forefront when customers start making noise It becomes moot when deadline after deadline is missed (even with personal issues, how do you miss a half dozen deadlines??).

I do have to say though, having a client constantly e-mail you is one of the most aggravating things about business. 3 times in a week is excessive; why not wait for a reply to the first one? I am a huge advocate of customer service and holding people accountable, but you could have just sent 1 e-mail and given it some time. Still, it's no excuse for what's happened, and this kind of business practice is far too common in the custom knife industry. The barrier of entry is low, and everyone that figures out they can do a single thing to a knife that people will pay for opens up a shop and takes on as many jobs as they can, usually taking payment up front.

Good luck OP, hope it works out.
 
If you mailed it on 10/9/13, he likely received it on or about 10/12/13. His 8 week turnaround, if exact, would then be 12/12/13. I suppose he might have said, "about 8 weeks", but whatever, somewhere around that timeline.

What we know for sure is that you wrote, "Frankly, wondering if I'll ever see my knife again right now". You sent him an email which contained the aforementioned quote on 11/22/13..............2+ weeks prior to the tentative completion date.
I don't routinely request status checks, but can understand one doing so. Status checks are however, likely more of a PITA for the service provider than the person receiving said service. Sure......an email/status update may only take a few moments to send, but when there's nothing to say, especially when the completion date is more than a 1/2 month away, I suppose that the service provider then prioritizes such things. I know most of the knifemakers I deal with so we communicate quite often during a build, but it is oftentimes the case that they contact me, which I enjoy and appreciate. I consider many of these gentlemen as friends.

Alex then responds to your email saying that you need not email so much, it will get done and he's running a bit behind. To be quite honest, Alex's response was much more reserved and professional than your previous email inferring that Alex was somehow going to deprive you of your knife. That's exactly what you said and how I would have taken it.....no question.

You then respond, "that's no way to respond to a customer....". Really......really? Alex's response was very, very tame considering that your previous email was disrespectful, accusatory and totally unnacceptable on any level. You impuned his integrity........pure and simple. You then try to put him in his place by berrating him for treating you, his customer, disrespectfully after you 'set the table' with as rude a statement as I've seen when there was absolutely no reason to do so. And no..........not responding to an email or 2 does not justify a member painting another member in such a bad light and being outright disparaging. All this, when Alex still had 2+ weeks to complete your project.

I've never thought it very prudent to PO anybody that is providing me a service. It just doesn't seem to make much sense to me. A bit like kickin' the big dog 'cuz he looks timid. More importantly and disconcerting............your initial inferred accusation and then your response to his very reserved response to your inferred accusation tells me that you feel more entitiled to be treated much more respectfully as a customer than Alex should be providing you a service. How could one decipher your statements any other way...?

Alex certainly could have kept you in the loop a bit better, but given all that had transpired early on in your transaction, that this went a bit sideways doesn't surprise me very much. My comments don't go to Alex's business practices nor to your end goal here, they go to how we get into these situations when they were more often than not, completely unavoidable. The vinegar and honey mantra applies here as it does with most things.

I hope that this gets resolved soon and that Alex comes through for you ASAP. It's an unfortunate situation that didn't need to be further stoked by questioning another man's integrity.

What amuses me about your victim-shaming filled post is that you're so blind to the fact that the OP only questioned this guy's credibility after Alex had shown he had none.

Oh, but no, let's go on some hyperbole filled BS rant like " Alex's response was very, very tame considering that your previous email was disrespectful, accusatory and totally unnacceptable on any level."

Your eyes are brown, friend.
 
What amuses me about your victim-shaming filled post is that you're so blind to the fact that the OP only questioned this guy's credibility after Alex had shown he had none.

Oh, but no, let's go on some hyperbole filled BS rant like " Alex's response was very, very tame considering that your previous email was disrespectful, accusatory and totally unnacceptable on any level."

Your eyes are brown, friend.

X 2 ;) . Saved me some typing. For that, I thank you.
 
Alex has contacted me after I made my post in this thread and stated that my knife would be on its way next week.

He explained he is having personal issues that I can understand. I hope he is able to make good on his word.

Mods, if you can help Alex get his bladeforums account back in order we would appreciate it, as he currently states that he is unable to access his account on this site (maybe password issues?)

Also Mods, can we please keep this thread open until issues with Alex for everyone are completed?
 
Alex has contacted me after I made my post in this thread and stated that my knife would be on its way next week.

He explained he is having personal issues that I can understand. I hope he is able to make good on his word.

Mods, if you can help Alex get his bladeforums account back in order we would appreciate it, as he currently states that he is unable to access his account on this site (maybe password issues?)

Also Mods, can we please keep this thread open until issues with Alex for everyone are completed?

I also hope he makes good on his word for your project as well. Hope this is what finally pushed him to get your work done, as well as any other he may have sitting on his bench.

I do find it funny he blocked me from his instagram yesterday.
 
This thread is very interesting to me because I, not that long ago, had a significant customer service-related issue with a particular knife maker (who shall remain nameless). I was absolutely amazed by the number of people who defended him even though they had absolutely no idea what had transpired and despite the fact that his behavior was atrocious. It turned out the majority of those who defended that individual were on a wait list for his product ;) . If the individual the OP is referring to in this thread has had enough time to film videos, shoot guns, etc. then he has almost certainly had time to finish markedly delinquent jobs.
 
I agree that first email inferring if you'll ever see the knife again was premature due to the 8 weeks not even up yet at that point but I'd be plenty pissed off right now after all this waiting. It's real simple, while I understand people can face many issues and obstacles that delay or prevent them from meeting deadlines and obligations communication frequently is the key. Frankly, the maker should offer people options of waiting and give firm accurate eta's or immediate full refunds/return of their knives.
 
I took this email:

""Hey Alex,

I'd like a status. This is the 3rd email in the last 10 days. We're coming into week 8 right now, just wondering if there's an outside shot of it coming. Frankly wondering if I'll ever see my knife again right now.

Let me know."

in the way the OP meant it, and frankly Alexander should have shut his mouth, choked down some humble pie and answered like a professional businessman. He should not have responded with some pissy "Stop emailing me" complaining response. That was childish and petulant. Alex knew damn well he wasn't going to get guy's knife done on time, so he tried the "I'll act pissed so as to evade this guy's rightful indignation." tactic (which is super played out, and a huge problem in today's super self-entitlement mentality society).

It didn't work (well, it apparently worked on magnumb).

OP made that comment because let's be real here, taking your item/money/whatever and disappearing is what scammers do. If I didn't get any return contact after two emails spaced politely out over several days, then you'd better believe my next email to you is going to be direct and to the point.


This Alex guy sounds like he needs to get off his ass, "live his life" a little less, and get his orders filled a little more.
 
I agree that first email inferring if you'll ever see the knife again was premature due to the 8 weeks not even up yet at that point but I'd be plenty pissed off right now after all this waiting. It's real simple, while I understand people can face many issues and obstacles that delay or prevent them from meeting deadlines and obligations communication frequently is the key. Frankly, the maker should offer people options of waiting and give firm accurate eta's or immediate full refunds/return of their knives.

I understand your point. However, I had emailed twice before politely asking and got completely blown off. 3 emails in 10 days is not excessive. I work 2 jobs, I field somewhere in the neighborhood of 250-350 emails a day. Every single one is read and attended to, some need nothing. A customer asking for status is something that needs attending to. Especially on the 2nd email. It should never get to a third email. A third email means you're being ignored, especially in the span of 10 days. It was not like I was emailing every 2-3 hours. He was very prompt to respond when he was taking my money. The rest I 100% agree with you on.

I took this email:

""Hey Alex,

I'd like a status. This is the 3rd email in the last 10 days. We're coming into week 8 right now, just wondering if there's an outside shot of it coming. Frankly wondering if I'll ever see my knife again right now.

Let me know."

in the way the OP meant it, and frankly Alexander should have shut his mouth, choked down some humble pie and answered like a professional businessman. He should not have responded with some pissy "Stop emailing me" complaining response. That was childish and petulant. Alex knew damn well he wasn't going to get guy's knife done on time, so he tried the "I'll act pissed so as to evade this guy's rightful indignation." tactic (which is super played out, and a huge problem in today's super self-entitlement mentality society).

It didn't work (well, it apparently worked on magnumb).

OP made that comment because let's be real here, taking your item/money/whatever and disappearing is what scammers do. If I didn't get any return contact after two emails spaced politely out over several days, then you'd better believe my next email to you is going to be direct and to the point.


This Alex guy sounds like he needs to get off his ass, "live his life" a little less, and get his orders filled a little more.

100% agree. I miss a deadline, I make it up to my customers by including free stuff or refunding a portion of their money. Not yelling at them and being a jerk.
 
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