Hey friends, I had a rather unfortunate experience with Neil from True North Knives and I'm honestly still upset by it.
I understand people make mistakes in life but to not own up to it and apologize when you're wrong is where I draw the line.
Backstory:
I purchased a Large 31 Macassar Inlay from TNK. It arrived Friday the 9th, I unboxed it the next morning, Saturday the 10th, and realized the knife is extremely stiff out of the box with lock stick.
I own 6 CRK folders and I've never received one this stiff out of the box. I handled it for a handful of minutes with a glove and put it back in it's box and decided I will return it since I purchased it with the intent to gift to my buddy as his first CRK. I didn't want to give him a knife this stiff out of the box and risk it not breaking in normally.
I called TNK and left a 56 second voicemail explaining that I just had a chance to unbox and inspect the knife and that I'd like to return it because it was purchased as a gift for my buddy and I'd rather not gift a knife that's so stiff. (While I was on the call I was fidgeting my Hinderer Eklipse because, you know, I'm a knife nut!! lol)
I followed up with two emails, the first explaining I'd like to return it; the second saying to give me a call at their earliest convenience so that they can help me choose another CRK from their inventory so I can exchange the knife and that way they can keep my business..
Long story short I received an email back with an RMA from Neil, and everything was kosher. He told me he doesn't hold any of his inventory in person and that he uses a third party to ship out all his knives and that he can't exchange it for me and to call another dealer who'd be willing to pick out the perfect knife for me. (weird, but cool, understandable).
Sunday night I examined the knife again and decided that I will keep and gift my buddy this knife because I really like the wood grain and I know he would too and I didn't want to pass on it.
On Monday I was going to email Neil and let him know I'm keeping the knife and to cancel my RMA, but I never got around to it because one of my buddies dogs suddenly passed and I went over to console him.
A few hours later I received this email from Neil:
View attachment 2017527
Throughout our email exchanges I was nothing but respectful to Neil and I had mentioned to him that I want my business to stay with him because TNK was recommended by a CRK Fanpage Admin whom I respect. To deny me the opportunity to return/exchange a $670 knife over his insanely false assumptions absolutely blew my mind. I was appalled and outraged by his response. Thank goodness I decided to keep this knife because dealing with him after this would've been a nightmare.
I understand that he's human and it's an honest mistake to assume I was flicking open and close the knife I was calling about to return but to respond in the manner that he did really got under my skin and he didn't even bother questioning me if the knife I was fidgeting in the background of my voicemail was the knife I'd be returning. What made me even more upset was him not responding to me after I responded to that email. I told Neil I'm returning this knife because it's insanely stiff and he's assuming I'm flicking it around like a Hinderer. Totally clueless....
Can you order from TNK after this and have a good experience? Most likely, yes. But my buddies and I will never give Neil our business again. Honestly, if he were to have just responded to my email or gave me a call and have a normal human conversation I would've more than understood, because I'm human and make mistakes too. But Neil chose not to and he didn't act in good faith and that is precisely why I decided to make this post and why I will never give him my hard earned money again.
If you're interested in my reply to Neil I will attach it below. I was incredibly irate when I wrote it.
View attachment 2017542
