Beware: Smoky Mountain Knife Works

i've never been a big fan of smkw. they have done some poor service stuff to me in the few times i've used them. sent me wrong size of a knife i ordered. in my case though it was a cheapo s&w knife that came in baby, medium, and large and i ordered the large and they sent me the medium.


told me they had a knife in stock, took my money and then came back later and said we don't have it, but still had stock listed for the same knife on amazon for another month. also other too big for their own good kind of mistakes..... and stuff like that......to be fair though.....they took care of the problems within reason and never did me wrong in the end. also they were always polite and easy to deal with, but i didn't ask for more than i deserved either.

i think in your case asking for shipping charge back is asking for too much. refund for product is good business practice and you can't ask for better than that in your particular case. now them yelling at you and being nasty is another issue....assuming you were polite and civil asking for more than you deserve, imho. that i can understand you being upset about.
 
I had a problem just the opposite of yours. I ordered an ax that was pictured at about 3 inches but It arrived and was 32 inches long.
 
If they were rude, drop them.

Personally, I would probably consider this my mistake as a buyer and eat the shipping or keep it.

I have seen worse, though. Knifeworks won't refund shipping on a defective knife.
 
Tsujigiri said:
You must have a massive little finger... Do you have a pic of the knife with your finger?
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SOUTHERN WOODS said:
I can take one in just a little bit and post it.
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I'd like to see that too. SW must have serious "Man Hands". :D

I thought it was amusing that a Tiny Trapper was a "limited edition" of 3000. Duh.

I recently ordered a pearl handled Case Doctor (not from SMKW). Fortunately when I started copying pics and details for my log I realized it was a Baby Doc from the dimensions and was able to cancel the order. Nowhere in the name or description did they say Baby Doc and you certainly couldn't tell from the pic.
You really do have to check the measurements.

As described by the OP, SMKW was not at fault, no reason they should eat the shipping. They described the item correctly and listed its measurments.
If they were rude, shame on them.

I only deal with SMKW when they have a sale or are offering free shipping. Their prices are usually too high.

Their normal communications leave a lot to be desired. They provide minimal order information, frequently not even letting you know if an order has shipped or not. In this era of automated emails, really no excuse for that.

When a recent order from SMKW arrived, there was a note on the invoice "backorderd items not listed" and the amount they charged me for it anyway. No indication what was backordered or when it might arrive. A few weeks later I called and they said they had just credited the now "out of stock" item....guess I will see when the CC bill comes. They never sent any message about it.
 
SOUTHERN WOODS said:
to be honest I was judging by the picture. I just feel like it was a mistake on their part for not representing the item correctly.
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SOUTHERN WOODS said:
Would you think this knife was no bigger than the end of your little finger?
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AHHHHHHH!!!!! RUN AWAY!!!!! IT'S GOING TO FLY OFF WITH YOUR BABIES!!!!!!111!

FF1.jpg


FWIW, i won't give my money to SMKW either, but for unrelated reasons.
 
I think it comes down to a question of customer service irregardless of not reading or mis-reading the dimensions. As is so often quoted " a deal is not complete until both participants are satisfied".

(I think there are some fees to be paid though.)
 
I think the knife is cool.Love the Wharnie secondary.You ought to keep it.SMKW has provided decent service to me in the past.
 
Kyui Su Kim said:
Sorry mate, but it does seem this was your mistake in not checking on the stats of the knife. I did this once with the Kershaw Mini Mojo. It did not look that small and when i got it, I understood why it was the Mini Mojo. I did not go back to the company though. I just realized my mistake and enjoyed another new knife:)
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Agree
Looks like a classic case of buyer not paying attention to specs. Not SMKW fault.
 
Shotgun said:
No offense but when you order off the net you really have to check the size. I wouldn't guess at the size of the knife from that pic. Or any pic really. For all I know it could be 10 times the size of a normal one or 10 times smaller. I also wonder at the whole conversation you had with their customer service. Seems they're not that great in that department but it's not normal for a person to just pick up the phone and start yelling. You do something to piss them off?
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What Shotgun said. That's why when somebody posts a pic on here I often ask for an "IN HAND" shot.
 
Thanks a lot! I've wasted $10.00 of my time just reading this post! Well I guess that's my own fault, don't worry about it.
 
If you had bothered to read the specs before you ordered, it's clearly stated below the picture!:confused:
 
I had the same thing happen to me BUT it wasn't their fault it was mine IMHO. I didn't look at it just thought perfect size and when it came well :rolleyes: but oh well live and learn. I do agree however the management shouldn't have "yelled" at you. That doesn't show very good control in management in my eyes.

Just so you know for next time the trapper line goes: trapper, mini trapper, tiny trapper. :thumbup:
 
Whenever I order anything online, I make sure I understand what I am buying. If there's any doubt, I email the company or the seller to clarify before I place my order.

If I don't do that, then I have no recourse if the item is not what I was expecting, unless the seller had an extraordinarily generous return policy.
 
SOUTHERN WOODS said:
Nothing at all. I surely didn't call them to cuss em' out, yell at them, or anything of that nature.

I found out a long time ago that you can accomplish a lot more with a person if you talk with them and treat them like you care to be treated.

To be honest the $10 doesn't mean that much to me it's just the fact that I feel they misrepresented an item in order to make a sale. That isn't the way that I do business. I'll speak with Mr. Pipes about it when he returns.
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Your not the brightest bulb in the chandelier are you:rolleyes:
 
Have to agree with the last post and since I get confused when trying to compare sizes of knives and other things I keep a scale/ruler by my keyboard marked in both inches and millimeters so I can be sure I have the right size in mind. Has saved me several times.
 
you know, I tend to agree with everything everyone has said here blaming you for the error. But, no company should get into a fight with you about a product they sold you if they want repeat business. Even if they had pointed out that the data was on the website they should have apologized for your interpretation of their picture and said they'll look into it. Maybe consider taking pics with a scale in the pic. No one should question the customer about their impressions of an item. That's called customer service. Pointing out where the customer was misinformed, sorry it happened, etc. is appropriate. The business environment we find ourselves in today if I'm treated that way, I can find 50 other sites that'll sell me a Case.
 
Anyone that knows anything about dealing with people, customer service, sales, retail, etc.. KNOWS that the customer is always right. (even if they aren't) Despite the fact that the OP should have done more due diligence prior to ordering the knife the fact remains that he wasn't satisfied with his purchase and wanted a refund. That is NO reason for them to be rude to him (I know there is two sides to every story.) talk over him, etc..

I went to SMKW website and looked at their FAQ section and found this:

"Q: If I am not satisfied with my order/merchandise, what should I do?
A: If you are not satisfied with your order/merchandise, SMKW offers a 21-day 100% Satisfaction Guarantee policy."

I clicked on their return policy link and this is what their return policy states:

"We want you to be satisfied with the merchandise you purchase from Smoky Mountain Knife Works. That's why we offer a "100% Satisfaction Guarantee." You can return or exchange SMKW Merchandise for up to 21 days from the date of purchase - for any reason - no questions asked*.

Here's How:
1. Your SMKW order should include an invoice and a Return Form, which includes return & exchange instructions in the top-right corner.
2. Follow the instructions listed on the Return Form completely.
3. The bottom-right corner of your Return Form is marked Return Address Label . Write your return address in the space provided, and detach the Return Address Label from your Return Form.
4. If possible, pack the merchandise you wish to return in the box in which it was shipped.
5. Place your completed Return Form inside the box, and secure the Return Address Label to the outside of the box.
6. Ship your merchandise back to SMKW. "

Now, after reading this, I attempted to download the Return Form to see exactly what they typically refund but either the link was corrupt or something is wrong with my computer but all I got was a bunch of encoded garble.

If I was in the OPs position i would have placed a call to their customer service too. I can't imagine a company speaking to a return customer in a rude, disrespectful manner over something so small. (cheezy pun intended) They should have followed their own policy, asked no questions, and offered to do whatever it takes to make their returning customer happy.

Instead of losing a return customer, and additional customers that have heard the OPs complaints they COULD made him happy and we would probably be reading about how how great he was treated, complimented their customer service and earned them more customers.

.
 
Misfire, did you read to find the real underlying issue, or do you always type longs posts without knowing what's going on?

The issue at hand is NOT that SMKW won't take the knife back, the issue is that they refuse to eat the postage cost. SMKW will take it back. Where does it say that they'll pay shipping costs due to Buyer error?
 
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