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Bad Chris Martin AKA Phantom Steelworks!

M

mquez

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Joined
May 27, 2013
Messages
348
So after looking on this forum there has not been any people who have had problems with him. Having said that, I ordered a DUB impact from him i think its been going on 2 years now. As you can guess still no knife.

I know this is on me and at this point i dont expect a knife from him or my money back. I probably ever only sent him maybe 3 emails asking for updates. So as you can see i was extremely patient with my last email asking for a refund. He then said he would be able to get it done in a couple of weeks and its been 5 months sense we last talked.

I found a reddit post with many unhappy people but that was a 10 month old thread and have not seen much if not a single thing posted here. If threads have been posted here then i apologize and if Chris reads this i hope you do the right thing.

At this point i dont even know if he is making knives as he has stopped posting to his Instagram.
 
mquez said:
At this point i dont even know if he is making knives as he has stopped posting to his Instagram.
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I thought he had totally disappeared as well. Maybe some negative publicity will draw him out of the woodwork.
 
Payments UPFRONT should NEVER EVER be made to any respected Knife Maker.........
If they are worth their salt....They wont ask for any cash upfront anyway
This topic pops up from time to time..
MANY of them in GB&U...

Im sorry for you financial loss and how you where pumped to score a new
knife.. I respect only Makers that respect the customer..
Far too many outstanding dealers you can reach out to and or buy from..
 
Yeah the guy was extremely active with the knife community. He was knocking orders out like crazy but the more i dig it seems he only prioritized orders from big figures in the knife community and let the small people like my self looking for answers.

From what I've been able to find on youtube some people have received knives from him, some what recently. I am still hopeful but only time will tell. I pretty much just gave up on my last email to him. I stated i was no longer expecting a knife from him or my money. He insisted he was not going to just take my money and that i would get my knife so we shall see, will keep you posted.
 
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Hey mquez,
I am in the same boat. I ordered one of his newer Delirirum models back at the end of March 2016. Was quoted 3-4 months at the time of ordering. I FOOLISHLY believed him and sent him the funds for the build. I figured hes been around for awhile and has a good track record (at the point of me ordering the knife).
Well as you can guess I am still left waiting.
He responds to emails promptly which is somewhat comforting, but having my money back or the knife would be better of course.
His knives were always my favorites ever since I first started getting into high end customs, and this whole situation (along with another situation that is still ongoing with another knife maker) has turned me off to custom knives unfortunately. There are still some makers that have treated me with extremely good customer service, but from now on, I dont care to own customs anymore.

At this point, I dont know what to do anymore. His responses are always "a few weeks".
 
Lapedog said:
Do not send emails saying you are not expecting your knife or money. In court thay can be grounds for them to say "you didn't care"
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good to know but i dont intend to take anything to court. As long as people know how dealing with Chris can be im good with that.
 
Undefeatable said:
Hey mquez,
I am in the same boat. I ordered one of his newer Delirirum models back at the end of March 2016. Was quoted 3-4 months at the time of ordering. I FOOLISHLY believed him and sent him the funds for the build. I figured hes been around for awhile and has a good track record (at the point of me ordering the knife).
Well as you can guess I am still left waiting.
He responds to emails promptly which is somewhat comforting, but having my money back or the knife would be better of course.
His knives were always my favorites ever since I first started getting into high end customs, and this whole situation (along with another situation that is still ongoing with another knife maker) has turned me off to custom knives unfortunately. There are still some makers that have treated me with extremely good customer service, but from now on, I dont care to own customs anymore.

At this point, I dont know what to do anymore. His responses are always "a few weeks".
Click to expand...
yeah he was extremely active and was getting orders for big youtubes and intagram people done like crazy and it just randomly stopped. How were we to know this was going to happen.
 
I spoke to a rather large Instagram knife guy (large following) who has a delirirum. I asked him how long he had to wait, and he said it took him 1 1/2 years to receive his, and he was also quoted 3-4 months. It's inexcusable to be delayed that long, and not only that, not inform ANY of your paid customers about any delays. I have always had to reach out to Chris to get any sort of update (and by update, I mean fake excuse and fake ETA time). Its getting to a point to where I started pricing out legal action if I don't get my money or knife.
 
He spent your money long time ago and now he has to make a knife plus keep getting more money from others and deliver on those promises aswell. Some hard life decisions for a knife maker lolz. That's why its a bad business model to give them money. People do drugs and alcohol you know and smoke crack like the Toronto mayor.
 
Just as an update to this thread. I have been swapping emails with Chris and he is very responsive. He has sent me video updates on my build and pictures of the batches of knives he currently has on his bench (DUB's and Delirums).
He is still of course very late from his original quoted time, but progress is happening. I will update this thread as things continue.
 
And progress for the OP?

New school, in your face blades is what Chris Martin, owner and operator of Phantom Steelworks, is about. Making knives is an expression of who he is and not what he is trying to be. Some people love his work while others hate it but that doesn't bother him. He would much rather be hated for having an innovative design than loved for being ordinary. With so much talent out there, being different from the norm is a very difficult task but that is where the drive comes in. The support he gets from those who dig his work is what fuels the fire for Chris. His knives are some of the best manufactured and most unique available and it's an honor for us to work with one of the best in the game.
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Knifecenter.com 08/28/17
 
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