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HTM Knives....the ugly

So....I received a package from Darrel and Lacey yesterday.

In it was a brand new MADD Maxx that completely lives up to the ad hype. It's perfect and exactly the knife I originally expected. Seriously nice, perfect finish, fit and action. Upgraded to the assisted opening (after checking to see if that is something I would like). It's a very cool piece. Additionally.....there were some extras in the package to make up for the cost of shipping. At this point I feel like they have exhibited the kind of customer service you would expect from a company in this price range. I also believe that based on my interaction with Darrel that their hope is to be a great customer service company.

Thanks to all who participated and to neuron for getting involved and helping.
 
Why does ddr not man up and come here and defend his company?

Having an "unpaid" mouthpiece and great finishes to ugly problems is classic con artist methods to stay in front of legal liability. Sounds to me like the investors put a hurt on the man, so he is fixing things for the complainers, but he won't come out of the closet so there is no personal legal exposure or blowback to his custom business.
 
I realize this is an old thread, but I can help clear a few things up regarding HTM and DDR.
First, Darrel Ralph is no longer involved in HTM Knives. He sold his part. Darrel and his people do care about customer service. However, the individual Darrel partnered with basically tried to completely push Darrel out after the move to Texas.
From September 2012 to just a little over a month ago, there were a lot of issues that are not known to most. I won't discuss the issues out of respect for Darrel, but I will say that the first 6 months in Texas were a train wreck. The shop was functioning at 50% or less due to permits and electrical issues that were supposed to have been resolved upon possession of the new building.
Darrel and his shop foreman were beyond irritated, but tried their best. The other individual involved undermined their efforts in a very apparent attempt to completely push Darrel out. Believe me when I say that Darrel was aware of the issues but was powerless to really do anything about them. The individual started forcing crap out the doors. The builders were handed mismatched handles, blades, scales, screws, standoffs and springs and told to assemble them and make them work. "Frankenknives", if you will. The quality tanked and Darrel hated it.
There is a ton more in the back story, but those days are over. Darrel is forging ahead with the DDR line and may even start a new line of knives in the near future.
As of last month, Darrel sent out letters to distributors stating he was no longer with HTM and since he was no longer involved, Darrel would not be able to do any repairs of HTM Knives.
If you do have an HTM, good luck getting it fixed. You cannot find any current info on HTM.
 
Copperjacket said:
I realize this is an old thread, but I can help clear a few things up regarding HTM and DDR.
First, Darrel Ralph is no longer involved in HTM Knives. He sold his part. Darrel and his people do care about customer service. However, the individual Darrel partnered with basically tried to completely push Darrel out after the move to Texas.
From September 2012 to just a little over a month ago, there were a lot of issues that are not known to most. I won't discuss the issues out of respect for Darrel, but I will say that the first 6 months in Texas were a train wreck. The shop was functioning at 50% or less due to permits and electrical issues that were supposed to have been resolved upon possession of the new building.
Darrel and his shop foreman were beyond irritated, but tried their best. The other individual involved undermined their efforts in a very apparent attempt to completely push Darrel out. Believe me when I say that Darrel was aware of the issues but was powerless to really do anything about them. The individual started forcing crap out the doors. The builders were handed mismatched handles, blades, scales, screws, standoffs and springs and told to assemble them and make them work. "Frankenknives", if you will. The quality tanked and Darrel hated it.
There is a ton more in the back story, but those days are over. Darrel is forging ahead with the DDR line and may even start a new line of knives in the near future.
As of last month, Darrel sent out letters to distributors stating he was no longer with HTM and since he was no longer involved, Darrel would not be able to do any repairs of HTM Knives.
If you do have an HTM, good luck getting it fixed. You cannot find any current info on HTM.
Click to expand...

Hmm. Okay, now for the obvious questions that you didn't bother addressing.
Who are you, exactly?
Where are you getting all this information from?
Why are you dropping this information rather than Darrel or Lacey?
Who is the new mystery man behind HTM now?
What do people do if they need help or warranty service on their items?
There are a lot of holes left in this and your post while does provide some answers, it provokes more questions than it addresses.

The issues were obvious, to just about everyone that was trying to get products delivered and/or repaired. Believe me as a customer, no one needed a formal announcement. WHat totally sucked was spending hundreds of dollars and not being given a bit of information. The mod Neuron was pretty much kicked under the buss so to speak having to try and keep the peace. Not cool at all. It also looks like someone attempted to basically delete everything in the DDR forum here, which cannot be done. Glad to hear that Darrel is forging ahead, but many customers are left with their mouths full of dirt, that isn't good for a business that hasn't even started. I hope that will be addressed at some point.
 
My name is Calvin and I worked for Darrel up to when they moved to Texas. I ground blades for him for 2 years. I still do rep work for him.
Lacey is no longer involved.
Darrel could spend his time answering these threads but feels he would better serve the knife community patching up the business that is DDR and seperating himself from HTM.
The new Mystery Man at HTM will make himself available when he sees fit. I have never met him so it isn't up to me to reveal who he is.
Believe me when I say that since September of 2012, there were a ton of changes and a serious internal power struggle. It affected Darrel in the worst way. The man only wanted to be a design consultant and enjoy what was supposed to be his retirement.
That is not the case now. Darrel is working very hard to overcome the issues that forced him out of retirement.
I am not here to start rumors or get too involved in mud slinging.
As far as getting any work done on an HTM knife, I am told that you will basically have to wait until the new owner fires up his shop. No timelime on that yet.
Darrel is unaware of my posting here. I wanted to let as many people know what was going on and not to muck the water up any more than it is.
I hope that helps explain things a little more. I will update my profile and anyone with any questions can message me.
Please do not ask for the name of the new owner of HTM, as it is not for me to divulge that.
In parting, please keep in mind that Darrel was supposed to retire from this move. And now he is back full-time at the shop and designing. That shows the character of Darrel. It should also show the character of the new HTM owner, too.
 
A year old thread, a mystery man with no posts who just joined ...... This is all kind of odd stuff.
 
Current advertising (not saying anything about accuracy):
HTM's mission is simple: To build high tech, high quality, hand crafted products. HTM produces beautiful products from the top designers in the industry today. Look for the most innovative designs and top quality level of excellence in each item.
Click to expand...

HTM Knives
Hand-Tech Made knives are designed by Darrel Ralph and are custom made. Each one of these knives are designed to be the most functional knives money can buy.
Click to expand...

Hand-Tech-Made Knives
"Our Mission is Simple -
To Build High Tech, High Quality, Hand Crafted Products"

Made in the USA.
By Darrel Ralph Designs.

Darrel Ralph Designs
c/o Briar Industries
4185 S. St. Rt. 605
Galena, OH 43021
http://www.htmknives.com
Click to expand...
 
Please disregard that advertisement. That is from the early days of HTM. Check DDR's website and there is no mention of HTM at all.
 
Gastonknife said:
A year old thread, a mystery man with no posts who just joined ...... This is all kind of odd stuff.
Click to expand...

I understand how it may look suspicious but I just wanted to help explain some misunderstandings and misinformation.
Not a mystery man. My name is Calvin and I worked for Darrel for a couple of years before he moved to TX. Figured this thread was as good as any to start.
 
Wow...

If Darrell was SO concerned with customer service, he wouldn't call JUSTIFIABLY unsatisfied customers Fucktards on a public forum.

If Darrell was SO concerned with customer service and it was really all someone else's fault, he should be reaching out to every unhappy customer and trying to repair the relationship with them.

He's in the same camp as Tim Britton to me.
 
I'd also like to know what the explanation is for all of the crap knives that were coming out before the move to Texas. Late spring/early summer of 2012 was when everyone started getting junk knives.
 
I read only latest post, but I've seen enough. I bought a GH blue custom. Carved frame you know the one. 3-d whatever they call it. It is anadized horribly. The action was squeaking and grinding-I fixed that with some lube. Now it loosens up every so often and I can't sell it because of the color sucks so bad. I will not buy any DDR,HTM knives again!!!
 
Sorry, but you simply cannot blame or direct all of the previous problems with Mr. Ralph's knives (or the knives his name was, and still is attached to) to HTM knives, and some alleged power struggle. From what I have observed, there have been a number of issues with DDR customs as well. I'm choosing not to post any links, as I don't think that will add anything to the discussion that hasn't already been brought up.

Copperjacket, your post seems like less of a reasonable explanation, and more like a poor excuse (not that I'm saying it's excusable).

As for coming out of retirement, I'm not sure what, if anything, that says about character. To me, it says he lost a source of income by selling his part of HTM knives.

Obviously the proof will be in the future knives released by DDR, but I disagree that his time is not better served addressing some of these issues himself. IF he wants any hope of resolution or the clearing of his name, he needs to speak for himself.

At any rate, I wish Mr. Ralph the best, and all the success moving forward.
 
knife to a gunfight said:
Obviously the proof will be in the future knives released by DDR, but I disagree that his time is not better served addressing some of these issues himself. IF he wants any hope of resolution or the clearing of his name, he needs to speak for himself.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't count on it. My guess is he's going to go the Mick Strider/Tony Marfione route and just ignore the problem, keep putting knives into the hands of the 'right' promoters and wait for it to blow over.

This is all just cover to try and reduce the amount of financial harm he's caused himself.
 
Just a point of clarification, please. Are you fellas saying if you buy a knife from a second or third party, the original maker is still liable for any issues with the knife?
 
David Stifle said:
Just a point of clarification, please. Are you fellas saying if you buy a knife from a second or third party, the original maker is still liable for any issues with the knife?
Click to expand...

I'm certainly not saying that, but my understanding is that the majority of issues came directly from the maker/manufacturer, usually do to with fit and/or finish.

I'm also under the impression that Mr. Ralph was more/less directly involved (or at the very least, directly attached his name to) the HTM knives, for which he was part owner of the company. I'd say that merits some degree of liability.

What the current contract is regarding HTM and DDR designs, now that Mr. Ralph is not longer "affiliated", I don't know, but if I were Mr. Ralph, I'd try to ensure that my designs were longer made by HTM, and that my name was completely out of the picture.
 
David Stifle said:
Just a point of clarification, please. Are you fellas saying if you buy a knife from a second or third party, the original maker is still liable for any issues with the knife?
Click to expand...

I think people are saying that if you buy a knife under the guise that the original maker is involved and it has issues, the original maker shouldn't wash his hands of it and say it's in the hands of some unknown party but encourages you to check out his new line.

Imagine is CRK's quality took a nose dive, then when everyone got mad, Chris concocted some story about a silent partner messing everything up and he's washed his hands. All CRK knves now can't be warrantied and Chris will have nothing to do with it from now on. Oh btw, please visit Chris's new company he started that's exactly the same as CRK, but different.
 
Scurvy092 said:
I think people are saying that if you buy a knife under the guise that the original maker is involved and it has issues, the original maker shouldn't wash his hands of it and say it's in the hands of some unknown party but encourages you to check out his new line.

Imagine is CRK's quality took a nose dive, then when everyone got mad, Chris concocted some story about a silent partner messing everything up and he's washed his hands. All CRK knves now can't be warrantied and Chris will have nothing to do with it from now on. Oh btw, please visit Chris's new company he started that's exactly the same as CRK, but different.
Click to expand...

I wasn't being critical, it just seemed a bit strange to me; but I know nothing of the company, the background, and so on. Please just carry on, Gents.:)
 
David Stifle said:
I wasn't being critical, it just seemed a bit strange to me; but I know nothing of the company, the background, and so on. Please just carry on, Gents.:)
Click to expand...

HTM was supposedly Darrell's production company a la Strider/CRK/Hinderer etc. He was supposedly intimately involved in everything. They were never advertised as an independent knife company who licensed his designs or he was the designer for.
 
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