My first and last order at HI

oliverplomion

oliverplomion

Joined
Jun 17, 2003
Messages
1,268
Today, I received a package from Himalayan Import, my first order! I had the pleasure to get a BAS in a trade and wanted to get another one, and since I saw so much good on the AK I tough: "let's get one!".
well, you guys have maybee been lucky, but not me, and I want to say I've been VERY unlucky.
I could not wait to open the package, and when I did, I found the BAS first.
I took it out of the sheath and saw...RUST, the tip was completely rusted, not some small spots, I mean RUSTED. One of the small blade of the BAS had a broken handle.
Then I took the AK... There was no rust, but a very well cracked handle
and the but cap was siting 0.5 millimeter loose on the top of the handle.
The worse of all of this is I've been told those will be "selected" Kuks, let's say the horn of the AK were cracked during transport (but I doubt) I can see the rust on the BAS is way more than 2 weeks old! I even had to pay 75$ to get the package at the custom.
This is the worse buy I have ever made! My wife laughed and said:"this? 300$???? ".
:mad: :mad: :mad:
To send those blades back will cost me about 50$ from Denmark to USA, in the stand they're, they're not even worth it!
I have pictures on request! :mad:
 
Have you talked to Bill about the problem? I don't think so because if you had you wouldn't be posting your anger.

Try talking to Bill (or Yangdu if he is not available) and I believe your problem will be solved.

Lots of things can happen to a shipment between Reno and Denmark.

Semp
 
well, understand me well, guys, it's not that I have personnal anger against HI... but damn... imagine, paying 75$ at the custom to get your package and looking at this...that's not good! the worse is that in less than 2 weeks I deploy! so I don't even have time to get others! :grumpy:
 
I bet we could get a nice one to you in time if we tried.
This has nothing to do with me, but I feel a certain amount of regret that you had a negative experience.
 
That's the pain with ordering anything over a distance. Getting it back if it's messed up.

Thats a shame that they were so messed up. I personally think HI should avoid the horn handles for a while so many are cracking.

You'd be surprised how fast a khuk blade can rust. However I am surprised yours was that rusty straight from HI. They usually have a thick coat of oil.

You have probably read Uncle Bill has been sick. Maybe somebody else shipped those without looking. Still going to Denmark they should have been super selected.
 
yep...well, it's only the tip that rusted...but still... I got an answer from HI, they propose that I send them back so I can get some new when I come back in 6 month from deploy :grumpy:
I wanted to take my 15" AK with me on my deploy and the answer were "will not fail. Trust me on this one. The handle is not going to fall off. It is still there to stay glue or not crack or not. I would not send you into harm's way with a delinquent khukuri

but still, even if I trust what he say, deploy with a glued handle is not what I expected... I just have to face I used some money on 2 deffects kuks and I won't have any of them on my next deploy and THAT piss me off... sorry if I sound negative but man.... :grumpy:
 
I've been in touch with Ollie via email. Order was mixed up -- he got blems instead of top of line items. Rust and cracks are cosmetic and easy fixes which could be effected before deployment. If Ollie chooses this route I offered to discount the order 50% which should earn him about $50 an hour for repair time.

Or, he can return the order for full refund.

Cosmetic failures never lead to failure in the field -- that's why we still guarantee our blems 100% lifetime. I would not send anybody into harm's way if I had any reservations regarding the performance of the khukuris. In 16 years of putting khukuris into the field, 1000's of them, I've never seen rust cause a blade failure or a crack cause a handle failure.

Current health problems prevent me from giving 100% to the HI cause as I have done in the past so I suspect we have not seen the last of this sort of problem. Bottom line is try to struggle along as best we can and correct mistakes or lock up shop and simply avoid the problems. It's actually your choice. Right now at 4:30 AM setting here at this screen waiting for a pain pill to kick in the matter of rusted khukuris doesn't seem like a number one priority to me. Sorry. Just part of the deal.
 
Bill, I'm sorry for your health problems. This is very sad. But sending those blades back won't make me get them before I leave because of delays of shipment.
I can accept getting blems instead of top of the line,error is human and you're sick so... But for me a cracked handle is a bit more than a cosmetic problem. Specialy when the but cap don't even join the handle!
Sorry if my mails disturbed you at 4:30 AM, that was not meaning.
I think your answer said a lot on the way to fix the problem...very disapointing. I had a trust in your compagny by reading good threads on this forum, I was wrong. For me the point is that I had trust to get good products that I could take with me. Not an answer like "send it back or glue it..."
 
I don't know what to tell you. I can't change history. I think your best bet is to return the knives for full refund, including all shipping costs and wait until a couple of months after I've died before ordering anything else from HI. Things should be back to normal by then.
 
Ollie - If you got caught in a time crunch, that's not HI's fault. HI has offered either a 50% discount or a full refund...what more do you want? HI cannot reverse time. Accept Bill's offer of a full refund, go out and buy something you'll be happy with and quit bitching.
 
Ollie I'm sorry to hear about your misfortune but I can assure you that these sligh problems aren't going to affect the khuk's function. I buy blems almost exclusively and they are as solid as they come. A handle crack isn't going to keep you from felling a tree, digging a ditch, or handle some more gruesome task. I'm pretty darn hard on my knives and have incured no problems of any kind. Superglue will fix the crack and I'm sure the rust is just surface rust, easily fixed with some sand paper and tender loving care. I always think of it as a bonding ritual between me and my blade.
 
I'm with everyone else on this one Ollie. I TOTALLY understand your point of view about the mix up. you paid a lot of money and there was a mistake. That's life, right? I can personally promise you that short of beating that handle with a hammer and ripping it off with a pair of vice grips, that handle is not going anywhere. I'm SUPER tough on my khuks. I'm like Cliff Stamp without all the valuable science. I wreck things. I have an AK JUST like yours that is held together with JB weld and electrical tape. I'd trust my life with that ugly little sucker. I think Uncle Bill has made you a fair offer. HI goofed. He's sorry, and he's trying to find a middle-of-the-road way to fix things. Please understand that its been a pretty rocky time among the regular group in the Cantina. I'm very sorry for your order mishap, but please understand HI is doing its best right now given the circumstances. Good luck to you.

~Jake
 
I guess you have to get a dissatisfied customer once in a while. Frankly I would take the 50% refund, epoxy/superglue the AK and fix the BAS. You said you have pics, any chance of a peak? Some of the other guys on here may have advice about dealing with them quickly etc. Incidentally, the butt cap on my 18" WW2 was similar to yours by the sounds of it, that took 2 minutes with some glue and a toothpic to deal with.
 
Nasty said:
Ollie - If you got caught in a time crunch, that's not HI's fault. HI has offered either a 50% discount or a full refund...what more do you want? HI cannot reverse time. Accept Bill's offer of a full refund, go out and buy something you'll be happy with and quit bitching.
Click to expand...


me bitching??? give me a break! Hey guys! as I said I'm not mad at HI personnally, or I'm not BITCHING! I know Bill is sick and that's terrible! but damn! telling me to wait untill he is dead before I ever place another order, THAT is not nice!
Hey...Ok... he offered a 50% and that is nice I said thank you but those knives were part of a trade so I can't get any form for refund! Woaw... Sorry guys if I said anything that could hurt any's sensibility (sorry for that Nasty :barf: ) it almost sound like I made the mistake! My only mistake seem that I was hoping to deploy with a nice kuk, that's what I payed for...
 
oliverplomion said:
...those knives were part of a trade...
Click to expand...

Sounds like you should be talking this over with the person you traded with....
 
no...I made a trade with a guy, he did his part, he placed an order and payed this order, he just asked HI to send the package to me. The guy is not responsible for that in anyway. He just agreed ,payed and gave my adress to HI...
 
Oliver,

I am a serving U.S. Marine who has spent the better part of the last few years deployed.

I ended up in a position that I needed big knives relatively cheap for Marines that were being sent in harms way.

I initially contacted another firm that has a forum here from my .mil email address and was politely but basically told that they didn’t know who I was; they had other priorities, etc. I will not be doing business with that firm again.

I perused this forum as I had previously used Khukris and native bolos. The responses were overwhelming. If you do a search under my old user name (FOG) you will see the responses.

The forum members are correct that the Khukris will not fail, if you do some testing beforehand to ensure that the Kamis weren’t lazy.

Personally I, and most other Marines and other service members I deal with, prefer ugly for actual deployment/field use. It draws less attention which is real good. The other factor that is that getting them really field (convex sharpening, duct taping sheaths, etc) makes them not quite so presentable.

I understand you are not happy about the condition that they arrived as that is not what you paid for. I cannot do anything about that and you should have gotten what you paid for. Uncle has tried the best he knows how to fix the situation.

I am deploying again overseas in the next few weeks. Depending on where you are going I may be able to bring you a nicer Khukri either enroute or in theater. I am going to Iraq but may be going via the Stans enroute. The other alternative is we are getting forced to do an exercise in Denmark early summer. I can arrange to have one with one of the aircrew in order to by-pass customs delay.

Pease let me know.

S/F, FOG (II)
 
Sure would be great if you could find a way of posting those pictures here so everyone could see just what your taliking about.

Maybe one of the gold members could get them from you and post them.

I know everyone would be very interested in seeing what these knives look like.
 
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