***I HAVE BEEN REFUNDED***
I received a full refund of $2200. Rick did the right thing, I was not scammed or ripped off in the end. I wish it did not have to come to having to go public, but it's done and over with. I appreciate everyone's responses and support during this process.
For the record, Rick makes awesome knives and I hope this was a learning experience that will not be repeated. A lot of custom knifemakers fall into this rut and it's hard to get out of. Regardless, I wish him the best of luck going forward.
*************************************************************
Apparently the update above caused some mixed emotions. Please read my latest response which I also posted at the end of the thread:
"When I said to update the posts, I did not mean to take anything down. Everything should stay up as a lesson to any knifemaker that wants to pull this kind of crap with someone else. What I meant was that any ongoing thread that I am not posting to should be updated that he actually paid me back. Regardless the ridiculous amount of time it took and the negative feedback he rightfully received, it is the truth, he paid me back. In situations such as this, honesty is the best approach, I had nothing to hide; I was honest about what happened and I am being honest about the outcome.
As far as his knives being "awesome", well, that part is still true. He does make good knives, his poor business decision to drag me along for 4 years is what was being discussed here. If he sent me a piece of garbage for $2200 or nothing, ever, then we have a different issue entirely. There are people out there that did receive their knives from him or bought one that was already finished online and are very happy. I am not talking about fanboys who hold his "personal knife" while he urinated, but regular collectors. I owned and eventually sold (over a year ago) one of his custom Skull Tap blades. I knew he made good knives, that is why I sent him $2200. Me telling the world that all of his knives are suddenly pieces of shit because of a really stupid business decision would not be honest.
The dude took a beating for several days straight online and again, I have all of you to thank for that. His reputation is definitely scarred and it will take some time to recover. And yes, I agree, that I received my refund because of said beating and no, I will never own another custom Rick Barrett knife again, period. The incident is over, all of the posts will remain online for years to come and potential customers will find it.
On that note, during this long, 4 year, process, I had been periodically checking all over the internet for any negative press about Rick Barrett. Some have told me it's out there, but I was never able to find anything. That may be why I gave him the benefit of the doubt for so long, but it's here now and there is no changing that.
I will switch my heading back to bad (instead of no header), someone had pointed out that I shouldn't of changed it and I agree.
**********************************************************
I am finally going public with the transaction I have had and still have with Rick Barrett. I was way more patient and understanding than I should have been as you will see in the emails below. Please note that I have omitted some of the personal conversation we had as it is not for public consumption. If you want to get a summary without all the communication, just skip to the end.
I have tried to make this as easy to read as possible. Here is the timeline:
9/17/15 - Rick Barrett displays two knives on Instagram saying that they are being built and available for customization. I email him and we begin to discuss pricing, options and so forth on the Fallout model.
9/18/15 to 10/15/15 - Rick and I email each other back and forth many times discussing various topics surrounding the customization of this knife. I had collected a ton of knives up to this point, but never a custom that I had a say in. Rick was very patient and we slowly agreed upon a design in which I mailed him a check for the full value of the knife: $2200. Before anyone starts with the speeches, I had the money at the time and Rick said it would make Christmas that much better for his kids. Given Rick's reputation, I wasn't worried. I was in Japan on vacation towards the end of this discussion.
10/20/15 - I emailed Rick stating that I was home from my trip to Japan and received no response. No big deal at this time.
------------------
3 months pass
------------------
1/29/16 - Rick's Email:
"Sorry about the long lapse in communication. I had really hope to have your knife done by now but I've been crazy busy dealing with some logistics issues and catching up on some way overdue fixed blades. Anyways, I'll be making some serious progress this month and will start getting you some pictures and updates as things go along. Hope all is well on your end and you had a great holiday season."
1/31/16 - My Email:
"Thanks for the update, I appreciate it. And I totally understand how things can get hectic, I am so close to finishing my first folder, but its taken months to find the right days to get out to Alan Davis's house. I am 3 days into it and it should be finished tomorrow. I have a pic of it on Instagram (rustworx). My new job is kicking my ass right now, but its a startup tech company that has the potential of paying off big time. We'll see..."
------------------
5 months pass
------------------
6/~/16 - At this point I no longer received any communication until I saw Rick at Reate's table at Blade. We spoke for a few minutes, he explained there was a delay with waterjetting parts and he needed to find a new company, etc. I have no reason to doubt him, but then the zero communication continues.
------------------
6 months pass
------------------
12/10/16 - My Email:
"We spoke briefly at Blade while you were at the Reate table who were showing off your mid-tech prototype I believe. They did a very nice job, btw, I see them popping up here and there on different websites.
I just wanted to see real quick if you had any updates. I know you were having an issue with multiple water jet companies no longer honoring your agreement and/or just not doing a good job. I, myself, am so consumed with my job that I haven't touched my grinder since before Blade this year."
12/14/16 - Rick's Email:
"Holy cow, almost missed this email and had been waiting to hear from you. Got moved to my junk mail. I'm in the middle of my holiday rush right now but I have everything almost ready to go. I had lost a bunch of my contact info on my old computer and couldn't seem to find your contact info but the project has been progressing. The only big thing I have left to do is confirm the gear artwork I did up before engraving it on the frame. I have to dig up to sketch take a pic and send it your way. Anyways, like I said, in a holiday rush right now but I'd like to have your project be one of my first ones finished in the new year. So I'll find the sketch and send it your way sometime in the next few days so we can confirm things. Talk to you soon and so glad to hear from you. Was beginning to worry that something happened to ya."
12/14/16 - My Email:
"I was doing my best to not be a pain in the ass
Glad to hear from you and I am glad I emailed you when I did.
The beginning of the year is perfectly fine and I can't wait to see your sketch. I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas!!"
------------------
4 months pass
------------------
4/6/17 - My Email:
"I never received any sketches for the knife. Please let me know what the status is. Thanks!!"
4/6/17 - Rick's Email:
"Here's the sketch, mainly to get an idea of the gear shape and placement. I had an idea to then do quite a bit splatter or etched away metal effects around the gear area similar to the effect around the radiation symbol on the skulltap then even add some bullet holes and bash up the frames really good on the outside giving them that worn look. Then I was going to take some copper bar and pretty much grind it/rub it into all the recessed areas and over the frame to try and get a bit of a mechanical copper deposit going on"
---This email had three pics attached two it. Two were of other knives he made prior and one was a sketch of what the handle would look like when complete. This was just a sketch, nothing else.
------------------
1 month passes (this one was my fault)
------------------
5/8/17 - My Email:
"Sorry for the delay, (my personal junk omitted).
I really like the sketch you sent. I was going to ask some other questions, but given that I have no time to really put anymore thought into this, I am cool with what you want to go with (really cool with it). The only thing I want to ask is if you do use the bullet hole look, can you make the holes look more jagged and less round? I want it to look like it was punctured or struck by something sharp other than a perfectly round bullet?
Thank you for your patience and I hope to see you at blade."
---As you can see from this message, I end up giving him full discretion so there would be no more delays from going back and forth. At this point it's been 1.5 years since I sent Rick $2200 and I didn't want to wait any longer.
(continued on next post)
I received a full refund of $2200. Rick did the right thing, I was not scammed or ripped off in the end. I wish it did not have to come to having to go public, but it's done and over with. I appreciate everyone's responses and support during this process.
For the record, Rick makes awesome knives and I hope this was a learning experience that will not be repeated. A lot of custom knifemakers fall into this rut and it's hard to get out of. Regardless, I wish him the best of luck going forward.
*************************************************************
Apparently the update above caused some mixed emotions. Please read my latest response which I also posted at the end of the thread:
"When I said to update the posts, I did not mean to take anything down. Everything should stay up as a lesson to any knifemaker that wants to pull this kind of crap with someone else. What I meant was that any ongoing thread that I am not posting to should be updated that he actually paid me back. Regardless the ridiculous amount of time it took and the negative feedback he rightfully received, it is the truth, he paid me back. In situations such as this, honesty is the best approach, I had nothing to hide; I was honest about what happened and I am being honest about the outcome.
As far as his knives being "awesome", well, that part is still true. He does make good knives, his poor business decision to drag me along for 4 years is what was being discussed here. If he sent me a piece of garbage for $2200 or nothing, ever, then we have a different issue entirely. There are people out there that did receive their knives from him or bought one that was already finished online and are very happy. I am not talking about fanboys who hold his "personal knife" while he urinated, but regular collectors. I owned and eventually sold (over a year ago) one of his custom Skull Tap blades. I knew he made good knives, that is why I sent him $2200. Me telling the world that all of his knives are suddenly pieces of shit because of a really stupid business decision would not be honest.
The dude took a beating for several days straight online and again, I have all of you to thank for that. His reputation is definitely scarred and it will take some time to recover. And yes, I agree, that I received my refund because of said beating and no, I will never own another custom Rick Barrett knife again, period. The incident is over, all of the posts will remain online for years to come and potential customers will find it.
On that note, during this long, 4 year, process, I had been periodically checking all over the internet for any negative press about Rick Barrett. Some have told me it's out there, but I was never able to find anything. That may be why I gave him the benefit of the doubt for so long, but it's here now and there is no changing that.
I will switch my heading back to bad (instead of no header), someone had pointed out that I shouldn't of changed it and I agree.
**********************************************************
I am finally going public with the transaction I have had and still have with Rick Barrett. I was way more patient and understanding than I should have been as you will see in the emails below. Please note that I have omitted some of the personal conversation we had as it is not for public consumption. If you want to get a summary without all the communication, just skip to the end.
I have tried to make this as easy to read as possible. Here is the timeline:
9/17/15 - Rick Barrett displays two knives on Instagram saying that they are being built and available for customization. I email him and we begin to discuss pricing, options and so forth on the Fallout model.
9/18/15 to 10/15/15 - Rick and I email each other back and forth many times discussing various topics surrounding the customization of this knife. I had collected a ton of knives up to this point, but never a custom that I had a say in. Rick was very patient and we slowly agreed upon a design in which I mailed him a check for the full value of the knife: $2200. Before anyone starts with the speeches, I had the money at the time and Rick said it would make Christmas that much better for his kids. Given Rick's reputation, I wasn't worried. I was in Japan on vacation towards the end of this discussion.
10/20/15 - I emailed Rick stating that I was home from my trip to Japan and received no response. No big deal at this time.
------------------
3 months pass
------------------
1/29/16 - Rick's Email:
"Sorry about the long lapse in communication. I had really hope to have your knife done by now but I've been crazy busy dealing with some logistics issues and catching up on some way overdue fixed blades. Anyways, I'll be making some serious progress this month and will start getting you some pictures and updates as things go along. Hope all is well on your end and you had a great holiday season."
1/31/16 - My Email:
"Thanks for the update, I appreciate it. And I totally understand how things can get hectic, I am so close to finishing my first folder, but its taken months to find the right days to get out to Alan Davis's house. I am 3 days into it and it should be finished tomorrow. I have a pic of it on Instagram (rustworx). My new job is kicking my ass right now, but its a startup tech company that has the potential of paying off big time. We'll see..."
------------------
5 months pass
------------------
6/~/16 - At this point I no longer received any communication until I saw Rick at Reate's table at Blade. We spoke for a few minutes, he explained there was a delay with waterjetting parts and he needed to find a new company, etc. I have no reason to doubt him, but then the zero communication continues.
------------------
6 months pass
------------------
12/10/16 - My Email:
"We spoke briefly at Blade while you were at the Reate table who were showing off your mid-tech prototype I believe. They did a very nice job, btw, I see them popping up here and there on different websites.
I just wanted to see real quick if you had any updates. I know you were having an issue with multiple water jet companies no longer honoring your agreement and/or just not doing a good job. I, myself, am so consumed with my job that I haven't touched my grinder since before Blade this year."
12/14/16 - Rick's Email:
"Holy cow, almost missed this email and had been waiting to hear from you. Got moved to my junk mail. I'm in the middle of my holiday rush right now but I have everything almost ready to go. I had lost a bunch of my contact info on my old computer and couldn't seem to find your contact info but the project has been progressing. The only big thing I have left to do is confirm the gear artwork I did up before engraving it on the frame. I have to dig up to sketch take a pic and send it your way. Anyways, like I said, in a holiday rush right now but I'd like to have your project be one of my first ones finished in the new year. So I'll find the sketch and send it your way sometime in the next few days so we can confirm things. Talk to you soon and so glad to hear from you. Was beginning to worry that something happened to ya."
12/14/16 - My Email:
"I was doing my best to not be a pain in the ass
Glad to hear from you and I am glad I emailed you when I did. The beginning of the year is perfectly fine and I can't wait to see your sketch. I hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas!!"
------------------
4 months pass
------------------
4/6/17 - My Email:
"I never received any sketches for the knife. Please let me know what the status is. Thanks!!"
4/6/17 - Rick's Email:
"Here's the sketch, mainly to get an idea of the gear shape and placement. I had an idea to then do quite a bit splatter or etched away metal effects around the gear area similar to the effect around the radiation symbol on the skulltap then even add some bullet holes and bash up the frames really good on the outside giving them that worn look. Then I was going to take some copper bar and pretty much grind it/rub it into all the recessed areas and over the frame to try and get a bit of a mechanical copper deposit going on"
---This email had three pics attached two it. Two were of other knives he made prior and one was a sketch of what the handle would look like when complete. This was just a sketch, nothing else.
------------------
1 month passes (this one was my fault)
------------------
5/8/17 - My Email:
"Sorry for the delay, (my personal junk omitted).
I really like the sketch you sent. I was going to ask some other questions, but given that I have no time to really put anymore thought into this, I am cool with what you want to go with (really cool with it). The only thing I want to ask is if you do use the bullet hole look, can you make the holes look more jagged and less round? I want it to look like it was punctured or struck by something sharp other than a perfectly round bullet?
Thank you for your patience and I hope to see you at blade."
---As you can see from this message, I end up giving him full discretion so there would be no more delays from going back and forth. At this point it's been 1.5 years since I sent Rick $2200 and I didn't want to wait any longer.
(continued on next post)
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