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Ripped Off by Dustin Turpin Knives– Deal with Caution.

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Dale, man, how in the world did I miss this 20-page gem? Guess it doesn't help that I'm not actively on IG. Anyway, thank you for bringing this to the fore and I have no doubt you have done your level best to keep this as factual, and to the letter, as possible. I'm disappointed and shocked in Dustin's behavior to say the very least. I honestly thought he was better than this.

I am so sorry for what you have gone through and are still trying to resolve. I hope Dustin IMMEDIATELY sets aside his guilt, pride, embarrassment, and just picks up his phone and calls you personally. Brother, your patience and transparency is to be admired. As for Jim being involved to whatever degree, I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have every confidence Jim was, to a small degree, only trying to assist both parties. Bottom line, it's unfortunate that Dustin did not do the right thing from the get-go but that ship has sailed. It is fairly clear that his reputation and business are now clearly tarnished (secondary $$$ and demand are dropping daily) and this was entirely avoidable if he had only acted with integrity in all business deals/agreements. This is too bad because he is one helluva talented knife maker (who, BTW, was very nice to me 2+ years ago). I hope Dustin resolves this for you ASAP and gets back on track to reestablishing a more positive reputation and work ethic. This includes making things right with those (of the selected 25) still waiting on their knives promised by a prompt return of their $100 deposit--and personal apologies. If Dustin truly needs counseling/mental help, then he should get it, but there is no longer any excuse good enough for his repeated and lengthy delays. Keeping his word should always be a man's top priority, I don't care who you are or think you are.

I'll now be following this thread and hope it ends appropriately for you... and SOON. You're a good man, Dale. Call anytime.

~ Rob

Thanks, Rob. Good to hear from you. I am a very private person and the last thing I wanted to do was to make this public. But, after month after month after month of lies, I felt I had no other choice but to lay out every detail of what happened and let the community make its own judgement about what Dustin has done, and what he continues to make worse by ignoring the whole thing. He has stated publicly that he simply won't participate in social media or internet groups any longer and will just quietly sell his knives. I guess he thinks this storm will blow over, people will forget, and things will go back the way they were before. And maybe he is right, I guess time will tell.

As I have said before, I just don't buy his excuses any longer. He has always had one excuse after another from the very start of this deal two years ago. He's tired, he's stressed out, he is having a family problem, he has to build new shop equipment, he's mad that people are flipping his knives, he's mad that too many people are pestering him, etc etc etc. But with every excuse he gave me for why he could not honor our agreement, we was able to make plenty of knives for other people, for auctions, and for dealers. Just not mine. He has selective depression, I guess.

Anyway, I don't give up easily and I intend to make this my mission in life until such a time as he either gets some more serious consequences for what he has done, or he makes some real effort to fix the situation. The crazy thing is that all of this would be so easy to fix - if what Jim said is true and the two knives were being completed two weeks ago, where are they? Why no update? Why does he make zero effort to just step up and say, "look, I was wrong in how I've handled this but I am trying to make it right." This is not the kind of behavior we can tolerate in the knife community and if I have to follow him around to every knife show he ever plans to attend for the next 20 years, I will be right there to remind him that things don't just go away because you ignore them.

 
This thread has been going on for nearly two months...

All this time, legal actions could have been taken. Instead of beating around the bush, get up and actually do something. What we have here, folks, is a soap opera.
 
This thread has been going on for nearly two months...

All this time, legal actions could have been taken. Instead of beating around the bush, get up and actually do something. What we have here, folks, is a soap opera.

Thanks for your opinion. Are you a lawyer? I am. I know very well what is involved, the costs, time, and considerations - it's what I do for a living. There is still value in this "soap opera" as you call it. It is impacting Turpin's reputation as more people learn about what he has done to both myself and others, and deservedly so. If you feel as if this is drama that you prefer not to deal with it seems to me that you certainly are free to ignore the thread.
 
Hang in there Dale. I feel it takes something momentous to get your ire up........I think it is up at this point.
There is no reason for a stand up guy like you to get treated like this. Go get this mutt!
It's amazing how these thieves don't realize how easy it would be to stand up like a man and just do what's right. They want to hide and hope it goes away......it never does.
Fingers still crossed for you.
Joe
 
Thanks for your opinion. Are you a lawyer? I am. I know very well what is involved, the costs, time, and considerations - it's what I do for a living. There is still value in this "soap opera" as you call it. It is impacting Turpin's reputation as more people learn about what he has done to both myself and others, and deservedly so. If you feel as if this is drama that you prefer not to deal with it seems to me that you certainly are free to ignore the thread.

I don't care what you do for a living. You've already tarnished his reputation, so you've earned a medal for that. However, at this point, I'm not sure what we are accomplishing here anymore besides beating a dead horse.

20+ pages of the same stuff, now featuring Jim Skelton! Sounds like an opera to me, and not a course of action.
 
I don't care what you do for a living. You've already tarnished his reputation, so you've earned a medal for that. However, at this point, I'm not sure what we are accomplishing here anymore besides beating a dead horse.

20+ pages of the same stuff, now featuring Jim Skelton! Sounds like an opera to me, and not a course of action.
If it's no longer informative for you don't come in easy as that . I for one among others im sure appreciate the heads up and new info on how this make has screwed a member over. And I'm sure lawfor thanks ya for his medal.
 
I don't care what you do for a living. You've already tarnished his reputation, so you've earned a medal for that. However, at this point, I'm not sure what we are accomplishing here anymore besides beating a dead horse.

20+ pages of the same stuff, now featuring Jim Skelton! Sounds like an opera to me, and not a course of action.

Well, you basically stated the course of action that you seem to think needs to happen, which is legal. My response to you is that I likely know a bit more about the pros and cons and costs of taking that action because that is what I do for a living. Keeping this thread open is part, but not the only part, of my course of action. I'm sorry if that seems to bother you for some reason.
 
I don't care what you do for a living. You've already tarnished his reputation, so you've earned a medal for that. However, at this point, I'm not sure what we are accomplishing here anymore besides beating a dead horse.
20+ pages of the same stuff, now featuring Jim Skelton! Sounds like an opera to me, and not a course of action.

He's already said he is pursuing legal action as well as other avenues. He is actively receiving questions and comments from other people in this thread, even two whole months later (how many threads have you started that remained active for two months?). There is clearly enough community interest in this situation to not just lock it and hope for the best. The Skelton messages served as an update and will likely prove to be yet more evidence that Turpin is willing to pull out all the stops to screw over a guy who gave him every benefit of the doubt, even after deadlines were missed by a year.

What else would you have him do at this juncture?
 
They way Lawfor has handled this is great, the party concerned has been given every opportunity to make it right but refuses to.

Public/ cyberspace record now.

The JS business, just added more fuel since he is high end and gets the high end knives as he does.......
 
He's already said he is pursuing legal action as well as other avenues. He is actively receiving questions and comments from other people in this thread, even two whole months later (how many threads have you started that remained active for two months?). There is clearly enough community interest in this situation to not just lock it and hope for the best. The Skelton messages served as an update and will likely prove to be yet more evidence that Turpin is willing to pull out all the stops to screw over a guy who gave him every benefit of the doubt, even after deadlines were missed by a year.

What else would you have him do at this juncture?

Apparently he wants me to shut up, stop the "soap opera" and file a lawsuit. He's certainly entitled to his opinion but I am doing exactly - strategically - what I feel makes sense and since I'm the one who got screwed on this deal, I think that's my choice to make. I truly appreciate everyone who has taken a moment to support this thread. The longer it stays open and the more people read it, the more fallout and pressure is applied and to me, that has value and i appreciate that there is subforum exactly for this purpose.
 
Look, I've been following this thread since the beginning and have been hoping for things to go your way, Lawfor. Every time I click on this thread, I just see gossip. Dustin Turpin is bad, we all know that at this point. I just think we should give it a rest until something actually happens.
 
Look, I've been following this thread since the beginning and have been hoping for things to go your way, Lawfor. Every time I click on this thread, I just see gossip. Dustin Turpin is bad, we all know that at this point. I just think we should give it a rest until something actually happens.

"Hurry up and wait".

For what it's worth, I haven't seen any "non-updates" that weren't direct replies to questions or comments by other posters, and if you've been watching from the beginning you'd see that there's never been a significant amount of time without an update or a response from involved parties. Essentially, what you're asking for is already happening, but you seem to want it to happen less. Or, like a hyperactive child, perhaps you want to "skip ahead" to the end of the story without reading the middle chapters, I don't know.

The thread's value has been demonstrated by the simple fact that it's still trending #2 in Google search results under the maker's name. That's a pretty strong statement, and if it saves even one buyer from getting swindled out of a significant sum of money by a dishonest knife maker then it's worth its spot on the first page of GB&U.
 
Dale, you have my 100% support regardless of any dissenters. You have done a service to the community (collectors and makers alike) by bringing this up--I'm sure that was a tough but necessary choice. Having read this thread for the first time today (all 20+ pages), many, many others feel the exact same, and as I also read, makers included. We are not talking about a cheap trinket when you pay someone for products with a Rolex... this is serious business, and by no means a soap opera. If you had not voiced your situation publicly (after being as patient as any person could), very few would have ever known to steer clear of Turpin Knives. Dustin's behavior--and it continues still--not only tarnishes his reputation but also the entirety of the knife-making community. Keep plugging away, Dale, and if you or the BladeForums mods choose to close this thread, so be it... but no one else gets to make that decision.
 
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Normally I don't disagree with you
Blues but I do on this. I too have followed this and even recommended the same thing you did, but The longer this stays open the more eyes see it. Personally I think Dustins name should be drug/dragged through the mud as long as possible and as publically as possible.

Anyway, just my 2¢. Hope all is well.
Look, I've been following this thread since the beginning and have been hoping for things to go your way, Lawfor. Every time I click on this thread, I just see gossip. Dustin Turpin is bad, we all know that at this point. I just think we should give it a rest until something actually happens.
 
Until the outcome.....why close this thread? Not happy how it's unfolding....skip it. Everything isn't always black and white and everything doesn't just 'happen'.
I'd like to see it stay open till it's the number 1 hit on a Google search so more guys don't go down the rabbit hole that Dale did. Seeing what type of person Dale is, I'm pretty sure he's hoping the same.
Don't sweat it Dale.
Joe
 
Thanks guys. If I were Dustin, I'd be hoping this thread is closed and stops appearing near the top of the forum and slowly is forgotten. The sooner the thread is closed and new people don't see it, the better it is for him and his business. From what I hear he is making some knives for dealers and they also want this to go away because it hurts the value of the knives they are getting. I'm not sure why we should let that happen but I defer to those who actually make those thread decisions.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Normally I don't disagree with you Blues but I do on this. I too have followed this and even recommended the same thing you did, but The longer this stays open the more eyes see it. Personally I think Dustins name should be drug/dragged through the mud as long as possible and as publically as possible.

Anyway, just my 2¢. Hope all is well.

Agree 100%. Not hatin' on Blues at all, but think he is way off on this one. Peace.

Edit to add - keep up the good work, Lawfor. I am still hoping for a good outcome for you.
 
Like me, lawfor? You're the one who's been cheated. This forum is for spreading the word. Your call, not the kibitzers'.

Keep on keeping on.
 
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