(SOLVED, happy with outcome) Need to call out a knife maker (Ken Coats) for his very poor response

Had Ryan taken the time to pick up a damn phone & exercised a little more patience in lieu of the time he spent writing this negative OP, and then going MIA, there probably wouldn't have been a need for this thread in the first place.

COMMUNICATION!!!

This thread, just cemented the fact, that I will never again, do a deal with an International member; I don't care what his/her reputation is!

 

How much more patience? The OP waited many months (~5) for a reply from the maker.
The OP went 'MIA' for 8 days, and in his penultimate post before that, he stated he was sick..

Also, regarding this ' pick up the phone ' thing, some people are insisting about. Unless you record the phone conversations, you have no record/proof of what was agreed over that phone call. So, many people in the world prefer to use email/chat/messengers for exactly that reason - to have a written agreement!

 

I have been following this thread since the beginning, and for anyone who actually cares...my opinions.

One: I hate when custom makers communication is crap...therefore, after looking at purchasing a Coats knife,
I will be passing on them for life. If I was Ken, I would have OP’s knife out the door asap so this circus would end quickly.

Second: OP, you shoulda picked up the darn phone and gave Ken a call. Long distance or not. Its just not right. Unless you lost your voice from your sickness, a call could have been made. And who knows, you may have gotten it all straightened out and had a good time with the maker. Coulda turned into a great relationship.

Just with the communication between both parties in this thread, I wouldn’t want to deal with either of them...transparency, communication, honour and reputations seem to have gone out the window. Its very unfortunate.

If the thread title changed, it could read “Finally! After 5+months of waiting, I finally got my knife back!”

I have nothing against either parties personally. These are just my thoughts on this matter. But, this thread has made me realize who not to buy from.

Next time, pick up the phone, try all ways to communicate, and then post a “Bad” thread. This should be the last resort.

 

..... wow..... paint with broad brush strokes much... one could also argue that the US maker was as bad (perhaps much worse) at communicating as the Aussie that has offended your delicate sensibilities so.

 

I guess those of us not in the U.S. will have to learn to live without the transactions of certain other members. How will we survive???

I know Ken personally and I like him a lot. I have ordered knives from him and purchased them here on Bladeforums. Never a problem. I was very surprised by this thread.

I hope the OP is made whole soon and Ken restores his reputation.

 

FYI: At post #37 Ryan allowed he had no means to contact him other than IG, FB or email, with little (no?) success.

In Post #40 I dug out Ken's Phone # from the Knives Annual listing and posted it to expedite a solution.

 

I'm still flabbergasted by the poor excuse for a knife the OP did get in the mail from Ken's address. WTH was that all about?? Anyway, the important thing is that this seems to be approaching a resolution and IMO it was nice that the maker finally showed up in the thread.

 

Glad to see that hopefully a positive resolution is on the horizon.
OP - please be sure to post a couple of pics of the new knife and some comments.

Would have been nice to have Mr. Coats actually add his side of the story here. Seems odd that we got nothing except "calm down, a new one is on the way".
But, I guess that is his prerogative to leave a lot of folks guessing if he wishes. Would be nice to know how the OP ended up with that Frankenstein knife.

 

^^ In response to a couple of the International member's above:
My sincerest apologies if I've offended anyone here in the International community, but I do, paint with a very broad brush; especially when I'm transacting with random stranger's, on the internet! I mean who of you here, do I actually, really know? I've been fortunate to meet a few member's/Dealer/Custom knife maker's. here in SoCal (face to face), but those exceptions have been few & far between.

Just because someone's a member here, & may use a famous action movie star's picture, or perhaps a really stupid, smug looking profile picture; how do I really know, that that stupid looking profile picture, is truly the person, pictured in that profile picture???

I witnessed a situation on a social media site a year or 2 ago, where a couple of people were scammed, simply because the scammer was very creative. He used fake pictures successfully creating a fake make believe family. He then used these illusions of grandeur (portraying himself as a very successful, loving father/husband, posing with his beautiful lovely wife, smiling children, & expensive cars...as well as quoting Scripture), to lure in his prey. Heck, I even put my guard down, because that fictitious wife he chose, was smoking hot! And then this person, was even more creative, taking the the time to create & groom other fake accounts, which he used to validate the one he used to scam with.....& then he just disappeared with his cache of stolen knives...never to be heard from again.

Truth be told, I'd really like to transact with everybody here, but the culmination of reading so many BAD GBU stories & then factoring in how unpredictable Customs can sometimes be, along with the increased chances of loss/theft on the long journey abroad, I just don't feel like taking the the chance of dealing Internationally, any longer. It's risky enough dealing with people within the U.S. 50.

As for the the OP here:
He absolutely seems like a very nice, respectful young man. I just took exception with the way he dealt with this situation (creating a GBU thread). These are the potential communication breakdowns, all people face when they choose to deal on the internet & with their tech devices. I have no doubt, that had Ryan had ability to meet Mr. Coats in person at his shop, they'd probably be good friend's today.

I'm really looking forward to seeing this knife!

 

Wow that was a long one!

 

Hey, I have a solution. Save up a little more money and buy a Tony Bose custom. I would bet my last dollar this has not happened with this icon or any of his customers, no matter where they are!

 

I'm still waiting for Ken to tell us why he sent that POS to the OP. How many times/ ways can we ask.

 

Do not worry. Though the sentence is horribly mangled, here is some sage advice to consider:

 

I think you'll be waiting indefinitely.

Poor communication. Sending out unacceptably bad work. Not addressing these basic issues. I've learned a lot from this thread of who not to deal with, and it isn't the international buyer.

 

Here we go, yeah I sent the POS knife to Ryan. Am I going to defend myself? - not much, past customers already have. When this originally started and was put up in traditionals
I believe it was done on purpose. This was done without any contact with me and spewing about a broken spring twice. That did not happen. I'm not saying I've never had a broken spring,
I am saying I've never had 2 on the same knife. Every other word out of the OP's mouth was about a design flaw. After a solid 10 year run of selling knives on BF I'm still not ready to
throw in the towel as so many others have.
So when Ryan gets his replacement knife. I hope he's happy, I'm sure you will see pics of it 8 ways from straight and you can CF & CE it for an eternity to come.
Ken .

 

why did you send the POS knife instead of just returning his knife if you did not want to repair it?

 

I’m curious why you made a new knife, rather than repair the broken knife?

 

Whelp, definitely never owning a knife by this Coats guy. I never understand makers who act like you should bow down and show reverence that they deigned to allow you to buy a knife from them. Too many other great makers out there to put up with THAT nonsense.

P.S. Hey Ken, could you have some of your past customers (you know, the ones defending you so you don't have to defend yourself) stop by and explain why you sent that garbage knife to OP?

 

If I make it up to the Badger Knife show next month, I’ll be sure to walk right past your table. Such an asshole...

 

^ Yep!
And when you thought it couldn't get any worse, the maker finally 'shows up' and makes a fool of himself..

The maker lied to you, TOMBSTONE: 1.there were 2 knives 2. he is posting (his internet and email are working fine, just another lie) 3. he's not standing behind his product