A Tale of Two Davids, or how I messed up exceptionaly well

[Gary W. Graley]

A lesson to be learned and thought I'd share it with all you who trade/sell knives on the forums.

Scenario; Knife forsale at such and such a price...

Email arrives; I'm interested, is the knife in like new shape? signed David...

I respond to the email with a scan and a digital pic of the knife.

Night passes

New day; An Email from David, saying I'm strapped for cash would you take less?
NOTE: The email address is different from the other David but figured, wrongly, that he was emailing from work or home...

I respond to that David. That David gets the knife.

Not five minutes later the FIRST David emails me a Thankyou for the pics and that he'd like the knife and would send payment right away!

What have I done!?!

As those that are clever than I probably have guessed...there were TWO Davids! Not handy for me!

So I quick as I could contacted the Second David and try to explain myself and the convoluted mess I've wandered into. He sort of understands but thought that it meant he was out the knife, but I do stick to what I said, as the First David and I hadn't ~Closed~ the deal per se, just waiting on his responce from the images sent.

Done is done, I contact the First David and locate him a knife like mine for a little better price and emailed him and the other fellow to let them work it out to a good end for both. I've not heard back from the First David yet and hope he understands I didn't intend for it to go like this!

Lesson learned? Yeppers I certainly hope so, one of the things I'm going to request is to get the persons Last name or at least their Forum name so I can keep the Davids apart...

Just wanted to share this scene with you and hope it might cut the chance of it happening to others...

This was just the perfect ending to a wonderful week of car problems!
Transmission on mine which when checked they said gee you better replace that clutch too...$1,400 and they aren't finished yet, still some kind of noise they are going to check on. My daughters car, I was going to drive to work while she was away and my car is in the shop, wouldn't start! Had to have it towed to the dealership, a third party Theft Protection circuit was the culprit, causing the the ignition not to turn on....my wife's van, leaking transmission oil, but still works so I'm waiting for it to go...

So to all, take care when you email out there!
G2

 

[drdl]

Hello all,

I'm one of the Daves involved in this little misunderstanding. I've dealt with him before and just wanted to say that Gary is a great guy and an asset to the forum.

This misunderstanding was in no way his fault (I hang out with two other Daves every weekend...it does get confusing !) but Gary went out of his way to find another knife for me.

Everyone should be glad that there are stand-up guys like Gary among the forum members.

 

[GigOne]

drdl. . . You're absolutely correct in your assessment of G2 !

Gary and I have made several transactions and have always enjoyed my dealings with him. . . In fact, I'm still wearing both !

I said this in a earlier thread and am more that happy to state this again, "If there ever is or was a ICON on this forum ~ it's G2 !

What a great guy !

 

[Jameson]

Things are getting bad when G2 needs to clear his name. A bad sign IMO, Mr. Graley, everyone here knows you are respectable and a good man to deal with, why would you feel you had to defend yourself openly?

JC

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Jameson, it wasn't to defend my name, not the intent but more to show just how easy email communication can become twisted...and confused.

Happened to me, just figured that it could happen to someone else as well and wanted to post it as a lesson to be learned.

Thanks David and GigOne, appreciate the words sirs!

So I says to myself, What are the odds?
G2

 

[OwenM]

Don't feel bad Gary, I had a custom knife that made it's way to me via Owen Wood in Colorado...we were on the same mailing list, and the wrong Owen's address got printed on the shipping label. Anyway, I got to talk to Owen Wood for a few minutes on the phone...nice guy, makes some beautiful knives, and has a really cool name, too
Odds?

 

[WrayH]

I am pleased to report that there has been no such occurance in any transactions or communications between Gary and myself. Gary got it right each and every time.

 

[Starfish]

Sounds like it's been a heckuva week for you, G2! Although I'm not so sure that it was the multiplicity of Daves that turned your head inside out, so much as it was a certain annoying, persistent forumite who insists on inundating you with question after question about custom knives

Well, hope that transmission problem gets itself fixed for you soon, if not, I hear that horse and buggies are pretty popular in that area of Pennsylvania, no?

Matthew

 

[Chefget]

Hey, that's what you get for saying you're not going to make anymore of the most sought after leather sheaths in knife collecting!!

-Michael

 

[Melvin-Purvis]

With some extra effort on your part, you were able to pull it together for every one! (And that Gary, that's just part of the reason why you're so well respected around here..."Good on ya")

Point well taken too...how many of these do you get? "Hi <insert name here>, I have that knife you were looking for, bob"

The response? "Hi Bob, and what knife would that be?"

Funny story here, we ordered a Tom Clinton 'Dealer Special' Randall from Tom, and after a few months I came home from work to find 'two' USPS parcel claim slips in the mailbox...

Off to the post office I go, and there are 'two' boxes from Tom...I open them both, and there are two RMK TC/DS knives, one in each box. So, I call Tom, "We received the knife, it's beautiful, and it's close to my birthday, but did you really mean to send us two knives...?"

A long pause, followed by a chuckle and, "Ohhh, so that's where the other knife went..."

We sent Tom his knife back the next day...

Good communication, honesty, and a willingness to go the extra mile...that's what makes our hobby fun.

Nice work Gary, and thanks for the reminder to properly identify ourselves.

Mel

 

[UW Mitch]

Hey names get mixed up all the time! OKCA recently sent me Bob Lum's member badge and table holder info!

~Mitch Lum

 

[tom mayo]

all you chinese look the same too!!!!

 

[wolfmann601]

Now I know why my Momma named me IRA. I can finally forgive her!!!!
Gary, being the absolute honest guy your are, this is really a funny way to end a bad week. My name is I-R-A

 

[Professor]

It was good of you to post an explanation, and even better of you to try and remedy the situation by "scouting" for another piece for him.

G2's better than his word. I'm still a little sore at him for giving up sheathmaking temporarily , but other than that he's first class all the way. I guess some of my knives will just have to remain "nekid" for a while longer.

Professor.

 

[Iverson]

I have often thought of changing my name to more unique like "Gene Simmons" or something like that

But seriously, having the name Dave can be difficult, Don't you agree, Mike, Richard, Jim, Jack and John?

I worked at a Grocery store in college where there were 108 employees. The Store Managers name= Dave, 2 of 3 Front End managers names= Dave, My direct Supervisor in Seafood= Dave ME=Dave.... And I gotta tell you when someone would get on the horn and announce "Dave, you have a phone call on line one... Dave line one.."
It just used to kill me...

Take it easy.... you guessed it...
-Dave

 

[Gene]

My problem has been with "Mikes". I had a little knife sale awhile back and sold knives to five different Mikes. I really sweated sending the wrong knife to the wrong Mike. I like Mikey's though! Guys named Mike seem to be really great guys!

Yes indeed, Gary's one of the real good guys on these great forums. I still keep hearing that "Gary rocks"! Like I told him a long time ago, he needs to get into that rocking chair and "rock more"!

 

[bhyde]

I am new to the BF, but have enjoyed the forums! I have recently purchased a CR folder from Gary and had nothing but a pleasant experience with him! BTW, Gary, I have gotten the Sebbie back from Chris and it looks GREAT! Thank you for the great deal and trusting me
even though you didnt know me! (Gary sent me the knife without first having a check in hand!)

 

[Gary W. Graley]

Thanks guys, well most of you guys, that Professor...hmmmm

Things worked out for the best and I hope it's been informative, unlike some recent posts on this thread, although they have been interesting reading to say the least!

How one person can evade answering a simple question, asked over and over and over again, well I have no response to that!

G2