Advice Needed....customer has gone silent

Carterwhopkins

Carterwhopkins

Joined
Dec 12, 2012
Messages
238
I have made a pair of custom chef knives for an older gentleman. He commissioned them in Jan/Feb and I finished them a little over a month ago. I have emailed him a few times and reached out on FaceBook and have not gotten any response. He paid in full at the time of the order, a little over $1k, not that the price matters, but a decent amount of $$. Given his age, I can't help thinking that maybe he passed. He lives out of the country and I don't have a phone #.

I can continue to hold the knives, I could sell them to someone else and hold the proceeds, or I can just go on and ship to an address in Calif that he provided me with at the time of the order.....thoughts??
 
You could send a letter to the US address -ask if it is acceptable to ship, or if they can provide better contact information (or make contact for you). He may have left instructions with the addressee.
 
Personally, I would continue to hold on to them and keep trying to get a hold of him. You said it’s been a little over a month? That is quite a stretch of time to not hear from him, no doubt. I’d give it more time. Frustrating situation.

I like the idea from the post above as well. Send a letter.
 
You need to hold on to them for a long time. If he has passed one day they may come looking for them one day
 
This happened all the time in a bow shop I used to work at. Even when we found obituaries online the owner wouldn't let us do anything with the bows. He had bows on the rack collecting dust for over 23 years. According to him, it wasn't costing him anything, and if anyone ever came to collect he would have it, and it also helped prevent empty racks from scaring away potential customers.
 
A month is not a long time for a serious illness when older. There could be mental or physical incapacitation involved. I would do as suggested above, send a postal letter to the address and write in the outside something like “Customer Reply Requested” or “Order Completed”. If relatives are sorting through bags of mail most would be junk mail and you want yours to stand out as real business. I would hold for a minimum of one year, and if necessary send a letter again every 3-6 months.
 
If they're paid up, I don't see the problem in tucking them away for a while. If you're friends on Facebook, you may be able to find a next of kin to message for an alternate means of contact or more information. A city, state and name search may also yield a phone number (try whitepages.com or similar). You can cross match with the address you have, and there may also be a list of relatives that you can cross match on Facebook.
 
Thanks for all the advice guys...I had to drop offline shortly after posting yesterday, hence a delayed response. I have looked for obits in Calif & Costa Rica...kind of felt weird doing it, but nothing appeared. I certainly can and don't mind holding the blades. I think I send a letter to the address he gave me, I believe it is a business location of one of his friends.

Thanks again, you guys are an excellent sounding board!
 
The younger people today don't think of a classic rule of business ... If you want to get in touch with a customer, send a letter.
There could be hundreds of reasons a person doesn't answer an email or text, but only a few that would explain him not answering a letter.
 
DevinT said:
Be careful here, some customers don’t want their spouse to know about more knife purchases.

Hoss
Click to expand...

Good point, but you can still write something without indicating payment has already been received.
 
The man may have gone on a long trip? Not all people are addicted enough to have to check email or Facebutt all of the time. Especially older folks .. Or Sick, as other have mentioned... Years ago I had a similar situation . At the time I did a lot of art/Craft shows to sell my Culinary knives... it was a 10” Chef & a 7” Santoku with matching handles. A his & hers set. I took them with me to shows and put a Sold on the price tag.. I had three other sets ordered & I heard from the couple that ordered the knives some three months later.. A daughter at school had taken sick & they had to get her from the hospital and get her stuff & bring it all home.. This was in the 90’s ..
 
Send the letter certified mail or some way that the recipient has to sign for it. It will look important enough to open when it is received and the gentleman (if still among us, hopefully) will be able to read it without his wife finding out.
 
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