Artisan Cutlery/CJRB serious customer service issues.

Knifomaniak

Knifomaniak

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Apr 5, 2011
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My dear fellow knife lovers! Wanted to share with you horrible experience I am having now with Customer Service of Artisan Cutlery/CJRB, or I should say complete lack of it. To be fair, they do make very nice knives. But... God forbid if you need to exchange or return the knife you are really in trouble. Recently I have bought on their site CJRB Ekko and late decided to return it. There was nothing wrong with the knife it just turned out to be much smaller knife than it looked on the photos. Anyways, the return policy on their website allows 30-days free returns for ANY REASON. I have followed their instructions to the letter and sent them all initial documents, expecting them to acknowledge the receipt of my return request and shipping label. Never happened. If you call them it goes straight to the voice mail with mailbox not accepting messages. Every other day I would send them an email but never got a response. Finally, as a last resort I called my credit card company and asked them to cancel the transaction. That worked! The very next day I finally got an email response with prepaid shipping label. In a few days after I sent the knife back, on May 9th they have informed me they got the knife and will issue the refund ASAP. Good news? Not so fast! To this date (May 22nd) there is no refund in sight. Couple of my emails to them were totally ignored again. Bottom line: Artisan Cutlery/CJRB customer care is non existent! They simply do not care! You guys should be aware of that. I am NOT suggesting you not to buy their stuff. That's not for me to decide. However, here is my suggestion and advise to you. If you ever decide to buy any Artisan Cutlery /CJRB knife, DO NOT buy it directly from them. If you want to avoid any problems with returns/exchanges buy ONLY from reputable knife dealers. That's my message to you, guys. Best of luck!
 
Not defending the knife maker and I agree with sticking with reputable dealers, but do you suppose starting a cancellation request with your credit card company has complicated the refund process?
 
Luckily they have competition. In the future I’ll avail myself of that fact. ”Life’s too short.” Thanks to the OP for the heads-up.
 
You'll find a thread in their sub-forum from me. I've had an unusually high lemon rate from this company. Luckily, I've been able to fix or return most of them. The issue came with one that I couldn't, a KnifeCenter KnifeCenter exclusive that I had taken apart to diagnose the problem. (They won't take a knife back if it has been disassembled, no matter how badly the manufacturer messed it up.)

It took many attempts to contact Artisan/CJRB via phone, email, and ultimately Instagram. Even after getting them to respond, I kept having to reach out to get the ball rolling or get a response on anything. After finally getting them to respond to pictures, and then finally getting them to respond after having mailed the defective knife to them; they finally made things as right as they could. They could not replace the original knife but sent me an upgraded version.

So that's good. However, the aggravation and all the effort I had to put towards getting there was too much. For comparison, most other Chinese companies including WE, Kizer, Kunwu, Kubey, and Petrified Fish have all gotten back to me quickly and with helpful solutions when I've had various issues. Some will replace knives. Some will send out replacement hardware. There is sometimes a shipping fee, especially on stuff that I messed up. For instance, I recently stripped a pivot screw on a Kubey and they charged $7 to send me a new one. However, I got another Kubey with a defect and they sent the replacement part at no charge.
 
One of the conclusions I have drawn from ordering online is to NEVER order anything straight from manufacturers. Lots of them shops seem to be some sort of slow burn after thoughts by makers and companies who think snail mail communication speed and overall not answering emails is the way to go.
I leave the online buying to companies that specialize in it.
 
dryflytrout said:
From my point of view, the lack of a prompt reply is what complicated the refund process and made the charge back necessary.
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I appreciate prompt responses but I guess living through the pandemic has taught me a little patience. I’ve noticed delays on all kinds of requests these days from retailers and manufacturers…except Benchmade. Benchmade service and support has been spot-on. Delays and thin staffing are unfortunately the new normal.

But that’s not really the point I was making. The OP did a charge back, the maker has the knife…aren’t we done here? Isn’t the transaction finished at this point? If a refund is issued isn’t that two refunds for one knife? At this point, what else is expected?

I agree with Chronovore Chronovore , I’m not a fan of Artisan/CJRB. I’ve been through a few and the only one I like is my KC exclusive Pyrite. They don’t seem to have the consistent quality of WE/CIVIVI, for example.
 
Hackenslash said:
I appreciate prompt responses but I guess living through the pandemic has taught me a little patience. I’ve noticed delays on all kinds of requests these days from retailers and manufacturers…except Benchmade. Benchmade service and support has been spot-on. Delays and thin staffing are unfortunately the new normal.

But that’s not really the point I was making. The OP did a charge back, the maker has the knife…aren’t we done here? Isn’t the transaction finished at this point? If a refund is issued isn’t that two refunds for one knife? At this point, what else is expected?

I agree with Chronovore Chronovore , I’m not a fan of Artisan/CJRB. I’ve been through a few and the only one I like is my KC exclusive Pyrite. They don’t seem to have the consistent quality of WE/CIVIVI, for example.
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I agree. Why would they issue him a refund when the credit card company has cancelled his payment to them?
 
Hackenslash said:
Not defending the knife maker and I agree with sticking with reputable dealers, but do you suppose starting a cancellation request with your credit card company has complicated the refund process?
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Not at all! First of: what choice /recourse did I have if they completely ignored my attempts to return the knife in orderly fashion? Moreover. Only after I had the credit company involved they would finally wake up and responded. Once they fully refund me, I will immediately call off my CC inquiry. I have returned their stuff and I need my money back ASAP in a reasonable amount of time. Period.
 
Knifomaniak said:
Not at all! First of: what choice /recourse did I have if they completely ignored my attempts to return the knife in orderly fashion? Moreover. Only after I had the credit company involved they would finally wake up and responded. Once they fully refund me, I will immediately call off my CC inquiry. I have returned their stuff and I need my money back ASAP in a reasonable amount of time. Period.
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Also, I think you are completely missing the point I was trying to make. I wanted you guys to be aware of horrible business practices by CJRB/Artisan Cutlery. I do not want anybody to find him/herself in the same predicament they put me in. As far as the money is concerned, as I said, I will make sure that they do not pay twice. I do not need their money.
 
Hackenslash said:
I appreciate prompt responses but I guess living through the pandemic has taught me a little patience. I’ve noticed delays on all kinds of requests these days from retailers and manufacturers…except Benchmade. Benchmade service and support has been spot-on. Delays and thin staffing are unfortunately the new normal.

But that’s not really the point I was making. The OP did a charge back, the maker has the knife…aren’t we done here? Isn’t the transaction finished at this point? If a refund is issued isn’t that two refunds for one knife? At this point, what else is expected?

I agree with Chronovore Chronovore , I’m not a fan of Artisan/CJRB. I’ve been through a few and the only one I like is my KC exclusive Pyrite. They don’t seem to have the consistent quality of WE/CIVIVI, for example.
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Let me correct you, my friend. Credit Card Company did not do a "charge back". What they did, they started the investigation and while it is on they issue a "conditional" credit to my account. This credit is reversed once the the merchant sends the money back to my account. And if they don't-the credit becomes permanent. That's how it works. There is no way that the merchant is charged, or I am getting paid twice.
 
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Knifomaniak said:
Let me correct you, my friend. Credit Card Company did not do a "charge back". What they do, they started the investigation and while it is on they issue a "conditional" credit to my account. This credit is reversed once the the merchant sends the money back to my account. And if they don't-the credit becomes permanent. That's how it works. There is no way that the merchant is charged, or I am getting paid twice.
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**edited to remove snark**

I’m done here.
 
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As long as you keep up with the situation I think it will be resolved. It may already be by the sounds of it.
 
Slice O Life said:
As long as you keep up with the situation I think it will be resolved. It may already be by the sounds of it.
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Again, I am not worried about the money side of the story. I will get my money back one way or another. I simply wanted to make you guys aware of the way these people conduct their business and treat their customers. I do appreciate your concern, though. Best of luck! :)
 
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