Beware ordering from "Ultimate Knife" (Renu Tech Solutions)

[freewheeling]

Initially I ordered a Fox Karambit and trainer from them but after I called when the order was still waiting for fulfillment a couple of days later they said they were on backorder and *might* come in, in 3 to 5 weeks. I looked around and found a used Emerson available and bought that, and went back to their site and discovered there was no way to cancel my order. After calling their site again and contacting a fellow named "Lad" he said that there was a 10% restocking fee for cancelling an order. Bear in mind that at the time I made the order there was nothing on the site indicating that they were out of stock.

After complaining the fellow said that he would "see what I can do tomorrow." This is all pretty reprehensible. Just thought I'd share the experience in case anyone else is motivated to buy from them. Find another source.

I thought that honest suppliers will not charge for an order until it ships, and certainly won't charge for an order that they only *may* be able to deliver in a couple of months! This is so unethical it boggles the mind!

 

[freewheeling]

I have entered disputes over these transactions with Paypal. I just want to say that using Paypal with a seller you don't know and whose reputation no one vouchers for is a really good idea. Do not use a direct payment or a debit card.

 

[Marko3]

I can't stand it when I see something on a site and then you buy it and get a back order email after you have paid. Paypal also has Pay after delivery which is a great tool to combat this type of stuff.

 

[RevDevil]

I have entered disputes over these transactions with Paypal. I just want to say that using Paypal with a seller you don't know and whose reputation no one vouchers for is a really good idea. Do not use a direct payment or a debit card.

Actually, 99% of major bank backed (not credit union) debit cards offer you fraud protection as well. There are some smaller banks and cdit unions that simply cannot offer this protection, unless you request and pay for it. For example, a debit card that says "Visa" will afford you protection.
Using direct payment is always a bad idea, wire ttransfer comes to mind. Paypal is not widely accepted as a form of payment by all sellers and has been boycotted by many stores because they implement and want to enforce California state law across the 50 states, regardless of a specific state law differing from that of California (Balisong and Automatic knives come to mind).

 

[freewheeling]

Update: I take that back, they have issued a full refund. The information on their site in "my account" hasn't changed but Paypal indicates that the refund was issued. Again he sounds like a sincere guy who doesn't really know what he's doing. At least, I'd give him the benefit of the doubt that this was ignorance rather than mendacity. We need to see that his business policies have changed and that he's more transparent with customers though. Anyone can make a mistake, I guess.

For what it's worth you don't have to precharge people in order to implement "just in time inventory control." If you're up front that the item has to be backordered you can charge a small pre-order fee that's non-refundable, and be able to make accurate projections about inventory you need to order. People accept that, if you apply the non-refundable fee to the purchase price when the item is shipped. I have an MBA and they taught me this stuff. I remember most of it.