Brandon Thell, Togishi Studio -- BAD

gator68

gator68

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I would like to tell about my experience with Brandon Thell, a sword polisher who works under the name Togishi Studio. Brandon Thell was a polisher who had some reputation for working on japanese style swords by smiths such as Michael Bell, Anthony DiCristophano, Rick Barrett and Howard Clark.

I bought a sword off swordforum from "Mr. A", the name is not relevant. Mr. Thell and Mr. A had done deals in the past, and Mr. A had work with Mr. Thell at the time. So Mr. A asked me to pay Mr. Thell directly. Part of the sale was that Mr. Thell would polish the sword as part of the price.

I sent off my money at the beginning of November 2008. Mr. Thell acknowledged receiving the money. He said he was happy to do this, was there any thing else I would like to buy, and told me 4 / 6 weeks. That was the last time I heard from him.

Since then I have attempted to contact him by three different email address. His email address changed because he said he had spam filter troubles. OK, I sent messages to his new address. His website changes with updates. His autoresponder message changes. But he will not respond to email to me.

I have heard that Mr. Thell has been having various personal troubles. So it goes. I asked to have my sword mailed to me, without the polish work, and that would be that.

Mr. A has been in contact with Mr. Thell by phone. Mr. Thell told Mr. A that he mailed my sword back to me 6 weeks ago. But Mr. Thell could not provide any details of the shipping, even though he claimed to have sent it with a tracking number.

Three weeks ago I sent a certified letter to Mr. Thell, again requesting my sword, and including all my contact details: phone, email and physical address. No word from Mr. Thell.

Mr. Thell might be a good craftsman. I don't know as I have not seen his work. Before I entered into this deal I had seen reviews of his work that were very positive. I did not see any negative information or posts anywhere that would warn me against doing business with him. Since then I have discovered that he has left at least 10 other people in the lurch, either owing them money or keeping their swords. Mr. Thell's mounters have stopped working with him as he has stopped paying for their work. Apparently the sword community is more tolerant about letting craftsmen rip people off than the knife community. I am posting this here so that there is some record, somewhere, that Brandon Thell has ripped people off.

I do know that Mr. Thell has turned into a terrible businessman and I would strongly discourage anyone from doing any business with him that requires one to trust him with money or goods.
 
I am one of the fifteen.

Hopefully this will serve as a warning to others that may be thinking of doing any kind of business with him.
 
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Have you contacted his local police department to see if there is something you can have him charged with? Fraud comes to min. Since you sent him the sword, I don't think he can be charged with theft.
 
Has this hurt the reputation of Mr. A?

It would seem as though it would be in his best interest to get his product to you polished or otherwise.
 
Mr. A has been working with me to try to resolve the matter. He apparently is having troubles as well, since my money and his sword both went to Brandon.

I have not tried contacting his local police. I have heard someone tried this in the past with no luck... If worse comes to worse I will go to small claims court. I have a bunch of vacation time saved up and plane tickets to MN are not *that* expensive.

I am still hoping Brandon will simply put my sword in the mail...
 
Hi Walter,

Thanks for posting the information more openly on this forum. If nothing else, this is a very visible forum and a Mecca to many. Certainly more visited and read than some venues. The GBU has been a mainstay for many bladed folk and I wish the sword communities were more involved here.

Cheers

GC
 
i'll be darned, i forgot i had an active account here.

anyway, i have been "working" with brandon thell since 2007. at that time, lots of great things were being said about his work, and i enjoyed a good working relationship with him. unfortunately, that all ended in the summer of 2008. he has not returned a single call since then, has sent only a few emails making vague promises that never come to pass, and he still has SIX of my blades, not to mention all of the money paid to him for work done.

i have been in contact with about 15 people in similar positions and that list seems to be growing as people come out of the woodwork. this has helped me to realize the scope of the problem, and to uncover instances of clear deception. i am pursuing legal recourse.

thanks for allowing us to post here on this forum.
 
The total so far is between $28,000 to $29,000 in money and merchandise that has been paid/sent out with nothing in return.

There are still 5 people that have not given totals!!!
 
horseclover said:
Hi Walter,

Thanks for posting the information more openly on this forum. If nothing else, this is a very visible forum and a Mecca to many. Certainly more visited and read than some venues. The GBU has been a mainstay for many bladed folk and I wish the sword communities were more involved here.

Cheers

GC
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If you appreciate it so much, why did you shut it down elsewhere, which was a toolbox move, I must say?

If you are not part of the solution, you ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Information like this is important EVERYWHERE, from the hills to the holes that these trolls dwell in.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Just a thought, but for the total $'s and the cost of swords you guys might want to get together, chip in a few bucks, and hire yourselves a PI to go after your swords.
 
Kohai999 said:
If you appreciate it so much, why did you shut it down elsewhere, which was a toolbox move, I must say?

If you are not part of the solution, you ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM.

Information like this is important EVERYWHERE, from the hills to the holes that these trolls dwell in.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
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Kohai999, I agree completely. I cannot comment more because of cross-forum issues, but I have to say my experience has left an extremely bad taste in my mouth regarding certain other venues and the people who run them.

So I finally got off my ass and sent in my $$ to Bladeforums.
 
I owe an update to this situation.

Very soon after my original post my sword mysteriously reappeared on Brandon's doorstep. He claims there was a mistake on the shipping label so it was returned to him. (When I finally got the sword it was in a box that had only been used once.) He said he was broke, so I told him to send it COD. He did after a few more days of delay, telling me he had mailed it but the tracking number was not active... Funnily enough, when he finally did get it in the mail, COD, his wife spent $17 to overnight me a handwritten note stating that she had put the sword in the mail and that she was saving all documentation about this transaction.

When I got the sword I was surprised to find that the tsuba and seppas in the ad had been replaced by a Lohman tsuba and other seppas. They were not fit to the sword and rattled around. I complained to the person I purchased the sword from (still my only contact with Brandon) who then promised to send me another antique tsuba, which he did. Brandon heard of my complaint and actually left a VM on my phone saying he was done with me. He then followed up with a two page letter which basically repeated this about 5 times, that he owed me nothing more.

So I have a slightly rusty sword that needs a polish with a mount that needs some work. But I have it. I still would not ever deal with Brandon Thell again. I got lucky in getting out with what I have. I suspect raising a stink had a lot to do with this, and for that I have to thank Bladeforums for providing this kind of forum. :thumbup:
 
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gator68 said:
I owe an update to this situation.

Very soon after my original post my sword mysteriously reappeared on Brandon's doorstep.....
So I have a slightly rusty sword that needs a polish with a mount that needs some work. But I have it. I still would not ever deal with Brandon Thell again. I got lucky in getting out with what I have. I suspect raising a stink had a lot to do with this, and for that I have to thank Bladeforums for providing this kind of forum. :thumbup:
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PM me, I know a bunch of polishers and one very good tsuka maki guy that are not cheap, but will take care of you.

The inexpensive way to go with the blade is for shira saya, but if you want battle/parade mounts, my tsuka maki guy can do it all.

I would cause HAVOC for a tsuka makist/togishi who jerked me around like this.

Best Regards,

STeven Garsson
 
Reading the various comments on peoples experiences with Brandon Thell makes me regret that I did not post my personal experiences previously. Maybe my comments would have prevented some from the unnecessary grief, people have experienced.

The following comments are from my experiences with Brandon Thell. It is my understanding Brandon is no longer maintaining the togishistudio.com website, which I think is a benefit to the sword community as it is my opinion his business practices left little to be desired.

During my initial purchase from a sword smith, I researched information on various polishers. there were 2 that stood out and I opted to communicate with those parties to see who I felt should earn my business. I took location, previous works, open forums, and communication into account before making my decision. Initially I had looked at Summerchild Polishing, but at the last minute opted to go with Brandon. Both had favorable write ups, websites, and were known in the sword community.

Initial communication with Brandon was favorable, through private treaty we came to an agreement on pricing and the process of what I the consumer would be expecting, and how the release of funds would take place. My primary expectation was communication. I asked to be kept in the loop as to when he would be starting on the blade, and if he ran into any issues that would hinder him from completing the task to notify me. I stated I do not need to know your personal affairs, however if you run into problems just let me know so I'm not blind sided by anything when the projected completion date was to be meet. (Note I asked Brandon if he felt comfortable with a projected end date for the project. He stated it would take him 6 months because of back orders he was obligated to complete. I then proposed that an additional 74 days be allowed as a grace period in case he had any developments that would prevent him from meeting the agreed upon terms. So in essence we went from 180 days to 254 days)

We communicated several times over the course of the time frame, and during this period he made no mention of any issues other then to say that things were moving along and he would be sending me pictures prior to the blade being shipped out for the habaki, saya, tsuka and final polish.

No pictures arrived, no more phone calls, no more emails. All traffic ceased. Going under the assumption he was swamped I decided to give it some time before attempting to contact him

Quite a few weeks had passed, after no communication I tried emailing Brandon, as well as calling his number. No such luck. I tried again 2 weeks later and still no response. No email bounce backs so I knew the account was still active, and I left several voice mails for him. Still no response from Brandon. I felt the sudden break in communication and the lack of returning my messages was very unprofessional, and was cause for concern.

So the following day I called Brandon from the office, lo and behold he answered. The part that upset me was the tone of his voice as it seemed to me I caught him by surprise. When asked why he did not have the professional courtesy to respond to emails or previous voice mails he stated that his account was no longer active. I informed him the service provider mail server did not kick back any of my emails, and that his voice mail did not state it was full. Brandon then said he was having personal issues.

Fast forward as the constant excuses, and poor customer services, as well as professionalism on his part would take up to much space.

Long story short. After 15 months of him trying to polish the blade and constant excuses on why he needed additional time to finish the project I advised him to send the blade back to me and to refund 1/2 of the polish work as he stated he was only half done. He put his wife on the line and I repeated my comment. She informed me that he did not provide any refunds, as we spoke I explained to her I paid for a service and if the service has not been rendered I would seek a return of monies for services not rendered. I then informed her that I would give her until Sunday, the end of the week to have the completed project sent to me or I would file for legal action.

I received notice from Brandon, on Saturday evening that my sword was completed and he would be sending it to me on Monday. He complained as to his having to stay up while the family was asleep so he could finish the project.

The sword arrived on Thursday, in a box that would make even the most frugal person blush. It was bent in a variety of places, with limited protection and as would be expected their was damage to the sword. My follow up call was extremely frustrating and I advised Brandon if he did not rectify the problem I would see him in court, and that if he wished to communicate with me any further it would be through my legal counsel. Well the sword went back, and 2 months later it was returned to me. In totality we went from an initial 180 days with 74 days to do the project (254 Days total) to 365 +90 + an additional 60 days to repair the damage done in shipping. Total 365+150= 515 days. 515 days - 254 Days = 261 days of wasted time.

In my opinion Brandon has been one of the worst individuals I have ever dealt with regarding a business transaction. In my opinion he has an extremely poor customer service presence when it comes to communicating with the customer base. (Note if your customer service skills are lacking- you might want to avoid getting into a customer oriented career field be it a hobby, or job).

I CANNOT recommend Brandon Thell for any form of sword work whats so ever. Nor would I encourage or support anyone to use him for any commission work. It appears in my opinion that his poor work ethics, has now possibly cost him his web presence. The comments posted are of my own experiences with Brandon Thell, and are of my opinion.
 
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I have contacted Chief David Ulman of the Janesville police. He was very nice and helpful, and I encourge all of you to contact him. He's very easy to get hold of and if you want, I'll send anyone hise- mail address.
I sent David all my e- mails from Brandon and he turned them over to the county Att. who says he has more than enough to proscute, and now David wants me to go up and testify. So with this I am pressing on with criminal charges. Civil court can only award you money owed but can't collect it for you unless he's getting a paycheck. I know Brandon will never pay me my money back, so I aim to see him in jail. David has told me that he already had him in jail for a domestic dispute, so as far as I can see, he is a wife beating thief.
You may get a sword back if he owes you that, but it doesn't look like anyone will get any money back.
Time for Brandon to go to jail.
 
Man... how close I came to getting ripped off by this common turd.

I had bought an unpolished blade from "A.D" and had negotiated a deal through Thell for the polishing & mounting... six months later, nothing.
He didn't answer any of my emails until I threatened a legal course of action. Luckily, Rob Taylor, a guy working with Thell, helped out and pushed him to honor his commitment to me.

To make a long story short and a stroke of luck later, Taylor brokered a deal where I traded the A.D blade with some cash to acquire an Enomoto Sadahito shinsakuto in shirasaya... a truly impressive katana blade that spotlights my collection today.

I am glad that I got out of this mess before it spiraled out of control. I guess that was the time where this guy started to go downhill. All of you who have been treated in this unscrupulous manner... I feel your pain. I hope that all will be settled soon with this individual, and that he justly reaps exactly what's coming to him.
 
CHRISTIN said:
Man... how close I came to getting ripped off by this common turd.

I had bought an unpolished blade from "A.D" and had negotiated a deal through Thell for the polishing & mounting... six months later, nothing.
He didn't answer any of my emails until I threatened a legal course of action. Luckily, Rob Taylor, a guy working with Thell, helped out and pushed him to honor his commitment to me.

To make a long story short and a stroke of luck later, Taylor brokered a deal where I traded the A.D blade with some cash to acquire an Enomoto Sadahito shinsakuto in shirasaya... a truly impressive katana blade that spotlights my collection today.

I am glad that I got out of this mess before it spiraled out of control. I guess that was the time where this guy started to go downhill. All of you who have been treated in this unscrupulous manner... I feel your pain. I hope that all will be settled soon with this individual, and that he justly reaps exactly what's coming to him.
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You're too kind....

:D

Glad you got a great blade, although A.D. is not slouch either :thumbup:
 
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