Most of us here on BF know that Busse makes very high quality knives. Most of us also know that Busse makes very expensive knives. Whether or not they are worth the money is often the subject of heated debate. One of the things I have always used to justify paying the high prices for Busse knives is I'd always heard their customer service is the best in the industry...
Back in November 2012 I decided I wanted to send my Busse SJTAC in to the Custom Shop and have some minor work done. Nothing too fancy, just wanted a re-coat and some hand-finished Magnum grips put on. The existing scales were actually Snakeskin micarta but didnt fit my hand quite right, but I knew the Mags would since I have a BATAC with them. The SJTAC was a gift from my wife (and, of course, very expensive) so I normally would never have parted with it. However since the service was supposed to be so good I decided to put my trust in Busse.
I went ahead and sent an email over to Garth at Busse to get the ball rolling (those of you who don't know, Garth is the Shop guy over there). After about 2 weeks with no response I sent another email. Again, no response. I decided to email Lexi over at Busse Customer Service to get a price quote.
Lexi got back to me right away. The price seemed fair enough and I was told the work would take 3-5 weeks to complete. I sent the knife in on Dec. 12th and it arrived at Busse on Dec. 14th according to tracking. On Dec 19th I called to make sure they had it in hand. Lexi said it arrived. It's worth noting that at this time I was told my knife would probably be ready sometime right after Jan. 1st 2013.
Well, Jan. 1st came and went but it didn't bother me too much, after all they had promised 3-5 weeks originally anyways. On Jan 14th (about 4 weeks) I decided to go ahead a drop an email over to Busse to check on the status of the order and this is when all the fun began...
Jan. 15th Busse emailed and said they would check into it and get back to me the following day. They did not follow through.
Jan. 17th I sent another quick email reminding them that I hadnt heard back and requested an update. No response.
Jan. 23rd I sent yet another email looking for an update, at this point we are past 5 weeks. This time they responded and said "Garth was sick" so they couldnt look into the status of the knife and they'd get back to me soon with an update.
Jan. 30th Since I still had received no update I sent another email requesting the status of my knife. Once again, no response.
Feb 1st I was pretty tired of being blown off so I called the office. I was told they would get back to me by the end of the day with an update. They failed to do so. Again Busse lets me down by not doing what they said they would.
Feb. 3rd I send another email insisting they let me know the status of my Custom Shop order. I also made it clear that they had been blowing me off for about 3 weeks, I wanted my knife back or at least an update.
Feb. 4th Finally, something substantial from Busse. I was told the knife was about done and would be shipping before weeks end. They explained how "busy they had been". Of course, not so busy that they didn't have time to make numerous posts over on the Busse forum while I was spending weeks trying to get a simple update on the knife (now long overdue) that I sent to them for custom work. Here's a little tip for Busse: respond to your inconvenienced, paying customers first, then post on the internet forum.
Feb 13th Well, you guessed it, no more word from Busse about my knife. As you can imagine I'm pretty chapped at this point but I still had to laugh. I mean, seriously guys, get your friggin act together, stop BSing, and send the knife back already. I sent another email explaining that its now been almost 9 weeks, 4 of which they spent jerking me around. I think they got the message this time because later they emailed me saying the knife was ready to ship and that they were giving me a $20 discount for the delay. Gee, thanks guys, 20 bucks makes it all better! I would have preferred a sincere apology instead. Something like: "Sorry we took almost 9 weeks for a 3-5 week order and sorry for our complete failure to follow through with nearly everything we said to you, if not ignoring you entirely ". I sent them the money owed via Paypal (yes, I sold out and took the discount lol).
Feb 22nd Finally! Knife is back in hand. Thats about 10 weeks. They didn't return my original scales though, no surprise there.
I have to confess, the knife looks amazing. Was it worth all the trouble? Nope. There is simply no denying that Busse makes great knives, but Ill be avoiding them from now on. Busse has made it clear that they really dont care about me as a customer anyways. What a disappointment.
Back in November 2012 I decided I wanted to send my Busse SJTAC in to the Custom Shop and have some minor work done. Nothing too fancy, just wanted a re-coat and some hand-finished Magnum grips put on. The existing scales were actually Snakeskin micarta but didnt fit my hand quite right, but I knew the Mags would since I have a BATAC with them. The SJTAC was a gift from my wife (and, of course, very expensive) so I normally would never have parted with it. However since the service was supposed to be so good I decided to put my trust in Busse.
I went ahead and sent an email over to Garth at Busse to get the ball rolling (those of you who don't know, Garth is the Shop guy over there). After about 2 weeks with no response I sent another email. Again, no response. I decided to email Lexi over at Busse Customer Service to get a price quote.
Lexi got back to me right away. The price seemed fair enough and I was told the work would take 3-5 weeks to complete. I sent the knife in on Dec. 12th and it arrived at Busse on Dec. 14th according to tracking. On Dec 19th I called to make sure they had it in hand. Lexi said it arrived. It's worth noting that at this time I was told my knife would probably be ready sometime right after Jan. 1st 2013.
Well, Jan. 1st came and went but it didn't bother me too much, after all they had promised 3-5 weeks originally anyways. On Jan 14th (about 4 weeks) I decided to go ahead a drop an email over to Busse to check on the status of the order and this is when all the fun began...
Jan. 15th Busse emailed and said they would check into it and get back to me the following day. They did not follow through.
Jan. 17th I sent another quick email reminding them that I hadnt heard back and requested an update. No response.
Jan. 23rd I sent yet another email looking for an update, at this point we are past 5 weeks. This time they responded and said "Garth was sick" so they couldnt look into the status of the knife and they'd get back to me soon with an update.
Jan. 30th Since I still had received no update I sent another email requesting the status of my knife. Once again, no response.
Feb 1st I was pretty tired of being blown off so I called the office. I was told they would get back to me by the end of the day with an update. They failed to do so. Again Busse lets me down by not doing what they said they would.
Feb. 3rd I send another email insisting they let me know the status of my Custom Shop order. I also made it clear that they had been blowing me off for about 3 weeks, I wanted my knife back or at least an update.
Feb. 4th Finally, something substantial from Busse. I was told the knife was about done and would be shipping before weeks end. They explained how "busy they had been". Of course, not so busy that they didn't have time to make numerous posts over on the Busse forum while I was spending weeks trying to get a simple update on the knife (now long overdue) that I sent to them for custom work. Here's a little tip for Busse: respond to your inconvenienced, paying customers first, then post on the internet forum.
Feb 13th Well, you guessed it, no more word from Busse about my knife. As you can imagine I'm pretty chapped at this point but I still had to laugh. I mean, seriously guys, get your friggin act together, stop BSing, and send the knife back already. I sent another email explaining that its now been almost 9 weeks, 4 of which they spent jerking me around. I think they got the message this time because later they emailed me saying the knife was ready to ship and that they were giving me a $20 discount for the delay. Gee, thanks guys, 20 bucks makes it all better! I would have preferred a sincere apology instead. Something like: "Sorry we took almost 9 weeks for a 3-5 week order and sorry for our complete failure to follow through with nearly everything we said to you, if not ignoring you entirely ". I sent them the money owed via Paypal (yes, I sold out and took the discount lol).
Feb 22nd Finally! Knife is back in hand. Thats about 10 weeks. They didn't return my original scales though, no surprise there.
I have to confess, the knife looks amazing. Was it worth all the trouble? Nope. There is simply no denying that Busse makes great knives, but Ill be avoiding them from now on. Busse has made it clear that they really dont care about me as a customer anyways. What a disappointment.
