Can one say it is SERVICE at all? Who will buy a knife from Darrel Ralph now...

[Quiet]

Why does no one understand that a forum mod has no real affiliation with Bladeforums? There is no money being made by anyone having a company rep as a mod. There is no insider stuff that the forum mod is privy to. There is nothing about it that is wrong.

Except of course the neuroticism it is causing some.

I don't know, and can't speak for others, but if a guy who people knew was a possibly a scam artist who seems content to take peoples' money and send them poorly made shoddy work, them being a moderator on your site would be the LAST thing you wanted. Who knows how many negative comments on this guy's work he's used his mod powers to delete in his section?

 

[newknif]

I don't know, and can't speak for others, but if a guy who people knew was a possibly a scam artist who seems content to take peoples' money and send them poorly made shoddy work, them being a moderator on your site would be the LAST thing you wanted. Who knows how many negative comments on this guy's work he's used his mod powers to delete in his section?

If that's how he ran his little section of the universe than so be it. He'll reap what he sows. If people keep trying to dredge up a conspiracy about Bladeforums with this guy, we'll all be missing out on how it ends.

 

[Quiet]

If that's how he ran his little section of the universe than so be it. He'll reap what he sows. If people keep trying to dredge up a conspiracy about Bladeforums with this guy, we'll all be missing out on how it ends.

Listen, all I know, is that someone actually used the term "skullduggery" in this thread. Cracked me right up. LOL Skullduggery. Fantastic. :thumbup:

 

[Esav Benyamin]

Manufacturers do not pay to have a forum on BFC. One of the conditions they must fulfill, however, is providing at least one moderator to maintain contact with their customers here. The owner is often one of those moderators.

 

[newknif]

Listen, all I know, is that someone actually used the term "skullduggery" in this thread. Cracked me right up. LOL Skullduggery. Fantastic. :thumbup:

That was a troubled individual for sure.

Everyone can have an opinion on the topic. Even the mods. He felt that the mods were trying to protect one of their own and using their mod powers to sway opinions.

I enjoy reading everyones opinions and how the thread unfolds. I don't enjoy paranoid rants and accusations that are way out of line and off topic. That kind of thing discourages everyone from posting their opinions on the matter. Especially the ones being accused of doing something underhanded when all they were doing was joining the conversation.

So there is no one on either side of this thing who has an unfair advantage because of favoritism. No opinions are being posted by anyone so as to protect a hidden or secret asset. It's all good.

Anyway, Ive looked at some of this guys work and he certainly is talented. He's been around a while and I'm sure he's done good things. He should be given the chance to redeem his reputation as he apologized and said he'd make it right. Time will tell.

 

[newknif]

Double postage....

 

[TiNi]

So we are on actual wording used: Post number 94, page 5

Let me first start off by apologizing to everyone, I really mean it, I am so sorry. The actions I took and members of my company took were not appropriate and for that I am very sorry. I am sending Vininull, today, $600 and a brand new knife which I have personally checked and double checked. I know that we have handled this poorly and we have taken the necessary actions to insure this doesn't happen again.

Thank you all for the very valuable feedback, I really appreciate many of you contacting me personally about this situation and giving me your opinion on the matter. I know this doesn't make everything that has happened go away nor do I expect it to but I do hope that all of you, at the very least, give me the opportunity to improve not only my quality control but my customer service skills.

Thank you.

 

[Bladenoobie1]

Because BF yet again is giving me posting issues here is a screen shot of my post. A response to vininull's last post:

 

[RevDevil]

I'm late but let me try and clarify a couple things.

Uuuuhhhhhh, so wait. Folks are talking like getting worked by this Darrel Ralph guy is a common (and commonly known) issue...and Darrel's a mod here?! Awwwwkkkkward...

Darrell is the moderator of his own forum and no other place. He cannot affect other sections of the forums.

Why does no one understand that a forum mod has no real affiliation with Bladeforums? There is no money being made by anyone having a company rep as a mod. There is no insider stuff that the forum mod is privy to. There is nothing about it that is wrong.

Except of course the neuroticism it is causing some.

Stay on topic or we'll all miss the stunning conclusion.

The mods have given advice here because this is not their first rodeo with broken promises, money being missed, and a pissed off customer. That is what this section is for actually and it contains hundreds of threads on this. Te reason the thread was closed was because misinformation was being pushed as fact and that was getting the OP riled enough to the point where bad replies were going to cause him to lose what support was being garnered. It's not wise to argue and otherwise second guess people that want to try and help the situation. We offer advice and it is up to the person involved to take it or not. We've seen how it goes when emotions start running the show over clear thinking. No one is affiliated with Darrel Ralph here except for DR and his employees, which get paid. We are not paid by him or anyone else to be here.

 

[Karda]

That was a troubled individual for sure.

Everyone can have an opinion on the topic. Even the mods. He felt that the mods were trying to protect one of their own and using their mod powers to sway opinions.

I enjoy reading everyones opinions and how the thread unfolds. I don't enjoy paranoid rants and accusations that are way out of line and off topic. That kind of thing discourages everyone from posting their opinions on the matter. Especially the ones being accused of doing something underhanded when all they were doing was joining the conversation.

So there is no one on either side of this thing who has an unfair advantage because of favoritism. No opinions are being posted by anyone so as to protect a hidden or secret asset. It's all good.

Anyway, Ive looked at some of this guys work and he certainly is talented. He's been around a while and I'm sure he's done good things. He should be given the chance to redeem his reputation as he apologized and said he'd make it right. Time will tell.

Thank you for the concise and clear thought.
While a supermod myself, I also am moderator for a manufacturers forum, among other things. In both roles I deal somewhat in customer service.
I see the good, bad and ugly quite regularly, so I feel I have a pretty good idea of such and am a pretty fair judge of character as posted on these forums.
I've dealt with good honest and contributory members whom are pleasant and clear thinking and I've also dealt with the selfish, self serving, unpleasant and sometimes quite delusional members.
Believe me, I've dealt with good and fair individuals whom were a pleasure to deal with and to serve. I've also had to deal with several quite antagonistic unpleasant people who've tried to tell me how to run the business, do my job and demand things be their way.
To the point of this thread, considering what we've heard from both sides, all Mr. Ralph really owes Vininull or Filtrum is to be made whole, by refunding the purchase price. Anything beyond that is placation and exemplary customer service.
Time for all to step back and off the bandwagon and let things play out how they are going to. Let clear thinking cool heads prevail.

 

[Bladenoobie1]

I would of thought the most logical and QUICKEST resolve would of been DR refunding the shipping fees expended by vininull and the difference of the cost after vininull sold the knife on his own. Its too late for that now though..I guess we can just hope for this mess to work out.

 

[Quiet]

I'm late but let me try and clarify a couple things.


Darrell is the moderator of his own forum and no other place. He cannot affect other sections of the forums.

Full disclosure, I'd made that post after only reading the first couple of pages. I got a more thorough explanation later in the thread, which will teach me to fire off a response when I'm this late to the party, eh?

In any case, everyone getting on the OP's case, I kinda have to say I'm on his side. DDR said point blank "I will handle this today" and then what happens? More days go by! That's frankly just more of the same from this guy.

Now, it's not the same situation, but I forgot to pay an Ebay seller one time after having won an item I'd bid on days before. A week goes by, and I get an email from the seller asking where his money is at. I said "I'm terribly sorry, definitely an oversight on my part, I'll send that payment right now."

Then what happened? As soon as I sent that email, I opened my Paypal page and BAM, sent the payment right away.

Which, let's not fool ourselves. A check? What? I don't know how the OP paid, but if he paid by electronic means, the expectation would be that those funds would be returned to that method of payment, whatever card they had on file.

But hey, I know, I know, dead horse and such. I guess at the end of the day, it amazed me that this guy is wearing the same title as people like...well, you, and Karda, and Benj. You know, actually stand up guys.

 

[mc556]

Wow that is all I can say about this thread.. I was originally going to buy a HTM forum knife glad I didn't go down that road.

I don't know and have never met Mr Ralph. I suspect he's not a bad guy but simply way over his head with the HTM endeavor.
I do believe the damage is done and at this point it will take a long time to win forum members back over with custom or production work.

 

[Bladenoobie1]

Full disclosure, I'd made that post after only reading the first couple of pages. I got a more thorough explanation later in the thread, which will teach me to fire off a response when I'm this late to the party, eh?

In any case, everyone getting on the OP's case, I kinda have to say I'm on his side. DDR said point blank "I will handle this today" and then what happens? More days go by! That's frankly just more of the same from this guy.

Now, it's not the same situation, but I forgot to pay an Ebay seller one time after having won an item I'd bid on days before. A week goes by, and I get an email from the seller asking where his money is at. I said "I'm terribly sorry, definitely an oversight on my part, I'll send that payment right now."

Then what happened? As soon as I sent that email, I opened my Paypal page and BAM, sent the payment right away.

Which, let's not fool ourselves. A check? What? I don't know how the OP paid, but if he paid by electronic means, the expectation would be that those funds would be returned to that method of payment, whatever card they had on file.

But hey, I know, I know, dead horse and such. I guess at the end of the day, it amazed me that this guy is wearing the same title as people like...well, you, and Karda, and Benj. You know, actually stand up guys.

Really not that hard to understand the different from specific subforum moderators and moderators such as RevDevil and Karda....

DR also did explicitly say that he would be sending the money and knife at that particular day...an impulse reaction and a terrible one from the tremendous community pressure. DR does need to get things straight, but I feel that often he's saying what the community/customer would best want to hear as opposed to what's right. If you can't stay true to your words, don't say them. So much for "thinking" before you type...and with typing you at least have a chance before you send/submit said message..........

 

[TheBleedingEdge]

Thank you for the concise and clear thought.
While a supermod myself, I also am moderator for a manufacturers forum, among other things. In both roles I deal somewhat in customer service.
I see the good, bad and ugly quite regularly, so I feel I have a pretty good idea of such and am a pretty fair judge of character as posted on these forums.
I've dealt with good honest and contributory members whom are pleasant and clear thinking and I've also dealt with the selfish, self serving, unpleasant and sometimes quite delusional members.
Believe me, I've dealt with good and fair individuals whom were a pleasure to deal with and to serve. I've also had to deal with several quite antagonistic unpleasant people who've tried to tell me how to run the business, do my job and demand things be their way.
To the point of this thread, considering what we've heard from both sides, all Mr. Ralph really owes Vininull or Filtrum is to be made whole, by refunding the purchase price. Anything beyond that is placation and exemplary customer service.
Time for all to step back and off the bandwagon and let things play out how they are going to. Let clear thinking cool heads prevail.

This whole thread was at risk of spiraling into a mess of hurt feelings and unconstructive gibberish. It's good to see that some of the mods here can be a beacon of reason and rationality.

DR does need to get things straight, but I feel that often he's saying what the community/customer would best want to hear as opposed to what's right. If you can stay true to your words, don't say them. So much for "thinking" before you type...and with typing you at least have a chance before you send/submit said message..........

That's a good observation. In hindsight it seems like DR was a little premature in his response. He obviously cares a lot about his company and its reputation, but he's not doing it any service by getting ahead of his ability to deliver on reparations. Even with good intentions, a missed deadline only hurts his case more.

I hope this gets resolved to everyone's satisfaction.

 

[LX_Emergency]

Wow that is all I can say about this thread.. I was originally going to buy a HTM forum knife glad I didn't go down that road.

I don't know and have never met Mr Ralph. I suspect he's not a bad guy but simply way over his head with the HTM endeavor.
I do believe the damage is done and at this point it will take a long time to win forum members back over with custom or production work.

Keep in mind that this was not a HTM knife either but a full blown custom.

Also I was really close to pulling the trigger on that forum knife. So glad I dodged that bullet.

 

[Bladenoobie1]

If you can't stay true to your words, don't say them. So much for "thinking" before you type...and with typing you at least have a chance before you send/submit said message..........

Big typo, did not want anyone to misunderstand.

 

[vininull]

Because BF yet again is giving me posting issues here is a screen shot of my post. A response to vininull's last post:

I strongly disagree with that. In theory you are saying right things but it is varies from knife to knife.
I know what knife I am dealing with and my request of thin bevel is totally fine. There is pretty wide blade and it is still not so thick. I also not requested "extremely thin bevel", these are strictly your own words. If we talking exact numbers I asked DR to make a 0.5mm bevel thickness. Simple Spyderco Military has it with 4mm stock so I don't see any problems on AXD to have such geometry.
I have a good examples of Shirogorov knives with 5mm stock and even much thinner initial bevel which are taking sub 40 degree bevel without any problems.

P.S. there is also a chance that we are just talking about different things. In bevel thickness I meant the thickness of the blade if we measure between the "shoulders" It is shown good with arrows on this image on the left diagram.

 

[Bladenoobie1]

I strongly disagree with that. In theory you are saying right things but it is varies from knife to knife.
I know what knife I am dealing with and my request of thin bevel is totally fine. There is pretty wide blade and it is still not so thick. I also not requested "extremely thin bevel", these are strictly your own words. If we talking exact numbers I asked DR to make a 0.5mm bevel thickness. Simple Spyderco Military has it with 4mm stock so I don't see any problems on AXD to have such geometry.
I have a good examples of Shirogorov knives with 5mm stock and even much thinner initial bevel which are taking sub 40 degree bevel without any problems.

P.S. there is also a chance that we are just talking about different things. In bevel thickness I meant the thickness of the blade if we measure between the "shoulders" It is shown good with arrows on this image on the left diagram.

I was referring to the width of the bevel (as in the width of the area in red lines in your pic) so we are indeed talking about different things. Also I know you did not say extremely thin bevel. It was just my interpretation of a .5mm bevel width(the width I was referring to). It seems that the width you were referring too was the thickness of the blade right behind the edge, so just a misunderstanding.

I just looked up the AXD stock thickness and it's at 0.150" (of an inch) so it actually isn't as thick from what I interpreted from the video, so I stand corrected. I suppose if ground properly it may be able to sit 0.5mm thickness behind the edge.

 

[vininull]

I was referring to the width of the bevel (as in the width of the area in red lines in your pic) so we are indeed talking about different things. Also I know you did not say extremely thin bevel. It was just my interpretation of a .5mm bevel width(the width I was referring to). It seems that the width you were referring too was the thickness of the blade right behind the edge, so just a misunderstanding.

I just looked up the AXD stock thickness and it's at 0.150" (of an inch) so it actually isn't as thick from what I interpreted from the video, so I stand corrected. I suppose if ground properly it may be able to sit 0.5mm thickness behind the edge.

OK! Glad that we are agreed on that :thumbup: