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

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Has DDR communicated with you yet?

Communication is the key!!
 
Well I know for certain that I will never do any business with Mr. Ralph. Can you provide us with an update?
 
I'm pretty sure when vininull has an update he would be more than willing to post it up....everything that needs to be said has already been discussed enough. It's just a waiting game now.
 
Triforge said:
Guys I hope you understand and the mods are not allowed to seem/look/sound biased to one side or the other, since mods are supposed to be fair.
The op was not being unfair to DR in any way shape or form. He thought the M390 would take too long so he asked for a quicker one, in which Darrel quoted him 2 weeks. About the "Oh custom knives aren't perfect" NO, go on the customs for sale section here, or look at any respectable maker. People like Dalibor, Jeremy Horton, etc etc, haven't been making knives NEARLY as long as Darrel. THEY CAN ACTUALLY BALANCE GRINDS AND KEEP THE LINES STRAIGHT. If I paid 1200 for a custom, say a Medford, or a Direware or a mikkell Willumsen. I expect it to be perfect to the last detail as I have specified. If they accidentally let something slip they would and should fix it immediately and prioritizing it. I'll admit that signing with a carbide bit is hard, but if you see it and it looks like #^*% then he should just tell him "Sorry it looks really bad, can I sign it on paper?" Also if you shipped a POS knife to someone for 1200, had it sent back, and you don't prioritize him and give him timely updates, expect your customer to be very PO'd, and at that time when you receive that kind of phone call, you should know why. The solution would not be to scream and shout back.

In conclusion. For all this,Vininull deserves all his money back, not have to try to be coerced into a NDA and DR should give him a free knife.
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Agreed. If a maker cant even get grind lines correct, he never should have quit his day job.
I think nowadays if you can assemble a titanium framelock with a thick piece of steel your considered a maker. Seems the level of craftsmanship is at a decline.
 
thank goodness for the search feature on this forum, I have been planning to drop a large chunk of change on a nice knife and DR will be scratched off of the top of my list.
 
Darrel Ralph said:
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.
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This was posted on the 10th of July 11:37 AM. DR may have forgot to mention that he'd be walking over to Villinul's place and hand delivering the knife and money but I don't think that's the case.

10 days and counting..
 
vininull said:
Acted like what? Demanding the work to be done on time? I never said something rude on wrote rude in my posts, the only thing I keep repeating is that I want to see these people do what they promised to do.
And now after asking the same simple thing again, you request me to mind my manners in order to be properly serviced? What is this - a threat?
Seems to me like you are backing up DR from your Moderator position... but it doesn't change a thing here, again no communication and complete obscurity at the moment and all this when as you say "it is his word and reputation on the line here".

P.S. Despite of huge support from many members here (and thanks a lot for it guys!) it still seems to me like some are just aren't understand my personal position which I want to clarify. After my initial experience with DR I have already said "bye bye" to my money and all hope of seeing a good knife from him ever in my hands. That wasn't even me who started this thread, so I haven't had any illusions of good developments on this case. But I wanted to show all this mess to a community, that's all!
Now comes D.Ralph and promises a new knife + refund. OK, no problems, I am glad that it happened. But it doesn't mean that I should become extremely thankful right away. I still expect it to be done right till the end. I want to see emails, updates, tracking number and everything it takes to finish this story.
If it is too much to handle for him, then it is very sad...
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great post, the one diretly after it, not so much :rolleyes:

Besides that, any word? If nay I say be a rude impatient prick to the fullest extent. Total BS. Thanks for creating this thread. I know lots of people that will find it very interesting,
 
Its really sad this has gone on for 12 pages and weeks after Mr Ralph promised a refund.
After I got my Randall made My next grail knife was either a William Henry or DR custom.
I guess its plain which way I should go.
Good luck to the OP hope you are made Whole at some point.
 
I just got my HTM AXD 5.5 back from HTM for the second time and it is still a disaster! Titanium scales do not match and a whole lot of other problems.
 
polar-bear said:
I just got my HTM AXD 5.5 back from HTM for the second time and it is still a disaster! Titanium scales do not match and a whole lot of other problems.
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No worries................there's likely another of that same model currently in stock which has been personally checked and then checked again by DR for any would-be 'issues', which he'll gladly get out to you just as soon he completes his slow crawl to the OP's residence. Don't forget to ask for his much coveted and unique 'signature' on your blade.

He saves his best signatures and puts in alot of extra effort which clearly shows his current sentiments on knives returned more than once.
 
polar-bear said:
I just got my HTM AXD 5.5 back from HTM for the second time and it is still a disaster! Titanium scales do not match and a whole lot of other problems.
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Very sorry to hear about that. You may want to start a seperate thread for that.

We should keep this one about the OP's knife(IMO).
Your post won't get much attention here, but would in its on thread. Good luck !

BTW- He may can straighten you out yet. But if you've already given him two times to make it right a thread may be warranted at this point.
 
vininull said:
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.
profiles.gif
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I know what you're talking about, you know what you're talking about. I just hope DDR knows what you're talking about. Especially after the whole fiasco over what bushings mean in knife design (the whole balisong fiasco).
 
Darrel Ralph said:
Sir owe you a big apology for any issues you experienced with your DDR Custom knife.

We take our responsibilities — and the trust you place in us — very seriously. I cannot express how sorry I am that you were inconvenienced.

Throughout our history, we have provided 99.6% satisfaction to our customers. This is the level of performance we expect from ourselves. We apologize if, we fell short of your expectations. We have learned from this event and will use it to drive improvement in our services.

It's an honor to serve you. As always, please call us at 469-728-7242 — anytime, for any reason.

You can also email me personally at dralph@earthlink.net to discuss the issues with your knife.

Sincerely,
Darrel Ralph
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Darrel,
Just found out your HTM Factory is about 1 hour drive from me, which surprised me to be honest.
Is there any way to visit it for a tour and maybe take some pictures or video for your subforum. I think it helps a lot knowing what goes on in a small company factory like HTM's.

Anyone here interested in seen pictures?

Luis G.
 
People are simply restating the same things over and over trying to force themselves in this public hodgepodge. Everything of relevance has been said and addressed already, i.e yes we know DR didn't deliver on the day of. (though I feel it was probably a communication error trying to state I will get so and so done soon--not intended of literal translation) If you are not involved with either of the parties in question you shouldn't really post...how many times do we need another, "DR's CS is really bad, its been X days and nothing has happened." (something along those lines) I feel it would be best just to leave this thread alone till vininull can provide an update--whether it'd be good or bad. DR's rep is on the line so should he choose to trash it so be it, but we don't post after post trying to instigate another pointless debate. It's not like this thread is going to disappear and DR will be off the hook. Give it a reasonable amount of time, maybe a week or 2 and we can start asking for updates. As opposed to asking for updates the day after the OPs last post....
 
Hi to all!
If I have an update - you have an update also ;)
Yesterday (Monday) 21.7, I've got an email from DDR with status of my knife. I think it will be OK to post the original email here so here it is:
"We just finished the blade with the Custom ground “thin edge” that you requested.
We will be doing the final build, fit and finish next.
We look to ship the knife out to you by Wednesday the 23rd.
We want you to have a knife you are proud to own."

And the second good thing is that DDR also refunded the promised 600$ to my paypal account.

So far so good. Now I waiting for knife to be finished and be shipped to me. I really hope that this knife will be done right and as promised with thin edge.

Thanks,
Alex
 
Just think, the maker wants you to be proud of a knife you paid him $1200 for. Is this opposed to not being proud of a knife you paid $2 bucks for.

If it takes a Maker multiple times to make an acceptable knife for $1200, he charges too much!!!!
 
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wolfmann601 said:
Just think, the maker wants you to be proud of a knife you paid him $1200 for. Is this opposed to not being proud of a knife you paid $2 bucks for.

If it takes a Maker multiple times to make an acceptable knife for $1200, he charges too much!!!!
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Well vininull is essentially getting a free $1300 minus shipping expenses if all goes as DR said. He sold the knife for $700 at a $500 loss. DR sent $600 putting vininull in the positive and a supposed knife. This really is above and beyond...do the circumstances warrant it?--that purely opinion.
 
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