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

[Karda]

Karda seems to have gone quiet!?!?!?!?!?

Little concerned to be honest how another Mod can say that this guy has nothing to do with being a moderator of BladeForums???

Says Moderator just underneath his name Karda ( little confusing ) .........Maybe then it should say under DARREL RALPH...."Errrghhhh Yes I am a moderator but not affiliated in anyway with BladeForums, just affiliated with my own company DARREL RALPH but just aslong as ya'll know this and what my title as Moderator actually means!.........If you catch my drift Karda it is a little confusing!...........I think what can really upset folk though is that this guy is supposed to be someone Knife Folk and Customers can actually trust but it really really dont seem that way and I dont think clutching at straws to try and save a con artist ( no matter how much you may are may not be affiliated with him ) is a good way to keep us all on a basic level of ethical understanding, infact its just plain confusing and worrying to say the least!!

Peace

I haven't gone quiet at all......
Forum specific (red) moderators are assigned to specific areas. Some man discussion forums, others are manufacturers representatives given moderator powers to police their own forum. I myself started as a manufacturer rep (not DDR affiliated) and was given the sitewide supermoderator privileges to help out the bladeforums site. I'm sorry this is so confusing to you, perhaps you should spend some time learning how this site works.

As for this thread?
As everyone knows there is always a side A, a side B and the Truth.....
The buyer has told his side of the story and it is upon Mr. Ralph to tell his, here in this thread.
I'm trying to save no one. It is up to DDR to provide for his own customer relation and image, good or bad.
It is also up to the consumer to research those that they will (or not) do business with.
As a supermod it is my job to remain neutral and only act on the facts before me and to use my best judgement.

On another note though Moderator/ Con Artist/ Con Artist Moderator!!!!

You will knock this off immediately. Another post in this manner is going to cost you an infraction. Fair warning.

 

[ohen cepel]

DR,
I don't understand how you can ship a person a crap knife for $1200 and then blame them for shipping them a crap knife since he supposedly spoke poorly to someone in your shop. Does not compute: if he had gotten a good knife in the first place he wouldn't have a reason to speak to anyone.

The whole thing reads poorly for DR no matter the spin.

 

[Revolverrodger]

WHAAAT??? Not that's an impudent LIE!
Aren't you be able to came up with something smarter than blow upon your own customer?
Previous post you say that you'll take care of me and next post you post this delirium about foul language???
Do you have any proof to your words? You just don't...
Because I DO! I do have a proof for everything that said and SHOWN in my video:
- I have all the emails which evidences your behavior and customer disregard (you CC'd to every one of them. Never heard uh?)
- I have your ridiculous proposal to keep silence about my experience with you
- And the most important I have a video of your product which is "speaks for itself"

Now you showed the real face - Well Done Mr.Ralph!

P.S. I can't believe that this is happening....

Signing a knife with a carbide tip is pretty much impossible to do well.
You should have accepted the signature with a marker.
Plus imposing short timelines leads to lower quality.
You look like quite the impatient customer who wants quality on the rush.

 

[Luis G.]

Signing a knife with a carbide tip is pretty much impossible to do well.
You should have accepted the signature with a marker.
Plus imposing short timelines leads to lower quality.
You look like quite the impatient customer who wants quality on the rush.

You should watch the videos.
1. No one knew how he'd sign the blades.
2. He didn't impose anything. Darrel Ralph's company did. They proposed the timeframes and broke it EACH time.
3. Hardly he waited QUITE a while to get the first one. Even was patient enough to send it for warranty work, giving Darrel Ralph's company a chance to do right.

 

[Revolverrodger]

Alot of the points in his video seems like nitpicking to me
If you want a hand made knife you are bound to get slight imperfections in the grind angles and grind height. If you want geometric perfection get a CNC made knife !
Handmade knives have more character I think.

 

[Luis G.]

Alot of the points in his video seems like nitpicking to me
If you want a hand made knife you are bound to get slight imperfections in the grind angles and grind height. If you want geometric perfection get a CNC made knife !
Handmade knives have more character I think.

Holy smokes what you just said insulted 90% of the honorable hard working customer knife makers.

MOST custom knifemakers can grind lines far better than a factory can, that's why they're custom and often can cost a down payment on a car or a whole car entirely. A little sharpie, some calipers, and a ruler goes a LONG way for most custom makers to have near perfect grind lines.
Hell most have guides and magnetic holders and custom belt grinders for even better more consistent grind lines. SPECIALLY when you deal with complex grinds.

If a knife make with 15 years of experience handed me a badly ground knife, I'd send it back. Sorry but no excuse for it in this day and age. The craft is not easy,

A hand forged knife however there will be variances. On a stock removal I expect few (probably most custom folder makers).

Lastly: Darrel Ralph uses CNC's, the blades may be hand ground but that's not excuse for shitty and inconsistent grind lines.

I would advise reading up on manufacturing. CNCing can indeed make better tolerance knives than any custom maker can. But the costs involved in making such a precise, and high volume factory are astronomical (hence you see Sebenza's selling for $400, and other similar constructed/tight toleranced production knives can go for double or triple the cost.

 

[magnumb]

Alot of the points in his video seems like nitpicking to me
If you want a hand made knife you are bound to get slight imperfections in the grind angles and grind height. If you want geometric perfection get a CNC made knife !
Certain knifemakers have a few disconcerting and questionable character flaws, I think.

Fixed it for you..........

 

[magnumb]

From what info I could gleen from DR's above 'signature' explanation, this was the first time in his career that he had signed a knife using, from what I can tell, any method, much less that specific method. If so, that seems both unusual and just odd that not one DR knife has left his shop signatured for...........how many years? And if all of a sudden, a new process for signaturing his knives has just very recently now been adopted, I'm sure that the OP would have waited a bit longer while that process was implemented, rather than being made to accept that chicken scratch. Heck, how long had he waited already, so a week or so more would have been a chip shot.

No previously signed DR knives pics available from anyone or from DR himself..........................really?

 

[Sharpe95th]

Excuse me Karda but I dont think that it is fair!!

I will end the discussion there on my part but please dont tell me it is fair when it aint!!

 

[wroughndt]

If you only knew about Darrel banning a long time member of this site for voicing similar issues as the OP......

 

[mainaman]

Alot of the points in his video seems like nitpicking to me
If you want a hand made knife you are bound to get slight imperfections in the grind angles and grind height. If you want geometric perfection get a CNC made knife !
Handmade knives have more character I think.

Dude are you blind?
The knife was bent, the bow to the left is visible with naked eye. They is HUMONGOUS imperfection not slight imperfection.
The uneven bevel grind on each side of the blade is fixable but for 1200 bucks it better be damn symmetric, and it is done on a belt grinder not by hand. Heck if those guys can't sharpen on a grinder get a freakin Edge Pro or something.

I wonder what are you getting in return for defending this POS knife and the company that made it?

 

[Pittknife]

Alot of the points in his video seems like nitpicking to me
If you want a hand made knife you are bound to get slight imperfections in the grind angles and grind height. If you want geometric perfection get a CNC made knife !
Handmade knives have more character I think.

You are saying a custom knife maker can't be expected to have a straight grind on a blade for $1200, lol to that. I think Luis G. rebuttal to you was spot on.

I don't care what the angry Russian dude said after getting that crap knife to the manager, you don't screw your customers because of their attitude. The guy paid $1200

 

[Karda]

Excuse me Karda but I dont think that it is fair!!

I will end the discussion there on my part but please dont tell me it is fair when it aint!!

What is not fair is yourself commenting on all moderators because of the actions of one.

Notice to all.....
Discuss the TOPIC.
No more "fixing" posts or other such juvenile behaviors.
If this discussion cannot proceed in an adult manner, it will be closed. End of story.

 

[tmedvedev]

I watched both videos and i just cannot comprehend how DR can have a nerve to blame the customer. The customer received a complete joke of a product after waiting much longer than promised and paying a hefty premium for a custom/quality knife. If i paid that much money and received such a pos, i would be furious. The customer then outlined everything that was wrong with the knife and was promised a top priority treatment with weekly updates on the progress as well as speedy warranty work. The company completely failed to fulfill any of their timeframe promises and assign a top priority service to this matter again. Not once have they contacted him with an update or apologized for terrible product and shitty customer service. He had to call every week just to find out what the hell is going on with his $1200 purchase. Once the customer realized that he is dealing with an incompetent company and requested a refund, the manager and Lacey got pissy and unwilling to accept the fact that the company produces terrible product and provides even worse customer service. And still, the second knife came as a complete pos again. Can someone explain to me, how does DR call himself a knife maker after such product leaves his shop twice in a row and supposedly under his supervision. DR is lucky that the buyer does not live in US, i would have filed a BBB complaint, requested a chargeback through credit card/paypal and contacted the attorney general on the grounds of shady business practices. The customer gave DR more than enough chances to make it right and all we see from DR are pre canned/bs responses and clear lies. Quick search proves that this is not the first incident (http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/944008-Darrel-Ralph-customer-service) and the same people are involved. Funny how DR wants this guy to delete his initial 'negative' post about him too, wow! DR, you should not be in business, your staff should be fired immediately and you need to go back to school and learn how to make knives and provide decent customer service. I will make sure no one i know ever buys or deals with you or your company.

 

[Sharpe95th]

Infact I can safely say that there is an underbelly running through this forum that I have felt and I know alot of others have felt also, some of them to be craftsmen who have taken themselves away from this site because it seems that wrong and right can be chosen to be what they are instead of just being what they are regardless of mans petty, politic intervention when it suits whomever has bought a ticket to the bullshit show.

So I will take myself away from your area of influence over what is right and wrong because personally I think that your full of shit and I aint going to have you telling me what is fair and what is not because you clearly choose what is and is not only when concerned with your own feelings and not those that could generally be considered universal ( such is the fundamental understanding of what is right and wrong, which either myself or YOU have nothing to do with apart from obeyeing the truth in its principle, which I do feel you either know absolutley nothing about or infact you do but only choose to when it suits )

I felt that the best thing about this site/forum was the users oppertunity to get good advice on who to purchase goods from and who not to purchase goods from, seems though as I feel that this is not the case and those that moderate this site openly, and without looking at solid facts, allow scumbags to operate within its realms/ sub-forums, just because it seems they have a few freinds here and there and can allways be given the benefit of the doubt I shall not bother staying around.

I must admit that alot of what I have witnessed on this Bladeforums over the last year has left me with a sour taste regarding certain aspects of the knife world and the people involved within it. What a petty hypocrytical bunch some of you are!!:thumbdn:

 

[Sharpe95th]

I did not do that at all, your clutching at straws again!

 

[Sharpe95th]

Exactly what I am talking about and Karda has gotten all emotionally involved because he has gotten him self in a ethical tizz!

 

[Luis G.]

Exactly what I am talking about and Karda has gotten all emotionally involved because he has gotten him self in a ethical tizz!

Everyone's a hypocrite. Bladeforums doesn't have a banner that says: "home of the best people in the world". No one is perfect, you just gotta figure out if the good here outweights the bad.
Let it go you are derailing this thread, and going to get it closed.
My experience has been a mixed bag but obviously I found enough good to come back.

 

[Sharpe95th]

Yes you are right Luis G, there are some great people and more good than bad!!
Sorry if what I said came across that way!!

Regards

 

[Karda]

Folks,
I'm only trying to see both sides here....
My duties prevent me from commenting on much about how I truly feel.
One thing that is not going to happen is attacks on myself or any other moderator for doing his job.
What will happen is that this discussion will proceed in a civil manner or there will be no further discussion.