Dan Koster Knives - Never Again

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DavidZ

DavidZ

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:thumbdn: Dan Koster Knives - Never Again :thumbdn:

Posting a bad experience is never a top priority, but for the good of the loyal supporting members and posters here at BF, I have to post this here, where people searching are most apt to find and see it. As a matter of fact, if not for the Blade forums, I would still be getting BS from Dan about my replacement knife. Buyers beware if you have a Koster knife now or one on order. I was a big fan in the beginning, but missed promises, lies and BS are the name of his game. In one instance, I waited over 14 months for a replacement for a knife that failed in use. Not To bore you all with a long list of emails, but do not expect any kind of service or response when you deal with him! Unless you go to the forums. While I waited for my replacement, he was selling "extras" on his forum! I no longer have, or will ever have or recommend any knife from Dan. Anyway, I hope that he improves his ethics and business practices, not only for his success, but for the success of the industry.
 
Lack of communication, wrong memory of past communication and lateness of orders are the main reasons I have decided never to order from him again. This is an ongoing issue, many have offered solutions and help and things do not get better. I luckily have not had issues with the knives (although I have yet to put handles on them) and hope I never do. Unfortunately you have hit the bad side of things, I feel for you. I also wonder how he keeps the order load that he does with the negatives out there. It's sad really.
 
Gladly he never bothered to reply to my e-mails and PMs so I did not have to go through all this.
 
that sucks!

i had one of his knives a couple years ago which i sold, but the bushcrafter was on my list of "someday" knives.

he is pretty active in the k9 forum, im confused as to why there were so many problems getting orders filled.
 
MORIMOTOM said:
that sucks!
he is pretty active in the k9 forum,
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:confused: Are you talking about the K-9 sub forum here on BF??

If you are I think you are mistaken, he has not posted on there in months... many months.

Check it out though, I could be wrong; I might have missed one. :)
 
i feel for you davidz and i hope he makes things right for you. i sent him a pm on 6-11 on another issue that went unanswered :thumbdn:.
 
I have several of Dan's knives, but he does have a prob with communication. I raised this with him once, and he seemed genuinely surprised that people had this perception of him. I think it was the Bushmaster pre-order list, and it literally spanned 3 calendar years. And I was #1 on the list. Told him that regular updates and quick responses to emails were a requirement of good customer service, and that we weren't getting that.

I personally don't place Dan in the "bad guy" category, and I've never known him to stiff anyone. But communication is definitely hit or miss with him, and thats a big deal when you are dealing with a stranger on the internet. BIG deal, especially when you have paid up front. Its enough of an issue that I won't be doing any more pre-orders with him, and probably no more orders period.

Again, he's not a bad guy in my book, but someone who does not make the effort to engage in good communication. And it doesn't take much of an effort to spend 15 minutes every day responding to emails and PMs to keep everyone happy. My experience only.
 
I have only had very positive dealings with Dan. 2 knives, both are superb. Communication and shipping were both satisfactory. I think he is a very talented maker and good guy. Maybe he could be better organized, but I like his stuff.
 
It's a shame, he (Koster) has some really nice looking knives. I remember David Z's broken knife, it was a catastrophic failure to say the least.
 
Ever since Dan Koster began making knives (going back to K-9) he has had business issues. Every month or so someone will get fed up enough to post (often a couple of times before it is addressed) in his forum re poor comms, failure to provide a knife after receiving payment, slow shipping, not refunding their money, the list goes on and on. Occasionally it will appear that Dan is making things right and getting his act together, for a while. Eventually a new group of folks step up and again start to post.

Though there are others here in the GBU about Dan Koster here is the largest thread from January re his widespread and long term poor business practices - http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=692267&highlight=koster
 
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Well,I have two orders with him.I have read a lot of negative feedback about Mr.Koster through the years.I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me feel a little uneasy.I guess if things do go south,I have only myself to blame.
 
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Knife "Makers" who need down payments and pre-pays to buy materials to make said knives tend to have difficulties, is this the case here?

And with so many great makers out there that keep lines of communication open and current, keep dates and promises and do not require pre-pays why would anyone risk the aggravation?

just questions, just questions..........................
 
Hillbillenigma said:
Ever since Dan Koster began making knives (going back to K-9) he has had business issues. Every month or so someone will get fed up enough to post (often a couple of times before it is addressed) in his forum re poor comms, failure to provide a knife after receiving payment, slow shipping, not refunding their money, the list goes on and on. Occasionally it will appear that Dan is making things right and getting his act together, for a while. Eventually a new group of folks step up and again start to post.

Though there are others here in the GBU about Dan Koster here is the largest thread from January re his widespread and long term poor business practices - http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=692267&highlight=koster
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Yep, I guess as long as he's making knives his name will keep popping up about people sending him money(and up front of all things???), only to see him selling plenty of other knives while he still hasn't filled there order.

If people just wouldn't send maker's money before there order was done these things would never happen.
I've never been asked by ANY maker to send funds up front, and I've bought alot of customs.
 
wolfmann601 said:
Knife "Makers" who need down payments and pre-pays to buy materials to make said knives tend to have difficulties, is this the case here?

And with so many great makers out there that keep lines of communication open and current, keep dates and promises and do not require pre-pays why would anyone risk the aggravation?

just questions, just questions..........................
Click to expand...

+1 although I suspect that Dan requiring a down payment merely aggravates the situation for customers rather than causes it to happen in the first place for Dan. In other words, I think the issues would be there even if he did not require down payments.
 
Ken44 said:
I've never been asked by ANY maker to send funds up front, and I've bought alot of customs.
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My name finally came up on the list of a certain MS after @ 3 years of waiting. I asked him if he wants a down payment up front. After all, if I was a jerk, I could make him do all the work and then bail out on him, which would possibly require him to sell the blade at a loss. Yet, he said no down payment. That is a testament to him and at some level, also what he thinks of me. He obviously trusts me a great deal, and he should. And as far as covering costs, the knife I am having made will not be inexpensive, but that does not really seem to bother him. As a result, he has a customer for life.

I wonder how many life customers Dan has given his business practices?
 
With a couple exceptions, every single time I pre-paid a custom knife I ended up regretting it. I think threads like this are important to try to keep makers honest, I think we should actually have a Makers' Hall of Shame.
 
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