DirtCheapKnives reliable or no???

TT2Toes

TT2Toes

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Anyone experience any problems ordering from DirtCheapKnives?

http://www.dirtcheapknives.com/

Am having trouble getting a response from them about my order status.

(Guess I should have checked with forum folks before placing the order).

Please let me know if I am in for a battle or if they have a good track record.

Thanks,
TT2Toes
 
i read somewhere on the forums that DCK ads low prices on their website, but they have a hard time delivering (thatls just what i read, in ref to a Mini Commander, which were kinda new at the time), but no experience yet.. i've sent e-mail questions, and got responses the second day. i hope they're OK to do biz with, cause i've got about $400 to send their way after the Blade Show West in Sept.. they look like they have the lowest prices on the 'net, and that's what it's about, from where i sit! fwiw..................john
 
Thanks REKATJACK.
I found a different e-mail address to contact them, and have sent another inquiry.

I'll keep folks posted on what kind of response, performance, I receive.

Cheers,

TT2Toes
 
Uh-Oh,

when thinking about posting a bit about my experience with them this thread just shows up - so let me put it down .......

Actually 2 months ago I found their website here on BF somewhere - pretty much just the URL but no good / bad comments - as they not only had very good pricing and low shipping rate but also a bunch of dicontinued knives I was already looking for I thought why not give them a try (while I´m overseas the order would be shipping to US - so no real nightmare / problem with that).

So OK - here we go - trying to place my order I had a question regarding CC card charges and I was waiting quite a bit for a reply - this was cleared up by Daniel (its two brothers, Daniel and Andrew, running the thing) after maybe a week - the problem was that being a small shop they had familiar issues preventing a timely response so I wrote back that such issue definetely would take higher priority than any knive business on this planet and apologized for being impatient.

Knowing that some of the three knives ordered would be possibly hard to get even when being listed on the site I gave them quite some time until sending another round of emails asking for the status of the order after the "capture" on my CC was canceled obviuosly due to too much elapsed time (no charge ever was made - only a capture which is blocking the money on my CC account). Again after quite some time I got the response that the family issue was still not fully resolved but that my knives were ordered and on the way from the distributor and that things should go smoother going forward.

After another 2 weeks or so I again asked on the status of the order as the friend for whom one of those knives was ordered kept asking me when that knife might finally make it and in addition the very friendly director of customer relations at one of the major US knive makers asked for the whereabout of the knive I had asked him to do a special blade-swap job on and to whom I had told that the order should be shipped to him RSN.

Again no response for a while - then finally I get the answer that all three knives are hard to get, are backordered, but would make it in over the next 2 weeks. I ask if this information is with any good level of trustworthiness as after already 6 weeks of waiting I would be a bit **unhappy** if after finally two months the knives wouldn´t make it - and a recently discontinued model might be even much harder to get for me after 2 months being gone .... - answer being that he would have no reason to not believe to get the knives in.

So two weeks pass by and I sent another round of emails asking if the knives finally made it in to get the answer that ONE of them is still lacking and is hard to find, the other ONE is finally on the way from the distributor and without special mentioning I thought that the THIRD one would be in his hands already - actually this third one being the one promissed to my friend and being targeted for the bladeswap.

So I write back that that lacking ONE isn´t of too much importance to me and that he might clarify the other two knives availability to me - and that I possibly would even order another (more expensive) knive to replace the one he can´t get - and that I finally need to move on with that order one way or the other ....... No answer .....

I wait another week and sent off another round of daily emails asking for what is going on now - getting a little bit impatient but still being friendly and understanding as my family too has recently been going through some troubles with twins being received 10 weeks early.

Now over the weekend suddenly both email addresses (Daniels and the info@dirtcheapknives) I used are bouncing back with

----- The following addresses had permanent fatal errors -----
<Info@dirtcheapknives.com>
(reason: 550 Requested action not taken: mailbox unavailable)

So as my probably last interaction with them I sent another email to Andrews email address which is on a different email server asking if something is wrong with their email addresses - no answer yet.

So to finish this rambling let me say that I obviuosly do accept a sub-optimal customer service for a good price and discontinued goods - and that I understand that sometimes rightly-so business needs to stand back against more important things in life - no question - and let me repeat that I have not lost any money dealing with DCK.

On the other side I have lost 2 months already dealing with them and I do not plan to continue to do so - right now I´m going through my alternatives (Yes I do know and have ordered from Brian@discountknives, Kevin@1SKS, Mike@NewGrahams and they don´t carry the ones I´m looking for) and think others might do as well.

Just my 2 cents

Klaus
 
Thanks Klaus:
Whew! Sorry to hear of your trials and tribulations with dirtcheapknives (DCK).

I did get a response from Daniel at DCK, the very next day. As suspected, the Randal RTAK was backordered and was delaying my order. Daniel offered to send the other knive (Kershaw Vapor, in stock) in the interim.

Since the RTAK seems to be in high demand, and short supply right now, I doubt another dealer could deliver it any quicker than DCK. So, I am content to wait.

I will follow up on DCK's performance once my package arrives.

Note: I used the following address to reach Daniel.
Info@DirtCheapKnives.Com

Cheers,
TT2Toes
 
TT2TOES,

also just got an email from them this minute

They have the ONE knife on hand and can´t tell about the others

Daniel is emailing me that there has been flooding (DCK is in Texas) and that the phone lines have been off due to that and the storm - this would explain the emails getting bounced back.

This certainly has been an interesting 2 months ...

Klaus
 
like Stevie Ray says--wel it's floddin down in Texas--all the telepone lines are down..(you probably hear that one every day :rolleyes:
i've also used the *info@*, and usually get a response w/in 2 days. course, that's just availability questions, not about an existing order, so-don't know bout that. maybe things'll change once the flooding subsides? we'll see................................john
 
I was afraid I was going to find a thread like this one. It always happens when I have trouble with an order - I find out others are going through the same thing.

I ordered a Marbles Ideal from DCK on June 7. When I inquired about this order in late June, I recieved an email from Daniel saying that he expected to get one during the week of the 4th. Still, I have recieved no Marbles Ideal, and have now learned that Marbles does not even plan to have these knives available until mid or late August.

I have been emailing DCK this week to ask about changing the order to some other knives which should be obtainable. I recieved one reply on Monday - from Daniel saying he would let me know if the Becker BK9 is available. However, there have been no further replies this week.
Keep in mind that I was asking to change the order, not cancel it, and would have spent even more money than what has been charged for the Marbles Ideal.

I have tried phoning DCK as well but no one answers.

I had placed an additional order with DCK on Monday of last week, for popular knives I did not think would be hard for DCK to get. The knives were the Spyderco Fred Perrin fixed blade, the Camillus Arclite, and the Falkniven WM-1. Still, this order has not arrived after nearly two weeks.

TT2Toes, from what I have read that Ontario RTAK is not yet available from Ontario. It seems that Ontario, like Marbles, advertises knives that they do not yet have available. Of course, this does not excuse retailers from advertising knives they cannot get from the manufacturers, but I expect in some cases the retailer may not know the knife is not available until a customer orders it.

Looks like I have gotten myself into trouble by ordering from DCK. These guys do not answer my requests to change my June 7 order, even though I would end up spending even more money with them. If I do not get a satisfactory reply from them in a few more days, I will ask VISA to reverse charges for the Marbles order.
 
Last night I decided to go ahead and email DCK and ask for a refund on the order for a Marbles Ideal, since they had not answered my requests to substitute other knives. This morning I got a message from Daniel Locher, saying that he had not been online for awhile due to the phone lines being out because of the weather there.

Mr. Locher's reply sounds legitimate, but then I have to note that Klaus's problems with DCK go back well before the flooding in Texas.
It seems that DCK gets themselves in trouble by advertising knives before they are available from the manufacturer. It may be that they have been misled themselves by the manufacturers, who advertise knives before they have them. Still, I think it is the responsibility of a retailer to know if they can get the knives they advertise.
 
Well, I gave up on DCK. They didn't come through on the knife they said they had in stock. On 7/15 they said they could ship it right away. As of today 7/29, still no knife and it hadn't been shipped yet. So I cancelled the order.

Next time I will probably go with a different vendor.

Good luck to the rest of you.

TT2Toes
 
Turns out Ontario has plenty of the RTAK knives to ship. The holdup is the contractor providing the sheaths. See 7/29/02 response from Sharon Ameis (Sales and Marketing) at Ontario Knife Co. below:


Sorry for the delay of the Rtak knife. The sheath vendor is taking their time building the sheaths. The sheaths are scheduled to ship to us
tomorrow, July 30th. As soon as we receive the sheaths, we will get them packed up and shipped out.

Thank you,
Sharon
 
I finally did get one of three knives I ordered from DCK earlier in July. Also, I got an email from them today saying the other two knives would be shipped today. Mr. Locher gave me a discount on the original price. I guess those guys are trying to make up for their recent service problems.
 
TT2Toes,

Did DCK tell you they had the RTAK in stock and could ship it on July 15? Obviously that could not have been true since the RTAK's release is delayed at the factory.

These guys seem to have some legitimate problems, like the flooding in Texas, and at least in my case they have been trying to apologize and compensate for the service problems. However, this part about claiming to have items in stock that they are about to ship, when they really don't, is very concerning.
 
Daniel at DCK pointed out that the RTAK was backordered. But that he could ship the Ken Onion folder right away, since he had lots in stock. That never happened. Then when I asked that he cancel the order, he offered again to ship the Ken Onion ASAP. By this time his promises seemed a bit tarnished - I declined.

He hasn't mentioned anything about flooding or communications problems to me. Don't want to kick a guy when he's down - - but they act flakey to me.

Cheers,
TT2Toes
 
TT2Toes,

The flooding in Texas was the reason I was given for DCK not reply to some emails I had sent. At the same time I had tried for a couple of days to phone them. The phone rang but there was no answer. I am not sure what should happen if phone lines are out - a busy signal or ringing but no answer.

Your problem with the Ken Onion knife is of course an entirely different matter. That is definitely "flakey" behavior.
 
I just cancled my order with them. I ordered a CUDA Mad Max and an Ontario Fontiersman. I would understand if they had neither in stock, as the Max is new and how, and the Frontiersman is a big knife that may or may not be super popular. I asked on my order to let me know if they were in stock, and that I was willing to wait on the Max, but needed to have information soon as the Frontiersman is a gift. almost 2 weeks, and 4 emails later (one even from a diffrent account), I still have heard nothing. I cancled more out of a need to hurry then anything. I was willing (and stated so) to wait for the Max. To bad, really. Mike at New Grahm seems to be setting me up rather well though, but I still need to find a cheap and quick Frontiersman...
 
i have ordered a few knives from dirtcheapknives, and they take a while to get to you... i dont plan on ordering from them again because i would rather pay an extra few bucks and get it soon...if you dont mind the wait and want to save some money, its a fine company.
 
Today I recieved the remaining two knives from an order of three knives placed with Dirt Cheap Knives on July 8, so it took about 3 and 1/2 weeks. Also, DCK gave me a bit of a discount on the original price.

By contrast, I ordered a knife from One Stop Knife Shop recently on a Thursday, and recieved the knife the following Tuesday.

I can deal with slowness, but I have to have answers, and straight ones, concerning my orders.
 
Well,
I'm thouroughly umimpessed with DCK. Yesterday morning, I found their sight by accident while surfing around. Low and behold, they had the knife I've been looking for. Kershaw Rainbow Onion Leek at a good price. I went straight to their order page and logged on. I arranged on the order to pay with PayPal but they had no listing of where to send the money. I figured that they would contact me ASAP so as to get payed. The afternoon went by and I didn't feel right about it. Next stop, I picked up the telephone and tried calling. Nadda. No answer. I sent them and email. No reply. I tried calling again (Maybe they were gone to lunch). No Answer. I emailed two more times. Nothing back as of this morning. Emailed again this morning. Bupkis, Nada, Nix, Zip, Zilch, Zero. Called two more times. No stinkin' answer.
Looked them up here. Saw this post. Cancelled order.
I prefer to work with local TX companies but these guys just don't do business the way I like to. Face to face with good communication.
It's their business to run the way they want. I just won't be participating.
Doc
 
Well, those guys are constantly getting flooded and their phones go out. If you live in Texas you will just have to paddle your canoe over to DCK to buy that Kershaw knife!

One other thing - I hear their service will be restored once the Ark is finished. And they will have two of every kind of knife in stock!
 
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