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Disappointing Service

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As far as the comments that CRK should have notified the OP of the delay.....are you kidding me? What I mean....Think about the demand for their products. A CRK goes up on the forums USED..even one of their plain Janes.....and it often brings nearly MSRP depending on the model, and its normally only there for a few minutes at best. Not quite a Hinderer demand/mark up, but close. Given the demand for their products, can you imagine CRK keeping track of, and calling every single customer that calls them and says "I want to buy this knife...when do you expect it will be available"?????? Good Lord, they'd never get another knife made!

Look, they're in business to sell knives. They try to meet demand and their service needs as best they can. To do otherwise makes no sense at all..they wouldn't be in business very long and wouldn't be in the position they're in if they didn't. They have become as popular as they are by providing a product that few if any production manufacturers can match. They provide some of the best customer service in the industry despite the demands for their product. Those demands obviously outweigh their ability to produce them. I'm sure CRK and their employees don't sit there throwing random dates at customers. I'm sure they don't sit there thinking "I told that customer this....the hell with them, we're not going to do it or we're not going to tell them it's delayed" or anything else. I'm fairly certain they provide the most accurate estimates of availability at the time, given the demands placed upon them (production, customer service, etc) at the time. Those demands can vary drastically and there is no way to predict them. Something as simple as if Lisantica decides to sell off a few of her horde can alter the demands for their knives. To get on a public forum and complain that 6-8 weeks ago, an employee told you at the time that a knife you wanted to purchase would be available and now it's still not is ridiculous. Hell, many manufacturers would have told you they would be available when they were available.
 
I agree it sucks, I agree they should have let him know but what baffles me is that I can find that knife in stock online so why order straight from CRK?
Also, customer service is never 100% and to expect that is a bit much.
 
apdb90 said:
As far as the comments that CRK should have notified the OP of the delay.....are you kidding me?
Click to expand...

I don't know if this post was directed at me, but as it immediately followed mine I think there is a pretty good chance that it probably was.

My point, in case you missed it, was that they don't have an online ordering system that MIGHT have been able to automatically notify the customer of an order delay. You have to phone in your order and I am sure they don't have the staff to track delays and notify people.

In an ideal world the client should always be notified of a delay, but CRK is not a mega-manufacturer with sophisticated order entry and customer service ERP software. That is fine with me.
 
Tasmaniac said:
I don't know if this post was directed at me, but as it immediately followed mine I think there is a pretty good chance that it probably was.

My point, in case you missed it, was that they don't have an online ordering system that MIGHT have been able to automatically notify the customer of an order delay. You have to phone in your order and I am sure they don't have the staff to track delays and notify people.

In an ideal world the client should always be notified of a delay, but CRK is not a mega-manufacturer with sophisticated order entry and customer service ERP software. That is fine with me.
Click to expand...

No, it wasn't directed at you, it was directed at several comments of that prior to yours...I didn't even read your post. If it were directed at you, I would have quoted you.

In a perfect world, absolutely positively every manufacturer and dealer would be able to inform their customers of any delays in real time. But I'd venture to guess that CRK's more concerned with getting those products made, and continuing to do so at the level of precision they do, and that's a much higher priority than keeping a list of every single customer who calls and wants a knife, then having someone service that list full time. I'd venture to guess that if they dedicated the manpower to doing that, we'd be discussing posts complaining that CRK's calling someone every 6 weeks to tell them that production is delayed another 6 weeks because their staff would be tied up making phone calls to dealers and customers every day instead of making knives. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. While they may not be absolutely perfect at it, they're pretty damned good or their knives wouldn't be in demand like they are, and people wouldn't be posting complaining about "Disappointing Service".
 
I have three CRK knives that I bought from certified dealers. I prefer not to wait.
 
If waiting a couple of weeks or months for a knife is your biggest problem, consider yourself lucky. Be thankful that you have the expendable cash to afford such a luxury.
 
Well meaning people make honest mistakes sometimes. Manufacturing can be very unpredictable. Waiting a few extra weeks (for a luxury item) is really not a big deal considering this is a knife you will likely enjoy for years or decades to come.

I just had to send a knife back for warranty work, and I can report that the service I received was excellent. I'd cut them some slack.
 
I am sorry you were disappointed with your service. As you discovered providing a delivery date especially for an inlaid knife is very difficult. The person you placed the order with is still learning how set backs can occur and that there are different time frames for different knives. Again, I apologize that this delay has caused you so much irritation. We do our best to fill orders but our machining capacity is limited and priorities are placed on the knives most in demand. I would have explained this to you if you had not hung up on me once you found out the backorder time was three months or so. As for notifying you of the delay, I am the one who invoices the knives. I had no idea you were promised this knife in such a short period of time. If I didn't know, then I couldn't notify you. But I digress, we are human. We are not perfect. We do our best to make the customer happy. It's quite defeating to read such a negative post when a mistake is made especially because we really do work hard at the service we give our customers. If we could magically make your Mnandi appear we would, but that isn't the case.
 
apdb90 said:
In a perfect world, absolutely positively every manufacturer and dealer would be able to inform their customers of any delays in real time. But I'd venture to guess that CRK's more concerned with getting those products made, and continuing to do so at the level of precision they do, and that's a much higher priority than keeping a list of every single customer who calls and wants a knife, then having someone service that list full time. I'd venture to guess that if they dedicated the manpower to doing that, we'd be discussing posts complaining that CRK's calling someone every 6 weeks to tell them that production is delayed another 6 weeks because their staff would be tied up making phone calls to dealers and customers every day instead of making knives. It's a damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. While they may not be absolutely perfect at it, they're pretty damned good or their knives wouldn't be in demand like they are, and people wouldn't be posting complaining about "Disappointing Service".
Click to expand...

You excuse makers are putting out some poor posts. I think the OP has every right to be upset. He's only using his right to express his opinions, also felt by some others including myself.

I just retired. My job was operating 3 e-commerce websites carrying a lot more inventory than a knives to worry about.

This what I did to handle situations like this. I was able to do it myself, had customers thank me and complete the sale!

It's about use of simple computer functions and developing a small system that's simple and easy to follow.

If a customer placed an order via the shopping cart or the phone (as in calling CRK), I immediately sent a "canned email," nicely written of course and providing a lead time for their product to be ready to ship. This date could be changed easily by backspacing the "Canned" date. After sending the customer this email they could wait, or in some cases they'd write back and cancel or say forget it - whatever.

These orders were placed in a special folder in my email program, in a folder I created called for e.g. "XYZ website Pending Orders" or "ABC website Pending Orders" if a phone order - the name, phone & email of the customer and the item were typed into a draft email and it was placed in the same one of the 3 "website Pending Orders." All of this was accompished in Outlook or Outlook Express.

Every week I'd take a peek at these 3 folders and compare it to inventory and fulfill the order or not. After 30 days in the folder with no product forthcoming, I contacted any of these customers in the pending folder via email and touched base with them, sending apologies and my hope that their order would soon be in stock - "Another canned email" requiring mere seconds to mod and send out.

In the end I completed almost 100% of my orders, my customers thought my company was "the tits" (excuse me ladies) and no harsh word OR HARD WORK was required. Just 2 canned emails, which could be modded for the item, customer name, and lead time and maybe a little chit chat. That and a Pending folder to store the canned emails along with the pending orders.

CRK CS, although responsive can take some lessons and hey - put my method in place - no yucky threads to deal with. ;) :)

Sarcastic and/or snotty remarks lose business! :grumpy:
 
VERY WELL SAID!!! CRK's will not disappoint! there service is the best in the business, if you find better, then well.......very good LUCK! this is why i buy CRK's, and will in the near future!
 
blade2klean said:
I am sorry you were disappointed with your service.
Click to expand...

And Heather has now apologized to you on her day off for a minor misunderstanding that has brought every hurt feeling and imagined slight caused by her company to the surface.

Thank you for chiming in Heather, please enjoy the rest of your hard earned weekend.
 
Thanks Heather, for filling in the blanks. It's been awhile since I ordered a custom knife from CRK, but that quoted time did seen a little short. Keep up the good work(mistakes do happen).
 
So the op hung up on heather before listening for an explanation. Real classy.
 
cziv said:
You excuse makers are putting out some poor posts. I think the OP has every right to be upset. He's only using his right to express his opinions, also felt by some others including myself.

I just retired. My job was operating 3 e-commerce websites carrying a lot more inventory than a knives to worry about.

This what I did to handle situations like this. I was able to do it myself, had customers thank me and complete the sale!

It's about use of simple computer functions and developing a small system that's simple and easy to follow.

If a customer placed an order via the shopping cart or the phone (as in calling CRK), I immediately sent a "canned email," nicely written of course and providing a lead time for their product to be ready to ship. This date could be changed easily by backspacing the "Canned" date. After sending the customer this email they could wait, or in some cases they'd write back and cancel or say forget it - whatever.

These orders were placed in a special folder in my email program, in a folder I created called for e.g. "XYZ website Pending Orders" or "ABC website Pending Orders" if a phone order - the name, phone & email of the customer and the item were typed into a draft email and it was placed in the same one of the 3 "website Pending Orders." All of this was accompished in Outlook or Outlook Express.

Every week I'd take a peek at these 3 folders and compare it to inventory and fulfill the order or not. After 30 days in the folder with no product forthcoming, I contacted any of these customers in the pending folder via email and touched base with them, sending apologies and my hope that their order would soon be in stock - "Another canned email" requiring mere seconds to mod and send out.

In the end I completed almost 100% of my orders, my customers thought my company was "the tits" (excuse me ladies) and no harsh word OR HARD WORK was required. Just 2 canned emails, which could be modded for the item, customer name, and lead time and maybe a little chit chat. That and a Pending folder to store the canned emails along with the pending orders.

CRK CS, although responsive can take some lessons and hey - put my method in place - no yucky threads to deal with. ;) :)

Sarcastic and/or snotty remarks lose business! :grumpy:
Click to expand...

And you were dealing with INVENTORY. I'm retired myself, and have been running a business since doing so. I do exactly what you did day in and day out. But what you're failing to take into consideration is that now you need to add the entire aspect of manufacturing into the equation as well. Worrying about inventory and customers is a full time job. Manufacturing is a full time job. Add the two together before you start throwing the "I can do it why can't they" stuff around.

As far as "excuse makers"....I don't make excuses for myself, I'm sure not going to do it for someone else. It's not about excuses, it's about reality. The reality is that CRK works their asses off trying to meet demand that far exceeds their ability to provide supply. The reality is that they work their asses off to provide good customer service and product support. The reality is that it is a company run by human beings who can and do make mistakes, and when those mistakes are made....ie. a new employee telling a customer that a custom inlayed knife will be available in production knife times.....the best you can do is be upfront and honest about it with the customer when that mistake is realized. Now before you say they didn't do that, keep in mind two things....first, the new employee who spoke to the customer very likely didn't KNOW they did that, and obviously, as evidenced by blade2clean's post, the person who DID know wasn't aware of the mistake made by someone else until the customer called. The reality is that when the customer called, and the person who did KNOW tried to explain the mistake....the best you can do and far better than making excuses.....the customer hung up on them and gets on this forum complaining about disappointing service.

So it's not about excuses. It's about reality. Before you start talking about how they should take some lessons from you, you should make sure you're comparing apples and apples. You were dealing with e commerce as a dealer and worrying about inventory and perhaps being a go between with the customer and manufacturer with warranty claims (sorry, don't know what type of e commerce you did). They're dealing with regular sales, e commerce, wholesale/dealers, retail, standard production manufacturing, custom manufacturing AND returns/repairs/refurbs/etc. Apples and oranges.
 
Where's a mod when you need 'em? An issue has been raised, opinions noted, and an official response made. It needs to be locked now.
 
If there is delay it's definately not because CRK is slacking. I wouldn't consider there order process a binding contract either - it's a great service(option) to obtaining one of there knives to your specs that many companies don't even offer. If your waiting-I'm sure their dealers are as well-things happen.
 
Sounds to me like the OP heard what he wanted to hear and relayed only what he wanted to relay to the masses. I'm pretty sure we are not getting the whole story and only the story that makes CRK CS look bad. And I say this because only because he has not posted in this thread since he started it. It reeks of simple trolling to me to feed the flames of discontent.
 
CRK should see this whole thread as a compliment :)
To have a product that gets people's panties all twisted when they have to wait is an enviable position. I'm 5wks into a wait myself for an inlaid small sebbie and the anticipation continues.

It's a bummer to think something will be arriving soon and then gets pushed back but hopefully emotional maturity prevails and people maintain perspective.
Like someone else said -- what a good problem to have in the big scheme of things.

oh -- and "MA! MEATLOAF!" too funny... still chuckling

.... ok, probably should let this thread die.
 
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