I will never understand some responses to a negative experience. The OP was quoted a time, the mistake was by the employee, the OP was upset that the time frame was much greater than expected. Why? Irrelevant. What if the knife was a present for a dying family member to bring releif? A High School Graduation or Military Service present? Did the OP have a customer lined up that was going to pay a 300% markup and now has changed their mind? Does it really matter?
CRK did not take a deposit from you instead they made a prediction of delivery in good faith. Granted the person on the end of the phone could have been clearer and more communicative but does that warrant a thread bashing them on a public forum?
Letting others know of a problem with the company may also get others who are experiencing the problem to speak up as well, and some times on BF greater problems come to the surface. This is common throughout societies. Nobody wants to be the first, but will help support others who have been through the same thing. Why should the OP not inform others of this- it is his right as a member of the forum.
As far as the comments that CRK should have notified the OP of the delay.....are you kidding me? 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"??????
I said that, and explain further my opinion at the end of this post. If they are accepting orders then there is no way that they should not be keeping track of the customers and time frames. With the proliferation of technology it is expected that companies do so.
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.
It was not the best customer service to this customer- and why should this experience not be allowed to be brought to light?
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.
And when the time changes the customer should be notified!
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.
So you are the forum police that demands that nothing slightly negative ever gets brought to light just because of your opinion/experiences, when another's are just as valid?
Hell, many manufacturers would have told you they would be available when they were available.
This has nothing to do with other manufacturers, that is called deflection
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.
This is a great response IMO. The company has taken responsibility for the issue, told why it happened (new employee error) and apologized. I can understand both the frustrations of the customer- being told that the quote was a long way off what was wrongly promised; and the company- when the phone was slammed. The phone slamming was rude, but we do not know what else may have precipitated it in the OP's life, or maybe he feels that he was lied to and lying is the worst offense to his moral system. Hopefully with this issue coming to light CRK can institute a CYA double check of orders or other such policy, or perhaps not give any dates going forward. Unless things like this are addressed- the company may never know there is an issue and may loose customers as a result. Not necessarily a problem with CRK right now- but even the top of the top can lose ground if they insult/disappoint/mislead enough perspective customers for long enough (and just to be clear I am not accusing CRK of any of the preceeding- but others may see it that way).
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.
The OP heard what he wanted to hear, but also heard something that was not true from the company originally. I do not blame people for not returning to this thread- look at how he was attacked for bringing up the subject. I suspect that people do not post many more examples on the forum because of the "fan boy" mentality that lashes back at anything that suggests their chosen grail is anything less than perfect. We have it confirmed from the company that a mistake was made- and the OP is a troll as a result. By a moderator no less, for reporting a true story.
This is only my opinion as I see it, and to me seems to be a much bigger issue on the forum in general. When people are bullied to not post negatives because of the majority of fanatics, then we all loose in the end IMO- especially the company in question. The bad feelings will continue with the individual wronged, poisoning their opinion and letting it spread to anybody that comes in contact with the person wronged. The company has little way of knowing the damage to their reputation, and as such has little recourse to improve before things worsen.
I'm not a regular here so I'll explain where I a coming from. I have a single Sebenza and love it. Not my only carry knife, not my perfect knife- but a solid worker, feels very good in the hand, and the southwestern howling at the moon graphic reminds me of my mom's scroll saw work- I bought it in memory of her passing and am glad that it pushed me to own a CRK. I am currently a massage therapist, but prior to breaking both legs I was an oilfield warehouse supervisor responsible for over $2 million dollars per month of high volume, low profit margin materials. At any given time I was responsible for supplying over 100 oil drilling rigs in Alberta, BC, and Saskatchewan Canada. You better believe I would be reamed out MUCH worse than anything written here if I was short 3 bolts, let alone a custom order that was promised 6 weeks in advance. If something came up that an order was not being fulfilled I had to inform the customer of that fact. Nothing else is acceptable. If going through thousands of line items while making sure rushes and all regular orders, plus dealing with 100 on site rig managers (not the most eloquent or tactful individuals) was a part of my everyday experience, and is part of most supply/manufacturer positions- I don't feel that it is asking too much for other industries as well.
I am not against CRK and will most likely add a Umnunzaan and Mnandi along my way, but I feel that the OP is being treated quite harshly, especially as the company admitted the mistake. They did their best to make it better with the OP, but the OP did not want to hear any more (his right). Both parties have some blame here.
), making the best d*mn knives money can buy and yada yada.... I'm sincerely happy for their success. Only in America as they say. What you make & sell, or who you buy from & resell is irrelevant in your post.
