Flamesnknives or just flames

S

SonicBlade

Feedback: +0 / =0 / -0
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Apr 12, 2006
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I read the previous thread about them and it seemed there was a mix of good and bad reviews. Seemed legit enough. And their ebay rep was pretty decent.

But I'd have to say after dealing with them (well its not a deal when I pay $$ and get nothing), they deserved to be flamed.

Maybe some of you has had great dealings with them, but I didn't.

And this was my first foray into this hobby which turned out like that. Now I don't feel like buying any knives :( 4 mths of dallying, intermittent mails which kept saying they would check, excuses, lies and crap, I still have nothing and no satisfactory answer.

If you guys in FnK are reading this, I will take back my Jeer if you settle my case (even though the service still sucks big time). C'mon guys, just do a decent business instead of earning thru ripping your customers off.
 
i looked and didnt see another thread, what exactly happened to ya? i havent ever heard of F&K FWIW.
 
they seem to do a lot of pre-ordering. I had a pre order for the Kershaw Spec Bump for a couple months before cancelling it. communication was intermittent at best
 
Don't be discouraged. I have been fortunate with ebay, though it can be a crapshoot. You can, however, always rely on BF's own trading forums for many people with great reputations who can be substantiated by others with the same. We can hopefully bring back the joy of buying knives to you.:)
 
I had one experience with them and while it was OK, it was just that - OK.

The knife I recieved had kind of a "not brand new" look and feel about it.
Fast shipping, though.

While it's hard to argue with their 99%+ positive feedback rate over 4 years and 14,000 transactions, I just wouldn't deal with them again.

Because IMO there's no reason to deal with anyone but great dealers - there are more than a few; and we know who they are...
 
I have had several dealings with them, and all went pretty well. If I remember correctly, they were not always a the fastest of shippers (however I would never have called them "slow" either, they just were not super-fast sameday sort of shippers).

Other than that, they delivered as promised.

However if you had a problem, I have no idea how well they deal with that, since my transactions were trouble free.
 
SIFU1A said:
i looked and didnt see another thread, what exactly happened to ya? i havent ever heard of F&K FWIW.
Click to expand...

It's a pretty old thread :-
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=371467&highlight=flamesnknives

But from it, there was a mix of good and bad, and I decided to risk it.

It's a pretty long story but basically, I bought a knife from them from Ebay and from there, I learnt of their online store. I emailed them as they did not have shipping to my country and they were nice about it and added the shipping link soon after.

I ordered 2 more knives from the online store and a lighter too. However, the ebay cart checkout and items from their store checkout (although on the same system), could not be merged.

So I ended up paying the FULL SHIPPING TWICE, instead of a combined amount. I left them paypal instructions when checking out to combine ship and refund me the balance (big mistake).

The goods never came, everytime they replied my mail (which isn't very often), they said they will check and let me know. But 4 mths later and nothing has been done.

They only reply intermittently and sometimes when I contact them thru ebay. Maybe after they reply to the ebay message they realize its me and they throw it aside again. :rolleyes:

It's not a huge deal, but it just sucks to pay for nothing (esp. paying more for the shipping even!!). And I have to pay good money again to start from scratch. Sigh....

P/S I have bought soooo many things online (esp. expensive flashlights), and this is the first time I've been ripped off. (Well, besides being ripped off a couple of Magic : The Gathering cards years back). It leaves a bad taste in the mouth, esp. when its from a supposed reputable seller who has completed transactions smoothly for others. Why can't they just bloody process my order??
 
Report it to ebay.
And, if you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company and have them reverse the charges
for non delivery of goods after a reasonable amount of time given. And reasonable attempts made to
contact the seller without satisfactory results.
 
I feel your pain. I was on EBay a few months ago, going through their EBay store. I found a PE Blue Dodo with a BUY IT NOW! button, clicked the button, paid through PayPal one minute later, began my wait. When I started seeing feedback from others who ordered after I did and had received their orders, I sent a message asking for shipping info. He replied saying he had E-mailed me the previous week (still haven't seen that mail) that the knife was out of stock and he was having a hard time getting one. I could continue to wait, select alternate merchandise or receive a full refund. If I was worried about feedback, he would leave positive feedback for me as soon as I left positive feedback for him. He actually solicited postive feedback in the same e-mail he was announcing breach of contract on the seller's end! I immediately checked his store and found the exact same model listed with a higher BIN price. When I e-mailed back inquiring what was up with that, he took it down. I then agreed to accept alternate merchandise of slightly lesser value, once again selecting items from his EBay store with BUY IT NOW! prices. When I didn't receive them in a couple of weeks, I ran out of patience and sent an ultimatum. He immediately refunded my money, because he didn't have the alternate knives I ordered either!
Maybe I am wrong, but to me, listing an item with a BUY IT NOW! price implies it is available NOW! After all, it wasn't a BUY IT IN A FEW WEEKS WHEN I GET SOME! button :rolleyes:
Since I did get my money back, and was able to find the knife I wanted elsewhere, I chalked the whole thing up to experience and put Flames 'N' Knives on my personal list of dealers to avoid. I have had some good experiences with EBay stores, but his wasn't one of them.
 
yablanowitz said:
Maybe I am wrong, but to me, listing an item with a BUY IT NOW! price implies it is available NOW!
Click to expand...

I don't think you're wrong; I agree with you 100%.
Seller has the option of using - or not using - the Buy it Now option
 
rifon2 said:
Report it to ebay.
And, if you paid by credit card, contact your credit card company and have them reverse the charges
for non delivery of goods after a reasonable amount of time given. And reasonable attempts made to
contact the seller without satisfactory results.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately I paid by Paypal cash and also it's been too long since the item was paid for. Actually, the 45 days time limit to claim is good for folks in the same country, but for international, they can just cook up an excuse that it might be held in customs and ask you to wait till you have no recourse.
 
I admit a few of my ebay searches have hit knives listed by Flames-n-Knives, but because of what I have seen in GBU here, I passed.
 
Yeah, New Graham was where I got the blue PE Dodo that Flames-N-Knives couldn't get. NGK had 4 in stock at the time :D
 
I recently bought a CRKT M18-04 from Flames-N-Knives. I recieved it from them the same week I purchased it. It was great service and the I have nothing but praise for them.
 
I REALLY wish EBay had a feedback stat for mutually withdrawn feedbacks. When my deal was going, I was reading FNK's feedback several times a day. When anyone left a negative feedback, they received a FLAMING negative in return. Several of them were mutually withdrawn while I watched. He never leaves feedback first. He holds it hostage until you leave good words for him. If you don't, he flames you to get you to agree to mutual withdrawl to salvage your own feedback rating. I know he does a lot of business, and it looks like he does a good job most of the time, but he really blew it on my order(s) and I know I am not alone. If what I saw while watching his feedback closely was any indication, his rating should be in the low 90% range or less. As far as I am concerned, the seller should leave feedback for the buyer as soon as the payment clears. At that point, the buyer has fulfilled his end of the contract, the rest is up to the seller. If the seller doesn't want buyers leaving negative feedback for him, he should fulfill his end of the contract in a timely manner. If he can't do that, he shouldn't be selling.
 
Unfortunatley, by letting them string you along for 4 months,now besides no Paypal help,you can't even leave them negative feedback at ebay past 90 day's.They probably strung you along on purpose,so you had no recourse,and just took the money and ran.Sorry you got screwed.
 
yeah Tombstone, I suspected that... but I didn't want to use the negative feedback route as it wouldn't have helped much. Just a minor blemish on their records, whereas my 100% record would be stained. It would hurt me more than them.

I will just tell it as it is in some of the forums I visit. I know some people have got their orders, but I also know some didn't. So they aren't consistent and that's bad service. It's a risk to do business with them.

Gravelface, I bet they still do process orders and stuff, otherwise they won't be in business till today. But I believe they screw some people along the way, especially if the case is complicated. Maybe they didn't have the stock for mine, or because it was troublesome to have to refund me the excess shipping etc... for your case, it probably was simple and straightforward. They had your knife, they shipped it. That doesn't say much about their customer service when something crops up or their after-sales.
 
I am an Ebay seller. Not a big time seller like the person in question here but I do a considerable amount of selling there. Now as far as the feedbacks go I usually wait at least until the buyer gets the knife and/or other merchandise in the mail and make sure they got it and make sure they are satisified with the item. I don't do that to hold people hostage per se as some would indicate. I just simply want to make sure the deal is complete and the buyer is happy. And if there is a problem of any kind we can work it out. Feel free to ask any of my buyers what they think of me. I go by "joedotcv" on Ebay. I simply treat people like I want to be treated myself.

My ex-girlfriend told me that she bought some knives from Fnk last autumn. She told me that she never got one knife that she got on a "BUY IT NOW" option that was not in stock at the time. It was one that they were selling that they didn't have posession of yet. I personally think that it should be against Ebay rules to consumate a sale of something you don't have posession of. Two deals I did with them back in early 2005 both went fairly well though. But I will not buy anything from anybody if they don't have it in stock at the time I bid on it or win it.
 
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