Grimsmo = lack of communication re: timeline

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coinbuysell said:
The story is I signed up for his mailing list because I wanted a Norseman then I got an e-mail in May 2015 to preorder a RASK with estimated delivery time of 6-9 months. I sent him an e-mail in March 2016 with no reply so I sent another in July and was told the May orders were almost complete and I should see my knife within the next 4 weeks. It is now almost November with no knife so I sent another e-mail before I started this thread and have not heard back.

I realize I said two years but it seems like it has been that long. I knew it was going to be a while and the Grimsmo's seem to be very transparent so I was not too worried about paying up front, his offer even stated the payments would be used to open a new shop and pay for new equipment so it was basically a Kickstarter campaign.

Oh well, not much that I can do about it now except keep waiting...
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Thomas Linton said:
Simple task.

When did you pay? You have not said.

How much did you pay? You have not said.

Are you trying to say you pre-ordered a RASK in May, 2015?
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Still some basic information missing here. Did you not see this OP:

RevDevil said:
Sorry things went South so fast, here is how to do this properly.
http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/announcement.php?f=699&a=207
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It would really help to understand the situation better if you could follow the guidelines. Otherwise the only response we can give is "well, that sucks, I guess, because you gave us no details". If I was leveling such accusations I would be providing as much evidence as possible. You are doing the opposite IMO.
 
coinbuysell said:
The story is I signed up for his mailing list because I wanted a Norseman then I got an e-mail in May 2015 to preorder a RASK with estimated delivery time of 6-9 months. I sent him an e-mail in March 2016 with no reply so I sent another in July and was told the May orders were almost complete and I should see my knife within the next 4 weeks. It is now almost November with no knife so I sent another e-mail before I started this thread and have not heard back.

I realize I said two years but it seems like it has been that long. I knew it was going to be a while and the Grimsmo's seem to be very transparent so I was not too worried about paying up front, his offer even stated the payments would be used to open a new shop and pay for new equipment so it was basically a Kickstarter campaign.

Oh well, not much that I can do about it now except keep waiting...
Click to expand...

You wasted a lot of people's time by not posting the fully story at the beginning of the thread.
 
From what I can see he is late, but that is not that unusual of knife makers. It would be great if they all lived up to their promises, but that isn't reality. From my experience they over promise on delivery times. Add in that he started up a new shop and I am not shocked he missed deadlines. They often also often don't respond to inquiries-again this may not be perfect behavior, but it is reality.. Answering everyone's emails takes away from making knives and slows down the process even more. Could he do this better-yes. My best guess is that if you sit back you will get your knife . I just got one promised in 4-8 weeks where I was suppose to be 1st in line since I was a loyal customer-that was 2 years late. I am not upset nor am I happy, but he won't be getting any more pre-payments form me.
The problem in both our cases comes down to the pre-payment. If we didn't pre-pay then we wouldn't be out anything , but dreams if they didn't get the knife done as promised.
Lessons we all learn
 
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Hmm, Interest free loans to start a business from customers? I'm not seeing the advantage for the customer. In anycase, I hope you get your knife soon.
 
Hey Guys,

I sent this to John and he will respond to this thread so I ask we all hold anymore judgement till hearing what happened.
 
Thank you Mike for bringing this to my attention.

The OP paid $675 on May 21, 2015.

In short, the OP is mostly right. It's been a year and a half (not two) and we're way behind our original 6-9 month estimated delivery. He also ordered on the very first day so we appreciate his business like crazy. Opening the new shop, buying a new mill and just recently a very complex new lathe has consumed a LOT of my time and knives haven't been getting done nearly as fast as I want them to. I will typically put up 100x the effort up front to make it easier in the end, so instead of just doing it quickly the crappy way, I'll spend oodles of time figuring out how to make my parts perfectly every single time. This method works for me and the way that my brain operates, but I completely understand that it can be tough for the customer to wait longer than anticipated, at this point it's been twice as long as my max 9 month estimate. We're trying to find a balance between achieving the perfect method and just getting knives out the door. Our quality standards are so high that it's difficult to choose sometimes.

Also, I have been terrible at communication. I'll admit that, begrudgingly. I don't always have a chance to respond to e-mails right away and then they fall further and further down the list. It's something I'm very conscious of and working hard to improve, but as an entrepreneur there are constantly a million things grabbing my attention at any one time.

Rest assured, we are 10,000,000,000% committed to fulfilling every single order. That's not even in question here, of course we will. We're just freaking slow and methodical :). I have just e-mailed the OP and it's funny because his knife was already in progress and was one of the next ones we're working on finishing. He'll have it in the next few weeks, mostly subject to the outsourced DLC coating process that we still have to do and have been having problems with lately. Though I'm not blaming the DLC process for his particular knife being late, that's all on me. We'll make it right.

I don't have time these days to spend any time on this wonderful forum so I might not check back on this post. If anyone would like to contact me directly my super secret direct e-mail address is JohnGrimsmo@Gmail.com. I may be hard to get a hold of but I'm not hard to find.

Cheers!
John
 
Idk if it's me but shouldn't you have a business set up and ready to run (shop, lathes, machines and whatever other excuses you want to throw in) before you decide to take people's money for a product you aren't even sure how to make? Ya can kinda say what you want but taking over a year to make knife is not excusable in any form. Ok, maybe if you died but other than that it should NEVER take that long. EVER. Add another knife vendor/maker/excuse machine to my ignore list
 
City74 said:
Idk if it's me but shouldn't you have a business set up and ready to run (shop, lathes, machines and whatever other excuses you want to throw in) before you decide to take people's money for a product you aren't even sure how to make? Ya can kinda say what you want but taking over a year to make knife is not excusable in any form. Ok, maybe if you died but other than that it should NEVER take that long. EVER. Add another knife vendor/maker/excuse machine to my ignore list
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You don't know what you are talking about.

John did have the shop, lathes, machines to make knives when he started this project. He has been upgrading to do more work in his own shop. John used to buy more materials from me, but now he is making almost every part of the knife in house, including the screws. I applaud John and what he is doing even though it means fewer sales for me. I have tremendous respect for John and how he tries to improve every part of the knife and his knifemaking processes. The new tools have allowed John to improve his knives and tolerances in a way that was not previously possible.

The OP will receive a better knife this year than would have been delivered last year. That does not excuse the late delivery, but it is fact.

Chuck
 
Alpha Knife Supply said:
You don't know what you are talking about.

John did have the shop, lathes, machines to make knives when he started this project. He has been upgrading to do more work in his own shop. John used to buy more materials from me, but now he is making almost every part of the knife in house, including the screws. I applaud John and what he is doing even though it means fewer sales for me. I have tremendous respect for John and how he tries to improve every part of the knife and his knifemaking processes. The new tools have allowed John to improve his knives and tolerances in a way that was not previously possible.

The OP will receive a better knife this year than would have been delivered last year. That does not excuse the late delivery, but it is fact.

Chuck
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I'm a firm believer in knowing what you have and are ready to do immediate business before taking people's money. That's a reason I don't back kickstarter, I'm not going to pre pay someone to do what they should already have done. Business is a risk so before you take people's money have your ducks in a row and know what you can offer. A year? Really? There is no reason it should take that long. There is NO excuse for that. Anyways done with this thread. My ignore list might not have much more space so I should leave now
 
Hey Guys,

Let me say a few things.

I am one of the first guys to bash any maker that doesn't deliver, and my pet peeve is missed dates. This is a hard situation in that some makers such as Grimsmo can't make the product without getting some capital, thats one of the reasons for pre-sales. I've gotten to know John a little and he is a quality dude. He will deliver even if its very late, he has a perfectionist attitude.

I'm very selective of who I support and don't, and I have zero doubt he will deliver the knives. He spends a lot more time perfecting and helping a lot of other makers that you don't know about. His work is top notch, but yes he will need to improve his communication and delivery times.

I'll share a story with you about how I know John and Erik are legit, I wanted a custom made Norseman and I offered quite a bit of money to them up front when I was collecting, he politely refused even though he knew me because he thought it wouldn't be right to let me skip in front of other people. That was a private conversation and quite frankly no one would know. I tell you this so that you don't think hes just taking money or going letting people skip ahead, hes not. He spends a ton of time trying to improve, that's his thing, but he will deliver.

And Alpha Knife Supply is one of the best people in the knife industry, they know everyone and whats going down, if they support a maker, it means a ton.
 
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Upgrading equipment and methods etc. should be done on your time, nights weekends holidays, not the customers.
 
I commend John for improving his processes BUT communication is KEY!! If the OP was made aware of the reasons for delays I'm sure he wouldn't be posting here.
Joe
 
Sounds like the OP will get his knife - at some time eventually. 6-9 months est delivery now turns into 18 months and still no knife. That is not too good - if you had not taken the customer's money in full yet.
To me everything changes when you tell a customer it should be ready at 6-9 mo...........then you take all of their money ............and now a year and a half later, still no knife.
No excuses for this......period.
 
I still want a Rask angled in blue but....

I've visited the site to place my order twice in moments of weakness over the past year but I came to my senses before finalizing the paypal pmt because I hate pre-ordering anything that requires payment in full up front with a fulfillment date of something like 6-8 months which just means they're guessing at the time frames. The world is built on credit but for some reason the knife world has embraced funding new shops/materials/time/tools on the backs of pre-orders. It's an odd business model that I try not to support.

This means I'll likely never own a Rask unless I luck into one on the used market so that's a bit of a bummer.

Also, "oodles".
 
John Grimsmo said:
Thank you Mike for bringing this to my attention.

The OP paid $675 on May 21, 2015.

In short, the OP is mostly right. It's been a year and a half (not two) and we're way behind our original 6-9 month estimated delivery. He also ordered on the very first day so we appreciate his business like crazy. Opening the new shop, buying a new mill and just recently a very complex new lathe has consumed a LOT of my time and knives haven't been getting done nearly as fast as I want them to. I will typically put up 100x the effort up front to make it easier in the end, so instead of just doing it quickly the crappy way, I'll spend oodles of time figuring out how to make my parts perfectly every single time. This method works for me and the way that my brain operates, but I completely understand that it can be tough for the customer to wait longer than anticipated, at this point it's been twice as long as my max 9 month estimate. We're trying to find a balance between achieving the perfect method and just getting knives out the door. Our quality standards are so high that it's difficult to choose sometimes.

Also, I have been terrible at communication. I'll admit that, begrudgingly. I don't always have a chance to respond to e-mails right away and then they fall further and further down the list. It's something I'm very conscious of and working hard to improve, but as an entrepreneur there are constantly a million things grabbing my attention at any one time.

Rest assured, we are 10,000,000,000% committed to fulfilling every single order. That's not even in question here, of course we will. We're just freaking slow and methodical :). I have just e-mailed the OP and it's funny because his knife was already in progress and was one of the next ones we're working on finishing. He'll have it in the next few weeks, mostly subject to the outsourced DLC coating process that we still have to do and have been having problems with lately. Though I'm not blaming the DLC process for his particular knife being late, that's all on me. We'll make it right.

I don't have time these days to spend any time on this wonderful forum so I might not check back on this post. If anyone would like to contact me directly my super secret direct e-mail address is JohnGrimsmo@Gmail.com. I may be hard to get a hold of but I'm not hard to find.

Cheers!
John
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What happens if you die? Who gives the money back?

I mean.. 1/12 years is a long time and life and Death happens. A lot of things can happen in that time.
 
This is the same thing that happened with Medford. Money all up front with a promise of 30 weeks........only to find it is really almost 2 years........maybe!
Medford got no quarter for this BS and neither should Grimsmo.
At least Medford answered questions....although not what customers want to hear.
Joe
 
I had a similar situation with a well known knife maker on BF that I gave money to with a promise of 3 months. It was at over a year before I got the knives and the work was no where near what it was.. matter of fact so much so that when I sold one knife the buyer told me that there was no way this maker could have made this knife.

Along the time he was upgrading his business with fronted money things started to happen to him... His wife cheated on him they filed for divorce ect. All terrible things. I am just saying things happen in life when you give your money to a knife maker to grow his business and you might never see that money again due to unforeseen circumtances. Or you get a shitty knife.
 
And yet more reasons to: Never pay up front (a deposit, I can see that in certain situations) .............. most respectable knife makers don't take all the money up front.

Do you pay a contractor to put on a new roof before they even can give you a date to start? Do you prepay for new tires for your car months before you actually get them? We all get caught up in wanting that "grail knife" and then we lose some of our common sense.
 
Good point Gaston!!! I am an HVAC contractor. I work on a third up front, a third upon delivery of equipment and materials and a third on completion.........with start and completion dates.
Small jobs, under $2500, require no deposit.
I have never met a customer that would agree to pay the total before I start.
Knives should be no different.
Joe
 
OP sorry to hear about you having to wait longer than expected.
I know John personally, he's a great guy that is unbelievably talented. He'll make this right.
Hope you enjoy your Rask, its one of my favorite designs!
 
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