Have you ever had an online dealer refuse to sell you a knife

VermontEdge said:
....... but I was told that I will not be able to order a different knife from him, regardless of an inspection.
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Unless you were rude about it or over the top with what you wanted inspected, this part seems spiteful to me. Especially after telling you on the phone that you could ask for an inspection.
 
braillediver said:
I think the Dealer answered your question by turning down the sale. I wouldn't take it as a critique of you as a buyer but a critique of the knives he had in stock

I disagree in that I think they are critiquing the buyer, not that there assessment is always correct. They are referring to the stock only as a polite out. Basically saying no matter what I have you aren't going to be satisfied. What it comes down to is they are fed up with OCD buyers and have found that the process starts with asking for inspections, but will not end there. These buyers obsess over every little detail and eventually file claims, ask for refunds and cost the dealer money, as well as post their problems on forums. Unfortunately some non problem buyers get thrown out also , when all they wanted was dealer to take a quick look to save them both a problem if there was a true flaw in the knife. Which group the OP would fall in I have no idea.
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I don't consider you a whiner by the way you brought this topic up . It actually is a great topic .

I am a established contractor in my day job . Some customers I meet and decide I won't work for them . Not because I can't meet there expectations but I have learned that some you can't please and they do have certain traits and others just don't have the money to pay me to meet there expectations .

Just move on and just trust the product next time . If it's a good product it should meet your expectations .

Take care


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I can't read the vendor's mind or the customers but it sounds to me like the cancelled order was mostly because of the type of knife in question. If I'm not mistaken, the original poster was inquiring about a four blade Congress pattern.

Perhaps when the vendor suggested typing the inspection request on the order he didn't know that the request would be to inspect for excessive blade rub. I'm guessing that when he saw that he might have thought that "excessive" can be a very subjective term. I also believe that he probably took into account the fact that four blade traditional knives without blade rub are pretty hard to come by.

I think the vendor was scared off by a new customer asking about blade rub on a four blade knife.

I don't think the customer was wrong for asking nor do I think the vendor was wrong for cancelling. Just one of those things I guess.
 
Knife Art, refused to tell me if they had a Strider SmF that was centered. I called Monkey Edge and they were happy to assist me. They got my business and I got a perfect example of a SmF.
 
I've seen a LOT of folks push on the blades instead of lifting straight up and then complain that there's blade rub. In that case, the rub was caused by user error. Sure it happens, but the manufacturer or dealer shouldn't be blamed. I'd imagine those guys are nightmares for dealers.

It might be a bit better to ask if the blades are "hitting" the liners or the other blades in the closed position.

I think the last time that I asked a dealer to check through the stock was many years ago.... maybe 20 years ago. And nobody was willing to do it. They were willing to sell me a knife but they didn't want to "cherry pick".

I can understand that with boxed knives, it could devalue the stock to open them. Some of the GEC knives are individually photographed so it wouldn't be hard to check them a bit before putting them back in the tube.
 
One simple explanation could be that different people were involved. Phone guy was different to order processing guy, & they both reacted differently.
 
It seems a bit excessive to ban you from all purchases based on what you've said. I can get them saying they cancelled the order because they didn't think any stock would fit your desires but if they refused to sell you anything else at that point would be justified to express your displeasure/disappointment.
 
VermontEdge said:
I'm a little confused, so wondering if anyone has any insight.

I called an online knife shop (won't name names) yesterday asking them to inspect a couple traditional knife before I decided which one to order. They told me that they don't see a lot of problems with those knives, and suggested that I just order one and make a note asking to inspect it before shipment.

I placed the order and wrote a note asking to inspect to ensure that there wasn't excessive blade rub and minimal play.

I got an email today saying that my order had been cancelled because they felt that I wouldn't have been happy with the knife.

I called a few times and emailed asking if they were suggesting that I had unrealistic expectations or if I should just choose a different knife.

I just received an email back saying that rather than risk upsetting a new customer and having them send back a knife, they'd prefer not to sell knives to people who ask that they be inspected.

Am I missing something? It's a pretty rare knife that I can't find anywhere else and I'm a little confused about why I'm finding myself unable to order one.

Has this ever happened to anyone else?


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Asking about possible issues such as blade rub and play fall well within what I consider normal in concerns. I agree with the fact that asking these questions would just save them a return if simply looked over beforehand. It's rather excessive to completely ban you from their online venue just due to a simple concern. I can understand not every retailer has the time or manpower to cherry pick a knife but asking such a question shouldn't warrant such a strict response.

But no it has never happened to me before and I find the response rather spiteful with a history of such.

I've heard of another issue with a retailer where a member sold a knife via Bladeforums but the dealer apparently saw & considered them to be a rampant flipper because they sold one knife at what the current knife was going for on the Buy-Sell Exchange forum after receiving it, the individual was then told that all their previous reservations had been cancelled and the dealer would not sell to them anymore. :rolleyes: sound familiar?
 
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Received an email today from the dealer saying that he had found a knife that he thought that I would be happy with and that he'd be willing to sell me. Too bad I had already ordered on elsewhere. Maybe I can still do business with this site in the future though!


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Never been denied sale of a knife before; but I did have difficulties ordering from a popular dealer, when I bought my Umnumzaan, that wouldn't ship to me unless my billing and shipping address matched. I wanted the knife bad so I made it happen lol. I get where they're coming from though if they didn't have a perfect one then they didn't have one. Interesting they contacted you back though!
 
What's interesting and only an observation and nothing to do with you is that if they had say five of that particular knife in stock and they indeed checked all five out and picked the overall best and send it to you then the next customer made same request he gets a rejected one based on your criteria. Guy number 5 gets the worse of the lot ( although they all should be very close in build quality), I see this at the produce section of the supermarket all the time. I watch people sort through a whole bin of apples, peaches, etc to find that perfect one, next person in line gets to pick from leftovers, so on and so forth.

When I used to do knife shows and display my handmade custom knives I made the mistake of putting all my inventory on the table at once to only to be entirely handled and scrutinized by prospective customers, to me they were all perfect or I would not be selling them. Then I learned from other well known makers to only put one knife of each style on the table at once. So it made choosing easier for the customer and less clean up for me.

What you talk about is only human nature, we all want the best for our money, and I also learned how tough, unforgiving, and how ruthlessly critical they could be. On more than one occasion based on our interaction I decided it was best not to sell them a knife knowing that I would be buying it back in the future.
 
Asking a dealer to spend 30 seconds inspecting a knife is perfectly reasonable. If they refuse, I would just buy it elsewhere.
 
no not well said because it surely will take much more than 30 seconds: locating the knife package from a specific stock section, opening the package, inspecting the knife, putting it back and repackaging, etc. can anyone get it done in 30 seconds?

Not directed to the OP, but I just wonder if a dealer inspects knives if a customer requests, then what happens to the knife or knives that were inspected but not to the expectation of the customer? Does the dealer return the knife/knives to the manufacturer or sell to future customers who do not ask for inspection? If the former, that is fine with me. If the latter, dont we see a problem there? I am not talking about defect products, but say knuves with minimal blade play, a bit off centering etc.
 
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I have asked for inspection. I didn't ask for the best in the shop, I asked that it not be obviously faulty. I live in Australia, & warranty claims are expensive due to postage. Just pointing out that not all requests are for "the best you've got." It is simply a warranty check.
 
I stopped by Knivesshipforfree in Escanaba and handled quite a number of knives. I selected one model from the display and the patient gentleman went to the inventory room and brought several examples out and made sure I was pleased with the best (in my eyes) representation of that model I had chosen. Good service creates a repeat customer. Good customers get good service. Next time offer to pay an inspection fee for extra service until the relationship is forged by mutual trust.
 
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