Just some thought from Ernest Emerson

I certainly like Emerson knives, I have four of them now in less than 3 months lol. There is a few things I would critique, but they are solid knives overall. I will round out my collection with a CQC-7 then carry and use them all for a long time hopefully.
 
Well said... I'll say, I really don't know where some of these people are coming from. I have 4 Emersons and they're all awesome. I sent one in a few months back for a spa treatment and it came back super fast and perfectly done. Couldn't be happier. The woman I talked to on the phone was very helpful and couldn't have been any sweeter. I like your knives and I like the way you do things even more. Please keep doing what you're doing.
 
Mr. Emerson, you & your company have always had my respect. I come from the same philosophy as you do; if I have an issue with someone or company, I go to THEM first to correct the problem.
 
greetings all,
true, true. Ernie. I have only called your company twice with questions and was treated with utmost satisfaction. actually, once was with a question on the cqc7 history. the woman I spoke to suggested I call back when you were in and "I know Ernie will be glad to answer that as I'm not sure". I dare anybody to call 99% of companies and be told to call when the boss is in and will be glad to help. Emerson did. I honestly have not heard or known of anyone that was left swinging in the wind by Emerson with an issue. best regards to all.
Mike
 
Its a new era created by corporate big box stores and their do anything to appease customers. No matter how absurd the customer request or demand is.

Awhile back i needed a new hot water heater. Didnt have time to do it myself...so i went to a big box store. Water heater was inside the house in a closet and due to that setup..... Big box store said i had to pay some money and someone would call come out and go from there. Never happened for weeks. Wife had enough of no hot showers....so.... I ended up just doing it myself to get it done. I had called and revisited the store numerous times with no results. I did all a good customer could do. I called and asked for a refund for the down payment. They kept promising and not doing it. Called store talked to assistant managers and store manager was never in and he never returned my calls. Finally I wrote an email to corporate explaining and asking for my money back. Very next day store manager calls me and apologizes and says he'll give me a brand new water heater for free and install for free and refund everything.

I was shocked as all i wanted back was my small amount of money. I cant remeber how much money it was but i do know it was under 150 bucks. When i refused his offer and just asked for my small amount of money he was shocked that all i wanted was what i was owed. In the end it was a lesson for both of us how absurd customers and store appease unreasonable customers demands policies have become.

The old saying of the customer is always right, is flat out wrong. The customer that is honest and reasonable/fair....is always right.

I shake my head at what i see today. Many years ago never saw anyone in the return lines ever. Today i see long lines of used and still good products being returned for refunds. The abuse that goes on makes me sick to my stomach. This aint the america i was raised in.

None of this has anything to do with the customer in question or the emerson crew, its just the way i see it.
 
There are companies who have built empires with superior customer service & great products. L.L. Bean of Freeport Maine is such a company. Sears or who ever sell Craftmen Tools stand behind that product as long as you own it.

Today many of the product Wal-Mart, LOWES, Home Depot sells are designed to died with a very short life. When I was a kid every town had something called a FIX-IT-SHOP. This was a place you took a toaster that failed to work, and the guy at the fix-it-shop, made it work for a small fee.

If your TV stopped working you called a repair guy who came out with a big box of TV Tubes, and after a short time a bad tube was replaced, and the TV worked again for years. A big problem was a bad picture tube, but they were fixable.

Today you buy a toaster, hand mixer, radio, TV, DVD player, or small counter top appliance, it quit working. You throw it in the trash, and order a replacement from Amazon or Bed & Bath Shop.

Good news is there are still companies offering superior products, that stand behind those products if a problem happens.

Before retiring I had a little one man business, I think I was sucessful, I was able to retire at 50, my sucess was partially because I treated my clients like they were the most important people in the world. They were because they paid my rent, made my car payment, put food in my mouth, and provide me with a good income.

Had a couple that were more trouble than they we worth, my solution in dealing with them was not being available to work for them when they ask me to work for them. Too many year of Bs before I had other client to replace the couple of slugs.
 
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^go back into business now and see how things have changed. Trust me you will be shocked when customers demand free stuff they dont deserve and didnt pay for and use social media as a weapon if you don't give in. I call it review blackmail. Its amazing what goes on today that never did a decade or two ago. I often crunch the numbers on these types of customers and in the end they cost me money. Not because my pricing is wrong, but because of how they are and demand or else. Good thing is....its not all but just a few but they can cause real trouble with the help of the internet and social media. Often its cheaper to give in and lose money. Its a real problem today that is far different than the old rare problem customer one ran into once in a blue moon many years ago.
 
Once agagin, your message is well thought and presented as a gentleman. It's clear that you care about your product, otherwise you wouldn't be in business for so long. To write such a response to an individual in this day and age is virtually unheard of. I applaud you, sir. I believe in your product and share many of the same beliefs and values as you. I have several Emerson knives and enjoy them immensely. I am never far from an Emerson knife. In fact most days your will either find one either in my pocket or on my night table (or both!). I wish you many, many more years of success and I look forward to my next Emerson knife.
 
Mr. Emerson's observations are obvious and correct. If a buyer expects perfection in something man-made, 100% of the time, then you're delusional. If you don't first give the company a chance to correct the problem, then you are the problem. Not the Seller.
 
Every transaction I've had with EKI has been outstanding. Ann has been awesome, so much so she noticed the blade was slightly off center on my Commander and refused to let me leave the shop until it was "fixed". I've had work done on some pretty rough second hand Emersons (test blade rough) and with the exception of sharpening I have never been charged a dime. The responsiveness from his employees is awesome. I carry other knives but Emersons remain my go to blades.
 
Every interaction with Eki and the people that represent them have been dealt with promptly and satisfactorily for me. Absolutely no complains here. Sometimes you just need a little bit of patience and emphathy. Give people a chance as how you would like someone else to accord yourself. This goes a long way.
 
Mr. Emerson your observations and business model is spot on. Unfortunately there are individuals who just do not know how to conduct themselves and treat people respectfully. Instead of having constructive dialogue or contact a company privately, they go into attack mode in a public forum. The traits you speak of is what makes for successful business people and someone we want to interact with.

I have seen too many of these open forum attacks on Blade Forum against Knife Makers and their company Representatives for issues that could have been handled easily with a phone call. Unfortunately BF sponsors like Hinderer and Zero Tolerance and I'm sure others as well had enough of this un civil behavior to close their sub forums even though they are professional enough maybe not to admit it. Some folks seem to forget that when you are in someone else's house you don' shit on their floor. I'm thankful that you and other Makers and Companies tolerate this behavior and continue to support BF and share your knowledge and company information with us.
 
Final Option said:
Unfortunately BF sponsors like Hinderer and Zero Tolerance and I'm sure others as well had enough of this un civil behavior to close their sub forums even though they are professional enough maybe not to admit it.
Click to expand...

Hinderer just won't tolerate ANY criticism of his products even though a good bit of it is right on target.

The one forum that still has a Hinderer section will ban any poster that dares to criticize the product in any way.

here is one view of that:

http://thrumylens.org/featured/why-i-sold-all-my-hinderer-knives/

~John
 
jbmonkey said:
Its a new era created by corporate big box stores and their do anything to appease customers. No matter how absurd the customer request or demand is.

Awhile back i needed a new hot water heater. Didnt have time to do it myself...so i went to a big box store. Water heater was inside the house in a closet and due to that setup..... Big box store said i had to pay some money and someone would call come out and go from there. Never happened for weeks. Wife had enough of no hot showers....so.... I ended up just doing it myself to get it done. I had called and revisited the store numerous times with no results. I did all a good customer could do. I called and asked for a refund for the down payment. They kept promising and not doing it. Called store talked to assistant managers and store manager was never in and he never returned my calls. Finally I wrote an email to corporate explaining and asking for my money back. Very next day store manager calls me and apologizes and says he'll give me a brand new water heater for free and install for free and refund everything.

I was shocked as all i wanted back was my small amount of money. I cant remeber how much money it was but i do know it was under 150 bucks. When i refused his offer and just asked for my small amount of money he was shocked that all i wanted was what i was owed. In the end it was a lesson for both of us how absurd customers and store appease unreasonable customers demands policies have become.

The old saying of the customer is always right, is flat out wrong. The customer that is honest and reasonable/fair....is always right.

I shake my head at what i see today. Many years ago never saw anyone in the return lines ever. Today i see long lines of used and still good products being returned for refunds. The abuse that goes on makes me sick to my stomach. This aint the america i was raised in.

None of this has anything to do with the customer in question or the emerson crew, its just the way i see it.
Click to expand...


I have a favorite saying or two. One is my grandparent did not act like you people. Referring to some of the people today who are grandparents and are no role models for their grandchildren. The other one goes like this In G.O.D.(good old days) people were different. They respected one another, they believed in a golden rule, life had value, people use to point to our president & elected officials, and tell their children these people are role models.


There are places in the U.S.A. Mostly small towns where life has not changed much, everone know everyone else. People need not lock their doors. But they are disappearing fast.
 
jmorton10 said:
Hinderer just won't tolerate ANY criticism of his products even though a good bit of it is right on target.

The one forum that still has a Hinderer section will ban any poster that dares to criticize the product in any way.

here is one view of that:

http://thrumylens.org/featured/why-i-sold-all-my-hinderer-knives/

~John
Click to expand...

The point I was trying to make is when someone enters a manufactures sponsored sub forum and goes after them, I don't believe it to be proper. General forum discussions, feedback, blogs or whatever is fair game. As you can see here this is Emerson's house and dumping on him here gets people riled also.

This forum is no different than other forums, go into a car forum and a sub forum sponsored by Chevy, Ford, Dodge or whoever and tell them their product has issues gets the same disdain. Go into the open discussion part of the forum and again it becomes fodder for hot debates.

When I post here I have a feeling that I am a guest and feel it improper to offend my host.
 
Mr. Ernest Emerson's post and handling of this customer service issue have inspired me to buy my 1st Emerson Knife. Any recommendations? I lean towards big, svelte, simple designs-think Spydie Mille.
 
Cycletroll said:
Mr. Ernest Emerson's post and handling of this customer service issue have inspired me to buy my 1st Emerson Knife. Any recommendations? I lean towards big, svelte, simple designs-think Spydie Mille.
Click to expand...
I would recommend Emerson's bread and butter, the CQC-7 go for the AW model if you don't want the chisel grind.
 
Cycletroll said:
Mr. Ernest Emerson's post and handling of this customer service issue have inspired me to buy my 1st Emerson Knife. Any recommendations? I lean towards big, svelte, simple designs-think Spydie Mille.
Click to expand...

CQC-7, CQC-15 or a Commander. If you want to go huge, maybe a CQC-8.
 
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