Kevin Wilkins

Not one of your emails were for anyone but yourself. I read them all again this morning.

How the hell can you send a Paypal payment by mistake??? Here's a quote from your email reply to my asking why you sent me more money after your last surprise payment, "Sorry, done is done
I could pay now and perhaps not later if I don't not have the money. So I totally trust you. Finish this beauty tranquilly and send It when It's ready. I'm very impatient but I can wait the time you need ;-)"

We have a contract. I am now and have always abided by that contract. I am not late with finishing the knife and I have in no way taken advantage of you. I have even payed the Paypal fees!

I will finish the contract and deliver you the knife. If you don't want the knife when you receive it, send it back according to the terms of the contract and I will refund your money. That's what we agreed to and that's the way it's going to be. I have purchased expensve Damasteel (the piece I had in stock was not big enough) to make your blade and have already completed substantial prtions of the knife.

You are the one who has decided to make this private transaction a matter for public discussion and in doing so you have misrepresented the facts and made statements which are baseless and untrue. I consider your starting this thread, its title and your statements to be libel. I will defend myself with the truth as necessary.

I strongly urge you to refrain from further libelous posts and I particularly urge caution regarding your accusation that racism or racial discrimination have in any way affected my dealings with you, or anyone else for that matter. Such accusations are totally untrue and under German Law they may be actionable. I suggest you rescind your previous accusations.

I will contact you when your knife is ready and send it insured. As I said, you may return it for a refund under the terms of our contract (see my website orders page) if you so choose. When this contract is completed our business will be concluded for all time.
 
Looks like my post crossed with several others.

Coop, if "Moonlight" would allow you to take over his order I would be happy to agree. The knife will be quite nice, no problem there. If Moonlight would like to do this, he should post his agreement here in public for all to see, then we can work out the details.

Obviously, the money back return policy would apply to you just the same as to him.

I would be more than happy to get shed of this trouble and move on.

Thanks to all who have posted here in my defense. This thread did upset me as I feel it came out of the blue and is totally uncalled for. The racial accustions are most troubling as I grew up in Texas when segregation was still lurking about and now these years living in Germany I am confronted daily with the evils done here along racial lines. I am against racism. I think most all of us agree on that point.

I would also like to say that this deal is in no way typical of my dealings with French people. I heard from another French customer today regarding a knife he would like me to make. My other dealings with French clients have all been trouble free and highly professional - as I might add, have the vast majority of ALL my deaings with EVERYBODY. I aim to keep it that way.
 
ok kevin. i owe you an apology about my accusation. you never told me the story about the too small piece of damasteel so i can understand the delay.if you'd give me all the info when i asked you in my several mails, i would have understand.i really regret all the bad words we had and it seems that we both have strong personality, with hot blood.i was really pissed after you're last mail and i understand you mean that i attack you with mine before. but i was just anxious when i learned that you delay my order without a good explanation. you just gave it to me so be two gentlemen again,let's forget this misunderstanding and continue to make this deal.i'll be still pleased and honored to own one of your beauty. sorry again.
 
Moonlight, we have a contract and I have honored it from the start and will honor it to the end just like I do for every contract I make.

If you want out, Coop is offering you a chance to which I am in agreement. You should however decide now and stick to your decision.

If you want the knife, I will make it for you. If you want to send it back for a refund once you have it, then you can.

I don't mind customers asking about the progress of their knives and keeping in touch. I encourage it. Badgering is another matter.

I have answered all of your emails however it is impossible for me to provide all the details of how, when and how come I do every operation on every knife in my shop. I have between 20 and 40 knives working most of the time. There are a lot of factors involved from design drawings to CAD drawings to final production drawings to tolerances to designing and building fixtures ordering and stocking materials to NC programs to blade grinding to heat treating in economical batches to optimizing parts in relation to raw materials to minimize waste... and we havent even gotten to the website, the bookkeeping and the emails. Oh, and the photos. and and and

I've devoted 5 hours to this thread today and gone to shop and worked another 5. Tomorrow I can try and make up the 5 I lost today.

I ONLY give out approximate delivery dates with oders. On the rare time I do accept an order with a firm date, this is fixed before I accept the order. Your knife never had a firm date and it still doesn't.

I appreciate your appology and I hope such incidents can be avoided in the future.

If you want to continue the contract, please state that here again and I will contact you around the beginning of May with a progress report. Should I get the knife done sooner, you'll hear from me.
 
I have completely read this thread, as have admired Kevin's work and have contemplated ordering a knife from him.
After reading , I am convinced that I not only would enjoy the knife , the interaction would be great. Kevin, I applaud you for the very professional (in my opinion) way that you handled this business transaction.

Perhaps the title of the thread could be changed, as it, to me is offensive. Sure, I've heard and read the "saying" before, but it obviously doesn't apply.

Kevin, I hope that your business prospers, because of this.............I will contact you, in the future for a "custom" folder.

jeffreyl
 
all this story is a bad communication between you and me kevin.you told me two months in the beginning when i ordered this knife, i trusted you.if you said more, i would have wait more because i know it takes time to make a knife.you told me that you had damasteel in stock, i followed that. now you tell me that you needed a bigger piece and it is the reason of a month of delay,ok i undertand.but talk to me!it doesn't take so much time to explain to a customer like me the progress of the knife and the reason of a delay.you actually have to believe me that it was really my birthday in this period, and that my last payment was a mistake,in spite of what i said in my mail.i erase my stupid racism things words and i hope you accepte my apology about that.i have no excuse but i was upset about you're mail.the reason of my thread instead of a mail conversation is that i'm not at home but in my family.i can read my mails but not send answer because of a technical problem.
 
Thank you Jeff! I'm beholding to ya. It's been a tough day.

On that note I'm turning off the compuer and calling it a day. I'll check back in the morning.
 
Looks like you guys are closing on a handshake. The best of all worlds.

I'm going to print out an order form and stand behind JeffreyL... ;)

Thanks to all for the clear responses.

Coop
 
of course i accept to continue our contract.and now you explained calmly all the why, i can wait the time you need. sorry for having stolen your time,but i think it's important to know how do you work and resolve the questions i can have
 
Well, I guess I spoke too soon.

Moonlight, I told you from the start that it would take easily 2 months to finish the knife as you were asking for that much time to save up the money. That was a minimum time frame, not a deadline. That must have been clear. You were never concerned that the knife be ready at any certain time until well into the order process.

I said I may have the Damasteel in stock, but that really doesn't matter because there have been no delays in finishing your knife. I do not make knives in a linear production process and timetables change everyday. One thing doesn't work out on Monday, change directions. Time is money. Room on a piece of Titanium for one more knife, the one that fits goes in the hole it doesnt matter if the order came in last week or 3 weeks ago. Titanium doesnt get thrown away at 160 Euro per Kilo. That's the only way I can stay in business.

I can't tell you with certainty when I will finish your knife. It is impossible for me to reply in depth regarding the productions detail of each knife in my shop. I have never done that I will not be able to start. I have invested at least 1.5 hours in answering your emails already. Plus this whole monstershow.

I accept your appology. Now let's move on. Do you want to receive the knife when it's ready or would you prefer Coop take over the order as he has offered? Please post your answer here for all to read.

Please understand, I still cannot promise the knife to any exact date. I do anticipate being able to deliver it in May this year, but I have about 20 knives to finish before May 1st and there are only 7 days in a week. I do have the steel but yours isnt the only Damsteel blade and there are some tolerance issues in the design drawings... and I could sit here another hour writing the Book of Job.

But I am now done for today.

Cocktail anyone? :-)
 
First, let me start by saying that I am "language challenged"! I speak neither French, nor German, barely any Spanish, but I do no Latin -FWIW!

Anyway, it occurred to me reading this post that a "language barrier" thing may have happened here. Moonlight, understand I am not dissing you (see above :-) ) but it seems to me that if you were communicating with Kevin in English yours is a little stilted and not idiomatic and you may have misunderstood what he wrote. Likewise, I think Kevin may have had a little difficulty with your replies - I did, and in fact thought they were inflammatory but as I read them all it occurred to me that I could easily have been misconstruing them based on HOW you said things.

It looks like things are OK now, and that's good!

Kevin makes awesome knives, and you are going to be very pleased, Moonlight. Like most good things in life, I'd rather have something RIGHT, rather then RIGHT NOW. I'd love to see a pic posted when it's done!

Bill (the language incompetent!)
 
billf said:
apparently I can't type either, I meant that I "Know" Latin, not "no"

Bill
Click to expand...

I think we all 'new' what you meant! ;)

Ahhhh....a peaceful resolution.

(I know this is RARELY done - but I certainly would LOVE to see the title of this thread updated. Just my .02)
 
cockroachfarm said:
(I know this is RARELY done - but I certainly would LOVE to see the title of this thread updated. Just my .02)
Click to expand...
I agree.As well as a good gesture to the knife community as a whole.

Doug:)
 
jeffreyl said:
Perhaps the title of the thread could be changed, as it, to me is offensive. Sure, I've heard and read the "saying" before, but it obviously doesn't apply.

jeffreyl
Click to expand...

I agree; since this has been settled, and was apparently due to a misunderstanding, perhaps the title of the thread could be changed or deleted so no one gets the wrong idea if the're just scanning thread titles.
 
The mods would probably only agree to a thread title change if moonlight himself would ask for it to be changed.

moonlight,
if you wish for a more neutral title, simply report this post of mine to the mods (using the red and white warning icon in the upper right corner).
 
Moonlight himself can change the title I believe, since he started the thread. It is Moonlight who has been revealed to be the one acting less than professionally and responsibly in brief duration of his transaction, punctuated by his act of starting this thread with such an accusatory and condemning title.

Kevin Wilkins will be fine, you should change the title for your own reputation's sake Moonlight (though of course it is an injustice to Kevin for the title to be allowed to stand as if it had merit).

Frank H.
 
...just caused Mr. Wilkins to get my order. In spite of the title.

The words speak for themselves.

Coop
 
Moonlight should be able to change the title himself. If he wishes help, all he needs to do is email me, and I'll be happy to do it.

I will not edit the title of the thread on my own, nor will any of the other moderators. IMHO, it isn't warranted anyway. Moonlight relayed a problem he perceived took place, and Kevin Wilkins responded with his side of the story. Moonlight then responded with an apology, and now all is well. Wilkins reputation was not damaged by this thread. Moonlight , however, took a ding, but it won't necessarily be too damaging.

Since this has been worked out, and the two individuals 'shook hands', it is time to move on.

Moonlight, you should post in this thread when you receive your knife.
 
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