Let the buyer beware!

CCOtter

CCOtter

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Apr 6, 2021
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I'm trying to impress upon the community the importance of knowing your seller and whether he/she is in good standing with Blade Forums. Based on an endorsing video by Bill Bagwell and recommendations from other Blade Forum posts, I sent a sheath/knife seller $315.00 for a knife and sheath. After not having received the package, and no communication from the seller as to "why the package had not been delivered in a year ?" (Yes, I tried to communicate, but got no response. None what-so-ever.) I was originally told he had the knife, just needed to make the sheath. Tried to get some idea of a date of delivery with no success, and was the last time I heard from him. Just about around that one year of "product paid for, no delivery" I read a post by another blade forums member who was having a dispute with the same seller. I was not a member then so I could just read how his situation was going but could not respond.

I watched his posts with great attention hoping to see a possible remedy for my own. Long story short, that member was "made whole", but blade forums ended up having to ban the seller from the site. Since that time, I have tried suggestions found in the other persons post and posts of ther members of what might be possible to do, to either get my money back or get the products I paid for. One member suggested the buyer contact the state Attorney General of the seller's state and was just sure that entity would act. Well, after trying unsuccessfully to communicate with my seller, I did contact the AG's office with my complaint. Long story short, all they had was an "Informal Dispute Resolution" process that requests (not demand) the seller participate. The seller chose not to of course, and the AG's office just closed the complaint. So that route did not work.

Thinking to be able to prove proof of payment to my seller, I payed with a Postal Money Order. Checked with the USPS a long time ago and they confirm the money order had been cashed. Also thought the U.S. Postal Inspectors might be able to interceed since the products were paid for with a postal money order. Lodged my complaint on their website, and was kicked out of the system with a cryptic "complaint more than a year old" and no other explanation. Finally called their office to file a complaint, and the person I was talking to did not even know if they pursued this kind of complaint. Did get her to send me an offical complaint form. I filled it out, took it to the post office and mailed it. That was the last I heard from them.

So, 1st contacted seller, still no response. (2). No help from the seller's Attorney General's office. (3). US Postal Inspectors do not respond at all. Could not appeal to Blade Forums because they had recently banned the seller. What to do?

It has been two years and three months since I sent money to a supposedly reputable maker of sheaths and seller of knives, with no product delivered and no explanation. In hind sight, I believe the only thing that was keeping this seller honest was his standing on blade forums (as I said, the other blade forums member was finally made whole, but apparently the seller got banned in the process).

I've learned a very valuable lesson from this experience. Please, learn from my mistake, and caveat emptor. Also try your best to know who you are dealing with and what remedies are available to you if your seller turns out to be a scammer. I think making sure the individual is a member in good standing on Blade Forums is probably a good place to start. I've purchased quite a few products over the internet and have never had this problem with a reputable business. Dealing with this individual has been a real eye opener. Hope this helps someone else not to err as I did.
 
CCOtter said:
I'm trying to impress upon the community the importance of knowing your seller and whether he/she is in good standing with Blade Forums. Based on an endorsing video by Bill Bagwell and recommendations from other Blade Forum posts, I sent a sheath/knife seller $315.00 for a knife and sheath. After not having received the package, and no communication from the seller as to "why the package had not been delivered in a year ?" (Yes, I tried to communicate, but got no response. None what-so-ever.) I was originally told he had the knife, just needed to make the sheath. Tried to get some idea of a date of delivery with no success, and was the last time I heard from him. Just about around that one year of "product paid for, no delivery" I read a post by another blade forums member who was having a dispute with the same seller. I was not a member then so I could just read how his situation was going but could not respond.

I watched his posts with great attention hoping to see a possible remedy for my own. Long story short, that member was "made whole", but blade forums ended up having to ban the seller from the site. Since that time, I have tried suggestions found in the other persons post and posts of ther members of what might be possible to do, to either get my money back or get the products I paid for. One member suggested the buyer contact the state Attorney General of the seller's state and was just sure that entity would act. Well, after trying unsuccessfully to communicate with my seller, I did contact the AG's office with my complaint. Long story short, all they had was an "Informal Dispute Resolution" process that requests (not demand) the seller participate. The seller chose not to of course, and the AG's office just closed the complaint. So that route did not work.

Thinking to be able to prove proof of payment to my seller, I payed with a Postal Money Order. Checked with the USPS a long time ago and they confirm the money order had been cashed. Also thought the U.S. Postal Inspectors might be able to interceed since the products were paid for with a postal money order. Lodged my complaint on their website, and was kicked out of the system with a cryptic "complaint more than a year old" and no other explanation. Finally called their office to file a complaint, and the person I was talking to did not even know if they pursued this kind of complaint. Did get her to send me an offical complaint form. I filled it out, took it to the post office and mailed it. That was the last I heard from them.

So, 1st contacted seller, still no response. (2). No help from the seller's Attorney General's office. (3). US Postal Inspectors do not respond at all. Could not appeal to Blade Forums because they had recently banned the seller. What to do?

It has been two years and three months since I sent money to a supposedly reputable maker of sheaths and seller of knives, with no product delivered and no explanation. In hind sight, I believe the only thing that was keeping this seller honest was his standing on blade forums (as I said, the other blade forums member was finally made whole, but apparently the seller got banned in the process).

I've learned a very valuable lesson from this experience. Please, learn from my mistake, and caveat emptor. Also try your best to know who you are dealing with and what remedies are available to you if your seller turns out to be a scammer. I think making sure the individual is a member in good standing on Blade Forums is probably a good place to start. I've purchased quite a few products over the internet and have never had this problem with a reputable business. Dealing with this individual has been a real eye opener. Hope this helps someone else not to err as I did.
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Got a name? Or did I miss it.
 
1643232712480.png

That's rather cryptic, quoting us but not actually saying anything in response? :confused:

CCOtter said:
Dealing with this individual has been a real eye opener. Hope this helps someone else not to err as I did.
Click to expand...

It might be a little more helpful if you provide the name.
 
craytab said:
Got a name? Or did I miss it.
Click to expand...
No, you didn't miss the name. I deliberately excluded it because I did not want to open a previous thread that had been closed. Just really, really want other members not to fall into this same quagmire, and to be careful when dealing with persons you don't really know. The name of the business is River City Sheaths, owned by Mike Sastre.
 
David Mary said:
View attachment 1729215

That's rather cryptic, quoting us but not actually saying anything in response? :confused:



It might be a little more helpful if you provide the name.
Click to expand...
I apologize for the seemingly cryptic response. I made some errors attempting to respond to the first request for the name of the business and the "empty" reply was the result.
 
Understood. Thank you for explaining, it can hard to tell sometimes.
 
CCOtter said:
I'm trying to impress upon the community the importance of knowing your seller and whether he/she is in good standing with Blade Forums. Based on an endorsing video by Bill Bagwell and recommendations from other Blade Forum posts, I sent a sheath/knife seller $315.00 for a knife and sheath. After not having received the package, and no communication from the seller as to "why the package had not been delivered in a year ?" (Yes, I tried to communicate, but got no response. None what-so-ever.) I was originally told he had the knife, just needed to make the sheath. Tried to get some idea of a date of delivery with no success, and was the last time I heard from him. Just about around that one year of "product paid for, no delivery" I read a post by another blade forums member who was having a dispute with the same seller. I was not a member then so I could just read how his situation was going but could not respond.

I watched his posts with great attention hoping to see a possible remedy for my own. Long story short, that member was "made whole", but blade forums ended up having to ban the seller from the site. Since that time, I have tried suggestions found in the other persons post and posts of ther members of what might be possible to do, to either get my money back or get the products I paid for. One member suggested the buyer contact the state Attorney General of the seller's state and was just sure that entity would act. Well, after trying unsuccessfully to communicate with my seller, I did contact the AG's office with my complaint. Long story short, all they had was an "Informal Dispute Resolution" process that requests (not demand) the seller participate. The seller chose not to of course, and the AG's office just closed the complaint. So that route did not work.

Thinking to be able to prove proof of payment to my seller, I payed with a Postal Money Order. Checked with the USPS a long time ago and they confirm the money order had been cashed. Also thought the U.S. Postal Inspectors might be able to interceed since the products were paid for with a postal money order. Lodged my complaint on their website, and was kicked out of the system with a cryptic "complaint more than a year old" and no other explanation. Finally called their office to file a complaint, and the person I was talking to did not even know if they pursued this kind of complaint. Did get her to send me an offical complaint form. I filled it out, took it to the post office and mailed it. That was the last I heard from them.

So, 1st contacted seller, still no response. (2). No help from the seller's Attorney General's office. (3). US Postal Inspectors do not respond at all. Could not appeal to Blade Forums because they had recently banned the seller. What to do?

It has been two years and three months since I sent money to a supposedly reputable maker of sheaths and seller of knives, with no product delivered and no explanation. In hind sight, I believe the only thing that was keeping this seller honest was his standing on blade forums (as I said, the other blade forums member was finally made whole, but apparently the seller got banned in the process).

I've learned a very valuable lesson from this experience. Please, learn from my mistake, and caveat emptor. Also try your best to know who you are dealing with and what remedies are available to you if your seller turns out to be a scammer. I think making sure the individual is a member in good standing on Blade Forums is probably a good place to start. I've purchased quite a few products over the internet and have never had this problem with a reputable business. Dealing with this individual has been a real eye opener. Hope this helps someone else not to err as I did.
Click to expand...
I’m sorry you got ripped off but I googled River city sheaths and the top BF results were all about how shady the guy is and stories like yours. Only positive “recommendation” posts I saw about him are about 12-13 years old now. Good luck but I think bladeforums did a pretty fair job of warning people.
 
CCOtter said:
No, you didn't miss the name. I deliberately excluded it because I did not want to open a previous thread that had been closed. Just really, really want other members not to fall into this same quagmire, and to be careful when dealing with persons you don't really know. The name of the business is River City Sheaths, owned by Mike Sastre.
Click to expand...
Okay, well thanks for naming him. Next time do it in the first post. Did you google the name before doing business? That should have been enough to keep you away. This is why we name names. It works.

I do hope you get satisfaction.
 
Jdottinger said:
I’m sorry you got ripped off but I googled River city sheaths and the top BF results were all about how shady the guy is and stories like yours. Only positive “recommendation” posts I saw about him are about 12-13 years old now. Good luck but I think bladeforums did a pretty fair job of warning people.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your response. I agree blade forums did an excellent job warning buyers, I'm just trying to emphasize the fact that members truly need to heed that warning. By the time I saw the warning and banning of the seller, it was more than a year after I made the purchase under discussion. Back when I made this order (10/2019), [ way before the post from the member who was having trouble with delivery of product and before Mike was banned], I did search for information about this seller. All but a few of the posts & other information I read gave this seller high recommendations (including a video he made with Bill Bagwell himself. It is probably still on YouTube). I read nearly every post Mike made in the Cold Steel forum, and back then all of the responses to him I could find on blade forums were highly complimentary. There were a few that spoke of slow delivery, but none that alleged no delivery of items paid for. Sadly, I have to admit, I did not do a google search. My bad. Still, I started out small (bought his Kitchen Kydex DVDs), then made a second purchase of some "G-clips" (he is the inventor of them) to use if I ever got competent making kydex sheaths. Everything went fine. Both Items delivered promptly. Had numerous discussions with him regarding his take on the Laredo vs Trail Master debate, gave me good advice on how to correct some mistakes I made with the Kydex press he describes on his Kitchen Kydex DVD, etc.
Everything went well until I started asking about delivery of the Southern Comfort package I paid for. Everything went dark. No further email replies, no answer at the listed business phone number, no communication, period. Still, I guess in hind sight I should have listened to the few negative items I saw. Being perfectly honest, it was the video with Mr. Bagwell that sealed the deal for me. I mean, what better endorsement could there have been? In the video you have the man who was considered to be one of the world's pre-eminent living bowie makers saying "Mike Sastre is the man you need to go to for a sheath to house your Bagwell bowie". I was totaly taken by surprise when circumstances turned the way they did. Still, maybe I missed some other important piece of information. As I said, a lesson learned the hard way.
 
craytab said:
Okay, well thanks for naming him. Next time do it in the first post. Did you google the name before doing business? That should have been enough to keep you away. This is why we name names. It works.

I do hope you get satisfaction.
Click to expand...
No I did not do a google search, and that probably was the biggest mistake I made. I depended totally on the posts in the Cold Steel forum where it seems he was hugely respected, and the one video he made with Mr. Bagwell. My bad. Thank you for your desire for me to get satisfaction. I don't really see that happening. From what I gather, he and I are both up there in age and not so great in health. As a matter of fact, yesterday was the first time I have been logged on to Blade Forums in months due to health concerns. It is also the reason I made the mistake of sending an "empty" reply on my first attempt to answer the question of who I was talking about. Did not at first remember how to reply. You bet I will include google in any future attempts to assess wheter a seller can be trusted or not!
 
craytab said:
Okay, well thanks for naming him. Next time do it in the first post. Did you google the name before doing business? That should have been enough to keep you away. This is why we name names. It works.

I do hope you get satisfaction.
Click to expand...
As I replied to another member, no I did not do a google search at the beginning and I think that may have been my biggest mistake. I think If I had it may have given me enough pause to reconsider. Still, I have to admit the video Mr. Bagwell made recommending Mike still may have won me over. As you may guess, I have huge respect for Mr. Bagwell. In my limited knowledge of the knife world, there are three men who to me, have made a significant impact on the world of Bowie knives in my life time. Mr. Bagwell, a maker of Bowie knives; James Keating, the man to teach you how to use the Bowie; and Mike Sastre, the man who makes an excellent sheath for the Bowie. I guess that goes a long way towards explaining why I made the decision to make the purchase.

And yes, if I ever make a post like this again, I will include the name first. Thanx!
 
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