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Mailing Knives

OK, then, I’ll take your wise advice. I’m guessing some folks have figured it out already anyway. The company is Oknives.

I do have a bit of news to add. I got an email the other night saying that they were going to merge back into their parent company, Olight. Since I see lots of people on social media talking about how much they like Olight products, maybe dealing with them isn’t as difficult (though they do have a rather dismal BBB rating).

And by the way, the two knives I got were the Chital and Mini Chital—ordered them after seeing a positive review on Beez Blades Youtube channel (they both sold out pretty quickly). I actually like smaller knives so my original order was for the Mini Chital and Mini Drever. For the knife I did receive, the materials are nothing spectacular (what do you expect for under $50), but it’s a very solid, nice-looking knife and the action is great.

So to be fair, the products are apparently pretty good. It’s just the customer service that is problematic.
Thank you. I find it troubling that they would ask you to do what they have and put you through all this since from my understanding and experience they have had pretty good customer service. So you ordered the knives directly from olight?
 
Thank you. I find it troubling that they would ask you to do what they have and put you through all this since from my understanding and experience they have had pretty good customer service. So you ordered the knives directly from olight?
From Oknives, which is a separate corporation, as I understand it. They have their own website, although from the email I just got, it sounds like Oknives is going to merge with Olight again, and the knives will sell on the Olight website once that’s done. If Olight does a better job with customer service, then problem solved, it seems. Which is great, because I think these really are very nice budget knives.
 
From Oknives, which is a separate corporation, as I understand it. They have their own website, although from the email I just got, it sounds like Oknives is going to merge with Olight again, and the knives will sell on the Olight website once that’s done. If Olight does a better job with customer service, then problem solved, it seems. Which is great, because I think these really are very nice budget knives.
Thanks. I was able to find it now. Very odd. Same Va address for both. Really hard to believe they asked you to ship their stuff to another customer and can't handle a simple return. Olight does customer service stuff all the time. They've successfully helped me on several occasions and have handled several large scale recalls on lights. Hopefully the knife department gets sorted.

Don't mess around anymore. Go completely through paypal. That's what I would do anyway. And don't feel bad for them. They make gobs of money making stuff overseas and selling it to fans and collectors here. I've had maybe 25 of their lights go through my hands, just to give you an idea.
 
I would insist on a prepaid label or just go through PayPal. There’s no reason why they can’t generate a prepaid label. If you pay and take responsibility for shipping for their error, then you are the shipper and responsible for the knife if something happens during transit on the return trip. Why should you have to put in any more effort and time jumping through postal insurance hoops and paperwork should something go wrong? That’s my take on the situation
 
Thanks. I was able to find it now. Very odd. Same Va address for both. Really hard to believe they asked you to ship their stuff to another customer and can't handle a simple return. Olight does customer service stuff all the time. They've successfully helped me on several occasions and have handled several large scale recalls on lights. Hopefully the knife department gets sorted.

Don't mess around anymore. Go completely through paypal. That's what I would do anyway. And don't feel bad for them. They make gobs of money making stuff overseas and selling it to fans and collectors here. I've had maybe 25 of their lights go through my hands, just to give you an idea.
The good news is I actually archived the emails so I can show what happened if I have to.
 
I would insist on a prepaid label or just go through PayPal. There’s no reason why they can’t generate a prepaid label. If you pay and take responsibility for shipping for their error, then you are the shipper and responsible for the knife if something happens during transit on the return trip. Why should you have to put in any more effort and time jumping through postal insurance hoops and paperwork should something go wrong? That’s my take on the situation
That's another good point. Maybe give them one last chance to do thee right thing, and let them know your next step is a paypal claim.
 
I’ve emailed them at least three times saying I needed a prepaid label and gotten nothing but dodges, and while I haven’t filed a complaint with Paypal thru their regular procedure (because it keeps giving you dropdown options that don’t quite fit), I have reached out to PayPal through their contact option and laid out the situation and asked what they advised. I got confirmation that they’ve received it, so I’m waiting for a reply. If I don’t get one in the next day or so I’ll call (I HATE sitting on hold—the only thing worse is chat, where you are chained to your computer while the rep cycles thru five other chats then reads your message, then figures out what to do, then types a reply that is usually not a complete answer to your question, so you have to type another message and wait again).

I’d screenshot and post a picture of the email where they asked me to forward the knife to another customer, but the picture icon at the top of this text window asks for a link—do you have to upload photos somewhere else and then link to it?
 
do you have to upload photos somewhere else and then link to it?
Without a paid membership, yes. I use and recommend Imgur, but lots of free image hosts will work.

Even if none of PayPal's dispute options seem quite right, this is still solidly within that system's purview: you ordered knife X and got knife Y instead. (Ordering two knives and getting one that was correct doesn't impact that.) IMO there's no reason to wait to open that dispute.
 
OK, so here’s an update. I did file a dispute with Paypal, and after a couple weeks, I was notified that they were refunding ALL my money—including the money I paid for the knife I’ve opened and am using and want to keep. (The 2nd knife that was sent in error instead of the knife I actually ordered is still sitting in all its packaging on my dining table, waiting to be returned.)

ARGH. I‘m happy to pay for the knife I’m keeping. I just didn’t want to keep the error knife and didn’t want to pay postage to send it back when I was concerned that I’d end up out the the error knife, the money I paid for the knife I actually ordered, AND the return postage.

Given the customer service at OKnife has been difficult, I really don’t want to go back to them, but I am also uncomfortable having two knives I didn’t pay for. It feels dishonest. Advice?
 
OK, so here’s an update. I did file a dispute with Paypal, and after a couple weeks, I was notified that they were refunding ALL my money—including the money I paid for the knife I’ve opened and am using and want to keep. (The 2nd knife that was sent in error instead of the knife I actually ordered is still sitting in all its packaging on my dining table, waiting to be returned.)

ARGH. I‘m happy to pay for the knife I’m keeping. I just didn’t want to keep the error knife and didn’t want to pay postage to send it back when I was concerned that I’d end up out the the error knife, the money I paid for the knife I actually ordered, AND the return postage.

Given the customer service at OKnife has been difficult, I really don’t want to go back to them, but I am also uncomfortable having two knives I didn’t pay for. It feels dishonest. Advice?
They should get hold of you. You should'nt have to get hold of them. If they don't you can always send back the 2nd knife, take the shipping from the price of the keeper and send them a check for the balance.
 
Geez, it’s been so long since I’ve written a check, I didn’t even think of it!!! 🤪. Great idea! Thanks!
 
They should get hold of you. You should'nt have to get hold of them. If they don't you can always send back the 2nd knife, take the shipping from the price of the keeper and send them a check for the balance.
Yes. ^This. That said, I'd do nothing unless they contacted me. Their goof, their long and horribly f-ed way of dealing with it, their problem with not responding to paypal. They want their knife and money for the other one? They can handle it properly by contacting you.
Geez, it’s been so long since I’ve written a check, I didn’t even think of it!!! 🤪. Great idea! Thanks!
I'd not send them a check. USPS Money Order. Who knows how long it would take them to deal with a check, if at all.

Olight is a big company, no doubt a subsidiary of an even bigger company based in China. I'd not feel too bad them being out the money and knives. They screwed the pooch seriously on this situation. Lessons are often learned at a cost. They can afford it. Hopefully they learn.

And I'm not some olight hater or China basher, I use an olight every day for hours at a time. I own many olights.
 
Yes. ^This. That said, I'd do nothing unless they contacted me. Their goof, their long and horribly f-ed way of dealing with it, their problem with not responding to paypal. They want their knife and money for the other one? They can handle it properly by contacting you.

I'd not send them a check. USPS Money Order. Who knows how long it would take them to deal with a check, if at all.

Olight is a big company, no doubt a subsidiary of an even bigger company based in China. I'd not feel too bad them being out the money and knives. They screwed the pooch seriously on this situation. Lessons are often learned at a cost. They can afford it. Hopefully they learn.

And I'm not some olight hater or China basher, I use an olight every day for hours at a time. I own many olights.
Thanks!! Word is that OKnife is basically merging back into OLight; at one point during our email exchange, the guy at OKnife told me to mail the knife I didn’t want back to OLight rather than the official address of OKnife, so the process was apparently underway. I realized this when I was preparing a letter to accompany the knife, and it gave me pause; the customer service people at OLight probably would have NO idea what it was all about, and plus it might be complicated to process the return on their end since the whole transaction took place on OKnife’s books.

I actually think it’s unlikely at this point with everything going on that either OKnife OR OLight will be in touch with me. It probably also explains why OKnife never responded to PayPal. They were caught up in bigger things.

I’ll hold off and see if ANYBODY reaches out. If not, I might try contacting someone at OLight. Call me a wimp, but I really do not feel good about having two knives I did not pay for.

Meanwhile, I really am enjoying the one knife I wanted, which is a Mini Chital; it is well made, nothing exciting about the materials (D2/G10) but they’re tried and true and the knife looks really sharp and the action is great. OLight has a good reputation for quality with its other products, and I see that OLight now has OKnives as part of their web page. So if you have been happy with your dealings with them the knives are worth a look.
 
I’ll hold off and see if ANYBODY reaches out. If not, I might try contacting someone at OLight. Call me a wimp, but I really do not feel good about having two knives I did not pay for.
You've gone so far out of your way to do the right thing by these jokers, given them every opportunity to do the right thing, your karma debt is paid. You had to go so far as file a claim with the paying financial institution, to which they did not reply, and that institution ruled in your favor and keeping the items with a refund is their ruling. A ruling that both you and olight agreed to abide by in the TOS. If olight cared enough they could have done the right thing at any number of junctures, which they did not. This is the fair and just result. Still feel bad? Do a gaw/PIF. Sell the extra and donate the funds, etc.

Be done with the situation. Olight seems to be, why not you?
 
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