Mike Alsdorf: My Experience

Mike makes a great knife and I respect his decision not to sell directly to me in Canada. I have friends inside CONUS who are happy to do it for me. Simple really.
 
I have bought many many knives from Mike and have never had a problem. If anything Mike has been too good to me:o

I seriously doubted the claim the knife was paid for in advance because I've never encountered that.

I've sold a lot of knives on ebay and on here and while some guys claim "no problems" with shipping international shipping, I have had several problems, but fortunately never lost any money or knives. I've sweated out one too many month long waits, however. There is little in the way of tracking most international shipments either.

It just isn't worth my time anymore to ship internationally unless I've dealt with the person before. The time it takes to fill out the customs form and ship the knife alone is nothing but a PITA--not to mention the "gift" and undervalue expectations most buyers request.
 
Forgot to add...


I recently shipped a knife to an APO. When I went to the local post office the clerk (who has worked there for years and is ex-military) said, "you realize this is an international shipment?" I did not.

Clerk says, "it is going to require a customs form". At which point I said, "if it requires the long form just forget I'll refund the guy's money". Fortunately, it was just the short form, but for all intents and purposes it is still an international shipment.
 
After hearing both sides, it sounds like an unfortunate set of circumstances, or in other words stuff happens. This maker sounds like a stand up guy, and I can empathize with his reasoning just as much as the OP.
 
Look, I raised three kids and am all too familiar with sentimental stuff, but

in the final anaylsis it is just a knife, the kid will probably have a boatload of knives with sentimental value if daddy remains a knifeknut and of course it is now 2011 and

it is what it is............

Start an investment account for the 1 year old and put $100 a month in without fail for 20 years. I bet that will mean far more when he is 20 than one slipjoint!!!:D:D
 
Alsdorf Customs said:
Canook, and anyone else that is concerned,

1. I did not state in description that it was "old stock". Where does it say that?
2. When I went to Post Office they required a Customs Declaration form to be filled out which means it was an International shipment. I had them
double check the next day and they said Yes. I have to go by what the post office says not you. You may be correct that it was to be shipped to New York then to England. The problem is that once it leaves the postal system and goes to customs I have no control over if there is a problem or it gets lost.
3. You did not state in original order that you were a "military family stationed in UK" When placing order you should have been upfront and said that it was going have to be shipped overseas and I would have explained to you that I do not sell or ship internationally (or you should have read on my website). You paid via PayPal and as I explained to you I have to ship to the address you have with them for your protection and mine. Their rules not mine.
As someone posted here and I have no problem doing ( and have done ) you could have paid for it another way I would have shipped to someone in the states then they could forward to you and taken responsibility for but instead you just said " postal clerk does not know what their talking about".
4. I think you left out quite a bit on how order went. You ordered folder, I made and you wanted an "L" engraved on Shield. After I finished making I sent you pics of folder to make sure it was what you were looking for before I engraved. You said it was. I then engraved (at no extra cost) and sent you more pics of.
You said it did not look like what you had in mind so I Engraved again as you requested and sent you another pic of (You should have been specific in your initial order about engraving otherwise I use my best judgement).
After you looked at that pic you said it still did not look like what you were looking for and could I replace shield and engrave again.
I made another shield and was able to replace without damaging micarta but did not engrave. I then sent yet another set of pics and said that if you wanted to you could purchase without me engraving then you could take to your local jewlery shop and show them what you were looking for and have them engrave. You said ok.
You then sent payment via PP (There was no payment in advance. I do not accept downpayments or deposits.) and when I went to ship imagine how flustrated I was after all the pics, engaving, making of new shield and replacing, and e-mails to find out it was an international shipment. I then refunded your PP and explained why. I don't think you understand that I had almost twice the amount of time in this one than I should have. I feel I bent over backwards to fill order for you. I think you are trying to make me look like the "bad guy" and I don't feel I am.
5. I have had several comments over the last few years about me not shipping internationally. As I have explained the reason I don't is because I have in the past shipped overseas and there has always been problems. It has cost me nothing but money and time.
Examples: Twice I have shipped the buyers said they did not receive and I believe they may have however I made a replacements at no cost to them and shipped.
Also when shipping overseas a Customs Declaclation form must be filled out and the buyers want me to either mark as a gift or understate value because they do not want to pay the VAT tax and I will not do.
I have also had a few held up by customs for a couple weeks. When buyers did not receive in the time they thought they should have they sent nasty e-mails to me until they did receive. Then when they finally did receive they sent e-mail saying "received" without a "sorry" or apology for the nasty e-mails they sent accusing me of not shipping and taking their money.
I work very hard to have a good reputation and understand if I don't do what I say I will then my reputation will be damaged.
6. I respect all persons in the service and I'm offended that you think I don't.
7. I think that you posting on here was not necessary. If you had a complaint you could have contacted me.


Respectfully to all
Mike
Click to expand...

This clears up alot & at this point,I think you'd need to respect Mike's policy on shipping oversea's
If I ship a knife out of the country,I make sure the buyer is fully aware that I hold no responsibility of the delivery. "It's out of my hands" "You're on your own"

I see now,it's different for a maker,in a few ways

After reading Mike's reply,I see clear that it can be a PITA,as a maker.
These are hand made knives & I know for a fact,the work is performed better & w/ no stress if the maker is not aggitated,or aggrevated by problems like what Mike said can happen.

Thanks for posting that Mike. And yes ,your knives are some of the best I've seen & had
Vince
 
Packages to APO addresses do not require a customs form if they weigh less than 16 OZ. I will happily ship to an APO, but after my first experience ($1k folder went MIA for SEVEN months) I make it it a point to let the buyer know I am not responsible after it leaves my hands.
 
This DOES seem like a misunderstanding AND unfortunate situation.

MY EXPERIENCE with Mike has been NOTHING but first rate. My last experience was the following:

Last year I requested he make me one of his recent interframe Gunstock patterns with gold lip pearl. He made the knife in the timeframe I requested and he sent me pictures. When the gold lip didn't look as high grade as in the past, I asked for his assurance that it ACTUALLY was gold lip as it looked more like white MOP?

His response was to offer to send the knife without payment being made, and should I not like it, HE would send payment for me to ship it back to him!

To me THAT experience reinforces my opinion that he is a great person to deal with and his knives are a great value.

Peter
 
Packages can be tracked up until the point where they are accepted by the military, at that point the USPS considers them delivered. If a package is lost after this point then a claim can be made with the MPS on base.

To Mr. Alsdorf: Regarding #6 from your post. I never stated or implied that you do not respect the military or it's members. That comment was made in the first reply to my OP. I also never stated that the knife was payed for in advance. I thank you for you support of our forces.

I do appologise for the way some of my comments may have read. It was not my intention to drag you over the coals for this. I was just a little frusterated with the situation as I had previously stated my shipping address and the fact that I live in England and I thought you understood and were ok with shipping to APOs.

I am sorry for my "old stock" comment, I don't know where this came from. :foot:

In the end I still like Mike's folders and maybe one day when we're back CONUS I will own one. He was very good about making what I wanted, I just never got to have it.
 
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canook, I agree after re-reading your post that it doesn't state the order was paid in advance, but the way it reads does seem to imply that.

I see this all as an unfortunate situation for both parties, but you certainly left out some of the details in your first post.

I'm sure you will have no trouble locating another fine example of Mike's work with the 2010 stamp and I think you'd be cheating yourself if you didn't try. Mike's knives are truly exceptional not to mention nicely priced.
 
Mike is a very respected knifemaker. I am proud to own some of his work. I have had several occasions to communicate with him about transactions and have always felt that his primary interest was sincerely vested in providing a high quality knife at a really reasonable pricepoint with customer satisfaction being at the top of his list.

I wouldn't hesitate to order from Mike again. As others have already said, he is a stand up guy!
 
1. When I ship items I need to be able to track all the way to destination for reason I accept responsibility from my door step to buyers doorstep.

2. Your statement at end of your first post saying " I figured I would offer a warning to other military folks stationed overseas" is what I took offense to. When someone says "warning" I think of it as a danger which I am not. Had you stated "Caution Mike does not ship overseas even to an APO" I would have no problem with that because that is a true statement.
As stated I support the forces and will continue to do so. Once again you did not state that you wanted shipped overseas until folder was finished. On 1-13-11 you gave me an address which from the way it looked to me appears to be a APO in the US (I'm not familiar with APO addresses so I trusted you).
.
3. You said I sold your knife and I consider it mine until it reaches buyer and they are happy with. If they are not happy with or it is not what they expected I (as most makers do) offer a full refund and they can return.

4. As I have stated on Blade Forums before Blade Forums has been very good to me and when I saw in the GB&U my name with "Bad" I will admit that I was not very happy about and may have gone on the defensive to defend my reputation as I would expect anyone else to do that felt it was not right (after all in the end when we are 6 feet under the ground our reputation is one of the few things we can take with us). If I responded wrongly I do apologize. (How would you have felt if I posted "Andrew Liston aka "Canook" Bad because you were not upfront from the beginning).
I went to post office on Monday 1-24-11 to mail and found out about shipping. Then I refunded you the same day. If you had a problem I feel you should have posted on GB&U then but you waited till now 2-18-11 to do for only reason you saw that I posted for sale. I am a full time maker and do this for a living. This is my sole source of income and cannot afford to throw away or scrap folder just because deal did not go as planned for you. I'm sure that anyone else who does a job would like to be paid for their time and effort if it was no fault of theirs.

5. To clear up some dates you did order on 10-15-2010 and I quoted delivery of approx. 8-10 weeks. You said it was important to have the year "10" because of you son's birth that year and I made an extra effort to do so. On 12-28-10 I sent you first sets of pics of folder. As you know we then went back and forth several times concerning engraving. I e-mailed you on 1-12-11 (after engraving twice, sending more pics and then making of new shield and replacing it and sending more pics) to say best I could do was without engraving and you said OK on 1-13-11. I said you could then send payment and I would ship. You did not send payment till Friday 1-21-11 (a week later) because you said you forgot your PP password which I can understand (although when I e-mailed you quotes, pics and about engraving you responded normally the next day however when you were to send payment then you did not contact me for 8 days).

I am not upset or mad just trying defending myself. If you were in front of me now Andrew I would shake your hand and say so. When you get back in the states if you would like to order one from me I would be happy to make one for you (maybe we could cut your sons birthdate on back of tang which I have done before).
Business is a two way street and it should be a "Win, Win" situation for both.
I and all makers I believe are willing to do the very best we can for customers.

I hope that Andrew and I have cleared up any concerns about the situation that anyone may have and we can all get back to our mutual interest "Things with Edges".

If anyone does have any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me about.
Respectfully
Mike
 
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