Milan Mozolic - I finally got a knife

Brummie

Brummie

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**JUNE 19, 2024 - PLEASE SEE END OF p3 FOR MOST RECENT UPDATE. I'LL DO A FINAL UPDATE OF THIS THREAD WHEN I'VE BEEN ABLE TO GET MY HANDS ON THE FINAL PRODUCT**


First of all, let me say that it gives me no pleasure to write this. @Milan Mozolic makes great knives, and I've bought a number of completed pieces from him over the years. However, this was the first time I've paid for a knife to be made to order from him, and he's taken my money and not delivered.

The history: In December 2018, we discussed ideas for a traditional fighter pattern in a modern high-alloy steel. We exchanged some sketches and he agreed to make me a knife with a V4E blade, which I was really excited about. The promised deadline for completion of the project was the end of February 2019. I sent a first payment of Euro 250 at the end of December. Subsequent messages from Milan are summarized as follows -

April 4, 2019: The knife was finished two weeks ago. Will take photos and have it ready for shipping next week.
April 11: It will be ready in 2-3 weeks.
May 30: Everything is done. Will take pictures and prepare it for shipping next week.
June 25: Had to re-do the handle due to a mistake with the pin. It will be ready in 2-3 weeks.
July 24: It will be ready to ship by 29th.
October 4: Knife is finished.
October 17: Will send it by October 21st.
December 2: Will write to you tomorrow.
January 10, 2020: Knife is ready, but there are several others to photograph and ship. Should be sent second half of week.
February 13: Will get back to you next week.
March 5: Responded to my filing a dispute with PayPal to say that he had just dropped it at the post office.
April 2: Responded to raising of dispute to a claim with PayPal to say that delivery might take up to 8 weeks after it was sent at start of March.

During this time, I have written many emails, and the only times I've gotten a quick response is when a dispute has been filed with PayPal. It is now around 11 weeks since the claimed shipping date, and I've not received either a photo or tracking information to evidence that this knife has ever existed or that it was shipped, despite numerous requests.

I did receive a refund through PayPal after filing a claim for a 2nd payment I was stupid enough to make when Milan told me the knife was finished in October 2019, but I have not been refunded the initial Euro 250 payment, and there is no remaining recourse to claim that through PayPal.

I like to think that I'm not impatient or unreasonable. I can't remember how many years it is since I paid for a Survive GSO-12, but I'm not one of the people who's demanded their money back on that because I believe what Survive! have told me. I should also point out that Milan told me that first his son, then he have had a series of health issues that has disrupted his work. I have no reason not to believe that, but I don't think it justifies the series of false statements he's made to me over the past 18 months.

I would be very pleasantly surprised if this knife somehow makes it to my doorstep. If it does, I will update this thread, and reinstate the 2nd payment for the knife. But after the experience so far, I have zero belief that it will.
 
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So just to confirm.........

You ordered a knife 18 months ago from Milan Mozolic, paid a 250 Euro deposit and you were quoted a delivery time of 8-10 weeks.

Then after numerous e-mails 10 months later you were told the knife is complete and asked to pay the balance owing which you did with Paypal.

Then after no delivery notification or proof that the knife actually existed you then filled a Paypal claim for the second payment.

Now all communication with the maker has ceased and you are out the initial 250 Euro payment.

Do I have that correct?
 
Steven65 said:
So just to confirm.........

You ordered a knife 18 months ago from Milan Mozolic, paid a 250 Euro deposit and you were quoted a delivery time of 8-10 weeks.

Then after numerous e-mails 10 months later you were told the knife is complete and asked to pay the balance owing which you did with Paypal.

Then after no delivery notification or proof that the knife actually existed you then filled a Paypal claim for the second payment.

Now all communication with the maker has ceased and you are out the initial 250 Euro payment.

Do I have that correct?
Click to expand...

Correct. Except that I don't know if all communication has ceased. He hasn't responded to a couple of emails since April 2, but that's not entirely out of keeping with earlier delays in responding.
 
Brummie said:
Correct. Except that I don't know if all communication has ceased. He hasn't responded to a couple of emails since April 2, but that's not entirely out of keeping with earlier delays in responding.
Click to expand...

The entire transaction sounds very calculated.

I look forward to seeing Milan Mozolic's response...........?
 
Wow. I hate that for you. I have dealt with him prior and only positive things. What you are stating is totally unacceptable and hopefully he will come here to comment. I hope this is not yet another good guy gone bad story.
 
rxavage said:
That sucks. I had a knife ship from Bulgaria on March 6, it still hasn’t arrived nor has there been any update in tracking. The maker refunded my money yesterday but I’d rather have the knife.
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That gives me some hope that maybe there’s an issue with packages coming from Eastern Europe, but I still don’t understand why Milan couldn’t just send me some tracking info after several email requests. He said he sent tracking info through PayPal after the claim was filed. I told him that PayPal doesn’t forward any communication after that point, and he needs to send it to me directly, but crickets.
 
Gastonknife said:
Wow. I hate that for you. I have dealt with him prior and only positive things. What you are stating is totally unacceptable and hopefully he will come here to comment. I hope this is not yet another good guy gone bad story.
Click to expand...
Before this episode, my impressions were entirely positive, and as mentioned, he makes a great product.

I’m fully willing to accept that he’s had health issues that have affected his ability to complete the project on schedule, but there are a number of red flags which suggest that this is not just a case of having some problems and serial over-optimism about the delivery schedule:
- He’s told me several times it was ready, and then it wasn’t.
- He’s been very unresponsive, except when I’ve taken action through PayPal. Then, he’s been suddenly able to respond within an hour or two.
- The knife has reportedly spent many months ready, but just waiting to be photographed and mailed. Yet I’ve never received a photo, and finally the mailing date was coincidentally on the same day that I filed a dispute.
 
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Brummie said:
That gives me some hope that maybe there’s an issue with packages coming from Eastern Europe, but I still don’t understand why Milan couldn’t just send me some tracking info after several email requests. He said he sent tracking info through PayPal after the claim was filed. I told him that PayPal doesn’t forward any communication after that point, and he needs to send it to me directly, but crickets.
Click to expand...

It’s a shitty position for you to be in for sure. The maker I was dealing with was very responsive. I feel bad he had to refund me and the knife is lost. I really want the knife.
 
I went through the exact same thing with Milan on a two knife deal. I also made my payments up front, at the various stages of supposed (unverified) completion - like an idiot - because I'd dealt with him before and trusted him. On the final day I would've been able to file a claim with Paypal, I looked over the ridiculous load of BS excuses he'd given me, and filed the claim. I finally got one of the two knives some time after that, and got my money back for the second knife, eventually. I sold all the Mozolic knives I owned, as beautiful as they were, because the entire experience was tainted by his truly sociopathic ability to lie. Health problems, postal problems, camera problems (every phone has a camera; the only reason a maker will outright refuse to give you a picture - that I can think of - is because they've lied about the work they've actually completed).

And the first time I threatened to file a Paypal claim, suddenly he announced that the knives were on their way. Without tracking, obviously, even though he'd always used tracking in the past. I was 98% certain he was lying, but I waited a month. I told him they hadn't arrived, he said he'd 'investigate'; and miraculously, he discovered the package he supposedly sent at his local post office... but NOW, the handles on both knives had been mysteriously damaged, on the trip they took from nowhere to nowhere, presumably. I was just sick of it, all my tact evaporated, and I was flat-out calling him a liar by this point. He never once got upset or argued with that assertion, because he knew it was true. He's a liar. But he also never actually came out and admitted that he'd repeatedly lied to me... and perhaps committed fraud by lying about a parcel I paid for, but was never really sent.

Even though I came out of it more or less even, I debated leaving a thread in GBU; then I started to wonder if it really was just a one-off, and whether I was being petty, potentially destroying a talented knifemaker's reputation over a deal I technically didn't lose money on, even if it was a huge PITA. He's made a LOT of knives, and I was apparently (or maybe not, judging by the earlier comment) the only one who had a problem. But seeing that Brummie essentially had an experience identical to my own, 2 years later, it's impossible to rationalize his behavior on any level. Talented or not, he can't dodge responsibility forever. And yes, the moral is always the same here: never pay up front.
 
That's three long standing members of BF, all of whom have lots of positive feedback, complaining about the same maker. All recounting the same negative experience and describing the same tactics used to get payment without delivery.

Milan Mozolic is definitely someone to be avoided.
 
Brummie said:
Before this episode, my impressions were entirely positive, and as mentioned, he makes a great product.

I’m fully willing to accept that he’s had health issues that have affected his ability to complete the project on schedule, but there are a number of red flags which suggest that this is not just a case of having some problems and serial over-optimism about the delivery schedule:
- He’s told me several times it was ready, and then it wasn’t.
- He’s been very unresponsive, except when I’ve taken action through PayPal. Then, he’s been suddenly able to respond within an hour or two.
- The knife has reportedly spent many months ready, but just waiting to be photographed and mailed. Yet I’ve never received a photo, and finally the mailing date was coincidentally on the same day that I filed a dispute.
Click to expand...

As Judge Judy is fond of saying, "If it doesn't make sense, it's not true"
 
@Milan Mozolic is starting to sound more and more like Neil Blackwood. Neil would take money upfront and when it came time to deliver he had every excuse in the book...
 
This tends to happen, one guy posts a thread and other people who have had the same experiences share theirs, which up until this point, for whatever reason, they chose not to. That is evidence of a pattern of behavior which would cause me to avoid dealing with the person in question.
This right here is the value of the GBU forum. The evidence needed to determine whether to deal with someone or not is all here in black and white.
 
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