My experience with a rude South Afican knife maker.

A maker snubbing you or telling you to "get lost" or being mean to you is not unethical.
Call him rude, call him unprofessional, but not unethical.
 
Steven65 said:
My post laid out the facts. Not the lies that the OP would have you believe.

This thread is entitled "Unethical knife makers" There is nothing unethical in not wanting to deal with a difficult, self entitled customer. Accusing Andre of unethical behaviour is a lie.
Andre is entitled to deal with anyone he wants. No deposit was paid, no money changed hands and the knife was never built.

By the way I am not a fanboy. Andre van Heerden is one of my closest friends. We travel together, socialise together and I consider him a brother from another mother.
I understand that Imtiaz is upset. But coming here to rubbish the name of my friend who is guilty than nothing more than not wanting to do business with him is blatantly wrong. Particularly when he lies and labels Andre unethical, when nothing could be further from the truth.

Imtiaz, Andre quoted you a 6-12 month lead time for delivery of your knife...........yes? But after 7 weeks you thought it was ok to call Andre at 21h00 at night on his cell to nag him about your knife. Boundaries were crossed and your order was cancelled. That is not unethical, it's what happens when you cross the line.
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Not sure what exactly you're referring to in regards to the "lies." If its solely directed at the "unethical" remark, it's very likely that the OP, English being his second language, used the wrong word and I agree.

OP, unethical is not the word to describe Andre's actions. Rude, abrasive, unsavory, etc. are correct descriptors in this situation and you should correct the title.

My one and only point was that if an individual feels slighted and wants to share this experience so that others may be spared the same fate, this is the place to do so and there is no reason to rush in and dog pile anyone for doing so.

Whether he is your friend or not, that doesn't excuse your over zealous initial response.

Frankly, I am thankful for all kinds of feedback. This sole post would not dissuade me from purchasing a knife from Andre, however, it would have me approach the situation with some caution and I would inevitably decide for myself.

I don't see how the OP has extorted or slandered anyone. Merely recited his experience and asked if it was the rule or the exception. That seems fine by me.
 
I don't know anyone here I have related my experience with facts that's all.If the mods feels that this treat requires a different tital I'm ok with that to.I do realize that I have used an inaproprate tital.
 
Jaklas said:
I don't know anyone here I have related my experience with facts that's all.If the mods feels that this treat requires a different tital I'm ok with that to.I do realize that I have used an inaproprate tital.
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Click thread tools and "edit title." You can change it, you don't need a mod.
 
Jaklas said:
Yes you correct, I am extorting justice here.
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Definition of justice
1 a : the maintenance or administration of what is just especially by the impartial adjustment of conflicting claims or the assignment of merited rewards or punishments.

You put your claim forward and were impartialy judged in the wrong and the knifemaker in the right.

You like many before you when starting a thread like this miscalculated badly what the result would be. Instead of the membership backing you up the truth about the incident was posted.
 
OK, so I am also struggling here because the OP has repeatedly stated that the maker was really rude to him, but he hasn't shown us how this was the case. HOW was Van Heerden rude to you? What did he say? What did he write?

OP said he had a "personally horrific" experience with a South African maker later identified as Andre Van Heerden. He doesn't describe what that experience was in any detail. When I asked what his experience was, the OP said the maker was "very, very rude" and had "poor communication" and something about "timeline favoritism"?

What does that mean? What exactly did he say?
 
This sounds more like an issue of business communication protocol.
Did the OP call the knifemaker on his personal cell phone, at 9PM? If so, probably not a good move.
Business hour calls, are more respectable. Email and messages work well these days, as younger generations do not like surprise phone calls, as I found out myself!
 
Jaklas said:
No I called him within business hours it was. Around 9am
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When we're talking about $100s, being snubbed like that sucks. Frankly, you've done everything you've set out to do. You've outlined the situation and your grievances and I don't think anything more can be said.

If I were you OP, I'd call this one a day and begin communicating in a contribuatory manner via the General Knife Discussion, or any of the other subforums. There's a myriad of information and fantastic people/makes on this forum. Venture outside of the GB&U and find out.
 
Agreed. I think I have got a bit of closure on this treat. I will end it now and move on . Thank you guys
 
J Jaklas perhaps it is your issues with the English language but your troubles with Andrea Van Heerden were in no way unethical, or ethical, they had nothing to do with ethics. To have been an ethical issue there would have been a need for monetary exchange. This does not mean you were treated properly or that he executed good business sense and practices in his exchanges with you.

I am not here defending either party as I haven't read this thread closely enough to see enough details to make any judgment on one party or the other. I do feel the thread title required an adjustment due to the fact that given the current information available ethics never entered into the issue.

I don't know if there was reasonable cause for the maker to have been rude nor do I even know if he was rude to you as all I have seen it images of the OPs words to the maker and OPs claim to the makers words. I can only sit and watch and pass no judgment on either party.
 
PirateSeulb said:
J Jaklas perhaps it is your issues with the English language but your troubles with Andrea Van Heerden were in no way unethical, or ethical, they had nothing to do with ethics. To have been an ethical issue there would have been a need for monetary exchange. This does not mean you were treated properly or that he executed good business sense and practices in his exchanges with you.

I am not here defending either party as I haven't read this thread closely enough to see enough details to make any judgment on one party or the other. I do feel the thread title required an adjustment due to the fact that given the current information available ethics never entered into the issue.
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The tital has Been changed . Well on my phone it does show that it has been changed .
 
Any way I fell that I said whst I needed to say and my experience has been treated fairly. I am moving on from this maker an treat now . I will not be replying to this treat anymore . Will share my other knife journeys with you guys . Thank you
 
It changed I think as I typed my message and just saw that it was a major point of issue for people and hoped I could clear up why it was and maybe bring down the tensions some.
 
No I have Hurd people's comments regarding the tital, it was the wrong use of the word I am not denying that , so I changed it.
 
I’m guessing that the writing style displayed by the OP (nothing to do with his English), but his post after post as every new thought enters the mind, may be the same as email after email, and call after call, to the maker which probably helped garner the response of “don’t call me again”.

Then add in that he called the Knife Guild to complain and try to take on his crusade?

Andre probably saw the writing on the wall of dealing with an impatient and fussy customer which takes a lot of time away from making knives. Let’s also not forget that he’s the one making the knives and that he can make them for whomever and in whatever order he pleases. That goes for any maker. Just because you’re on a wait list doesn’t mean much at all in reality. Some others will get knives before you even if they ordered after you. That’s how it goes.

I think some patience is needing to be learned on the OP’s side of things.
 
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