My experience with Busse Combat

Cliff Stamp · Sep 3, 1999

I ordered a BM and settled down for a wait which I knew would take awhile. After awhile I phoned up Busse to discuss a few warrenty issues and found out that my BM was actually ready to be shipped, an unexpected bonus which had me smiling for the rest of the day. I settled down to wait.

After a couple of weeks pretty much constantly eyeballing material that was just looking to be hacking up, no BM. I try to contact Busse for about a week and we get it straightened out (delay caused by a bonehead move on my part) and I go back to waiting again.

After another couple of weeks I get a call from Busse saying the knife bounced back to them because of customs throwing a fit and he has personally sent it out express (at their expense). Which I didn't ask for but appreciated. So I once again settle down and wait.

After a week and no knife I am convinced that it has fallen off the face of the earth (express should be only 2-3 days). Jerry is none to pleased either as the post will not put a trace on it until it has been overdue for ten days. He makes me a generous offer because of the posts continuous irritating behavior. Again I never asked but jumped on it.

Finally today the BM arrived. It only took five times as long as it should and it looked like it has gone through hell. The package was mangled. Lucky me as soon as I took the box the BM fell out through the side. The BM survived round one of the durability testing - it was not scratched by the best efforts of the customs and the post.

Anyway, I got the knife and the excessive delays were not due to Busse Combat but basically the post being the post and me living where I do. As an example, Earl tried to send me a knife by FedEx and they bounced it back to him saying "Sorry, your $50 limit will not get your there - the area is too remote".

Busse was a bit hard to reach at times but this problem has been solved :

http://www.bladeforums.com/ubb/Forum25/HTML/000199.html

Jerry went well beyond the call of duty to try and get me my knife as quickly as possible and made up for delays which were not his problem.

I would not hesistate to order from him again unless I have a problem with the knife and I don't think I will.

-Cliff

[This message has been edited by Cliff Stamp (edited 03 September 1999).]

Dannyc · Sep 4, 1999

And I thought I was the only one having problems like that with the post office.

We're all waiting for your review on the BM, Cliff! Good luck, and be careful with that thing!

Dan

paulr · Sep 8, 1999

I have a different opinion of Busse's ability to respond quicky.

I'm still waiting for some sort of response from him to confirm receipt of my overseas letters that INQUIRE about the possibility of ordering a knive. The first letter was sent over three months ago. (And please don't think of this as a problem with payment, shipping, etc, since I specifically said that I would pay in US funds (credit card or bank check) and the knife would be sent to a US address.)

Lord knows how long I would have to wait for a knife!

Cliff Stamp · Sep 9, 1999

Paul, try giving them a call. There have been changes in customer service and reaching Busse Combat has been easier as of late.

-Cliff

Bob Irons · Sep 9, 1999

I can confirm there is a change. As one of the Busse Mean Street winners in the Guess the Missing INFI Ingredient contest, I was a bit concerned about contacting them.

Dave just gave me a call this morning and confirmed the shipping information I left in a recorded message. That's pretty good response and seems to be a marked improvement over what I had been reading a few weeks/months ago.

Hope everyone else sees this improvement too!

James Mattis · Sep 9, 1999

I'm wondering what it was about the package with the knife that attracted so much attention from Canadian Customs. It isn't as if Canada has no large fixed blade knives already! My Fallknivens, including the A1, come to me from Canada without incident, and they in turn come into Canada from Sweden.

I do take a couple of precautions which I don't know are necessary, but which can't hurt. The customs form says "Cutlery," and not "Knives." My return address is my name, with no mention of sharp objects. Is the word "Combat" in Busse's return address, or anywhere else on the package? That could attract unwanted official attention in some places.

------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001

bagman · Sep 9, 1999

James- Good point about the combat bit

If custom's over here get wind of that when my Mean street arrives (O Happy Day) I could be in trouble

bagman · Sep 9, 1999

James- Good point about the combat bit

If custom's over here get wind of that when my Mean street arrives (O Happy Day) I could be in trouble

Bob Irons · Sep 9, 1999

Using an inocuous name without knife or combat in it at the same address is probaby an excellent and easy to take precaution. If Dave or Jerry reads this thread perhaps they'll decide to do that! Busse Cutlery doesn't sound all that bad.

James Mattis · Sep 9, 1999

A lot of companies don't say "knives," "cutlery," or anything else on their shipping labels that tells everybody handling the package that there's probably a very nice sharp object in it. If we assume that 99% of folks handling packages are honest, but one sends out hundres or thousands of packages, the precaution is a good one.

Benchmade Knives is BMK. Spyderco is Spy. My return address is "James Mattis" and sometimes a "CC" but never "Chai Cutlery."

------------------
- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001

Mike Turber · Sep 10, 1999

I do the same. All mine say WOW. You could imagine what happened when they said World Of Weapons!

------------------
Best Regards,
Mike Turber
BladeForums Site Owner and Administrator
Do it! Do it right! Do it right NOW!
www.wowinc.com

Cliff Stamp · Sep 13, 1999

The contents were marked "cutlery" and the return address was just "Busse". Customs can at times just take forever for no apparent reason.

-Cliff

Cliff Stamp · Sep 23, 1999

As an update, I just recieved a Basic #7 from Busse Combat. This was sent regular airmail. It went through customs, was not even opened and arrived in 8 days. It got here faster than the BM by express mail. Figure that one out.

-Cliff