Mr Gibbs, nimrod really. Grow up. I sorry if you don't like someone complaining or having a right to complain. I have kept things civil with no name calling. Guys, I have to travel with my job, as I am a transmission lineman for the last 10 years and have to be out of town for weeks at a time for storms, hurriacanes, tornados. It comes with the job, I know that and I have to away from my wife and kids. So I don't feel bad for people being gone for 4 days staying in good hotels eating good food and they know that is part of there job and they know what the show hours are. If the guys at the booth cant, stay then maybe they are not the right people to be there. I go out of town as part of my job, and my company would not like it if I just said I'm leaving early.
Poor KA-BAR customer service at 2013 Blade show.
- Thread starter draftpick
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Mr Gibbs, nimrod really. Grow up. I sorry if you don't like someone complaining or having a right to complain. I have kept things civil with no name calling. Guys, I have to travel with my job, as I am a transmission lineman for the last 10 years and have to be out of town for weeks at a time for storms, hurriacanes, tornados. It comes with the job, I know that and I have to away from my wife and kids. So I don't feel bad for people being gone for 4 days staying in good hotels eating good food and they know that is part of there job and they know what the show hours are. If the guys at the booth cant, stay then maybe they are not the right people to be there. I go out of town as part of my job, and my company would not like it if I just said I'm leaving early.
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a lot of people these days expect that I think, probably because of burger king. I find it's best to go about life not expecting the sun to shine up your ass, or at all.
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I was not debating your right to complain; if you had done so with just a touch of class or humor the Great Guys at Kabar would have likely sent you a catalog, sincere apology and maybe even a freebie.
Instead of that you headline a thread "Poor KA-BAR customer service"
Really?
So next year they should get the 6 hotel rooms for an extra night ($170 +tax each) just so you can meander over at your convenience & be entertained?
Clearly you believe you are entitled.
tueller
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Op I hear you. Ka bar is one of my favorites so I would have been disappointed as well. I don't like the "other vendors do it too" excuse either. I dont think customer service is to blame because IMHO ka bar has some of the best around. But maybe the listed hours need to change or travel plans need to be arranged better. If I pay for a show I expect to see the whole show during the posted hours.
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Leaving early had nothing to do with customer service and once they decided to pack up, they probably thought you were annoying. Sitting at show that long can't be easy and it's not like the promotor would tell KA-BAR not to come back because they packed up early. The way you started your post may be inflammatory to some members.
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If a knife show advertised a specific amount of hours the show is, then the venders should be there during those hours. What's it matter if he was there at the last minute, sometimes that happens but if he made it before the end time he should be able to do business with who has signed up to be there.
I like Ka-Bar and at a knife show in Arkansas I set and talked to a very nice and pretty lady who was manning the both. She was nice, professional and I respected her. She helped produce a good emege for Ka-Bar.
The OP has a good point and has every right to be upset. He paid for a ticket with the expectations that he would get to do business with a specific amount of vendors for a specific amount of time and if some leave early he got ripped of. Maybe Ka-Bar owes him $1.50 for not being there when they said they would be. A business is there to serve the customer not the customer to serve the business. Ka-Bar also needs to get rid of this little party atmosphere it is some what advertising since not all of us fell it is part of the knife world. I know I will not bring my kids to a bar and to have a vendor setting around drinking at a knife show, shows me they are not a company I want to do business with. Being drunk at work is not somebody I want to deal with. Maybe at the Colorado shows they can lite up a doobie and show us how in touch with the younger crowed they are.
I feel Ka-Bar owes this man an explanation as to why he was ripped off by them. If I show up to a movie while the previews are running is it ok to turn the movie off 10 minutes before the end? To me leaving early shows how they may have been too buzzed to have manned their booth to the end.
If Ka-Bar can not hold a public image of being a well respected company then I say I am thru with them. I can go somewhere else to get my stuff like I have had to recently.
Love ya ka-Bar but your not the only shop in town and you still have to earn my business to get it. Until that happens I am no longer buying your stuff. Now that is only about 3 knives a year and that is every year so its not enough to really worry you but reguardless I can only be around people I respect.
That comment of it being volinters is bunk, volinters or not they still have a job to do.
Forget Becker and Ka-Bar.
I like Ka-Bar and at a knife show in Arkansas I set and talked to a very nice and pretty lady who was manning the both. She was nice, professional and I respected her. She helped produce a good emege for Ka-Bar.
The OP has a good point and has every right to be upset. He paid for a ticket with the expectations that he would get to do business with a specific amount of vendors for a specific amount of time and if some leave early he got ripped of. Maybe Ka-Bar owes him $1.50 for not being there when they said they would be. A business is there to serve the customer not the customer to serve the business. Ka-Bar also needs to get rid of this little party atmosphere it is some what advertising since not all of us fell it is part of the knife world. I know I will not bring my kids to a bar and to have a vendor setting around drinking at a knife show, shows me they are not a company I want to do business with. Being drunk at work is not somebody I want to deal with. Maybe at the Colorado shows they can lite up a doobie and show us how in touch with the younger crowed they are.
I feel Ka-Bar owes this man an explanation as to why he was ripped off by them. If I show up to a movie while the previews are running is it ok to turn the movie off 10 minutes before the end? To me leaving early shows how they may have been too buzzed to have manned their booth to the end.
If Ka-Bar can not hold a public image of being a well respected company then I say I am thru with them. I can go somewhere else to get my stuff like I have had to recently.
Love ya ka-Bar but your not the only shop in town and you still have to earn my business to get it. Until that happens I am no longer buying your stuff. Now that is only about 3 knives a year and that is every year so its not enough to really worry you but reguardless I can only be around people I respect.
That comment of it being volinters is bunk, volinters or not they still have a job to do.
Forget Becker and Ka-Bar.
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I was not debating your right to complain; if you had done so with just a touch of class or humor the Great Guys at Kabar would have likely sent you a catalog, sincere apology and maybe even a freebie.
Instead of that you headline a thread "Poor KA-BAR customer service"
Really?
So next year they should get the 6 hotel rooms for an extra night ($170 +tax each) just so you can meander over at your convenience & be entertained?
Clearly you believe you are entitled.
I do not think expecting vendors, who have committed to a show, to maintain a presence at said show until closing, or at the very least giving people a heads up that they will be leaving earlier than the posted closing time, is "entitled". Maybe the OP has gone about this the wrong way but I hardly think he's asking for the world here. He tried to make it to the booth well before the posted closing time having no way of knowing the intentions of those running the Ka-Bar booth. It's not like he showed up at 1:55 and asked them to drag everything back out so he could paw over it for half an hour. A reasonable person, armed primarily with the knowledge that the show would run from 9:00am -2:00pm would think that that is when the vendors would be there, possibly figuring that they would begin preparations to pack up as it drew close to closing time. They would not necessarily know how long it takes to get through the airport and the thought likely would not occur to them how long and hard the people at the booths had been working, especially behind the scenes.
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Alright, time for a little education on the matter at hand, kiddies.
Kabar doesn't get to come to Blade show for free, it cost THOUSANDS of dollars to just get the booth. Then, you have to pay a few more thousand to get all the nice frills that we have, like, oh, glass cases, carpet, and tables. Then, you have to pay to have the nice folks at the Cobb Galleria bring the shit in the door for you, and put it all piled up in the middle of your space.
The guys from Olean travel all day and then setup on Thursday, for a show that starts on Friday. Hell, they don't even turn on the AC until Friday at 12:05pm.
Piss on it, you don't care, right? Its part of their job, right? Its not like the President and Senior Design Engineer have nothing else to do, right? They could just send out some minions, maybe some outside sales reps, right? Right. But that ain't how this story goes. The President and Senior Design Engineer roll out, are setting up the booth, and getting ready.
Getting ready to shake hands, make memories, meet new friends, harass old friends, and sell some knives.
Oh, yeah, forgot about that whole "selling knives" thing. Selling knives at HALF PRICE. Yeah, half the price. How many knives do you think you have to sell to cover a few grand in in booth expenses, a few grand in hotels, couple of grand for flights and rental cars, maybe a couple hundred in food? All part of the job though, right? Lose money on a show just so the folks have a chance to buy knives straight from the factory, from the companies leading men. Sounds like some pretty swell fellas to me.
I'm one of the volunteers. I'm one of those guys, that works all night, drives all morning, to get changed in the parking lot, 15 minutes before the show starts. I'm one of those guys that took money out of my own pocket, to cover half the expense of a kids first Kabar. Not my kid, or the kid of a person I knew, but a total stranger and his dad. I did it, because of the look on the kids face when he saw the knife he wanted, and then saw how much it was, and how many tins were in his coffer. So, I covered half.
Oh, and paid for other knives for folks as well.
We had hundreds of smiling, satisfied customers that came to see us, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. One upset customer 2 hours before the show closed. A Blade Show Vulture. I have no problem with that, but when you don't get your $98 knife for $20 like you wanted, you went running to the Blade Show officials. I remember you, if that was you, and since we never heard a single thing about packing it in at NOON, until one guy made an offer on a knife sitting on the counter, got turned down, then ran off butthurt, I'm betting it was you.
You paid $20 to get in the show, Kabar paid several thousands of dollars to get in.
And another thing, Kabar is but one booth at the nation's largest knife show. Your $20 to get in, gave you access to hundreds of companies and maker's. The show isn't the Kabar booth, but hey, it makes us feel real good that you think so.
Don't worry, I'm positive the booth will be manned until 2pm next year. I'll see ya there.
As far as drinking at the booth, hell, there was a wet bar in the middle of the floor, you could get you some ice cold beer, maybe a shot, or a margarita. No one at our booth was drunk, and as far as I know, I was the only one working that even had a beer on the floor. Sue me.
Moose
Kabar doesn't get to come to Blade show for free, it cost THOUSANDS of dollars to just get the booth. Then, you have to pay a few more thousand to get all the nice frills that we have, like, oh, glass cases, carpet, and tables. Then, you have to pay to have the nice folks at the Cobb Galleria bring the shit in the door for you, and put it all piled up in the middle of your space.
The guys from Olean travel all day and then setup on Thursday, for a show that starts on Friday. Hell, they don't even turn on the AC until Friday at 12:05pm.
Piss on it, you don't care, right? Its part of their job, right? Its not like the President and Senior Design Engineer have nothing else to do, right? They could just send out some minions, maybe some outside sales reps, right? Right. But that ain't how this story goes. The President and Senior Design Engineer roll out, are setting up the booth, and getting ready.
Getting ready to shake hands, make memories, meet new friends, harass old friends, and sell some knives.
Oh, yeah, forgot about that whole "selling knives" thing. Selling knives at HALF PRICE. Yeah, half the price. How many knives do you think you have to sell to cover a few grand in in booth expenses, a few grand in hotels, couple of grand for flights and rental cars, maybe a couple hundred in food? All part of the job though, right? Lose money on a show just so the folks have a chance to buy knives straight from the factory, from the companies leading men. Sounds like some pretty swell fellas to me.
I'm one of the volunteers. I'm one of those guys, that works all night, drives all morning, to get changed in the parking lot, 15 minutes before the show starts. I'm one of those guys that took money out of my own pocket, to cover half the expense of a kids first Kabar. Not my kid, or the kid of a person I knew, but a total stranger and his dad. I did it, because of the look on the kids face when he saw the knife he wanted, and then saw how much it was, and how many tins were in his coffer. So, I covered half.
Oh, and paid for other knives for folks as well.
We had hundreds of smiling, satisfied customers that came to see us, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. One upset customer 2 hours before the show closed. A Blade Show Vulture. I have no problem with that, but when you don't get your $98 knife for $20 like you wanted, you went running to the Blade Show officials. I remember you, if that was you, and since we never heard a single thing about packing it in at NOON, until one guy made an offer on a knife sitting on the counter, got turned down, then ran off butthurt, I'm betting it was you.
You paid $20 to get in the show, Kabar paid several thousands of dollars to get in.
And another thing, Kabar is but one booth at the nation's largest knife show. Your $20 to get in, gave you access to hundreds of companies and maker's. The show isn't the Kabar booth, but hey, it makes us feel real good that you think so.
Don't worry, I'm positive the booth will be manned until 2pm next year. I'll see ya there.
As far as drinking at the booth, hell, there was a wet bar in the middle of the floor, you could get you some ice cold beer, maybe a shot, or a margarita. No one at our booth was drunk, and as far as I know, I was the only one working that even had a beer on the floor. Sue me.
Moose
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Awwwww poor poor KaBAR....
I love your knives, but the response to this is insane. As a business owner, if a customer is upset like this, you tell them you're sorry and send em a sticker or something to make them happy. Not tell them they shouldn't be upset. It doesn't work with wives or customers!
I love your knives, but the response to this is insane. As a business owner, if a customer is upset like this, you tell them you're sorry and send em a sticker or something to make them happy. Not tell them they shouldn't be upset. It doesn't work with wives or customers!
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Apples to oranges. Working on transmissions is a lot different from working a retail or sales job. I'm not trying to demean what you do, I'm just stating the facts as I see them, from my own experience in sales.
Have you ever worked a trade show? Typically, you show up a day before a trade show opens, spending anywhere from eight-to-sixteen hours setting up, get some rest, then standing for hours on end and talking with what could be dozens or hundreds of people over a three or four day period - and those days can run from twelve to sixteen hours. And typically the best meal of the day is dinner, and even that is sometimes spent with customers & clients making deals. The rest of the time it's probably cold sandwiches & bottled water.
Then, you have to break it all down (which can take as long as setting up), catch your flight, and be at your desk the next day - and if you're flying west coast (say, Anaheim, CA) to east coast (where I'm from in NC), you lose three hours. Simply stated, it sucks. It's great meeting customers and making some great deals, but damn, it sometimes takes days to recover.
I've worked shorter tradeshows when I worked sales for a large hardware distributor, nothing on the level of what BLADE is, but after just a day of what we did, I was exhausted. I can't imagine doing it for thee or four days straight.
I've lived in areas of this country that can get extreme weather, and believe me, if the weather conditions are a priority, then everything else is a distant second. Get home and take care of your family.
As Phil said, "...They had to fly out of Atlanta to try to catch connections so they can be back in the office on Monday morning." If the folks doing the tear-down have to catch flights, they determine when things happen.
draftpick, I totally understand your disappointment with what happened Sunday, and I'd be pretty unhappy about it too. But Phil & the others are right - calling it bad customer service, when there are so many other factors involved, isn't fair to Kabar.
~Chris
ps:
Spellcheck is your friend.
~Chris
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OFFICIAL_KA-BAR
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All,
The Blade Show ends at 2 pm on Sunday and KA-BAR left early. That is a fact and there is no way around it. Regardless of the circumstances, we apologize for leaving early. We have taken steps to ensure this won't happen again next year and the years to come. We are a growing company and recognize that as we move forward things that have been done in the past may need to be changed.
We appreciate everyone on both side of this debate's feedback. Going forward we will become better because of your feedback. Please do not hesitate to share any and all suggestions in the future. Thanks everyone.
-OKB
The Blade Show ends at 2 pm on Sunday and KA-BAR left early. That is a fact and there is no way around it. Regardless of the circumstances, we apologize for leaving early. We have taken steps to ensure this won't happen again next year and the years to come. We are a growing company and recognize that as we move forward things that have been done in the past may need to be changed.
We appreciate everyone on both side of this debate's feedback. Going forward we will become better because of your feedback. Please do not hesitate to share any and all suggestions in the future. Thanks everyone.
-OKB
I do not understand your analogy, it might be my english or it might be that I do not eat in Burger King. Not sure.
What I criticized is the fact that an exhibitor left before the end of the show and there was not a formal communication or apology to their customers. Now there is one posted in here, thanks for that.
My point is that some of us also expended money, some even travel from abroad, and deserve a formal explanation. Maybe that is unreasonable for you, but not for me.
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I think that's about all that needs to be said on this one. The OP got the attention he wanted, feathers ruffled, people expressed utter dismay, Bladite tried logic, Phil kept it real, Moose blasted things wide open, and Ka-Bar apologized and promised to do better. See you next year on Sunday at 1:30, when I plan to actually raise prices on the knives I sell rather than lower them.
OFFICIAL_KA-BAR
Moderator
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All,
I wanted to thank you again for the feedback. As I have already done this in words I wanted to extend a tangible thank you. All posters in this thread will receive a new and unreleased KA-BAR product if they choose to accept it. The item is the 1117 Fighting/Utility Neck Knife. To receive your knife please send an email with your Bladeforums user name and your name and shipping address to promotions@ka-bar.com. Thanks again and enjoy your weekend.
-OKB
I wanted to thank you again for the feedback. As I have already done this in words I wanted to extend a tangible thank you. All posters in this thread will receive a new and unreleased KA-BAR product if they choose to accept it. The item is the 1117 Fighting/Utility Neck Knife. To receive your knife please send an email with your Bladeforums user name and your name and shipping address to promotions@ka-bar.com. Thanks again and enjoy your weekend.
-OKB
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I sure missed the boat there. Durn glad I slapped that last comment in though.
Seriously, kudos to the folks at Ka-bar for listening to their customer base.
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