Mixed Resolved

[Petunia D. Feeble]

How long is too long for a refund process?

I bought a knife that claims to have a lock that can be opened with one hand. It had lock stick so bad that I almost needed not two, but three hands to get it closed. I very nearly had to get my wife to help me close the thing.

So I hop online to request a return, but the order isn't showing on my account. I have the knife and a confirmation email for the purchase, shipping, etc. but it's not showing.

I called the customer service # and spoke to a nice lady who emailed me the return label and said they'd take care of it. USPS shows that they received the knife on Saturday. I called on Tuesday to check on it because I hadn't received any communication or my refund. They said they were still playing catch up from the weekend and it should be done by end of day.

Wednesday I called back again because I still hadn't received any communication or my refund. I spoke to a guy who gave me the same excuse as before so I asked to speak to a supervisor. Then a man named Jordan said the best he could do was ask the receiving department to fast track it for that day.

Now, at this point I was fed up because they'd had the knife back for a few days and not only did I not have my refund, but I had no communication, no apology, no concern and no explanation as to why the transaction never showed in my account. I threatened to file a dispute with my bank and/or Mastercard and at that point Jordan replied "well, you can do that if you want, but then we'll lock your account and you'll never be able to buy from us again."

To be fair, I wasn't being pleasant on the phone at this point, but I never attacked any rep personally. Just expressed my displeasure with the situation in strong language. I generally try to behave in a more professional manner, but I already wasn't in a good mood and they didn't seem at all bothered with the situation.

So, no communication, no apology, no explanation, no concern and now they threaten to lock my account and refuse my business if I dispute the still outstanding charge with my bank.

Here we are Thursday night and they've ignored the email I sent today about it and still haven't sent my refund. They've had the knife, that didn't work, back for nearly a week. Still no confirmation of receipt, no refund, no service.

At this point they might as well lock my account. They're never getting another penny out of me.

 

[mmmotorcycle]

Not excusing the poor communication BUT didn't they move locations recently? IF they were still moving, it could explain the unacceptable, but explainable, delay in your refund. Wondering if others know more than I do......

 

[Petunia D. Feeble]

Not excusing the poor communication BUT didn't they move locations recently? IF they were still moving, it could explain the unacceptable, but explainable, delay in your refund. Wondering if others know more than I do......

That would indeed be a decent excuse... but I should still be able to expect a "Hey bud, we got your package. We're backlogged due to a move so it may be a few days until we can check it back in, but we'll get to it as soon as we can."

I mean, it's an Actilam knife... there are no fakes. How long does it take to open a box and look at it? Then type in an order number and hit refund...

 

[Casinostocks]

It is entirely your prerogative to not do business with BHQ based on your negative experience. If I was in your shoes and had I paid by using a credit card, this kind of transaction amount would not be so consequential in such scenario to go down the dispute route UNLESS seven working days had elapsed (basically the 10th calendar day from their confirmed receipt of the returned package) without having received my full refund.

However, if I had paid with my bank debit card and funds in my bank account were already stretched thinly, I'd act with less patience than what I just stated above!

 

[Chariotz4]

How long is too long for a refund process?

I bought a knife that claims to have a lock that can be opened with one hand. It had lock stick so bad that I almost needed not two, but three hands to get it closed. I very nearly had to get my wife to help me close the thing[...]

Yikes! Definitely an unpleasant situation for yourself Petunia D. Feeble ! It would certainly seem like they're sending your refund to you via snail mail on the slow boat from China! I hope you're able to get your refund soon!

Living in the land of maple syrup and hockey, I tend not to buy a lot my knives from US dealers and retailers, but the handful of times I have, I've never ordered from BHQ just because they didn't have what I wanted at the given time. My personal experience is that anytime they're brought up in conversation here, they generally get a pretty good recommendation, but your post here will probably give me some pause if I were to consider dealing with them in the future.

Edited for clarity.

 

[Lapedog]

How long is too long for a refund process?

I bought a knife that claims to have a lock that can be opened with one hand. It had lock stick so bad that I almost needed not two, but three hands to get it closed. I very nearly had to get my wife to help me close the thing.

So I hop online to request a return, but the order isn't showing on my account. I have the knife and a confirmation email for the purchase, shipping, etc. but it's not showing.

I called the customer service # and spoke to a nice lady who emailed me the return label and said they'd take care of it. USPS shows that they received the knife on Saturday. I called on Tuesday to check on it because I hadn't received any communication or my refund. They said they were still playing catch up from the weekend and it should be done by end of day.

Wednesday I called back again because I still hadn't received any communication or my refund. I spoke to a guy who gave me the same excuse as before so I asked to speak to a supervisor. Then a man named Jordan said the best he could do was ask the receiving department to fast track it for that day.

Now, at this point I was fed up because they'd had the knife back for a few days and not only did I not have my refund, but I had no communication, no apology, no concern and no explanation as to why the transaction never showed in my account. I threatened to file a dispute with my bank and/or Mastercard and at that point Jordan replied "well, you can do that if you want, but then we'll lock your account and you'll never be able to buy from us again."

To be fair, I wasn't being pleasant on the phone at this point, but I never attacked any rep personally. Just expressed my displeasure with the situation in strong language. I generally try to behave in a more professional manner, but I already wasn't in a good mood and they didn't seem at all bothered with the situation.

So, no communication, no apology, no explanation, no concern and now they threaten to lock my account and refuse my business if I dispute the still outstanding charge with my bank.

Here we are Thursday night and they've ignored the email I sent today about it and still haven't sent my refund. They've had the knife, that didn't work, back for nearly a week. Still no confirmation of receipt, no refund, no service.

At this point they might as well lock my account. They're never getting another penny out of me.

Sorry for your bad experience. I’ve never bought from them but they seem to be fairly concious of their PR. Hopefully someone will bring it to their attention that they are being called out on here.

Too bad about the Actilam. It is such a beautiful knife and I really wanted to try one. Just for the record you know that to release the lock you were supposed to push it over and not lift it up right?

 

[JJ_Colt45]

I hate to hear you are having issues with BladeHQ ... I know when I order things it will take longer for it to be shipped than other places I frequently deal with ... but I have always had good experiences with their customer service ...

But I do think they process orders and ship slowly than my other regular dealers ... maybe they work with a small crew and get behind?

I understand that doesn't help you or give any reason they haven't stayed in better contact about your situation ... hopefully you will get a response now and settle it.

And I hope this is a one off glitch ... because I've always had good communications with them.

Best of luck - JJ

 

[Popsickle]

I’d like to chime in simply because I had a refund recently processed by bladehq.

I received a knife from them that I had to send to the original maker to be repaired immediately after receiving it. I was not happy with how the repair was done and bladehq gladly took the knife back and issued me a refund. It took a time frame similar tothe OP, and an explanation that it may take a few days to process. I was patient, and was rewarded for it. I was very satisfied with the outcome.

One thing we have to realize is the world does not revolve around us, and that there are other things going on behind the scenes other than our immediate need. Sorry that your having an issue OP, but I think that this is being over blown by being impatient. BladeHQ has an excellent track record, and I’m confident that you will be made whole at the end of this. It’s hard to be patient in a world of instant gratification, but hang in there! I truly wish you the best in your situation.

 

[stonesell]

Refunds in general, seem to get processed slower than a new sale, and there can be a five business day delay to get one posted on your credit card.
In the past, I have just used the credit to buy something else, and avoided the weekly wait, since I can be impatient also.
I had to exchange a fixed blade knife with a loose guard, that I bought from BHQ. The process was very fast and efficient, and the replacement knife was perfect. An exchange is way faster than a straight cash refund.

 

[Petunia D. Feeble]

Sorry for your bad experience. I’ve never bought from them but they seem to be fairly concious of their PR. Hopefully someone will bring it to their attention that they are being called out on here.

Too bad about the Actilam. It is such a beautiful knife and I really wanted to try one. Just for the record you know that to release the lock you were supposed to push it over and not lift it up right?

Yeah, it didn't work in either direction.

 

[FourD]

I've bought from Blade HQ. No real issues but I found them to be slow at shipping and communication in general. Overall, they seem to be a good bunch. I hope this gets resolved to your satisfaction.

 

[bikerector]

I don't think this sounds too long for a refund, at least compared to my prior experiences with various online purchases, especially back in my cycling race days when all the good stuff had to be special ordered. A week turnaround on a return is what I consider to be good and two-weeks isn't uncommon, especially since they have to reverse the credit card. But, I think the credit card credits are a lot faster than they used to be.

If i'm understanding the timeline right you were issues the RMA on last week, they got the knife Saturday. I generally assume that computer processing doesn't occur on weekends except for automated types of things. That means they would have had Monday to start getting around to processing stuff. So that's 3 days to perform everything for a full refund which seems quick.

Now, the communication I would be dissatisfied with, which you were. I can understand the frustration because it seems like companies are really quick to get stuff out the door but pretty slow taking it back, one of the pluses to the brick & mortar stores is the quicker timelines (assuming the drive isn't long and you have the time to get there). I don't think you're unreasonable to request better communication but I do think getting a refund processed so quickly may be a higher expectation than BHQ could meet.

Just my opinions based on my experiences with online shopping over the past several years. I hope at the end everything gets settled in as best a situation as it can be considering the less than ideal communication you've received.

 

[HP2114B]

I returned a knife to BHQ earlier this year. It was the first time I had ever bought anything from them and I made the mistake of making the purchase with a guest account. Even after creating an account a few days later using the same email address, the guest order did not become associated with my new account. This caused issues with the return process, and I had to email them to initiate the return instead of just clicking on the appropriate 'Return Items' link in my order history. Once they received the knife, I waited about three days but the money never showed up in my bank account. I contacted them by phone, and they said that they had apparently lost the returned knife. The USPS tracking showed that they had indeed received a package from me, so they would refund my money within a week even if they couldn't locate the knife. Exactly one week after they received the return, the money was refunded to my bank account. I have no idea if they ever found the knife.

I've placed about half a dozen more orders to BHQ since then, and haven't had any other real issues. I noticed that my last two orders took a bit longer to ship than normal, but I'm assuming this is because of their relocation holding things up.

 

[HappyDaddy]

Unacceptable, regardless of how many others didn't have a problem.

 

[Mo2]

Id like to recommended gpknives instead.

And regardless of that, returns and refunds can take weeks sometimes.

 

[tyyreaun]

I'll second what JJ said above. I've bought a lot from BladeHQ, including sending a number of returns. They do seem to be a bit slower about processing returns than some other vendors I buy from, but I've never had an issue getting a refund eventually - even if it takes a few days. Note that they also don't seem to send any email confirmations that a return was received or processed - you either need to check their site, or your credit card account, to confirm. I think we're all just spoiled with companies like Amazon processing returns as soon as the return shipment is scanned by the post office, that we forget others aren't quite as automated.

I'll also ping @BladeHQ to give them a chance to chime in.

 

[Thomas Linton]

They threatened to prevent you from ordering from them again. Why is that an issue? Lots of "fish in the sea"- knives and dealers. Vote with your $$.

 

[Ernie1980]

I think you are being a little impatient, and you said yourself that you were not nice on the phone before the employee said that your account would be locked. They sent you a refund label (some companies won’t even do that) and you said they were pleasant when you initially called them. Being on the wrong end of an angry caller doesn’t tend to put one in a mood to go out of their way to help anyone, and depending on what you said they might have actually been hoping you would go elsewhere for your next purchase!
I hope this gets resolved for you, but I think you were a little quick on the trigger in this case.

 

[Petunia D. Feeble]

They threatened to prevent you from ordering from them again. Why is that an issue? Lots of "fish in the sea"- knives and dealers. Vote with your $$.

It's an issue in the customer service sense. Their response to a customer seeking another avenue of resolution wasn't to try harder... it was to threaten them. That's ridiculous.

I think you are being a little impatient, and you said yourself that you were not nice on the phone before the employee said that your account would be locked. They sent you a refund label (some companies won’t even do that) and you said they were pleasant when you initially called them. Being on the wrong end of an angry caller doesn’t tend to put one in a mood to go out of their way to help anyone, and depending on what you said they might have actually been hoping you would go elsewhere for your next purchase!
I hope this gets resolved for you, but I think you were a little quick on the trigger in this case.

Impatient? Just exactly how patient should one be with a retailer who acts like they've done you a favor by allowing you to return a product that completely fails to function and then sits on it with no response for a number of days?

We're now a full week from the date of receipt with no communication, no apology, no refund, no credit... They've had $125 of my money for nearly a month and all I've gotten from them is an excuse, a threat and a shipping label.

Maybe I was a little quick on the trigger, but that's proving to just be a preemptive strike.

 

[Thomas Linton]

People being people, you may have preempted cooperation.

It is sometimes hard to stick to what is most likely to get what you want - goods/$$ or the hide of some less-than-completely-polite moke. After all, opinions differ.