Santa Fe Stoneworks

T

ThreeWorlds

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I just got off the phone with the sales staff of Santa Fe Stoneworks, and I don't think I've ever been so incensed in my life.

I will be leaving on a trip with a friend of mine, and I will be staying for just about a month or so on the good graces of him and his family. So, I wanted to get them a couple of gifts to express my gratitude for their hospitality. Well, the first gift I ordered that was supposed to be delivered to their door was not up to spec, v. disappointing (it was a letter opener from a well known retailer here, whose name I won't mention, because they treated me fine and sometimes things just work out that way), so I remembered that Santa Fe Stoneworks, that does a lot of work for Spyderco, Kershaw, etc. also often had inlaid letter openers, and I'm pretty sure that they would be good on the quality front.

Well, so early Monday night/Tuesday morning, I placed an internet order for this letter opener with Santa Fe Stoneworks, with 2nd Day UPS Air because we are leaving Friday morning and I wanted it to get here Thursday (today) so I could give it to them. Bright and early the next day, I called their sales staff, to make sure that the order went through, and that they had it in stock, and emphasized the fact that it was SUPER IMPORTANT that it get here by Thursday. The sales guy I talked to told me they didn't have the exact pattern I wanted, but gave me a decent substitute, and assured me that since I had ordered 2nd Day UPS Air it would definitely get here by Thursday. So, now it's Thursday, and I'm sitting around anxiously wondering where is the package I ordered, it's 5 PM now, why isn't it here? I call up Santa Fe Stoneworks -- they're still open, since I'm currently on CST -- and ask them about my order. The sales lady who picks up asks me for my name and number, puts me on hold, and then tells me THEY HAVE NO ORDER UNDER MY NAME. Meanwhile, I'm staring straight at the confirmation e-mail I got three days ago. I say, no, there must be some mistake, would you like my confirmation number? Because I ordered it early Tuesday morning with 2nd day air. She says, "Oh, we get a lot of orders, so we don't ship out every day." And I, getting a little upset now, say, "But I talked to a sales rep early Tuesday morning and he ASSURED me that it would get here today! It's super important that it gets here because I'm leaving tomorrow--" she interrupts me to ask me what I ordered. I tell her. She says, "I'm sorry but I haven't processed any orders for that item, or seen anything like that ship out" and then says something about the person who does that being in the New York Show?? I try again, politely, to tell her my order number, and she loudly talks over me saying, "THERE'S NO ORDER LIKE THAT HERE. We haven't shipped out yet, so your credit card hasn't been charged." (As if she didn't understand why I was making such a big deal about it given those circumstances.) After a pause, she says again, distantly, like she's reading off a sheet, "Would you like to reorder it again when you get back?"

NO. I don't want to reorder it again, because I ORDERED IT ALREADY, AND NEED IT NOW, else I wouldn't have ordered it 2ND DAY AIR NOW, WOULD I??

I WANT IT TO BE HERE, TODAY, LIKE YOU GUYS PROMISED ME NOT TWO DAYS AGO.

I settle however, with just a "... No." since there's clearly no reasoning with her.

"Thank you, good bye!!" She says in a suddenly chirpy voice, like "Yay I don't have to talk to this customer anymore."

I'm utterly furious. I feel like strangling someone. I've been clenching my hands into fists for 5 minutes straight.
 
Jackasses. I just checked my credit card account; they charged my credit card yesterday.

Just tried to call them back but I've spent too much time being angry -- they're closed for the day.
 
ThreeWorlds said:
*******. I just checked my credit card account; they ******* charged my credit card yesterday.

Just tried to call them back but I've spent too much time being angry -- they're closed for the day.
Click to expand...
It always amazes me that some companies still don't realize that one pissed off customer doesn't equal one lost customer. It equals everybody the pissed off customer ever talks to about the experience, many of whom say "There are plenty of competitors, so, why chance it?" and never order from the company in question. And when you consider what "everybody you talk to" means in this age of the internet, customer service becomes even more important.
 
Woah! Thanks for the headzup. I was on the verge of ordering some silverware from these people. I think I'll wait and see how this turns out first. :confused:
 
Wow, is that ever incredibly poor customer service. Customer serice representatives like that can cost a company a great deal.
 
Very bad.

I would call the management of SFS.

Tell them the story, with the approximate times of the calls to help identify the customer service people. Tell them about the bill, which of course you will dispute with the credit card company.

And tell them about this thread, The idea that there is no such thing as bad publicity is nonsense, especially for a business. SFS spends money on advertising, as anyone who opens Blade magazine can tell you. So one would imagine that they care about their name. While it may be true that the average SFS customer is a some non-knife nut buying a "colorful" gift of kitchen knives or a nicely inlaid Spyderco---how do they think that those people find SFS to begin with? I'll tell you-they ask people like me.

People like me, who are used to crummy customer service from our telephone companies, credit card companies, banks, and damned near everyone elese that we deal with have somehow gotten the idea* that we can expect excellent customer service and personal attention from knife companies. Because of that, I won't deal with anyone who provides less. I may have to put up with unpleasant people in daily life, but I will not increase the load by putting up with them for my hobby as well.


*because it is true.

In any event, keep us posted about what happens.
 
If it makes you feel any better, your story is more than enough to persuade me never to order from them. Even better, I'll make sure I let anyone who asks me about good retailers know that this place should be avoided too.

Take that Sante Fe Stoneworks!!! :thumbdn:
 
They aren't the only ones pulling this stuff lately.

I'm pretty upset with a knife-related supply outfit right now. I ordered some material on a Monday and told them I NEEDED it dropshipped to a third party and that is MUST arrive by Friday. (Regular ground should have had it there Wed. so I thought I'd be safe.)

Well, I called on Thursday when the material didn't show only to find out that they didn't even ship it 'til Wednsday and sent it to me (on the other coast) by mistake!!:eek::mad:

They contacted UPS who redirect it to the correct address. (Back across the country. )

I reiterated that I needed it there by Friday and suggested it go overnight.

After "Checking" about that, I was told that would be too expensive ($30, and the order was only for $150).

So they essentially said "Screw You" and now it's almost 2 weeks from the original order date and still no material yet. I should have paid for the extra shipping because this delay has cost me about $200 in machine tear down/set up charges at the destination that WAS holding a machine open, with my setup in place from recent prototype work-- waiting for my material to do the run.--- I just couldn't bring myself to send any more money through to these guys even if it did cost me a couple hundred bucks. (Not a good place for them to be, customer-relations wise.)

With the amount of $ I've spent with them in the recent past (Thousands of $), and the fact that the delay was THEIR FAULT .... they should have sprung for the $30. :thumbdn::mad:
 
I wouldn't let this one go. Call back and talk to the manager in charge and report what happened. It could be that you landed a disgruntled employee on the phone that is serving her last week on the job. SFSW has been around awhile, so I'm surprised and disappointed to here about the recent developments in their approach to customer service.
 
Thanks for the heads up on this outfit. I was in the process of getting an order together and now.....they're SOL!!!
 
I sent your buddies (SFSW) the following:

Currently, an internet thread addressing your poor customer service is being read by hundreds, maybe thousands, of potential cutomers. While I did not post the thread, it is enough to dissuade me from even considering a purchase from SFSW. Of course I only spent approximately $800, in the last month, on knives.

Thread: <this one>

How a business responds to their errors is the measure of their inegrity.
Click to expand...

I hope this, and others' actions gets you some useful response.
all da best,
rats...
 
Thanks for the heads up on the lousy service. I remember the bad experiences of others. It helps me avoid adding to my own.

Funny how word of mouth (or Internet) can have a really negative effect on a business.

Gary
 
usually i dont visit this part of the forum unless i am checking up on somebody i might be dealing with which i was and then i read your post. it just incensed me so much reading about this (i just got off the phone with another jackass company and their service) that i took a page out ratstuph's book and emailed sfsw this

as of now 411 knife enthusiasts have been reading about your crappy customer service. i suggest you deal with it and very quickly before more people read about it and also decide to not buy from your site. here is the thread.

http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=493207

let us know how this works out for you.
 
I think it's time we heard back from ThreeWorlds before throwing every insult back at SFS.

It's obvious that one person at SFS is clueless. Maybe more, I dunno. What has become of the situation?

Coop
 
At any point during the phone call with this woman to check on the order, did you...

> Ask to speak to the guy who'd taken your order (presuming you may have gotten his name earlier)?
> Ask to speak to this woman's supervisor/manager?
 
Coop, I've not been here responding to this thread because, as I said in my first post, I've been traveling. It's been a two day car trip, and we just arrived last night. That's why I needed it to arrive Thursday; I was going to give the letter opener to my hosts the night before we left.

Answering some questions: Jujigatame, I did not ask to speak to the woman's supervisor, nor did I manage to get the name of the guy I spoke to in the first place. In retrospect, that seems to have been a bad decision, but the fact is that I've never had something like this happen to me before ... it just wasn't something I was expecting. At the time I was too, I dunno, stunned I guess to do those things.

The update on the situation is that through a sheer stroke of luck, I did manage to get the letter opener, but on Friday morning at 11:15. We were planning to leave at around 10:30, but an unexpected delay set us about an hour back, so the package arrived literally 15 minutes before we set off, much to my relief. I had spent much of the night before and the morning of in a state of extreme anxiety, wondering what I would do if it didn't get there before I left, thinking about how I could possibly give the package as a gift when the invoice (with an explicit price) was stated inside, what it would look like if I just gave my host an "IOU" .... so I'm sorry I haven't kept up with this thread, but I have been somewhat preoccupied.

When it came, the package said that they did indeed ship it with UPS 2 Day Air, but it proves that they shipped it Tuesday and not Monday, like I requested (and which was actually stated on the invoice inside ... highlighted and circled). This still upsets me, because what if we hadn't been delayed? What if I were somebody who was going on a business trip and this was going to be a gift for an important client?

However, it did get here (I am so relieved, you cannot imagine), and both the inlaid "Kaleidoscope" letter opener and the other present were very well received by my friend's parents. No complaints about quality here; indeed, the SFSW letter opener was very well done: excellent F&F, would probably meet the approval of even the extremely anal, and the color and pattern of the inlay probably slightly exceeded my expectations purely in terms of quality.

I plan on calling SFSW on Monday and asking them why what they did happened, and requesting a refund on my UPS 2 Day Air. If it hadn't gotten here before I left I would have followed up on the suggestions here and asked for a full refund for the huge amount of trouble it would have caused, but since the product has now safely reached me I can't really do that in good conscience.

Thank you everyone for your suggestions and support. I will update this thread after I talk to SFSW and try to get this last part worked out with them.
 
A pleasant relief for YOU! Not worth the anxiety, though.

(I wasn't compelling you to answer immediately, just thought it made sense to have more facts before the outside accusations flew out of control.)

Ms. Clueless PR-girl needs to be spanked. :barf:

Keep us posted.

Coop
 
Don't usually haunt this part of BF , sorry to hear about your experience though.

and Coop is spot on , the girl who "helped" you needs to be 86'd , one bad apple like that can soil folks minds on a company.
 
This is Santa Fe Stoneworks responding to the posting by a customer that says our service was horrible. First, our philosophy is "the buyer is always right", but there are some exceptions. This particular late delivery was the fault of UPS and not Santa Fe Stoneworks. The order in question was shipped (by us) on the same day she ordered it. We had to custom-make the letter opener because it was not in stock. I talked with her about the design and had it made that day. We drop-shipped to another address second-day air on Tuesday - as requested. UPS did not deliver it until Friday...3 days not 2. We will contest the charges to UPS and be happy to return the extra shipping charges to our customer. We are also requesting that UPS contact our customer to explain the late delivery.
When our customer called and spoke with our newly hired receptionist, she did not explain that it was to be shipped to a different person and address, therefore they were having touble tracing the shipment. This was our fault and we are truly sorry for this miscommunication. I am sure our receptionist, Janice, was not rude to this person, but unable to help her with her inquiry.
We are a small family business, with my wife and my two children actively involved in our craft, and we aim to please our customers. As of this date I have left a message on this customer's phone and have not had a reply.
 
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