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Bad Smoky Mountain Knife Works - Bad Experience/Website orders not being honored

I screwed up my ad for a Strider custom the other day and a guy immediately bought it. We got to talking and I noticed MY mistake and he asked if the deal was still on. Told him I wasn't going to make him lose money because of my mistake and he got an unintentional $200 off on it. Because it was MY mistake.. Wouldn't have been cool to pass it on to him for my error and if a company did that to me I wouldn't go there anymore either. We're only as good as our word and we're also only as good as our last deal.. It is what it is..
 
I got lucky. Found a Benchmade Boost on ebay for about half-price. Was worried when ebay suspended the dealer, but the knife arrived as listed, in new box with a couple cleaning cloths. It had a weird invoice with someone else's name/address and showed the full price. Turned out to be from SMKW. Seems to echo computer problems there.

First thing I did was break off the clip, but Benchmade replaced at no charge.
 
I wouldn't buy anything from SMKW because their prices are generally higher and they use a price scale shipping charge system. Really? Like a knife goes up that much on shipping due to what it costs? And no they don't use insurance so that wouldn't affect the shipping cost. With so many places offering free shipping why mess with a company that is trying to extract every last cent they can from you?


SHIPPING AND HANDLING CHARGES
Merchandise Total Standard UPS Ground UPS 2nd Day Next Day
$0.01 - $75.00 $7.99 $15.99 $20.99 $32.99
$75.01 - $125.00 $8.99 $18.99 $22.99 $37.99
$125.01 - $150.00 $9.99 $20.99 $25.99 $39.99
$150.01 - $200.00 $10.99 $22.99 $29.99 $42.99
$200.01 and up $11.99 $26.99 $31.99 $45.99
 
Besides their shipping policy, in their catalog, the order form says they will substitute items if what you want is not available unless you check a box. They also pre-load items on the mail-in form that you have to indicate that you don't want them or they ship automatically. These are clear signs of a business who will take any opportunity to rip you off if they can.

Back when they had a TV channel to sell knives, the two jokers who ran the show were enough proof for anyone to know that SMKW was out to vacuum your wallet and didn't care about knives or customers.
 
Most places if they don't offer all free shipping, will at least ship for free if it's over a 100 dollars or so. Not SMKW, they charge more if you spend more. Buy something over 200 and you pay more. Even if it's just a single knife, if cheaper 7.99, want something higher? Well then we need 11.99 to ship that!
 
There's no free lunch. If shipping is free then they're making that $ back somewhere else.

And of course my favorite rule. If it seems too good to be true it probably is.
 
SMKW website system is f'k'd up. Asked them to stop sending the knife magazine to me a long time ago but my request seemed to fall on deaf ears. Multiple requests for recovering my password got completely ignored. Definitely no more business with them.
 
I think you are making a good point.

If SMKW had responded "We apologize - we made an error. We can offer this item as an alternative if you want it." that would be one thing...

But once they sent the alternate item without acknowledging their error, the prima facie evidence part does seem to indicate intent - and I would not want to be the one trying to defend that in court or arbitration, based on the letter of the Virginia law. The way the law is worded, the burden of proof is definitely on the seller, and shipping an alternate item without acknowledging the error does indeed weigh toward intent...

leghog said:
Prima facie evidence re intent. And such prima facie evidence will be difficult to refute in court or arbitration when the seller provides a product lesser than advertised without prior notification.
Click to expand...
 
Agreed. But I also agree with leghog that the way the Virginia law is worded gives the buyer(s) (or prospective buyer(s)) the advantage and places the burden to prove intent - or lack thereof - on the seller - by virtue of the prima facie evidence wording.

HappyDaddy said:
If it’s a bona fide mistake, there’s no liability.
Click to expand...
 
  • § 2-206. Offer and Acceptance in Formation of Contract.
    (a) an offer to make a contract shall be construed as inviting acceptance in any manner and by any medium reasonable in the circumstances;
    (b) an order or other offer to buy goods for prompt or current shipment shall be construed as inviting acceptance either by a prompt promise to ship or by the prompt or current shipment of conforming or non-conforming goods, but such a shipment of non-conforming goods does not constitute an acceptance if the seller seasonably notifies the buyer that the shipment is offered only as an accommodation to the buyer.
  • In English, an ad is only a solicitation of an offer to buy, not an offer to sell. When you say, in effect, "I'll take it," you are the one making the offer - an offer to buy. The vendor can elect to accept your offer to buy, or not. If the vendor does not accept your offer, there is no deal - no contract. Poor sales technique? Probably. Why this state of the law in all fifty states? - to cover situations where the number of offers to buy exceeds the supply available or there was an error in the advertisement.
 
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SJM205 said:
I got lucky. Found a Benchmade Boost on ebay for about half-price. Was worried when ebay suspended the dealer, but the knife arrived as listed, in new box with a couple cleaning cloths. It had a weird invoice with someone else's name/address and showed the full price. Turned out to be from SMKW. Seems to echo computer problems there.

First thing I did was break off the clip, but Benchmade replaced at no charge.
Click to expand...


I bought a benchmade bugout the same way. Came from SMKW also with invoice for regular price. I didn't really understand how I got such a good deal on it but it's totally legit sealed in the BM box and even came with the promo large blue cleaning cloth w BM logo. Guess I kinda know how now.

Otherwise I've only bought one other knife from SMKW Intentionally as they had the best shipped price on it at the time. (Artisan cutlery shark in S35vn which I've since sold). If it was indeed a mistake on their listing about the 20cv mini grip price they definitely should have contacted the OP before shipping out the base mini grip. I think the ship by sku is what might have happened though as someone else mentioned. Still at some point they should have tried to make it right somehow and should refund return shipping for the hassle for sure. BM end of year clearance advertising was on all the dealer sites with some deep discounts including that model so I would have thought it was legit promotional pricing without a second thought. In fact I was considering the 20cv full size grip at the time (already have the mini). Kinda changes my perception about using them in the future.
 
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