Bad Survive! Deserves A Permanent Post In The Hall Of Shame

Danny Linguini said:
He lost me at ‘we lost our momentum’. What momentum would that be? I can’t watch any more. He’s obviously going throwing everybody else under the bus, and I could care less. How is it that everything bad that could happen in the manufacturing process happens to just this guy? All the small-time makers on this forum combined don’t have as many issues with their partners. Blows my mind.
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Seriously, no one can have that much bad luck. It’s like 90% of their videos on YT are finger pointers.
 
He deserves an Oscar for that performance.
🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮
Don’t read the comments…….vomit inducing.
 
I like how he made a 34 minute video and didn’t once provide a new timeline for orders but instead just played the pity party card. They’ve missed deadline after deadline and haven’t updated their production schedule in months, but he couldn’t even find it in him to try and give an update on production times in a video titled transparency in manufacturing. How do people convince themselves his production, stock removal knife is worth this kind of indefinite wait with terrible communication?
 
I actually watched that while on the treadmill. OMFG.

It would be very interesting for someone to do an actual record of all the excuses that they have made since 2013, with quotes and references, and how many times they have repeated the same ones. The things Guy is saying are so similar to what he said in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and earlier this year. How many times have they said that S!K will be "caught up" by "xx-xx-xxxx?" The recycling of the excuses never ends...

If S!K was going to resolve the issues they have with fulfilling orders in a timely manner, they would have done it in the last decade.
 
Remember, they can (and DO) heavily censor the comments on YouTube. The comments on their YouTube channel are overwhelmingly positive. They are unable to censor Facebook comments, and the tone there is VERY different. Here are a few examples:

"Transparency equivalent to that of an interrogation room… One way glass.
Despite multiple requests for a real update, my order from February of 2021 is no where and when to be seen. I feel like I have been robbed of my money and mocked as a customer. All we (Survive fans and customers) ask for is real delivery dates on existing orders. Start from the oldest and work forward. It is not that hard.
Any others out there feel like their money was stolen?"

"What a POS company!!! Their "customer service" SUCKS!!! I'd NEVER place an order from you!!! People that placed orders 3 years ago are still waiting and whenever they try to find out what's happening they get NO REPLY!!! What a JOKE!! 'buy American' but not from this POS company!!"

"This is what I’ve gotten out of following your company longer than I care to admit. The fact that after 10+ years you’ve still so far behind with order’s that you can’t conceivably stop and catch up without sacrificing your business. So you ignore what’s made this possible (Your Previous Customers) actively blocking them in media too misleading new customers into new orders to keep afloat. Think that about sums it up. From experience, if you don’t fix this readily you’re customers will..."

"The chaos continues even 8 years later...."
 
ncrockclimb said:
I actually watched that while on the treadmill. OMFG.

It would be very interesting for someone to do an actual record of all the excuses that they have made since 2013, with quotes and references, and how many times they have repeated the same ones. The things Guy is saying are so similar to what he said in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022 and earlier this year. How many times have they said that S!K will be "caught up" by "xx-xx-xxxx?" The recycling of the excuses never ends...

If S!K was going to resolve the issues they have with fulfilling orders in a timely manner, they would have done it in the last decade.
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I'm not gonna make any excuses for Guy and his practices. Simply put, he has it on his website that for a Survive 5.1 GSO, the wait is 3 months, but when I ordered mine in 3v, it took 6 months. and that's if you're lucky. Once the 3 month mark hit, I was sending them messages and giving them hell because in the business world, if you put out a time frame and you fail to meet it, that's on you! If I was a knife maker, and it took me 3 months to get a knife out the door, I would tell everyone 4-5 months to give me some flexibility. Once I got the knife I have to say though, that it was 100% worth the weight. Guy does put a lot of time and care into his blades. He could charge custom prices and nobody would bat an eye, that's how good the quality is. Long story short, the blades he makes are awesome, but the wait time sucks and he needs to do better or just be honest with people about how long it's going to be.
 
Bluegrass Survival said:
I'm not gonna make any excuses for Guy and his practices. Simply put, he has it on his website that for a Survive 5.1 GSO, the wait is 3 months, but when I ordered mine in 3v, it took 6 months. and that's if you're lucky. Once the 3 month mark hit, I was sending them messages and giving them hell because in the business world, if you put out a time frame and you fail to meet it, that's on you! If I was a knife maker, and it took me 3 months to get a knife out the door, I would tell everyone 4-5 months to give me some flexibility. Once I got the knife I have to say though, that it was 100% worth the weight. Guy does put a lot of time and care into his blades. He could charge custom prices and nobody would bat an eye, that's how good the quality is. Long story short, the blades he makes are awesome, but the wait time sucks and he needs to do better or just be honest with people about how long it's going to be.
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Your knife took 6 months. There are still outstanding orders from 2015.

Bluegrass Survival said:
the wait time sucks and he needs to do better or just be honest with people about how long it's going to be.
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They don't know how long it's going to take and they don't care about their older orders. It's been proven time and time again.
 
Bluegrass Survival said:
He could charge custom prices and nobody would bat an eye, that's how good the quality is.
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He already is, and it’s just a bolted together fixed blade. There’s really nothing he’s doing that Carothers isn’t already doing, except Carothers gets outstanding knives into the hands of its patrons on time and they are an outstanding member of the knife community. S!K doesn’t know what they’re doing and doesn’t bother to show their face around here anymore.

Survive! Knives is a waste of time and money.
 
This will be my surprised face when S!K updates their numbers and 2015 orders are still outstanding.
 
Bluegrass Survival said:
He could charge custom prices and nobody would bat an eye
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Thanks for the laugh to start my day.

The "Guy" can't deliver a paint by # kit knife assembled from supplied parts. You wait weeks for a McDonalds cheese burger and them marvel at the quality.

You could go to any page in this 202 page thread, change the date to today and you'd be right where we are today- Not delivering knives in a timely manor and blaming everyone but yourself for your failure.

You had to beat on their door for 3 months after waiting 3 months to get an "In Stock" knife. Enjoy- Just hope you don't need any after sales support from them.
 
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Boru13 said:
If Guy did that the pre order money would dry up and Survive would stop surviving.
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Exactly this. These people are con-artists, a criminal operation. It is a quasi ponzi scheme. Bluegrass Survival Bluegrass Survival You my man are the proud owner of a knife made by criminals who are actively ripping people off. No wait time, amount of money, or quality of product is worth that. I'd sooner own a pile of shit made by an honest person. Reviews of quality product despite the wait time continue to drive sales, despite the negative aspect. People think it might be worth the risk, and survive is counting on that old fools-money-parted thing. Let's not overlook the fact that these people are actively conning, and delivering some product is required and is in fact part of the con. Those who pay, receive, and give positive reviews (even if they bash the company practices) are needed for the con to work.
 
craytab said:
Exactly this. These people are con-artists, a criminal operation. It is a quasi ponzi scheme. Bluegrass Survival Bluegrass Survival You my man are the proud owner of a knife made by criminals who are actively ripping people off. No wait time, amount of money, or quality of product is worth that. I'd sooner own a pile of shit made by an honest person. Reviews of quality product despite the wait time continue to drive sales, despite the negative aspect. People think it might be worth the risk, and survive is counting on that old fools-money-parted thing. Let's not overlook the fact that these people are actively conning, and delivering some product is required and is in fact part of the con. Those who pay, receive, and give positive reviews (even if they bash the company practices) are needed for the con to work.
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Some thoughts: If you total the revenue at 50% net for the qty of blanks shown in videos it's not enough to survive (pun intended) by my calculations. They somehow got loans - I'm guessing pre-order revenue on the books - and inept banking underwriters. My guess is they're also highly leveraged at this stage using the "pyramid" money to keep from defaulting on the payments and to live off personally. There is most certainly more than one loan or even lender. So the "quasi" in pyramid as I view it is in their ability to have acquired those self reported loans and sustain payments to keep from defaulting.

I'm shocked it has gone on for as long as it has but it still seems like only a matter of time before it crumbles with this most recent move. Again, opinion.

Best I can tell they have some material, cut blanks and a pallet of sheet steel. More than some equipment. A much larger (inexpensive) rental space than needed, about the same size as Chris Reeve Knives at what looks like about 7,000 s.f. Then there are 2 full time employees. Two part time professional chef employees. And yet another "promise" to hire a clerical person.

As a career entrepreneur I'll write that there isn't anything that can't be solved with money. Nothing. They have no money. Each morning he awakes to a juggling act or game of whack a mole to try to decide what bills to pay with the severely limited resources he commands. Many days he's probably paralyzed into barely getting anything done by the depressing situation he continues to make for himself. It's clear from their complete lack of ability to solve their problems. Example: with money they could just wipe all backlogs off the books by refunding customers, call it a day and reboot. With money he'd have all the staff in the world to run a viable concern. It's clear he barely has the financial resources to keep the electricity on. It has been years of this. I cannot fathom what it's like for him to live like this. He must get Niagara, Peter's Heat Treat, his sheath maker and supplier of micarta paid or he doesn't continue. Somehow that's actually happening.

My opinion: Guy is not getting rich off this situation. He isn't choosing for it to be like this. What is clear is that he and his girlfriend? are completely out of their depth when it comes to running a business. That includes many things, not the least of which is honoring commitments, setting proper customer expectations, doing the honorable and proper things and the list goes on and on for years. I am NOT an apologist or fanboy. What I don't think is that he's inherently ill intentioned or a thief. I do believe he is conducting himself dishonorably as a self made victim of his own circumstances. Look at the actual history of Charles Ponzi. He seemed to really believe he could make things right, while becoming fabulously wealthy. That's not the issue here.

Where and from whom he's getting orders and pre-orders is still the biggest question I have. His costs on a knife, materials (steel, screws, micarta), outsourced sheaths and heat treating, payments on equipment, must add up to fixed + variable costs of 50% or higher on less expensive/lower revenue variants. He's probably nailed his sweet spot at the 5.1. Best revenue for price and amount of labor involved. But who is ordering this stuff?

FB marketing is dead or dying for him.
His YouTube fanboys are dwindling.
This forum has long ago shut him down.
There is 0 dealer network.
He's got no significant money for marketing anywhere.

So where? And by that I mean in consistent quantity to remain in business. It's a humongously large world so who who knows?

It has been 10 years of this. It's just the way it will continue until it doesn't. One day we may find out he just couldn't hold it together any longer and it all imploded. Until then, just more of the same. We will all just shake our heads and wonder who placed a pre-order? Who didn't demand their money back after 2 years of waiting.

I wrote this stream of consciousness style on a phone. My apologies if not organized.
 
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AmericanEDC said:
I'm shocked it has gone on for as long as it has but it still seems like only a matter of time before it crumbles with this most recent move. Again, opinion.
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yup, just questionable choice after weird move after questionable choice.

AmericanEDC said:
As a career entrepreneur I'll write that there isn't anything that can't be solved with money. Nothing. They have no money. Each morning he awakes to a juggling act or game of whack a mole to try to decide what bills to pay with the severely limited resources he commands.
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AmericanEDC said:
It's clear he barely has the financial resources to keep the electricity on. It has been years of this.
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This is what I also believe to be the case. I believe he's in a deep hole.

AmericanEDC said:
What is clear is that he and his girlfriend? are completely out of their depth when it comes to running a business.
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I'm shocked that they could get this far. All they have to do is find enough followers who want a knife regardless of cost or wait time, I guess.

AmericanEDC said:
What I don't think is that he's inherently ill intentioned or a thief. I do believe he is conducting himself dishonorably as a self made victim of his own circumstances.
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Some of us really believe that he's a swindler- I have fun with that line of thought from time to time, but similar to you I also don't believe that he's an intentional thief. I think he's incompetent and lacks enough moral compass to know when he's doing the wrong thing. It's so bad that I think it could be appropriate to call him a thief, because it's practically the same thing.

AmericanEDC said:
It has been 10 years of this. It's just the way it will continue until it doesn't. One day we may find out he just couldn't hold it together any longer and it all imploded. Until then, just more of the same. We will all just shake our heads and wonder who placed a pre-order? Who didn't demand their money back after 2 years of waiting.
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It'll implode, sooner or later- and I wait with baited breath until Guy's crappy business acumen blows up in his face.
 
I wish they put the "Like" button back since it would be easier to agree. I agree that Guy is probably more out of his depth than a true swindler. But he may be in the latter category sooner rather than later if he can't figure out how to fulfill orders in a timely manner. Because if he goes belly up, a lot of people will be out of a lot of money.

We all know that the current model of taking new orders to fulfill old orders will eventually stop working.
 
AmericanEDC said:
Some thoughts: If you total the revenue at 50% net for the qty of blanks shown in videos it's not enough to survive (pun intended) by my calculations. They somehow got loans - I'm guessing pre-order revenue on the books - and inept banking underwriters. My guess is they're also highly leveraged at this stage using the "pyramid" money to keep from defaulting on the payments and to live off personally. There is most certainly more than one loan or even lender. So the "quasi" in pyramid as I view it is in their ability to have acquired those self reported loans and sustain payments to keep from defaulting.

I'm shocked it has gone on for as long as it has but it still seems like only a matter of time before it crumbles with this most recent move. Again, opinion.

Best I can tell they have some material, cut blanks and a pallet of sheet steel. More than some equipment. A much larger (inexpensive) rental space than needed, about the same size as Chris Reeve Knives at what looks like about 7,000 s.f. Then there are 2 full time employees. Two part time professional chef employees. And yet another "promise" to hire a clerical person.

As a career entrepreneur I'll write that there isn't anything that can't be solved with money. Nothing. They have no money. Each morning he awakes to a juggling act or game of whack a mole to try to decide what bills to pay with the severely limited resources he commands. Many days he's probably paralyzed into barely getting anything done by the depressing situation he continues to make for himself. It's clear from their complete lack of ability to solve their problems. Example: with money they could just wipe all backlogs off the books by refunding customers, call it a day and reboot. With money he'd have all the staff in the world to run a viable concern. It's clear he barely has the financial resources to keep the electricity on. It has been years of this. I cannot fathom what it's like for him to live like this. He must get Niagara, Peter's Heat Treat, his sheath maker and supplier of micarta paid or he doesn't continue. Somehow that's actually happening.

My opinion: Guy is not getting rich off this situation. He isn't choosing for it to be like this. What is clear is that he and his girlfriend? are completely out of their depth when it comes to running a business. That includes many things, not the least of which is honoring commitments, setting proper customer expectations, doing the honorable and proper things and the list goes on and on for years. I am NOT an apologist or fanboy. What I don't think is that he's inherently ill intentioned or a thief. I do believe he is conducting himself dishonorably as a self made victim of his own circumstances. Look at that actual history of Charles Ponzi. He seemed to really believe he could make things right, while becoming fabulously wealthy. That's not the issue here.

Where and from whom he's getting orders and pre-orders is still the biggest question I have. His costs on a knife, materials (steel, screws, micarta), outsourced sheaths and heat treating, payments on equipment, must add up to fixed + variable costs of 50% or higher on less expensive/lower revenue variants. He's probably nailed his sweet spot at the 5.1. Best revenue for price and amount of labor involved. But who is ordering this stuff?

FB marketing is dead or dying for him.
His YouTube fanboys are dwindling.
This forum has long ago shut him down.
There is 0 dealer network.
He's got no significant money for marketing anywhere.

So where? And by that I mean in consistent quantity to remain in business. It's a humongously large world so who who knows?

It has been 10 years of this. It's just the way it will continue until it doesn't. One day we may find out he just couldn't hold it together any longer and it all imploded. Until then, just more of the same. We will all just shake our heads and wonder who placed a pre-order? Who didn't demand their money back after 2 years of waiting.

I wrote this stream of consciousness style on a phone. My apologies if not organized.
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A LOT right in this post, IMO.
 
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