I would suggest if you're owed a knife or want a refund, call Survive for status updates, this thread will not help you, as no-one here can give you that status. I would recommend refund, but keep on them with calls/emails until you get your knive(s)/refund(s) whichever you prefer. I would doubt having lost their BF Forum (and probably fees associated), Ellie or anyone from Survive! is going to invest in BF membership to get instant messages (from this group?). Call and/or email is the way to go, don't wait do it today.
Survive never really changed for years (probably an active decision that drove BF members who saw the writing on the wall crazy) until they stopped taking orders (only impactful change IMHO). Their issue was/is simply a supply problem (yeah communication too, but better communication wouldn't offset the root cause). With seemingly never ending demand piling up for years and years, how could anyone expect to catch up without saying "When" and stopping the orders. And that was almost a year ago and they still aren't completely finished with preorders from years ago. There isn't a thing they could have done better except slow/eliminate demand so they start to could catch up and they didn't. This is a great case study in supply/demand and how company reputations are impacted more by negative customer experiences than any positive experience could hope to outweigh. I would suggest a poll on backlog clearing, my guess is June 2020, just shy of two years from now.
In the spirit of full disclosure my Survive experience.
My Survive Cru-V Ugly Betty 4.7 is one of my favorite knives I picked up direct for about $114 + shipping. How can you slow demand when you're selling an excellent (IMHO) Cerakoted fixed blade knife for $114? I would have paid $350 and I have paid $350 for very nice fixed blades, and if they were $114 I would buy 3 instead of one (which I did). Yeah I read the preorder was late, and the seconds hadn't delivered, but I got this cool Ugly Betty a few months for $114, so was happy. I grabbed some more seconds and UB direct and on the exchange, and sold the other non CRU-V knives off in the exchange. I really hoped Survive would stop taking orders. Anyone could see the frenzy surrounding people placing orders on anything they posted on their website for sale (Wed orders, new pre orders, preorders reground into other preorders, etc.) juxtaposed against the growing tide of unhappy non-delivery of pre old (? legacy) orders from many many years ago. I am glad I was never out more than a few months waiting for knives, and wasn't even on BF for the preorders.
BF is an interesting group of collectors wide in variety of knife interests, deeply moved to root for the new makers, but fanatically passionate about keeping BF members away from trouble makers even if they are the contrarian viewpoint. I'm glad I experienced Survive, but also glad the warning hit home for me to avoid the Survive pitfalls. I have found other makers through BF frenzy, like CPK, also in top 5 favorites, Chris Reeve (just never knew about them), Fiddleback Forge and Apprentice's gone makers, along with some overseas (i.e. Daado).
SURVIVE! Ellie
