I was hesitant from the outset to order from TNK since some of their site's pages (i.e. shipping policy) seemed messy. A couple weeks back, there was even a conflicting cutoff time for same-day shipping of an order (11am and a few lines later, noon). I decided to make a purchase from them yesterday for a Chainmail Sebenza that I couldn't find anywhere else. After all, the apparent owner/operator Neil was quick to respond to my inquiry a couple weeks back about what the actual cutoff time was for same-day shipping, and at least after his response to me, he edited that page so the conflict would be cleaned up.
In any case, I placed my order, chose Priority Overnight (since it was only a few bucks more than standard) and then noticed later in the day that the tracking number was for standard overnight. Since that wasn't what I paid for, I reached out and he indicated he'd correct that problem. and also told me that no shippers are honoring their shipping timelines due to COVID-19. This is complete BS and has been for a month (for overnight at least).
Stranger still, in this email he indicated that if it came a few minutes past noon, if I wasn't happy, I should reject the package and have it returned to him. Such an all-or-nothing customer service attitude seemed a bit excessive, but I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt.
Sure enough, the package arrived at 1641, nearly five hours past FedEx's guaranteed delivery time, and I wrote politely to him to let him know that he was entitled to a refund and, as such, I'd like a partial refund in kind for the shipping amount.
He responded by calling this a "shake down" and that I was the lowest customer he's encountered in all his 25 years of doing business and that, "of course," he'll never sell to me again. He also indicated that he cannot and will not request a refund from FedEx because he shares the FedEx account with two other companies that are larger than his. (wtf--pay for your own damned account!)
After I replied indicating that I'd open a PayPal dispute seeking this partial refund, and doing so with plenty of civility, Neil called me a "low life cheapskate pecker" and implied that I'll be tossed onto some sort of knife dealer blacklist.
While I think this is a pretty sad set of events, what makes me most upset is that there are brands like CRK that are top-notch in so many ways, and while I don't expect all CRK distributors to follow some strict code of conduct, I do see the authorized dealers as ambassadors of the brands they sell. I've had only positive experiences w/ Chris Reeve Knives as a company and with the knives themselves; I've only called them up in Idaho twice, but their customer service is awesome. I think I'd be letting down CRK as an enthusiastic customer if I didn't pass along this email interaction and let them know that one of their brand ambassadors can so hastily demonstrate such a belligerent disregard for customers.
In any case, I placed my order, chose Priority Overnight (since it was only a few bucks more than standard) and then noticed later in the day that the tracking number was for standard overnight. Since that wasn't what I paid for, I reached out and he indicated he'd correct that problem. and also told me that no shippers are honoring their shipping timelines due to COVID-19. This is complete BS and has been for a month (for overnight at least).
Stranger still, in this email he indicated that if it came a few minutes past noon, if I wasn't happy, I should reject the package and have it returned to him. Such an all-or-nothing customer service attitude seemed a bit excessive, but I gave the guy the benefit of the doubt.
Sure enough, the package arrived at 1641, nearly five hours past FedEx's guaranteed delivery time, and I wrote politely to him to let him know that he was entitled to a refund and, as such, I'd like a partial refund in kind for the shipping amount.
He responded by calling this a "shake down" and that I was the lowest customer he's encountered in all his 25 years of doing business and that, "of course," he'll never sell to me again. He also indicated that he cannot and will not request a refund from FedEx because he shares the FedEx account with two other companies that are larger than his. (wtf--pay for your own damned account!)
After I replied indicating that I'd open a PayPal dispute seeking this partial refund, and doing so with plenty of civility, Neil called me a "low life cheapskate pecker" and implied that I'll be tossed onto some sort of knife dealer blacklist.
While I think this is a pretty sad set of events, what makes me most upset is that there are brands like CRK that are top-notch in so many ways, and while I don't expect all CRK distributors to follow some strict code of conduct, I do see the authorized dealers as ambassadors of the brands they sell. I've had only positive experiences w/ Chris Reeve Knives as a company and with the knives themselves; I've only called them up in Idaho twice, but their customer service is awesome. I think I'd be letting down CRK as an enthusiastic customer if I didn't pass along this email interaction and let them know that one of their brand ambassadors can so hastily demonstrate such a belligerent disregard for customers.
