What would you do in my shoes?

[FLymon]

Money up front is never good, especially 6 months in advance.

Taking money up front to live off of is a horrible business practice.

He's going to crash very soon. I would give his info out and save people the trouble. He's basically just borrowing people's money for free to live off for 6 months...

No matter how you look at the other interested party in this deal, it will not change the fact that you are trying to justify defaulting on a contract that you made. That is on you.

I agree with both of these statements.

If this modder does a fair amount of work (more than 1-2 jobs a week), and everyone pays him 6 months in advance, and he has no money? His flame out will be epic.
Hopefully he won't have your money AND your knife when the curtain falls on this game he is running. It's sad that he has put himself in a trick-bag where modding more knives costs him money, but taking more orders makes him money. Can't see this ending well ultimately.

 

[Marko3]

Well, after reading your replies I decided the best thing to do is stick it out and get the work done. It's what's fair, keeps things copacetic and hell, I might end up wanting to keep it. And if I don't, then it's money in the bank.
That being said, I do think the modder' attitude is a bit unprofessional and his business practices are poor and unsustainable. That said I chose to go forward with it in the first place. Chalk it up as a learning experience.

You did the right thing. Small guys living paycheck to paycheck would never be able to pay you back anyway and it would just drag on and on. Get your knife and give it to a friend or just sell it. I have been stiffed having custom knives built and it sucks . Never give up full control of any deal . Once you give in to these practices you are at the mercy of them and it will never end well.

Good luck !

 

[Razzle]

Had very similar happen to me only two times in my life......both times the "business" did "flame out".....and neither time did I get one penny of my money back.

 

[Sonnydaze]

I know of a few knife makers that operate like that (ie use Tuesday's order to pay for Monday's build, Wednesday's order to pay for Tuesday's build, and so on) and it seems to me an unsustainable way to run a business.

A long time ago, I bought a beautiful 5-acre wooded lot on a hilltop, and hired a local contractor to build my custom home. Soon found out from scuttlebutt, that he had various other recent contracts that never got built...what folks there called a pyramid scheme. He was brought up on charges several times over the yrs, always got away with it, but several families lost their multi-thousand dollar investment.
I was legally advised to fire him quickly. I did. I then sold my lot; got a new job out of state. That was a great decision...and I got off lucky.
The last three custom knives that I've ordered, the builder built to my specs, sent it to me for my approval...BEFORE he asked for payment.
Just know your builder, check his references, talk to some of his prior customers...do your homework.

 

[RevDevil]

Maybe I am dumber than a tree stump, but why would any knife maker/modder need payment in full six months BEFORE the work is even started?

And while my denseness is dense, why would the maker/modder spend the money six months BEFORE the work is even started?

Poor business practices, yes?

Yes, very poor. Poor business sense. There is simply no reason for this. I've not seen any of the really good craftsmen ask for money upfront. The real good ones have a solid system for getting these things done in a reasonable time frame. In 6 months the OP can learn to make his own scales, anodize Ti, and regrind knives.

 

[asdf12345]

So that the community can be aware, who is the knife modifier in question?

 

[Quiet]

Man, I hate to say it, but if this modder is well known for doing good work, should we really be dragging him through the mud and affecting his future work after a member decided to back out of a deal he made because his tastes changed?

Yeah, the guy's clearly not a stellar businessman, but at this juncture, all he's done is fail to give the OP his money back, and we're not even sure what the refund part of their contract was.

As some other folks have said, there are some issues on both sides of this. Shouldn't we save the tar and feathers for the modder for when he's actually failed to deliver on the work he was contracted to do?

 

[martinlutherbling]

I'm gonna hold off on posting the guy's name. In any case, his books are closed now. If you're in contact with a modder and he tells you cash up front, remember this thread.

 

[bdmicarta]

If this modder does a fair amount of work (more than 1-2 jobs a week), and everyone pays him 6 months in advance, and he has no money? His flame out will be epic. Hopefully he won't have your money AND your knife when the curtain falls on this game he is running.

Someday he will have to stop his work or will want to stop his work, and the jobs that he has lined up for the next 6 months and hasn't started will never be done. Those people that have paid will lose their money. I think people on this forum need to know this before they decide to send money to this person.

One of my clients did this to my company. He hired us to do work, we did the work, he sold it to his client and got paid, he spent all of the money that he got paid and never paid us. When his business ran out of money we never got our payment. We lost something like $5k on the deal.

 

[RevDevil]

I'm gonna hold off on posting the guy's name. In any case, his books are closed now. If you're in contact with a modder and he tells you cash up front, remember this thread.

If that is the case, then we really have nothing more to discuss. That is until you are ready. In the event that this modder is having a rough patch (which is completely understandable), we must also consider that a possibility as well as this thread.