What's up with makers who don't respond to e-mails?

OK, now I'm worried. As I said earlier, I recently lost all of my email correspondence and I have had some delays in getting orders out. If I am the subject of any of these posting please email me again or call me and I WILL get back to you.

It is concerning how many seem to quickly write off a knifemaker because they didn't get a response to email.
 
It is interesting reading all of the posts regarding the failure in returning communications.

I guess that I have been pretty lucky. I have not had a maker fail to return a email or to answer a call. It does take some a while to respond. One took 2 months!!

The amazing thing that I have found is how quickly some top makers, who are very popular, answer emails. I mean FAST! Maybe, that is one of the reasons that they are successful?

A while back, I was curious if anyone knew why slipjoints had half stops, so I emailed many slipjoint makers and asked them why. This really had nothing to do with them selling a knife, but each and every one of them responded and usually within a day or so. I was amazed.

I guess that if I emailed a maker and the maker failed to respond, I would try to call. If I was unable to contact him/her, then I would probably not patronize his/her work.
 
This is indeed a very interesting thread. I imagine that knifemakers fall into one of 3 general catagories:

(1) Like my dad, who is a part-time wood turning/carving artist: very good, loves his work, tries fairly hard to work with email and does a fairly good job but feels a million times more comfortable carving a foot long wooden fairy wing to 1/16" thick or less so the light will shine through rather than squinting at a laptop screen and punching keys half the size of his finger tips.

(2) Like my graduate advisor, a professor who gets a couple of hundred emails a day. I can write him a page with great results and worthy questions every week and not get a response for 6 months; however a single sentence saying that his lab is on fire will get a response within a matter of minutes... well, half the time anyway.

(3) Someone who really just doesn't care that much...

Its easy to imagine the third being the case, but I imagine it is more often the first or sometimes the second. As many people (especially the makers) have alluded to, I would suggest sending AT LEAST 4 or 5 (or more) emails, and including a full set of easily recognizable contact information each time, or even better start calling, before writing them off. YMMV, but friendly persistence is easy and often pays off :thumbup::thumbup::)
 
Great thread, but it is not very fun without naming a few names, so here I go.

I have had very good communication experiences with the following makers:

- Dwaine Carrillo, by far the best, spent two days answering my questions about the different options available before I finally placed my order;
- Rick Hinderer, through PMs on USN;
- Tom Mayo;
- Ray Laconico, through PMs on BF.

As for the Hall of Shame:

- Tom Krein, Dan Koster & K9 Knives: I have tried every possible thing, from e-mails to both of them to PMs on USN, nothing. The only time I heard from Tom Krein is when I posted on the GB&U to vent my frustration, he sent me an e-mail through BF and then never answered back. I found it very ironic than Dan Koster would actually post in this thread;
- Mike Snody, but that is no secret. Because the guy is a genius I would still do business with him;
- Strider Warranty Department: I bought a 900$ MSC custom from a dealer, the knife had a defect, the dealer said he could not do anything about it because it came like that from the maker, and suggested I contact Strider directly. I sent a couple e-mails over a two month period without answer, so I had the knife fixed by my friends at CSD in Germany. Both the dealer and Strider are on my black list.

It is always amazing as some fans will defend makers who do not answer e-mails by saying: "e-mails are not the best way to communicate...". First of all, nowadays 90% of business transactions are conducted by e-mail, and second, if they do not like e-mail why the heck do they post links like "contact me" or "e-mail us" on their site?
 
Learn e-mail or lose the business. That simple. In any business.

Of course it is worthwhile to try to send the message a couple of times and give the recipient a bit of time to reply. However, after say a couple of weeks and repeated emails without any reply, you betcha that my money would be going elsewhere.
 
Frankki said:
Learn e-mail or lose the business. That simple. In any business.

Of course it is worthwhile to try to send the message a couple of times and give the recipient a bit of time to reply. However, after say a couple of weeks and repeated emails without any reply, you betcha that my money would be going elsewhere.
Click to expand...

+1 Not my fault if the email gets into your spam box...
 
Failing to respond to email is not much different than failing to get a project completed within a year of its due date or failing to update payment lists in a timely manner. In each instance, the maker is communicating to the buyer that he believes his time is more valuable than that of everyone else. I don't think that the intent, but thats the message that gets delivered. :)

the_soup_nazi028.jpg

No knife for you, Powernoodle! Get out!
 
edit- decided it better not to name a name:foot:

But yeah Lorenzol, that was pretty ironic.
 
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Mike Carter Custom Knives said:
OK, now I'm worried. As I said earlier, I recently lost all of my email correspondence and I have had some delays in getting orders out. If I am the subject of any of these posting please email me again or call me and I WILL get back to you.

It is concerning how many seem to quickly write off a knifemaker because they didn't get a response to email.
Click to expand...

Mike, I've never heard of anyone having any trouble with you.

I'm was aware of the email's that you lost, and I'm very sorry for that loss. I know that has to have caused you alot of worry.

I would suggest printing a copy of any order, just in case of PC crash, which we all know does happen.
 
LorenzoL said:
Great thread, but it is not very fun without naming a few names, so here I go.

I have had very good communication experiences with the following makers:

- Dwaine Carrillo, by far the best, spent two days answering my questions about the different options available before I finally placed my order;
- Rick Hinderer, through PMs on USN;
- Tom Mayo;
- Ray Laconico, through PMs on BF.

As for the Hall of Shame:

- Tom Krein, Dan Koster & K9 Knives: I have tried every possible thing, from e-mails to both of them to PMs on USN, nothing. The only time I heard from Tom Krein is when I posted on the GB&U to vent my frustration, he sent me an e-mail through BF and then never answered back. I found it very ironic than Dan Koster would actually post in this thread;
- Mike Snody, but that is no secret. Because the guy is a genius I would still do business with him;
- Strider Warranty Department: I bought a 900$ MSC custom from a dealer, the knife had a defect, the dealer said he could not do anything about it because it came like that from the maker, and suggested I contact Strider directly. I sent a couple e-mails over a two month period without answer, so I had the knife fixed by my friends at CSD in Germany. Both the dealer and Strider are on my black list.

It is always amazing as some fans will defend makers who do not answer e-mails by saying: "e-mails are not the best way to communicate...". First of all, nowadays 90% of business transactions are conducted by e-mail, and second, if they do not like e-mail why the heck do they post links like "contact me" or "e-mail us" on their site?
Click to expand...

I have had just the opposite with Tom and Mike , both have been very fast to return calls or emails ( or pms ). Strider I call the shop , everytime Josh has picked up.
 
My personal worst is when you ask for an an ETA and they say "3 weeks" and 4 weeks later you email back and they dont respond. Then they respond back say another 2 weeks later when it is done. I prefer honest responses, not some BS delay.

If something takes a while, just give me an honest response, thats all I ask.
 
rant on

:D



I find it ironic myself that both Tom and I maintain forums online where we interact with customers on a daily basis and yet somehow people can't get ahold of us?


I'd say that for every person that rants here online there are a hundred other satisfied customers who never pipe up and say anything. But it's the squeaky wheel that calls everyone's attention....not the other wheels that work just fine.

You can't please 'em all.

I do my best. I know that Tom does his best.


If I only made 10-20 knives per year....do you think it would be easier for me to handhold every customer through the process? Yep!


Like I said, I do the best I can with what I've got. I'm part-time, putting out about 300+ knives a year and even a half-hour extra time per knife kinda adds up after a while.


Any personal complaints about me you are free to air in my forum - I've never locked a thread or dismissed it or ignored it - that had complaints/grievances in it. You know where to find me. If a PM doesn't work, or an email doesn't work, or a call doesn't work....why not post in my forum?



rant off
(please take any personal attacks to PM/email/call/my forum/etc)
:D



I do agree that as knifemakers, we are a customer-driven business and how we treat our customers can definitely impact our sales directly and indirectly. I also agree that communication is very important.

It is very unfortunate when there's a failure in that system...and regardless of who's fault it is....a little patience and understanding on both parties goes a long way.

Dan
 
LorenzoL said:
Great thread, but it is not very fun without naming a few names, so here I go.

I have had very good communication experiences with the following makers:

- Dwaine Carrillo, by far the best, spent two days answering my questions about the different options available before I finally placed my order;
- Rick Hinderer, through PMs on USN;
- Tom Mayo;
- Ray Laconico, through PMs on BF.

As for the Hall of Shame:

- Tom Krein, Dan Koster & K9 Knives: I have tried every possible thing, from e-mails to both of them to PMs on USN, nothing. The only time I heard from Tom Krein is when I posted on the GB&U to vent my frustration, he sent me an e-mail through BF and then never answered back. I found it very ironic than Dan Koster would actually post in this thread;
- Mike Snody, but that is no secret. Because the guy is a genius I would still do business with him;
- Strider Warranty Department: I bought a 900$ MSC custom from a dealer, the knife had a defect, the dealer said he could not do anything about it because it came like that from the maker, and suggested I contact Strider directly. I sent a couple e-mails over a two month period without answer, so I had the knife fixed by my friends at CSD in Germany. Both the dealer and Strider are on my black list.

It is always amazing as some fans will defend makers who do not answer e-mails by saying: "e-mails are not the best way to communicate...". First of all, nowadays 90% of business transactions are conducted by e-mail, and second, if they do not like e-mail why the heck do they post links like "contact me" or "e-mail us" on their site?
Click to expand...

I think it was bad form to start throwing names in to this thread. This isn't a GB&U thread. I don't think the OP's intent was to drag individuals in here by name regardless of the experience.
 
Ken44 said:
Mike, I've never heard of anyone having any trouble with you.

I'm was aware of the email's that you lost, and I'm very sorry for that loss. I know that has to have caused you alot of worry.

I would suggest printing a copy of any order, just in case of PC crash, which we all know does happen.
Click to expand...

I did learn a couple of lessons from that. It was a bizarre event that I lost my hard drive AND my backup but crazy stuff happens. Every orders does now have a paper order form with contact info.
 
If the subject had been, say, "What maker has the best grinds?", nobody would have seen any problem in naming names. Because it is about communication, or rather, lack of, this is suddenly a taboo issue?
Not replying to an e-mail or PM is just plain lack of education and respect towards a potential customer.
 
LorenzoL said:
If the subject had been, say, "What maker has the best grinds?", nobody would have seen any problem in naming names. Because it is about communication, or rather, lack of, this is suddenly a taboo issue?
Not replying to an e-mail or PM is just plain lack of education and respect towards a potential customer.
Click to expand...

Not taboo at all....the OP clearly stated he wasn't naming names and wanted to talk about communication issues with makers. "General Knife Discussion" isn't the place the praise or gripe about specific makers. The threads turn ugly and any healthy discussion on the topic is lost.
 
Mike Carter Custom Knives said:
OK, now I'm worried. As I said earlier, I recently lost all of my email correspondence and I have had some delays in getting orders out. If I am the subject of any of these posting please email me again or call me and I WILL get back to you.

It is concerning how many seem to quickly write off a knifemaker because they didn't get a response to email.
Click to expand...


Mike,
That you care enough to even worry speaks volumes about your character and priorities. And I suspect that there are a lot of makers who feel the same as you--they would feel worried about their business and customers if something happened to their e-mail, or their computer crashed, or some other such issue. BUT, rest assured, that as a potential customer, I personally will never hold those types of issues and subsequent difficulty in communication against a knifemaker, and I think most folks feel the same way. Things happen, and sometimes they are beyond our control. Everyone understands that.

What folks don't like are constant attempts to communicate with a maker in whatever fashion and they get no response at all despite repeated attempts or trying different methods of communication all to no avail. They then may see that maker has a current active online presence (I don't mean just a website, but in forums, current updates to their site, offering new knives for sale, etc.). The customer then thinks, "Hey, why am I not hearing back from this maker?" It makes a customer, or prospective customer, feel insignificant, as though their question or desire to buy something just doesn't matter. And if the customer doesn't matter, why would making a knife for that customer matter? Taken farther (though it's not necessarily a logical extension of that last question), some may even question if that maker who is unresponsive even cares to make a decent knife? It's not hard to see where it goes from there.
 
I don't know that communications is a great topic for the General Knife Discussion anyway.

Please be aware it is now in FEEDBACK/GBU.
 
morrowj_98 said:
I don't think the OP's intent was to drag individuals in here by name regardless of the experience.
Click to expand...

True enough.
It was more to vent, and get other people's experiences, not to defame individual makers.
I also thought that, perhaps, a thread such as this would get some makers a tad more aware of the issue; it is their business which suffers if customers are unhappy.
 
I have E-mailed Wm. Scagel five times with no response.

Who does he think he is, most of the other great Makers has eventually gotten back to me??

Oh well..................
 
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