Hello all,
Does anyone have any experience ordering from these folks ? I was interested in another thread on this forum regarding Gambesons and have found something that I have been looking around for for some time. They are located in the Ukraine and I have read some horror stories ... Any comments that you would be kind enough to share would be greatly appreciated.
Best
Tim Mathews

What's the name of this company?

The name of the company is Steel Mastery.

i Tim

I have ordered multiple items from Steel Mastery, including gauntlets and a set of custom-fit leg armour and have found them to be excellent to deal with. The items were as promised and arrived pretty much when they were promised.


regards
mike

Mike,
Thanks very much for the feedback - I am considering spending a not insubstantial chunk of change with them.
Again thanks !
Tim

Tim,

I have a 3/4 Gothic harness from them and a nice COP. I'm very happy with the quality and fit of both. Communication was generally good and everything was well packed when shipped. I feel I received good value for my investment.

When I say "generally" good, they had a couple of email outages during the Gothic build (six or so years ago), but explained things pretty well after brief periods of silence. Once thing were up, they were pretty regular in updates and everything shipped and arrived within the timeframes they gave me.

A final comment on quality and customer service: they weren't happy with the articulation in the first set of gauntlets they made me, so they shipped the primary parts of the harness when complete, then shipped the remade gauntlets at no extra cost when they were completed to their satisfaction.

All in all, good experiences all around.

Steel mastery also has a website for in stock items that are ready for immediate shipping.
http://www.armoryworld.com/

Gentlemen,
Thanks very much for all the feedback - I will be moving forward with my purchase .
Best
Tim Mathews

FWIW I ordered a gambeson and the entire transaction was excellent

Just ordered an aketon from them about 3 days ago. Auto email from them said soon they would contact me for measurements. I haven't heard anything and emailed them about it and no response. Is this normal? Seems odd they don't seem to return emails or maybe slow communication is kind of normal for them?

Heard back from them today so about 5 days. No problem waiting if the product is good. Would prefer to wait longer for a fitted piece anyways. Will report back when I get the piece.

So I ordered an Aketon from them on August 27th. They sent me photos of the ready product on October 7th. They shipped it and sent me a tracking number on Oct 11th.

Last update for the tacking is October 18th it said it was processed in the Ukraine and nothing since. I contacted them and they said it can take some time as now it should be in transit and has left the Ukraine. I called the US Postal service and they didn't have any further info so I sent another message to Steel Mastery and they are going to do an inquiry request with the USPS but they said that can take two months.

Based on it leaving the Ukraine on October 18th and not having even arrived to the USPS I think this order is toast. I Hope not but it's not looking good. I used Paypal though and I think you can file a claim for not receiving a product within 6 months so I might have to go that route if Steel Mastery doesn't make it right. I just asked them what they do for customers who never receive their orders but they have not replied back on that yet.

They have been pretty good about emailing back though, usually one day occasionally two. Sucks because they have some other stuff I like and was considering future orders if I liked this item.