having spent the last 5 months experiencing what kind of a nightmare arranging a wedding can be, i have come up with the solid conclusion that there needs to be some kind of public forum where the innocent can turn to for much needed objectivity.

of course there are forums like that, i don't doubt there are. but the two major Canadian ones, weddingbells.ca and frugalbride.com rely heavily on vendor sponsorship... and have bowed down to threats of legal litigation despite the fact that the offending posts were legitmate.

this is what i have been able to piece together on a couple of instances. let me use an analogy ... the "Arms" company provides swords by hiring several smiths. some of these smiths (one, maybe two) are quite good, others.. well not so good (10 plus!).

Arms company provided a reasonably priced sword (MRL area) clearly not up to the spec as advertised to the customer (barely acceptable quality). the customer was shown excellent work by their top smith (no specific names were ever mentioned). the customer's expectations were thus very HIGH. the contract of course... never did guarantee which smith would do the work of course! (sneaky, show work of their best smith, than give 'em someone else).

but here's the rub. the sales person told the person verbally that they would get the top smith. but the fine print indicated that no such guareentee could ever... and will never take place!

so the customer blew up. the customer did not take care of the sword properly (as he was upset) and thus the condition of it got worse. DEMANDED REFUND. company did not give refund as they stated that IF the sword was properly taken care of, they "might" have considered a refund.

customer than posted a "very" negative comment on forum. began PM'ing those interested in the company.

The "Arms" company did not have a very positive rep and when the post surfaced, few if anyone came to their defence. The company has had numerous lawsuits brought against them for their refusal to issue refunds for work considered unsatisfactory by customers.

the BB than erased all comments... past and present about the Arms company after threats of lawsuits. much of these comments were legitimate though.

so members of the jury, what say you?

I'd say it sounds a little too familiar...

You know, on a related note, I bought an axe from a certain company a couple years ago off of Ebay, and not only was the workmanship terrible, but the customer service was worse. I have seen another sword of theirs up close that was also pretty shoddy. I posted on SFI about this quite a while ago. Well, recently a representative of theirs appeared on SFI and was acting all upset about the fact that I (and others) had said negative things about them, and tried to even say that one person was lying. I received a PM from that representative claiming that I was confusing their product with Darkwood Armory or Albion, which I was not only shocked about, but really a bit offended by. Thankfully, that company didn't threaten a lawsuit, but it still really bothers me that rather than look to the faults of his own company, he'd blame others.

It seems funny how some of the low-end sword makers are only interested in keeping your money, as opposed to satisfying the customer or learning from their mistakes and improving the products. When I tried to return a piece that was sold to me as "functional", I got replies like "it was not meant for cutting" and "its functional because it's made from high-carbon steel".
Apparently according to these particular guys the hilt and tang design was of no importance whatsoever. Just for reference
the sword "not meant for cutting" is nearly identical to Nathan Robinson's mercenary Sword but by another manufacturer.
http://www.myArmoury.com/swor_cust_merc.html?14

Shall we say that this retailer lost mt business :lol:

Alexi

I may be missing something here, but why were they discussing swords on a wedding forum?

Were these swords to be used in the ceremony?

I believe Dave is using an analogy so as to avoid further conflict with the vendor related to his wedding by actually naming them. It actually has nothing to do with swords, but a good analogy anyway. It is amazing how some businesses end up staying in business with these practices. It is probably fairly common with events where alot of emotion is involved such as weddings and funerals. They have you over the proverbial barrel and they know it!

Thanks guys,

i think maybe i'll start up my own wedding website and call it Wedding Forum International.

Got a good ring to it no?

Too many companies seem to operate by the motto "There's a sucker born every minute" rather than "the customer is always right". You find it everywhere.