Peter Bosman is absolutely 100% correct, additionally, his description of the conduct of businesss was most eloquent :!:

Respectfully!

Bob

Could the good components be recycled into something else?

Could a set of alternate parts be created?

Since this maker has changed the nature of the item, even though you are not the original buyer- they accepted the item and attempted a repair, I think they should compensate you in a manner you both agree on. If communication has broken down you may need an attorney to send them a note. Something to "turn up the heat" a bit, anyway.; 10 months is long enough, you've been more than reasonable.

Hi Chad.

Just to clarify at this point. Did the company in question ask you for permission to have a go at the repair themselves, or did they go ahead and attempt the repair without contacting you, once they realised that they would not be able to get the part from their original supplier? I'm thinking that maybe they would have been better advised to return the piece untouched, rather than attempting a repair which has actually made matters worse. I would say that, second-hand or not, as soon as a repair was attempted, then they made themselves responsible for the condition of the piece.

I'm sorry if this doesn't actually offer a solution at this stage, I'm just trying to clear up the sequence of events for the sake of clarity.

Cheers,
Darrin.

hmmm....I see the problem now. Yeah, my original approach won't really work in this case.

So, maybe contact various other manufacturers, describe the problem and ask if they're sure they can fix it. When you find one, ask the original mf to send the piece to the new folks and refund any money you paid up front. This industry isn't so standardized that everybody would know all the solutions to all the problems. Maybe somebody out there will say, "Oh yeah, I've seen this before. What you need is a .......".

You might also find somebody like me who's happy to take in a damaged piece for a project. You wouldn't necessarily take a beating on the price, either. Hard to say without knowing the nature of the item or problem. Some problems would be deal breakers, but I'd just shrug at others. Split grip? No problem. Broken tang end or rondel? No problem. Broken hilt casting? Maybe a problem, maybe not. Of course, if I thought I could fix your problem (doubtful, if even the mf can't) I'd happily help you out.

last month I took on a repair for a broken brass basket hilt on a rapier. During my attempt at repair I melted the arm of the basket. It was too thin to fix the break in it. so I cut it back and replaced 3 inches of what started to be a 1/4 inch repair.

bottom line: I said I would fix it, and I did. If I could not, I would have subbed it out to some one that could, because I said I would fix it for $40, so I felt that it had to be done correctly and for the stated proce. period.

Why can't they have a one-off made? After 10 months, it seems they could have manufactured one part to keep their word?

Hi Chad,

It seems to me that a better understanding of the nature of the piece and the part to be repaired would be very helpful in formulating truly meaningful advice on any potential solutions, otherwise, a lot of speculation on solutions that may be just completely inapplicable or impossible.

Without giving the vendor away, what kind of piece are you talking about? What exactly is this part needing repair? What material is it made of?

Seems like with all the talents and expertise viewing these forums, a viable solution could be available if more details were known.

In any event, without knowing more, its really hard to say, but I would be inclined to say please ship it back and move on, or ask them to purchase it from you at a fair "before they made it worse" price, since they have now put you in a worse position than before they got there hands on it.

Not sure, but from a legal point of view, seems like your damages are based upon a breach of contract for repair and your damages are either (i) what you paid for repair, if anything, plus the difference in the value of the item prior to the attempted repair and its present value (which may be little or none, but since I have no idea what were are talking about, its impossible to say) or (ii) your lost benefit of the bargain, i.e. the difference between the value it would have had as properly repaired (less repair costs you would have reasonably had to pay to get the item fixed and hence worth more once repaired) and the present value.

Any details you are comfortable adding would be most helpful in formulating potential avenues of resolution.

Best regards,

Terry

Since this thread was posted I've had a lot of communication from the maker. They have found a supplier and have received the part in question. The item should be back to me in a week or so.

They also offered a very fair and generous resolution to the situation and assuming the item arrives in the condition I expect it will, I hope to put this behind me soon.

Thanks for all the advice and encouragement, folks. I appreciate the support. :)

Really a lot of things can be excused with honest communication.

If a maker tells me "wow, it's going to take longer than I thought, I can't guarantee you'll get it before (a long time from now), I'm very sorry" that's worlds different than being told eight times over that period that it will be done soon.

Schedules get crushed by the real world sometimes. A good maker apologizes, says they'll do the best they can, says when that will be, and tries very hard for it not to happen again.

People want to work together and if there's honesty they can do that. If not then you can be sure there will be no repeat business from them or anyone they talk to.

I'm on the cusp of such a problem myself, and I hate being a jerk about it in communications but we're really getting to that point.

Just because it's a niche product doesn't excuse bad business behavior.

I too am glad to hear it's getting worked out. Far too often it seems that commissioned work goes unfulfilled or there are other issues. Though apparently it's not just our world of swords and armor, but in any small industry populated by individual artists. I've heard of stories in other areas of interest in which an artist would go silent, after being sent the item to work on and being paid, only to auction off the item on ebay.

Some artists/makers are genuinely unscrupulous. Others are just disorganized, or simply don't communicate well.

I've been lucky to not have been significantly burned by this sort of thing yet. I have armor that was made by a maker who vanished, money and all, sometime after I received my order, so I was fortunate. I had another piece commissioned where I managed to recover my deposit after multiple delivery dates came and went without him even starting the work (so in that case it just wasted my time). Those were my two close calls.

In any case, congrats on getting your situation resolved!