I recieved my most recent sword purchase today and am just plain disappointed. I am not posting this to bash the maker and won't even name them to keep this from being imflammatory. It is a fairly high-end production piece from a well known and respected maker. I am on the verge of re-packaging it to send it back, other than the supposed blade quality the fit and finish of this piece is what I would expect from a sub-300$ import. The kickers for me on this particular sword are a pommel that is visibly (almost strikingly) mis-aligned with the grip, and a barely-visible copper shim used to tighten up a grossly mis-fitted guard slot. For a sword costing upwards of 600$ this is totally unacceptable to me.

I wanted to ask some other collectors how many swords you have returned, if any, for obvious cosmetic or other percieved flaws? And what types of flaws will "seal the deal" for you and cause you to reject a sword and return it? Are we too willing to shell out our hard-earned cash for someone's second-best efforts? Or am I just too picky?

I have only bought four, and returned none. The quality of swords I have seen, as a general rule for most better known makers, seems to be improving over the last 3 to 4 years. This was the case for mine, which were all excellent, and at the premium end of mass production price point, they just got closer to amazing perfection.

If you paid that sort of money out for a sword, I imagine the maker will have a decent level of customer service and of course should be returned for free and be sent what you expected. Also, inquire with the maker on why the cosmetic issue exists in the first place and ask how did it get overlooked.
Now if you feel you might be as you said "too picky" then maybe you could take a picture or two and post them and see what the crowd of collectors and makers think. I personally don't find it inflammatory at this point that you think your sword that you bought and is now your possession is "junk". You have an opinion to your property and it's but one case of a maker's work so showing everyone what you consider junk could be educational.
I'd at least talk to the maker first and give them a chance to rectify the scenario. Good luck man.

Justin,

Had it been me and I paid around six bills, I would definitely send it back. If the quality of the piece is not up to the standards you have for this price range (and I assume manufacturer), then you are fully justified getting your money back. As others have often stated, reputable makers understand this, and would stand behind their products. I would certainly let the maker know the reasons you want to return the sword. Your future business with them is at stake, after all. Good luck with this, and I'm sorry you're having to make this decision. I know things will turn out for the best.

I will flat out say I returned an Albion whose last 2-3 inches were either tempered improperly, or warped during shipping. There was a notable bend in the tip. There were no issues with doing this. It did not affect my opinion of them, it just meant this particular sword was not a keeper. :)

Hello Justin,
Personally, I do not think there is anything wrong with letting us know the name of the merchant. The more information and opinions we have about particular maker, the more informed decision we can make when placing our order with them.
If they are going to fix it or not is a separate issue and tells us more about their customer service rather than their quality control. Accidents and mishaps do happen, but if a dozen people report that their experience with a certain maker was less then pleasant, I would be grateful for them taking time to voice their opinions. I would encourage you to post the pictures of the sword and reveal the name of the maker.

Justin,

I had a similar experience a long time ago with a very special bokken that I had ordered. I was very disappointed when I opened it and discovered that it looked like it had been made by someone with a brutal hangover who had never used a woodworking machine before in their life. I truly can't remember if I phoned the vendor or just sent it back with a letter asking for a better replacement or a refund. I received a new bokken that was beautifully made. Have you contacted the vendor? If you have, what was their response?


Ken Speed

Justin:

I might make it public but I would first contact them and see if their customer service is good and they are willing to fix the problem, replace the sword or refund your money.

Keeping calm and polite is the best policy as the maker should be ready and eager to fix things without any harsh words being needed. If you are rude about it, and they seem unwilling to fix things, you won't be able to know if their lack of customer service was only because of your approach that got their back up. If they give very bad customer service and you were very polite then the bad customer service would be inexcusable and really worth talking about. ( Still good to vent politely and in a professional manner as your own politeness would reflect even more negatively on their bad customer service ).

If I had to return something to one of the makers that I have had numerous previous good experiences with I would feel very uncomfortable about it but I'm sure the maker would feel worse.

I should clarify that the sword was purchased from a seperate retailer so my return communication will not involve the maker. I don't entertain any plans to send it to the maker to be re-worked. The copper shim in the guard is a flat indication to me that the maker is not controlling quality to the standard I would expect for the price point. If the fit was that poor the guard should have been rejected, and it was obviously not a case of someone overlooking the problem, if they tried to fix it by shimming it. The lack of craftmanship and professional integrity this implies is just disappointing to me. If the shim weren't there I might feel differently but this amounts to a dirty trick in my mind.
I may contact the maker and verify that this is in fact a piece that they made, and if it is, I probably won't do business with them in the future.
With mixed feelings I am going to refrain from mentioning any names here. I feel that I should do so for the information of the sword-collecting community but I won't take the reputation of a maker lightly either and without contacting them first I think it would be unfair.
My intention in writing this post was to hear what kinds of percieved flaws have caused others to return a sword in the past?
I admit that I am very critical as a collector but on the other hand at the price range I generally buy in I'm not exactly buying gumballs either. I don't buy 300 dollar swords because I know they will disappoint me more often than not. I expect a sword costing twice as much to show some craftsmanship and quality. In this case I spotted one major flaw, the pommel being offset, 20 seconds out of the box. For this much money it should take longer to burst my bubble.

The vendor has a good rep. and a clear return policy so I have no reason to doubt that they will make good on it. I can't comment on whether another party besides the maker in question may have re-fitted or otherwise tampered with the guard and pommel, possibilities like this are precisely why I don't want to give the maker's name out.

If you can be patient, talk to the vendor and let things play out. You can always tell the rest of the story later if you feel you need to regardless whether things come out for good or for ill. Not every story has to be completely told on the first telling.

If the vendor makes good, you might want to list them. Never hurts to have more names of vendors who have good reputations. Even if it is simply " I bought a sword from X Vendor, and they were happy to return it.

Shimming by itself (when done right) is not a horrible thing. Yet, that is something that should be utilised to "repair" a sword(temporarily) until more permanent work can be carried out. Hence it is unaccetable for a "new" sword.

I have returned swords. Not in several years though and not with any of the present companies I purchase from. Primarily Windlass/Del Tin swords in the past.

I believe there are a number of instances where guards and pommels were shimmed with iron, copper, and/or wood historically. So a shim isn't necessarily a safety issue in and of itself.

That being said, we deserve to feel that we got our money's worth, regardless of how much money was spent. If you're not happy, see if vendor/maker can make it right. They probably will.

Buenas Justin.

You may have read I am almost a quality merchant ;) and want to point out to you that after sales is part of quality.

The maker obviously had a glitch in the quality controll but even yhough this should be prevented by his system if it does occur you should put the after sales system into work.

So, contact the seller.
If that does not work contact the maker.

At the moment you are a dissatisfied cutomer and should enter your claim into the part of the process that is part of total quality. Do not grumble YET :idea:

Good luck!!!


peter

I am not a sword maker, so I have no dog in this fight, as the expression goes. I have, however, handled a fair number of swords ranging from about 900 down to 300 years old (and many more recent, of course, but no need to talk about them). The problems you mention would not occasion so much as a raised eyebrow from a serious collector of REAL pieces. They are often remarkable for lack of symmetry, alignment, somewhat haphazard finishes, etc., etc. They are clearly not the products of an industrial age, but are done by hand and eye (and usually some water powered equipment) in a hurry to meet a particular price point (this goes doubly for armour; the typical close helm, when seen head-on, is downright wonky!).