[Harold R.]

I have a problem with a sword maker and I am unsure about the best approach to settle it.
Over a year ago I ordered a sword from them. The wait was supposed to be around 12 weeks but due to some problems they had this date got shifted a little. I understood that because things happen.
But as it turned out, the delivery date just keeps getting pushed further and further back. Emails routinely go unanswered and no one EVER answers the phone when I call, which leads me to believe that they are screening their calls just to ignore me. And they have never informed of the status of my order eventhough, as I said, I have been expecting delivery for months. I ALWAYS have to repeatedly contact them to get any information at all.

The problem is that I paid in full. They have almost $500 of my money and a year later, I still have no sword. The last email I got from them was on 4-3 and it asked for 10 more days to complete my order. I granted them that and haven't heard from them again since. On top of that, I have read about others ordering from the same maker after I placed my order and still getting their orders before me. Somehow they jumped line, eventhough as I said, these people have had my money for a year.
I have repeatedly made it clear that i would like my sword to be completed and that I am also willing to accept a refund with no hard feelings but I never get any response. It just seems that now that they have my money, they don't really care too much about delivering my sword one way or the other.

So my question is, is it time to take legal action? How do I go about doing that with a maker who is another state?
I am really reluctant to do that (trying to be a Christian and treat others how i would want to be treated) but this is just insane and I feel like I have been severely taken advantage of.
Any advice would be appreciated.
Thanks.

[Joe Fults]

Harold,

Tough situation to be.

Is the company a firm in the US?

[Stephen S. Han]

I am not sure what jurisdictions are involved, so I will speak in general terms.

First, the amount involved is usually under the jurisdiction of small claims court. Which means that if your dispute is with someone out of state, the expenses involved in serving the other party with a notice of claims filed and notice of court date, if any, can get prohibitably expensive. No attorneys allowed either. subpoenas from a different sovereign state has very little enforcement powers, if any. The dispute in question is not a Federal matter.

So taking "legal action" while sounding good is a losing proposition generally.

Most likely the maker's state has some form of Better Business Bureau. Contact them. Make sure you can document your claim. Nothing derails your claim faster than mere rants without supporting documentation.

Now some questions.

How often did you email the vendor? Believe it or not, constant contact bordering on "stalking" actually slows down completion and delivery process. They are only human, and what eventually becomes perceived as "daily whining" will slow them down. Is it right? Probably not. But hey, it's reality.

Pay close attention to the content of your email and see how it might have been received. YOU may think you're being polite, but the recipient may read it differently.

Why did you pay in full? I have never paid in full for any sword projects I've ordered. In fact, NONE of the makers I deal with demand payment in full prior to delivery. Heck, Vince Evans wouldn't even take a deposit. Barry Dawson accepts maybe 20% deposit to get it started. I see red flags when a maker wants all the money up front.

It may suck, but this could become a rather expensive life lesson.

[Joe Fults]

Stephan,

I have no qualification to speak to any of the leagal issues involved with this, but just as an fyi, cash in advance seems to be pretty standard in my experience with production makers, even when an item is not in stock (there are exceptions). Especially when talking about international orders, which is why I was curious if this was really an all US transaction.

Obviously a different game on the custom side of things as you clearly note.

[Russ Ellis]

A couple of thoughts...

1) NEVER pay in full up front.
2) Send the maker a registered letter explaining your problem. Assume that they somehow have not gotten your other communications and lay it all out. Explain that you expect at a minimum contact within X amount of time.
3) If said maker still does not respond then you really have no choice but to go public. I've seen that actually work from time to time in the past.
4) You may have to chalk this up to lessons learned...

[Harold R.]

Well guys I just got an email from the maker in question.
They sent me a Fedex tracking number and apparently my sword was shipped today. I can't really say that I am "happy" about the situation but at least it isn't looking like the huge mess that I thought it was. I'm just glad I won't have to go a legal route because it would have been messy.
BTW - the maker is in the US. I don't want to put their name out here right now because I don't want to damage their reputation unnecessarily (eventhough some would argue that they deserve it). They asked for half up front but like an idiot I paid in full. They had a good rep and I even read one post in which they told a guy who had abused his sword to send it back and they would repair it for him for free. I certainly wasn't expecting this kind of treatment or I would have just taken my money and watched the classifieds.
I did learn a valuable lesson though. Guess you can't expect people to treat you like you treat them. From now on I will definitely be suspicious about stuff like this.
And I probably emailed them about an average of once every three weeks. I let things go for awhile thinking that my sword was being made, no news was good news, etc. Then I started asking again after it just took WAY TOO LONG.
But as I said, I wasn't kept updated much at all. I had to keep emailing to learn anything about the status of my order. Couldn't get anyone on the phone. One day I called and got busy signal so I kept calling, thinking that maybe someone might finally answer when the other call was done. No luck. I'm pretty sure they were deliberately dodging me. I certainly didn't "stalk" them.
The maker in question is very good at making swords and I have no doubts about their skill or talent. I owned one of their swords before and it was great which was why I chose to have them make this one for me.
But their customer service in this case redefines the word "suck".

[Joe Fults]

Assuming you get your stuff, I'd just chalk it to experience earned.

Next time if given a partial payment option I'd recommend considering it though. I'm always more patient when I don't assume all the risk of the transaction in advance, my choice or not. Its harder for me to be patient when I've cleared the tab, even though I usually like to clear it as soon as possible so I don't have an obligation.