2/5

posted Nov-23-2010

Do not believe their shipping estimates!
I ordered a Vaio laptop online from SonyStyle, it was meant as a present for my wife. The shipping estimate they gave me gave when I placed the order was one week before the date when I needed the laptop, so I figured that would be fine.
However, that estimated shipping date went by without any shipping notification and I started to worry. I called their customer service (located in Asia, of course) and guess my surprise when they told me that the shipping date I was given was from their factory in Asia! From there it would have to travel to the States, clear Customs, get to the Sony warehouse, and from there it would ship to me.
This is the third and last laptop I order from them and never had a problem before.

Dec. 14th update: OK, here is what happened: apparently they now ship via FedEx directly from the Chinese manufacturer to the end customer. The reason they don't give a delivery estimate is that they don't know how long it will take for the package to clear U.S. Customs. There is nothing really wrong with that except that this should be clearly stated on their site.
Anyway, a month after I placed my order I received a full refund (they did not agree to a refund until I opened a dispute through PayPal).

This review was modified by lorenzol on December 14 2010 03:50:17 AM

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3/5

posted Sep-13-2009

This store is amazing for their incompetence.
I bought a knife from them online and at checkout a sales tax was added to my total. So far, nothing unusual.
When I get my order confirmation by e-mail, the total amount does not show the sales tax anymore.
So I check my debit card statement online and the total charge is different than the one that was showing at check-out with the tax (greater by a couple of dollars).
I try to get in touch by e-mail and it takes about a week to get a response asking me to call them.
I call their 800 number and a guy who has no access to online order information answers me and asks me to get in touch later.
When I call back, he says that the amount shown at check-out includes an "estimate" of the tax because their system does not "know" the tax for each state... Also, he says it is "normal" that the order confirmation e-mail does not include the tax and therefore does not match the CC charge.
I then receive the knife and it has a small defect. I send about 2 or 3 e-mails to their online customer service ( I read somewhere on their site that warranty issues for online orders have to be reported by e-mail). It has been more than a month now and I have given up. I'll disassemble the knife and try to fix the problem myself.
I'll never buy anything from those idiots again. It is a pity that such incompetent service tarnishes the reputation of a great brand like Beretta.

Important Update November 13th: Last week I received an e-mail from Beretta USA in response to my August e-mail. They asked me to return the knife for review, which I did.
They received the knife on the 9th of November and today, November 13th, I was surprised to find a brand new knife waiting for me when I came home.
So their communication skills are pretty lousy but they stand behind their products in the end and I have to say those Beretta Harsey folding knives are terrific.

This review was modified by lorenzol on November 13 2009 04:20:15 PM

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5/5

posted Jun-25-2009

The Cutlery Shoppe is the best place to buy Spyderco knives online, period. They have a great website that is kept up-to-date and the cheapest prices: most Spydercos are priced at around 53-54% of MSRP (plus shipping), which is remarkable. Plus, your credit card only gets charged when your order ships.
Their shipping rate is 8.95$ regardless of the number of items you order.
The man who owns this online knife store, Jeff Loffer, takes time to personally answer e-mails and send order status updates.
I have bought around 9 Spydercos from them over the past 6 months and never had a problem. Once, I returned a knife I did not like and was refunded immediately after Jeff received the knife back.
If you are a collector like me or simply need to buy a Spyderco, it is worth checking out The Cutlery Shoppe, you will not regret it.

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5/5

posted Jun-12-2009

I have bought several flashlights and related accessories like rechargeable batteries from the Fenix Store and its sister site, 4Sevens, over the past year. They offer a great choice of quality products and their service is impeccable.
I like to judge a store by the way they act when something goes wrong. Back in January, I bought a Zebralight flashlight from the Fenix Store and took it on a long trip abroad with me. After about a week, the user interface started to act up so I contacted their customer service. I was told to send the flashlight back to them immediately for warranty repair or exchange. the problem was that I was outside of the country and did not want to spend almost 20% of the price of the item just to ship it back. Somebody from their customer support contacted me and asked me when I could send it back from within the States, and when I said May he just said "OK, send it back when you can and we will take care of it".
So I sent it back upon my return and they gave me great feedback: they notified me when they received, then when they identified the problem and finally when they had issued me a new flashlight as a replacement and were shipping it out straight away. All in all, the whole process lasted less than 10 days and i received a brand new flashlight (which I have been using for a month without any problems).
I wish all online stores had such an outstanding service.

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1/5

posted Mar-11-2009

Avoid by all means, these are thieves.
They sold me one knife that showed as "in stock" on their site, charged my credit card and did not even bothered to contact me the product was unavailable. All my e-mails to them bounced back. Later I discovered they belonged to the same crook who owns TheBladeShop, so I contacted them. They even went as far as saying that they were having the knife custom-made for me by Lone Wolf. After I was finally able to cancel my order, it took 15 days and a dozen e-mails to finally receive the refund.
Check out their parent company's file with the Better Business Bureau at: http://knoxville.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=57&bbb=0533&firm=90002040

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5/5

posted Mar-01-2009

I bought a Benchmade limited edition knife from Rei last January and it shipped very fast.
About three weeks after I received my knife, I go back on their website because I was planning to buy a second one and notice that the price has dropped 25% since my first purchase. Because it was a 200$ knife I felt a bit frustrated so I wrote them an e-mail expressing my frustration at having overpaid for being one of the early buyers.
Their customer service immediately answered me saying they had a price guarantee policy and that they would check if my order qualified. The very next day I get an e-mail telling me I indeed qualified for a price adjustment refund and that I would receive it on my credit card. About a week later I received 50$ back on my card.
I buy a lot of knives online and usually it is a traumatic experience, sometimes you are just lucky to receive what you ordered. My experience buying with REI was extremely positive, it is good to know that there are merchants out there that actually value their customers' satisfaction.
Something tells me that in this grim economic environment those merchants are the ones that are more likely to survive.

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5/5

posted Mar-01-2009

This online store specializes in knives and I must say they are really great to do business with.
Back in February, I ordered a Lone Wolf folding knife from them during a week end, and my credit card was only charged when it shipped on Monday. This fact alone is worth mentioning, too many online merchants tend to charge you even before they check if they have the item in stock.
When I received my knife, however, I noticed a small defect so I immediately called them on the phone to ask whether they wanted me to contact the manufacturer directly or if they would take care of it themselves. They never tried to get rid of the problem and instead asked me to ship the knife back to them for an exchange. A few days later, I receive an e-mail from The Knife Center saying that because they were out of stock for that particular knife they would refund me while they wait for another identical item to come in. I have not received my new knife yet, but I received another e-mail last week informing me on the status of my order.
Very good communication and outstanding business practices.

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1/5

posted Feb-23-2009

Well, given the previous reviews mine will come as no surprise to anyone. These guys are indeed crooks: they carry no inventory and charge you up-front. They give you no follow-up to your order saying they cannot fill it right away, and they never answer your e-mails. Their sister company, Taclighting, is even worse since their e-mail server does not accept incoming mails! As for their phone lines, they are busy 90% of the time.
I am surprised that in a civilized country where the rule of law is supposed to prevail some bait and switch operations like these are even allowed to exist.
I am going to file a dispute with my credit card company if I have not received a full refund within 3 days, I have already been waiting for almost 20 days.
Stay away.
Update: 12 days ago, they sent me an e-mail saying I would get a refund within 8 business days(!?), today is the ninth business day and I just sent a dispute through the online fraud division of my credit card company...
Update: I received a refund on Mar. 10th, 32 days after I placed the order and 18 days after I managed to get them to admit they could not fulfill my order because the knife did not exist.
It was a grueling process involving dozens of unanswered e-mails and phone calls to their always busy 800 number.
Please check their file with the Better Business Bureau at: http://knoxville.bbb.org/WWWRoot/Report.aspx?site=57&bbb=0533&firm=90002040

This review was modified by lorenzol on March 11 2009 10:00:47 AM

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1/5

posted Feb-14-2009

These guys are crooks. I just ordered a Spyderco ceramic benchstone from them, which cost me 37$+shipping and surprise: I get an open box item and the stone is broken on one corner. They even put tape on it to hold the pieces together. Wrote them an e-mail but no answer so far.
The thing gets worse: they eventually replied to my e-mail apologizing for their "mistake" and asked me to ship the item back to them for a full refund. They even sent me a FedEx label so I would not have to pay for the shipping.
And then, guess what? They partially refunded me, taking away 8$ for shipping, so they end up making money out of this whole thing.
Finally, after another exchange of e-mails and excuses from the store, I finally got all my money back.

This review was modified by lorenzol on March 04 2009 06:58:04 AM

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5/5

posted Sep-09-2008

I just love Amazon, so you can call me biased.
I buy mostly electronics and camera equipment, but I have also purchased things you would not necessarily associate with Amazon: food, hardware, AC filters etc.
It is just great that they update the price of the items in your cart continuously: my cart is actually a wish list (I keep a lot of products in the "save for later" section, and when an item reaches a certain price I place my order).
It is true that free shipping can be slow, but I never had problems with the condition of the items received. On the few occasions I decided to return an item, the process was very simple: you go on the web page, view the order you want to return an item from, print the authorization and stick it to the original box. Once Amazon receives the item, the refund is pretty fast, a couple of days at most.

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