Communication w/ Wolfman Razors

I've sent a number of emails to him asking a few things without any reply. I don't know what is going on.

You must be howling mad. Maybe wait until the next full moon?

Seriously, if you email a vendor - any vendor - multiple times, wait a reasonable amount of time, and get no response, then maybe it is time to move on and take your business elsewhere. As a customer or potential customer, you are entitled to good customer service and quality products. If a reseller or manufacturer doesn't deliver, then they don't deserve your business. By the same token, you don't deserve the aggravation of dealing with a lot of nonsense.

The last email I sent him was days ago. A few weeks ago I sent him another. No response whatsoever. Moving on.

Would that I owned two and could move on. Unopened, past expiration Grape Nehi sitting in the warm sun in my apt dumpster.

How do you get on the Wolfman razor waiting list? Is there a list? I have a subscription to the newsletter but have never received an email. The only communication that I've seen is twitter updates indicating some inventory is available. These items disappear in seconds. What kind of a buying experience is that? Blindly adding items to a cart and purchasing just to have a Wolfman item?

Why can't James have waiting lists like other vendors? Is there anyone running the social media customer service, sales or marketing at Wolfman? Can I go to Alberta and show up to personally order a razor?
I recently purchased a BBS-1 from John at LAshaving because I was able to get on the waiting list almost 9 months ago. I was able to obtain 2 Wolf Whisker brushes from Peter Wolf by signing up on the waiting lists in the past year. Brad Sears is currently making a brush for me because I was in the list. I don't mind waiting for such high quality products I just want the opportunity to do so. I don't want to purchase a Wolfman on eBay that's 4 times the value!


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I've sent a number of emails to him asking a few things without any reply. I don't know what is going on.

You must be howling mad. Maybe wait until the next full moon?

Seriously, if you email a vendor - any vendor - multiple times, wait a reasonable amount of time, and get no response, then maybe it is time to move on and take your business elsewhere. As a customer or potential customer, you are entitled to good customer service and quality products. If a reseller or manufacturer doesn't deliver, then they don't deserve your business. By the same token, you don't deserve the aggravation of dealing with a lot of nonsense.

I agree that "it is time to move on," if you're truly aggravated. James would agree with this, as we've discussed this very issue. He's a guy running a small business, largely by himself (although I understand he recently hired some help). He can run it however he wants. As an existing, rather than a potential, customer I can tell you he is a true gentleman and very responsive. And I bought my razor before the price increase and runaway demand. I've only bought one razor from him, which I still have, so I'm not one of those "favored" repeat-buyer customers. He's doing the best he can. I can't imagine the stress he feels by reading the stuff on the forums. I hope he doesn't.

Easiest way I find to contacting James is via twitter. Shoot him a msg and he will for sure answer u. Last time I shot him a msg he was willing to call me to discuss on the phone. Try that and see.

I agree that "it is time to move on," if you're truly aggravated. James would agree with this, as we've discussed this very issue. He's a guy running a small business, largely by himself (although I understand he recently hired some help). He can run it however he wants.

Which is neither here nor there, and totally missing the point. Of course he can run his business any way he wants, so can everybody else.

As an existing, rather than a potential, customer I can tell you he is a true gentleman and very responsive. And I bought my razor before the price increase and runaway demand. I've only bought one razor from him, which I still have, so I'm not one of those "favored" repeat-buyer customers. He's doing the best he can. I can't imagine the stress he feels by reading the stuff on the forums. I hope he doesn't.

Which, while good for you, is irrelevant. My response was regarding Fargo's experience specifically, and applies to vendors in general, not Wolfman in particular. There are plenty of tales on the forums about similar experiences with a variety of sellers. Cottage industry producers add much to the traditional shaving world. When items are offered for sale, however, it is a business not a hobby. A sharp increase in demand can be taxing for any operation, large or small. If it causes a lack of product availability or hinders communications with existing or potential customers, there are bound to be some unhappy folks. Or are you simply claiming Fargo's account is inaccurate?

If people feel stressed by reading things on the wetshaving forums, then perhaps they should avoid doing so.

I agree that "it is time to move on," if you're truly aggravated. James would agree with this, as we've discussed this very issue. He's a guy running a small business, largely by himself (although I understand he recently hired some help). He can run it however he wants. As an existing, rather than a potential, customer I can tell you he is a true gentleman and very responsive. And I bought my razor before the price increase and runaway demand. I've only bought one razor from him, which I still have, so I'm not one of those "favored" repeat-buyer customers. He's doing the best he can. I can't imagine the stress he feels by reading the stuff on the forums. I hope he doesn't.

There is no excuse for poor customer service. A single person running a business or a 2,000 employee corporation, there simply is no excuse for poor customer service.

One thing jumps out at me--"He can run it however he wants."--This is an absolutely true statement. This is why he chooses to keep supply extremely low, so as to increase desireability and therefor price. He keeps demand high, and response low so that the inventory availability is sold within seconds. He does nothing to prevent reselling of his products at ridiculous markups, because anything he could do to help would damage his own profit margins by virtue of decreasing demand.

I hope he reads every response and feels it deeply. It would show that he cares. Unfortunately, I don't think he does. He makes his money and moves on. There is nothing wrong with that by any stretch, but feigning concern over his emotional well-being because someone said his customer service sucks is a little silly...It's not like he has been accused of illegal or unethical practices without any evidence...

I've sent a number of emails to him asking a few things without any reply. I don't know what is going on.

You must be howling mad. Maybe wait until the next full moon?

Seriously, if you email a vendor - any vendor - multiple times, wait a reasonable amount of time, and get no response, then maybe it is time to move on and take your business elsewhere. As a customer or potential customer, you are entitled to good customer service and quality products. If a reseller or manufacturer doesn't deliver, then they don't deserve your business. By the same token, you don't deserve the aggravation of dealing with a lot of nonsense.

The last email I sent him was days ago. A few weeks ago I sent him another. No response whatsoever. Moving on.

He did reply to me, it seems that the scalpers have ruined it for everyone by selling his razors at ridiculous prices. Thus he is limiting quantity and making amother razor in mass for the public to consume.

Since I signed up for the newsletter two years ago I've tried or purchased almost 50 to 75 different DE and SE razors. I did get to try a Wolfman and it was one of the best shaves I've ever had. I just wish I had the opportunity to purchase one at his price.

Thankfully I've got into straight razors which hurts or helps my RAD depending on your point of view.


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Does he actually make them on a lathe still? Last I read he upgraded to a CNC in his shop.

It's CNC, but he's mentioned that the finishing is what takes time. Since the machines haven't been running while he's doing the finishing, he decided to introduce the Guerrilla line as a higher availability, less finished (but still good imo) product.

How do you get on the Wolfman razor waiting list? Is there a list? I have a subscription to the newsletter but have never received an email. The only communication that I've seen is twitter updates indicating some inventory is available. These items disappear in seconds. What kind of a buying experience is that? Blindly adding items to a cart and purchasing just to have a Wolfman item?

Why can't James have waiting lists like other vendors? Is there anyone running the social media customer service, sales or marketing at Wolfman? Can I go to Alberta and show up to personally order a razor?
I recently purchased a BBS-1 from John at LAshaving because I was able to get on the waiting list almost 9 months ago. I was able to obtain 2 Wolf Whisker brushes from Peter Wolf by signing up on the waiting lists in the past year. Brad Sears is currently making a brush for me because I was in the list. I don't mind waiting for such high quality products I just want the opportunity to do so. I don't want to purchase a Wolfman on eBay that's 4 times the value!

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He does have a wait list, but I think he's still working is way through them on top of working on the BBS-1 orders.

This is why he chooses to keep supply extremely low, so as to increase desireability and therefor price. He keeps demand high, and response low so that the inventory availability is sold within seconds. He does nothing to prevent reselling of his products at ridiculous markups, because anything he could do to help would damage his own profit margins by virtue of decreasing demand.

What makes you say that? Do you have evidence that he purposely keeps supply low? His razors have been about the same cost for a while - if he purposely is driving up demand without adjusting his prices to reflect that, that'd be a pretty dumb business decision, no? I think supply is so low because the hand finishing takes time. He polishes everything to a mirror-like finish (including his brushed razors, which I don't think others do) instead of media blasting them for a quick brushed finish. I can't imagine him being "shady." Hell, if there's a demand for $400+ used Wolfmans on eBay, I would've increased the prices a long-ass time ago if I were him.

Also, I'm sure the reselling is hurting his profit margins way more than if he was able to make enough supply to meet demand. No profit <<< some profit.

I hope he reads every response and feels it deeply. It would show that he cares. Unfortunately, I don't think he does. He makes his money and moves on. There is nothing wrong with that by any stretch, but feigning concern over his emotional well-being because someone said his customer service sucks is a little silly...It's not like he has been accused of illegal or unethical practices without any evidence...

Of course he cares about his customers, why else would he even be in this business? If he truly hated is, he would've just moved on and go back to doing whatever machining he did before. I've talked to him about the scalped razors and he's furious about it, but what can he do? He can only make so many razors, so the only thing he can do is increase the price, which he doesn't want to do for his customers. I can't blame him if he decides to, though.

I think throwing out baseless accusations against him gives the impression of spite doesn't help, especially when oddly reasoned economic theory is thrown into the mix - low response typically doesn't result in immediate sales, that's just high demand.

"Scalping" is specifically a reference to selling event tickets. Reselling material goods you previously purchased is called retail. High markups is called smart retail.

And he could easily eliminate the aftermarket reselling of his products. It would be nothing. 3 ways to do it:

1-Stop limiting production, and start advertising release dates and waiting list orders in advance. You can't tell me he doesn't know when he will be posting his inventory for sale.

2-Raise his prices. If he charged $400, the resellers would have no room for further markup.

3-Reduce quality. Obviously this is not a truly viable option, but it would stop the high-value resale...

Pretending to not sell to those that resell is a cop out. Obviously it isn't working, because if it was, it would not be a consistent problem with the release of every single model, every single time.

Those are the only 3 legitimate ways for him to impact the resale value of his products.