Karve Shaving Co. A new DE Brass razor to market.

I will clarify that my issue is NOT with the wait time. I have quite a nice collection to keep me busy. This is everything to do with the poor communication.

I think we need to give Chris a break. He's realising that he is a one man show and he's adding a tooling man which he didn't have before. Hes added WCS as a retailer so all be can focus on is spending his time with his skills of craftsmanship then dealing with logistics and payments and order tracking.

It's a fine razor - believe you in me and the cost paid - pays for itself even if it's two months considering the price and quality of the product.

He's got overwhelmed as he didn't anticipate that his product would get so much acclaim and response. He's now making systems to cope with it. Let him create the eco system and enjoy the razor as it gets delivered !

My two cents !

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I hear what you're saying but imo "giving someone a break" only goes so far. And when it's supposed to be 2 weeks and it's looking like greater than 7 weeks... that's a significant delay without any offer to make it right (a personal email, a discount, etc.) All the while, as our razors are being delayed there's reports of other endeavors and/or efforts being put into WCS, SS offerings, Titanium offerings, etc., meanwhile people who ordered their razors and are long over due are waiting, while more orders continue to come in. Why not offer a small discount for orders being this far behind, or maybe focus efforts on getting these orders caught up before considering additional opportunities, or even temporarily suspend orders/develop a waiting list until those orders that are significantly backed up get sorted out. That's what I would do if it was truly just about being "backed up or overwhelmed" as many people mention.

Overall, I just think these things could be handled better. I respect your opinion though and ultimately I hope Chris is successful and resolves these current issues, but until then, I can't recommend Karve. This will however be my last post regarding my dissatisfaction over my order's delay... Generally I'd much rather prefer to reach out to an artisan/business owner in private to express my concerns, which i have in this case but i have not gotten a response, but nonetheless, these two posts include my position... anymore would be unnecessary on my part.

I kind of feel for Chris at the moment. He obviously didn't expect for his creation to be an overnight success.
Thankfully I must have ordered mine right before the influx of orders came in.....

(placed on May 15th, received 'ready to be shipped' on June 29th, immediately replied to the email with plate addition request, sorted within an hour. Razor was in my had 2 days later. I'm in Ontario Canada by the way)

......and his latest email says it all really.

The thing that I don't really get (as someone has stated already) is why were/are orders still being taken? A temporary 'Out of stock until further notice', I'm sure would suffice.

Hopefully, he'll be able to turn things around and maybe acquire some additional help because based on the reviews that are flooding the internet, it's obvious that he's got a good thing going here. Or people would just cancel like I did with the Rockwell Model T; which is what funded my Karve purchase.

I purchased one on June 2, I am a little disappointed it hasn't shipped. However based on the reviews, the price, and the fact it is a very small business I will patiently wait. With such high demand it wouldn't surprise me to see a price increase in the future. Hopefully once I receive mine, it was worth the wait.

Just as a reference point. I ordered on 5/17 and it took 5 weeks before I got the razor. I think if you guys ordered in early June, there's no surprise that lead time may approach 7 weeks. While I can't nor want to tell you what to do if your order is unduly delayed, I WILL say that this razor is absolutely magic. And I mean AMAZING. SO at least in my opinion, it is totally worth keeping the order. If you are nervous about waiting 7 weeks for an item in this price range, you probably should not have ordered the razor.

Where I DO agree is that communication is very poor and that some common sense measures are not taken. Obviously, new orders should be suspended, customer emails answered and production should be caught up. Then, Chris should produce ahead of the curve a little and reopen orders once fully caught up. This is really common sense stuff. IF I got a dollar for every time a company with a fantastic product went out of business due to its lack of customer service, I would be a multi-billionaire.

Just as a reference point. I ordered on 5/17 and it took 5 weeks before I got the razor. I think if you guys ordered in early June, there's no surprise that lead time may approach 7 weeks. While I can't nor want to tell you what to do if your order is unduly delayed, I WILL say that this razor is absolutely magic. And I mean AMAZING. SO at least in my opinion, it is totally worth keeping the order. If you are nervous about waiting 7 weeks for an item in this price range, you probably should not have ordered the razor.

Where I DO agree is that communication is very poor and that some common sense measures are not taken. Obviously, new orders should be suspended, customer emails answered and production should be caught up. Then, Chris should produce ahead of the curve a little and reopen orders once fully caught up. This is really common sense stuff. IF I got a dollar for every time a company with a fantastic product went out of business due to its lack of customer service, I would be a multi-billionaire.

The razor may indeed be fabulous and all  that... I do not know.  If he has obligations (which he does) and took money with expectations on a time line, then that should take priority --- everyone needs a "Two week holiday" but complete your obligations first or DO NOT take money when you cant deliver.

Also, a refund before he leaves will be a determining factor for a future purchase.

One wet shaver I watch on YouTube (Another Cut Above) has offered to send Chris an e-mail on behalf of anyone who is waiting for info on the status of their razor and Chris pretty much always responds to him. That's both a good and a bad thing, as it means he's not prioritising regular people just placing their orders. I sent him an e-mail when I first ordered the razor and received no response, though I did find out more when ACA sent the guy an e-mail and got a response. I'm a bit baffled as to why he isn't responding to all of you though, it's not good customer service.

One wet shaver I watch on YouTube (Another Cut Above) has offered to send Chris an e-mail on behalf of anyone who is waiting for info on the status of their razor and Chris pretty much always responds to him. That's both a good and a bad thing, as it means he's not prioritising regular people just placing their orders. I sent him an e-mail when I first ordered the razor and received no response, though I did find out more when ACA sent the guy an e-mail and got a response. I'm a bit baffled as to why he isn't responding to all of you though, it's not good customer service.

Totally agree. But saying that ACA has pretty much advertised (for free) the Karve razor with constant featured YouTube videos, and most of these influx of orders has been a result of his extreme high praise for the razor. He's a good seller, I'll give him that

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One wet shaver I watch on YouTube (Another Cut Above) has offered to send Chris an e-mail on behalf of anyone who is waiting for info on the status of their razor and Chris pretty much always responds to him. That's both a good and a bad thing, as it means he's not prioritising regular people just placing their orders. I sent him an e-mail when I first ordered the razor and received no response, though I did find out more when ACA sent the guy an e-mail and got a response. I'm a bit baffled as to why he isn't responding to all of you though, it's not good customer service.

Totally agree. But saying that ACA has pretty much advertised (for free) the Karve razor with constant featured YouTube videos, and most of these influx of orders has been a result of his extreme high praise for the razor. He's a good seller, I'll give him that

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I was just about to post the same thing. Chris (another cut above) is a well respected YouTuber for all things wetshaving. His praise for the razor has most definitely increases the sales, I would think.

This reminds me a lot of the teeth grinding about a recently popular soap artisan.

Id agree that a lot of this could be avoided with some basic customer service and carefully crafted communication to customers.

I can see why it's tempting for a new business to accept orders. Obviously you want as many customers as possible. But as we are starting to see most businesses get one crack at a customer. If you upset them there is enough competition that they'll go elsewhere.

In terms of the communication, I think it's a huge customer service blunder to discuss one's vacation plans in the context of a delay in order fulfillment. I certainly don't begrudge someone for taking vacation time but in my line of work the work comes first. This is generally even more the case for a nascent business venture. It's just not a good look and it wasn't necessary to even say it. The same could be said of any longer term product development. It's just not the right time to engage customers in that dialog when it's not possible to meet current demand. I understand the sentiment and with carefully crafted communication about the business's priority it could be OK. But it seems needlessly risky to me since it's obviously not possible to execute on the strategy anyway.

Having said all that, I am sympathetic to the situation. I personally would not cancel an order over this but I do understand the frustration. It can take a little while for people to figure it out ND get properly scaled to handle unexpected demand.