Stirling Soap 316 Stainless Steel Razor

Yes, according to a Facebook post from Rod yesterday, a disaster has occurred. Apparently the machining company he used decided to take a shortcut on cost, violate their agreement, and have the razors engraved in China. Rod was very displeased about this since they are supposed to be entirely made in the USA. This will nullify that and also bring in some legal issues with them saying "Made the USA" on them. Long story short, he's not going to sell the razors as is and it's back to the starting line. I'm sure he's out a ton of money. It's such a shame because Rod is a great guy and is not deserving of this type of setback. I really hope there is some legal recourse to be done. I think the machine shop should have to redo all 300 of the razors and have them properly engraved here in the US like they should have been.

Depending on what the contract says, there should be recourse but that always costs money.  There is also the question of how much of Stirling's money does the machine shop already have and are they going to just give it back if Rod chooses to go elsewhere.  The issue is obviously the integrity of the machine shop, ie, they have none.  Even if Rod goes somewhere else and gets the product he wants, there is still the issue of 300 Chinese made razors with Stirling Soap Co. Made in the USA etched on them floating around - what are the odds that a contractor with the scruples of the one he originally chose will just chuck those in the scrap metal bin? Rod will have to make an obvious design change to allow the real razors to be distinguished from the fakes.  What a mess.  I'm reminded of the Rockwell experience in their early days but I think this might be even messier.

That’s crazy. He’s trying to support a US company, then they outsource to China. That’s shocking. I wouldn’t have thought a company would do that. They must not have much pride, or morals.

You said it man - Rod was obviously paying more to have the razor made in USA and the machine shop was willing to look him in the eye and say OK, take his money and still outsource it to China just to make even more money than they already were under the agreement.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of the profit motive but I'm assuming the price originally quoted included a reasonable profit on a made in USA product so to turn around and do exactly what you know your customer did not want and had contracted with you to not do is low.

Now some Chinese company will launch the same design for less $$$???

I hope this doesn't happen!

Now some Chinese company will launch the same design for less $$$???

I hope this doesn't happen!

There's already 300 of them made and they can undercut the razor that Stirling eventually gets made in the USA while claiming that its exactly the same - or selling it as if it is authentic.  Its a mess and the only way to ensure that those razors don't turn up on the market is for Stirling to take delivery of them and destroy them but then he'd have to pay the full price.  There is of Course the legal process but that can be frustrating and expensive especially when you're dealing with an unprincipled rogue.  The self-help remedy is often the most effective.

Maybe the shop could make 300 new heads, they could still use the handle and baseplates from the original batch.

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My mistake. I must have read the post too quickly and thought they were only engraved in China. This is even worse that the entire job was done there.

Good news guys. According to Rod the manufacturer has settled with Stirling Soap and it won't cost them any money. In addition the shop has agreed to destroy the 300 razors made in China. Rod is in the process of contracting with another shop. Lets hope this will run smoothly with no hitches.

This is terrible and I feel really bad for Rod. I’d honestly buy one just to help him recoup his loss and I’ll buy an American made one on the next run.

If QA/QC is good on them he should just sell them as “made in China” so he at least has control over where they end up and how they are marketed.

I’d also like to know the name of the machine shop that did this.

Good news guys. According to Rod the manufacturer has settled with Stirling Soap and it won't cost them any money. In addition the shop has agreed to destroy the 300 razors made in China. Rod is in the process of contracting with another shop. Lets hope this will run smoothly with no hitches.

That's great news for Rod. Still curious how he found out and how you stop the company in China from making a copy now........It would also be hard to trust an untrustworthy company to destroy the razors....

Good news guys. According to Rod the manufacturer has settled with Stirling Soap and it won't cost them any money. In addition the shop has agreed to destroy the 300 razors made in China. Rod is in the process of contracting with another shop. Lets hope this will run smoothly with no hitches.

In other words another long wait! 

Good news guys. According to Rod the manufacturer has settled with Stirling Soap and it won't cost them any money. In addition the shop has agreed to destroy the 300 razors made in China. Rod is in the process of contracting with another shop. Lets hope this will run smoothly with no hitches.

That's great news for Rod. Still curious how he found out and how you stop the company in China from making a copy now........It would also be hard to trust an untrustworthy company to destroy the razors....

I agree very hard to stop China from doing anything.