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Showing 1 of 10 conversations about:
VDK Talisman M390 Titanium Frame Lock Knife
william084
16
Apr 24, 2020
This is an unauthorized sales of these knives. I know the man that makes them. These were not approved for sale.
Laxnerd213
226
Apr 24, 2020
william084How is it possible it could get to the point where we are joining this drop if none of this was authorized to begin with?
And who do I need to start blaming? I'm serious in that I need to know who went behind whose back here? Is this on Drop? WE? VDK?
I'm obviously disappointed but wouldnt want to purchase a product that was not authorized by the designer or maker (which are two independent entities in this case which are both well respected for all I know)
I'm absolutely shocked that it could get this far though without approval. To the point where people are expecting to be charged in 5 days on a legitimate site that already even has an estimated ship date (and yeah I know jts a drop estimate that sometimes isnt even close to the real ship date).
I mean did WE and Drop make a deal behind Vlads back? I knew the price was extremely good for a knife like this produced by WE.
(Edited)
william084
16
Apr 24, 2020
Laxnerd213Here is what he said to me. "For anyone wondering, this was done without my approval. I’m currently working on figuring out how to go about this and have taken action. But too make this short. Basically these are the defective knives that didn’t pass my quality control. Please do not pre order or buy it as this doesn’t represent my brand and it was done without my approval or consent. I will post more information soon." -Vlad Domozhirov
Omniseed
1972
Apr 25, 2020
Laxnerd213yeah sounds weird
Laxnerd213
226
Apr 25, 2020
OmniseedBeyond weird. What are you thinking man? I'm not cancelling til I know more, but I'd feel alot more confident if someone from Drop would comment on this and let us know what exactly we are purchasing.
Beyond that I dont know what to think, but I really respect your taste and opinion and would love to know what you are thinking here
(Edited)
Omniseed
1972
Apr 25, 2020
Laxnerd213I don't know what to think, but I already passed on the Fractal for this, so I'm leaving my order in for now
william084
16
Apr 25, 2020
OmniseedIf you follow or know the maker you should be able to find it quick. Facebook is his main thing and others.
Omniseed
1972
Apr 25, 2020
william084His Bladeforums account is mega inactive- https://www.bladeforums.com/members/vdkco.470522/
and his Facebook page didn't show any relevant posts either. For those of us who don't personally know the designer is there a more, um, clear and direct link you can provide?
william084
16
Apr 25, 2020
Omniseedhttps://www.facebook.com/groups/1651513838494793
Omniseed
1972
Apr 25, 2020
william084haven't logged into facebook in years and I'm not about to do it now, oh well I guess you tried to warn me
Gunmonkey
26
Apr 25, 2020
Laxnerd213It wasn’t WE
Gunmonkey
26
Apr 25, 2020
Laxnerd213He said it wasn’t WE in his IG post
Gunmonkey
26
Apr 25, 2020
Laxnerd213
Laxnerd213
226
Apr 25, 2020
GunmonkeyThanks. I'm throughly disappointed with massdrop/Drop on this one. What really scares me is how many other Drops might fit the same bill as this. How many times have they knowingly listed seconds as originals? And how many times have I bought those knives? I'll have to say most of the knives I have purchased from here do not appear to be seconds.
I'm not defending them as I absolutely believe my Kizer Rattler purchased for $100 flat was a second. Something was just slightly off with the clip from the get go.
The sad thing is do believe it's okay to sell a factory second at a discounted price, but you have to make the buyer aware its a second. Spyderco has thousands of people travel to golden and camp out each year for their factory seconds. But people know what they are buying. Blade Runner Systems (on their official website) even sells some of the production models that may or may not have the COO on the blade. Their large Thresher is normally $189 but they sell the full functioning production version @$139 or so. My point is it's okay to sell a second, but the buyer should always know what hes getting.
I dont know if Drop ever made a comment on this one which really disappoints me. Just cancelling the drop is not a good enough explanation for me.
I'm still waiting on two knives from here and absolutely believe some of the best steals I have ever gotten in the knife world have come from this site. I also love their We and Reate made knives. But I certainly wish someone would have least provided an explanation.
Whether or not I'll continue to shop here is a question I just cant answer at this moment. But I'm definitely disappointed all around
I also want to say thank you to Vlad and all the people who made us aware.
(Edited)
method_burger
563
Apr 28, 2020
Gunmonkeybestech just posted a response on their instagram.
this is gonna get messy.
Omniseed
1972
Apr 29, 2020
method_burgerYeah. Honestly based on what was said and how it's played out so far, it sounds like Vlad pitched a fit over basically nothing but asymmetrical grinds. I would have stayed in the drop knowing that it was just a cosmetic issue.
method_burger
563
Apr 29, 2020
Omniseedi think theres 2 main issues, QC and business.
the only major QC issue i saw was that messed up pivot. i dont particularly care if the grinds are uneven that much and that plunge is certainly ugly as heck, but that pivot would be a nightmare to fix by hand. blade symmetry is important in terms of looks, but if it is manufactured, i'm willing to overlook a few flaws at sub 200$ as long as the knife performs as intended. But if, say the knives that were ground 'fatter' had slicing issues (4 degrees obtuse can affect the slicing capabilities of a knife), then that would be a performance issue, which needs to be fixed (which i'm betting is the case, because it looks like a wider blade, so poor geometry will have a greater impact on performance). also irregular grinds, if done correctly, actually perform better
business issue was, compete lack of communication and transparency. that hurts everyone, maker, oem, distributor, customer. vdk was thinking too much about his reputation, bestech was thinking too much about making a buck, and massdrop wasn't thinking and just went with the flow. (not to blame massdrop, they were blindsighted)
what wouldve been better was: bestech paid vdk for any materials they bought from him. reground all manufactured knives to a compeltely different design, and sold those as their own brand/design to recoup any losses. in the meantime, rework or just cancel the contract
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