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

If I remember the Blackbird is now your top razor or is that still the Weber? Where does the Karve fit in?

The Blackbirds are my most effective and used razors, but my Webers are the most comfortable.  
I am undecided on the Karve razor as I have plates C, D, E and F, and, although all of the plates are quite smooth, plates E & F are the most effective, for me, but I don't find them as comfortable as my Blackbirds, which I prefer more, for some reason.
I can't explain it and see it only as a subjective thing.
I have to say that the Karve razor is the better value if you are contemplating a razor and with the option of the different plates, it has much more variety when considering your shaves.

+1 on the Karve being a better value. I have the Karve 3.5 inch handle and guards AA through D. There is a whole lot of value there and a great deal of flexibility. Additional guards are only $23 US and that is quite a good price for a well machined piece. You also have a choice of handle lengths.

I also have a polished Blackbird but it is a bit more money than the Karve (depending on how many guards you order in addition to the one included with the Karve razor), comes with one handle length and there is no option to vary the base plate. On the other hand, it does shave wonderfully and looks great.

I ordered E & F guards for my Karve to complete my set and have received the form letter as well. For me, it is certainly less frustrating than it would be for someone waiting for their Karve razor.

Got my razor today, ordered on May 24th plates A, B, and C. Razor and plates are totally FLAWLESS!!! Better than my Wolfman! To those that cancelled you made a HUGE mistake. Perfection takes time and he delivered in Spades!!!

Got my razor today, ordered on May 24th plates A, B, and C. Razor and plates are totally FLAWLESS!!! Better than my Wolfman! To those that cancelled you made a HUGE mistake. Perfection takes time and he delivered in Spades!!!

Truly glad you received your razor ...but I am not sure what your point is?

Truly glad you received your razor ...but I am not sure what your point is?

Point is he's happy about a new razor... if you want a place to vent you gotta accept that others get a place to celebrate. Both opinions are valid and I value both of them equally. That's generally what makes a place like this work.

Truly glad you received your razor ...but I am not sure what your point is?

Point is he's happy about a new razor... if you want a place to vent you gotta accept that others get a place to celebrate. Both opinions are valid and I value both of them equally. That's generally what makes a place like this work.

Interesting...

Venting would imply I was angry or upset ...wrong, I was simply sharing my experience ordering from Karve. You see....when you exchange money for a product you enter into a contract, I actually gave him money for a product that he was supposed to make and deliver in a reasonable timeframe. He failed to deliver .... I simply shared my experience in hopes others may consider that when they are deciding rather to make a purchase or not from Chris.

I am sure he makes a great razor ...

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.

Fantastic post. I agree with the majority of that. The thing is, I've got my razor so my sympathies lie with anyone who doesn't. More to the point, it's the lack of personal communication that troubles me. Even just a quick one/two sentence email saying "Apologies about the delay, I hope to fulfill this around X-date" would do wonders for his reputation. Cris at Another Cut Above says that apparently the guy is relatively new to online communication and was blindsided by the whole enterprise taking off so quickly. That said, he's responding to Cris and not to others. That troubles me. He's had a few issues and obviously had that accident, so I think he deserves some understanding for that. To my knowledge though he didn't send out an email stating that he'd had the accident, to relay that information to his customers. Communication is key.

I really do think some suggestions in this thread make sense to me. He should have stopped orders for a few weeks and worked on the ones he got in, and then started them up again with one or two more people involved in the production aspect of it so that this wouldn't happen again. As you say there's the financial aspect of it to look at in that he probably is reluctant to stop orders, but is losing the possibility of repeat business from this worth it?

Better for the business to keep taking orders and let the impatient ones request a refund.
Shutdown taking orders and many will look for another razor to order. A lot of guys just love to place orders for new items and anticipate its delivery, it’s part of the game we play.

Or use the Wolfmann or wolf whiskers model or the charcoal goods method. Have a waitlist and a queue - take the money as the queue order fulfilment comes along.

Having said that i would still give Chris a break as setting up such a system would take time and again consume time to rather make razors. His preference of using WCS would perhaps be a good decision !

Time will tell.

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Or use the Wolfmann or wolf whiskers model or the charcoal goods method. Have a waitlist and a queue - take the money as the queue order fulfilment comes along.

Having said that i would still give Chris a break as setting up such a system would take time and again  consume time to rather make razors. His preference of using WCS would perhaps be a good decision !

Time will tell.

Sent from my MI MAX using Tapatalk

Hmm, Wolfman has a waitlist? Is this new?

He lets people wait that is for his products. As and when listed rush in to buy or wait !!

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