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

Hate to be the bearer of bad news but, "in stock" means something completely different to Chris than it does to us!! There is no such thing in the Karve world... You'll be waiting a couple months just like everyone else he said something was in stock!!

I guess that is okay if I had any assurance that I will get it at all ! 

Anyone get the Razor Armor case? If so, what do you think?

Eric, a scentsless shaver

Getting anything from this guy is a long drawn out process. I paid for 'in stock' polished stainless DE and as of today all I've gotten was a confirmation of the order.

I received email confirmation of the situation. There were no completed, ready to ship razors in stock as of Black Friday. So, what were all the freshly-made razors being proudly shown on Karve’s social media sites in the days leading up to BF/CM, I asked. Well, it turns out the razors had been manufactured, but they hadn’t yet been finished.  Oh, so finishing is a distinctly different process from manufacturing? Well shame on me for not realizing that. As of the on sale date of BF, the razors we all ordered still needed to be bead blasted and passivated. And that takes time, is a manual process, one-man shop, and all. So, here we are....once again waiting on razors that we thought were actually in stock and ready to ship as soon as we paid for them. Oh, well.....fool me once, shame on....shame on you. Fool me....you can’t get fooled again!

Well ... to make matters worse ... his announcement of polished stainless razors, IIRC, said they would be finished by hand ! I've got some experience with high polishing metals. That with abrasives and buffers. If he is really finishing these by hand, without machinery ... I can't imagine it being on par with Wolfman, or anyone using the normal finishing procedures. Anyway, if I don't have a shipping confirmation by the time 30 days is up I'll file a dispute and get my $ back.

Here is a post from Karve Shaving Co. on their Instagram account. Notice how there really isn't much of an emphasis on parts or razors being readily available or making a point of telling potential customers that razors are being manufactured and what one is really doing is just acting upon a pre order? Especially for the Stainless Steel polished version. There are no apologies, no excuse me's or at least a single mention that razors (SS versions) are still being finalized.

I love their Brass razor as I have 2 of them but, this lack of transparency or just the lackadaisical reaction of being up front and honest has deterred me from being a recurring customer and show brand loyalty. Not good is putting it lightly.

From their Instagram post below:

We are absolutely blown away by your support over the BFCM period. We had modest expectations and you all easily exceeded them. We would like to thank each and every one of you who purchased something from our store.

As many of you know, razor production has been increasing steadily, but lately, the demand is pulling harder than ever. We’re feeling the pressure, which we’re grateful for, but we’re also working hard to get ahead of it.

The manual tasks are where most of the effort goes. Tasks like deburring, polishing, and blasting require skill and focus for consistency and quality. To overcome the bottleneck, we’re working to automate those tasks into processes that are performed by machinery. Basically, there’s not enough time in the day to get all the work skilled work done, so we’re building robots to do it for us.

We’re also building bigger fixtures so that the machines can run into the night. We’ve dabbled with this in the past, but the variety of processes made it difficult to implement at the time. We’re now at the point where we’re ready for the change, so expect increased production in the new year.
Stay tuned for pics on this...we’re excited and we want to share our progress!

As far as shipping fulfilment goes, we are working tirelessly to ensure that parts are manufactured as quickly as they can, but it's imperative to us that it's balanced with maintaining the highest quality.

We want everyone who has an open order to know that your business is incredibly important to us and we will do all we can to get your order out to you as soon as possible.

If you have any questions regarding anything, please send us an email and Jack will get back to you.

Again, thank you so much.

Thanks for the update GlazedBoker One would think they would post the same on Facebook. I cannot say I like it, but at least it is better than no response at all. I don't think I emailed, but I did message on FB and received no reply ... twice. Anyway ... all good things come to he who waits ... unless he has to wait too long ... 

Thanks for the update GlazedBoker One would think they would post the same on Facebook. I cannot say I like it, but at least it is better than no response at all. I don't think I emailed, but I did message on FB and received no reply ... twice. Anyway ... all good things come to he who waits ... unless he has to wait too long ... 

I hear ya. It’s a shame really when you think about it. The company manufactures and delivers a very fine razor with impeccable tolerances and finish. And the performance is top notch, regardless of price range and artistic razor beauty. It’s almost like Karve is so fixated in producing a superb product that they have inherently created their own tunnel vision so to speak. All efforts are on producing near perfection in looks and performance, the customer satisfaction part or more importantly, on time delivery with established consistency is severely lacking. Sort of like when an artist is working on his canvas, sometimes you need to step back and take a whole long look at the whole picture to get a feel of where that artist wants to head to. You focus on a particular item or figure and you lose focus on the other important looks and facets in the foreground. You become blind or ignorant to other things that contribute as a whole to make the picture or work of art pleasing to the eye, heart and soul. Same thing here. You love the product for what it does and looks but, can’t comprehend  everything else that is involved in it because as a specific item you see the beauty in it but, dislike or are not content with everything else that fills it in. That being customer service, order fulfillment and just an honest approach in keeping customers informed on the actual process. When Karve announced the introduction of the SS polished razor for sale, there was no mention that it was still being produced or needed a few more steps to complete the razors and therefore finishing the product. It did say “In Stock” on their website. Not a pre sale/order but, one was thinking that these razors are set and ready to go. Even stating that the razors are a limited quantity release if I remember correctly.

Almost feels like a bait and switch tactic to lure one in. Then, at the end leak out little bits of info that you did order one but, the razor still has a ways to go down the road before it’s set. You’re going to get one one, just not right away. Dangling a carrot in front of you to only have it just out of reach to make one go the extra mile and be rewarded at the end. Not a good business practice to lay a foundation and build customer loyalty. Good way to build frustration and turn off loyal customers and potential new ones.....

In earnest, I hope they get their stuff together and come to the realization that a good product tethered to timely product fulfillment will produce customer satisfaction and cement their brand in the wet shaving market. Going contrary to that just only spells potential disaster and can ultimately lead to another artisan closing their doors out of the simplest but, perhaps most dangerous action that a business can commit. Customer neglect. And a narrow minded focus of ignoring the cardinal rule of customer satisfaction is a recipe for failure.

Having Karve in business is a benefit to us all in this market as razors are more competitively priced fighting for ones hard earned $$$. Competition brings parity and quality goods across the board for all those involved. Keeping my fingers crossed that they’ll get it together sooner rather than later...

My opinion. If I were Karve I'd quit promising on Instagram and Facebook. This facebook messaging thing is a sad way to do business. Just go through the many emails in a transparent, honest, methodical manner. Quit the tease and go with the facts. It's the hallmark of customer service.
-Bill

Any updates on availability of stainless steel parts for the Karve? From anyone anywhere? Anyone? Bueller? (Just being sarcastic) would like to find some updates though.

Here is the answer of December 24th:

I completely understand. The issues we're having aren't down to producing the parts we need to fulfil orders, it's down to finishing those parts. In fact, for all of the orders we have (around 300) all the required parts have been made.

Our razors go through steps during the finishing process that a lot of others don't (passivation being an example of that) and at this moment in time, we're so swamped that we're struggling to find the time to dedicate to solely finishing and because of that - people are waiting a lot longer than we'd like to receive their stuff.

We're in a position where we could sacrifice quality in order to get everything out quickly but that completely goes against the way we want to do things.

Where we appreciate waiting really sucks, we thank you for your patience thus far and assure you that you'll get your item ASAP.

Here is the answer of December 24th:

I completely understand. The issues we're having aren't down to producing the parts we need to fulfil orders, it's down to finishing those parts. In fact, for all of the orders we have (around 300) all the required parts have been made.

Our razors go through steps during the finishing process that a lot of others don't (passivation being an example of that) and at this moment in time, we're so swamped that we're struggling to find the time to dedicate to solely finishing and because of that - people are waiting a lot longer than we'd like to receive their stuff.

We're in a position where we could sacrifice quality in order to get everything out quickly but that completely goes against the way we want to do things.

Where we appreciate waiting really sucks, we thank you for your patience thus far and assure you that you'll get your item ASAP.

I put a google order in with James for a Wolfman on Sept 10. I won't have to pay until I get an invoice.

I put an order in with Brian @ Charcoal Goods for a SS complete Lv 3 on Saturday. Listed as in stock ... went out the same day.

I put an order in for the Karve polished SS complete razor/stand on November 29, 2019. Listed as 'Add to Cart' ... one would assume it was 'in stock' and ready to ship.

On December 29 I emailed Karve threatening to request a refund from Paypal. This is the reply ;

Hi Jimmy,

Chris has started working on them over the weekend,
He hopes to do a big push next week and get them out.

Thank you for your patience.

A helluva way to do business. "Started working on them !" What was he doing between Nov 29 and Dec 29, counting the money ? 

I'll give it another week, then, if I haven't gotten a shipping confirmation I'll file a dispute for a refund. I can get along with my brass Karve.

Here is the answer of December 24th:

I completely understand. The issues we're having aren't down to producing the parts we need to fulfil orders, it's down to finishing those parts. In fact, for all of the orders we have (around 300) all the required parts have been made.

Our razors go through steps during the finishing process that a lot of others don't (passivation being an example of that) and at this moment in time, we're so swamped that we're struggling to find the time to dedicate to solely finishing and because of that - people are waiting a lot longer than we'd like to receive their stuff.

We're in a position where we could sacrifice quality in order to get everything out quickly but that completely goes against the way we want to do things.

Where we appreciate waiting really sucks, we thank you for your patience thus far and assure you that you'll get your item ASAP.

I put a google order in with James for a Wolfman on Sept 10. I won't have to pay until I get an invoice.

I put an order in with Brian @ Charcoal Goods for a SS complete Lv 3 on Saturday. Listed as in stock ... went out the same day.

I put an order in for the Karve polished SS complete razor/stand on November 29, 2019. Listed as 'Add to Cart' ... one would assume it was 'in stock' and ready to ship.

On December 29 I emailed Karve threatening to request a refund from Paypal. This is the reply ;

Hi Jimmy,

Chris has started working on them over the weekend,
He hopes to do a big push next week and get them out.

Thank you for your patience.

A helluva way to do business. "Started working on them !" What was he doing between Nov 29 and Dec 29, counting the money ? 

I'll give it another week, then, if I haven't gotten a shipping confirmation I'll file a dispute for a refund. I can get along with my brass Karve.

Yep, I have a SS and a brass Karve and I had major drama getting the stainless. I love his razors and want the new aluminum one but I feel like they are getting worse and worse with communication instead of the opposite with their rollouts and I am just choosing to not do any more business with them until they start being honest and up front when releasing their razors. When I ordered my SS stuff, I was told they were ready to ship. Needless to say, it took another 2 months before I got it and trying to ask questions about the orders via email or social media is a waste of time. This has happened numerous times to numerous people and it seems as if the products that were sold during Thanksgiving have not shipped either. Bad business!


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Somewhere in this thread I mentioned they did too much too quickly. I’m on their email list and received an end of year note on where they are and where they’re going. The notice goes thru the chronology of brass up to polished silver; with a lot of free form thinking on where they want to go. The aluminum caps had a problem and they were held back. The polishing of the SS is hand done and that takes time. They’re looking at a re design to cover the tabs on the original Karve. There’s too much going on. Hindsight is 20/20 but you remember the plastic razor they worked on, then in the midst of that the Aluminum, then the SS, then the polished SS.
I guess my point is I’m hoping they’ve learned something over the past year on parts availability. The only parts available on a regular basis is the brass. After that it’s a crapshoot.
I’m not saying the plastic and aluminum were wrong, just ill timed. You can’t order a SS razor, or an aluminum razor, or their parts. Moving forward Karve has done brass well. Now do SS well.