Karve Diem

[DSR]

Q&A on Karve Instagram account last night, I just watched it now on Instagram (go to their Instagram account, the profile pic has a little play symbol at the bottom, click on it...).
Chris and Jack taking live questions from Instagram users.

Interesting to watch...
I’ve seen a photo of Chris somewhere in the past, but that’s the first time I’ve seen him in a video. Looks like a nice and very modest guy.

Anyway...
They obviously did address the delay in shipping SS razors. It comes down to the passivation process.
They didn’t clearly say that, but it sounds like they had enough SS parts manufactured for the orders they took, but those parts hadn't gone through the passivation process, and that hasn’t gone as expected.
The razors were functionally OK, but he wasn’t entirely happy with the aesthetics.
So he’s reverted back to a different passivation process which he had used in some earlier prototypes.
He’s been doing some more tests last week, topcaps OK, now testing the process on handles and baseplates, etc, and hopes to be able to start shipping at the end of this week.

They did mention several times when answering various questions during the discussion that quality and quality control is number 1, which I guess most people here already knew.
And which explains the delay.... he is a perfectionist....

He also talked briefly about his shop and his “crew”. It’s Chris, another full time employee, and two part time employees, so usually three people in the shop most days, so a small team.

He did touch on other things, titanium and copper razors, more brushes, etc, but he did say repeatedly that he is only focusing on the SS razor at present, and everything else is in the future.

 

[ackvil]

Q&A on Karve Instagram account last night, I just watched it now on Instagram (go to their Instagram account, the profile pic has a little play symbol at the bottom, click on it...).
Chris and Jack taking live questions from Instagram users.

Interesting to watch...
I’ve seen a photo of Chris somewhere in the past, but that’s the first time I’ve seen him in a video. Looks like a nice and very modest guy.

Anyway...
They obviously did address the delay in shipping SS razors. It comes down to the passivation process.
They didn’t clearly say that, but it sounds like they had enough SS parts manufactured for the orders they took, but those parts hadn't gone through the passivation process, and that hasn’t gone as expected.
The razors were functionally OK, but he wasn’t entirely happy with the aesthetics.
So he’s reverted back to a different passivation process which he had used in some earlier prototypes.
He’s been doing some more tests last week, topcaps OK, now testing the process on handles and baseplates, etc, and hopes to be able to start shipping at the end of this week.

They did mention several times when answering various questions during the discussion that quality and quality control is number 1, which I guess most people here already knew.
And which explains the delay.... he is a perfectionist....

He also talked briefly about his shop and his “crew”. It’s Chris, another full time employee, and two part time employees, so usually three people in the shop most days, so a small team.

He did touch on other things, titanium and copper razors, more brushes, etc, but he did say repeatedly that he is only focusing on the SS razor at present, and everything else is in the future.

Thanks for the update. For the life of me, I don't know why he didn't say something either via email or on his own website.

 

[DSR]

Thanks for the update. For the life of me, I don't know why he didn't say something either via email or on his own website.

Exactly...
That’s why I was saying earlier that he was letting himself down again because of suboptimal communication, like last year....
It’s good that he’s done this now, but he could have avoided some of the frustration and bad publicity by coming out with an email newsletter or Instagram post explaining the issue a couple of weeks ago, when he first realised...
Some people will be unhappy regardless, but I suspect most of his customers will understand and accept the delay and the apology once they know what’s going on.

 

[trashcanmagic]

I dont get it.

If he is having them passivated domestically, it'd be extremely unlikely that he'd get different results from run to run. But even then, why would you take pre-orders before you had samples that FULLY matched the production workflow in hand that you had OK'd, because that's what that sounds like.

 

[DSR]

I dont get it.

If he is having them passivated domestically, it'd be extremely unlikely that he'd get different results from run to run. But even then, why would you take pre-orders before you had samples that FULLY matched the production workflow in hand that you had OK'd, because that's what that sounds like.

He didn’t go into details, so not sure...
He obviously did some tests with earlier prototypes using one passivation process/ technology and was happy with results.
Then decided to change to a different technology for the final product, and mentioned that he believed the vendors who assured him it was going to work reliably and easily, only to realise at the last minute that wasn’t the case, and having to revert to previous process.
But yes, it does sound like he took preorders before all the parts in stock had gone through the passivation process, or at least enough of them to ensure it was good enough for what he needed...

 

[Bakker1964]

Exactly...
That’s why I was saying earlier that he was letting himself down again because of suboptimal communication, like last year....
It’s good that he’s done this now, but he could have avoided some of the frustration and bad publicity by coming out with an email newsletter or Instagram post explaining the issue a couple of weeks ago, when he first realised...
Some people will be unhappy regardless, but I suspect most of his customers will understand and accept the delay and the apology once they know what’s going on.

If he had posted the reason for the delay on his site, or as a bulk email to all orders that had been confirmed, I doubt anyone would have said a word. Karve has garnered a well-earned reputation for quality, after all. Sadly, it has also gotten a bit of a rep for these kinds of communication lapses. C'est la vie.

 

[roosty]

I’d just like to get the PEEK razor I ordered in early April (and a C OC plate).
Emails, FB post and messenger inquiries went unanswered for weeks.
I won’t be ordering anything from Karve again.
I’m patient but don’t ignore me once you have my money and I was by no means incessant or the like. I didn’t bother with asking “hey, what about that razor I ordered” until after 5 or 6 weeks after I paid for it.
It’s called courtesy and I guess it’s not so common.

 

[SaddleSC]

I’d just like to get the PEEK razor I ordered in early April (and a C OC plate).
Emails, FB post and messenger inquiries went unanswered for weeks.
I won’t be ordering anything from Karve again.
I’m patient but don’t ignore me once you have my money and I was by no means incessant or the like. I didn’t bother with asking “hey, what about that razor I ordered” until after 5 or 6 weeks after I paid for it.
It’s called courtesy and I guess it’s not so common.

I am super frustrated with the Karve stainless steel launch as well. He has managed to actually create a worse customer service experience than when he launched the brass version. I have emailed him 4-5 times in the last year and received only one reply.

He constantly over-promises and under-delivers on his timetables. What is most frustrating is that he posted on Instagram that he realizes customer service is very important and he has hired a person to be in charge of communications while he takes care of the manufacturing side. Yet...nothing has changed. Same old BS...different day.

If he is having problems with the finish on the top caps, just post that on Instagram or send a quick email blast to all the pre-orders keeping us in the loop. I am not sure how he can be so clueless when it comes to keeping people informed.

I am not upset about the delay. People in the wet shaving community are typically a patient bunch and are willing to play these games to get the next best thing. However, I am irritated with the complete lack of communication from Karve. A simple email would suffice. Not sure how he can be so dense.

 

[Shavemd]

Brian at Charcoal Goods is a one man show and he has always responded within a day or so to email questions and you can call Matt directly at Timeless and he is always helpful

 

[Earcutter]

Brian at Charcoal Goods is a one man show and he has always responded within a day or so to email questions and you can call Matt directly at Timeless and he is always helpful

Ouch...

 

[Shavemd]

Ouch...

I apologize it wasn’t meant as an insult , just an example that it can be done.

 

[SaddleSC]

Brian at Charcoal Goods is a one man show and he has always responded within a day or so to email questions and you can call Matt directly at Timeless and he is always helpful

That is my experience as well. Brian at Charcoal is amazing to work with and always goes the extra mile to ensure that his customers are happy. I have also emailed a few times with Matt at Timeless and it is the same deal. I always get a reply promptly and the customer service is top notch.

 

[nav]

I'd be willing to bet Karve sells many more razors than charcoal goods.

 

[MTG Jr]

I'd be willing to bet Karve sells many more razors than charcoal goods.

But do they actually ship them?

(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)

 

[SaddleSC]

I'd be willing to bet Karve sells many more razors than charcoal goods.

And I would be willing to bet that Timeless sells many more razors than Karve or Charcoal.

None of which excuses the behavior of creating a belief in a customer's mind that a certain number of razors/parts were ready to ship at the time the order was placed and then, when that turns out not to be the case, completely ignoring all inquiries to customer service. This was not a preorder. It was a product launch, where Chris posted on Instagram many times that he was producing a nice inventory of parts to avoid the shipping delays that had been experienced in the past.

As I said before, I would be perfectly happy if they would just post on their Instagram to keep customers abreast of any shipping/production delays. But they never do that. It is like pulling teeth to get any information. Communication always goes into complete blackout with Karve and as much as I love their product, I have just about had it with the company.

 

[nav]

And I would be willing to bet that Timeless sells many more razors than Karve or Charcoal.

None of which excuses the behavior of creating a belief in a customer's mind that a certain number of razors/parts were ready to ship at the time the order was placed and then, when that turns out not to be the case, completely ignoring all inquiries to customer service. This was not a preorder. It was a product launch, where Chris posted on Instagram many times that he was producing a nice inventory of parts to avoid the shipping delays that had been experienced in the past.

As I said before, I would be perfectly happy if they would just post on their Instagram to keep customers abreast of any shipping/production delays. But they never do that. It is like pulling teeth to get any information. Communication always goes into complete blackout with Karve and as much as I love their product, I have just about had it with the company.

I see many more Karve razors in SOTD (if we take that as a sample) than timeless.

I ordered my brass Karve, it took weeks to get a confirmation/shipping but already knowing about their lack of communication, it didn't bother me much.

I suppose if it was my first DE razor, switching from carts, I may have been disappointed to wait so long to try a DE razor. I'm quite sure majority of us that have preferred a Karve already have other razor(s) to use while we wait

I'm not saying your wrong in your expectation. We all handle situations in our own ways.

Hopefully Jack joining Karve will improve things on the communication front and be as perfect as the razor itself

 

[AQU]

It would appear this Jack guy just wanted some kind of in to the industry?

He would have sent an email by now if he was half competent at customer service/relations.

And before anyone says “well they did a video on Instagram”... not all your customers have Instagram.

Two weeks and nothing shipped yet or contact made.

 

[MTG Jr]

In an Instagram post on June 28 he said, “Thank you so much for your support!!! The release was a success and we are busy getting the orders ready to ship. ...”

So, how do you define a successful release? Obviously he has a different definition of what makes a successful release than do many of his customers.

 

[AJSharp]

Brian at Charcoal Goods is a one man show and he has always responded within a day or so to email questions and you can call Matt directly at Timeless and he is always helpful

I would also add another one man artisan in Peter of Wolf Whiskers making custom brushes one at a time & always available for customer service.

 

[tim33z]

Just got my shipping notice now