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Bill Kelso. Whats happening?

HeliPilot23

New Member
I ordered and fully paid for an A-2 jacket over a month ago. I confirmed my measurements, and heard nothing for weeks. I then got a reply that they dont check emails for a couple weeks at a time. How does a company plan on keeping customers if they are incapable of communicating with the people that give them over a thousand dollars per order? I have never heard of a business model that is structured around taking a customers money and then maybe getting back to them if they decide to make the time to do so.

Is anyone else experiencing this? I am truly perplexed and frustrated.

I still have no idea if the jacket is in production, or when it will even begin to be placed into production.

Does anyone have a phone number for them that I can call?

Thoughts? Thank you
 
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Edward

Well-Known Member
the best of the best A-2 makers are like this. they are made by hand by a select few trained craftsmen and they have backorders.... if you think that wait is long try ordering from John Chapman (GoodwearLeather Co.). His jackets are arguably the pinnacle of perfection but you may wait one and even up to 2 years for one and also, not get any communication. (one man operation) ELC is top notch... big demand... skilled workers.... but they get so many orders... you will just have to be patient. I was lucky and got an ELC through the US distributor with my choice and size already in stock (historypreservations) but if they don't have your size or your maker choice then they wait for ELC to ship to them and they too wait... the only other option is second hand but your measurements are unlikely to come up so you wait in that line too! LOL!
 

zhz44

Active Member
Unlike Aero and ELC, BK is run by a small group of people with only one man working on customer service. So, it takes time to hear from them. And same for GW, I am still waiting for his reply about some questions I sent early last year. But no worries, they will deliver your jacket, and I am 99.99% sure you will say it is worth to wait.
 

dinomartino1

Well-Known Member
I wonder how many other consumers buying expensive items would put up with the pathetic customer service we have to put up with with some makers.
Fair enough you are told in adavance that you might have to wait and you agree to that but but not replying to emails is unacceptable whatever the excuses.
If someone takes your money they should have the common decency to reply to a customers query.

I wonder how BK would react if his main sewing machine broke down and he had it get it repaired.
The problem is there are only five people who can fix it and he gets the same response from all of them, "Well I can fix it but you have pay me now and I will do the repair when I get the time and I will reply to your emails but I only check them one a week and even so I may not reply for months, if I answer everyone enquires I won't get any work done"
 
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Officer Dibley

Well-Known Member
Well put. I had to wait 18 months for a custom made knife by a one-man operation. I knew that in advance. He NEVER failed to answer my emails promptly. Of course i ordered my knife and didn’t keep vacillating over changing what i wanted...... i just needed to know where i was in the queue and if the time was stretching out for any reason. In fact, the smaller the business, the more time they have to answer emails.
When i was self employed i spent evenings doing my catching up. You have to live your business and not work 9-5.
 

Julius

Active Member
If you read this thread here
you will learn that Goodwear's button hole machine was damaged and he could not fix it for a long time, months.

If you had a jacket on order with him and he was delaying, would you expect him to tell you the reasons why he is delaying e.g. that his machine broke down and that he doesn't know if/when he can fix it? If he told you that, wouldn't you panic and immediately want a refund? If so then why would he tell you? And if he cannot tell you that then what other reason would he have to come up with to explain the delay so that you do not worry? and then again why would he lie? So, the answer is maybe not to tell you anything, i.e. postpone his reply to you. OK you have an order with him but he is not obliged to tell you what kind of problems he is facing. It's your money, but that is not your business. So I 'd say we better leave those guys alone and not push them so that they can do what they do best.
 

dinomartino1

Well-Known Member
[
If you read this thread here
you will learn that Goodwear's button hole machine was damaged and he could not fix it for a long time, months.

If you had a jacket on order with him and he was delaying, would you expect him to tell you the reasons why he is delaying e.g. that his machine broke down and that he doesn't know if/when he can fix it? If he told you that, wouldn't you panic and immediately want a refund? If so then why would he tell you? And if he cannot tell you that then what other reason would he have to come up with to explain the delay so that you do not worry? and then again why would he lie? So, the answer is maybe not to tell you anything, i.e. postpone his reply to you. OK you have an order with him but he is not obliged to tell you what kind of problems he is facing. It's your money, but that is not your business. So I 'd say we better leave those guys alone and not push them so that they can do what they do best.

You give somebody a large sum of many and then what happens after that is none of your business, I cannot understand that logic.
The original post was about not replying to emails and that is simply unacceptable.
If there is a delay I would expect to be told why, that is hardly unreasonable and is actually normal business practice.
And I would expect a refund if I wanted one if a jacket was not completed in the agreed time.
So by your reasoning it is okay for a business to take someones money and then all the moral and ethical responsibility of the business ends, sorry I can't agree.
 
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