Anybody know Anything about Schmittenhenner?

[MJBlazek]

Schmittenhenner Armory..

I have a friend who ordered a pair of greaves from them back in February. They say they have a 5 to 8 week turnaround.

He hasn't received anything from them yet, not even an email.


Is this a normal thing for this company?



Matt

[NotDukeOlaf2]

Armory hours: 9:00AM -6:00PM EST, Tuesday through Saturday
Contact Email for Orders and product questions: medievalarmorer@yahoo.com Telephone (912) 586-2742
Fax (912) 586-2742
The Schmitthenner Armory

Odum, Georgia USA
We accept all major credit cards!

(912) 586-2742
Type: Land LineProvider: Georgia Alltel TelecommLocation: Odum, GA

(912) 586-2742
Type: Land LineProvider: Georgia Alltel TelecommLocation: Odum, GA

About Us


We are Rhonda and Brawn, two souls who braved the independent business venture through a great deal of adversity with perseverance and steadfast determination.

This is not a sideline or part-time business for us. This is what we do, full time, with all of our energy and with the utmost in dedication. We constantly strive to improve our already excellent products whenever possible.

Our customer base includes SCA combatants, LARPers, medieval faire goers, Opera, University stage and Film ventures, Armour-clad Musicians, and the occasional non- profit collaboration.

Rhonda spends most of her time juggling the care of our two sons, tending to various administrative and clerical tasks and ordering supplies.

Brawn was fortunate in having been born from very talented artistic parents and equally fortunate to find he was grandson to Karoline Gerst (nee Schmitthenner). The name “Schmitthennerâ€

[Atherbridge]

Lovely code of craftmanship, but the most important component is missing: commitment to communicate regularly with customers, either through regularly updated and accurate website progress reports, answering the phone promptly, or responding to emails. Especially if you're explicitly going to delay shipping in order to remake items that aren't up to your brutal standards.

Like many armorers, these seem to be artists who happen to sell things, when they should be businesspeople who are also artists.

[Schmitt]

Schmittenhenner Armory..

I have a friend who ordered a pair of greaves from them back in February. They say they have a 5 to 8 week turnaround.

He hasn't received anything from them yet, not even an email.


Is this a normal thing for this company?



Matt

Could be a lot longer if it was a custom order. Was it?

[dartaghan]

I know it is hard to say three times real fast. Just here to help!

[Charles Alexander]

I had one transaction with them. It was delayed, and I had to resend an email asking for an update repeatedly over a couple months. He got in touch later and apologized, citing the usual delays and overloaded work schedule.

I would say they are honest, just taking the error of too much on their plates.

[Cillene mac Conghalaigh]

I ordered a simple gorget from them and it took forever, 6+ weeks with no communication. I was not impressed to say the least.

[Tom Richardson]

I have had 2 transactions with this armorer. The first time around I was greatly impressed with how it went.

The second transaction was less pleasant. Vastly over the estimated time and difficult to get communication. I did receive what I asked for for the price they quoted me it just took longer than I was told. A lot longer.

Tom R.

[Medieval]

Many people do not understand the difficulty in supplying custom armor, especially cost effective metal armour.

I have worked with this company many times before and know that most cost effective metal armour is made outside the USA. And even the best non-USA companies are rarely timely. Even if they quote a delivery date, I have seldom seen them be reliable. They most frequently qoute a date that they can or do not meet.

Of course you can alway buy from a armour (metal fabracator) in the USA, at about 10 times the cost. Of course you take your chances here too with quality, on time delivery and you will not be able to return problem items. You are stuck with what you get.

I usually expect actual delivery around 6 months at best if I want my armour to be correct and as specified. So this company is doing its best to get products earlier and alway had stood behind what they sell.

This company makes all of the leather products they sell and all of it is of exceptional quality. I would rate this company as one of the best.

[Dierick]

I would say that a slow turnaround is normal with most armourers, however(and not knowing all the details of the situation) almost a year turnaround for a pair of greeves sounds ridiculous.

[Gethin]

Many people do not understand the difficulty in supplying custom armor, especially cost effective metal armour.

While it is difficult to understand the custom armor process ( ),
it far harder to understand the temporary paralysis that affects these businesses when customers ask for an update.
This is a money making venture. One should not be surprised when the people who gave you money start getting pissy at you becouse you have not produced what they paid you for.

[Cat]

Medieval,
I see that you're new here and may not be familiar with this forum yet, but this is one place that people DO understand the difficulty in producing custom armour. We have armourers here ranging from the newest of beginners to some of the very best in the world. Many of us here make armour, and various other handmade items and we understand the problems that go along with hand made custom pieces.

What most of us cannot understand is why a piece takes 3 years when we were quoted 3 months. (Maybe not in this case, but it has certainly happened before - many times over.) We also cannot understand that while they are trying to get your money, they are very easy to get ahold of and respond to your emails/calls in a timely manner, but once they get your money and have gone way past the promised delivery date, they suddenly drop off the face of the planet.

The aggravation and mistrust that ensues is not the fault of the customer, it's the fault of the armourer. A little bit of timely communication goes a long way, and most people here are more than understanding and patient when something comes up. It's when the piece is very late and you can't get the armourer to respond that things start to get bad. Ask around here for stories about people who sent money to an armourer and never got their pieces, and you will have enough reading material to keep you occupied for months. So when something like this pops up, you can't help but wonder if this is a case of another formerly honest armourer gone bad.

Cat

[Magnus of Red Hammer]

I've never bought anything from this company yet, but I must confess that they are the ones who introduced me to the SCA so to speak. Back before I reached the age of reason, I wanted a LARP-ish style leather kit and after finding this site I quickly became impressed with their work. After many visits to their site and seeing that many of their armor bits were "SCA Legal," a quick Google search showed me the world of the SCA and I've never looked back.

All that being said, I've contacted these folks several times with an annoying amount of newbie questions, all of which were answered very quickly and thoroughly. I can give their communication a thumbs up at the very least. I would do business with them in the future.

[Cat]

Having good communication BEFORE money changes hands is one thing, but it's the level of communication AFTER money has been paid that really counts. I think the issue here is that they have stopped communicating with him, and I would say I would give them a thumbs down for that. I've never ordered from them, but I think I would be hesitant to do so if they don't communicate well after the item has been paid for.

Cat

[Schmitthenner]

post deleted

[MJBlazek]

Whoa Whoa Whoa....

Yes you did give them their money back.
Which is very commendable.

But...

While they did not give you a "Need By" date... you quoted them a time-frame... then did not deliver in that time-frame, and did not contact them "immediately" as you say. This post was made 16 weeks after the initial order. More than enough time was given to let you contact, or finish the order.

I contacted you for an order on February 10, 2008 and you responded greatly until February 22, 2008 with four emails all within 10 days. I contacted you again on June 22, 2008 for an update, with No response until July 15th 2008, where you stated a back injury in April had laid you up, and you said you would either finish the order or send my money back. The order was canceled on July 16th 2008, with a statement that there were economic issues that needed the order to be cancelled, you sent the repayment on July 28, 2008 via pay pal.
5 months and 18 days from start to finish.

As for the financial issues...had you delivered in the time frame promised you wouldn't have had to send the money back.

[Schmitthenner]

post deleted

[MJBlazek]

Whoa?
Again, your facts mixed up, Matt. I said once you requested the refund it was sent immediately. I have reviewed the emails between us. Your interpretation of how a custom order should take is speculation, and as I said is outlined on our "Policies" page. Once I stated that there had been a problem in the design and it had been resolved you were still not charged for any work performed, even though we normally charge a non-refundable deposit. We did not quote you a time frame. It seems a though if you where clear about the facts here, you would have not represented yourself as someone else in the first place.

I have not presented myself as someone else.
I placed the order in my name as an intermediary party.
I was paying for this order out of my own funds, and being reimbursed from the interested party.
If this party did not like or decided he did not want the product, I was going to keep them.

I will gladly post every single email (which is date stamped) I sent and that I received from you.

It also seems to me, that there is more than one person on this thread that has been dissatisfied with your business practices.
I even said at the time of the canceled order, that I hoped to be in a position to be able to do business with you at a later time.
After this encounter, I do not think that time will ever come.

[Tancred de Lanvellec]

Man I wish I had that popcorn eating emoticon.

[Woodstock]

Here's three for ya...







BTW - not trying to add to the flames 'n confusion, just posting what was requested.

[Schmitthenner]

post deleted

[Kilkenny]

Just an observation...

June 23, 2008 this thread begins. January 8, 2009 the armourer pipes up.

Might not be the best way to handle something that is, in essence, all about "response time".

[Ingvarr]

Looks to me like he posted the first time in August, then again in November, before revisiting in Junuary. Could be wrong though.

[GregorMacBeathain]

Looks to me like he posted the first time in August, then again in November, before revisiting in Junuary. Could be wrong though.

Could very well, be... under 3 different user names.