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CAR Shavemaster Update 12/29/05 *large pics*

I have posted of my problems with this brush, and more shockingly the retailer with whom sells it in the mod forum, and several fellas have suggested I write up a quick little warning on this brush. It seems as though I am NOT the only one having problems with this brush... in fact I have been receiving several emails/pms in regards to others having problems with the brush. In fact - one fella mentioned he just bought one second hand for $200 from a fella not too thrilled with his shavemaster. Seeing as how there are only 25 of these things out in public according to Charles Roberts - this is very dire news, and speaks quite poorly of the quality of the brush.

Here are the facts....
On an order of more than $400 worth of goods, I included the purchase of a shavemaster. It arrived new, shedding copious amounts of hair every shave. I do not mean the typical new brush shedding a hair or 5, I mean 50-60 hairs would be lost each shave.... my face covered in badger hair, and it becomming caught up in ym razor. Here is some hair I picked off of my face, from the brush 2 days ago, on the brushes 3rd run. Remember...... this is just what I picked off of my face....

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Now here is what I picked off my face yesterday morning - its fourth run.

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Totally absurd... I highly doubt luxury is associated with bristle shed on ones face. It seems as though the amount shedding is reducing, but it is hideous nonetheless. If this went on for 2 months as quoted it may take - I don't know how much brush would be left - even though the knot is packed so densly.

The most absurd, and inexcusable gripe I had with the quality of my shavemaster is the lopsided indentation in the bottom of the brush....

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Please notice - you cannot see the bristles as I hold the brush (it was new, and unused/unbloomed) but this shows I am holding the brush 100% straight on camera. notice it has the DISTINCT appearance of being lopsided, the lower portion is significantly larger than the upper portion, and it also juts out, so that when standing on its handle - bristles to the air, it sits leaning - as if it were the leaning brush of "****master" For a $250 "handmade" brush, this shows some pretty heinous quality control.... would you pay a preimum for handmade shoes if they sent you one of the shoes with a defect in the stiching - so that it looked like a "wave" in one section? Hell no - you buy custom, handmade products for a HIGHER quality, more strickly controlled product. You would have thought the fella "handmaking" this brush would notice that damn thing sits sideways.

Now most horrifying was the response I received when I mentioned the problems/concerns I was having with the brush. Immediatly the validity of my problems was questioned and dismissed, I was treated like a 2 year old, and was "graciously" offered the chance of sending the brush back via UPS to have it repaired.... free of charge. Wait a minute... let's see here for a section.... I had JUST place an order of $400+ worth of goods, I had JUST purchased a BRAND NEW shaving brush that was DEFECTIVE on arrival, the purveyor of the item did NOT wish to see pictures etc I offered up, but sent me a VERY long condescending email about "custom products" which was quite obviously a canned email he has had to send out to many fellas, as it was blatantly obvious it was highly generalized, and was not personalized in the slightest - but I digress. The point being - I paid for a new brush, I received a defective brush, instead of being embarassed that his new "custom" brush he claimed was flawless in the production model was in fact defective, he treats me like crap - tells me to be inconvienienced, find a UPS store, PAY to ship the NEW DEFECTIVE brush to him, wait on my haunches for it to be repaired (all without a shavemaster) and then have him ship the brush back to me. At least 2 weeks without my new brush, only to pay MORE money to get a "repaired" brush when I had purchased a new one? Quite frankly - if they couldn't get it right the first time, the brush was losing copious amounts of hair, the hair was not cut uniformly and looked like a 2 year old got to it with a pair of scissors - and most shockingly the damn handle was slightly lop sided I surely did not trust the manufacture to repair the brush without screwing it up and I didn't want a jalopy brush I had spent $250 on.

LONG story short - I dropped it, just lightly mentioned on the forum I didn't like the solution that was offered, and was simply going to leave it at that. No further words on el ****master. Well I get a wonderful email from Jean (Charles wife) enquiring as to what could be done to satisfy me, etc as she had read on the forum I was not overly enthused with the option presented to me. Well I essentially told her, I was not overly excited about having a brand new brush "repaired" at my inconvienience, etc etc - and mentioned if you buy a product - such as a hamburger and ask for no mayo, and they inadvertantly add mayo - when you bring it to their attention, they do not scrape it off and hand it back to you.... they make you a new one. I also mentioned I was a bit dissapointed, as the prototype shavemaster seemed to work better, and was most certainly built to a higher standard of quality. I also mentioned I was on vacation - and the only shave brush I had was this shavemaster, so being without brush would be quite inconvienient.

Instead of getting a nice response from Jean - I received a HIGHLY offensive email from Charles claiming I was a liar for having said the prototype was better, and it simply digressed from there. After spitting in my face a few times, AFTER HAVING ASKED ME WHAT MY CONCERNS WERE, calling me a liar, and further blaming the problems on me, he offered to finally provide me with a new brush.... BUT I had to send the brush back to him (my cost) and then he would ONLY send me another one after having received my brush. Why in the heck would he do that? Companies that offer CUSTOMER SERVICE send you a new item post haste, and when the UPS man arrives, he has a return shipment box - you immediatly drop the old item in that box, hand it to the UPS man, wham bam - you have a new brush at no inconvienience - without having to pay shipping, and they get the old one back. After placing an order of over $400 - and receiving a faulty product, he had the audacity to insinuate he could not ship a new brush to me without first receiving the old one, as if I would steal his ****master shaving brush.... HE HAS MY CREDIT CARD ON FILE - why in the great gatsby would he need to receive the old one first, and tack on an extra week at minimum to replace the brush? I'll tell you why - there are only 2 logical explination. #1 he would keep the brush and refund my money, and tell me to go pound sand. #2 (and more likely) he would repair the brush as he originally mentioned, then send me the jalopy-repaired brush back.

This is service I would not accept ordering a hamburger at Burger King, and I write the above as a warning to those who wish to do business with this retailer - as quite frankly... these are high end, highly specialized, expensive products - these are not hamburgers. We have many other retailing options, and I recommend you excercise them.

Buyer beware.

Please - do not confuse this with previous comments made about these products. The facts are the facts - his A/S Moisture cream is still about the best in my eyes, and the ****master works magically well.... sans the bristle loss, and rinky dink handle. My main concern is that these suckers will be falling apart a year from now, as the quality of these appears to be questionable. If you are looking for the best methodshaving brush in the land... this one is it - but I'd recommend waiting a year or so before you buy one... as you might end up with a $250 *** you can't get rid of.

Please see the for sale/trade forum, as I have listed this brush there. I do not think it will sell - so I may raffle it off to a member here in a month or two, or use it as a "buyer beware" pass it forward shave brush to hop from member to member.

Suffice to say - I will not purchase another product from Enchante, and I very much want to get this ****master out of my sight.
 
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:cursing:

my eyes are bleeding after seeing those pictures.
maybe they'll make things good with you and your brush after this!
 
Austin said:
Joel, can you take a picture if the brush upright on it's handle?
Hi Andrew,
Looks like he might have to pump some hydrolast into the base of the handle for it to stand upright.
Joel, please this is a family friendy site! Could you call it something more civil like the dookiemaster:9898: ? or perhaps something resembling the customer service you received? the Shavesheister?
 
Austin said:
Joel, can you take a picture if the brush upright on it's handle?
Andrew,
I am away from home right now, so I don't have it in front of me (took off yesterday with a feather and some "cream shave" trader joes brushless goop) but I had taken this pic already.... it doesn't do it full justice, but you can get the general idea. Notice... if you look at the bristle of the black handled brush, it looks as though it is uniformly pointing upwards, where as the white handled brush is quite obviously pointing to the left. Also notice on the white handle, at the bottom on the bulbous portion - notice how it does not look completly round, and sort of juts out on the left front? It is not dramatic, and the style of handle makes it very difficult to show just how off it is. what is most telling - is if you look at the knot of both brushes, and imagine spearing down the center of each, dead center, the black handled one is basically dead on, the white handled one is obviously leaning to the left.

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Not absurd, but there is no way in hell you'd get a Savile Row, Kent, Simpson, Rooney, Vulfix, or Plisson like that. Hell.... not even a burmashave or omega will have that. Certainly not acceptable on a new $250 brush.... $250 will get you a merkur vision, a 30mm Knot SR12T (that will not sit lop sided, or shed like Jenna Jamesons clothes on a film shoot), and 7 tubs of Taylors shaving cream.
 
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guenron said:
Hi Andrew,
Looks like he might have to pump some hydrolast into the base of the handle for it to stand upright.
Joel, please this is a family friendy site! Could you call it something more civil like the dookiemaster:9898: ? or perhaps something resembling the customer service you received? the Shavesheister?

Hahahhahah - man o man, the shavesheister!
 
That sort of behavior is inexcusable. I guess they never heard of lifetime customer value. How do they expect people to buy even their great products again if their customer service is so poor? Like you said Joel, we have many other wonderful options available to us.


If I was treated that way by any company, I would take a personal interest in seeing that their business suffers. :biggrin:
 
roughrider said:
That sort of behavior is inexcusable. I guess they never heard of lifetime customer value. How do they expect people to buy even their great products again if their customer service is so poor? Like you said Joel, we have many other wonderful options available to us.


If I was treated that way by any company, I would take a personal interest in seeing that their business suffers. :biggrin:

There is a diminishing marginal utility when it comes to vesting time to intentionally hurt others. To be honest - he does it to himself with those absurdly complex and ridiculous essays and what not.... his **** poor customer service doesn't help either. I sent him an offer, just as I have given everyone else, to purchase the shaving brush from me, and it was never exercised (and since I have stated I will no longer communicate with him, so now he can't get it even if he WANTS it back). One would think he'd have tried to make good on it somehow... I think this thread will do all the "damage" necessary - by simply stating the raw material fact. His shaving brush is built poorly, and he does not/will not stand behind it in a reasonable fashion.

Just as a courtesy to others though, I will be forwarding my communications with him - he calling me a liar etc etc to a close family friend who works for the better business bureau.
 
joel said:
There is a diminishing marginal utility when it comes to vesting time to intentionally hurt others.


The hurtin' will take care of itself. All you have to do is make sure EVERYONE hears about your experience. :biggrin:
 
roughrider said:
The hurtin' will take care of itself. All you have to do is make sure EVERYONE hears about your experience. :biggrin:

I suppose you are correct.... I cannot tell you how many PM/Emails I have received already, from fellows thanking me, saying they were SO close to buying one, just waiting for my final review, and now aren't getting near 'em.

$250 is big money for a shaving brush.... especially a "purpose built" brush that has not been tried and trued.
 
I sure wont be shopping from this guy, seems like he is very Abrupt Person, You can tell by how he shaves so quickly and talks he isn't all up there, But that is Just My Opinion, Just looking at his Video i get a bad Vibe from this guy, and when i get those vibes 99% of the time i'm Right.. I'll ask again, is this the same ShaveMaster on EBay Asking $995.00 for Prototype Phatboy ?
 
Really harsh, but really well deserved criticism.

The part where I lost it (as in laughing out loud in the office) was when you said rinky dink handle. Oh that was priceless.

I can understand a dud knot being put into a decent handle. That can be a "simple" mistake that is easily overlooked. But the handle is clearly deformed and they didn't scrap it? That is the inexcusable part of the brush.

Shavesheister +1000
 
I wonder if this particular brush of Joel's is still "alive" and how it's faring these days? Such an old thread.
 
It does provide a good example of how you guys can see a 'new' brush or 'new' maker and think 'wow! this looks great, I want one!'. 'On paper' or in a photo the brush will look like it can compete with the longer standing brands. All the 'old brands' have years upon years of brush making experience and proven customer service which is mainly the reason why so many brushes are sold because the buyer knows that even if a problem arises it will be dealt with in as mutually agreeable a fashion as possible. This is where 2nd, 3rd, 4th brush purchases come from, not just the quality of the brush itself. With the resurgence in traditional shaving I have seen numerous companies start up thinking they can capitalise on the new found popularity of 'traditional' shaving brushes. Yes you can buy a machine made knot, buy a machine made handle, maybe even turn your own handle and assemble a half decent brush. It may last 5 years, it may last 5 weeks. The true handmade brush is a craft piece, made by skilled experienced craftsmen that have honed their skills over many many years. I have been making knots and handles since I was 8 years old. I am now 40 years old and still learning. Over the years I and my family have seen too many 'fast buck' companies appear, make their money, disappear and leave the brush making world in a mess because buyers are cautious of being bitten again by poor poor quality. It is why I am always outspoken on here of 'new' companies being hailed as the 'second coming' of brush deity. I can count great brush makers on one hand. I have lost count of the number of 'ok', poor and downright dreadful companies.
There is a universal saying that is relevant in many industries/fields - 'A little knowledge is a dangerous thing'....

Gary
 
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