a minor rant...

[paco664]

ok... please don't think bad of my for this minor rant...

i offer honing here and to locals... i have a deal with the local AOS where if someone buys a straight from them i offer the first honing free... i also will PIF a honing for newbies here... anything i can do to further our attempt to restore the lost art of manliness....

that being said there is a local here who i offered free honing to about 4 months ago... i went by his house *(approx 15miles one way) to pick them up *(2 or 3 of them) and he paypal'd me postage for their return... so i was contacted by him last week about "touching up" his straights.... i told him sure send them on......

i receive a box and set it to the side because i have been really busy and was waiting for my day off to work on them... i start receiving texts asking if they were done.... i said i would work on them on my days off.... finally today i found some time to work on them... so i open it up... there are 4!! straights in the box... none of which are the originals that i honed for him... that really wasn't a problem.... the problem is 2 of them needed MAJOR work... MAJOR work to be able to put a edge of them... one was a old almost wedge that had serious spine issues and the other had about 1.5" broken off the end... both had serious notches in the edge... the broken shorty i tossed back into the box without even a thought of working on it.... the other i started trying to set a bevel.... after 30mins of SERIOUS work it wouldn't take a bevel on a couple parts of the blade..... i lapped my 1k and went back to work.... 5 more mins without success i just closed it and set it to the side.....

i honed the 2 others without issues and they took spectacular edges....

i texted him and told him "no offense but this is your last free honing.. 2 of those razors are in need of serious work and i will not do that for free... the next time you need them honed please include 15$ per razor plus 4$ for shipping... "...

am i wrong for this?? if he had told me he needed this level of work done i would have done it without complaint... but i felt taken advantage of....

opinions??

[Legion]

I don't think you are wrong. He was expecting you to do a job for free which anyone else would have charged for, and then he took advantage. I would have mailed them all straight back. But I'm a grouch like that.

[Wid]

Hell no, you're not wrong at all. I also do some free honing and am amazed at what shows up at time. I have spent hours trying to get a razor shave ready, for free. I've been real close to not offer honing at all because of this type or behavior.

[ricardo9505]

you went above and beyond the call in my opinion. what with the extra hones. Any mans time is precious and a man should know when that and tip or pay accordingly. BUt alas, as myt father once said, not all people have the same upbringing and morals. be careful. put your business hat on and charge already, your dedicating time and you let the timeline be known from the beginning so you weren't deceiving him on the ETA (expected time of arrival)

[rockviper]

In your shoes, I would have contacted him when I opened the box and discovered the razors weren't the ones you honed before and let him know that's what the touch-up offer was for. He could then decide how to proceed. You're a good man to do all that work pro-bono and defer communicating the work effort to him post-honing. Hats-off to you

[luvmysuper]

There are people in the world, that if you give them a dollar, they will ask for two.
Write them off with no more thought than you'd put into shooing away the fly that keeps buzzing around your picnic looking for a free handout while putting his crap covered feet in your potato salad.

[Kentos]

To be fair, maybe he thought "touching up" was all those basketcases needed.

Since you are doing them for free I can't think how you could be in the wrong. Tell him you'll refund him if is he isn't happy.

[danjared]

I hone for coticule.be's free honing service. If you've ever looked at the form for the service, it's pretty clear what the requirements are. Still, I get some stuff that's pretty clearly outside the criteria. Fortunately, I haven't encountered anyone who's annoying or as much of a liar as this guy you encountered. Usually they're up front about stating the razor's condition and asking if it's okay to send, and I've never turned anyone down. Usually, if it's a new guy who is uncertain about the exact state of the razor, he'll forwardly offer to pay if it turns out to be more work. When they're honest like that, I'll tell them that it's okay and that there's no need for that.

But, there was one odd guy who wanted to use the service but insisted that he must pay for it (i.e. beyond the expectation that he'd pay shipping). I replied saying that payment really wasn't necessary although the thought was appreciated. I never heard back from him. I guess he found someone who wanted his money.

[paco664]

i won't say he's a liar.. he's really just a kid...

but..

i don't think the young'uns understand what a "boundary" is....

[paco664]

/snip....
But, there was one odd guy who wanted to use the service but insisted that he must pay for it (i.e. beyond the expectation that he'd pay shipping). I replied saying that payment really wasn't necessary although the thought was appreciated. I never heard back from him. I guess he found someone who wanted his money.

[Krodor]

ya did good in my book, dude.

[Danricgro]

I agree you did good. Ya gotta draw the line somewhere.

[shakin_jake]

nice story Paco...reminds of of a time I offered to hone a razor for a n00b. He was out of state, I told him to send return postage with his razor. When I opened the box there was 3 razors in it=:-) To his credit, after he sent the box he emailed me saying he sent two razors and would I mind honing the the 2nd as well (no problem) yet when I got the box and found three, I emailed asking about the 3rd...he said it fell into the box by accident=:-)


Best,


Jake
Reddick Fla.

[cleanshaved]

Paco keep up the good work.
don't let the s grind you down.

[A35335]

"Free honing" is certainly not the same as "free restoration". When I found out they weren't the original razors the process would have stopped right there.

Obviously you went above and beyond, which is to be commended. There are asshats everywhere, in any business, sport or hobby. Sigh.........................

[Legion]

You're too nice Paco. From now on I'm gonna mail you all my difficult razors I'm too lazy to tackle myself.

[jeness]

You did the best you could do. I stopped offering free honing because I got razors in so bad shape that it would take me hours to find some usable steel. When someone finds me in need of honing than I usually do it for free, but I won't shout it out loud :)

[Doc226]

You are a good man, despite what they say about you.

Free honing is not the same as free restorations. When someone offers free honing the expectation is a near shave ready razor, not an eBay special.

[mainaman]

You were right the guy was absolutely out of line.

[honed]

Your response/reaction was pretty mild given the circumstances I must say.
No reason for him to do a thing like that.