Greeting all! Does any one here have recent experience with Kolbeson holsters? His hybrid holsters look beautiful.
Greeting all! Does any one here have recent experience with Kolbeson holsters? His hybrid holsters look beautiful.
Nice leather and kydex work, horrible delivery times.
He's not even close to delivering in the window he promises.
I love my Kolbeson leather but I'll never order another holster from him due to way too many missed promises.
If he was up front about it taking 6-12 months that'd be cool, but promising 3 months, then "just another few weeks" multiple times and finally delivering at the 10 month mark is unacceptable to me.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
But he IS good for it? Was that recent? I ordered from him over a year ago, already paid, and still no holster, and when I inquire, I get no response. His site has said, "Currently working on the following: Leather and hybrid orders through 10/31/2012, Kydex only orders through July/August 2013" for MONTHS. I don't like the wait, but he builds exactly what I am looking for. I do mind never getting what I paid over $100 for, though.
My experience is that he is good for it. My wait times on all three of his rigs were along 6 months line. That's not recent time frame, though.
HMD (Holster Maker's Disease).
#RESIST
KMD,GSD, CD (knifemaker disease, gunsmith...., contractor (building)....
Yup...I stopped quoting timelines. When you are a one man shop, you can get buried so deep, so quickly that you can't adapt to get it all done. One bout of the flu, a small injury or a family crisis can sideline things for weeks. Contacting everyone in the pipeline usually isn't feasible either.
Most people buying custom gear don't really care how long it takes.
Just be honest and upfront about it.
Also, zero communication once you've cashed my check is unacceptable.
Even an automated response saying you received my email and will attempt to get back to me later is better than nothing at all.
"For a moment he felt good about this. A moment or two later he felt bad about feeling good about it. Then he felt good about feeling bad about feeling good about it and, satisfied, drove on into the night."
-- Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy --
At a certain point do you stop taking orders rather than just telling people "indefinite" for delivery? Especially if you expect payment up front...
Sadly, this is also how copycat (usually lousy copycat) holsters come about from great custom designs. Probably nothing that can be done about that except a strong dose of caveat emptor.
It's a tough situation all the way around. Some makers are very talented, but maybe not so great at the business end of things. Others are part time and trying to squeeze work in between life. Not excuses, just how it is. Like John mentioned, one mishap in a one man shop and your whole timeline is thrown. I recently found this out when I tore a ligament in my elbow. That said, communication is key and responding to customer inquiries and notification of delays is important. I do this full time, so an injury isn't quite as crucial(as long as I am not laid up), as I can work through the day and put in extra hours if need be.
Hard to say what the cut off point is. I would say I would stop taking orders if I was getting past 16 weeks. Since stuff is going out every week, I really never get to that point, unless I am doing a very unusual job.
I can't really speak for others, as I don't know what their situations are.
"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." George Orwell
http://www.jrcholsters.com
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