Complaints

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/17/2024

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Months ago, I sent four knives for sharpening and was not aware that Sharpenters would charge my credit card after so many months whether I asked for service or not. I received a charge for $63.96 in November and contacted them for a refund and they refused to credit my account. That have not provided service for me and I do not want to pay them for service I have not received.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/18/2024

  Good Afternoon *****
  
  Thank you for reaching out to us. As we have explained in our separate communications, and as outlined on our website, we offer both one time and subscription options for knife sharpening. When you made you original order you signed up for a subscription. Before each renewal event, we send a reminder e-mail to our customers to offer a chance to cancel the service and we offer free cancellation of future services at any time. For customers who have a subscription we have significant costs for packaging material, postage and labor related to sending the envelopes which are all parts of the service we provide. Thus, the costs are not only related to the actual sharpening of knives. We also offer the opportunity to use the service for up to a year from renewal and you can also let someone else use it if you don't wish to do so yourself. As we have had those substantial costs for your renewal we are unable to offer a refund for this renewal event, but we have cancelled the subscription you purchased now so there will be no future charges. We look forward to serving you in the future.
  
  Best Regards

  
  The team at Sharpenters

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/12/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  **********'s sharpened my Shun Knife Set, put it in the mail for return and it was subsequently lost. Nowhere on their site is an option for using **** They only send you a **** mailing kit. I was never advised to purchase additional insurance for my knives valuing over $800.00. They have had numerous complaints about lost knives and the best they will do is file a claim for $100.00 with ****. I would never trust them with your knives. They say they guarantee satisfaction but they do not deliver. Standby for the canned apology that will arrive at the end of this post. They are so apologetic but can't get it together with their shipping and don't advise their customers of their shoddy record of getting knives back to their rightful owners.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/14/2024

  Good ************************
  
  Thank you for your comments. We believe we need to correct a few of the statements made. The *** option for shipping is clearly advertised in multiple locations on our website, including at our clear and brief checkout, where we also explain the insurance included with each option. We also offer even higher insurance levels for particularly valuable For your convenience, we attach a few screenshots showing three of the instances where the *** option is indicated on the site. We send the mailing kit according to the option the customer selects and you selected ***** We receive knives for sharpening every day ranging from less than $10 to over $1,000 in value each. It is impossible for us to include the insurance for the most valuable knives in our standard pricing, which is why we offer our customers the option to purchase additional insurance for particularly valuable knives. If you select the standard option, $100 is indeed the insurance included as indicated on the site. We proudly stand by our satisfaction guarantee relating to our sharpening service, which we always honor and have done so for multiple customers over the years. However, that relates to something else than the fact that we are unable to honor a request for a service that was not purchased. We would be happy to provide our service to you again in the future, and help you select adequate shipping and insurance for your needs.
  
  Best Regards
  
  The team at Sharpenters

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/24/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  KNIVES ARE RUINED: I sent 3 Shun high end japanese knives and 2 Wusthoff knives for sharpening. The company destroyed my knives . 1) They completely changed the blade, 2) the blades are not sharp as is customary for knife sharpening (think unpolished, rough edge) and 3) my paring knife ended up with a bent tip. On a follow-up email I sent them clear pictures with measurements showing how the blades were ruined. They took off a significant amount of metal 1/8" off the blade, leaving me with shorter blades. They also left strange ends and cut a new corner at the bottom of the blade. None of these changes are appropriate for knife sharpening. I believe they were sloppy and used a belt grinder--not knife sharpening.MY ASK-I wrote the company to replace all the knives as they are not salvageable.COMPANY RESPONSE UNSATISFACTORY-Sharpenters gaslighted me they have "expert sharpeners who made decisions based on their expertise." They also said the service focuses on sharpening the blade vs aesthetic issues. None of my complaints are about the beauty of my knives - the problem is 100% functional. Last, they blamed the post office for the bent knife-HIDING BEHIND T&CS- They emphasize their expertise and that they know best. The work was terrible- I've worked in the housewares industry at a company that made knives. Under no circumstance was this a quality job as to be expected. Key T&Cs they quote:Thus, polishing the items or trying to remove aesthetic deficiencies is not part of the service. In order to achieve a professional sharpened edge of the blade we may need to remove a greater part of the blade than you envisioned. ... In order to limit the part of the blade being removed we may rather alter its shape and thus return your item with a different shape to what it had when you submitted it to us...No compensation is provided for scratches, blemishes or other alterations to the previous state of items while in the care of Sharpenters.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/29/2024

  Good Morning ****,
  
  We have reviewed your complaint in detail, as well as our previous communications. Our Master ********* has also reviewed the photos you sent. Our sharpening process indeed uses a combination of belt grinders and polishing wheels and we clearly communicate this on our website. We also communicate there that while not standard, we occasionally may remove more material than you anticipated as part of our sharpening process, if deemed necessary based on the experience and expertise of our sharpeners. We also stand by our information that the bent tip that you reported was a result of mishandling by the **** while in transit as we do not handle the tips directly (and certainly dont bend them).
  We care deeply about the satisfaction of our customers, gaining us many thousands of satisfied, returning customers. We therefore offered you a free re-sharpening, objectively to be verified by our advanced measurement device. You declined this. We also offered to help you file a claim with the **** for the damage occurring in transit.
  
  On a final note, in our strong ambition to leave you less dissatisfied we have offered you a full refund of your sharpening of all the knives. While we are not able to provide any compensation for knives you deem to be less than perfectly sharpened, we hope that the financial benefit of receiving the service for free will at least do something to address your dissatisfaction.
  We look forward to serving you again in the future. If you have any additional questions or comments, please reach out to us directly.
  
  
  All the best
  
  The team at Sharpenters

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/30/2024

   
  Complaint: 22037448
  
  I am rejecting this response because: my knives have been destroyed. I do not agree with the company- the amount of blade removed was excessive. The knives were in great shape and only needed a blade sharpening. The company got carried away and they cut way too much metal off. If the company does not step up and take accountability for the poor job I will be left with no choice but advance to legal means and plaster social media with my complaint. The pictures are worth a thousand words.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 08/01/2024

  Good Afternoon ****,

  
  Thank you for your continued feedback. We genuinely regret hearing that you are dissatisfied with our service and understand the importance of addressing your concerns thoroughly. Our goal at Sharpenters is to provide exceptional service and craftsmanship, and we take feedback like yours seriously. Based on our review, our master sharpener has confirmed that the amount of material removed was in line with our standard practices for achieving a properly sharpened edge. We strive to balance precision and effectiveness in our sharpening process.

  
  Please note that you agreed to our terms at the time of sign-up, which permit our expert sharpeners to remove as much metal as necessary to achieve the best edge. Based on our review and the photos provided, the sharpening work was performed according to these terms, and the knives are not damaged.

  
  We understand your frustration about the bent tip of the paring knife, which we believe occurred during transit. We have offered a full refund for the sharpening service and assistance with filing a **** claim, which remains available. If you have any additional questions or comments, please reach out to us directly.

  
  All the best,

  
  The Team at Sharpenters

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/12/2024

   
  Complaint: 22037448
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I am sending you the documentation of my knives (pictures and issues) as well as the terms and conditions the company is hiding behind, as we discussed. My request remains the same: I am seeking replacements for my knives as the company has completely changed the lines and blades, and unnecessarily removed a lot of metal. I have previously shared the images with customer service, but they are not willing to change their stance, and neither am I. The work done on the knives was of poor quality, and their discretion does not excuse poor workmanship.
  
  Please let me know if there is anything else you require from me.
  

  Sincerely,
  

  
  ***********************

  Business Response

  Date: 08/14/2024

  ****,
  
  Thank you for your new response, as well as sharing our terms agreed to at time of purchase. They can also be conveniently found on our website: ******************************************************** and we are certainly not hiding behind them. We strive to offer clear, transparent terms as we want our customers to be able to make a qualified decision on entrusting us with their knives. As with any service provider, a customer's expectations may differ from our best professional judgment and we believe that our many happy, recurring customers are a testament to our experience and expertise in knife sharpening.
  
  Having reviewed your request again, we do not agree that your knives were not professionally sharpened. This is to some degree a subjective conclusion, but it is not one that we take lightly. As outlined in our terms, you explicitly approved the discretion of the professional sharpeners at Sharpenters to decide how to best sharpen and shape your items before returning them to you. As we also outline therein, In order to achieve a professional sharpened edge of the blade we may need to remove a greater part of the blade than you envisioned. We are unfortunately not able to provide detailed information about this in advance but will always strive to limit the part of the blade being removed. In order to limit the part of the blade being removed we may rather alter its shape and thus return your item with a different shape to what it had when you submitted it to us.
  
  In conclusion, we also want to comment on the removed logo in your images. The way our machines are set up, it is not possible to sharpen the knives with the blades lying flatly down (and the sides thus making contact with the sharpening belt) and even if it would be the case, the blades would have substantial scratch marks on the sides from that contact which your images do not indicate. We therefore do not believe that the logos were removed while the knives were in our care. We have offered a full refund to address your complaint but unfortunately we cannot provide anything beyond that.
  
  Best Regards
  
  The team at Sharpenters
  

   

  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/15/2024

   
  Complaint: 22037448
  
  I am rejecting this response. Proper correction is to replace my knives.

  I dont care about the logos -lets focus on the blades. That is what you have distorted  Total replacement at retail prices which I shared with customer service previously is roughly $500  The 3 Shun knives specifically are on sale at ********************* about $320  

  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:03/22/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I sent my knives to be sharpened and they have not been returned. They have been showing as waiting acceptance by the **** for nearly two weeksfor a priority mail shipment. They are no longer responding to my email requests for updates. They do not have a phone number listed on their website where they can be reached. The number I found by looking at county tax rolls belongs to one of many businesses registered by the owner at that address. *************)

  Business Response

  Date: 03/25/2024

  Hi ******,

  Let me begin by apologizing for your experience and the wait time that you've had in regards to your knives being returned. As we've done on the home page of our website and by email to you (email history is attached to this reply), we have unfortunately been experiencing delays with many of our customer's return packages due to a **** procedure and processing delay. Your package is one of the many that have been delayed but, as we wrote in our last email to you, we've upgraded your return package with *** and you will receive shortly. As you are accustomed, we like to use email for our communications becasue it enables our customers to reach out to us at their leisure and it allows all of us to have a concise and written history of events so that you do not need to repeat yourself with each phone rep that you are forwarded to. Most of our customers enjoy this benefit, but we know that there are some that do not and we apologize to you that your way of communicating was not readily available. As the Director of operations, I can indeed reach out to you by phone if you'd like. Simply let me know what day/time works to your favor and I will seek to make that happen.

  I have decided to go ahead and issue you a credit toward your next sharpening and we will email those details to you momentarily. I do hope that having your knives back in your hands very shortly, receiving this credit for your renewal,  and understanding the reasons behind this (though not an excuse, but simply a reason that we are experiencing some slight delays), will in fact make your poor experience up until now a positive one.

  Thank you again for your business and for sharing your thoughts.

  All the best!
  Sharpenters

• Initial Complaint

  Date:02/27/2024

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I submitted a set of five Global brand knives to a knife sharpening service, adhering strictly to their provided shipping guidelines and materials. On February 9th, I was notified via email of the arrival of my knives at their facility. Subsequently, on February 16th, I received a notification indicating the dispatch of my knives. Both communications explicitly confirmed the quantity of knives as five. However, upon receiving the package on February 22nd, I discovered that it contained only one of the original five knives. When I contacted the service for clarification, I was informed that they had detected a discrepancy in the number of knives upon receipt, attributing the loss to **** handling. The missing knives, part of a set valued at over $600, were only acknowledged after the solitary knife was returned. At no point prior were any issues or discrepancies communicated to me in their updates.

  Business Response

  Date: 03/13/2024

  In response to ********************** complaint through the BBB I'd like to first repeat our sincere apologies that your knives were taken from the package while in transit to our facility. In both our phone conversations with ****************** and email communications, we have extended this sincere apology and understand that it is very difficult to accept the fact that we have not identified a person to place the blame on, but even ****************** himself suggested that it looked as if someone may have used a razor to open the package and then reseal it. Before seeing this BBB complaint, we thought we'd come to the conclusion that someone tampered with the package and we are working with **** to investigate this. Additionally, we have fully refunded ***************** for all shipping costs and of course for the sharpening. I do feel that explaining the process of how we receive and return knives is in order (as we have done with ****************** via phone) because the complaint gives the impression that we did not communicate to **************** about the one knife but it seems that he may think that we instead miscommunicated. Here is the process for receiving, sharpening, returning packages:
  
  When **** drops off the mail, typically containing anywhere from ****** packages, we begin scanning those packages into our system. When a package is scanned, the customer receives an email (the email that ****************** uploaded with his complaint) that let's the customer know that a Sharpener will soon be working on their package. If a package shows signs of damage in any way, that package is set aside and inspected. ********************** package did not show any signs of damage and was therefore left to be sharpened. When a Sharpener opens a package and they find more or less knives then what is indicated in a customer's order, they **** that and it is added to the customer's account notes. We have many customers who will send in less knives then they ordered because they want to separate the sending of knives so that they have some to use, so if we see less knives in a package that has no damage, we simply note it in the customer account. (If there are less knives in a damaged package, we immediately notify the customer of this). Once ********************* order was complete, we created a label to send back to him (this generates the other email that ****************** uploaded which lets the customer know that their knives are on the way back...and this email also includes the tracking number so customers can follow ........ contrary to ********************** statement,none of these emails confirm or declare the current quantity of knives in the package. What he's referring to is the footer on the email that simply states his original order (i.e. Order #****** - Sharp Always, 5 knives).
  
  When ****************** opened the package, he was obviously very upset and reached out to us. We stayed in contact and have been very responsive to correcting this matter as much as is within our influence. This is a **** investigation and we are doing all we can to help them. We have fully refunded ****************** and are willing to do all that we can to help in this situation and I feel that we are being an attentive and gracious business by giving this customer his money back and continuing to work for him to get to the bottom of this. We care about customers and we know what their knives mean to them, so we do understand ********************** frustration but we have and will continue to provide the kind of service that has made us successful and we hope that this will have the best resolution possible for ******************.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/19/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I ordered knife sharpening service for 10 of my knives. Sharpenters divided my order into two shipments. The first shipment went as planned but the second (sent from the same place at the same time) was delayed without any type of explanation. The second shipment was returned a full week after the first (total of two weeks time, supposed to take one). When I opened the envelope, 4 of the 5 knives were in no protective casing or packaging of any kind. Just loose knives in a cardboard envelope. Interesting the 5th knife was in a protective sleeve, but upon opening, I realized that approximately 1/4-1/2 inch of the knife had been broken off. It was clear that an attempt was made to sharpen/reshape (hide) this issue. The knife is ruined beyond repair and the only recourse offered was to take MORE metal off the knife in attempt to reshape the blade. The value of the kife was about ***** more than the sharpening costs, so I suggested that they just refund that cost so I could purchase a new knife. That was not an acceptable resolution to them and they again offered to further sharpen (take off MORE metal from the blade) and that's it. Do not trust them with your knives.

  Business Response

  Date: 12/20/2023

  Greetings and thank you for the opportunity to add to this review and attempt to bring a ****** picture of the events described by our customer, ********************. In reference to the first point that was brought up (the delivery/delay of one of the 2 packages that were sent), allow me to give an explanation since this is the first opportunity weve had to help ******************** understand the way in which the packages were handled in transit. All customers are given a tracking number for each leg of the shipping process and  there is typically no confusion on where the package is at any given moment since they can login to **** and/or *** to locate their package while in transit. The first package that was delivered on November 13, 2023 was sent out by us on Friday, November 10th. The second package that was delivered to ******************** on November 16 was finished and sent out by us on Tuesday, November 14th. The 3 day difference in delivery is due to 2 factors: 1. We do not always receive packages from ****/*** that belong to the same customer at the same time and therefore, one package may be completed and sent back earlier then the other and 2. Our offices are open M-F so the two days (November *****) that are part of this 3 day difference fall on Sat. and Sun. so there was no postal pickup for those 2 days. But that is simply an explanation and not meant to be an excuse so we sincerely apologize that the two packages did not arrive with one another at the same time, and since we take all complaints very seriously, we are already looking into ways to prevent this in the future as we understand that there are likely other customers with the same concerns.
  
  To the other points raised by ********************, I would like to note that the knives were sent in their protective sleeves so it is not, as it sounds in his report, that the knives did not have sleeves at all but according to his statement, the knives had somehow dislodged from the sleeves while in transitwhich is very abnormal since we use an adhesive to hold them inbut we must leave room for the possibility that the sleeves did fail and may have slipped off of the blade. We are very happy that no one was injured and no knives damaged while in transit. If the knife ******************** is questioning was indeed broken when we received it, as many knives are that are sent to us for repair, then our sharpener repaired it and brought the knife back to usability and with great sharpness. This is what we do every day and if a customer sends us a broken knife, we are only able to perceive that they want us to repair it for them. Our sharpener carefully brought the blade back to its usable shape and condition (sharper then new) and this is quite apparent by looking at the attached photos (if they are cleared by BBB to upload to this reply). 
  It is unfortunate that ******************** has come to a conclusion that we attempted to hide damage, especially since we receive knives from customers that want us to repair damage every day and there are even occasions when a knife may have been sent without damage but was somehow damaged while in transit with ****/***. It is also a very common (and necessary practice) to remove some of the material on a blade in order to correct the geometry of the blade and bring it back to its intended use with a sharp edge. That is what we believe that we did in this case and again, even if we assert that our work was done well and that we brought this knife back to life, we do apologize that this is not how ******************** feels. The knife is certainly not in need of replacement (and is actually in wonderful condition after having been fixed by the sharpener), but we did offer ******************** a free resharpening as part of our Sharpness Guarantee (which he rejected). 
  
  In conclusion, we appreciate ******************** business and do hope to have the opportunity to work with him in the future and we take full responsibility for not meeting his needs. Those things that we can adjust (i.e. ensuring that customers who send two packages receive them back at the same time) we will continue to improve on while the things that we believe are not viable options (i.e. fully refunding and purchasing a new knife to replace a perfectly usable and very sharp knife that we returned to him) are not able to be done due to the aforementioned comments as well as the fact that we offered to adjust the geometry of the blade free of charge. If ******************** would like to change his mind and accept our free resharpening at no cost to him  (we will even add in 2 Day **************** a $25 value), then we will be very happy to oblige and we want to continue to help ******************** experience be one of satisfaction in the end.
  
  Thank you,
  Sharpenters
  
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 12/20/2023

   
  Complaint: 21024878
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  While I appreciate the detailed explanation of the shipping process (I had used both Sharpenters and their competitor Knife Aid in the past so I feel like I'm pretty familiar), I'm still beyond frustrated with the experience.  I think what someone could reasonable take away from the explanation is that Sharperters will try to get the knives back to you when they can, but it's the postal service so no promises.  I've never had an issue with this before and honestly I left enough time for the knives to arrive later than expected.  The timing of the shipment wasn't the reason for my complaint.  I do think something happened during the time I left my knives packaged exactly as requested by Sharpenters and when they made it back to me.  I'm not sure where in the process that *** have occurred and I don't know who *** have damaged the knife.  That said, once I drop it off I trust that the process will work and my knives will be returned to me without being damaged.  I'm sorry if it sounded like the second shipment of knives didn't have the protective sleeves in the package--they were loose in the envelope and not attached to the knives with the exception of the one knife that was damaged.  I understand fully that the sleeves have adhesive, but something didn't work correctly and 4 of the 5 knives were loose.  But again, all of that was not the issue.  If it had just been that the shipment took longer than expected and the knives were loose (but not damaged) it would have been fine.  The issue here is that somehow after I sent the shipment, one of the knives was damaged.  I have no idea how it happened or who did it.  As the consumer, that's pretty irrelevant to me.  Again, with this business model and system I'm trusting that my knives won't be damaged and that if they are that a reasonable attempt will be made to remedy the situation.  The end of this story is that I used Sharpenters to sharpen my knives, I sent them as directed and one of my knives was broken in the process.  I'm just left with a broken knife and the only resolution offered is to take MORE metal off of a knife that somehow had part of it broken off.  If you're consumer, read all this and see how what you think.  There reasonable takeaway is that if something happens to one of your knives after you leave them at the post office, you are most likely out of luck.  I would have LOVED to have an actual conversation with someone at Sharpenters about this, but I couldn't find a phone number listed anywhere.  The only way I could contact anyone was the generic email address listed on the website.  Again, if you're considering using this service and have an issue, you'll be in the same situation.  I'm guessing that it's rare for this to happen, which makes it even more frustrating that they didn't want to find a solution outside of "let's sharpen more of the knife away."  In full disclosure, my suggestion was that they just refund the fee they charged me for sharpening the knives (about ******) and then I'd go purchase a new knife (about ******).  To be clear--what I want is my knife returned sharp and in its original state/shape, but unfortunately that isn't possible.  I'm at least glad that I could make people aware of how things might go for you if there's a mistake of some kind with your order.  

  Sincerely,
  
  *************************

  Business Response

  Date: 12/22/2023

  Hello again ******************** and I appreciate the opportunity to clarify our response and provide a synopsis of your individual situation.Firstly, thank you again for the opportunity to serve you and sharpen your knives, even though your experience has not been that of our typical customer and has not left you with a satisfactory resolution. We have been very lenient in giving refunds and/or replacement products to customers in the past and will continue to do so into the future but your situation did not warrant this and unfortunately,we have not been able to accept the demands that you have insisted on.

   

  Id like to ensure that future readers of this posting do understand that the reasonable takeaway from your experience is not that we will try to get the knives back to them when we can (as you assert), but in fact, in our previous response to your comments, we were attempting to lay out the timeline related to your order and the reason that one of your packages arrived back to you 3 days after the other one. To reiterate, we receive many orders each day and not every order is delivered along with a customers additional package (when applicable). In fact, we have many customers that will purposely send in only one of their envelopes at a time, so if we receive only 1 of the 2 envelopes that a customer has ordered, it is not odd. There may be occasion when one package will be returned a day or two after the other (especially when the weekend is factored in, as was the case in your order).So, the takeaway from this explanation is that we will post the knives for return within 24 hours of receipt(unless the orders are separated at delivery or in the event that one package was not processed and sharpened before the weekend).

   

  To address the additional comments that you added related to the knife that you claim was broken and repaired before you received it back, I must again say that we receive many knives each day that are sent to us for repair. If a knife arrives to us chipped or broken then we will repair it.Repairing a knife requires that some material be removed, albeit we have very strict standards that ensure we never remove more material then is necessary.Having said that, if you did not send in a broken knife, then it may have been damaged while in transit to us. Either way, our goal is to return knives back to our customers with a sharper edge and with blade repair where applicable.The images that you sent of your knife show a blade that is nearly identical to a factory/unused blade of the same make/model with the exception of the slight geometrical adjustment made during the process of repair/sharpening. In our estimation, there is nothing but improvement that was made to the knife that we received from you and as said above, we are willing and happy to provide refunds/replacements when warranted but your item is not in need of replacement or repair nowour offer to provide you with a free resharpening to change the knifes shape based on your wishes is still available to you. The reasonable takeaway is that if something happens to one of your knives after you ship them out, we will fix them and return them to you better then we received them (and sharper then new).

   

  Again, as weve said in the other areas where youve chosen to air this grievance against our business, we do appreciate you using our service for your sharpening needs and though you are not happy with the solution to your situation, we do hope that you will be able to understand that we simply repaired a blade that we received damaged and returned it to you with an extremely sharp edge and in the best possible condition for a knife in that condition.As can be seen from the thousands of positive reviews and happy customers that we have, we take what we do very seriously and seek to continue providing wonderful customer service (with detailed communication and open dialogue with all of our customers). Please let us know if we can be of further assistance and again, our offer to re-work this blade for you free of charge is still available to you if youd like to change your mind and accept it. 

  Respectfully Submitted,
  Sharpenters

  
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/17/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Sharpeners **** LLC engages in a practice of false advertising through it's social media and email advertisements.In these ads Sharpeners offers varying amounts of discounted services, usually 25-30% off, for their knife sharpening. When a consumer clicks on the discount button they are taken to the Sharpeners website to choose the number of knives to service and the length of the service contract.What is NOT noted in the ads and on the website is that any discounts only apply if the consumer chooses the maximum length of service contract. A choice of a one time service yields no discount at all. And this information does not show up until the check out procedure and no explanation is given as to why no discount is applied.Sharpeners **** LLC should be required to disclose in their ads of the requirements needed to receive said discounts.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/17/2023

  Dear Mr/Mrs. ****,

  
  Unfortunately, this observer's claim is very misleading and this is a continuation of their attempt to slander our business (as they attempted to do via our social media outlets). We do NOT "engage in a practice of false advertising through (our) social media and email advertisements" as this person asserts.
  
  We advertise that we offer 25%/30% discounts via our social media marketing efforts, and that is absolutely and unequivocally true. There are 2 conditions, which are clearly and repeatedly noted on our website, (see the three attachments for reference or go to the following link to see these terms in print...and these terms must be read and agreed to before any exchange of money/goods takes place between us and our customers: ********************************************************

  If there is any condition for qualifying for a discount, those can be discovered long before a customer is ever given the opportunity to purchase or even to begin to purchase from us. If this observer had taken the time to communicate with us about these allegations before choosing to make their false claims public, we would have been able to correct their misunderstandings. 
  
  Furthermore, they are grossly mistaken when they write that, "any discounts only apply if the consumer chooses the maximum length of service contract." This statement is completely and utterly false. We offer 4 plans, (Single Treatment, 1x year subscription, 2x a year subscription, and 4x a year subscription). The only option that does not qualify for the discount is the Single Treatment option. All 3 of our other options qualify fully for the discounts, so I unfortunately have to conclude that this observer is either simply overlooking the facts, distorting the facts due to ignorance or distorting the facts in an attempt to continue a campaign of slander against our 58-year-old business. 
  
  In conclusion, we have had interactions in the recent past with this person via social media where they also attempt the same malicious accusation against us, and yet they are unwilling to see or agree to the fact that we do communicate any and all qualifications for our discounts on our website. We are certainly willing to continue a private correspondence with this observer in the hope that we can help them discover that we are not falsely ********************...we never have, and we never will. Finally, we appreciate this opportunity to set the record straight and look forward to being able to communicate with this person and hopefully have the opportunity to provide our services of ***** Sharpening to this observer at some point in the future!

   

  Sincerely,
  Sharpenters 1965

   

  Customer Answer

  Date: 08/17/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** *************

• Initial Complaint

  Date:08/08/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I did not receive my knives back from Sarpenters. Instead I received an empty envelope. After me reaching out to them the company proceeded to engage me in endless and equally useless communications basically stating in many different ways that the blame lies with ************* postal service. They also told me that they filed a claim on my behalf and that unnamed manager was going to the post office to present evidence on my behalf. Two weeks later, after my inquiry I was told that no one actually went to the post offices after all. Nor anyone presented me with evidence that was supposed to be presented on my behalf. More over the company proceed to gaslight me by telling me that they sharpen expensive knives all the time therefore they wouldnt steal mine ( I guess mine are not good enough for them but good enough for postal workers) and that they are an international company after all (what ever that has to do with my issue anyway?). I was also told that if the postal service refuses this claim they will not reimburse me neither. Because supposedly the theft didnt occur while they were in possession of my knives. Wrap your head around this one. I cant.

  Business Response

  Date: 08/14/2023

  ******, 

  As a company that strives to make every customer experience a positive one, we again would like to express our apologies that your experience has not been a positive one. As our support team has communicated with you, the loss of any package while in transit is never something that our customers expect or want and as weve promised you since we began the **** investigation for your package, we will continue to stand beside you and work with **** to hopefully identify if they lost your knives or if it was tampered with by a thief after we shipped it out to you.

  I would like to lay out a summary of events here since this is a public form and I feel that your accounting of the facts may not give readers an accurate assessment (I mean no disrespect, but since I have record of all of our communications, I am able to review the details and hopefully lay them out in a way that will enable future readers to understand that our service is one with a long track record of 58 years and thousands of very satisfied customers.
  Unfortunately, the package was either tampered with or opened and the knives were not in the package when they arrived to the customer. Even more unfortunate is that our customer thought that we had stolen their knives and then printed Priority Mail postage and shipped an empty envelope back to them. We obviously would not do something that scandalous or ridiculous, but nonetheless, we take this issue very seriously, so we initiated a **** insurance claim on their behalf.

  As part of the **** insurance claim process, we need to submit any evidence that is available, so we asked our customer for that information, which they provided to the best of their ability.The ruling by **** was that we needed to personally bring the evidence to our local **** for inspection. Contrary to our customers statement, one of our support team leaders did in fact visit the local **** and have them inspect the evidence provided. There seems to be misunderstanding of the process with which we do this and the customer thought that the meeting with the **** authority who is inspecting the evidence would have happened sooner, but we have a scheduled time/day when we bring issues before the **** authority so that both the **** operations and our own are streamlined. So, there was no unnecessary delay in presenting the evidence to **** as is claimed, but we can understand how they may not have fully understood the scheduling of the meeting. Additionally, our customer is the one that provided the limited evidence that was available for this case, so I am not able to answer why they assert that they were never shown what evidence was provided, since they are the ones that provided said evidence, but I am sure they have reason to feel this way and if it was due to anything that we did/didnt do to make this more understandable for them, we sincerely apologize.
  

  As mentioned in our customers review, we were very forthcoming and detailed in our responses to their inquiries, which we assumed would be met with gratitude and appreciation but appears to have been translated as endless and equally useless communications (per their comment to the BBB). We again with to apologize that this attempt at transparency and education was met with such critique, though it is almost always received with thanks. We will look at our processes going forward and see if we should make changes to how detailed we our in our explanations so that we do not invite criticism from our future customers in the same way.

  To the claim made by our customer that we undervalue their knives and that we said something that they interpreted as us not thinking that their knives are valuable enough for someone in our company to steal, well, that is unfortunately simply not true at all (the full copy of all communications has been uploaded to this submission for review). What was said is that our sharpeners are professional men and women (having been screened, background checked and part of our growing team for years) and would not consider stealing the customers knivesthey sharpen knives of great cost every day and we have never had a case where they were accused of theft. This statement by our customer is quite inconsiderate of the men and women who work for us and we are saddened to see that they would assert this publicly (not to mention the fact that an empty package would never make it past our shipping and QC department).

  I'm not entirely sure why they mention it, but when we brought up that we are an international company with a long history (beginning in Europe in 1965) so that they would hopefully be able to understand that we could not have come this far if we were stealing knives and sending out empty envelopes back to our customers. This is an absurd claim and I am assuming that this assertion is just simply not thought out, but is an emotional response to a terrible situation. I understand that it is extremely painful for customers to have their mail lost/stolen and then when it is your favorite knives, that truly does hurt.

  So, in closing, I understand why our customer is so incredibly angry and has chosen to make this something public (which is their right and as can be seen by our many public engagements with our customers, we always encourage our customers to share their experience,whether good or bad). Thankfully, this is an extremely rare occurrence and we again extend our most sincere apologies that their knives were lost/stolen while in the care of our shipping partner, ****. We will continue as we have been and will work toward a positive conclusion.

  Thank you,
  Sharpenters 1965

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/27/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The service offered is to sharpen knives, the company provided a prepaid envelope to ship the knives for service. Their envelope has been lost in transit for 3 weeks. Company refuses to respond emails or file claim with the ***** ******* was prepaid, never rendered and knives lost

  Business Response

  Date: 05/02/2023

  Mr. ******* placed his order on 4/20/2023 at 10:45am and we sent the package for his purchase on 2/21/2023 at 2:03pm. Based on the **** tracking information, ***************** attempted to send the order to ** for our service on or about 4/4/2023 at 9:08pm. Based on the **** tracking information, a Missing Mail Search was initiated on 4/27/2023 at 9:07am. ****************** and our Support Team have been in regular communication throughout this process, as can be seen by the uploaded conversations attached. We always seek to provide assistance to our customers when one of our shipping partners fails to deliver a package and we have done this for ****************** as well....and we will continue to monitor this package and work with the **** until we can determine where they have delivered the package. We have extended, and continue to extend, our sincere apologies that this has happened because we completely understand how important knives our to our customers...it is the reason that we exist. We do hope that the information provided as well as the history of extensive communication that we've had and will continue to have with ****************** will help to show that not only do we take this matter extremely seriously but that we intend to see it through until we can get a resolution from ****. The shipping option that ****************** had was the free **** standard shipping with $100 of insurance (as advertised in our terms, which he agreed to and as advertised on our website) or the *** 2 Day Air upgraded shipping that costs $25 but provides faster turnaround and $500 of insurance. We hope that our customers never need to utilize the insurance but we make it very clear what the insurance coverage is and also provide a means for our customers to increase that insurance if they choose to. Unfortunately, ****************** is possibly going to have to use the insurance (if **** cannot find the package that he mailed to ** and that they lost) and as he has conveyed, he does not feel that this coverage will cover the loss of his knives. Again, we will continue to work with ****************** and **** to see what agreement we can ****** between them and we will most certainly refund the cost of the sharpening once **** has closed the case and has determined that the knives cannot be found. We know that there is no "winner" in cases like this, but we seek to do all that we have influence over to bring a positive resolution to our customers.

  
  Sincerely,

  Sharpenters

• Initial Complaint

  Date:04/27/2023

  Type:Service or Repair Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I paid Sharpenters $79.95 to sharpen 5 knives. They sent me their pre-paid envelope which I received, and sent back the envelope with 5 knives to sharpen. I even added extra tape along the top sides for extra protection. They received the knives on March 31st, 2023. They said the envelope had been tampered with or damaged in transit and one of the 5 knives was missing. "*****" said they could file a claim with ***** or I could. I e-mailed ***** back, and told her to please file a claim, and she immediately responded back she would. She said she would keep me updated on the progress. I e-mailed on April 7, 2023 asking for status on the sharpening status of the received knives, and got no response. I e-mailed on April 13, 2023 asking for status on the sharpening status of the received knives, and got no response. I e-mailed on April 21, 2023 asking for status on the sharpening status of the received knives and also the status of the **** claim, and got no response. The normal turn-around for knife sharpening on their website is 1 day. The company has no telephone number listed on their website, nor on *******

  Business Response

  Date: 05/11/2023

  The customer's package had been tampered with prior to being received by us (as shown in the images attached). Because of this action that happened while in transit with ***** one of the knives did not arrive to our facility. We immediately emailed the customer to let them know what had happened, sending the customer images of the envelope's damage when it was delivered to ** and images of the knives that did indeed make it to our facility. We offered to make the ************** claim on the customer's behalf and let them know that this process can take up to 30 days as **** investigates. We let the customer know that we would update as new information became available. Over the course of 40 days we have logged 16 emails while in communication with the customer (as can be seen in the attached communication history report). We are always disappointed when packages are damaged while in transit and work with diligence to recover the items lost or help the customer to recoup the insurance coverage. We take knives very seriously, as it is our sole focus, and we fully understand the frustration of our customers when something happens to their knives. As our terms indicate, if knives are lost or damaged while in our possession, we will fully replace. When knives are lost or damaged while under the care of one of our shipping partners, we will work with that shipping partner to recover the insurance coverage for our customers. We have done this for this customer and have been very communicative with them (though there has been no movement on their **** claim as of yet).

   

  Thank you,

  Sharpenters

  Customer Answer

  Date: 05/11/2023

   
  Better Business Bureau:
  
  Yes, I received them, thank you!  They are very sharp.  I have updated my ****** review.  J.J.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************