KD Holsters Bad Experience

[asheron2]

So here is the jist of what happened.

My girlfriend placed an order for a K&D Thunderbird holster almost six months ago.

After we received the holster it appeared nothing like what was advertised on the internet site. We had asked for a holster just like it. We instead received a chestnut colored holster and it did not have the nice finish as was shown.

After calling them on the phone and talking to a very nast lady, we were told that the holster thats shown on their site is actually made of elephant leather and that they did not offer the brown color anymore. After some arguing that we were indeed sold the brown color the lady called us liars and hung up on us.

So, i did get a holster, but its nothing like i wanted Thats $100 down the drain.

[NiteQwill]

They hung up on you?

Call your CC/bank and ask for a charge back for a product that was incorrectly given to you. If you have Visa or Mastercard (even better, AMEX), they will refund you AND notify the business to pay back the charge the charge on the card.

[bsg]

i will NEVER buy a product from elephant leather after reading this story. promise. thanks for the tip.

[DarkHorse]

i will NEVER buy a product from elephant leather after reading this story. promise. thanks for the tip.

He purchased a holster MADE of elphant leather FROM K&D Holsters.

[asheron2]

No, I did not purchase a holster made of elephant leather!!!

But, the holster that was featured on the site had elephant leather accents on it, which the site neglects to tell.

[Maddog5150]

woah. I was thinking of getting a custom leather holster from them. Thanks for the heads up, I will take my business elseware.

[Decoligny]

If you purchased the order using a credit card, dispute the order. You did not get what you ordered. The credit card compnay will get your money back for you.

[paladin4415]

I just went to their web site. It does show the Thunderbird with elephant trim, but makes no mention that it is not included or not "standard". Bottom line is...they suck. Like other have said, if you used a credit card dispute the charge and send it back.

[K-Man]

So here is the jist of what happened.

My girlfriend placed an order for a K&D Thunderbird holster almost six months ago.

After we received the holster it appeared nothing like what was advertised on the internet site. We had asked for a holster just like it. We instead received a chestnut colored holster and it did not have the nice finish as was shown.

After calling them on the phone and talking to a very nast lady, we were told that the holster thats shown on their site is actually made of elephant leather and that they did not offer the brown color anymore. After some arguing that we were indeed sold the brown color the lady called us liars and hung up on us.

So, i did get a holster, but its nothing like i wanted Thats $100 down the drain.

I just became aware of this thread and felt I had an obligation to respond.

That's not quite what happened, is it asheron2? Yes, your girlfriend placed the order for you. When she placed the order, she was told that the two colors we offered were black and chestnut. It's hard for me to make something out of a brown color when I don't even offer it. The lady, my wife, would have told you at the time the order was placed that that was the case. We explained to your girlfriend what the color looked like. No further questions were asked by your girlfriend in that respect. If your girlfriend had asked for a holster that looked just like what was pictured, she would have been told that we could not do that, don't you think?

When your girlfriend called after you received the holster, she immediately became argumentative. You even got on the phone and discussed it. Why would we call you/her a liar? We don't conduct business like that, and we don't call people names like that. We would not just hang up the phone on you either. Did we not offer to take the holster back and refund your money? It's been your choice to not do that, so I don't understand how you can say your $100 was down the drain.

In the future I would suggest you provide the whole story about what transpired.

paladin4415:

With respect to the elephant trim being extra, it clearly states at the bottom of the page, under the section on ordering the holster: "Exotic skins are available at an additional cost. Please contact us if you're interested in having it added to your holster/accessory." The picture of the Thunderbird Defender clearly shows that there is an exotic skin on it.

[Frostbite]

Two sides to every story indeed. Just a couple things I noticed when looking at your website though.

It's hard for me to make something out of a brown color when I don't even offer it.

From your website:

These holsters are available in black, brown, and oil-tan colors.

I have no clue what was said on the phone obviously but just based on your website, I can see why someone might be confused.

The picture of the Thunderbird Defender clearly shows that there is an exotic skin on it.

I'm sure most gun enthusiasts know what a more exotic skin looks like but his girlfriend may have just assumed it came as pictured. It might be helpful to put a footnote on your website about the picture shown having an exotic leather trim.

Hopefully most people here are wise enough to take one negative review about a company with a grain of salt.

[MasterYong]

K-Man:

I just looked around your site, as this thread was the first I'd heard of your products. Looks like you've got some nice stuff!

To give you an outside perspective, I do honestly find it misleading (although perhaps not intentionally so) that the pictures on your site tend to show the most 'exotic' (and therefore to many the "best") offerings. It may be prudent to make it much more clear on the site, before someone calls to place an order, that the pictures are not what the end result may look like. In fact, it's probably best that you put up a picture of both of the colors that you offer, with or without the additional picture of the exotic offerings. For example, on the page http://www.kdholsters.com/iwb-owb-defend.php the Laredo Defender is clearly labeled "Laredo Defender with Shark" AND you have a disclaimer in the product description that states "Note - Exotic skins (as shown on the holster) are available at an additional cost. Please contact us if you're interested in having one added." For the Thunderbird, however, the picture's title never mentions that there is exotic skin in the picture and neither does the product description. I'm not a leather worker, so someone like me would never know the difference.

Honestly, had I called to order a holster from you, and was told that I had to choice of "black" and "chestnut" it never would have occurred to me that "chestnut" was not the color on your site. "Chestnut" to me is brown. Brown to me is brown. There may be different shades, but I'm no painter or a guest host of "queer eye for the straight guy" so as an average layman I can't tell the difference between "chestnut," "brown," "mocha," "java," "coffee," "hazelnut" or any other shade of brown unless you give me pictures to help discern one from the other.

If I were the OP, I would most likely feel intentionally mislead. It would seem to me that posting pictures of the most exotic offerings you have next to product descriptions of something made of a different material is at best an oversight that will be quickly fixed, and at worst an attempt to dupe unsuspecting customers into ordering a product that is not properly represented on your web site.

So, my .02 is that you should either change the images on your site to at the very least include pictures of the actual offerings, or make it much more clear that the pictures given are not the same as the product that would be received. I understand that you have a disclaimer at the bottom of the page, but you also need to understand that most people place disclaimers at the bottom of an advertisement because the disclaimer contains information that many customers may not want to hear and that may damage sales. I don't think this was your intention, or at least I wont draw that conclusion having never done business with you, but it would be fair to say that others may feel that way justifiably.

That being said: NICE WORK! Seriously, I like the holsters. I may have to order one for a G19 I just bought.

[Untamed1972]

Just a personal gripe when it comes to online shopping in general......I hate when companies post pictures of a product and then say "Actual product may differ from that shown in picture" or something to that effect. When I am looking for something online....all I have to go by is the picture and the description and then if you tell me the picture may differ from the actual product I will recieve....I'm likely to just go shop somewhere else because I dont want to deal with possible hassles of not getting what I think I'm ordering and then having to do returns or whatever.

So make it simple......put accurate pictures on your webpage. There! Problem solved.

[rumblebee]

It's a bummer and I hope the OP & KD are able to work out (always 3 sides to every story)...but, I gotta say..this says alot about the company -

(from their site)
Q: What is my risk in trying out one of your holsters?
A: A total investment of about $6! If you are unhappy with your holster for any reason, we will work with you to make it right. If you want to return the holster, you are welcome to do so. We will cheerfully issue you a refund of your total purchase price, minus the $4 for shipping, once the holster is returned to us in like new condition. You have to bear the cost of sending the holster back, but you are welcome to use whatever method of shipping you desire. If it costs you $2 to mail it back, you are out a grand total of about $6! We are happy to say, however, that a return is a very rare occurrence for us.

[K-Man]

While I understand the comments with respect to color choice, let me say we would/did explain to each customer those choices. In addition, we would offer to email a picture of a holster actually done in the chestnut color so there was no doubt in their mind as to what they were ordering/getting. His girlfriend opted to not have us send the picture. I don't really see the comment or "disclaimer" as being misleading or even misplaced. It was clearly put in the section that discusses how to place an order and what options are available.

Knowing what an exotic skin is may or may not be a legitimate point of confusion.

We make every reasonable attempt to make the customer satisfied. Sometimes it doesn't work out. In the instance at hand, we were not able to do that.

[MasterYong]

While I understand the comments with respect to color choice, let me say we would/did explain to each customer those choices. In addition, we would offer to email a picture of a holster actually done in the chestnut color so there was no doubt in their mind as to what they were ordering/getting. His girlfriend opted to not have us send the picture. I don't really see the comment or "disclaimer" as being misleading or even misplaced. It was clearly put in the section that discusses how to place an order and what options are available.

Knowing what an exotic skin is may or may not be a legitimate point of confusion.

We make every reasonable attempt to make the customer satisfied. Sometimes it doesn't work out. In the instance at hand, we were not able to do that.

It's very cut and dry, but if you insist that the website is not misleading (even unintentionally so) then I think that's pretty telling that it IS intentionally misleading. Why would a vendor, after having several potential customers point out what appears to be an error on their site, decline to correct the error unless it was intentional? In addition, wouldn't it save you time to NOT have to email pictures to anyone who asks? It would take a total of maybe 15 minutes to correct the site, you have to spend more time than that just monthly emailing pics to would-be customers, or accepting returns from irritated customers like the OP. There are probably other customers that are pissed they didn't get what was in the photo, but didn't complain. Many customers would chalk that up to a "lesson learned" and not order again.

How about this: in the product descriptions put a disclaimer that the products you sell aren't the products in the picture and if you want to know what the real product looks like all you have to do is ask and a pic will be emailed to you! Otherwise it is hard to overlook what appears to blatant misrepresentation of a product. It's the classic bait-and-switch, and that's fraud.

Too bad, as I just purchased a new handgun and was seriously considering one of your holsters.