It's not strange, i explained why i can't justify ordering from them. It's fine to be enthusiastic about a project without actually buying the product, and many people do this over products they cannot afford.
I was always intending to try at least one set but my need for experimentation and the shipping cost always put me off, and i never had an actual need for their special lengths or gauges and was very happy with buying D'Addario singels locally. More recently my financial situation is really bad which rules it out completely.
I don't need to defend the product, it seems to be excellent from other's reports.
I admit that i have been too easy on them here. Skip has been an internet acquiaintance of mine for 12 years and i was part of the ERB community where he and i and others discussed string tensions and set design a lot, and this is was when Skip first had the idea for Circle K Strings. This history has probably made me more supportive of them and made me see things in the most positive and generous perspective.
I have defended them against *unreasonable* attacks and slander, which has happened quite often here as people get together to rant and then sometimes go too far. But to be clear i, now, do not defend their bad customer service at all.
However, your post could be misinterpreted, i have never *completely* defended what they have done, but i admit i have been too lenient.
Many times i got involved because i follow the company closely and so had information that was helpful. Also a few times i posted to defend them against *unreasonable* attacks and baseless accusations.
Just to be clear, as with GK Growl's post, your post could be interpreted as saying i have *completely* defended things they have done, which i never did, and i do not now. However i understand you probably do not mean to imply that.
I have a fairly personal email address of his, and months ago have linked him to the complaints here and have made suggestions to improve things. I won't share his response because it's personal correspondance.
I have also tagged other members of Kalium (Chris and their previous customer service guy who didn't seem to do much) many times on FB to link them to complaints to try to get orders investigated. I have made suggestions for improvements many times to Chris on FB, and i told him i was sceptical about their claims of shipping issues being due to their shipper. Many people's orders were sorted out due to me making a fuss on FB.
So, here i seemed too supportive of them, but elsewhere, i have made a big fuss and been a pain in their asses
After reading all this I am still left with one conclusion about ixlramp and Kalium strings. ixlramp believes that because he has a friendly relationship with Skip at Kalium that he can come onto threads where consumers have legitimate complaints and attempt to defend Kalium strings behavior as appropriate. Cognitive dissonance allows ixlramp to scold Kalium and Skip for their crappy service but then turn around and say how good they are because he knows Skip and his intentions are good (even though the evidence is showing otherwise). It's almost as if ixlramp doesn't want to admit how terrible Kalium strings service really is because he is friends with Skip and because of this the bad service is not possible (even though it is because it is happening all the time and people here and other places are talking about it). ixlramp, Kalium's bad deeds are not a reflection on YOU because you are friends with them. What is a reflection on you is what you say in threads here about an issue with which you have ZERO first hand experience with, touting a friendship as proof that Kalium could not possibly do anything wrong (even when they did) because they have good intentions (even when they don't). ixlramp, you are digging a bigger hole for yourself and I can only hope that your personal relationships are a little more grounded than what I see here on this public forum.
So, here i seemed too supportive of them, but elsewhere, i have made a big fuss and been a pain in their asses
You said it, not me. Cognitive dissonance. You can't have it both ways.
Wow. Maybe they should hire you. You do realize that you seem a lot more concerned about getting things right than they do right? I would suggest you get on the payroll for all the good work you do for them. In the meantime, as orders keep slipping and one person attempts to fix all this via email, facebook, public forums, etc. they will continue to lose business. Which really is a shame because I found the actual product to be excellent, unique, and all those other things. I find their business practices to be crap and that ALWAYS is the determining factor for success.
