Adventurebilt hats - anyone ordered from?

[Bruce Wayne]

Well, actually it does. He could be making hats for the people who paid him 3 years ago on his day off instead of taking money from more people and sending them to the front of the line.

Like FMW wrote, this seems like a Ponzi scheme to me as well. I'm sure he didn't intend it to work out this way, but that is the result.

So, he is not allowed to have a day off?

:facepalm:

NO EFFECT on helping the backlog, yes. The extra time could and should to be used to catch up on the earliest orders--this time on more profitable new orders prevents the potential use of this time for that purpose. Understandable, but just creating a rationalization, not the fairest policy.

 

[Saint-Just]

So, he is not allowed to have a day off?

I have no bone in this but have seen it with a custom knife maker that burned himself out.
He is totally entitled to a day off, and as a matter of fact he should have it OFF.

The point was that if he's going to make some hats on his day off, then those hats should be those of these people who, having paid over 3 years ago, are as much entitled to their hats as he is to his day off.
It is therefore counter productive, in as much as he doesn't get any rest and it upsets customers who have been waiting patiently until now and see others get served first just because they paid more money.

 

[bendingoak]

We are talking just a few hats here. Not a few hats on one day but a few hats
A year.

Who is anyone to tell this man what to do on his day off. Don't you think the 16 hour day is enough.

 

[Lefty]

(self edited - not the kind of +1 I'm looking for)

 

[bendingoak]

I'm sorry, this sort of thing is inexcusable. A custom maker of anything should stop taking orders when the waiting time gets excessive. This happens in our industry too. A maker gets popular, takes people's money, enjoys the new prosperity and never catches up with the orders. After a while his reputation is tarnished and the orders stop. It is something like a Ponzi
scheme. It is bad business whether you are a hatter or the maker of the best flutes in the world. Too many things can happen in a long period of time.

It sounds like this fellow is at that point. Sorry to hear it.

The orders did stop at the $650 price tag. Once in awhile he sales a hat at that price.

Its very easy to be on the outside looking in and thing you could have done it differently.


That long list came from just a couple of months around the time of Indy 4. You have no idea howany we are talking and most of these orders came at his very old price
Where his profit want were it should have been.

He should have jacked his prices as soon as he got the gig but who knew it would hit like this, no one.

If he jacked up his prices I'm sure he would be called a thief. Can't win.

I will say this, he has never not delivered a hat to a customer. The wait may be longer than he or the customer wanted but he us a good man.

I can't wait for him to finish that list for a few reasons. All the bad talk can stop. He can finally have sone peace. I can have my friend back.

And by the by

Mist people would have had some company slap together a factory hat and send them that instead if what him doing everything himself, instead of exactly what he made for the movie. Instead of what he offered.

One day it will be over, that I'm
Sure of.

 

[Bruce Wayne]

Guy 1: Man, it's been a long wait. I'm a patient guy, and I really want the hat, so this is just me venting a bit of frustration. I love those ABs.

Guys 2-27: I have no experience with AB, but I've read some things that I have caused me to not only share your frustration, but to become infuriated for no apparent reason - other than my sense of social hat justice.

Thanx Lefty. I am going to add this because you can put a fork in me:

 

[fedoralover]

A friend of mine is into Astronomy and ordered a telescope from a company who hand makes the lens used in them. They are so good everyone is on a waiting list to get one. He has been waiting 10 years, no kidding and he understands that when he finally gets it he'll have what he wants.

fedoralover

 

[RBH]

Gents once again this thread has taken a nosedive....
I will give some of you a time to tidy up your post. The photo of the special olympics is one that I believe in very bad taste.
The next time I close it it will be for good.
While we may not like everything here at the Lounge... we are sure better than this.

 

[bendingoak]

Just so we are clear on something and in hopes of giving a better understanding. The day off that Steve works is not a full day. Lets say the first Sunday of the month. he gets a new order for at the new price tag. He goes in for just an hour and blocks the hat. The next weekend he goes in for yet around another hour to work on that same hat. He does this for about 6-8 weeks to finish that one hat. Have to account for dry time. He doesn't go in every Sunday working on hats all day long getting rich. Far from it. Again, we are talking a few hats a year.

Im hoping this will give some here a little understand that Steve isn't getting rich, or driving a expensive sports car, or living in a hugh home. Far from it.

 

[bendingoak]

Shutting his doors didn't work because people wanted to get on a waiting list. The only thing that worked some what was to increase the price to $650.00. He hoped it would stop all orders but it didn't. It did cut them to just a few a year.

Again, I hope that helps a little.

 

[handlebar bart]

I will give some of you a time to tidy up your post. The photo of the special olympics is one that I believe in very bad taste.
.

Yep Rusty, that really needs to go away.

 

[fmw]

He makes the high price fedoras on his day off. Making them has NO EFFECT on the long list. Like John said, he works 6 hours a day 6 days a week.

Not the point. He should stop taking orders when the list gets that long. Or at least he should stop taking money.

 

[Tomasso]

you can put a fork in me

Dude, you forked yourself with this nugget.

He makes the high price fedoras on his day off. Making them has NO EFFECT on the long list.

:eusa_doh:

 

[handlebar bart]

Thanx Lefty. I am going to add this because you can put a fork in me:
/IMG]

Deal with your post

 

[alanfgag]

A friend of mine is into Astronomy and ordered a telescope from a company who hand makes the lens used in them. They are so good everyone is on a waiting list to get one. He has been waiting 10 years, no kidding and he understands that when he finally gets it he'll have what he wants.

fedoralover

Astro-Physics is an interesting example. I'm lucky to have several of their telescopes and mounts. The waiting list is ten years long for some products, however, the list is just a list. No one is charged a deposit until the item they ordered is in production with their name on it. It is also a much larger company, though the optics are hand finished by one talented man.

This company also has its critics. In this day and age we expect to be able to order everything we want and have it immediately and some will go into a rage with a business plan that does not accommodate this.

 

[Omne]

Thanx Lefty. I am going to add this because you can put a fork in me:

Deleted picture

Not cool

 

[Guttersnipe]

Fellas, as the person who originally started this thread three years ago, I would like to prevail on everyone to keep it civil. My experience with Adventurebilt is that, while Steve's response time to emails/phone calls is glacial, he is prompt about issuing refunds if you decide one of his hats is not worth the wait.

This thread is a valuable one: it regularly gets bumped with new info about wait times; it serves of an informative source about the quality of hat Adventurbilt produces; and it lets people know what they're getting into when they decide to order from Steve.

If the thread gets permanently locked because a few people are choosing to air their grievances in public, it will deprive everyone else of a chance to make a more informed decision about this company.

 

[Tomasso]

if the thread gets permanently locked because a few people are choosing to air their grievances in public, it will deprive everyone else of a chance to make a more informed decision about this company.

qft

 

[jlee562]

It's worth re-reiterating that Steve receives VERY FEW orders at the $650 price. I think some may have the mistaken impression that the list is getting longer and longer, but since Steve announced he was raising prices, which was about 2 years ago now, I can recall, no more than 6 or so hats having shown up at COW. Which is of course not to say that those were Steve's only orders during the time period, but we are not talking about dozens and dozens of hats here, it's just a handful.

 

[djd]

He does also make Rabbit hats too at a lower cost. I myself bought one last year and he shipped it in about 9 weeks from the order date.

For what it's worth, I think Steve is a nice guy. I think his decision to do newer orders before the older ones was a mistake though. I'm sure he'll come through in the end but as often in life communication , or the lack of it is the real problem here.