Adventurebilt hats status update (read if you have an outstanding order)

[thewolverine]

My order was in 02/2008, for a beaver Indy fedora. I sent a note a week or so back but have not heard.
I hope that he makes a full recovery. I will send another note here in the next week or so..

 

[XPLSV]

I placed my order in Nov 2007 (latter part of the month). I had emailed Steve and he replied last summer when he was making a recovery and was trying to verify his outstanding orders. I had heard his health took a downturn last fall. I have not heard anything else first hand since last summer's email, although I know of a few COW postings on recent full-price AB deliveries this past month. Certainly not the way one would hope for an order to work out over the years, but I'll just say that life can be tough.

 

[Rick Blaine]

I placed my order in Nov 2007 (latter part of the month). I had emailed Steve and he replied last summer when he was making a recovery and was trying to verify his outstanding orders. I had heard his health took a downturn last fall. I have not heard anything else first hand since last summer's email, although I know of a few COW postings on recent full-price AB deliveries this past month. Certainly not the way one would hope for an order to work out over the years, but I'll just say that life can be tough.

You've the patience of a Saint, my friend.

 

[1BAT4U]

Anyone here have any updates or news from Steve? Will be 5 years in March for me. I haven't heard anything in a long time.

 

[Blackthorn]

Anyone here have any updates or news from Steve? Will be 5 years in March for me. I haven't heard anything in a long time.

That's unreal.

 

[XPLSV]

It will be 5 years for me this month. It's kind of interesting, back in November 2007, the weather was growing colder and I was recently retired from the military, thus deciding I wanted a proper hat for my head that would properly top off my typical coat & tie work attire. That led me to info on the fedoras and my first "good quality" fedora was the order I had placed with Steve. Since that point in time, I have had many very nice vintage fedora's come through my hands, with a dozen or so taking up permanent residence. Yet, 5 years later, I still do not have in my hands the first high quality fedora that I bought back in November of 2007...

I last year an update from Steve at the end of June 2011. He was making his recovery as I was recoverying from some surgery myself. He re-confirmed my order at the time and I, frankly, had hopes that I might receive my Adventurebilt within a few months. I emailed him a year later to try and get another update (this being at the end of June or beginning of July 2012) and I did not receive a reply. Coming out of work early this morning, I thought about the 5 year anniversary of my initial order being this month and again contemplated the lack of that one particular hat...

 

[jlee562]

Our own Bruce Wayne just heard from Steve yesterday, so he's out there making hats....I'm waiting too!

 

[XPLSV]

There has been the whole discussion over the years on whether he should be taking new orders or filling the previous ones, about the fact he is working the new orders on his own time, etc. I know he has had health issues, too. I think I have been one of the more patient ones out there, just hoping everything sorted through. But dang...the five year point. I've been through three different companies with employment, five different positions, a deployment to Afghanistan, had two kids enter and complete high school... At this point, I really am starting to feel strongly that the new orders need to be put aside completely. I get a lot of down time with my current job schedule and have been contemplating a visit to Columbus on one of my off weeks in hopes of shaking that hat loose...kind of a Raiders of the Lost Fedora effort!

 

[OT1899]

Wow!!! This is really disappointing to read. Setting all personal circumstances aside, he has had plenty of time to make it right with a refund or a hat like you ordered. I think you have every right to pay him a visit and watch him make your hat while you wait!!!!! It is beyond ridiculous for him to work on current orders when he has orders in the que that are over five years old......!!! Just my two cents, which is probably about all it is worth...

 

[Blackthorn]

There has been the whole discussion over the years on whether he should be taking new orders or filling the previous ones, about the fact he is working the new orders on his own time, etc. I know he has had health issues, too. I think I have been one of the more patient ones out there, just hoping everything sorted through. But dang...the five year point. I've been through three different companies with employment, five different positions, a deployment to Afghanistan, had two kids enter and complete high school... At this point, I really am starting to feel strongly that the new orders need to be put aside completely. I get a lot of down time with my current job schedule and have been contemplating a visit to Columbus on one of my off weeks in hopes of shaking that hat loose...kind of a Raiders of the Lost Fedora effort!

Bottom line...very basic business ethics...he should nots be taking new orders when there are orders 5 years (or 4 or 3) old still on the books. This is really bad ethics, to say the least.

 

[Rick Blaine]

:crazy::arated:

Wow!!! This is really disappointing to read. Setting all personal circumstances aside, he has had plenty of time to make it right with a refund or a hat like you ordered. I think you have every right to pay him a visit and watch him make your hat while you wait!!!!! It is beyond ridiculous for him to work on current orders when he has orders in the que that are over five years old......!!! Just my two cents, which is probably about all it is worth...

:arated:+:arated:= :crazy:

 

[Wolfwood]

I take it that there are no customer protection agencies in the US that could be asked to talk some sense to the said hat maker?

A five year wait (and even a wait longer than a year) is clear grounds for a refund and the company cannot refuse to pay it.

 

[XPLSV]

Depending upon the method of payment, there are/could have been various routes to take. Many people paid via PayPal, personal check, or money order. PayPal has certain time restrictions for taking action. If a normal credit card payment had been made, which wasn't available back in 2007, similar buyer protection would have been in effect. For those of us that paid with personal check or money order, about the only thing available after such a long time might be a small claims court action. At the time I placed my order, Steve was charging $250 a hat. That is a bargain price for a hat of that quality...providing one ends up with the hat! To take through small claims court, the expense of traveling from out of state (I guess the action could be filed in either the buyer or sellers state, but I would say the state of Missouri would be the more proper setting) outways the initial cost of the hat and most would write off the loss rather than go through the trouble and added expenses that would be incurred. The story is long on this whole hat saga of a gentleman who was overly committed to creating a screen accurate hat, contributed to the community who wanted such a hat, then was bit in the behind by his own success, encountering a wall of orders that grew so high he has never caught up. Add in the health problems he has faced over the years...and it has ended up in the situation such as it has unfolded. Initial order money was put into production materials and the comment has been made that no refund money is available. I have read on other forums about the potential to pay additional funds to come up to the current price level and get moved to the front of the "current price" production line, but that is nothing I have been told first hand and that is just plain wrong should it be true. One does not pay in full for a item, wait several years, then be told one can pay more to get the thing. Again, that was second hand info. Many of us have not heard any updates upon submitting requests. There are always comments from those that have received one or more hats that production is ongoing and to be patient...but from the point of not hearing anything for months/years, we are tired of hearing from others who have hats and just wish to receive the hat or some form of communication directly from Steve. My last correspondence I recieved was June 29, 2011. I was thrilled to hear from Steve at that time...but that was the last response I have had.

 

[XPLSV]

I did send a request for my 5 year update...will report back if I receive a reply.

 

[ecp]

XPLSV - Why wait for an e-mail reply. On his webpage he lists a phone number on his "Contact Info" page. I would just call him. 5 yrs. is too long to wait.

 

[OT1899]

The dialogue at this link is interesting:

http://www.scaminformer.com/scam-report/adventurebilt-hat-company-adventurebilt-hat-company-steve-delk-adventurebilt-hat-c40773.html

 

[Blackthorn]

The dialogue at this link is interesting:

http://www.scaminformer.com/scam-re...pany-steve-delk-adventurebilt-hat-c40773.html

Wow...buyer beware.

 

[splintercellsz]

For sure... glad I haven't gone the Adventure route. Thanks for bringing these issues to light!

 

[Guttersnipe]

There was a 37 page thread discussing Adventurebilt. Ultimately, due to it taking a decidedly cantankerous tone, it ended up being locked by the moderators (which I thought was unfortunate, because it certainly contains some very useful information for the fedora wearing/purchasing consumer).

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/show...nturebilt-hats-anyone-ordered-from&highlight=

 

[alanfgag]

This is a crazy situation. I admire the patience and goodwill of the many who have suppressed invective towards a maker whose life and business have clearly spiraled out of control.

If it were me, I would wave farewell and imagine the money lost as a donation to someone who likely needs the support. Life is short and there are great hatters still working and great hats out there waiting to be worn.