Kreosote Boots

[BlueAltitudes]

LMAO, I'm sorry guys, I've been so tired lately that the math hasn't been mathing in my head. I meant 4-5 years and for some reason 24 months to the year made sense in my head! Hahaha, at least it made for some great replies and commenting here. Like above, "We'll be fighting the T1000 inside of 5"

Anyways, yeah, they are admittedly REALLY nice! However, the wait time is crazy. I love playing guitar, but I would never wait more than 2+ years for a custom build. That's ridiculous. At the point, you should expand operations, but I digress.

 

[vividIT]

Meanwhile he does have time to do a collab with Field Leathers. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a great project and I'm sure the jackets will look amazing. But even though they will only produce ten jackets, the time and effort that goes into the project could also be spend on making shoes for his customers who have been waiting for several years and counting.

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I agree with your argument. The delays have become ridiculous. I ordered multiple pairs of boots in 2020 and 2021, fully understanding the timelines given at the time—13 months and 24 months respectively. Now, many of us are being told we won’t see our orders until 2025 or even 2026. That’s gone from a one-year wait to over four years. It genuinely feels like he doesn't care if things delayed because he got paid.

Whenever I check in for an update, I get what seems like a generic, pre-written email explaining how custom builds take time. Of course, we understand that custom work is time-consuming—it's why we were willing to wait. But we also paid for specific timelines, which are no longer being honored.

What’s particularly frustrating is seeing collaborations being announced while so many of us are still waiting on our orders. It leaves us wondering: why isn’t the focus on clearing the backlog instead?

We all understand that life happens, and delays can be unavoidable sometimes. But if the backlog has grown this severe, there need to be solutions—whether that’s working extra hours to catch up or offering customers the option of a refund.

I recently requested a refund on one because the wait time has far exceeded what I agreed to, but I’ve faced pushback there as well. This isn’t what I agreed to.

If it weren’t for Carl, I’d be questioning whether this is all a scam. Kind of regretting my decision.

 

[Tom71]

I agree with your argument. The delays have become ridiculous. I ordered multiple pairs of boots in 2020 and 2021, fully understanding the timelines given at the time—13 months and 24 months respectively. Now, many of us are being told we won’t see our orders until 2025 or even 2026. That’s gone from a one-year wait to over four years. It genuinely feels like he doesn't care if things delayed because he got paid.

Whenever I check in for an update, I get what seems like a generic, pre-written email explaining how custom builds take time. Of course, we understand that custom work is time-consuming—it's why we were willing to wait. But we also paid for specific timelines, which are no longer being honored.

What’s particularly frustrating is seeing collaborations being announced while so many of us are still waiting on our orders. It leaves us wondering: why isn’t the focus on clearing the backlog instead?

We all understand that life happens, and delays can be unavoidable sometimes. But if the backlog has grown this severe, there need to be solutions—whether that’s working extra hours to catch up or offering customers the option of a refund.

I recently requested a refund on one because the wait time has far exceeded what I agreed to, but I’ve faced pushback there as well. This isn’t what I agreed to.

If it weren’t for Carl, I’d be questioning whether this is all a scam. Kind of regretting my decision.

I feel you. Ridiculous, but sadly far from unheard of.

As long as there is communication, I am super easy with the daily struggles of small-businesses. A lot of things can happen, and some of it is not in your control.
However, going AWOL or making generic excuses without giving you a chance to understand what’s going on is plainly rude.
To blow an expected delivery not by a few weeks but by years - well, I’d say this is ample reason for a refund or else an expensive litigation experience if the wrong type of customer is affected.

 

[DogFacePonySoldier]

that’s sucks. I feel like you have to either be an ‘influencer’ with a voice so a maker will be on their p’s and q’s. Catch them early in their careers before they get swamped and ego because not giving a refund on one is bizarre if there is an another order. At least white kloud put a pause on his orders, I would respect it more if he did that. That’s a darn shame.

I recently requested a refund on one because the wait time has far exceeded what I agreed to, but I’ve faced pushback there as well. This isn’t what I agreed to.

 

[MrProper]

Did you pay the full price in advance or "only" a deposit?
Because at full price I think it's a cheeky thing to do and to me it has the appearance of a snowball system. I suspect the last ones will never get their order. That's probably why there will be no refund. I'm sorry for you.

 

[TartuWolf]

I would definitely demand a refund more forcefully if there is "pushback". Straight up call him and demand your money back.

 

[vividIT]

Did you pay the full price in advance or "only" a deposit?
Because at full price I think it's a cheeky thing to do and to me it has the appearance of a snowball system. I suspect the last ones will never get their order. That's probably why there will be no refund. I'm sorry for you.

Full price on couple of them. Every year his ETA gets pushed out to another year. 2026 is just ridiculous when I was supposed to have all of them by last year (2023). I would've went with Role Club or something. Kreosote's wait was 13 months at the time and Role Club was 24 months I believe, so I thought I was in a good spot. Nope.

 

[vividIT]

I would definitely demand a refund more forcefully if there is "pushback". Straight up call him and demand your money back.

He's hard to get a hold of via phone also. If he's still working on 2020 orders and not done until 2025, and taking 30 boot orders per year, only completing 2 boots per month, he has, in my estimate, 120 boots to make as of today. In my opinion, there's no way people are going to get their boots in the 48 month wait time listed on his site.

 

[Aloysius]

IMO maybe a lawyer can get things moving. Do you have any friends or family in that field who could do you a favor?

 

[vividIT]

IMO maybe a lawyer can get things moving. Do you have any friends or family in that field who could do you a favor?

I have an email from him dated 10/2023 that 16 builds were ahead of mine. We can do the math. Should be June or July if he is doing 2 - 2.5 builds per year if he builds 30-35/yr (per his website). Just received a new update last week (November), after checking in with him that my new schedule is 3/2025. That's 16 builds for 17 months!!! These are for 2020 purchases. He's NOT even building 30/yr or even 35/yr per his website.

 

[Will Zach]

Maybe the Kreosote threads can be merged? @Peacoat ?

 

[Tom71]

Guys, as much as this info is relevant to the community, it’s now being discussed in three different threads at the same time (This one, the other thread titled “Kreosote” and the Field Leathers thread).
Triplication doesn’t add new information but rather makes access to the facts harder.

 

[Tom71]

Maybe the Kreosote threads can be merged? @Peacoat ?

Thanks. Cross posting here.

 

[Aloysius]

Guys, as much as this info is relevant to the community, it’s now being discussed in three different threads at the same time (This one, the other thread titled “Kreosote” and the Field Leathers thread).
Triplication doesn’t add new information but rather makes access to the facts harder.

Yeah I think there have even been cases where people are replying on the Field thread but in continuation of a point from one of these two Kreosote threads.

 

[aztecasteve]

This reminds me of WH Ranch dungarees. Not sure if anyone is/was familiar with them. It was a one-man brand and he had a wait list of years. Kept taking orders and wait times kept getting longer, now come to find out he switched professions, so who knows if those people who paid upfront even got their jeans made.

 

[Peacoat]

Maybe the Kreosote threads can be merged? @Peacoat ?

If I had caught this earlier, it would have been a good idea, but now both threads are well established and merging might cause some confusion, especially if the posts are intermingled.

But thank you for the suggestion.

 

[Brandrea33]

I feel like I dodged a bullet.

@vividIT, if I were you I’d stay forcefully persistent until he refunds your money.