Buying from Kult of Athena

Buying from Kult of Athena

by Calvin
(Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

After extensively researching the swords I want and exhaustively researching who I want to buy it from, I have found that Kult of Athena consistently has the best prices on the market - especially now that our Canadian dollar is so strong. Ironically, Reliks.com (a Canadian company) isn't even on par when you apply their free-shipping discount. The Kult of Athena web-site is very easy to navigate. They are fairly up to date with what they have in stock, have great deals on "blemished" items, and you can quickly eliminate non-Battle Ready merchandise from your search. Shipping costs are easily calculated and reasonable.

After having dealt with them a couple of times, however, I can criticize them for one thing: their customer service. Very slow to answer emails, if they do at all, or return telephone calls, they can be a bit frustrating to deal with. Once you do have someone on the phone, however, they are easy to talk to, helpful and informative. Still, they could use some work.
For example, my last order took about 3 weeks for them to ship to me. I needed swords for a show I was choreographing the fights for, added a couple of items for my personal collection, and I placed the order in what I thought was a reasonable amount of time to receive them for rehearsals.

It turned out that one of the other items wasn't in stock and was on back-order, which they failed to tell me about, period. They finally sent the incomplete order, which I received a week before showtime! Everything arrived well packed (except for the back-ordered item), the cutlasses were beautiful, the Irish Two-handed sword enormous and amazing, but the Deepeeka swept-hilt dagger seemed horribly out of proportion. (I guess I shouldn't expect too much from Deepeeka...) When I called Kult of Athena about my order I was surprised at their lack of concern and eagerness to do... ANYTHING! The fellow on the other end was close to being apologetic about the tardiness of the shipment, but insisted that they generally email people when there is a back-ordered item.

He also told me that the item was now in and they would ship it right away, but I would have to pay the extra shipping charges! Uh, NO WAY! When I told him about my swept-hilt maine gauche that looked more like a short sword and didn't match their product picture, description or measurements, he informed me that they were hand made and were all a little different, pulled out another they had in stock, which, lovely for them, fit the description more closely. He again made no effort to remedy the situation, or even give exchange options.

So, now I have a tough decision to make when I buy in the future. A great site, amazing inventory, low prices, and people that can be quite helpful. But I'm hesitant to reward the sub-standard customer service I received with more of my business. Time will tell...

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Buying from Kult of Athena

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Jul 20, 2008
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left with questions...
by: S. Crawford

I recently ordered a Generation 2 Pompei Gladius from Kult of Athena, and although there wer a few issues, I have no real complaints.
My order arrived damaged, wooden guard cracked, guard plate a little out of place. The blade 'appeared' to have very subtle scuff marks on it, and since the sword also came stripped of the usual lubricants, plastic wrap etc., and came stored in its scabbard, I assumed that it had been previously sent out, used and returned.
I was assured that this was not the case; that a damaged item would never be sent back out, and that it was standard procedure for K.O A. to remove the lubricants and plastic wrap on all items so that a proper pre-shipping inspection could be performed.
My sword was replaced quickly and cheerfully; though its replacement, curiously enough, was heavily lubed, wrapped and seperate from its scabbard, like every other sword I have ever purchased online.
Again, no real complaints...just a sense of uncertainty. Had they admitted that it had been returned, perhaps by an unscrupulous user who 'neglected' to mention they'd abused it, I wouldn't have been offended. K.O.A cannot be held accountable for its customer's actions or honesty; and with so many items coming in and going out they can't possibly catch everything. As far as the pre-shipping inspection... It seems like a good idea... it wasn't very effective in my case, nor does it seem to be a consistant practice.
In closing, I would purchase from them again. They are very pleasent over the phone, almost neighborly, they have good prices and quick shipping. As long as they are willing to accept honest and reasonable returns I am satisfied.

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Jul 20, 2008
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Submitted by: S. Crawford

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I recently ordered a Generation 2 Pompei Gladius from Kult of Athena, and although there wer a few issues, I have no real complaints. My order arrived damaged, wooden guard cracked, guard plate a little out of place. The blade 'appeared' to have very subtle scuff marks on it, and since the sword also came stripped of the usual lubricants, plastic wrap etc., and came stored in its scabbard, I assumed that it had been previously sent out, used and returned. I was assured that this was not the case; that a damaged item would never be sent back out, and that it was standard procedure for K.O A. to remove the lubricants and plastic wrap on all items so that a proper pre-shipping inspection could be performed. My sword was replaced quickly and cheerfully; though its replacement, curiously enough, was heavily lubed, wrapped and seperate from its scabbard, like every other sword I have ever purchased online. Again, no real complaints...just a sense of uncertainty. Had they admitted that it had been returned, perhaps by an unscrupulous user who 'neglected' to mention they'd abused it, I wouldn't have been offended. K.O.A cannot be held accountable for its customer's actions or honesty; and with so many items coming in and going out they can't possibly catch everything. As far as the pre-shipping inspection... It seems like a good idea... it wasn't very effective in my case, nor does it seem to be a consistant practice. In closing, I would purchase from them again. They are very pleasent over the phone, almost neighborly, they have good prices and quick shipping. As long as they are willing to accept honest and reasonable returns I am satisfied.

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Jun 12, 2008
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Inaccurate
by: KultOfAthena

Calvin, I'm sorry to feel the need to publish online what amounts to libel against us. Your statements are misleading and inaccurate. You omit facts and "embellish" your story in an obvious attempt to "punish" us because you were unhappy with the Deepeeka dagger you received. Some facts you failed to mention: We emailed you regarding the back ordered item. If you did not receive that email, I apologize, AGAIN. You called us 2 weeks after placing the order to check on it, we gave you the option to wait for the back ordered item or ship the rest. You asked us to ship the rest of your order. You were fully aware that you would not receive the back ordered item. Your order was shipped 16 days after you ordered, not 3 weeks as stated. And it only took that long because we were waiting to hear from you. We offered to let you return the dagger for a refund, as is our policy. Which you did and we refunded you for it. What you also did not mention is that you placed another order after this for the same Deepeeka dagger. We shipped this to you along with a bowie knife we special ordered for you and some other items. I personally checked over the dagger to make sure it was closer to the website picture than the one you received originally. Once again you were not happy with it, even though you were very familiar with what to expect. Once again we allowed to return it and refunded you, along with the bowie knife we special ordered for you. Which is still sitting here, because we honor our return policy EVEN on special orders.
You do a tremendous disservice passing off these half-truths as fact, and may even be legally culpable for libel. The fact of the matter is that you were displeased with the quality of the Deepeeka product, which we allowed you to return. Why you've chosen to turn this into a crusade against us is beyond me. The rest of the items you received, you were happy with as you stated. I do not know what more we could have done for you.

As for our Phone / Email support. Many of our competitors will not provide a phone number at all. We are here answering the phone at established hours 40 hours a week. You had no problem getting through to us when you called about the returns. As for email, we get hundreds of emails a day, and answer them all as quickly as possible. All of your emails were answered quickly and professionally. We do not have banks of phone / email operators. We do the best we can.

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Jun 12, 2008
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Submitted by: KultOfAthena

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Calvin, I'm sorry to feel the need to publish online what amounts to libel against us. Your statements are misleading and inaccurate. You omit facts and "embellish" your story in an obvious attempt to "punish" us because you were unhappy with the Deepeeka dagger you received. Some facts you failed to mention: We emailed you regarding the back ordered item. If you did not receive that email, I apologize, AGAIN. You called us 2 weeks after placing the order to check on it, we gave you the option to wait for the back ordered item or ship the rest. You asked us to ship the rest of your order. You were fully aware that you would not receive the back ordered item. Your order was shipped 16 days after you ordered, not 3 weeks as stated. And it only took that long because we were waiting to hear from you. We offered to let you return the dagger for a refund, as is our policy. Which you did and we refunded you for it. What you also did not mention is that you placed another order after this for the same Deepeeka dagger. We shipped this to you along with a bowie knife we special ordered for you and some other items. I personally checked over the dagger to make sure it was closer to the website picture than the one you received originally. Once again you were not happy with it, even though you were very familiar with what to expect. Once again we allowed to return it and refunded you, along with the bowie knife we special ordered for you. Which is still sitting here, because we honor our return policy EVEN on special orders. You do a tremendous disservice passing off these half-truths as fact, and may even be legally culpable for libel. The fact of the matter is that you were displeased with the quality of the Deepeeka product, which we allowed you to return. Why you've chosen to turn this into a crusade against us is beyond me. The rest of the items you received, you were happy with as you stated. I do not know what more we could have done for you. As for our Phone / Email support. Many of our competitors will not provide a phone number at all. We are here answering the phone at established hours 40 hours a week. You had no problem getting through to us when you called about the returns. As for email, we get hundreds of emails a day, and answer them all as quickly as possible. All of your emails were answered quickly and professionally. We do not have banks of phone / email operators. We do the best we can.

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Dec 11, 2007
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Its a trade off
by: Paul Southren

I suppose like all things, it is a bit of a trade off...

They cut their margins razor thin, which means that they will naturally want to hold on to the profit in every sale or risk going out of business. So the choice is to shop around for someone who charges a little more, but offers better exchange options, or go for the lowest $ price possible. There are companies out there who charge around the same price but whose customer service is a heck of a lot worse...

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