WARNING: Do not buy anything from "By the Sword!!"

On January 3rd, I placed an order with “By the Sword.” They are an online LARP weapons dealer. They had some out of production weapons listed on their site as available, so I went with them rather than other known to be reliable companies I have worked with before, like Larp Exchange.

After paying through Paypal and waiting until January 13th, a box arrived at my house. It had 1 of the 3 items I ordered.

Understand that “By the sword” took my payment in full upon ordering from them and never alerted me that anything was not in stock. Actually, their online order form showed all items as in-stock and available and stated that I would receive them all soon.

When I wrote them, I gave them my Purchase Order number, and explained that I got one of the three items. I also stated that the event I ordered these items for was next weekend and when did they think I could expect delivery of the back orders.

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My original coorespondence …

PO# xxxxxx

I ordered 2 xx-xxxx-x Blank Sword Deluxe and 1 xx-xxxx Blank Dagger on January 3rd.

I received 1 xx-xxxx-x Blank Sword on January 13th.

I wasn’t aware that anything was on back order until I received the partial order that I assumed would be complete. I have an event next weekend that the props were needed for.

Can you tell me when I can expect to get the other sword and dagger?

Thanks,

Joe

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They responded that the remaining items are not due until maybe Mid-February. I said what does maybe mean? Late February or possible April? There was a pause in communications.

So I was done at this point. I asked what I should do for a full refund and if "By the sword" would send a call tag (prepaid return shipping label) or should I mail the sword back to them and be reimbursed for the return shipping, and the original order charge and shipping for my original order.

It was then that they decided to get back to my last question.

They said:

“Maybe means it is suppossed to be here, but I do not know for a fact because I did not load the ship. If you want to rturn the sword, you can, there will be a 20% re-stocking fee and you will be responsiable for shipping it back to us.”

They actually said “maybe” was because they “did not load the ship.” Yup. Really.

A 20% restocking fee for what, I said. Because they back ordered me without letting me know, told me the oop items were in-stock, and made sure to take my money for the full order coast asap, i didn't deserve to pay a penalty. I told them about Knight Realms and how this kind of business practice would not look good for them as a latex weapon sales site.

I even changed my position to try and work everything out amicably and offered to pay for the shipping charges myself to send the 1 sword back to them so they could then just give me a full refund for the cost of the order and my original shipping charges.

They said NO.

They would only refund me for the stuff they failed to send me and were insistent on the bogus “20%” restocking fee. The restocking fee would entail them cutting open the box and returning their sword to the storeroom. That would cost ME $20.

So, I kept the one sword, demanded a full refund for second sword and dagger, and partial shipping charges. They gave me a partial refund.

I said: My Paypal indicated a partial refund of $XXX.99. Our dealings are done.

They said: OK, Great!!

Nice.

I will never order from them again. I suggest no one else need go through what I did, so I wanted to warn everyone at Knight Realms to avoid “By the Sword.”

Please use reputable vendors that others have dealt with in a positive way before, like KR player, Sean Mahoney’s Larp Exchange.

I sure will.

Joe

Joe - I'll be sure to remove them from the KR list of links - or put up a review, if you'd like, to warn people away.

Thanks Geoff. I say remove them.

Come to think of it that dagger I ordered back in September is still on back order...

Since you have the correspondence, have you considered contacting the BBB?

This was not a paid advertisement......

LARPexchange.com
LARPexchange.com

(shop www.larpexchange.com)

I'll be expecting a check in the mail, Sean.

That does work because a lot of my stuff is made in Germany and Germans make great stuff

I had one buying experience with them years ago, and it also went poorly. I ordered the plastic breastplate now used in Monster Camp (Lady Orc Armor). They said it was custom made, custom sized and would take 8-12 weeks.

It is not custom sized at all, and without totally redoing it, I can't really wear it at all because it's made for someone 5'8-6'+. It was HORRIBLY expensive and it was over a month late.

It does look great and is easy to clean. Otherwise though, I haven't used them since and don't plan to.

Found my old receipt for this item I never received, got in contact with them and they decided to keep 3$ out of the refund instead of actually providing me with any product. More than anything else just a bump to remind people never to buy from by the sword. p.s. www.larpexchange.com

Thanks Joe for this, I had found the perfect sword for Syn I was going to order next month.. but seeing this just in time apparently saved me a lot of frustration

I guess I am the only one with a decent experience three different times I have ordered their economy shirts and hjad good luck with time, price and quality Just an FYI

Several years ago, I bought the set of "Lady Orc armor" plastic armor that the NPC camp now uses. They completely lied to me when they said it was custom-made for each person (for $500 is should be), and it took 3 months to arrive and didn't fit, and the strapping is a joke for the price.

Please don't give them your money, it's likely you won't be happy in the end.

Beckie