Adventurebilt ( US ) and Customer Service

[kiltie]

I while back, I created a little bit of a stink in the "Fedora" section with some questions and some comparitive pictures of two Adventurebilt hats, both of which I'd purchased from other members.
The hat I had questions about is a great hat, and I decided to leave the situation be without ruffling any more feathers. Those of you who kept up with the thread know how it went down. I wore the hat on vacation ( see: VEGAS BABY in the "Scrapbook" section ) and around town a bit, feeling that if there were any problems, I'd take the hat to a local shop.
Shortly after my return from Las Vegas, Steve Delk e-mailed me, but I didn't catch it until just a few days ago ( he sent the e-mail to my ISP address I used to register here; an address I rarely use ). He'd offered to look at the hat and tend to any issues I had concerns with.
I had some reservation in this matter, as I know Fedora has a couple of other odds and ends on his plate, but I ultimately figured he might be curious about revisiting the hat first hand; see what I was refering to outside of the pictures I'd posted. So, I sent the hat to him a couple of days ago, and I wanted to post on the internet exchange as it's gone so far.
Mr. Delk has done a great job communicating with me in each step of the way. He assured me that what I was seeing in the hat was just as he'd described it in the old locked thread. He is adjusting the portion of the ribbon I initially brought attention to, and offered to modify other things outlined in the old thread. I declined the gracious second part of his offer, as he stated that everything is in good shape ( no surprise there, of course ).
I simply want to emphasize in a semi-public way, how easy this has been, how forthcoming Steve Delk has been, and how generous he has been ( is being ) with both his time and words in this matter. The time on his part is, I know, a very real investment. The consideration, however, is simply a man doing what he believes is the right thing to do; a trait sorely lacking in the vast majority of any type of exchange these days. Thank you.

[Michaelson]

Heck, that was so well written, I'm tempted to lock it and leave it stand as is!

Regards! Michaelson

[BendingOak]

I think Steve went way above and beyond what should ever be expected. It's a hat that was 2nd hand bought and no vendor should be ask to do this.

[kiltie]

I think Steve went way above and beyond what should ever be expected. It's a hat that was 2nd hand bought and no vendor should be ask to do this.

Hence the considerable gratitude.
I want to be clear in this post that, beyond asking for Fedora to weigh in on the old thread, I asked nothing of him*. That is what makes the exchange the more impressive and personal. I would expect any manufacturer, seller, etc... to make good on his product to his customer. It's the peculiar nature of this particular exchange that makes it so outstanding; a man standing behind his product, "cradle to the grave". The fact that not only am I being treated as the firsthand customer, but that the man is taking pride in what he does, in his creation, the value of his reputation... ultimately I feel he is treating me as less of a customer and more as a member of this "small town".


*EDIT:
I take that back ( but not the sentiment ). I did write in a letter accompanying the hat asking would he please look the hat over and tell me what he thought. So technically, I did ask for his thoughts.

[BendingOak]

I sent you a PM.

[kiltie]

I happen to have the inside track that John Penman is on the phone with a customer right now, so if I hurry I'll beat him to the post.
BendingOak, committed as he is to doing the right thing, wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing and that my intentions were good. It is evident in his post above on this thread and in statements he made in the original thread that this is related to, that there was something of a rift between us. He felt that my manner of addressing the issues concerning this hat were not as dicreet as they could have been, and he is right. It is one of the reasons for the existence of this thread in the first place. We talked for some time and got things ironed out, and it is clear to me now why Penman hats, too, has it's loyal customers. If you've got a friend like that, you're pretty well covered.
Thanks, Oak, for understanding where I was coming from. I fully understand your stance as well and I will always have it in mind in the future.
Fedora,
You can't beat having a guy like Penman go to bat for you ( not that you'd need anyone for that ).

[BendingOak]

Kiltie,

Great talking with you buddy. It was bothering me that You and I was bumping heads. Like Kiltie stated we ironed things out ( no pun intended). Both had good intentions going in. I think we found out that we are very much alike.

Have a safe shift and get your self home my friend.

[Indy_Werner]

Reading this thread makes me feel all fuzzy inside. lol

[binkmeisterRick]

We're fortunate to have a number of real class acts on these boards who truly value providing good customer service.

[Michaelson]

You know, bink, other than folks having very strong opinions about things, I can't think of anyone here who ISN'T top drawer in that department, and I'm proud to be 'associated' with all of you.

Regards! Michaelson

[BendingOak]

Just for the pink bunny I think I'm going to be nasty as all heck from now on.

[Michaelson]

Ok, that better?
(This one courtesy of bink too. )

Regards! Michaelson

[thedurdens]

Will those be made into hats now? I'm a little fuzzy on the process.

Thanks,
Frank

[Michaelson]

Where did you think rabbit fur felt came from in the first place?

Regards! Michaelson

[binkmeisterRick]

Or this, perhaps?



What were we talking about again?

[BendingOak]

I don't know if I should run and hide. You guys are scaring me.

[Michaelson]

Excellent! Our work is done here.....



HIGH regards! Michaelson

[binkmeisterRick]

You were right, Michaelson, you should've locked it after kiltie's original post. Now look what we've done!

[Michaelson]

What?

Regards! Michaelson

[BendingOak]

You were right, Michaelson, you should've locked it after kiltie's original post. Now look what we've done!

You guys started this mess. We self moderated our selves and let everyone know that we made nice. I guess we did your job for you.

[Michaelson]

That's more than we get from many folks, let me tell you!

Regards! Michaelson

[BendingOak]

We tried to go easy on you this time and not make a mess for you two guys to clean up.

[Michaelson]

MUCH appreciated!

Like I said above, a real pleasure to associate with folks like you!

Regards! Michaelson

[IndianaGuybrush]

I want a pancake finish on my next AB.

Dealing with Steve was dealing with a consummate professional, which is funny, because he hasn't been pro at this very long. In fact, when this first started to get off the ground, you got the impression he was like a man being dragged behind one truck full of nazis and being chased by another one...

I think the word is integrity

[BendingOak]

I want a pancake finish on my next AB.

Dealing with Steve was dealing with a consummate professional, which is funny, because he hasn't been pro at this very long. In fact, when this first started to get off the ground, you got the impression he was like a man being dragged behind one truck full of nazis and being chased by another one...

I think the word is integrity

And thats why he is one of my favorite people.

[Texan Scott]

You know, bink, other than folks having very strong opinions about things....
Regards! Michaelson

....who in the world would be doing that on here?

[Fedora]

I thought I would follow up so folks would know what I did for Kiltie. (Jeremy)

When his hat arrived, I was waiting on it, because I wanted to see in hand what the problem was, as pics don't always tell the whole story.

What I found was a hat that my nephew had assembled and boxed up, prior to me inspecting his sewing work. Now, you must first understand that my nephew thought he had mastered hatmaking after only working with me for a couple of weeks. He had not developed and "eye" yet for important areas in hat construction. And I guess he wanted to show me, that he was capable of producing a hat as well as I. Which was a ridiculous assumption.

I discovered that the back of the bow did not meet the ribbon correctly, as was shown in Kilties pics of that hat.

Also, the sweatband stitching at the back, the seam, was a bit wide, i.e. less stitches.

And those two items were not represenative of my work. But in his defense, he had used a sweat that my sister and sister in law had made, for the film, for one of the stunt hats. So, I can't blame the "less stitches" on him, but rather that was their fault. But, the seam was a strong one, and not apt to come apart, so it was a good seam, just not the way I generally make em'


Kiltie also asked if I would size up the hat to a 22 7/8, (it was a 22 3/4) and I was glad to do it for him, since I was gonna replace the sweat anyways with a better looking seam on the back.

So, I replaced the ribbon, sweat, and even put in a new liner so he would have a new hat, on the inside. And will ship that hat out today, as I finished it in the wee hours of the morning last night.

I also recreased the hat for him, as these CS fedoras tend to get blocky looking if you let the creases relax.

The secret to getting a good crease in this hat requires a technique not many know about. To get it screen accurate, you must steam the crown well, and then put one hand in the back to hold the back height in place. (I use the tips of my fingers on my right hand) With the rest of your right hand, and the left hand, you press in on the upper sides of the crown to get rid of the blocky look, while holding the back crease so it does not dip down lower than what it is. I find that I must do this 2 or 3 times, using steam each time, to get it to "set" into this shape. This is the technique used by Bernie with his steamer he took with him. Without doing this, the hat will not look right. Although you do see this blocky hat in the film, and this was apparently when Bernie was not on set to keep the hats looking right.

So, again, keep the back height at 4 to 4 1/4, hold it in place so it won't move downward, and steam and press in the top sides of the hat to add some taper. Once you train the hat to this look, it will stay that way, unless you pop out the crown. I think this is why Bernie liked this particular block, because he could add any slight taper that he was after, and control that taper, which you can't do with a tapered block. This technique also defines the top crease much better, giving it a deeper crease, instead of a shallow one.

I think you will be pleased with the tweaks I did on this hat Kiltie. And thanks for the gifts you included with the hat. Much appreciated! Fedora

[kiltie]

Holy Macaroni!!!

Thanks, Fedora! I'm super amped about getting the hat back! If there's anything ever I can do, just lemme know. The next round of pictures of that hat should be coming from Colorado in about a month and a half, so I'm really looking forward to that.
All you long timers who've posted on this thread and the locked one; Michealson, Oak, Bink, etc... Y'all are top shelf, and I thank you all for your input and seeing this to the end without it turning in to a "jacket thread" ( did I just type that out loud? ).
Most importantly, though, thanks again Steve, for making this the "regular guys" kind of thing I always meant it to be from the beginning ( even if I started off a bit ham-handed ). Thanks a million!

[BendingOak]

Steve is one in a million and goes above and beyond.

[DR Ulloa]

I love a happy ending!

Dave

[kiltie]

Fedora -

I'm posting this out here rather than PM or e-mail in hopes that you will see it sooner ( that, and it'll be one less thing for you to wade through ).

I got my hat today - Monday, July 30 - and I COULD NOT BE HAPPIER!!!

Thank you, again, so very much for seeing this through. That hat fits like a dream, thus moving up to the best fitting hat in my little collection ( the former being a Stetson Playboy 7 1/4 long oval; dang my egg shapped head !!! ). The Ribbon looks spectacular, as does the bow. I could go on and on about this, but suffice to say you could just paste your favorite compliments into this post and I would second them without hesitation.
Words don't seem enough, and I wish more than anything I could simply look you in the eye, shake hands, and say thank you. I hope that best conveys the sentiment.