Circle K/Kalium delivery issues

[Estilo]

I ordered about USD75 worth of strings from Kalium about 2 weeks ago for my brother to bring back from the States. To my knowledge, they claim to ship nationwide within 2 days, but he has not received them so far. He tried contacting them but could not get hold of any of their reps. The brand seems to have a positive reputation round here, just wondering if anyone has had similar issues?

 

[Alex Kenivel]

I've had plenty of business with this brand and I love their strings. As far as I know, Kalium is just a couple of dudes. Skip is on Facebook. Ive had a few issues before but nothing to write home about.

 

[Prog_Freak]

I'd use an email called "send to" and send them their own delivery references that were given or "Order received" confirmation(s).
Tracking numbers are nice tools to get a businesses attention, a certain cell phone company tried claiming I never shipped back a defective phone and wanted $500 over the normal bill, they got VERY apologetic when I started E-mailing them the UPS tracking number and told them tracking status "Delivered" means physical item was received and signed for and the next call regarding this issue would be an attorney , along with everything sent to BBS to "review" their certification. (bad publicity pure and simple).
Holy ...., it got straightened out quicker than Drain o thru a clogged pipe, when I had the evidence for/on my side.
Sorry about the "I had this happen story.." part I posted, just a example of basic consumer C.Y.A. (cover your ass) and the power of proof.

 

[Desolate1]

I really like there strings but will never do business with them again. I had a relatively large order with them (4 sets of a seven string set and 4 sets of a 8 string set) and it was a complete screw around. The only thing they where quick at was taking my money. It took three weeks for them to finally ship my order. They generated a tracking number but my order never shipped for three weeks or was held at the post office for three weeks. My guess is they owed money for shipping at USPS and USPS would not ship until the bill was payed. On top of it Skip was a complete A-hole to deal with. It was only after I threatened disputing the charges with PayPal and reporting them to BBS that my order finally shipped. Like I said good strings but horrible customer service.

 

[Estilo]

Thanks guys, hope my case will resolve smoothly. I'll probably get my brother to message Skip on Facebook. Not sure what his full name is though, will anyone care enough to PM me his FB link?

 

[UnstableinLINY]

I had a problem getting the strings in also. I talked with skip and he got it straightened out. String quality is good and their windings were the only thing that would work with .128 Ga for my nine on a Kahler trem. They had some issue with their post office or what ever they ship from. Just call or email them and they will get it straightened out.

 

[Desolate1]

I had a problem getting the strings in also. I talked with skip and he got it straightened out. String quality is good and their windings were the only thing that would work with .128 Ga for my nine on a Kahler trem. They had some issue with their post office or what ever they ship from. Just call or email them and they will get it straightened out.

Sounds like the same BS story I got from Skip. Did he also tell you your order was in limbo. When I pressed him for details of what was going on with my order the attitude started. I understand things happen but how a person or company handles these things speaks volumes and the way Skip and Circle K chose to handle my situation told me to never spend a dime with them again.

 

[GunpointMetal]

No issues for me...until my last order. Made the order on the 20th, got a Tracking number on the 24, but the strings were "awaiting pickup" till the 29th, which just so happened to be the day AFTER I had emailed asking why my order was still "awaiting pickup" after 4 days. Everything seems to be on the move now, but I really, really, really, don't like waiting for stuff like that, and I wish they'd offer something besides USPS for shipping at a reasonable price. USPS has THE WORSE, LEAST ACCURATE tracking system of any carrier. I had a package that was "out for delivery" for 3 weeks after I went and picked up. Lots of tracking that claims an item is in transit from a local facility, but still takes four days to hit my door....

 

[mongey]

I have ordered 5 or 6 times internationally and had an issue twice . once he changed a couple of string gauges in 5 sets without asking and I didn't like what he sent and the other time was a picking error .

wasn't stoked about the swapping gauges at the time, but the picking error happens

Skip sorted it out both times and sent me replacements so I don't have a bad word to say about his service

and I do love his 57 for low B on my 7 . perfect string IMHO

 

[Alice AKW]

To answer some of the concerns.

On the old site, they weren't able to update the modifications to their sets, as they were always tweaking for optimum gauge relationships. If you order individual strings, you will never have this issue.

The company seems to be growing a fair bit and the changeover to the new site is also contributing to the delays in shipping.

 

[erdiablo666]

I've never had an issue with Kalium...but this makes me nervous about ordering again.

 

[LordCashew]

I ordered a set of bass strings from Kalium about a month ago and experienced some lag similar to what you guys are experiencing, including the apparent delay between the tracking email and actual shipping.

I for one doubt there is anything shady or suspicious going on. I wasn't in a hurry to get my strings (a luxury I realize not all of us share), so I never bothered to check up on things. Still, my order was still fulfilled in the same way and in about the same timeline as everyone else's, even without any follow-up calls. This leads me to believe that they're just experiencing some logistical difficulties related to their rebranding and new website.

 

[MaxOfMetal]

I for one doubt there is anything shady or suspicious going on.

They're not scammers, but I've seen way too many threads like this on them to make me believe they have anything close to their shit together.

Great strings, and it's wonderful having the options they have, but they REALLY need to get it together. Fumbling the ball now is dangerous as there is nothing from stopping the big string makers from getting into the same game and absolutely creaming them.

The user MF_Kitten on here apparently works for them, but I rarely see him coming into these threads. Skip is a user here too, but he's never on anymore.

 

[Desolate1]

I guess I should clarify I never got scammed by Circle K as I did eventually get my order it just took almost a month. This whole excuse of them changing websites causing all these issues does not hold water with me since the only problem is them actually shipping the orders which the website has nothing to do with. Max hit the nail on the head the whole way they handled my situation reeked of a company that didn't have the act together and where stealing from Peter to pay Paul. Like I said I understand things happen but how a company responds when these issues come up tells me if they are company I will do business with again.

 

[russmuller]

I'll echo my experience from another thread on Kalium: great strings, slow fulfillment.

Basically you're looking at 2-3 business days before they process your order, then another 2-3 business days before they arrange for shipment (when you get your tracking number), then another 2-3 business days before they actually ship (tracking number actually becomes useful), plus 2-3 postal days for delivery. All in all, it seems to take 1.5 - 2 weeks from checkout to delivery.

I've yet to make a really large order from them; my most recent order (waiting for shipment) was for 2 different custom sets and a bunch of extra high strings, so we'll see if that impacts the delivery time at all.

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues. Hopefully this resolves well for you. They make great strings and I love the flexibility, but you definitely need to order at least 2 weeks in advance if you need new strings for something important.

 

[Action]

I've ordered from them once so far and am going to again. I like these strings, I like that I can just go a gauge higher or lower on a few of my strings so that the next set i order is even more fine tuned to my tastes, I like how my caustic finger oils haven't turned the plains into frail black filaments yet.

That said, for my order they sent me a 'shipped' email only a day or two after I placed it, which seemed fast from what I was expecting. I noticed the USPS status was 'waiting for package from shipper' or something of that sort for several days. Once USPS showed as actually having the package, only took a few businesss days to get here. Would have preferred if the Shipped email came a few days later when they actually drop the strings off at the post office to be sent. If they did that I'd not have minded since I expected them to take several days to make in the first place. Then again, I didn't mind anyway, they got here 8-9 days after ordering which is what I expected from the commentary on SSO.

These guys have something awesome on their hands if they can tighten up the shipping or give more accurate indications of progress to avoid disappointment

 

[JerichoCheng]

yes same as some of you ive ordered once,
really good string but for the delivery time it takes 2 months to arrive my place,
maybe just the problem that shipping to outside US?
seems most of the delay case also in Asia / AUS?

 

[TamanShud]

I've only ordered once but shipping to AUS took about 10 days I think. Didn't have any dramas.

 

[jerm]

I ordered some strings a while ago and didn't have problems, and they were awesome strings.

But I recently emailed them regarding string tension. This was about a month ago, still no reply. Needless to say, I ordered some D'addarios instead.

I really hope they get their act together because they have a good product that seems to fill a good gap in the string market right now.

 

[knuckle_head]

Yup - it's just two of us . . . working pretty hard at doing the right stuff. I have never taken money without delivering strings, and if I could not or did not am pretty quick with refunds. Sorry you had bad experiences - we're trying . . . .

Just hired a part timer to do packaging and order follow through so if any of you venture my way again you'll have a new name to become acquainted with.