Found a new supplier, Karate Depot. They carry a pair of tonfa by KD Elite, which looks surprisingly similar to Shureido's square tonfa. The price is under $25, where the Shureidos go for over $125. They requested that I post about them and add a link to them from my website. This is an updated posting. I won't exaggerate by saying this was the worst buying experience I've ever had, but it's the worst I've had in years. Now that my order finally arrived (weeks late), here is my horrible experience with this company:
Karate Depot's website allowed me to become a wholesale customer, but I had a couple of questions first, so I phoned them. After being on hold for more than 12 minutes, a customer service rep said they're no longer accepting wholesale accounts. I told her their website has a link to become a wholesale account and she said she knew nothing about that. Went back to the website, applied for wholesale status and was approved, just had to send them some corporate paperwork. An email from 'Alex', their wholesale accounts rep, OK'd my account. Still having some questions, I called Alex directly several times - never got thru - always left a voicemail - never got a callback. When I emailed him I'd get a response, but never really answered the questions I asked.
Both the retail and wholesale webpages showed a banner offering $2.95 shipping and handling no matter what size the order. I ordered three pair of tonfa and a bo bag. At checkout, it charged me over $5 in tax and $4.70 s/h. This company is in Lenexa KS and, as a wholesale account, should not charge tax. I deleted the order and called Karate Depot. Of course Alex wasn't in again, so I asked to speak with a 'regular' customer service rep. This time I was on hold for 11 minutes. The 'regular' customer service rep offered me no answers, said she couldn't help me, and that Alex alone deals with wholesale accounts. Left another voicemail for Alex which went unanswered. Sent him an email; he emailed back that the $2.95 s/h was for retail accounts only, that wholesale accounts pay the actual regular shipping rate. I'm staring right at the $2.95 banner on their wholesale webpage! He never addressed the tax issue. Now, how badly do I want to try these tonfa? I re-placed the order on June 16th, paid the tax and $4.70 s/h, and was informed that delivery would be June 23rd. Meanwhile, as thanks for my order, they offered me a free T-shirt if I posted them on my website. Very nice gesture. A week later the shipment hadn't arrived as promised, but I did receive my free T-shirt complete with a bill for $14.95 + $1.55 tax + $2.95 s/h. My free shirt costs $19.45! I immediately got on the phone, left a voicemail for Alex (Surprise! He wasn't in), then asked for a regular customer service rep. After only 9 minutes on hold a rep, 'Baby', checked with her supervisor and said the T-shirt comes from the corporate office, just ignore the invoice, it'll be OK. Not comfortable with 'just ignore it', I then phoned 'Chana', the rep who emailed me the free T-shirt offer. That's when I noticed her area code was 845, Westchester County, which is why they charged me, a New Yorker, sales tax. It just would've been nice if someone told me thay had a NY office when I posed the tax question. Chana confirmed that I should disregard the invoice.
Still no shipment, so I went onto their website to track my order. A message said they were having problems tracking orders at this time; please call customer service. It happens on occasion, so I waited for the next day to track my order rather than deal with customer service (who gives no help) or phone Alex (who's never in). After four days of their website saying they couldn't track my order I phoned Karate Depot and actually got thru in less than 4 minutes! They said the whole shipment was being held because the bo bag is backordered; they're not sure when it will be in. So that means you don't know when you'll ship any part of my order? I told them to cancel the bo bag and just send the tonfa, which they said they'd do right away. This was on a Monday. On Wednesday, June 30th, the web tracker finally worked and showed that my order had just been shipped. It also showed that the bo bag is still on backorder. I contacted customer service again to confirm that the backorder is canceled. I don't want them accessing my credit card to send merchandise no longer wanted. The rep assured me that she again deleted the backorder. My three pair of tonfa finally arrived July 6th, but to make Karate Depot look less inefficient, the order was now dated June 30th, a full two weeks after I actually placed the order! By the way, the website tracker now shows the tonfa as 'delivered', but still has the bo bag backordered!
To be fair, everyone I spoke to at Karate Depot was courteous and friendly; it's just that their systems are messed up. The tonfa are terrific. They're made of red oak just like the Shureidos and almost identical dimensions. I brought them in to the dojo and had others try them as well. All agreed that they're far superior to the standard, cheap tonfa (around $20), about as good as the Kensho tonfa (around $75), and pretty darn close to the Shureidos (around $125). Just wish another company carried these KD Elites at this price.
If you still want to try Karate Depot, be forewarned that you must sit on their backs to be sure things go smoothly. Here is their link: www.karatedepot.com/.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Bullies
Many years ago, a young student came into the dojo with an obviously troubled look on his face. When I asked him what’s wrong, he said another kid at school called him a bad name. Thinking I could incorporate it into a lesson, I asked if he’d like to tell me about it. He said that the other child called him a ‘doody-head’. Being an adult, it’s easy to smile about such a childish comment, but it’s devastating to a nine year-old. I said, “That was a pretty stupid thing for him to say, wasn’t it?” The student hung his head down and muttered, “yeah.” I then said, “He must be pretty stupid to call you that”, to which he raised his head a bit and said, “Yeah”, a little stronger. I then asked, “Do you really care what a stupid person thinks about you?” My student stood erect, looked me in the eye, and strongly answered, “NO!”
A bully’s usual intention is to hurt your feelings. He often has low self-esteem, and makes others feel worse to feel better about himself. Simply ignoring the comment, not letting it bother you, takes the bully’s ‘power’ away. Arguing with the bully or denying his claim can escalate the situation. Once in my college days I was out with friends. I glanced around the bar and as my gaze passed some ‘tough guy’ he snarled “What’re you lookin’ at?” to which I replied, “Not much.” He got up to confront me, saw I wasn’t backing down, cursed under his breath and walked away. Very risky on my part. I teach my students not to fight; it’s just dumb words from an ignorant person who should be pitied, not feared. I also teach my students that, should he try to physically harm you, it’s okay to take appropriate measures to defend yourself. Like the old ‘sticks and stones’ saying, his words mean nothing to me; but if he tries to touch me, that’s when we have a problem. A favorite technique against physical attack is a strong block. I remind my students that a good block is designed to strike the attacking limb, not just brush it aside. If the attacker’s arm or leg gets bruised in the process, it shouldn’t have come at me in the first place. The fault is not mine for defending myself; it’s his for attacking me.
A famous story in my martial arts circle of friends took place at a small, local tournament. I refereed a ring, calling penalties as per tournament rules if a competitor committed a foul. One particular instructor harassed me whenever I called penalties on his students, which was often. I could have further penalized or disqualified his students for his unsportsmanlike conduct, instead I tried to explain, to show him the rule book, but he just had it in for me. At one point he began to yell because I didn’t call a point for his student, even though the other judges and I saw that the technique wasn’t in. He insisted it was in, so I did something unprecedented and said I’d poll the judges for a ruling and even allowed the loudmouth a vote. I said, “Judges, call!” He jumped up and down waving his hand, neither of the two judges or I called for a point, so I ruled, “One says ‘yes’, three say ‘no’. No point!” He stormed off screaming a tirade of curses at me. At that moment I realized that a good personal measure is the caliber of people who have problems with me. If a fool and I don’t get along, that’s just fine. If someone whom I admire or whose opinion I value disagrees with me, then I may need to reevaluate what I’m doing.
An action-star appeared on some TV talk show a while back and spoke of being bullied in high school because he was the smallest one in his class. Over the summer he had a growth spurt of several inches, and felt he’d no longer be picked on. Not having gained bulk in proportion to his new height, the bullies then picked on him for being a ‘freakish string bean’. He just couldn’t win! The simple fact is that anyone can pick on anyone else for some physical feature or character trait. Someone is too tall, too short, too smart, wears glasses, has big feet, etc. Even those who have absolutely nothing unusual about them can be picked on for being ‘too perfect’, a ‘plastic model’, or a ‘pretty little doll’.
Some people may be extremely tall and artistic; or awkward and charitable; or have large ears and athletic. Everybody is unique. If you recognize and celebrate your differences from others, it’s hard for bullies to damage your self-esteem by pointing out those differences. Just keep in mind that, by trying to point out your ‘flaws’, they’re really showing theirs’.
A bully’s usual intention is to hurt your feelings. He often has low self-esteem, and makes others feel worse to feel better about himself. Simply ignoring the comment, not letting it bother you, takes the bully’s ‘power’ away. Arguing with the bully or denying his claim can escalate the situation. Once in my college days I was out with friends. I glanced around the bar and as my gaze passed some ‘tough guy’ he snarled “What’re you lookin’ at?” to which I replied, “Not much.” He got up to confront me, saw I wasn’t backing down, cursed under his breath and walked away. Very risky on my part. I teach my students not to fight; it’s just dumb words from an ignorant person who should be pitied, not feared. I also teach my students that, should he try to physically harm you, it’s okay to take appropriate measures to defend yourself. Like the old ‘sticks and stones’ saying, his words mean nothing to me; but if he tries to touch me, that’s when we have a problem. A favorite technique against physical attack is a strong block. I remind my students that a good block is designed to strike the attacking limb, not just brush it aside. If the attacker’s arm or leg gets bruised in the process, it shouldn’t have come at me in the first place. The fault is not mine for defending myself; it’s his for attacking me.
A famous story in my martial arts circle of friends took place at a small, local tournament. I refereed a ring, calling penalties as per tournament rules if a competitor committed a foul. One particular instructor harassed me whenever I called penalties on his students, which was often. I could have further penalized or disqualified his students for his unsportsmanlike conduct, instead I tried to explain, to show him the rule book, but he just had it in for me. At one point he began to yell because I didn’t call a point for his student, even though the other judges and I saw that the technique wasn’t in. He insisted it was in, so I did something unprecedented and said I’d poll the judges for a ruling and even allowed the loudmouth a vote. I said, “Judges, call!” He jumped up and down waving his hand, neither of the two judges or I called for a point, so I ruled, “One says ‘yes’, three say ‘no’. No point!” He stormed off screaming a tirade of curses at me. At that moment I realized that a good personal measure is the caliber of people who have problems with me. If a fool and I don’t get along, that’s just fine. If someone whom I admire or whose opinion I value disagrees with me, then I may need to reevaluate what I’m doing.
An action-star appeared on some TV talk show a while back and spoke of being bullied in high school because he was the smallest one in his class. Over the summer he had a growth spurt of several inches, and felt he’d no longer be picked on. Not having gained bulk in proportion to his new height, the bullies then picked on him for being a ‘freakish string bean’. He just couldn’t win! The simple fact is that anyone can pick on anyone else for some physical feature or character trait. Someone is too tall, too short, too smart, wears glasses, has big feet, etc. Even those who have absolutely nothing unusual about them can be picked on for being ‘too perfect’, a ‘plastic model’, or a ‘pretty little doll’.
Some people may be extremely tall and artistic; or awkward and charitable; or have large ears and athletic. Everybody is unique. If you recognize and celebrate your differences from others, it’s hard for bullies to damage your self-esteem by pointing out those differences. Just keep in mind that, by trying to point out your ‘flaws’, they’re really showing theirs’.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)