Missing In Action??????

[de Stokesay]

I've been lurking on this site for years now and always find it quite informative, but haven't posted until now.

Anyway, I'm getting a bit concerned about John Hart and Keltoi Gaelic Clothing. I ordered a new kilt from him last July, along with one of his Tams and a new sporran. I was told this would be ready to ship late November or early December, but having bought another kilt from him (which I love) in 2010, and there was about a month's delay, I wasn't surprised to hear he was running a bit behind.

He told me he had the cloth in from Scotland and was working on it on the 9th (IIRC) of December, and he thought it might be ready before Christmas. This is the last I have heard from him.

No kilt, no tam, no sporran, no response to repeated, polite e-mails, no answer when I try phoning the number on his website. Is he dead, or in hospital, or has anyone heard anything about what might be going on here? Have any of you had a similar experience with him?

The total bill was over $1000.00 Canadian, so it's not inconsequential and I'd really not like to have it just disappear on me with no merchandise to show for it. I'm getting very frustrated and annoyed and hope John is OK as he was always a pleasure to deal with in the past.

Thank you in advance for your help,

de Stokesay

[Mike S]

John was scheduled to move his shop this year. Perhaps he is in transition right now, and that is causing the temporary delay.

[Mathew MacKillop]

I am also somewhat concerned; I had been planning on picking up quite a few items from Keltoi over the next few months, hunting sporran, kilt, belt, etc. I had sent an email towards the end of December, and never received a response.

Even if he is moving the shop, one would think that he could still receive and respond to emails, especially important ones like that of the OP who has a good amount of money on the line.

From all of the praise I've read on this forum for both John and the work he does, I am very doubtful that anything nefarious is going on, which leaves the possibility that something unfortunate has happened, or that somehow moving his shop has taken several months and for some reason means he cannot respond to emails.

I, for one, would greatly appreciate an update!

[Brice]

I've also been getting concerned about John's failure to respond to several emails asking about the timing of my own kilt order, which was paid back at the beginning of September. Not quite as much money involved as with the OP, but this was my first made to order kilt purchase and if it goes awry I probably will have to give up that idea entirely as I can't risk such a loss again.

When I placed the order, John was very helpful with information on alternatives for the pleating and was quick to respond to any email I sent him. I hope that he is well and that the situation is simply due to some transitory issue associated with moving his shop.

If anyone knows what the situation is, I would also very much like to know where things stand.

[de Stokesay]

Yes, I was hoping it had something to do with moving his shop too, and that that might be what the hold up was in returning e-mails. After I allowd 6 weeks or so and he wouldn't answer the phone either, it made me think that he might be in the hospital or have died.

This behaviour seems very strange as the kilt he made me in 2010 is top-knotch and I love it, and until the middle of December, he was always relatively quick to respond to enquiries.

I really hope it isn't the case, but it seems a bit suspicious that this business with my order, and everyone else's who's commented on this thread, all started right around the end of the calendar year. If bankruptcy or foreclosure is the reason for John's disappearance, it's certainly possible that this could have occurred at this time.

I guess I'll have to try to go through PayPal to try to get my money back, but as this order was paid for last July it's probably too late, and I don't have much faith this is going to result in success. I would obviously rather not lose over a thousand dollars, but I might just have to absorb the loss and only deal with vendors who can provide the product within 3 months of payment in future. A very expensive lesson, and one I really hope other vendors will consider when they have very long production delays.

Anyway, I'll keep you informed if I have anything further to update.

de Stokesay

[Brice]

I've gone ahead and opened a paypal dispute on my order. Hated to do it, I'd rather have the kilt, but in the absence of any response from John to anyone on this list in the last two months, I have to assume that's a dead issue. If John doesn't respond to the paypal I'll assume that he is out of action in one way or another and will elevate it to a paypal claim, at which point paypal will decide whether to give me any reimbursement. Even if they do, the value of Canadian dollars has dropped quite a bit since last September, so I'll probably get less in US dollars than I paid.

I would suggest that others with pending Keltoi orders paid via paypal may want to consider this soon also, as paypal only gives you 180 days from the date of payment to open the dispute. @de Stokesay - I hope you were able to get your dispute opened in time also.

I'll post here about any further developments.