Thread: Story of a Mastro Livi razor and customer service.

First, just to be clear, I have NO relations to either the maker or vendor I am going to mention in any way except of being a customer, this is not ment to be any sort of advertising, it is simply my personal experience of customer service that I find worthy to mention.

A few weeks ago I bought first Mastro Livi razors, a 6/8 regrind from 1Barber in Belgium, the razor arrived quickly and the correspondance with the vendor was just like what I guess most of us is used to with most vendors we deal with, very good.

Before it was sent from Belgium I was told by the vendor that Mastro Livi only set the bevel, and I would need to finish the honing process myself, no problem, I have honed quite a few razors, and are getting good results, man I was wrong.....

To make a long story short it turned out that it had some serious grinding issues, the stabilisers on both sides of the blade caused the heel end of the blade not to touch the hone at all, it had a "Gold Dollar problem." If I had been smart I would have stopped here, but I thought it wasn't that bad, and should be fixed easily, so I went on. It took quite a bit work on a DMT 325 before I could take it to the 1K and set a bevel, but I got it honed and it took a very nice edge, but basicly the razor was ruined.

I e-mailed the vendor about the issue, just to let him know in case there was others of the razors he had in stock that had the same issues. As I was aware of that I had broken the terms of return by doing the work I had done on the razor I did not make a complaint trying to get it replaced or get a refund.

While I waited for his reply I spoke to a couple board members about it, and they were both clear on that this was an unacceptable issue, and that I should demand a full refund, but before I got to e-mail the vendor again I recieved a reply where told me to send him some photos, and he would look at it, and send it to Mr. Livi, so I did. Unfortunatly I have deleted the both the pics and the e-mail, so I have nothing to show you, sorry.

The next morning I got an a-mail telling me he had spoken to Mr. Livi about it and sent him the photos and that he saw this as a unaccetable QC issue, and that I should send the razor in return, and he would send me new one as soon as they recieved the one I had, and that before I sent it back I HAD to shave with it first, so I at least got one shave with it before I sent it back.

I had a great shave with it, and sent it back to the vendor. Unfortunatly it got stuck in customs both here and in Belgium, so it took over two weeks before the vendor recieved it.
But when he first got it things went pretty fast, and today, around noon, I got a phonecall: "Hi, its *** from DHL, I'm at your address, I got a package from Italy for you, are you at home?"

I jumped into my car and drove home to pick it up, and there it was my brand new Mastro Livi razor, sent from Italy yesterday!

I usually don't see a reason to mention a vendor or maker doing his/her job, but in this case I think both 1Barber and Mastro Livi deserves a big thumb up, they have both given me an extraordinary experience in customer service in every way possible, specially considered that none of them really had needed to take any responsibility since I had done the work I did on the razor before contacting the vendor.

I am glad this worked out the way it should have. We all appreciate responsible vendors and I, for one, appreciate hearing about these issues.

It seems to me the fact the vendor told you only the bevel had been set should have sent up warning signs since Livi doesn't sell razors like that. I have a feeling there was more to that story. However, glad it worked out for you in the end.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

It seems to me the fact the vendor told you only the bevel had been set should have sent up warning signs since Livi doesn't sell razors like that. I have a feeling there was more to that story. However, glad it worked out for you in the end.

Why should that have sent up warning lights?
I've heard this from others too, and I can't see no reason why I should doubt what I have understood is the only European vendor of Livi's razors exept Livi himself.

Originally Posted by Zephyr

Why should that have sent up warning lights?
I've heard this from others too, and I can't see no reason why I should doubt what I have understood is the only European vendor of Livi's razors exept Livi himself.

It just seems to me if I walked into a store to buy a product and the retailer told me the product was unusable and was only partially manufactured I would think that was kind of strange unless it was some sort of wholesale place that bought out the stock of some defunct company and the mdse was in all stages of manufacture.

I have never heard of a Livi being sold like that. Maybe Lynn can chime in on this since he has dealt with him for years now.

Originally Posted by thebigspendur

It just seems to me if I walked into a store to buy a product and the retailer told me the product was unusable and was only partially manufactured I would think that was kind of strange unless it was some sort of wholesale place that bought out the stock of some defunct company and the mdse was in all stages of manufacture.

I have never heard of a Livi being sold like that. Maybe Lynn can chime in on this since he has dealt with him for years now.

I really didn't think of it that way since I'm used to that razors come with a factory edge that needs to be taken care of to get a decent shave.

I sent an e-mail to Mr.Livi asking about this, but I know it might take some time to get an answer, so Lynn will probably be around before that.

This is a so-called regrind right? Maybe one of the money saving aspects is just a quick bevel set, not a full honing.

Originally Posted by Blix

This is a so-called regrind right? Maybe one of the money saving aspects is just a quick bevel set, not a full honing.

I was just thinking the same thing, but the impression I got from the vendor was that none of his in stock Livis was fully honed to shave ready.

I'm curious to see what Mr. Livi answer or what Lynn can tell us.

Normally Mastro Livi does send out his razors shave ready. He has always been awesome about backing up his work too. He is one of the true gentlemen in our sport and I would highly recommend meeting him in person if you ever get to Italy. I consider having had the opportunity to spend a few days with him a couple years ago, one of the highlights of my life.

Have fun.

Thanks Lynn, a couple hours ago I got a reply from Luca Livi, Mastro Livi's son, he confirmed what that they send out the razors as shave ready.

Why did the Vendor claimed only the bevel to be set? I find it odd, but I'm not going down that path, the important part is that I got a nice razor in the end.

In general I prefer to hone my own razors, that way I know what I get, but now I regret I didn't even try the edge from Livi before I honed it, but now I know for my next Livi