The superior shave in Jacksonville Florida

So while I've been in Florida I've been planning on visiting the superior shave in Jacksonville, and I've been asking guys on here about different types of coticule and what I should look for and all that. Needless to say I was very excited to meet the shop owner jarod, as on top of everything else I subscribe to his YouTube channel.
So I left early in the morning and the drive was about 5 hours from where I'm staying, and about half way there I realized that due to traffic I was going to be about 10 minutes late. They close at five. So when I was an hour out i called the shop and asked Jarod if he would be willing to stay open for about an extra 15 minutes, and went on to explain all the reasons why I would appreciate that small courtesy. This man chastised me with a rant that could only be rivaled by my wife! So I tried to switch gears and explain that I was from another state and a fan of his, and ready to spend upwards of 500 usd in his shop(really I had a grand in my pocket ready to blow) and
The rant continued. So I politely informed him that I would try to make it there in time and thanked him for his time. I arrived in front of his shop (the superior shave) at 5:15 on the dot, and the lights were black, no signs of life and the doors were locked. My disappointment was tangible to say the least. But what was more of a let down was the fact that I've spent so much time watching his channel, and looking forward to meeting him and picking his brain about coticule and other shave related topics, just to have him be rude and disrespectful to me. After a couple minutes of window shopping, the lights popped on in the shop and there was movement in the back, but nobody answered the knock at the door, so I resigned myself to going home without the beautiful coticule stone I so coveted. I did however go across the street and pick up some sea kelp shave cream from TAOS that was in the mall...no consolation I assure you. Jarod the disgruntled shop owner struck me as an angry,unhappy, and disenfranchised middle age elitist. He then went on in a later email to inform me that I could purchase all the coticule I liked from their website, but id rather give my money to peta than spend a single penny of my hard earned money on anything to do with the superior shave shop in Jacksonville Florida. Had This man not verbally berated me and basically yelled at me on the phone, I would fully have understood that people have schedules for a reason and I just missed the mark.no big deal. Oh well, I'll buy my products elsewhere and be just as happy. Thanks guys

What an a**hole.. especially since you drove 5 hours.. and even called. A poor display of "customer service". He was probably having a bad day but still.. You're better off buying from ardennes anyways get a lower price.

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You didn't have success at infiltrating the dealer but we know the supplier.

Well...not making excuses for the guy or attempting anything like that, but yes, I have dealt with Jarrod on many occasions and yes, he can be what many might call "curt" to say the least.

Granted, there is no reason to go off and hack on a potential customer; that is just bad business. However, everyone has a crappy day on occasion. Maybe you just caught him on one. Behavior and attitude notwithstanding, the guy does have a fine inventory, decent prices, and seems to do well with the mail-order crowd.

It is sad to hear you had a poor experience with him and yes..I can totally understand why you would not want to deal with him in the future. It's a safe bet I would feel the same way.

So sad to hear this. I've never met with Jarrod personally, but I've spent much time on the phone with him. His is a straight shooting personality, but he was always tolerant of my questioning, even when I had a problem with a shedding brush. The answers and help I have got from him on the phone and email have been much appreciated. When I buy anything shave related, I always check his inventory first, and buy from him first.

He is a no-BS kinda guy; I like that about him. Always willing to tell me both the good and bad about any product/service he was willing to provide.

Like Phoenix above, I would have to chalk this up as a bad day on his part. Not a good excuse for the behavior, I admit. I'm sorry, Dramadon, that your experience was not as satisfying as mine.

It is what it is and I'm not dwelling on it, just disappointed I'd all and once again going home without the coticule I desire. If it were me, and a patron/fan let me know they were traveling from far just to meet me and exclusively purchase my product I'd make it happened for them without a verbal barrage.I've come to understand that you can't expect people to do the same things you would do and you can only govern yourself in the manner you're accustomed to without expectations on anything. Lesson learned and money saved. I'll tell you tho, looking thru that window that I've seen so many times on YouTube, seeing all those Simpson brushes, beautiful coticule bouts, and high end strops...I was drooling and super let down. Oh well, on to the next.

Ardennes coticule couldn't be more polite or helpful, also speak and write extremely good English so that won't be a problem. Deal direct with courteous people, makes life much more pleasant.

Good luck on the coticule hunt.

I don't know the man, Jarod, & I have never done business with the Superior Shave.
With that said, please allow me play the Devil's Advocate here;

If I wanted to visit a location 5 hours away, I live in Florida too, I would consider that an ALL day trip; with a possible sleepover in a hotel. I would have left early too, early for me would have been 6 am, on the road. Question: How did you not make it there before 5pm , even with traffic? You had 11 hours to get there. Even with a major highway closure, Florida has alternate North & South routes that will bypass a problem such as this.

I don't want you mad at me for bringing this up, but you have put it out here. Could it be that you cut yourself a little short when preparing for the trip & set yourself up for a disappointment?

On the other hand, if you did,,, it still does not excuse any negative interaction that occurred as a result. by either party.

I'm sorry your day was ruined, I mean that.

Those are some good points too from someone who knows the geography..

So the shop itself is open from ten until five. Gps says it's only a 3 hour drive and my friend that lives here confirmed that time frame. I left at noon. I mean two extra hours seems plenty. Being from a place like Vermont, where I've never dealt with traffic like this is, in hind sight, something I should have thought about. As for staying overnight. It wasn't possible. I did consider it, but I had to be at a client's house this morning.actually I was super close to making out there before closing. I rolled into Jacksonville at 430. It took 45 minutes to travel ten miles, and I arrived at the shop at 515. I've never in my life been in traffic that clogged up before. And at the end of the day it's not the fact that Jarrod was unwilling to stay open.I get it people have lives. It was the way that he acted and treated me when I talked to him that blew my mind. If it were not for that, I'd have no problem simply calling him and talking about what I want and then ordering it online. My line in the sand is this. I treat everyone with the same courtesy and respect that I demand and expect, and for him to treat a person as if they're doing nothing but inconveniencing him, is downright disrespectful and unacceptable.but like I said before I'm ok, I'm alive and life is good. Ardennes is an email and a button click away, and the online shop Is always open.

Definitely agree, courtesy is easy, free and priceless. One thing to say "sorry too late", another to rant at someone. Have ordered from ardennes direct before and they are top notch.

So you left at noon,,,:shrug: not early in the morning as you stated,, you set the stage for the disappointment that followed.

I don't know if Jarod is a member here, if so, maybe we will hear his side of the story. To leave this thread standing as a one side version of the incident, seemed a little unfair; the only reason I posted here to begin with.

I do hope that you obtain the stone you are looking for & that you and I can still communicate in future threads.

I used to have a coffee mug that said, "Bad planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part!"

From a purely impersonal point of view, he closes at 5pm and maybe wants to go home, see his family, go to the dentist, get a foot rub or go for a beer and some wings.

Granted...driving around Vermont is a far cry from doing the same in the largest city in area of the Continental USA. I used to live in Florida and travelled through Jacksonville hundreds of times. Montpelier it ain't. So I'll say perhaps the best to come out of this is "lesson learned". NYC, Boston, DC, Baltimore, Miami, Atlanta, and Orlando (just to name a few) are also locales that subscribe to the "10 miles in 60 minutes" scenario. One must govern him/herself accordingly when trekking through Urban Madness.....

If I was really Loki g for a stone I'd go to the source anyway, or one of our members who really know what a good stone is. Yes bad planning on your part bad service on his, I personally don't care for that kind of customer service. With my personality I'd be there the next morning to see if he wanted to be rude face to face, but hey that's me, it's his place so I guess it's ok, and as mentioned he has a life. So get online and order what you want from someone who wants your money. Maybe that's why he's in a bad mood , sales are down. Tc

Agreed. After experiencing this type of slow moving traffic and clogged up highways I'd definitely come at it from a far more planned out course of action. Hirlau, no worries man, I can take criticism on either side of the coin. As I stated earlier tho, it wasn't the fact that they weren't open that bothered me. It was the treatment. I don't doubt that the owner is a decent man who takes pride in his business. Im only thinking about how I would treat my customer base, if I were in retail and my likelihood depended on these types of transactions. As a matter of fact here's an update. I just received an email from him basically saying that he did in fact wait till 528 before leaving. Only....I was there and I didn't see anyone and the doors were locked. He was pretty courteous in the this email too. Maybe I'll try to work something out with him for the next time I'm in town...like two weeks from now. I really do want to go inside their shop. It's really nice, and their coticule selection is awesome.

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Originally Posted by Hirlau

…maybe we will hear his side of the story. To leave this thread standing as a one side version of the incident, seemed a little unfair.

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I agree. :td
I am sorry to hear you had a bad experience though.

I do hope you get/take the opportunity to visit the shop. My chances living here in the West are slim... Make sure you also ask about the VP Leonhardy 7000x/8000x series brushes. Awesome...

I actually saw a large vp in the window, on display. The loft on that monster...wow!

...and the softness... Yet plenty of backbone. My 700030 is my favorite brush to use.

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Originally Posted by Dramadon3151

So while I've been in Florida I've been planning on visiting the superior shave in Jacksonville, and I've been asking guys on here about different types of coticule and what I should look for and all that. Needless to say I was very excited to meet the shop owner jarod, as on top of everything else I subscribe to his YouTube channel.
So I left early in the morning and the drive was about 5 hours from where I'm staying, and about half way there I realized that due to traffic I was going to be about 10 minutes late. They close at five. So when I was an hour out i called the shop and asked Jarod if he would be willing to stay open for about an extra 15 minutes, and went on to explain all the reasons why I would appreciate that small courtesy. This man chastised me with a rant that could only be rivaled by my wife! So I tried to switch gears and explain that I was from another state and a fan of his, and ready to spend upwards of 500 usd in his shop(really I had a grand in my pocket ready to blow) and
The rant continued. So I politely informed him that I would try to make it there in time and thanked him for his time. I arrived in front of his shop (the superior shave) at 5:15 on the dot, and the lights were black, no signs of life and the doors were locked. My disappointment was tangible to say the least. But what was more of a let down was the fact that I've spent so much time watching his channel, and looking forward to meeting him and picking his brain about coticule and other shave related topics, just to have him be rude and disrespectful to me. After a couple minutes of window shopping, the lights popped on in the shop and there was movement in the back, but nobody answered the knock at the door, so I resigned myself to going home without the beautiful coticule stone I so coveted. I did however go across the street and pick up some sea kelp shave cream from TAOS that was in the mall...no consolation I assure you. Jarod the disgruntled shop owner struck me as an angry,unhappy, and disenfranchised middle age elitist. He then went on in a later email to inform me that I could purchase all the coticule I liked from their website, but id rather give my money to peta than spend a single penny of my hard earned money on anything to do with the superior shave shop in Jacksonville Florida. Had This man not verbally berated me and basically yelled at me on the phone, I would fully have understood that people have schedules for a reason and I just missed the mark.no big deal. Oh well, I'll buy my products elsewhere and be just as happy. Thanks guys

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That is true Jarrod. Any one who says otherwise does not know him as well as they think they do.

Hi you dont know me.
I am with TC wanna meet me face to face?
Lets do one better.
I on behalf of this community would like to send you 2 coticules to play with. Call it a loan.
PM me. I have an ad up so you can see this isnt a joke. I will take my ad down an send you both coticules to see if you like them.
Do you have a bout? slurry stone.
Rude people arent cool. Best way to settle this is dont spend your money on his product.
Offer stands for 24 hours, That way I can take down the ad after the time is up. This offer is for you alone.
This offer is from all SRP members in good standing. We dont rant at anyone.

Maybe the guys are right tho, and it was just a bad day. I've been sitting here emailing back and forth with him and he's been very friendly and helpful. Such is life I guess. I'm nobody to judge the next man, and at the end of the day I can't expect a complete stranger to go all out simply because my plan wasn't the greatest. Initially I was a little butt-hurt, but worse things could happen.

I'm sorry. Sty the risk of sounding like a noob. What's "tc"?

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Originally Posted by Dramadon3151

I'm sorry. Sty the risk of sounding like a noob. What's "tc"?

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Its his Handle tc rides HD.
Look at his picture. Worked the oil fields his whole life. Nicest guy you could want to meet.
Till you cross him, me, us.
Just some old stand up guys trying to help. Dont scream at me and or my friends.

Oh,ok. Well that's exactly how I feel about it as well. I'm trying to be objective and not judge, but it's hard not to be offput by it.

I want to thank you ultrasound for the generous lending of your coticule hones. Ultimately the reason I haven't gotten one from another source is that the one time I bought one from eBay, there was several surface inclusions that damaged my edges. I had my heart set on the superior shave because I could get in there and handle the stones and choose which I liked. So I really do appreciate that you'll afford me the chance to try them

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Originally Posted by Hirlau

So you left at noon,,,:shrug: not early in the morning as you stated,, you set the stage for the disappointment that followed.

I don't know if Jarod is a member here, if so, maybe we will hear his side of the story. To leave this thread standing as a one side version of the incident, seemed a little unfair; the only reason I posted here to begin with.

I do hope that you obtain the stone you are looking for & that you and I can still communicate in future threads.

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Well-Said, John.

Dram, I have read through all this and think it is a fine example of why we have a Gentlemen's agreement against vendor bashing. Basically, your OP is that. Lots do not know how hard it is to be in a one-man business.
I expect it was the last straw in his day. Possibly rude. I do it often as folks start out with a story and keep calling back with it.

Then, there are those who like to deal with him.

Anytime you want to write a bad review, there are tons of online places to do it. I don't think we do it here, though. JMO

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Originally Posted by LuckyStrike

That is true Jarrod. Any one who says otherwise does not know him as well as they think they do.

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How about dat LuckyStrike ,,,,:rofl2: here 3 years & a great first post,,, ran right past the front desk & straight to the continental breakfast. :D

Oh,,, a belated Welcome Aboard.

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Originally Posted by Hirlau

How about dat LuckyStrike ,,,,:rofl2: here 3 years & a great first post,,, ran right past the front desk & straight to the continental breakfast. :D

Oh,,, a belated Welcome Aboard.

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HAR! You have the gift, Hirlau! :roflmao

Im not really sure if you understand that I'm not do much vendor bashing, as I never purchased his product or even set foot in his door. To ask a person not to talk about how they were treated by another person seems a bit like you're defending a man's actions based on the fact that you're most likely a vendor of some kind of a little biased. I too own my own business. And I'm here to tell you that I'd never treat a client as poorly as that. That's it. I have no I'll feeling personally towards the man, in fact as the day winds on, I find myself forgetting his strange rant and rude comments, instead favoring thoughts of my beautiful wife and my readiness to return home.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Dramadon3151

Im not really sure if you understand that I'm not do much vendor bashing, as I never purchased his product or even set foot in his door. To ask a person not to talk about how they were treated by another person seems a bit like you're defending a man's actions based on the fact that you're most likely a vendor of some kind of a little biased. I too own my own business. And I'm here to tell you that I'd never treat a client as poorly as that. That's it. I have no I'll feeling personally towards the man, in fact as the day winds on, I find myself forgetting his strange rant and rude comments, instead favoring thoughts of my beautiful wife and my readiness to return home.

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I truly don't think you understand what I was saying in post 27.
We simply do not bash vendors here. Not what this forum is about. If you have a problem with a vendor, you may take it up with them as you seem to have satisfactorily done?
I don't know the man. Have not ever dealt with him. Know nothing about him, except this.
Perhaps now you will have some understanding of what I was stating?
This thread is a waste of forum space which does nothing toward the forum's purpose. JMHO

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Originally Posted by sharptonn

I truly don't think you understand what I was saying in post 27.
We simply do not bash vendors here. Not what this forum is about. If you have a problem with a vendor, you may take it up with them as you seem to have satisfactorily done?
I don't know the man. Have not ever dealt with him. Know nothing about him, except this.
Perhaps now you will have some understanding of what I was stating?
This thread is a waste of forum space which does nothing toward the forum's purpose. JMHO

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Well it has been hashed out to everyone's satisfaction. Not much left to be said that hasn't been said. I'm going to close this thread for the time being and let's move on to other topics.