Has anyone ordered or received an order from Eric at HBE leather?

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Diver-- Yeah it's not the wait that I'm complaining about. It's the dishonest projections.
Like I said in an earlier post-- I'd prefer HONESTY over OPTIMISM. Don't tell me 3-5 months when you know damn well it's going to be more like 10. I'd be happier if you told me 12 months and then delivered in 10.

So Scalhoun ordered late October and just got his holster-- I ordered early August and am still waiting, being led on and let down.

Don't take me wrong.. I'm not sore at Scalhoun.. I'm happy for him.. but what gives?
 
Eric: I'd have loved to vent my frustration to you directly on this but I’ve already left another unreturned message and now your voice mail is full.

Man, the lies and the BS have just gone on long enough. I've been pretty patient and pretty civil considering.

I meant to get on here this evening and list out all the promised delivery dates that have come and effin gone... but, to be honest, I've lost track.

Here's his latest claim--

After several coversations saying stuff like, "Oh yeah, your order's coming up." Then he comes out with, "Oh, I actually mailed that out to you 6 weeks ago".

Well, whatever. Just please hurry along the "replacement".
Really, what I said to myself was I'd give him the advatage of the doubt regarding the "lost in the mail" thing based on his honesty regarding this next promise-->

Eric gave me his word-- he said "you have my word.."-- That the holster would be in my hands by late last week. We're at over TWO weeks now and... I don't know.. maybe this one’s lost in the mail too.

And you can't tell me that the Postal Service is just slow because I've ordered several things since then via USPS and they all arrived within a couple of days.


At this point just return my money. I regret having tried to do business with you. I've never experienced anything like this in my life and I'm done with it. Just send me a refund check please... and make sure it has a tracking number.
 
Unable to get a hold of Eric

I also have not been able to get a hold of Eric. Ordered a new holster in October 2006 but no answer to e-mails and Voicemail is always full. I would really like to know status of order.
 
I'm going to post every week that nothing happens with this as an update to those who may be waiting for an order, and as a warning to anyone considering placing an order. A diary of sorts.

Order placed first part of August '06--

17May... no word. Hasn't returned voice mail, voice mail "full" for the last two weeks. Hasn't returned email. Hasn't returned THR PM. Last word from Eric was a drop dead PROMISE that the holster would be in my hands three weeks ago.

Currently awaiting requested refund check.
 
May/Apr '06 Order

My intial order dates back to late April/early May of 06, and I was charged a reasonable price about the same time. Many months have passed since then; being a craftsman of sorts myself, I'm willing to wait for quality and attention to detail all of which is VERY evident in the sample pictures on the HBE site and the glowing reviews HBE Leather wearers typically offer.

I too have been unsucessful in recent attempts to contact HBE. Voice mailbox has been full for two weeks, voice message weeks prior have gone unanswered, yet the website was updated to say 1yr wait from the 6-7 month wait during the time I was able to get a voice mail message in.

Previously I've spoken to Eric and recieved return calls; the lack of response/feedback has been within the past two months. I resorted to a snail mail letter over a week ago that has yet to get a response either.

Does anyone know what's going on with Eric/HBE?
 
Good lord.

Jordan, thank you for keeping your "vigil", as it were. I've heard of Eric and his craftsmanship, and when I buy my first holster he would have been a front-runner for my dollars...but this thread is absolutely unreal.

I don't know Eric, other than seeing his work (which is amazing) and hearing of HBE on various forums..but there's something else going on here, and I'd be damn suprised if it got better anytime soon.

Good luck to ya'll still waiting for leather, and good luck to Eric when it comes to restoring your rep.
 
hbeleatherworks.com expired on 05/21/2007 and is pending renewal or deletion.

http://www.hbeleatherworks.com/

hbeleatherworks.com expired on 05/21/2007 and is pending renewal or deletion.

Has anyone local to the shop been able to speak w/ Eric as of late?
 
Time for my weekly sitrep:

Eric's voice mail box finally became available a few days ago. I left (another) message reminding him that I wished to be refunded. I called again the next day in hopes of reaching him for confirmation that he got the message. He didn't pick up so I left another message to that effect.

What I can't understand at this point-- I know it may take a long time to make a holster... but it doesn't take much time at all to drop a refund check in the mail. It takes even less time to dial a phone to explain why the check hasn't reached me weeks ago.
Is there a backlog of checks to write and mail out too? Is that what's taking so long? I have to wait my turn? C'mon.
 
I've also been waiting on one of his holsters that should have been ready, per his quote, last October. I'm leaning towards thinking that money is just gone down the drain, with the delivery date being eight months past due at this point.
 
I decided to join this forum and jump in since I too have been waiting a very long time. Good things are usually worth the wait but this is getting out of hand. My order was not that complex. I placed it on April 10, 2006. I ordered a right hand, classic style pancake holster for an EAA Witness P Compact in .45 ACP, open top, medium ride hight, FBI cant in a cordovan finish with 1 1/2" belt slots. Pistol carried in condition 1. I also ordered a single and double mag holster. Paid $164 on my Visa (which I did see the charge on my statement) and quoted 16 weeks. I talked to him a few times after the 16 weeks and it was always the same 2 weeks. I finally got a different line last April where Eric did ask my address and said that mine was one of the orders that flooded. At that time he said I would get it in a week. Of course that was 6 weeks ago.
The pistol is a great shooter, better then my SA 1911A1 and Browning HP and I wanted it to be my daily carry pistol. I ended up using a Fobus designed for a Sig 226. Not ideal but functionable (at least I can carry the pistol).
If anyone has any idea of a different holster maker that makes holsters for CZ and CZ clones please let me know. Eric, if you read this, I've left voicemail and would like to know if I will ever see the holster.
 
Larsen Larceny Exposed!

Here's an interesting exercise for anyone who imagines that Eric Larsen is an honest guy who just has a lot of bad luck.

I've spent time searching around forums, chat sites, what-have-yous, looking for anything to do with HBE (should have done this before sending him any money, but anyway..) and have found a bunch of people who waited an extrodanarily long time for their holster because the first holster he sent out to them was "lost in the mail". I know. Mine was one of them(see post #78 this thread).

Now we all know that the USPS sucks but, in truth, they really don't "lose" things very often at all. Usually if they do it's only because the address was really screwed up and even then only if there's no return address to fall back on.

I've done quite of bit of sending and recieving mail in my life and can honestly say that USPS has never lost anything of mine. I thought for sure they did once (a $500 McMillan stock with Badger bottom metal) but that turned out to be my fault and I got it right back when I corrected my mistake. Maybe some of you haven't enjoyed my kind of luck but if you were losing the kind of volume Eric claims to you probably wouldn't keep leaving it to "luck".

I can't go back and find all the posts that I've come across on these different boards where folks have said Eric's first attempt to fill their order was "lost in the mail", but an honest, un-exagerated estimate is about 6 people me included. Not too many but consider this only represents the percentage of his customers who a) post on the internet and b) care to comment on the HBE topic.

We might conclude that there are many times this number of customers who get treated to this story but aren't posting about it on the WWW.

Well, so what? Except then all the excuses that seem to pop up early and often start looking pretty thin... Flooding, computer frying, copied down your number wrong, deathly ill, moving, phone company locking down cell phone, out of materials, mold reworking, spam filter on email, divorce, computer "offline", stolen phone, too many government contracts (really!?), funerals..

Wow.

Some of these may very well be true but there are some real looloo's in there too. And in light of the dubious and well-worn "lost in the mail" story one might reasonably suspect Eric's honesty.

I want my money back. Now. Eric and I had a verbal contract. He took the money up front. I trusted him. He's broken the contract and is now avoiding me. I've been asking (via phone, bbs, PM, email, smoke signal) for a refund for the last month. It may take 12+ months to get a holster out... but it doesn't take a month to mail a check. That's crooked. It shows bad faith and that's where "excuses" become "lies".
 
HBE

Seems like u can only scam people so long.To me some one who takes my money and lies to me is nothing but a theif.Seems like he is running out of excuses. Signs his email "Shoot Well and God Bless" WHAT A JOKE
 
cowbiker said:
hbeleatherworks.com expired on 05/21/2007 and is pending renewal or deletion.
http://www.hbeleatherworks.com/

hbeleatherworks.com expired on 05/21/2007 and is pending renewal or deletion.

Has anyone local to the shop been able to speak w/ Eric as of late?

Can't say I've communicated to him for quite a while, but this site still works:

http://www.imageseek.com/hbeleather/

and has a link to an April 25, 2007 letter wherein he proposes to do the right thing: Accept no more orders until his backlog is down to manageable proportions.

Time will tell...

Albert
 
HBE contact info

i ordered a holster from eric and was trying to give him a call to chack status and what not, but his site is gone it sends me to a page where it tells me it expired so if anyone knows how to get a hold of him or if you(Eric) read this please let me know. but from reading all the other post i think that this dream of a good carry holster has come to an end and i lost some money on it too
 
Ordered and paid in November of 2005. No holster, no response, no ****. Could have used the $90 for my kid's surgery that wasn't covered. Guess we all have problems. Now I'm gonna have to stuff my gun down my pants. No, I'm not happy to see you. If it ever comes in I'll donate it to Goodwill just to keep the positive waves going. Glad I could help.
 
Make that one more person who's had problems with HBE Leatherworks. I ordered a holster and mag carrier in October, 2006, sent the check for 134.00 (it cleared my bank a week later), and was told by Mr. Larsen that I would have the goods within 6 months. I haven't heard a word since then despite REPEATED voice mail messages I've left and e-mails I've sent. His voice mail has been full for the past several days, so there's not even a way to leave a message. I guess the only consolation is that I'm part of a growing club...
 
So how many of us need to sign petition or notice sent to his local PD for them to take an interest? Here's a guy who took our money based on a verbal contract, didn't do what he said he would, now cannot be reached.

Is there any recourse? I, for one, am not willing just to say "Oh well".
 
I'm not fond of the idea or just writing it off either. Someone at another website suggested calling the Utah state attorney general, but I have no idea as to how that would help.
 
My order was placed October 30, 2006 and my card charge cleared November 6, 2006. I was told to expect my holster in 4 months or so. March 9, 2007 I sent a message to Eric asking about changing the order and got a reply that he would call me the next day. When he did not I called and left a message on March 12. I have gotten no response from Eric since.

I don't want to kick a man when he is down, but enough is enough. It costs nothing to send an email. There are some who have managed to make contact with Eric and get promises, but unfortunately the promises have not been fulfilled.

I would like to compile a list of names, addresses, phone numbers, order dates, charges etc of all members here who have ordered holsters from Eric, but who have not received them. I have created an email account for just at purpose. If you would email me at this address hbeproblems at bellsouth.net and provide as much info as you want I will compile a list and present it to Utah AG's Office and to any other office that we think can help.

I am sure that some may wonder about someone with 1 post making a post like this. I plan to make this offer on a number of boards and have joined today to make it here. I am sure that I will be by frequently to check in on THR. Anyone wanting more info on me can stop by DefensiveCarry.com and determine that I am a moderator there under the same username.
 
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Dr cmg is well known on DefensiveCarry.Com and a Moderator there. Never known him to "blow Smoke" so to speak, he's always been a dependable, stand up kind of guy.

George, I don't envy you the work this may entail but if anyone can pull something like this together I'm sure it's you. My own order came in last year after nearly a year of waiting (it was promised in 10 to 12 weeks). Not sure I'd be of much help to your list.
Jack
 
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