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From: andrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Knife ads
Message-ID: <658@grkermi.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 9-Oct-85 08:22:31 EDT
Article-I.D.: grkermi.658
Posted: Wed Oct  9 08:22:31 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 12-Oct-85 15:37:45 EDT
References: <858@cvl.UUCP>
Reply-To: andrew@grkermi.UUCP (Andrew W. Rogers)
Distribution: net
Organization: GenRad, Inc., Concord, Mass.
Lines: 51

In article <858@cvl.UUCP> cas@cvl.UUCP (Cliff Shaffer) writes:
>Recently in the Washington Post Magazine and through direct-junk-mail,
>I have seen ads for the "MALIN M-15 Survival Knife."
>They sell for $5 plus $2 shipping/handling per knife... [description]
>I have seen what LOOK like identical knives in either the REI or EMS cataloge
>(I forget which) for just under $40.

Remember the adage, "You get what you pay for"?

>The ad claims that it is an advertising campaign - you have probably seen
>the type.

Sure have.  As you correctly surmise (below), this is good ol' Abernathy &
Closther at it again.  Remember when they advertised a "genuine .10 point
diamond [some piece of jewelry]" for a similar price?  .10 point is 1/1000
carat, i.e. about the size of a grain of sand!  I bet the "420 molecular" (I 
don't know what that means either) turns out to be a similar deception.

>Does anyone know anything about this (beyond having seen the ad)?

Nothing specific about the knife itself, but considering the reputation of
A & C I'd pass.

>My catalog does not use the name "MALIN M-15"; has anyone heard of it?

I doubt that anyone other than A & C has heard of it.  My guess is that it's
a cheapo knockoff, probably more for "Rambo" fans than serious outdoorsmen.

>The most suspicious thing is the name and address of the company.
>It is "A & C" at a PO box in Hicksville, New York.
>I think that this is another reincarnation of the infamous
>Abernathy & however, alias Gem Collectors International, alias
>Cheeselovers International (or some such) alias whoever it was
>who I bought a super-cheap "UDS computer telephone" from a few years ago.

You got it!

>There was a discussion about them in net.consumers a year or so ago.
>They are usually a junk dealer; worse than that, I had to threaten them
>with the postal authorities before they would come up with the phone.

It's your money... go ahead and send 'em some more!  Seriously - why do you
think they operate under so many aliases?


AWR (ex-Cheeselover)

PS: A few years ago, Gem Collectors Intl. send me a flyer offering me a
"free" gem (sorry, I don't remember the description) - probably to get
my name for a mailing list.  I bit, and the "gem" I received was about
as attractive as a piece of rock salt!