Kor Hockey Out of Business

[Chadd 916]

The people I have dealt with at Kor were fantastic. Eduardo, and Vince before him, were helpful and willing to try and help solve any problems I had as a dealer or simply as an end user. Any problems came from other parts of the company.

[Keith 0]

Not suprised to see them go after receiving a poor experience with their product and an even poorer response when I gave feedback based on my time with their skates.

Yeh, they weren't all too receptive of my criticism either... I still say the skates are good, but they had a lot of flaws. Well, I guess if you loved the things there is always torspo...

I'm sorry you feel that way Keith, I thought I had always shown myself appreciative of your comments. I've always agreed that there's been a lot of space for improving, some we had acknowledge from the get go, other opportunities were received by our customers, like the kevlar reinforced base that unfortunately didn't get to go to market, higher abrasion/friction resistance materials on the upper, stronger eyelets, etc, have been worked on thanks to your comments.

One big one has been the elimination of the mounting plates, which takes 70 gr avg off from each boot, again, didn't get to see the light of day.

I actually apologize, you were cool and tried to maintain contact but guys who I spoke to who were in the original heiarchy basically ignored me when I presented serious issues. I think it was some guy named vince and sommeone else.

The people I have dealt with at Kor were fantastic. Eduardo, and Vince before him, were helpful and willing to try and help solve any problems I had as a dealer or simply as an end user. Any problems came from other parts of the company.

The latter seemed dismissive when I presented to him a skate that was well out of vertical alignment. He made an offer at the time where I would have had to go through some trouble just to recoup my cash instead of simply addressing my issue to keep me in their product. It was puzzling to say the least as the skates were brand new aside form the one time I took them out at the time so it wasn't like I was pressing for new skates, I just wanted them to make right on a major issue (I didn't buy the things when they cost almost nothing). Basically I had to spend cash to get brand new skates vertically aligned which is a total drag. I sent a couple of requests as well for replacement screws for some badly cut ones (think skating with metal posts jutting into your feet) mine shipped with but never received any reply so I had to have the tech find me all metal washers b/c if you trim the screws and leave burrs, the female end in the unibase could strip. My achilles guard has been ripping off little by little on one boot and out of everyone I ever contacted, only Eduardo to his credit ever even acknowledged it and offered to monitor it with me. You don't not communicate with your paying customers if you are an upstart and he or she emails you, they are your word of mouth for the future. The skates are good, flawed in some big ways, but the main problem in my eyes was the lack of communication. It's sad when I have to come here to get any sort of reply from a company rep when I tried half a dozen times through their actual site.

[kovalchuk71 212]

Ditto on Eduardo. Great customer service, helped me out big time!

[althoma1 574]

Keith Posted Yesterday, 11:04 PM

The skates are good, flawed in some big ways,

I've had Shift 1's for a couple years and my tendon guards have started to tear a bit too on a few occassions, but I just used some crazy glue (it wasn't a huge tear and I spotted it early) and that held up for a few months and then I fixed them again that way and it's been another few months since then without issue. I also have some seperation and chipping where the unibase meets the plastic toe cap and I think that's what's going to be the end of this pair at some point. Otherwise they're still stiff, responsive and very comfortable and I have a second pair of Shift 1's I picked up as a backup (not for the $99 price, but at $220 before they started to be really cleared out...by the time they went down to $99 my size, 8.5, was sold out anyway).

Besides the tendon guard and seperation issues what else are you referring to when you say they're "flawed in some big ways"? I know some people had some ankle rubbing issues, but I've never had that. And are you referring to the Shift 1's Shift 2's or both?

I'm actually thinking of picking up a pair or two of the Shift 2's for the deal posted at myhockeywarehouse (although I probably shouldn't as by the time my backup Shift 1's wear out in a couple years I'll likely be able to get a good deal on some skates with newer technology, but I'm still tempted at that price before my size sells out there too). I read the reviews here on the Shift 2's and have read through the KOR threads - one of the testers had issues with some of the eyelets and rivets popping out. That's not ideal, but is not a deal breaker. Another review mentioned the mid-foot was a bit wide - that's a little concerning as I have a narrow heel, average midfoot, average arch and wide forefoot. I'd also say my foot is a little above average volume wise. (The Shift 1 fits me well, but only after baking. Before baking the forefoot felt pretty tight. They're just barely deep enough for me.). From what I've read the Shift 2 is deeper and wider - a bit of extra depth will likely be fine and I can handle some extra forefoot width, but don't want to be swimming when it comes to my ankles and midfoot. It seems like I can solve those type of issues after baking and getting someone to press on the sides of my ankles and midfoot, but if there are other "major flaws" wiith the skates I'd like to know about them before buying them. If you don't want to answer here then a PM would be greatly appreciated.

[Keith 0]

I'm talking about shift 1 which is really the only product they ever made that matters b/c that was the make or break one. Before I start listing issues, I again say I STILL LIKE THE THINGS AND USE THEM. I've seen toecaps rise off of a Kor as well. The achilles design is pretty dire. I mean, I could stitch up the ripping bits but the one that is ripping has gone floppy in general bc there doesn't seem to be any sort of shank in there to prevent that. A lot of my gripes come in the finish of the product and the materials. That leather collar at the top is horrible and continues to rot apart on me and I wear socks and take proper care of my skates. The silver material will cut far too easily and to cap it off when it gets skate cuts, it tends to chunk and scallop out on top of it around the silicone inserts. They also (in the interest of looks I guess) didn't put any covering (besides a really thin rubbery lacquer) in the heel area and if you play in the slot that zone can take some pretty decent skate impacts. I tend to like some build redundancy when the construction material tends to either be working 100% or experiencing a total failure based on outside forces. I mean, I can keep going about little and big things about those skates that are annoying.... Shift 1 fits me just right and going by what I have heard, 2 would be too wide and or deep. JR or the guys at Westside here in NYC can attest to my skates being a minefield of maddening issues.

[althoma1 574]

Keith Posted Today, 04:25 PM

I'm talking about shift 1 which is really the only product they ever made that matters b/c that was the make or break one. Before I start listing issues, I again say I STILL LIKE THE THINGS AND USE THEM. I've seen toecaps rise off of a Kor as well. The achilles design is pretty dire. I mean, I could stitch up the ripping bits but the one that is ripping has gone floppy in general bc there doesn't seem to be any sort of shank in there to prevent that. A lot of my gripes come in the finish of the product and the materials. That leather collar at the top is horrible and continues to rot apart on me and I wear socks and take proper care of my skates. The silver material will cut far too easily and to cap it off when it gets skate cuts, it tends to chunk and scallop out on top of it around the silicone inserts. They also (in the interest of looks I guess) didn't put any covering (besides a really thin rubbery lacquer) in the heel area and if you play in the slot that zone can take some pretty decent skate impacts. I tend to like some build redundancy when the construction material tends to either be working 100% or experiencing a total failure based on outside forces. I mean, I can keep going about little and big things about those skates that are annoying.... Shift 1 fits me just right and going by what I have heard, 2 would be too wide and or deep. JR or the guys at Westside here in NYC can attest to my skates being a minefield of maddening issues.

Thanks Keith.

The tendon guard on mine also seems to be much looser after a couple years use then it is on any other skates I own or have used in the past. I haven't had issues with the leather collar myselfelf, but do have cuts in the silver material and got some significant ones after only a few weeks of use so I can't argue with you there. There are certainly some improvements that could've been made, however; like you I still like the skates and will continue using them until they fall apart on me. I know the Shift 1 works well for me, but I may try out the Shift 2 as well and hope it isn't too wide for me in the midfoot of heel.

In the end I have to say the KORs are the most comfortable skates I've ever worn and I'm happy with the performance. While the tendon guards have given me a little trouble and the toe seems to be seperating 2 years of 2-3 skates a week (including the summer) doesn't seem too bad when I consider the durability issues I've read about other top of the line skates (Vapor XX, Easton Synergy ect.). I received very quick and helpful responses from Vince when I originally asked him some questions about fit and baking a couple years ago so didn't run into any problems there.