Avanta Boot Labs Slam Karen Chen For Boot Problems

purple skates said:
Why? I personally think the Edea rep in the US is a snake in the grass (I had a very bad experience when I purchased skates from them at an AN), but I don’t dispute his right to be there.
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I don't think USFS should be doing business - in this case, renting display space - to a company that has treated a US skater so disrespectfully and unprofessionally in public.
 
OK, so based on @SNG's posts, Karen should have had Advanta do her blade mounting and management - my take from those posts is that they believe skaters should not go to "third parties" for this.

I have Edea dance boots, ordered in and maintained by the skate shop at UDel, who mounted the dance blades and do my sharpenings, etc. So, should I have flown to Italy to get my skates fitted and blades mounted instead of going to a "third party" in Delaware? Should a skater in PA who orders Advanta's go to CA for blade mounting, etc., at their home office? Really?????

What really upset me was realizing that Advanta now has and uses the famous "Klingbeil Chair" for skate fittings that bears hundreds and hundreds of signatures of skaters who had custom Klingbeil's made, including me. Bill Klingbeil was an amazing skate fitter and maker. He has to be spinning in his grave knowing his legacy ended up like this.
 
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I agree with you @Yazmeen - it is a given that skaters are going to be using a third party for maintenance. Though maybe the terms of her sponsorship stated that should not have been done.
 
purple skates said:
My reading comprehension is just fine, thank you. More than just “clients and skaters who have tried their brand” have heard of them. Avanta is a known brand to current US skaters. Just because some fans haven’t heard of them doesn’t make them illegitimate or unknown.
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Please point out where in any of my posts I said that Avanta is 'illegitimate' or flat out said that they were 'unknown'. Please stop twisting my words around thanks!

I'm beginning to suspect that you've got some kind of connection with them. Figures. :rolleyes: You're defending them so vehemently while slamming other companies like Edea, in post after post against myself and others, even after Avanta's continued disgraceful attacks against Karen and her family! Please point out with links when any other company (like Edea) personally attacked a skater like Avanta did (TWICE now on various social media) against Karen and her mom. :angryfire

overedge said:
I don't think USFS should be doing business - in this case, renting display space - to a company that has treated a US skater so disrespectfully and unprofessionally in public.
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PREACH! :respec:
 
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You know, I truly had never heard of Avanta Boot Labs until now and I stated that in my other post. I am a non-skating fan. I ice skated two summers in my teen years which was many moons ago and that was because the owners of the ice skating rink turned it into a roller skating rink.

I've thought about what they said since yesterday. I'm sure that a lot of non-skating fans besides me have never heard of them before. I believe that Avanta went with what Karen said to take advantage of it in a way. It's simply called publicity, perhaps to become more well-known and noticed in the world.

What better way to be noticed than to use Karen because she's an Olympian even if it was a negative and unprofessional way to be noticed. Well, it backfired in a way because it is Avanta's behavior that is beyond reproach ... not Karen's.
 
I think it's quite likely that Aventa survive this. Seems like the skaters who need them will still use them. How much potential sales will they lose if no one's even heard of them anyway? They've blocked all the negative comments on their instagram and their facebook ratings are still quite good. If Karen was more popular like nathan, I bet they would have been flooded with negative reviews by now. Sorry, I'm just worried that not enough people are defending her and in the end she stands to lose the most.
 
Sasha'sSpins said:
I'm beginning to suspect that you've got some kind of connection with them. Figures. :rolleyes: You're defending them so vehemently while slamming other companies like Edea, in post after post against myself and others, even after Avanta's continued disgraceful attacks against Karen and her family!
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Funny, I never picked that up in purple skates's posts in this thread. Suggesting those who have never skated might not know everything about boot companies is not a "vehement defense" of any one boot company. Avanta's name recognition and its social media attack on Karen are different issues.
 
I've been skating for 21 years and I don't know a soul who skates in Aventa. Never heard of this company until this thread. I have no opinion on Karen one way or the other, she's a nice enough skater, but the Aventa rant is really mean-spirited, IMHO.

I'm wondering why Karen didn't switch to Edeas? They seem to be working well for a lot of the other top ladies.

I have "weird" feet (AA heel/B toe) and was surprised that my Ice Flys fit my feet better than my prior Reidells (one was a semi-custom pair) and SP-Teris (custom).
 
Bonita said:
I've been skating for 21 years and I don't know a soul who skates in Aventa. Never heard of this company until this thread. I have no opinion on Karen one way or the other, she's a nice enough skater, but the Aventa rant is really mean-spirited, IMHO.

I'm wondering why Karen didn't switch to Edeas? They seem to be working well for a lot of the other top ladies.

I have "weird" feet (AA heel/B toe) and was surprised that my Ice Flys fit my feet better than my prior Reidells (one was a semi-custom pair) and SP-Teris (custom).
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It is possible Karen found the Ice Flys too soft or they didn’t last long enough. Were the Pianos available two years ago?
 
mag said:
It is possible Karen found the Ice Flys too soft or they didn’t last long enough. Were the Pianos available two years ago?
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I swear I saw Pianos at Boston Worlds in 2016, but I could be wrong. I know Pianos weren't available in 2014 (at least at my skate shop) when I bought my Edeas, but I'm not Piano level anyway, LOL.
 
Bonita said:
I swear I saw Pianos at Boston Worlds in 2016, but I could be wrong. I know Pianos weren't available in 2014 (at least at my skate shop) when I bought my Edeas, but I'm not Piano level anyway, LOL.
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Don't worry, neither is Queen Aljona or Patrick Chan. According to the Edea website (and I guess video would confirm it), they're just two of the skaters who wear Concertos.
 
Skittl1321 said:
I don't think it is inaccurate though to say they are not a well known brand.
Certainly many people on this forum who skate, and therefore buy and own skates, had never heard of them.
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And I was once one of them, although I have not purchased figure skates in one hundred years! :lol:
 
overedge said:
I don't think USFS should be doing business - in this case, renting display space - to a company that has treated a US skater so disrespectfully and unprofessionally in public.
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LOL, and you have no issue how disrespectful karen is (I call this cherry picking. You are OK with this behavior but not that behavior) or that she could even ruin a small business when she moans and complains on the worlds largest stage???? She doesn't get a free pass in life because she was a National Champion.

Just because I am a fan of karen doesn't mean I am not going to call out her behavior.

Im not gonna run to Angela Nikodinov's side either if I felt she was doing something wrong either just because I LOVE her.

Zayak got out there and did it with 3 toes, a lot of today's crop moan and complain and hop on their phones as if it was the last days phone are on the earth.

In the case of USFSA doing "business with" USFSA is MAKING money off the company.

This comment that was made... "so disrespectfully and unprofessionally in public".. Im like what are you talking about.. KAREN is the ONE who has been making public and unprofessional comments for OVER A YEAR! Now the company steps in to defend itself and its like OMG can you believe how unprofessional this is??? LMAO.. You are right .. because I can't believe how unprofessional KAREN is... Between this and her program hopping I feel like she needs to self-evaluate.
 
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Debbie S said:
Funny, I never picked that up in purple skates's posts in this thread. Suggesting those who have never skated might not know everything about boot companies is not a "vehement defense" of any one boot company. Avanta's name recognition and its social media attack on Karen are different issues.
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I never in any of my posts suggested that those who never skated 'might not know everything about boot companies'. Like that other poster, you're twisting my words around and adding things on that I never said!
 
AngieNikodinovLove said:
LOL, and you have no issue how disrespectful karen is or that she could even ruin a small business when she moans and compalins on the worlds largest stage???? She doesn't get a free pass in life because she was a National Champion.
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I don't agree with your characterization of her behavior as "moaning and complaining", but for the sake of discussion - talking about "boot problems" with no company name mentioned is not the same as calling them out by name and/or insulting their product quality. If you think Chen is ruining the company's business, I don't think you've been paying a lot of attention to how the company is maybe not doing itself any favors by being so aggressive toward her.


In the case of USFSA doing "business with" USFSA is MAKING money off the company.
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Making money is not why USFS was established. It also has ethical and reputational issues to consider, and athletes to support. Continuing a relationship with a company that has been so publicly abusive toward a skater is not ethical and is not good for USFS's reputation IMO.
 
HadaLabo said:
I think it's quite likely that Aventa survive this. Seems like the skaters who need them will still use them. How much potential sales will they lose if no one's even heard of them anyway? They've blocked all the negative comments on their instagram and their facebook ratings are still quite good. If Karen was more popular like nathan, I bet they would have been flooded with negative reviews by now. Sorry, I'm just worried that not enough people are defending her and in the end she stands to lose the most.
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Avanta may survive this as long as their disgraceful attack against Karen and her family stays out of the main media imo, which it seems it has so far. They've only got 137 or so followers on Instagram so not that many probably even saw the post aside from those of us who specifically follow figure skating on social media.
 
overedge said:
I don't agree with your characterization of her behavior as "moaning and complaining", but for the sake of discussion - talking about "boot problems" with no company name mentioned is not the same as calling them out by name and/or insulting their product quality. If you think Chen is ruining the company's business, I don't think you've been paying a lot of attention to how the company is maybe not doing itself any favors by being so aggressive toward her.
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If she's asking us to go into Prayer hours before she skates then yes moaning and complaining.
 
I doubt that there are a ton of people who are in the market for a custom made skate and those who do turn to customs probably had issues with stock boots. People who loved Klingbeil for whom SP Teri, Reidell and Harlick didn't work out for are going to seek out Avanta. As for reviews of the company, there are probably only a few people who are legitimate customers who wrote the reviews.

As for their survival, with all the reorganizations and sale of Klingbeil and custom skates are such a niche industry, I'm sure it's a struggle and perhaps the instagram post was inappropriate venting. Though I'm sure the craftsman who made the boots worked hard to make sure they fit her correctly and probably would have worked extra hard to make the boots right if she had informed them that there was an issue.
 
overedge said:
I must have missed the part of her post that said "pray for me because Avanta makes crappy boots and mine are falling apart".
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How could you have missed that? She literally--every day for the last year--posted the same thing: "I am marginalized, besmirched, ridiculed, and violated by the utterly shitty, worthless, horrifying, ugly, and unholy boots Avanta has the nerve to besmirch their good name with! Anyone who doesn't pray for me will be ridiculed and violated by my army of followers!"
 
soogar said:
I doubt that there are a ton of people who are in the market for a custom made skate and those who do turn to customs probably had issues with stock boots. People who loved Klingbeil for whom SP Teri, Reidell and Harlick didn't work out for are going to seek out Avanta. As for reviews of the company, there are probably only a few people who are legitimate customers who wrote the reviews.

As for their survival, with all the reorganizations and sale of Klingbeil and custom skates are such a niche industry, I'm sure it's a struggle and perhaps the instagram post was inappropriate venting. Though I'm sure the craftsman who made the boots worked hard to make sure they fit her correctly and probably would have worked extra hard to make the boots right if she had informed them that there was an issue.
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If the company staff are willing to post in Instagram pretending to be customers, why on earth would we believe that any of the positive reviews are genuine? They could have posted those reviews themselves! And those 137 or so followers, that it include the staff’s family and extended family, and possibly a few good friends, and some created empty accounts...
 
Debbie S said:
Funny, I never picked that up in purple skates's posts in this thread. Suggesting those who have never skated might not know everything about boot companies is not a "vehement defense" of any one boot company. Avanta's name recognition and its social media attack on Karen are different issues.
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It’s ok, the sekret is out now. I’m really a silent partner in Avanta whose sole purpose in life is to bring down that eville company Edea! And I’m starting my eville plot by posting on FSU!

First Edea and then the world! Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!! :sekret:
 
There are always two sides to a story though. I’m not taking sides but who knows.
 
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