I, too, am sorry to hear you had a bad experience with BKS. Kerry's work is great, it just can be a bit rough getting it out of him, as Mike mentioned. My rapier is, to this day, the most gorgeous sword I own. I really need to use it more, I so miss fencing.
We also have a pair of BKS swords we use for catching rings and chopping lettuce in our joust show. We have beat the snot out of those swords and they've taken a beating and survived. He's a great guy who does really nice work, if a bit scatterbrained. I hope you get your replacement at opening day (is that this Saturday?) and love it!