Ive had it with lyman!

[walker77]

I called today about my broken mag 20. The lady i got ahold of didnt really have much of a clue about anything. I told her it had a broken heating element and i need to order a new one. She informed me that they cant sell it to me. I have to ship the melter back they will check it over to see how much it will run and ive me a call. I told her again, its the heating element, its broke in half. Can you give me an idea what it will run to have it fixed. She said well i suppose i could call that department and see what they say. She got back on the phone and they refused to give any info with out looking at it. I am not going to pay shipping there and shipping back just to find out what it will cost for those idiots to tell me what i already know. Shippping alone would probably run around 50 bucks and who knows how much parts and labor is. Screw it, ill just put that money into a new pot from a different company.

[Ben]

May want to consider " Green " this time.

You won't get that treatment from " Green ".

Ben

[Bullshop]

RCBS has rebuilt my pots so many times for free I feel guilty about it. I have three RCBS pots and for several years was sending one a year back to stop dripps. Each time they completely rebuilt the pot. I told them I was casting comercially and would be glad to pay for repair but each time no charge.
I posted some time back about a mod I did to my pots that has eliminated the dripps so now have not sent one back for a few years.
My advice is buy an RCBS.
Blessings
BIC/BS

[beagle]

Amen!

I'm of the opinion that Lyman hires the mentally handicapped to man their customer service lines. At least the ones that I've gotten when I called. You have to lead them by the hand when you're hunting something

It's pretty bad when the person calling usually knows more about the problem and solution than the person on the line./beagle

[Blammer]

I'd call them back and ask for a call ticket.

Basically they pay shipping from YOU to them.

[cajun shooter]

+1 on the RCBS pot. Not only are they for the most part trouble free but if you do have a problem it's fixed at NC. They had a post some time back where a member sent his back for repair. He was shocked when it arrived as a new pot. His old one was 20 years old. Now that is service above and beyond.

[qajaq59]

Ask if they'll pay for the shipping. If they say no, then buy a different brand. I'd be curious to know if they do pay.

[jonk]

Lee will happily mail you any repair parts you need. Lee is cheaper than RCBS or Lyman.

I vote with my dollars and vote for Lee. I've cast easily 50,000 bullets with my Lee production pot and it works fine. I fixed the drip by just hanging a few fishing sinkers from the handle to put a little more weight on the valve.

[3006guns]

You know, it's sad.......here's an American company that virtually STARTED the casting hobby and they seem to want to "rest on their laurels". I wonder if they even have a clue that their customer service strategy desperately needs an overhaul. With times the way they are Lyman should be doing everything possible to keep old customers and make new ones. They need to take a lesson from Dillon, RCBS and Lee in that department.

For starters, that lady should have had all the answers to your questions, without having to put down the phone to "go check". That's ridiculous.

If they truly believe in their product (and want devoted customers) their guarantee should be rock solid and at little or no expense to the customer.

[Shiloh]

Very happy with my LEE pot. RCBS however, has awesome customer service. The gold standard of customer service.

Shiloh

[largom]

walker77,
I would make a copy of this entire thread and send it to the General Manager at Lyman. In the meantime I would buy a Lee 20 lb'er.


Larry

[fecmech]

You might want to check in your area for appliance repair parts. They might be able to put you on to the manufacturer of the Lyman heating element or have something comparable. I got a thermostat for my old Lyman/Saeco 10 lb. 1000 watt pot some years back from a stove repair shop locally!

[Trey45]

After reading this I won't be buying a Lyman pot that's for sure. The Lee 20 pounder I use works just fine, and I'm going to try that fishing weight trick to see if it will stop the occasional dripping I get with mine. The guy I am learning casting from has an RCBS pot, I would love to have one, but really can't justify spending that much money for a lead pot when the Lee does the same job.

[Cloudpeak]

After reading this I won't be buying a Lyman pot that's for sure. The Lee 20 pounder I use works just fine, and I'm going to try that fishing weight trick to see if it will stop the occasional dripping I get with mine. The guy I am learning casting from has an RCBS pot, I would love to have one, but really can't justify spending that much money for a lead pot when the Lee does the same job.
Or, you can clamp a small "Vicegrip" on to the top of the valve stem. When you get an occasional drip, a twist of the vicegrip back and forth seems to clean crud out of the "seat" and stop the drip.

[9.3X62AL]

The Lee casting furnaces are an incredible bargain in terms of what you get for the money you pay. More than one caster has clamped a small pair of Vise-Grips to the top of the spout control rod to stop the drip-o-matic habit of the Lee pots.

I found a NIB RCBS furnace at a KILLER price a few years ago, and it ranks among the bes reloading tools I have ever owned. Even at full retail, I would happily buy a second one. Worth every dime.

What a shame that an old-line company that largely wrote the book on boolit casting has decided to ride in the back seat and let others do the driving.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

I am also fed up with lyman. I own 2 lyman molds and 5 Lee molds and both my Lyman molds need to go back for tweaking...one undersized and out of round and the other oversized and terribly out of round! Ugh!

[GrizzLeeBear]

What a shame that an old-line company that largely wrote the book on boolit casting has decided to ride in the back seat and let others do the driving.

No kidding. Look at all the group buys using other mold makers to duplicate discontinued Lyman mold designs. All the Lyman marketing department has to do is look here for the pulse on the boolit casting consumer market. Heck, look at Ebay and what some of those molds go for. I don't know what they teach people in business schools, or where their heads are, but HELLO?! :killingpc

[Larry Gibson]

I've had very good performance from my Lyman furnaces over 40+ years of casting (many, many thousands of bullets). My first Lyman furnace was a 10 pounder and after 25 years gave up the ghost. I guess I could really get pissed off at Lyman for such a poor product right? Hardly. The 25 years of hard use was more than i expected. I bought a Mag 20 and used it hard for 11 years when it quit working one day. I called Lyman and they said to ship it back even though the warranty had run out (isn't that always the case?). I melted the alloy out and shipped it back. Yes it was kind of expensive but considering the cost of a new furnace the shipping from Washington across the country wasn't too bad. I also shipped it at the lowest insured rate through the US Mail.

I didn't expect to get "overnight service" from Lyman but was pleasantly surprised when it was returned in about 4-5 weeks with a "no charge" bill. Seems a wire had burned out. Lyman fixed it and returned it at no cost even though it was beyond the warranty period. I couldn't ask for better service than that. The cost to me was the initial $35-40 I spent shipping it. I also "made do" with one of two Lee pots I had that still worked after less than 2 years of service. Both of them were rusted out bad and I managed to put one back into service as a dipper pot.

Walker77 doesn't mention how long he has had the Lyman furnace. I believe the warranty period is rather lengthy. If he has had it longer than that he has gotten good use out of it and I question why many think Lyman should pay for everything under those circumstances. If the furnace is still under warranty then I don't understand his reluctance to send it back to Lyman to fix. I would also ask how many businesses in the shooting industry will pay for initial transportation costs for warranty or any repair work. Will Leupold? Will RCBS?, Will Lee? Will any of the major firearms manufacturers? None of them will in my experience. Not many in any other business will either.

Some pretty good advise was give on another thread about this complaint of Walker77s. I would also offer additionally that i recently had a problem with Thompson Centers customer service and voiced a complaint here. I received some very good advise. I also readjusted mu attitude and then contacted them again following the advise given. TC came through in flying colors much to my satisfaction. When I've had problems with Lyman over the years I've always gotten good service.

Larry Gibson

[HORNET]

Try a websearch for King's Kiln Repair and give them a call. I've seen them recommended on here several times.

[skeet1]

I just purchased a new Lee Pro 4-20 and I'm very happy with it. Parts are avalible and the cost of the pot is much less expensive that any of the other brands. My other pot is an old Saeco that I bought about 30 years ago and when I bought it it cost more than a new Lee in todays dollers. The Saeco does not do anything the Lee wont do and I doubt that any of the other brands will either.

[Houndog]

Folks, I like and own a bunch of RCBS products, but youall need to go to their website and READ their new warranty policy! RCBS is NOT the same company we grew up with! I don't think they'll be anymore "free for life" repairs the way I read it, and in fact I know there won't be. I just paid $56 for 3 sets of mold attaching screws, 3 mold boxes and 2 sprue plates! Their warranty is no better than Lee's anymore.

[Hardcast416taylor]

After all the years I`ve melted lead I feel I can voice an opinion. I have used Saeco, Lyman ,RCBS, and of course LEE. Today I have an RCBS and a LEE 10 lb. high riser pot. I only use the LEE for pure lead use. I have no problems with RCBS even after all these years of use, got it 2nd year they were offered. Lyman and Saeco died and were put out to pasture at a yard sale as non-working.Robert

[Humbo]

RCBS hands down. I bought an at least 15 year old used 110V Pro melt, but it was damaged during transport from seller to me because he sent it full of lead. RCBS sent me a new pot, thermostat, shut-off pin, 220V element (I live in Norway), power cord and power switch with no questions asked. Only the pot and the shut-off pin was really damaged, but they sent me the parts I needed to convert it to 220V in addition to the pot so I didn't have to buy an expensive voltage converter. In the end they also told me how much they appreciate me as a customer.
Does RCBS have the products I'm looking for, I go with RCBS. Their customer support alone is enough for me to buy green.
I had two Lyman molds, both were terribly undersized and out of round. I sent them many pictures of bullets in my micrometer, clearly showing how out of spec they were. But they insisted to check them out themselves, so I had to send them back. Shipping them to the US is expensive, so I ended up selling the molds cheap, and then ordered 4 new ones from RCBS.

[chuebner]

Get a 20# Lee Magnum Melter and you will be pleased. I have two that are both used several times a week and both are as good as new.

charlie

[462]

walker77,

This may be too late, but having spent over 30-years in retail I know a bit how businesses work. You might want to call back and politely ask to speak to someone in management. as they are more willing to bend the rules to accomodate a customer. For all we know, the lady you spoke to may have been new, thus the lack of her knowledge. The same goes for the person she sought help from.

Customer service reps are more apt to take a customer's complaint personally, and digs their heels in, as they try to work within the company's service peramaters. Rarely, and unfortunately, do they have the authority to circumvent the rules.

Also, I would certainly mention the fact that you are a Cast Boolits member. Don't present it as a threat -- again politeness goes a very long wary -- just strickly as a matter of fact. The manager will get your point.

I'll wager that, if you were to speak to a manager, the two of you will come to an agreement that will be beneficial to the both of you.

[Sailman]

Bullshop

Would you please be kind enough to repeat what you did to stop dripping with RCBS pots.

Thank you

Sailman

[plumber]

Lyman's QC as of late has been non existant. I've had to send back molds more than once, and two of them still aren't right. I just got a new Mag 20, and the thing takes over a half hour to melt, and only if I crank it up to 9. I'm waiting for a call back from a manager, as I'm not paying to ship back a pot I just got.

[Bullshop]

sailman
This should get ya there,
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=7235

[qajaq59]

I'm at the point where I'd rather buy molds and dies that were made 25 years ago. At least they are more likely to be the rght size.

[GLL]

Houndog:

I just got two sets of mould screws plus a counterweight knob and vernier for my very old RCBS scale.

I did not mention warranty and asked what I owed them ! No charge+free shipping in three days !

Still sounds very good to me ! :) :)

I have not any trouble with LYMAN lately, Why ? I cannot get them to answer the phone ! EVER ! Gave up and sold the stuff to the next sucker !! Old moulds are fine...NEW are real trouble !

Jerry

[peter nap]

This thread give me an idea. I hate bottom pour pots. I have a Lee dripomatic and an older one (Can't remember the name) that's cast iron and doesn't drip nearly as bad. I've been thinking about using both for a boat anchor, but I may put them on the swap section for a mold.

[Jack Stanley]

I fixed my Lee dripping problem by welding the hole on the bottom shut . It still melts fine and I just pick up the pot and pour the molten lead into the pro-melt .

I fixed My problem with a RCBS mold I had by not ordering anymore molds from them ....... period . Customer service said it was all right so the rest of the molds must be like that too huh?

I fixed the Lyman problem by deciding to never again to buy a product they make .

Very few companies that I can rely on for high quality .... even had to give up on NEI . I think I'm gonna try Night Owl stuff and if that doesn't go .... well , I'll just hafta be happy with what I have on hand that does work .

Jack

[anachronism]

Call back & ask for the Service Dept. Tell the gatekeeper that you have a technical question. Make up some sort of unintelligible question in case she asks if she can help you. I had the same lady, or one of her clones tell me the same thing. I sent my Mag20 in & ended up calling back in a month to see when it might be ready. I chatted with the service guy & he told me I needed a new element. I told him I knew that, and that I had changed many Mag20 elements over the years but that the gatekeeper wouldn't sell me one. He sold me one for $25.00 & replaced the one in the pot under warranty (it was my last new element, which had failed upon startup). It can be done, but don't argue with the gatekeeper or she'll cut you down. There are some nice people there.

[geargnasher]

Folks, I like and own a bunch of RCBS products, but youall need to go to their website and READ their new warranty policy! RCBS is NOT the same company we grew up with! I don't think they'll be anymore "free for life" repairs the way I read it, and in fact I know there won't be. I just paid $56 for 3 sets of mold attaching screws, 3 mold boxes and 2 sprue plates! Their warranty is no better than Lee's anymore.

I dunno about mould parts, but RCBS just sent me a new ammomaster press base and ram and wouldn't take my money, even for shipping, said it was guaranteed for life, period. That press was 20 years old, I call THAT standing behind a product, even if they have changed their tune in print.

Gear

[stubshaft]

I tried to order a link for my 450 sizer. It goes between the handle and the ram and is shaped like an "L". The rep told me that I had to get the "upgrade" to the 4500 and about $48.00 later PLUS shipping I got the part that I needed along with the "link" that was exactly like the one I tried to order. The only difference between the 450 and the 4500 was the end of the handle on the 4500 is ROUND! The parts came with an exploded view of the parts so on a whim I called again to try to order the part and a different rep quoted $6.00 or so. I will not deal with these bozo's again. I have a .501" sizer die that has cracks between the lube holes and rather than send it back I had Buckshot make me a new one.

Lee on the other hand just shipped me a new pot for my 20lb melter. I ordered the one with NO spout as I prefer to ladle cast anyway and got tired of the drip. It cost me $17.00 +$4.00 shipping!

I will support those companies that treat their customers well. If Lyman and Pachmayr both fade into oblivion I say so be it!

[splattersmith]

Used them all over 45 years. Lots of Green stories. All great, even when it is admittedly my own stupid fault. Was at the factory once with a 30+ yr old Uniflow powder measure. Got a new one in five minutes and they would not even listen to my desire to pay. Old ruined dies, new ones. Broken pieces, new ones. Etc. Same with Dillon on its stuff. The I.R.S., not quite the same.

[Plain Base]

I'm glad I found this thread. I'm planning to buy my first electric pot, and was leaning slightly towards Lyman because Cableas has 'em so I wouldn't have to pay heavy shipping. I'll definitely go with RCBS now for an expensive furnace, or maybe a LEE.

Other than "the drip" everyone keeps mentioning, is there anything else wrong with a LEE? Will the thermostat hold at a constant temperature? They've always seemed flimsy to me, but I'll admit I've never used one. I DO like the price, but I've learned the hard way that the cheapest is often that way for a reason, and I end up money behind after starting over with what I should have in the first place.

[captain-03]

If I have a choice; it want be Lyman. Purchased the universal case trimmer and what a nightmare .. I am beyond frustration with the product and with Lyman Customer Service. After trimming approximately twenty-five .223 cases, the chuck would no longer hold the case. I then switched to .308 cases and actually got about a hundred trimmed before the same problem occurred. I telephoned the Lyman Customer Service Department. They acknowledged the problem as a known one and proceeded to talked me through making an adjustment to the product. I was told that I had to find the "sweet spot". However, after numerous attempts, I was unable to find this "sweet spot". I spoke with Customer Service again and they advised me to return the unit. I have been reloading for more than 28 years and have several other Lyman products; mostly casting moulds and equipment. To say the least, I am not pleased with this product; especially after learning that this is a known problem and Lyman still markets it with the known problem. Now, in addition to the original purchase price, I had to incur the additional expense of the postage to return the item for warranty repair. I am retired and on a fixed income and any additional expense is not welcome. Received the unit back after approximately 4 weeks; however, Lyman did not return the pilots - I still do not know if the product actually works! I telephoned Lyman Customer Service and the phone rang, and rang, and rang. After numerous attempts, I finally reached a representative. The problem of the missing pilots was explained and I was told they would be shipped to me -however, they could not tell me when they would be shipped -- maybe in a week?? I should have bought an RCBS - a company where product quality and customer service actually means something!

[Uncle R.]

There's a LOT of green on my bench and I've been happy with their stuff in almost all cases. I've had a few "green" warranty stories over the years too - all were examples of GREAT customer service except the last one a few months ago which left me a bit disappointed.
I called RCBS to get a replacement for a broken O-ring on the piston of my lubrisizer. "We'll ship you a pair - no charge" which was exactly what I expected to hear. Then I asked about a replacement for the cracked plastic powder reservoir on my duo measure. "Sorry - we have no parts for those."
That's it?
The "lifetime warranty" is cancelled because we don't sell those any more and have no parts?
The lady was very nice, and told me that those reservoirs often crack and they get lots of requests for them. Apparently the plastic gets brittle with age. She suggested that I might be able to rig up a reservoir from a piece of PVC pipe which was what I finally did. It's functional but of course it's less than perfect since you can't see the powder level through the tube and there's no cut-off feature like the factory reservoir.
That's hardly a stellar example of a "lifetime warranty" and while I still like their products I consider that "warranty non-response" something of a black mark against RCBS.
Uncle R.

[qajaq59]

Too many of them are getting sloppy.... I've had so many screw-ups with vendors in the last couple of years that I hate to order anything. Last week I ordered some cases from Blue-Star Inc, They arrived quickly and were the right stuff. I was so surprised that I actually sent the guy an e-mail thanking him for doing it right.

[45-70bpcr]

I had a trip to Middlefield Conn. last year and just happened to stumble by Lyman's. I was excited. First chance I got during business hours I stopped in hoping to buy some parts for a 450 sizer. Must be the same lady that "greets" people coming in as is the one that takes the phone calls. She had absolutely no desire in helping me buy any parts while I was there. I left in disgust. BTW I had to scrap my 20# Mag pot a few years ago when the element quit. I was told it was obsolete and they did not have parts for them. I bought a 20# Lee dipper and an extra element to have on hand. It works great for me.