Good / Bad places to do business with

[abunaitoo]

I've had good service from:
RCBS
Dillion
Widener's (Great service)
Huntington

OK service from:
Graf and sons (They wouldn't ship a Lee cast bullet sizer with the Alox in it. They took it out and I think they sold it. I didn't get any credit for it)
Natchez(always seems to be out of stock)
Lee Precision(high shipping and handling charges)

No longer do business with:
Midway (high shipping charge. Will not send to Hawaii USPS flat rate box)
Grizzly's (really high shipping charge. Will not ship in USPS flat rate box)
Sportsman guide (really high shipping. Also will not use flat rate box)
Cheaper than dirt (high shipping charge. No flat rate box to Hawaii)

I know it cost more to ship to Hawaii and Alaska, but with the USPS flat rate box it's all the same.
It cost them nothing.
Even the box is free.
Seems to me like a win/win for everyone.

[462]

EXCELLENT SERVICE:
RCBS
Lyman
Midway (change in shipping policy)
Midsouth
Powder Valley
Wideners
Brownells

REFUSE TO DO BUSINESS WITH:
Graf & Sons (Gave them an opportunity to correct a problem, they said no. My principles will not let me buy from them again.)

[HORNET]

?? High S&H at Lee Precision??? Don't know if they add on for HI but it's been a flat $4.00 every time I've ordered. I usually wait until I've got several items so I can cover a lot in one order but I've seen lots of times that the actual postage on the package has been much more than the $4.00 that I've paid.

[danski26]

The worst service I have ever had was at walmart. I refuse to shop there now. I have also had poor service from Smith & Wesson.

I have had excelent service from T/C about 8 years ago. Not sure now that they have new owners.

[mrbill2]

The one that pisses me off is paying shipping to send back a defective product. I have a new rifle that needs to go back and it's going to cost me another 20 to 30 bucks for shipping and insurance. I had nothing to do with their screw up. Just another example where the consumer get screwed again. Quality control, does it realy exist.

[44mag1]

so far only bad is lyman. hornady and rcbs has been the best

[DLCTEX]

+1 on Lee never charging more than $4 s&h. I am disappointed in my first and probably only dealings with F&M reloading. I ordered a mould from them and paid with my debit card. Nothing indicated a backorder. The charge didn't hit my bank for three weeks. Now its been two more weeks and no mould. Also no response to repeated emails. If it doesn't hit the fan for work today I will call them and express my chagrin.
F&M finally delivered today. Slow service. Good price and low shipping. Oh well.

[blackthorn]

Will never use UPS shipping again. Nor will I order from anyone who will not ship some other way!

[870TC]

Never doing business with F&M. see post below...

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=34610

[mtnman31]

I haven't had BAD service from any of the major players. Fortunately, I have had to return very few items. In each of the cases I have had to return items or contact customer service I have been treated fairly and was happy with the outcome. I DO NOT like having to pay shipping to return a new item. Really, shipping is what chaffs me most about any of the vendors. I want the cheapest method, not what is most convenient for the vendor. Just becasue you have a contract with UPS doesn't mean I should be paying higher shipping than had you taken the effort to use a flat rate box.

I agree with Blackthorn that UPS is awful. Just the other day they leave my box at my neighbor's. I check the tracking number online and it says it was left on my front door. I call customer service and after 15 minutes of navigating the automated voice and waiting, the lady says he might have left it at a neighbor's. Of course neighbors weren't home that day. I asked if he did leave it at a neighbor's wouldn't he at least have left me a note saying where he left it. She said "no, the driver doesn't usually leave a note". Lucky for me I get along with my neighbors. I got my box the next day.

What happens when a box is dropped off at a neighbor's who doesn't like me or their drug addicted, mentally unstable daughter takes the box and sells if for some meth? The answer is, I have to contact the shipper and have the shipper file a claim. UPS is a joke. I swear the movie Next Day Air was made about UPS.

[flinchnjerk]

Perhaps most don't think of them in the context of a firearms related business, but the best experience I've had in my dealings with scores of suppliers is with White Label Lube. Glenn and Leah go well and above the call.

[August]

My Five Star Gold Crown Award for Service goes to:
RCBS
Dillon
Springfield Arms
Midway
Amazon (they sell a lot of shooting related stuff, believe it or not)
Powder Valley
Chey Cast Bullets
The United States Postal Service
Long Hunter Shooting Supply (Jim Finch)
Pioneer Arms (Will Shootem)

My Fickle Finger of Avoidance Award goes to:
United Parcel Service (they suck really, really, really bad)
Botach Tactical
Colt's

[Recluse]

Had a real problem with Lyman a couple of years back and wrote them one helluva nasty letter. Included photocopies of receipts and expenditures related to reloading and casting to illustrate just how much I spend every year in their industry. Assured them that until something changed--such as they either IMPROVE their customer service or they become the ONLY brand left in the world--my money and loyalty was gone.

But the all time worst experience, EVER, goes hands-down, no contest to F&M. No communications, no product, no answers, no responses, no nothing except the ability to take your money.

Absolute losers.

:coffee:

[leadman]

Years ago I bought an 8x57 Lee die set from F&M. The bleed hole was drilled on the neck, not the shoulder so it screatched the cases badly.
Called F&M and a young man there said that is not a problem even though I told him it removed about .003" depth of metal on the neck. Asked to talk to someone else and got an older man.
Said to send it back to them, which I did with copy of the invoice from them. Got a call said they could find no record of me buying the die set from them. I asked about the copy of the inv., said there was no copy with package. gave them the inv. number, could not find it.
They finally replaced it for me, but was the last time I ordered from them. That inv. had about $150 of stuff on it.

[dawallace45]

Living here in Australia the biggest problem is getting some company that will allow me to buy from them , so far the ones I've used the most have been Midsouth Shooters Supplies and Cabelas , with both companies the service has been great , the only reason I don't deal with cabelas more is because of the excessive postal costs seeing as how they charge 45% of the total order for air mail and for small expensive items it's just over the top , but Midsouth have always been very prompt and on the very rare occasion that they do stuff up a order they bend over backwards to fix it up as soon as possible

David

[abunaitoo]

I forgot about Amazon.
Honest shipping prices.

midway's new shipping policy does NOT include Hawaii.
I used to buy a bunch from them untill the shipping got stupid.

[stubshaft]

?? High S&H at Lee Precision??? Don't know if they add on for HI but it's been a flat $4.00 every time I've ordered. I usually wait until I've got several items so I can cover a lot in one order but I've seen lots of times that the actual postage on the package has been much more than the $4.00 that I've paid.

NO, they don't add on anything. Infact they will send sizers WITH the LLA and not charge an additional fee. If I can't find a Lee product on this site or a couple of others I frequent then I will order direct.

I will second Abunai with regard to Midway. I used to spend a fair amount of money with them (at least $400.00 a year) but now I refuse to order from them. not only because they jacked up the cost of shipping but that assinine "$3.00 service fee for orders under $25.00".

I went to order a part from them that cost $24.99. They were going to add on the $3.00 service fee. The cost of shipping up to that point for the single item was $10.65. To circumvent that I ordered a bore brush that cost $1.95 or so to eliminate the service fee. The postage was jacked up to $16.95! Either way they were going to get their profit margin. :takinWiz:

Never again!

[nicholst55]

Agreed that UPS sucks; I can't count the number of times that I got home from work at 11:00 PM and found a C&R rifle leaning against the front door; adult signature required my hind foot!

Won't do business with Sportsman's Guide; masters of the bait and switch.

I have a love/hate relationship with Midway. I prefer not to do business with them, but sometimes do out of necessity. They soured my opinion of them with their $40 'dealer' minimum order (or we add a 'handling fee) for C&R FFL holders.

Brownells generally has top customer service, although sometimes the customer service rep I speak to wants to 'beat me up' over something minor. You can also frequently beat their prices with ease.

I've had good results from Graf's; guess I'd better watch out from what some of you say.

Also agreed that Lee Precision charges entirely too much for shipping the relatively small items that I order from them. So does Midway, for that matter.

One of my favorites, Lock Stock and Barrel, has gone out of business, so I have to find a replacement for them. I enjoyed their reasonable prices and excellent variety.

[Rockydog]

The best service in the gun industry comes from Mayville Engineering Company (MEC). Hands down winner. You can call them on the phone and they'll talk you through an adjustment problem with your loader. They often send small replacement parts for free. They've sent me larger parts with an invoice for me to pay instead of me sending the money first. All in all a great bunch of people. I asked them if they'd ever been burned by a customer. They said only once or twice that they could remember but felt it was worth the risk to get the kind of loyalty and reputation that they've earned. Rockydog

[MT Gianni]

I have received great service from Graf & Sons and Mid-South. I ordered some items last spring when the industry was busy as beavers and both outfits called to confirm that items were in and i still wanted them in the fall. Price was as I ordered. RCBS gives great service. I won't go into a K-mart, and life is too short to order from Midway again.

[Lee]

HEllloooo???? I sure hope Midway, Graf's and the others are listening. Many of these complaints border on the ridiculous.


Sportsmans Guide?? Awww Hawww Hawww Hawww Hawww. To call those weasels the "masters of the bait and switch" is to be too kind.
I would not wee on a flat rock in the desert, finding one of those wee-cutters out there dying from thirst. Nor would I poop on a flat rock in the same desert, seeing one of them crawling by asking for a scrap to eat. My sole mission in life is to read the Obit of the "Greedy One", fly to his resting place and :takinWiz: on his grave......
Naw, I'm sorry, I shouldn't suger coat it. I gotta learn to express my true feelings.
(And ya know whut? Old GO is still sendin' me his catalogs, still trolling fer the $. Awww Hawww Hawww Hawww Hawww Hawww..:takinWiz:G.O.....)
.
.
Just did 2 transactions with Grafs...$4.50 shipping charge, each time. Ok for what I wanted. Beat anyones price................Lee:p

[MtGun44]

Interesting.

I have ordered from Midway many, many times with very quick delivery and no problems.

Same with Sportsman's Guide - with the exception of ammunition. They used to be competitive
on ammo prices, but I found out that they require a signature for ammo delivery and
no amount of 'may I speak to your supervisor' would get it changed. So - no ammo orders,
and nowdays they are uncompetitive on price, so no real issue. Got some snowshoes from them
the other day, no problems, good product and quick delivery. Surplus fleece jackets, 2 for $12,
decent product, very low price. Maybe I've just been lucky.

Bill

[spqrzilla]

I've been happy with my dealings with Sportsmans Guide.

[Buckshot]

..............There is no company out there that I can think of who deliberately intends to PO the customer (except maybe F&M from what I've read here and on other similar threads). This is outside of various companys' published shipping costs (or estimated costs) which are there for everyone to read and agree to or go elsewhere.

In that vein I certainly agree that sometimes it seems absolutely ludicrous. Such an example would be Dillon. I've ordered stuff for my old 450, and also had them ship me a new plastic powder hopper free of ANY cost to me. On the other hand I ordered 2 CZ75 recoil buffers totaling $19.90 and shipping was $9.99! I paid no attention to the total charge when I clicked the 'Order Now' button, but had I paid attention it was right there on the screen to see. Shame on me!

I can think of no business where I have had consistently poor customer service on the phone. This includes credit card companies, mortgage outfits, phone, electric, or water companies, and retail outfits. I've had folks who were a bit short, or who were obviously busy. Most of that I can understand with myself having about 30 years experience in dealing with the public, or in transportation dealing with drivers, shippers and receivers.

Most any company handling customer service issues over the phone will have people who've gotten training in it and in how the company wants it handled. Larger outfits will have a supervisor in attendance just to see that policy is adhered to and for decision making. Most outfits expect the occasional complaint about a representative, and I know that those consistently getting more then the accepted number of complaints per segment (say 100 calls) get special attention.

There are 2 companies I've delt with repeatedly that have batted 1000 in customer service so far, regardless if the problem was mine or theirs and they are Enco and MSC. Both are tool and tooling related companies. A 'for instance' was among other stuff I'd ordered a dial bore gage. The company used the same box for the 3 sizes of bore gage, AND instructions to cover the 3 models. I didn't know that and thought parts were missing. I called and their rep didn't know either. He said he'd have a new one pulled and checked, and then have it sent (free) along with a UPS call tag to return the one I had.

I then realized I'd screwed up and they had paid for my ignorance. I called and tried to pay them but they refused and said don't worry about it. Another time I'd ordered a set of 6 countersinks along with some other stuff. I got SIX complete sets of the 6 piece countersinks! I called to let them know. They issued a call tag and about 2 weeks later I got a letter in the mail with a thank you note and a code for 10% off my entire next order.

................Buckshot

[oldfart1956]

Does it have to be gun related? The worst service I ever had was from Sears. But there's a funny story in there. See, as a young lad just moving into my own apartment I needed to purchase an elec. stove. Sears sold me one "on credit." Pay as you go..remember those days? Anyways, about 3 months later it shorted out and dang near burned down the apartment building. Since it had a service contract/warrantee I went back to the salesman that sold it to me and he said they could find no record of my purchase. Go figger!!! So I stopped making payments! Sears promptly called me and asked what the problem was....I explained and they said they wanted their elec. stove back. I told them it was in the parking lot of the apartment building. I'd sent it flying out the front door and bought a good used one. I lived on the 3rd. floor. :) HAW!HAW!HAW! Audie..the Oldfart..

[Jaybird62]

RCBS has been good to work with over the past several years. MidwayUSA makes me grind my teeth sometimes in frustration, but I'll keep doing business with them. The "rush" in the gun industry since the last election has been a real product quality and customer service test for companies. Some have passed, but others are failing.

[captaint]

Never had anything like a problem with Sinclair Int'l. Great people. They're all shooters. And if something gets backordered, you don't pay to ship the backordered item. They've told me "hey, it's our problem the item is backordered, not yours". Great!! enjoy Mike

[cbrick]

Most any company handling customer service issues over the phone will have people who've gotten training in it and in how the company wants it handled. Larger outfits will have a supervisor in attendance just to see that policy is adhered to and for decision making.....Buckshot

You may well be right but from my own personal experience I have to say that this does not apply to Redding. They flat told me to buy RCBS if I didn't like what I got from them, flat refused to honor their own written warranty and then slandered me in emails to third un-related parties. Yep, I don't think any of what you wrote applies to Redding.

Rick