Over the years I have had many opportunities to experience the customer
service or lack thereof provided by a lot of companies. I am going to use
this page to tell about some of the good ones. These companies stand behind
their product and you can count on them.
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Knight & Hale Game Calls, Inc. Drawer 670, 5732 Canton Road, Cadiz,
KY. 42211, 502-924-1755 Fax 502-924-1763. I have chosen to
begin this with Harold and David's company because my most recent experience
of how a company should treat a customer was with them. I had purchased
one of their Magic Calling Kit Pocket Series Model #5005s and was very
disappointed with its quality. I wrote them on January 8, 1998 and told
them I could get no sounds that remotely resembled a coyote from the Coyote
Barker & Howler and that the Rodent Squeaker in the kit wouldn't even
make a sound when the bellows was operated. I did not return the calls
for repair because I had only paid $16.76 and was deciding to cut my losses
rather than add more cost to them. I wasn't sure what to expect from them
but hoped they would at least replace them or offer to pay the return postage
if I sent them for repair. To my surprise and pleasure on February 5, 1998
I received a box and a letter from Knight & Hale signed by Christy
Hale Scherigher, their General Manager. In the box was a Model #930 Coyote
Howler Kit and a Model # 932 E-Z Rodent Squeaker and Puppy Whine call.
Both with audio tapes and a Model #931 Predator Poison Diaphragm
call plus a catalog of their products. The letter apologized for my inconvenience
and told me that they wanted to be sure I was satisfied with their products
even thought I hadn't returned the defective ones for their examination.
Now that is the kind of company I want to deal with and you can bet that
they will get lots of repeat business from me when I next need a product
they make. I believe you can count on Harold and David to back their products
when the need arises.
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Thompson Center Arms, P.O. Box 5002, Farmington Road, Rochester, NH. 038666-5002.
603-332-2333, fax 603-332-5133 or http://www.tcarms.com I have had
many pleasant experiences with TC and they have always come through over
and above the call of duty for me. My first experience was one that scared
me and my friend Billy Doss quite badly. I had loaded up some ammo for
my TC Contender in 44 magnum with 14" barrel and had used the maximum book
load of 24.0 grains of W296 with a 240 grain bullet we had cast in our
Lyman 429244 mould, the bullets weighted out at 242 grains with the gas
check. I had picked up some brass on the range (bad move-never do this-lesson
learned) and one of them was a Smith & Wesson brand case-it was the
only one I had of that head stamp. When I checked the loads that one looked
too full-I dumped it and dropped in a new charge-it still looked too full
so I dumped it and dropped and weighted a charge and put it in the case
and loaded it even though it still looked too full. When I fired this one
my Pachmayer forend went about 30 feet in front of me-the adapter broke.
The action opened by itself and I noticed that there was a bulge in the
barrel where the sight screw holes are-not good to say the least. I wrote
a letter to TC and returned the barrel. In spite of me obviously blowing
the barrel up they gave me a new barrel at no charge and I still am known
among my friends as the only person known to have "blown up" a TC barrel.
Next was my TC Renegade muzzle loader. I was hunting deer on a PW hunt
in CWMA and was in a pine tree. I decided I wanted to go a little higher
than I had set up that morning for a better view. I put my rifle in the
rifle holder on my Amacker stand and didn't lock the clamps to hold it
in. When I sat on the bar to climb higher my rifle was pushed from the
holder and fell about 20 feet to the ground. Surprise-I had broken the
stock at the grip-it was only cracked but still was broken. I went on home
and taped it up and finished the season with it. After the season ended
I wrote a letter to TC and told them what happened and asked them to replace
the stock using my stock hardware and sent me the bill. When the rifle
returned the stock had been replaced at no charge. Unbelievable. Next I
bought a used .223 barrel at a gun show and it just wouldn't shoot better
than 2" groups at 100 yards on a regular basis for nothing. I had cleaned
it good-gone through a break-in of 100 shots and done everything I knew
how to do. But after working with it for months and trying over 100 different
load combinations I gave up. Again I wrote a letter to TC and told them
the story and sent them some targets with the barrel. I now have a new
barrel at no cost. What more can you ask of a company? They have my vote
of confidence. There have been a few other small things they have done
but these three show how they do more than necessary to serve the customer.
Buy from them with confidence. If you have a problem they will make it
right.
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Leupold & Stevens, Inc. P. O. Box 688, Beaverton, OR. 97075-0688 503-526-5195
for general info or 503-526-1400 for customer service and technical info.
Leupold warranties their products not just to the original purchaser as
do most companies but to all subsequent purchasers as well. And they mean
it when they say they back their products. If you use or abuse it and send
it back it has been my experience it will come back repaired or replaced
and at no cost to you. I have returned two or three scopes I felt weren't
performing up to my satisfaction and always got them back promptly at no
charge. I even sent back a pair of pre Wind River binoculars which had
been dropped and had the prisms broken. These were repaired at no cost
to me also. I have heard it said that you can use their scopes to drive
nails if you are without a hammer and get it repaired at no charge and
I suspect that you could if you were so inclined. They stand behind their
products as well as any company out there and produce about the best product
going in the first place. You can NEVER go wrong by buying a new or used
product with the Leupold name.
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RCBS, 605 Oro Damn Road, Oroville, CA. 95965, 800-533-5000.
The RCBS warranty seems to be absolute. I really don't think you can make
these folks charge you for repair or replacement after you buy their product
even when you abuse it. I sent back a couple of dies to them a few years
ago. One of them was a really old 38 Special/357 Magnum tungsten carbide
sizer die that had just worn out from use. The TC insert just wouldn't
stay in the die body. I expected and got a free replacement. The other
was a 30-06 Small base sizer that I had once used to reload for a Remington
Model 742 rifle. I had stuck a case in it because of not enough lube on
the case. I tried to remove it by taking a hammer to the stem to knock
it out. Needless to say it didn't work and I messed up the die big time.
I expected to pay for this replacement but didn't have to-no charge replacement
and they sent them back to me in new die boxes which would have cost me
a few dollars if I had bought it. I now have a stuck case remover and hope
I never need it. I also bought one of their electronic digital scales and
the display went away after the scale was over one year old. I called them-they
gave me the address to return it to and it too came back repaired at no
cost to me. There have been a few other instances over the years but you
get the message-they stand behind their products. Most all of my center
fire reloading equipment is green and carries the RCBS name. Nowadays I
buy nothing else if RCBS makes it.
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Remington Arms Company, 870 Remington Drive, P. O. Box 700, Madison, NC.
27025-0700, Phone 800-243-9700. http://www.Remington.com The
web site isn't much but their customer service has always been top notch
for me. Many years ago when I was shooting skeet competitively I usually
saw a Remington factory guy there doing repairs on any Remington brand
guns-at no cost I might add. I had two occasions to take advantage of this
service: On the first I had bought a new Model 1100 B grade skeet gun that
just wouldn't feed reliably-it was quickly fixed in time for me to use
it in the competition that day. On the other I had a very old 28 gauge
skeet gun that had seen probably over 100,000 rounds-maybe lots more as
it had been owned by two other competition shooters before me. It too was
fixed at no charge-they replaced just about every part of that old gun
except the receiver/barrel/wood and all at no charge. What more could you
ask for. We have a local gunsmith ( Wallace Gatlin-yep a distant relative
of the inventor of the gun by that name) who is a Remington factory authorized
gunsmith. Any time I have a problem with a Remington gun it goes to Wallace
and comes back good as new at no cost to me. Been there-done that several
times and Remington always foots the bill. I like Remington products and
their customer service and most of my long guns carry the Remington name.
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I will add more later as I think of them or as the experiences happen.
No I am not likely to add any bad experiences because of the possibility
of lawsuits for defamation of their good name even if the name isn't so
good with me. Ask me my opinion about some company and I may share my experiences
with you some time but not in this public forum. I hate this "sue crazy"
society we live in.
Lee
Precision--
Recently, I ordered a
trimmer pilot for the .400 Cor Bon from Lee Precision. It was a custom order,
since they do not currently catalog such an item. I told them to make it to
SAAMI specs. How was I to know SAAMI had not yet established
standards for the .400?
Today,
I got a call at work from Dave at Lee. He informed me of the lack of established
dimensions for the round and suggested I get the needed dimension from Cor Bon
or measure a few cases to get the correct measurement necessary. Now friends,
we're talking about a $15 part here. Dave's call probably used up any profit
they might have made on the deal, unless they charged me for the call, which
would be fine with me.
This
kind of diligence and service is not very common in any industry today, and I
think Lee deserves to have it known that they are one of the most customer
oriented folks I've ever dealt with. My first loader was a Lee Loader for the
8x57mm Mauser. I've never had any problem with any of their products, and I'm
sure their products probably, like Rodney Dangerfield, don't get all the respect
due them. The price is so good, we tend to abuse them and think nothing of it.
The darn things are about as fool and bullet proof as a thing can be, and I've
never gotten anything but good service from them. Just wanted y'all to know.
Thanks Dave, and thanks Lee.
Dennis
Mincey.
A
Ruger Experience--
G.B.
Enjoyed your article and would like to share this with you. Two years ago
I purchased a new Ruger rifle that had the worst
trigger of any rifle that I had ever used. I
called Ruger and the problem was taken care of with no hassle.
I
also know there are people who don't like Mr. Bill but it has been my experience
when you deal with his company you are dealing with people involved in the
shooting sports (like us). I also think if men such as him were leading our
country it would be a better place than it already is.
If
you want to see how a company should be run by someone who built it then this
would be the one to use as a model. Also, it doesn't matter if the problem is
with the least or most expensive model they make, it will be treated just the
same. I have been told he still answers the phone. In closing let me tell you
that I don't work for Ruger nor do I get anything free from them I am just a
satisfied customer for life. The next time your at the range and see one of
their products. Ask the person using it and I'll bet you'll get a lot of
comments like mine. Thanks for letting me ramble on.
Regards
Bob Flynn
I hope you find this information to be of value to you in selecting
what companies to choose for the products you need. I would appreciate
your sharing some experiences of your own with me.
