Custom barrel mistake. Live with it or send it back?

[sndmn11]

I'd send them a picture how you solved the problem, and then ask about order another barrel for whatever other project you have.

 

[hodgeman]

That looks pretty good. There are a lot of old guns (and a whole bunch of new ones) that don't fit that well.

 

[gbflyer]

Looks good. You could probably fill it with epoxy bedding dyed brown and not even tell it. I’m glad they got back to you. That’s a good sign.

They never did answer my shipping questions. I hate the silent treatment. I’m probably done with them over it. Lots of good barrels out there.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Easy way to fix this is for just one of the 2 or 3 people who had a chance to catch the mistake, to speak up and do their job. Then you don't have to worry about people going from 0-99.

This is the truth right here. People going from 0-99 aren’t the problem, the problem is people and companies not doing the job they were paid to do. The even larger problem is the people who defend the companies and employees who are negligent and incompetent.

 

[woods89]

This is the truth right here. People going from 0-99 aren’t the problem, the problem is people and companies not doing the job they were paid to do. The even larger problem is the people who defend the companies and employees who are negligent and incompetent.

This is true. There is no excuse for mistakes, which is why they need to be fixed.

However, as someone who has run a business for a few years and at this point works almost exclusively for repeat customers, I can tell you that stuff happens. Sometimes stuff even happens that is kind of embarrassing. The people who I will go to the end of the earth to make sure things are taken care of are the people who call me and give me a chance to handle it before they make a public issue of it.

I get the op's situation to a certain extent. He has a rifle that means a lot to him and wants it right. That's not an unreasonable expectation, but I'm sure the barrel manufacturer would have loved a chance to fix it before it went public. I'm also quite sure that every barrel manufacturer out there has some similar situations they have had to take care of.

 

[sndmn11]

This is true. There is no excuse for mistakes, which is why they need to be fixed.

However, as someone who has run a business for a few years and at this point works almost exclusively for repeat customers, I can tell you that stuff happens. Sometimes stuff even happens that is kind of embarrassing. The people who I will go to the end of the earth to make sure things are taken care of are the people who call me and give me a chance to handle it before they make a public issue of it.

I get the op's situation to a certain extent. He has a rifle that means a lot to him and wants it right. That's not an unreasonable expectation, but I'm sure the barrel manufacturer would have loved a chance to fix it before it went public. I'm also quite sure that every barrel manufacturer out there has some similar situations they have had to take care of.

I hear what you are saying, I almost think a situation like this is best though. I don't take the post as bashing the barrel company, I read it as very objective-> here is the problem, what are your thoughts type of way.

It will work out as a positive for the barrel maker in that it was shared that they replied WITHOUT him being grouchy about it and they said it was wrong. Everyone does make mistakes. We now know that this barrel maker is human, and that this barrel maker is professional enough to admit a mistake and want to correct it. To me, that's a great sign when seeking out a business because it tells me they have integrity and standards, while also maybe letting me believe they rarely make mistakes by how he had not outlined an RA process.

I do agree and think if he had gone on here and been subjective saying the company is poo and their people are similar, etc before talking to them, would have been a poor post.

 

[gbflyer]

This is true. There is no excuse for mistakes, which is why they need to be fixed.

However, as someone who has run a business for a few years and at this point works almost exclusively for repeat customers, I can tell you that stuff happens. Sometimes stuff even happens that is kind of embarrassing. The people who I will go to the end of the earth to make sure things are taken care of are the people who call me and give me a chance to handle it before they make a public issue of it.

I get the op's situation to a certain extent. He has a rifle that means a lot to him and wants it right. That's not an unreasonable expectation, but I'm sure the barrel manufacturer would have loved a chance to fix it before it went public. I'm also quite sure that every barrel manufacturer out there has some similar situations they have had to take care of.

You’re right. I sent a Hart back to them for a re-contour. It was like new so I couldn’t bring myself to scrap it. I got a call from one of the owners about 2 weeks later informing me that he input the wrong numbers in the CNC and now he owes me a new barrel. Simple. That’s how those situations should be handled.

The OP has had a bit of a go around with this manufacturer already in terms of promised delivery dates. I can understand the frustration and certainly understand his piping up.


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[Newtosavage]

This is true. There is no excuse for mistakes, which is why they need to be fixed.

However, as someone who has run a business for a few years and at this point works almost exclusively for repeat customers, I can tell you that stuff happens. Sometimes stuff even happens that is kind of embarrassing. The people who I will go to the end of the earth to make sure things are taken care of are the people who call me and give me a chance to handle it before they make a public issue of it.

I get the op's situation to a certain extent. He has a rifle that means a lot to him and wants it right. That's not an unreasonable expectation, but I'm sure the barrel manufacturer would have loved a chance to fix it before it went public. I'm also quite sure that every barrel manufacturer out there has some similar situations they have had to take care of.

I agree, to a point. If it was something that one person missed, those things happen. But in this particular case, there had to be at least 3 people who missed this one - unless the same guy that ran the lathe also did the bluing and also did the final inspection and also packaged and shipped it, which I don't think was the case. So, if this had been a "one guy messed up" kind of deal, I could easily understand. We all mess up.

I am a supervisor of a team that consists of 10-14 people depending on the season. Some of those are true experts in their field. Like world class experts. And yes, they screw up sometimes. And if nobody else on my team caught those mistakes and said something, I'd hold everyone on the team accountable, including myself.

In this instance, I would have liked to have received an email explaining that they caught the mistake before it went out and they will have to re-do the barrel and apologize for the extra time it will take. In that case, I would have said oh darn, it's gonna take a little longer BUT I can tell they are concerned about quality control and not just throwing junk out the door. As it stands, we still don't know - and probably never will - if they saw the mistake and shipped it anyway hoping I wouldn't catch it or that I'd "make it work" (like I did). I'm not saying that's what happened, but it's either one of those two scenarios above, neither of which are acceptable.

I'm actually a very understanding and forgiving guy by nature, but being a supervisor, I also have a good idea what it takes to put out a product that's been checked by multiple team members. In this particular case, I don't buy the "give them a chance to make it right" because they had multiple chances before UPS picked it up.

 

[Newtosavage]

I hear what you are saying, I almost think a situation like this is best though. I don't take the post as bashing the barrel company, I read it as very objective-> here is the problem, what are your thoughts type of way.

It will work out as a positive for the barrel maker in that it was shared that they replied WITHOUT him being grouchy about it and they said it was wrong. Everyone does make mistakes. We now know that this barrel maker is human, and that this barrel maker is professional enough to admit a mistake and want to correct it. To me, that's a great sign when seeking out a business because it tells me they have integrity and standards, while also maybe letting me believe they rarely make mistakes by how he had not outlined an RA process.

I do agree and think if he had gone on here and been subjective saying the company is poo and their people are similar, etc before talking to them, would have been a poor post.

You're absolutely right. The quality of the barrel and the good fortune of the lettering timing correctly was enough reason to make me consider keeping the barrel. If the barrel had been junk, it would have been a no-brainer.

I respect the expertise and experience on this forum a great deal, which is why I put the question out there. Because I know someone here (usually multiple people) will give me something to think about that I hadn't thought of.

As it is, this barrel broke in faster than any barrel I've ever owned. I stopped getting copper on the patch after just 3 rounds, cleaning after each round. That's impressive.

 

[Newtosavage]

You’re right. I sent a Hart back to them for a re-contour. It was like new so I couldn’t bring myself to scrap it. I got a call from one of the owners about 2 weeks later informing me that he input the wrong numbers in the CNC and now he owes me a new barrel. Simple. That’s how those situations should be handled.

The OP has had a bit of a go around with this manufacturer already in terms of promised delivery dates. I can understand the frustration and certainly understand his piping up.


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I sent another barrel back to them for re-contouring, so we'll see how that goes. I have no reason to believe it won't be perfect. The original job was exactly to my specs, but after seeing it and assembling the rifle, I decided I wanted the barrel lightened and the finish changed.

 

[woods89]

I agree, to a point. If it was something that one person missed, those things happen. But in this particular case, there had to be at least 3 people who missed this one - unless the same guy that ran the lathe also did the bluing and also did the final inspection and also packaged and shipped it, which I don't think was the case. So, if this had been a "one guy messed up" kind of deal, I could easily understand. We all mess up.

I am a supervisor of a team that consists of 10-14 people depending on the season. Some of those are true experts in their field. Like world class experts. And yes, they screw up sometimes. And if nobody else on my team caught those mistakes and said something, I'd hold everyone on the team accountable, including myself.

In this instance, I would have liked to have received an email explaining that they caught the mistake before it went out and they will have to re-do the barrel and apologize for the extra time it will take. In that case, I would have said oh darn, it's gonna take a little longer BUT I can tell they are concerned about quality control and not just throwing junk out the door. As it stands, we still don't know - and probably never will - if they saw the mistake and shipped it anyway hoping I wouldn't catch it or that I'd "make it work" (like I did). I'm not saying that's what happened, but it's either one of those two scenarios above, neither of which are acceptable.

I'm actually a very understanding and forgiving guy by nature, but being a supervisor, I also have a good idea what it takes to put out a product that's been checked by multiple team members. In this particular case, I don't buy the "give them a chance to make it right" because they had multiple chances before UPS picked it up.

Makes sense. It would be interesting to know how it got through. I'm glad you found a workable solution!