Notes: Maker's name (currently?) withheld to protect the innocent (guilty?). Make no assumptions from my posting history. I've purchased more than one custom leather holster, recently and haven't discussed them all here.

Bought a new custom leather holster from a well-known and reputable holster maker. Lead time was long, but we all know that's how it is. Turned out one of the pull-the-dot snaps was defective. Called the maker. "That happens. Send it back and I'll fix it." So I did.

When I heard nothing back after two weeks, I called to make sure USPS had actually delivered it to where it was supposed to go. Yup, he had it.

It's now been back in his possession for five weeks and three days. Still nothing seen or heard.

I'm becoming annoyed. It seems to me waiting this long for a repair that simple, to a brand-new product, for which the customer paid a pretty penny and waited months to get, is not reasonable.

But, before I call said leather maker to politely raise hell, I thought I'd get the opinion of the collective

Question:
Is over five weeks to wait for a simple repair on an expensive, brand-new custom holster reasonable?

Choices:
Yes
No

 

Here I go thinking again!
I would think common courtesy applies here.
I’d be perturbed given the time frame & lack of communication.

The wait for the repair seems excessive to me. Even if he has to build you an entirely new holster you should have got moved to the front of the line.

5 weeks with zero communication is absolutely unacceptable. It might take 5 weeks to make a holster but it damn sure doesn’t take 5 weeks to return an email. Even if he’s had some family emergency he’s had time in the last 5 weeks to reach out yo his customers.

I do some leather work, it only takes a few minutes to replace a bad snap.

Assuming he has one in stock to use to match whatever it may or not need to match.
.

I'd just cancel the order and buy elsewhere.

Seeing as it was a defect in materials, and one that could possibly have been caught by function testing before shipping, no, I don't think this reasonable.

quote:

Originally posted by Pale Horse:
Even if he has to build you an entirely new holster you should have got moved to the front of the line.

That's the way it'd have been had I been him. That return-for-repair would've been done NLT the day after receipt and sent back out NLT the day following the repair.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
I do some leather work, it only takes a few minutes to replace a bad snap.

I've never installed snaps, one-way or otherwise, but I saw a YouTube video on how it's done. Not much different than installing grommets in canvas--which I've done. So, yeah: I expect it would take all of about 15-20 minutes to do the work. If that.

quote:

Originally posted by OKCGene:
Assuming he has one in stock to use to match whatever it may or not need to match.

Well, since he's still making holsters (I assume), I presume he has them in stock.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
I'd just cancel the order and buy elsewhere.

It's a bought and paid-for holster. Or do you mean demand a refund and take my business elsewhere? Yes: I've considered that, since I'm now so annoyed I don't know if I even want the holster, anymore, anyway.

quote:

Originally posted by egregore:
Seeing as it was a defect in materials, and one that could possibly have been caught by function testing before shipping, ...

Probably not. The snap performed properly until it broke-in, after which it broke. I don't blame him for that.

Thanks for the comments and votes, so far, y'all

I was tracking with you, right up until I get to this point:

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
five weeks and three days.

When I read that, I actually said "aww hell nah" out loud.

I haven't read any of the replies. I'm not sure I care to. I would be Pissed. Capital P, Pissed. Once the item ordered has been delivered, supporting it now supersedes all other incoming work. I don't give a Fuck who else is on a wait list, or how long that wait list is, people who already waited should not be made to wait any further for a working, fully functional, "this item meets my standards and I'd put my name on it" level of quality that they expected, and already paid for.

I don't care if the holster maker is a forum member or not, that is bullshit.

First...I have a small custom leather company. I've stopped all advertising and stopped accepting orders. I can't keep up with demand, and I can't make it pencil to do so.

As a very experienced business owner, communication is the key to success with clients, in ALL business types. So at that alone, this business has failed you.

Now playing devil's advocate, I can see and understand the following (given that I believe the business has already failed you and should just refund your money with an apology).

I have had a heck of a time with supplies. China wrecked this world. Finding hardware that isn't made in china is near impossible, and even manufacturers in our own country played the china-flu game for the last 2 years, and stopped production. Stuff is just difficult to get, and a lot of us have our inventory still sitting in containers outside long beach kommifornia. I'll be surprised if I ever get some of my deliveries, they're nearly a year overdue at this point.

While a snap is easy to replace, if he doesn't have any to replace it with...

There are a bunch of new companies out there in this industry, and a bunch of them have used tooling to be MUCH faster and significantly cheaper, but by an assembly-line, even semi-automated process. I think that's great. I can't compete, and a lot of the little guys are trying to. There's bound to be mistakes made along the way. Chances are that if your snap was bad, perhaps this builder ordered a cheap batch from somewhere and got a lot of bad ones. Perhaps he had dozens to repair, and lost yours?

No more excuses...the best departure is a refund. I'd call and ask for one, and find another place to get holsters from. Holsters are artistry, and a lot of artists suck at business.

Communication is important.

Things happen - but keep the customer updated with good or bad news.

I voted no, but five weeks is nothing. It took me 20 weeks (to the day) to get a holster/gun belt for my SAA from El Paso.

Call him and determine exactly what the problem is and go from there.....

quote:

It's a bought and paid-for holster. Or do you mean demand a refund and take my business elsewhere? Yes: I've considered that, since I'm now so annoyed I don't know if I even want the holster, anymore, anyway.

I'd call and ask for my money back. I suspect he'll get it fixed and back to you in a jiffy....or you'll get your refund.

quote:

Originally posted by ggile:
Call him and determine exactly what the problem is and go from there.....

Agree with this suggestion.

quote:

Originally posted by divil:

quote:

Originally posted by ggile:
Call him and determine exactly what the problem is and go from there.....

Agree with this suggestion.

It doesn’t seem like the maker is returning the OPs messages.

Five weeks for a simple repair on something is WAY too long.

BTW I read the poll question as "unreasonable" and was initially surprised at the results. After I re-read the question, I noticed my mistake.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I voted no, but five weeks is nothing. It took me 20 weeks (to the day) to get a holster/gun belt for my SAA from El Paso.

He already waited to have the holster made and had no complaints on the wait time for that. This is for a repair on a holster that was sent out defective. Not the same.

I missed where the maker is ignoring communication.

I've read of many makers who take things in first come first served order with no jumping ahead. In fact, having a surveyor ignore my work order for 8 weeks to get my property staked, I'm a bit sticky on it - all the major contractors abused the foreman and demanded their properties be done preferentially. Waiting that long created an issue and I finally cancelled, which has been nothing but problems as neighbors keep boundaries as well as a blowing Walmart bag.

IF this is their practice then working thru the orders in calender order - even repairs - may take time. Good custom handwork does backorder months now - as explained - and some LEO buyers of custom holsters have seen 6-8 month delivery dates. Long lead times are normal. With some factories understaffed supplies are short. And with

I'd give a call, it may be coming up. Keep in mind if a maker has 125 - 400 holsters back ordered and only ten call every day - that's up to two hours on the phone not making holsters. A one person shop doing anything but making a holster is time diverted from production.

Email is even worse. Some major vendors get 100's a day "why is my striker black not silver?" Those inquiries are difficult to justify but if ignored it leads to the maker being considered in a bad light.

The craft is the reward, but having worked retail for decades, the trade has it's offsets.

Key word here is communication between both parties..... NO Excuse for sitting on a returned product for repair without contacting customer to up date the status even if having to wait on arrival of repair parts..... .... drill sgt.

Raising hell will not accomplish anything. I'd call and ask

> what's holding up the repair and return?

> if you were the customer and in my shoes would you feel you're being treated fairly?

> what can be done to get the matter resolved? If he's waiting for a part, that might be tough.


I dealt with a custom leather holster maker once. They were pretty popular with the Sig Forum when I first joined. The holster they sent didn't really look like the one in the picture - they basically told me to pound sand. Sort of forgetting their satisfaction guarantee. Sort of left a bad taste in my mouth and I haven't ordered a custom leather holster since.