quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:

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.

This ^^^^^

quote:

Originally posted by Tirod:
I missed where the maker is ignoring communication.

I did not say he was. When I call, he answers the phone. I just never get any firm answers.

quote:

Originally posted by Tirod:
IF this is their practice then working thru the orders in calender order - even repairs - may take time.

If he's putting the 15-20 minute repair of my holster behind new orders that are out five months or better: I ain't waitin'. I'll be demanding a refund. If he balks, I'll dispute the charges with my CC company.

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
Raising hell will not accomplish anything.

Understand: My definition of "raising hell" is asking questions, politely, but firmly demanding concrete answers, and being stubborn about accepting anything less.

quote:

Originally posted by SR:
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.

Essentially this ^^^^^

Though that second point would be a good one to make. I'll remember that Thanks!

Thanks, guys, for the additional votes and thoughts

I would think that 14 days would be a reasonable turnaround time. Supply or other problem? Then reach out and tell the customer whats up.
The silence is the problem. As someone else posted, communication is key.

IMO the lack of communication and the time elapsed is unacceptable.

FWIW, I wore out a snap on my EDC holster after a few years. Normal wear & tear, I figure.

I bought a ten-pack on Amazon cheap, and did them myself. Not that I couldn't get the excellent holster-maker to do it. It was simply a matter of convenience for me.

Not having to send my favorite holster off to the maker, and being able to do both in about ten minutes was a no-brainer.

Five weeks isn't necessarily too long, but it is absolutely too long without communicating that timeline. There could be a very good reason it's taking so long, but leaving you hanging isn't the way to do business.

It's a holster, not a Swiss watch. 14 days is beyond acceptable, then after that, you've been scammed.

Hit him with the force of an angry god.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by triggertreat:

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.

This ^^^^^

I'm aware that it's not the same fellas. Just pointing out that some of these shops seem to take forever. I don't know if it's because they are that backed up or what, but it is unacceptable.

Thanks for the sanity check, guys!

I was pretty sure I wasn't being unreasonable. I guess that, with 3/4 of you agreeing with me, I wasn't

I'll be giving the guy a call today.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:...If he's putting the 15-20 minute repair of my holster behind new orders that are out five months or better: I ain't waitin'. I'll be demanding a refund. If he balks, I'll dispute the charges with my CC company.

...

I agree.

When I was a homebuilder, if I had a warrantee issue or question from someone I sold a home to, you better believe that gets addressed and "work in progress" builds, or new "under contract" processes/work get pushed back if necessary. (when labor is required to meet that need)

One who has "paid for a product" and now "denied enjoyment" needs to be a priority over anyone who is in a que.

In the many years I dealt with folks with my own businesses, I can count unhappy folks on both hands, and have fingers left over.
There may have had more people with something needing to be addressed, but almost all were satisfied with the "fix".

Almost all of the remainder, could not be satisfied due to unreasonable expectations.

If you don't get it fixed & get it back from him, I'd be happy to replace the snaps for you. I have black ones to spare. No charge, no hassle, & no delay. Just putting it out there for you.

Crap, read the question too fast. Thought it said unreasonable. Change my vote to NO

Bump.

I custom ordered a leather holster system from a "well-known and reputable holster maker" last Dec. and still waiting on it. The maker requests no emails or phone calls to check on the order. Hint: it is a non-belt holster.

Interested in the final result of this thread.

Update

My holster should be on its way back to me NLT tomorrow. (It was already boxed-up and ready to go.)

Called the maker this morning. Politely reminded him he'd had it over five weeks. He agreed he'd been slow getting it back to me, apologized for the delay, and explanted part of why it happened. (It was for good cause.)

So all's good in the end

Thanks again, everybody, for the comments and votes.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ensigmatic,

Whoops! Forgot this in my update...

quote:

Originally posted by vinnybass:
If you don't get it fixed & get it back from him, I'd be happy to replace the snaps for you.

Thanks for the offer, vinnybass! SF folks are the best

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:
… My holster should be on its way back to me NLT tomorrow. (It was already boxed-up and ready to go.) …

Translation: I completely forgot about it and it’s been sitting under a pile of paperwork. I’ll fix it right now and get it shipped out.

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
Translation: I completely forgot about it and it’s been sitting under a pile of paperwork. I’ll fix it right now and get it shipped out.

I honestly do not believe this to be the case.

Perhaps I just have more trust in people.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
Translation: I completely forgot about it and it’s been sitting under a pile of paperwork. I’ll fix it right now and get it shipped out.

I honestly do not believe this to be the case.

Perhaps I just have more trust in people.

Amp techs are like this. It's literally why I learned to fix my own. Feh, musicians.

This situation is beyond what is acceptable even for a custom shop. Customer care is important for reputable business. He should have ensured that the snap worked before sending the holster to the customer. Such basic oversite is inexcusable

I had a custom holster made 30 years ago; it came with a design defect that could not be remedied. The maker, one of the top men of his time, made me a new holster in an expedited fashion.

I would say it is time to identify this holster maker is it is allowed on this forum. The passage of time is beyond normal backlog. These types of defects take precedence. You have waited once for a properly working holster why should you have to wait again.

quote:

Originally posted by 0658:

He should have ensured that the snap worked before sending the holster to the customer. Such basic oversite [sic] is inexcusable

No. ensigmatic said "The snap performed properly until it broke-in, after which it broke. I don't blame him for that."

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by 0658:
He should have ensured that the snap worked before sending the holster to the customer. Such basic oversite [sic] is inexcusable

No. ensigmatic said "The snap performed properly until it broke-in, after which it broke. I don't blame him for that."

Yup.

As regards...

quote:

Originally posted by 0658:
This situation is beyond what is acceptable even for a custom shop.

I agree that it's not acceptable under normal circumstances, but the maker has had to deal with a "situation." It sucks, but sometimes life gets in the way.

Could he have done a better job of communicating? Certainly. But I knew that wasn't one of his strong suits. He's easy to work with, but he doesn't do much in the way of email and he discourages customers from calling him and interrupting him in his work. (Pretty typical of one- and few-man shops, really.)

quote:

Originally posted by 0658:
I would say it is time to identify this holster maker ...

No, I'm not going to call him out unless I feel he's deserving of being called out. I do not feel that to be the case at this time.

I’d be pretty unhappy with that timeline, but I would have called before I got that unhappy and asked for status.

There are a whole lot of things that suck right now in the supply chain. Some of it may be wuflu disturbance, some of it may be slackers using wuflu as an excuse. Dunno, don’t care, but communication is key.

It sounds like there was a real issue impacting the holster maker. It would have been nice had he communicated the issue as soon as he knew about it, but most good holster makers are way backed up and communicating doesn’t reduce the backlog.

Sorry you had a lousy experience. I hope you’re happy with the resolution.