Shooting in West Midlands

[Hotshot100]

Just come back from a very enjoyable few days in the West Midlands. Whilst up there I shot at Hodnet where I met Sam Pop and Grifter on Tuesday evening and Oak Edge on Wednesday where I met Salopian, Growl, Maxum and BigMac.

It was really good to meet up with you all and I hope to come up again in September.

As some of you know I had gun problems on Wednesday evening so went across to Doveridge on Thursday to get it sorted. The bottom firing pin was stuck out and would not retract. It was so rusted in that the gunsmith had to knock it out with a hammer and punch. We couldn't make out why it was like this as the gun is only 3 months old. It wasn't until I returned to Premier Guns that Hannah pointed out that the gun was actually made in 2009 :spiteful: :spiteful: .

It would appear that this had happened whilst it was lying dormant at Browning's plant in Belgium.The matter is now with Browning so will be interesting to see what they come up with. :nyam: :spiteful: .

 

[Maxum]

I know it was only brief but nice to meet you on Wednesday Roger..

 

[Lock Stock & Barrel]

Agreed, some of the most naturally humorous folks I've met are through meet-n-greets at a shoot. Characters doesn't even begin to cover it

 

[Hotshot100]

The shop where I bought my gun from has been in contact with Browning's this morning and the bottom line is that they aren't interested. Obviously I am far from happy about this and feel that they should have at least made some token gesture, have they never heard of goodwill??

I'm afraid that this seems to be typical of Browning since their main operation moved back to Belgium as I have had several customer service issues with them over the past 6 months. Pity because I like their guns but their customer service is virtually non existent at the moment.

 

[Lock Stock & Barrel]

Sorry to hear that Top - maybe time to go Italian?

 

[Will Hewland]

The shop where I bought my gun from has been in contact with Browning's this morning and the bottom line is that they aren't interested. Obviously I am far from happy about this and feel that they should have at least made some token gesture, have they never heard of goodwill??

I'm afraid that this seems to be typical of Browning since their main operation moved back to Belgium as I have had several customer service issues with them over the past 6 months. Pity because I like their guns but their customer service is virtually non existent at the moment.

So stupid. At least send you a couple of firing pins!

 

[Salopian]

Roger,

 What about the mythical guarantee  that these guns come with? I would be having a word with someone if it was me. You have of course pointed out that you only bought it 3 months ago?

 

[Growl]

Good to meet up the other day and nice to chat, I think in this situation I would be writing to Browning customer service (head office) to allow them the opportunity to comment on your treatment prior to your letter going out to various publishers of shooting magazines, I'm sure they would love the chance to put their views across, I to love browning but it does seem that their service could do with a shake up. Cheers Growl.

 

[Hotshot100]

I am now going to phone them up tomorrow to give them one last opportunity to do the right thing. If they don't then I will take it further. I don't know if the magazines will publish something like this as they obviously get a lot of advertising money from company's like Browning.

Trading standards might be a good starting point.

 

[RobertBeard]

Surely your beef is with the retailer and its up to him to resolve matters to your satisfaction and to get recourse from Browning himself?

 

[Hotshot100]

Surely your beef is with the retailer and its up to him to resolve matters to your satisfaction and to get recourse from Browning himself?

That may well be the case Robert. I don't really see why I should have to phone Browning myself. Am I likely to be successful where the retailer failed? I doubt it.

Apparently Browning's issue is that the gun wasn't returned to them. In the circumstances this was not possible without cutting short my shooting holiday. Maybe this is what I should have done and then billed them for my ruined holiday!!

 

[Salopian]

Roger,

 I am sure that if BWM are made aware of all the facts they may be responsive. Mention that Simon at Doveridge actually rectified the fault as a necessity.

Obviously if you have no joy I would ask your retailer to rectify the situation to your satisfaction before involving trading standards, who I certainly would consult as a last resort.

 Interestingly I have a new MK38 sitting in my cabinet over 15 years old never fired a shot since I bought it. It is not marked or rusty at all, I hope it works when needed. 

 

[Growl]

Best bring it tonight to Oakedge Salopian and give it a try out, put your mind at ease..... :aikido:

 

[Hotshot100]

Roger,

 I am sure that if BWM are made aware of all the facts they may be responsive. Mention that Simon at Doveridge actually rectified the fault as a necessity.

Obviously if you have no joy I would ask your retailer to rectify the situation to your satisfaction before involving trading standards, who I certainly would consult as a last resort.

 Interestingly I have a new MK38 sitting in my cabinet over 15 years old never fired a shot since I bought it. It is not marked or rusty at all, I hope it works when needed. 

This was all explained to them, but they still didn't want to know. They actually refused when asked to speak to Simon, said there was no point as they didn't intend to do any thing whatever the circumstances.

 

[Hotshot100]

I have spoken to them myself today and all I can say is that it would have been less painful and frustrating to have banged my head against a brick wall for an hour.

The person that I spoke to was not only obnoxious but also called me a liar and told me that it was entirely my fault that the gun had failed as I hadn't cleaned it properly. When I asked him to tell me how I should go about cleaning the firing pins and guides when they are an internal part that can only be accessed by a gunsmith the answer that I got was that it was not his place to tell me how to clean my gun.

Eventually after a lot of wrangling he VERY begrudgingly agreed to send me a pair of firing pins, although he couldn't understand why I wanted them.

I have now relayed what happened to my retailer who has given me 300 free clays at their shooting ground and is arranging for me to meet the Browning representative to discuss the matter further.

In all my life I have never had a conversation like the one that I had today with any body. In my working life I had to deal with M.D's, C.E.O's and buyers from multi million pound companies and I was never given a hard time like this bloke gave me today.

Difference then was that they were the customer so were treated with respect. Today I was the customer and was treated with no respect,

UNBELIEVABLE!!

 

[Hotshot100]

I have been having a dig around on the Consumer Protection/sale of Goods Act websites this morning and have found that under European Regulations introduced in 2008 if ANY product fails in less than 6 months from the date of purchase it is automatically deemed to have been sub standard at the time of purchase.

This automatically entitles the purchaser to have the item repaired or replaced and also to reimbursement of any losses or expenses incurred by said failure.