I had a real misadventure several years ago, there was a firm that had a good reputation for installing rifled barrels on shotguns, this was long before they were offered by the factory. They had been written up in many of the outdoor magazines so I figured they were a reputable firm to do business with. I packed up my shotgun along with the required funds and sent it to them, promised delivery at the time was six months. You guessed it, six months go by and no shotgun so I wait patiently another sixty days before contacting them to inquire about delivery. One year turned into two years, lots of promises, your shotgun is at the bluer, etc.. Then calls went unanswered for a long time, when I was able to get someone to answer it was the guys mother with more excuses. After two plus years I had enough and contacted the State Attorney General's office, they had multiple complaints similar to mine and were putting together a class action suit against the guy to try to recover customers money and guns. This dragged on for another eighteen months or so, then one day my gunsmith called to say that he had received a package from the firm. When I opened the package, inside was my original package that had never been opened. The shotgun had never been removed from the package much less had the promised barrel installed. I never got my money back but was happy enough to have my shotgun back. After that experience, I get multiple references when considering a gunsmith, I contact these people and question especially regarding delivery, communication and overall experience before making a selection. There are some gunsmiths with national reputations for their work who are just not good business men, just because they have big reputations for their work or are members of the gunsmith guild does not guarantee you will have a satisfactory experience. Due diligence in checking them out is always necessary, talk to as many former clients about their experience before making your selection.
Paragraph breaks, check them out.
