Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Custom Rifles & Wildcats Contacting Robert Gradous

I started a build with Robert in December 2014 and since November off 2015he has not returned my calls or emails. Any help or suggestions appreciated. Thanks

I know that he has been working to expand his shop recently. I don't have any advice for you but he's alive, well, and working.

Please see other "Gradous" thread in the classifieds.....things are not well!!

Some folks were able to get their parts back.....

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...8/Robert_Gradous_contacting#Post11157518

I just saw this and its funny I talked to robert 3 times todya without knowing any of this was going on. last fall I sent my parts into him. I just wanted a barrel install. He got my parts and promptly called me and sent pictures showing my parts were damaged because of my piss poor packaging job, mainly the trigger had poked through the box. At that time he also looked over everything really close and suggested a couple things he thought might be happening with my gun, he said it looked like a stock pillar had been crushed, I look at my stock sure enough its crushed slightly. He also found that a scope base screw had been tightened into the barrel threads.

back then he said the project would take about 6 weeks to complete. So that would have put me sometime in november. I wasn't worried about it so I didn't call to bug him. january rolls around and he calls to say its done he is just going to fix the trigger for me. He said he would call me later that day when he ships it out. I didn't hear back. I still wasn't worried about it.

Then a week or so ago I sent him an email asking about it. He said it has been done for quite a while except for the trigger repair. So today actually he called and confirmed with me every last detail we talked about. He asked me about packaging etc. He called and said he had it all packed up and ready. Later today he called again and said he was dropping it off at the post office and sent me a picture of the tracking label to my phone. He also said to make sure and let him know if there were any problems.

What I think has happened in the guy simply got too famous. I don't think you will find a guy that is more detail oriented than he is. seriously who the hell is going to examine an action and figure out a stock pillar crushed? YES people can get caught up too much in the details. The problem with that is it overwhelms them if they start to get too busy and they kinda shut down. I think he tries to make sure everything works rather than making sure what he does works and to hell with everything else.

a guy like robert simply should raise his prices until he keeps pace with a level of work he is comfortable with. $600 for a barrel install? he doesn't charge that but hell I might have paid that much. I haven't had trouble getting a hold of him, but when I have talked to him he is very through and conscientious about the work being done. I haven't gotten the gun back yet so the real question is how its going to shoot.

Well, dealing with idiots like cumfullofcowboys would likely make anyone a bit nutty.

I hope you get your gun and it works well. Still a bit confused about a November completion and its May and you still don't have it? Also in your post you say he has your gun but you are examining the stock!!! Very Confused

cant imagine being in business and to busy to return calls or emails thats just an excuse that I cant tolerate.....

I just sent in the barreled action. So I had the stock the whole time. Yeah it should have been done long ago. I am sure if I called and bugged him more or asked where it was he would have got it done sooner. He has returned my calls and emails can't speak for others.

Steelhead your funny but I am trying to figure out how I am a difficult guy to deal with. Yeah things could have went better, but my impression of Robert is he is ver conscientious out his work and most importantly the end result. I am not annoyed or irrated

Taxidermist follow this same general pattern it seems. A local taxidermist was extremely talented and learned from one of the best. He decided to branch off and start his own thing. At first, all was well, low prices and outstanding service/quality. As his reputation grew, so did his business. His wait times and prices continued to grow as well. He was forced to hire people to do some of the more menial tasks. At this point, he would do all the tough stuff and detail work. Time passed and I watched him get busier and busier. He worked seemingly day and night for a few years and the very first thing that began to suffer was customer service. He wouldn't return phone calls, emails, etc... When you were able to reach him, he wasn't very friendly and often was downright rude. His wait times increased, his word meant nothing. It was obvious that he had dependency issues with drugs and alcohol. His life was falling apart. Business suffered and the quality of his work also suffered. People's animals were "misplaced", orders were "forgotten". More and more, phone calls, emails and texts were ignored. His business fell apart and closed.

The same general thing happens to businesses both big and small, just look what too rapid growth has done to Cabela's.

Pretty simple stuff...
Under-promise and Over-Deliver. Don't leave people hanging. Treat others the way you would want to be treated. Even a mildly talented guy could make a heck of a living.

Him being conscientious and one of the best rifle builders in the business is not what this thread is about, his communication skills and being more up front about his delivery times are the issues.......if he would just under promise and over deliver you wouldn't hear all the negativity, but you can't leave your customers in the dark and expect things to go on smoothly forever!

I have done business with Robert in the past. I will not do business with him again nor will i recommend him to anyone. There are too many quality smiths who WILL deliver a quality product in a timely manner. He is a talented builder but the other stuff is not worth dealing with.

I am surprised it took this long for someone to finally post this type of thread. Glad they did. Its been a long time coming.

Gotta say I'm surprised to be reading this regarding Gradous. Never had work done by him but know he was held in high regard around here for years.

Are the problems mostly with communication, build times, both?

Looks like he should stayed a pig farmer.

Too many folks think it takes chants and SERIOUS talent to make a rifle shoot.

You are truly one miserable sonuvabitch.

It never fails, someone mentions COCK or CUM and there's RobJordan.

I have read nothing both good things about him.But this is starting to worry me ,I sent him parts for a build a couple of months ago.For the people with problems with him,has he ever not returned your parts when requested?

BOTH

Not too good at reading sign, eh?

I got my project back from Robert yesterday packed like overkill and he called yesterday to make sure I got it ok. Just posting my feedback

Good to hear you received it even though it should have been November 2015 instead of May 2016. Sure hope I'm next in line, I was promised an early November2015 delivery too and still waiting!

Spoke to Robert's helper with shipping. All of your rifles have now been shipped or will be shortly. We all have some rough times in life and Robert is no different. I know it is easy for me to say as I have received mine but I do know Robert does feel bad about what has happened with his back log. If it is any help I can tell you that you will not be dissatisfied with your rifle from Robert.

Its only been since October 2013. Maybe this year yet.....

Maybe Robert's helper should man the emails in the evening. There's much I can forgive, lack of communication ain't one of them. It's chickensheit, regardless of circumstances.

A simple solution, one that my revolversmith of many years uses, is to stop accepting work until he is very knowlegeable and comfortable with his back log and committing to a delivery date that he then meets.

Communication is key........

As is being honest about lead times.....

fwiw & Ime,
Robert Gradous is a [bleep] head case... Been there and experienced that...

Regards, Matt Garrett
Chesapeake, Virginia
757-581-6270

Been blowing up the phones at Gradous to get an update. Silence is the response after being told I'd have it soon.
Disappointed and feeling cheated. Might be time to take some more extreme measures.

The sooner the better or it will drag on longer

Gradous rifle sucks. I took my unfinished rifle from him and shipped it to a better honest gunsmith. There's a couple more members I had pm's with that have chosen to stay silent drove to Georgia and had to get confrontational with Gradous to get their components. Supposedly he used to be a good gunsmith. Use to be, not anymore.

October 2013 >>> unreal. Go get you're stuff.

Rock star gunsmiths...

Does anyone know what caused the Gradous fall?

I hope it wasn't the glass dick.

I spoke with him a year or so ago and got no comfort level what so ever. It was a very weird conversation that ended any plans that I might have had.

Well, he was a pig farmer.

Spoke to Robert. Guess he had a tremendous backlog but was shipping out quite a few finished rifles. Trust me it is worth the wait

Trust me, no it's not worth the wait.

I wish I could get in touch with him.

Still can't get him to answer the phone?

I haven't tried in a couple weeks, but I tried for a solid month before that. He's had a bunch of my parts for a long time. Way over a year.

Nothing worse than that. I would rather him actually pick up the phone and tell me to go [bleep] myself vs dodging me.

Amen

Yep. What bothers me is that talked to him several times when I was sending him my stuff and he was super nice, but now it seems like he just dropped off the face of the earth.

I'd just like to get my stuff back. Borden/Jewel/Bartlein/McMillan Classic

Road trip to get stuff, Send to Jon Beanland to build. my 2 cents.

Send him a certified letter stating that he has 7 business days to return your stuff or you will have no choice but to consider that he has stolen the parts in question and report it to the proper authorities and do all you can to get them to charge him with theft, mail fraud, etc.

Doubt that would work in this case. His Dad has a great reputation, the long term sheriff is about to retire, and the presumptive new sheriff probably won't care if some out of state guy is out of some gun parts

Across state lines would be a fed issue, I think. Especially involving firearms.

I've been thinking about just driving up there. I just hope he's home when I get there.

If that be the case then use any means necessary to get your stuff/money back from Gradous.

I've been reading this thread for a while now. Wow!
Signed up today to make my first post:

I've known Robert for many years and consider him a very good friend and valuable industry colleague.

This thread is very disappointing and looses credibility with each subsequent post.

Three pages of insults, complaining and negativity. This thread is a social media group therapy session for a handful of guys who have their fragile little egos hurt.

On Robert's Website it specifically states that he does not guarantee build times and that he builds each rifle himself.
A year+ is not a long wait for one of the top smiths in the US. And yes, he is still very much at the top of his game; you'd be enlightened once out of this forum's little bubble.

Robert's time is stretched very thin - much of it helping other well-known industry people trouble shoot or problem solve. Robert is very generous with his knowledge and time and above all else, he is honest.

Currently much of his time is devoted to R&D for some very exciting products that will prove significant contributions to the Precision Rifle Community.

Yes I know the OP was about "communication."
And no, Roberts communication is not perfect - but this thread has snowballed into a childish banter of insults and name-calling. We are all human and have lives outside of our day job or business - things get delayed - life happens.

This community is small. Very few people here are truly anonymous even though many post comments like they are 10 feet tall and bullet-proof - Do you guys wonder why you are having trouble now?

I never have understood what is so hard about answering a phone or returning a call that people have to make excuses for not doing it...

I mean how many jobs could the guy have and how many people could actually be calling on a given day...are we taking hundreds of jobs and 30 calls a day or what

customer service goes along way especially when you are a gunsmith charging premium prices

All of this is no excuse for a little communication, which goes a long way in customer service...

Blow it out your ass

What a delusional post. You think you guys get to do whatever you want, justify it however you want, and the rest of us just get to deal with it?

And you are saying that Gradous is going to get back at the 24HC crew because of this thread by continuing to ignore his customers while holding onto thousands of $'s worth of gear? Unreal but not surprising...

I can think of one profession where people think they can get away with this type of behavior, gunsmithing. Literally anything else in this country your azz would be fired years ago...

The good thing about it is that there are choices. Gradous will never be one of mine....

Plainsite, since you are such good friends with him, would you mind asking him to give me a call? Seriously.

He's probably had my stuff for three years or so. I don't even have any hard feelings. I would just like to be able to get in touch with him to get my things back.

I've talked to him quite a few times years back and we've always got along great on the phone. Until a month or so ago, it's probably been over a year since I've tried to contact him, so it's not like I've been bugging him. But, all of the sudden, it's like he dropped off the face of the earth.

[video:youtube]M2lfZg-apSA[/video]




No Rifle for You!





David

Your patience is quite admirable. I'd have been traveling at the two-year mark.

Jeff Hicks 2.0

Plainsite:

You post that [bleep] as your first post on the campfire, you weren't "planted" on here or anything were you.........

Plain.....let me start by saying you don't have the first clue, or any clue for that matter, robert used to be a one man show , now he has a guy that does the chambering in his new CNC so let me clue you in.....that means 2 people are involved with each rifle + a guy that does all the shipping, so the one man show is over, communication in a timely matter is all that most guys want, there are a host of other issues that are known by just a few guys here at the fire, that if mentioned here would really get people with rifles there fired up, so don't start posting like you have a clue because you don't!

That was the name I could not remember.
This place is like the movie groundhog day.
It just repeats.

dave

This attitude is exactly why Gradous should have lawyers and law enforcement crawling all over him for STEALING people's stuff and money.

The sooner he is driven into bankruptcy and /or jail the better.

Please give me just ONE example where a business can hold thousands of dollars of a customers money for over a year and not respond once via text phone call or email for 8 months and it be considered ok????? Plainsite I will be waiting for your answer

Taxidermists pull the same schit...

No excuse but this too ^^^^^^^^^^^

They hold the cards....

Attorneys.

devnutt I have to disagree.my attorneys keep my thousands of dollars but they or one of their reps will IMMEDIATELY take my call 24/7. Not the same still waiting for answer from plainsite

747nutt, obviously you've never dealt with estate attorneys. Good luck with the value your receiving.

Ron Jeremy is building my next rifle. If I'm going to get f*cked, might as well get f*cked by a pro.

My last build was screwed together by a campfire regular, and took like 3 weeks...

He's a technical wizard.

Went to his shop once when I was in TX. Got a good hassle from Border Patrol but other than that - he seemed nice. Crew seemed nice. Place was small.

Wasn't long after his issue hit. Maybe a year? I don't know what ever happened to him.

IIRC he had a partner Clay (?) that was a rather nice guy too. IIRC Clay was trying rather hard to keep the place afloat while Jeff was doing his shenanigans.

Same kind of crap often happens with custom knife makers. It's mostly a one man show. They take money in advance ,then when any life crisis happens they have spent the money and are not able to do the work. Most of the time they stay afloat a while robbing Peter to do Paul's work, but it eventually catches up to them and then they get too ashamed to answer the calls. It's really a shame and communication with honest would always help matters.

I disagree, just as I disagree that it's something that happens with taxidermists too.

The people that it DOES happen to are people with LOW MORAL CHARACTER, regardless of profession.

I don't really know what you are disagreeing about. I didn't mean my post as an excuse. Yes, low moral character is certainly a major contributor.

It has NOTHING to do with the profession and EVERYTHING to do with the individual.

747,
I had a very similar problem with a gunsmith I had became aware of on the benchrest central forum. He kept my rifle for more than 2 years. I finally had enough of what seemed like "alcoholic excuses". I asked him to return all of my parts immediately and then let him talk me into another two days because he was almost done. Well, when I got the rifle he had left the 3" barrel shank that I had written to be trimmed to
1 1/2" and it had a mirror finish barrel that I had written to be bead blasted.
I didn't send it back because I didn't want another 2 year delay.

Guys, when this crap happens you will probably be more satisfied to have another smith complete the work.

Stray Dog thanks for sharing your experience with me. It's unfortunate but seems to occur regularly. I have learned a lot from all the feedback. This is just my opinion but I will only use a smith within reasonable driving distance from now on.

Or use Kampfeld customs.
He's honest.

Talked to him 2 weeks ago (Kampfeld). Was more work than he had time to do and was honest about it. Much rather that than be B.S.'d and wait years. Had it happen before...told 6 weeks tops and 10 mos. later had a subpar overpriced semi-custom that shoots a hell of alot better than it looks, (which is better than looks better than it shoots.) and an overly proud Smith trying to convince me/himself of what a great job he'd done.

I see I'm not the only one who has given money to this scoundrel and not heard a word from him. I sent money back in February and have not been able to contact him since. It's hard to believe people have been putting up with this for two and three years, this is totally unacceptable behavior from any respectable person or business. I really thought something happened to the guy and we tracked him down through a family member, only to find out he is just fine.My next move is a certified letter, and then court if no response. I will spend what it takes to get justice and make others aware of his practices.

And the story goes on...........

He answered the phone personally when I called him over a year ago. He was seemingly honest about his lead times and I decided it was too long for me to wait. I asked if he could suggest someone that he thought worked to the same level of detail and skill that he did. Mathew Stewart has now plumbed 3 rifles for me and they all have far exceeded my expectations. I now worry about Matt becoming so busy that I'll find the wait too long. I know this doesn't put parts back in the hands of those waiting on Gradous but I guess I'm saying I lucked out and that there are other ways. Mark at SAC is another top shelf guy fwiw...

Oh, he was quick to respond and answer emails when I was looking for someone to do the rifle, but as soon as he got the money he cut off all communication.

All you guys are much more patient professional gentlemen than I can ever hope to be!

Hilarious thread.....

BobinNH if you think the original point of this post is hilarious you have a weird sense of humor IMO!!

To all of my friends and customers. My sincerest apologies for the confusion and delays. The delays were caused by a large expansion to the shop that now houses new cnc equipment and all ancillary equipment necessary for the job at hand.
The procurement of equipment, tooling, three phase power, transformers and construction took much longer than expected.
After working on guns for 21 years by myself. I have decided to train a small crew of select people with a skill set exceeding my own in many ways which includes communication skills that I don't have.
Thank you for giving me the chance to work for you as my passion is building the most accurate rifle possible.
Now that I have a couple of skilled and long time friends at the wheel to enhance my process of building guns I know we will be able to move through the back log quickly.
Monday the 29th we will be able to take all calls concerning builds.
Thank you for your support and patience.
Robert Gradous

Know of a taxi in western WA with a similar story. She does great work, but don't expect to get anything back in the next few years. Are detailed threads on Hunting-Washington about people waiting 3 years, some as long as 5 years to get their game back. She'll say a year, but then not contact you again. And you can try to get a hold of her, but good luck. And if you ever do, she's "working on" yours and should be done shortly, for no comms to continue for another year or two.

Stop accepting work if you can't deliver on the work you already have in your shop

Hopefully someone on your newly hired crew is well versed in business ethics and can teach you same.

David

Wow just wow. Hope it works out. Been there done that. Wife says one morning lets go get your stuff with " gunsmith" 18 months. "Gunsmith" shat his pants in front of other prospective customers. Jkobe did the work in 2 weeks. Just saying.

Go big or go home...

That is a good indication of Kobe's backlog. Just saying.

I'm still trying to get my stuff back after certified letters, the guy still won't contact me. I have no desire to wait any longer and just want was is mine back! Good luck to those who wait.

Sam,

The new equipment, tooling, three phase power & transformers apparently cannot read.