Certainly I sometimes find it therapeutic to vent when faced with the seemingly endless incidences of paint department staff who don't know what varnish is, restaurant staff who ask you "how is everything" when you've been sitting there for a half hour and your hamburger still hasn't arrived, etc. So, it is with great pleasure that I have not one, not two, but three recent encounters with exceptional customer service. Since I like to know when a company behaves well I thought others might also, so I thought I would share these.
Forster Products
I have been going around with die manufacturers lately. Names I knew and trusted have all let me down. Hearing great things, I thought I would try Forster. So, I purchased an ultra micrometer seating die for .375 H&H and proceded to load. After six cartridges, the seating stem broke. I called Forster and they sent me a replacement stem. It broke on the first round. (hang in there, this is a positive experience) When I let them know the second stem broke, the requested that I send them a couple cases and a couple bullets I was using. For my modest trouble, they returned to me a custom fabricated seating stem that will stuff 75.0 grains of powder into a .375 H&H case beind a very long Barnes bullet. While they were at it, they made the stem a trifle longer so that the die works better in my lock-n-load press. They then sent me a nice note thanking me for helping them improve their product. My understanding is that this will be their regular stem for the .375 going forward. This is now my favorite seating die and my next calibre die set will certainly include a Forster ultra micrometer seating die.
Otis Technology
I use the Otis cleaning system for my rifles and shotguns. There is this one little part called a patch saver that is used to clean smoothbores. I had two of them and then lost one. I kept telling myself, self, one day you are going to loose that other one and that will most certainly happen the day before you want a clean shotgun. So I kept planning to add one to my next order from midsouth/natchez/midway/etc. Trouble is, seems no one sells them. You have to buy a $30 kit of stuff I already have to get one. Thankfully, you can buy them straight from Otis. So I placed an order on their web site. Right *after* I hit the "send order" button, I notice I ordered the .410 size. Egad, I don't even own a .410. So this is a tiny order to Otis. Frankly they are doing me a service by even offering these $1 items for sale, and here I muck it up. So I send them an email asking if there is any chance they could send me what I intended to order (12 ga. size) instead of what I inadvertantly ordered. I got a nice email the next day saying no problem, and the correct 12 ga. patch savers arrived two days later. They spent more on the time to fix my mistake than they made on that order, but they made their customer very happy.
Danner boots
When I got a last-minute chance to go hunting in Tennessee, wouldn't you know that my boots were shot. Since I was heading to the Smokies in warm weather, and also plan to head to Texes soon, I thought I'd get a pair of snake boots. I did some research and decided to try the Danner Pronghorns. Off to Cabelas. They sell Danner but do not stock the snake boots. Off to every other store in my area. They all sell Danner but no joy on the snake boots. So I can't try these things on so I have no idea what size I need. So I call Danner, they
suggested sending a couple pair for me to try on. I can keep the ones that fit best and return to others (they did request I not wear them outside my home until I decided to keep them). Wow. Also, they rushed the order because they knew I only had a few days. Boots made it in time, the best fit pair was like a glove and super comfortable. They really made my trip.
Anyone else have recent experiences where a manufacturer or retailer went out of their way to make you happy?
