Henry Warranty and Parts in Canada

[Bigmedcin]

Because no body wants to pay what a good gunsmith is worth. People don't understand the difference between being an armourer vs a smith. One any monkey can do, the other requires the ability to design, fabricate or recreate parts and pieces using a variety of tools and methods.

True statement.....a journeyman gunsmith has more capability than a guy with a set of screw divers, a drill and some files. A true gunsmith has been to school on the specific trade and has years of apprentising, not to mention 10s of thousands of dollars in machinery and specific tools, not just screw drivers. Unfortunately I think we have many parts replacers and guess work artists.

 

[hipboots]

X5 on our warranted service here in Ontario. Sent away an .22LR golden boy with feed problems on the last round from the magazine. Got it back with a bunch of new aesthetic parts changed that looked to be aftermarket or from a different series of manufacture as they were poor fit and finish.......and the last round still wouldn't cycle.

 

[Jpwoody]

Hi everyone. Wanted to give another update. After I made my post, both Dan from Henry and John Grech reached out to me and offered to replace the 45-70 for a brand new one rigjt off the shelf. It showed up yestarday, and looks great. I'm going to put a few shots through it tomorrow and see how it shoots, but I'm pretty optimistic.

 

[GunSafety101]

I can also attest that Grech's "service" is non-existent. I tried ordering spare parts for a new Howa rifle - you know, like responsible adults do, b-e-f-o-r-e the parts wear out. Never got a reply to my email - in which I had also inquired about a large order of Speer bullets, that Grech also claims to distribute...

I ended up having to order the parts I needed from Elwood Epps, which is the warranty center for Weatherby (some internal Weatherby parts are compatible with Howa rifles, but if I ever need a "cosmetic" part for my Howa, I am out of luck). I was only able to get 50% of the parts I needed, though.

Think twice about purchasing a rifle from a manufacturer that lists Grech as their sole service center. You might end up with a $1000.00 paperweight down the road...

 

[357Maximum]

I needa trigger recall done . Really hesitent about sending it to Grechs

 

[Junction]

Grech actually did me a solid, with some S&W warranty work......
Calling in every couple weeks, and speaking politely on the phone seemed to do the trick for my warranty case.

Cannot refute the other's posts, as I have limited experience with Grech, but they (he?) is not that bad, at least not in my case.

but, regarding the OP: I would be pretty pissed off, if they just ground the front site down, and didn't even do it properly (neat job, proper looking, AND FUNCTIONAL!)

YMMV

 

[Consults]

I went in and got the Single recall taken care of, for the first 10 minutes I found him abrasive, overly proud and I would even say arrogant. The last 5 minutes I had dismissed his first attitude and decided I would act cordial and inquire about the huge pile of rifles waiting, the problem of getting parts in etc. and for the last 5 he was actually friendly and did a good job. I get the feeling he is yelled at constantly for delays but keeps getting more put in the to do pile. He needs to take on staff (especially someone that can talk nice and patient to customers) and perhaps take more care in his work instead of rushing which sounds like it may be an issue based on comments and with the pile I saw. He said he had other shops sending him work and If each one took an hour to unwrap, check, fix, check fix works and wrap I would estimate at a 40 hour week he had 3 weeks+ work pile up there or more and I am betting many would take more effort, parts to order etc.. I may be wrong but I go the feeling he might not be a bad guy to work and deal with if you came at him with the right approach and patience to get past that first 10 minutes....

 

[Rooster504]

Grech outdoors is the worst to deal with and I refuse to buy any brands that use him for warranty. I have been there in person and seen hundreds of boxes scattered around the shop which seems on par with reviews of items getting lost or taking months. I refuse to buy chiappa anymore because of it.

 

[Consults]

Grech outdoors is the worst to deal with and I refuse to buy any brands that use him for warranty. I have been there in person and seen hundreds of boxes scattered around the shop which seems on par with reviews of items getting lost or taking months. I refuse to buy chiappa anymore because of it.

OK.... so that's Henry, Chiappa, Mossberg, Savage and a couple more, I think CZ too, that directly shipped to him and he listed off a few others that shipped to their store front and then to him but I wont list them because it might just be his bs after he mellowed. There are too few who will put in the time and too many hurdles in Canada for a gun smith probably and the choices are limited (and if half of what he said was true, much more limited than I expected) unless you learn how to do the work yourself or want to ship to the US. None of us want to deal with an a**h*** so if you go through his door with that attitude I guarantee he will give it back it took 10 minutes of ignoring his grump to get a better attitude of response. Hopefully a few shop owners out there will see the opportunity and have themselves or someone dedicated to their shop put in the effort to get to a skill/insurance etc. level they can grab some of the contracts but with the number of shops shrinking and owners getting old.... you may have to ignore his attitude until he thaws or the work is done right.

If he wants to keep his almost monopoly and do a better job he needs a person to talk to the customers, track and organize for sure!

 

[Bigmedcin]

I went in and got the Single recall taken care of, for the first 10 minutes I found him abrasive, overly proud and I would even say arrogant. The last 5 minutes I had dismissed his first attitude and decided I would act cordial and inquire about the huge pile of rifles waiting, the problem of getting parts in etc. and for the last 5 he was actually friendly and did a good job. I get the feeling he is yelled at constantly for delays but keeps getting more put in the to do pile. He needs to take on staff (especially someone that can talk nice and patient to customers) and perhaps take more care in his work instead of rushing which sounds like it may be an issue based on comments and with the pile I saw. He said he had other shops sending him work and If each one took an hour to unwrap, check, fix, check fix works and wrap I would estimate at a 40 hour week he had 3 weeks+ work pile up there or more and I am betting many would take more effort, parts to order etc.. I may be wrong but I go the feeling he might not be a bad guy to work and deal with if you came at him with the right approach and patience to get past that first 10 minutes....

There is a family run business run out of their house I deal with out west, their mostly into supplies and accessories for cast and reloading with some gunsmithing to offer, also a couple brand name suppliers.
They are smart enough to let the wife handle phone and emails, she has a great disposition and patients, the husband on the other hand has poor customer relation skills and acts as though you are wasting his time and is too busy for trivial stuff like...questions! Somtimes business people with the idea they are a monopoly or the only one in town, they get very arrogant, I will always try to support local or Canadian first, but do to attitude or lack of customer service, I have spent far more money across the boarder over the years, yes a little inconvenient at times but in most cases "cheaper" and availible.

 

[Consults]

There is a family run business run out of their house I deal with out west, their mostly into supplies and accessories for cast and reloading with some gunsmithing to offer, also a couple brand name suppliers.
They are smart enough to let the wife handle phone and emails, she has a great disposition and patients, the husband on the other hand has poor customer relation skills and acts as though you are wasting his time and is too busy for trivial stuff like...questions! Somtimes business people with the idea they are a monopoly or the only one in town, they get very arrogant, I will always try to support local or Canadian first, but do to attitude or lack of customer service, I have spent far more money across the boarder over the years, yes a little inconvenient at times but in most cases "cheaper" and availible.

Yep, can't blame you, you need to know you can trust them and trust often is most about perception. I have seen it in many businesses that the smart owner hires the best front person, some probably are the reason some shops succeed alone! Some of the people in coffee shops, stores etc. that can show the patience, understand the gibberish they might get from a customer (ex. "that frothy milky nutty coffee" = hazlenut latte) to translate to something the others can understand and still smile because, let's face it some customers are just jerks but if you treat them like that the perception (which is often worth more than the reality) of anyone nearby is negative to the shop as much as the customer but a jerk handled calmly and their needs met gives a huge positive impression about the stores competence. No, some customer facing people are probably worth their weight in gold. That family run business the guy might have answered the same question 100 times and just wants to do the work... luckily he is smart and his wife has the right skills. IF I went on the first 10 minutes and didn't try to chat him up I would have had a big negative impression too, the last 5, still not a good impression on his personality but not a negative one too.

He very badly needs a good staff to talk, organize and track and he should just hide in the back to just do the work which it sounded like he seemed to like even if it was repetitive sometimes.

 

[Larry Devingt]

Hello,

Wanted to share a similar experience in 2019 before covid days with Grech Outdoors. Knowing now how terrible the service was, I would have paid for the repair at another gunsmith. My Mossberg three barrel 535 would have many misfires. It was suggested I mail the firearm to Grech since it was still under the mfg warranty. It took months for the repair to be done and what was more frustrating was how rude the owner was on the phone each time I would call for an update. Being afraid I might never see my rifle again or that the rifle would be send back to me not fixed, I put up with the rudeness and how disorganized Grech seemed to be. I am happy the firing pin issue was fixed in the end but didn't appreciate the time it took to do the repair nor the rudeness. Both unnecessary in my opinion.

 

[Aniest]

@ Henry Repeating Arms: go to the bold text at bottom if you want the short answer... read all for it to make sense.

I have no idea how he is the warranty guy for Chiappa, Henry and a couple other.

S&W figured it out, they no longer show Grech as their Canadian "Warranty Station".

I had put together a list of companies using Grech Outdoors as their warranty center: I have sold and/or refuse to buy another firearm from these companies until they no longer use Grech. At the time S&W was a part of the list, so if I can confirm S&W is off this list I will buy one of their products.

Axis by Savage Arms
Bog Pod by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Bubba by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Caldwell Shooting Supplies by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Citadel by Legacy Sports International
Chiappa Firearms
Crimson Trace grips/lasers by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
FN series handguns, rifles, shotguns by FN Herstal
Fox by Savage Arms
Frankfort Arsenal tools by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Golden Rod moisture control by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Henry shotguns & rifles by Henry Repeating Arms
Hoyman tree saws by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Howa by Legacy Sports International
Imperial by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Lithgow Arms by Legacy Sports International
Lockdown by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
M1A by Springfield Armory
M&P handguns by Smith&Wesson - American Outdoor Brands Corporation
MC1sc handguns by O.F. Mossberg & Sons
Mossberg shotguns and rifles by O.F. Mossberg & Sons
Old Timer by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
NAA handguns (mini autos, revolvers) by North American Arms
NikkoStirling by Legacy Sports International
Performance Center by Smith&Wesson - American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Pointer (shotguns) by Legacy Sports International
Rascal by Savage Arms
Savage by Savage Arms
Schrade by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Smith&Wesson by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Springfield by Springfield Armory
Stevens by Savage Arms
Tipton gun cleaning supplies by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Thompson/Center by Smith&Wesson - American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Uncle Henry by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
Wheeler Engineering tools by American Outdoor Brands Corporation
XD handguns by Springfield Armory

Dropping Grech is the beginning of making that guarantee a reality. I won't send a dam thing to him. I have paid out of pocket to have my Henry repaired as to avoid him and his business at all costs.

I could go on all day about Gretch. If it ever comes down to to sending your rifle in for warranty work to them, cut your losses and buy a new rifle.
NEVER AGAIN

Yup. I sent my dad's favorite Over/Under shotgun (a Pointer) to them and it took 9 months for them to look at it. It was deemed to need a barrel selector switch spring, probably worth $0.15 USD, and that it would be another 5 months before they would do their twice a year parts order. Then after 10 more months (19 total) to get parts and get through all the repairs before the O/U was deemed better to send a replacement firearm for some crazy reason I never found out (they screwed up trying to fix it? Lost it? I dunno)... which took 7 months more after that. So, two years and two months to get a replacement for a gun.

By this time I bought my dad a replacement because he was "competing" in a friendly senior's event that meant a lot to him: friendship, comrade-ship and a lot of companionship came from those days at the shooting range (clays, skeet, trap combo: just a friendly thing). The Pointer was $1100 when he bought it and I ended up selling the new, never fired replacement Pointer for him for $350.00 just to get the F##K away from Grech warranty work.

Sucks that canada lacks good gun smiths. Must be hard to find a decent company to do warrenty work for your brand with such small numbers of capable smiths. Theres a massive hole in this market here and no one seems to be filling it.

It's a case of lowest bidder. Someone like S&W asks gunsmiths to submit their hourly rates, import fees, mark-ups and all of that as a bid for the work. Someone like Getch, once they have the systems in place to order parts from the USA, have bulk discounts and wholesale rates set up with suppliers, and so forth can effectively make it too hard for a competitor to break into the market. I know because the company I work for, although not gunsmiths, uses this tactic: we have a niche with deep discounts from suppliers and streamlined processes from experience, so we effectively can force competitors to bid below their cost to break into our niche.

As a general rule getting parts into Canada is rough and I have dealt with other warranty centers than Grech too. The difference was communication and professionalism. When I had one of my own rifles break the warranty center told me up front that they only get parts once a year because they come from Italy, that the order goes in end of March and arrives the first of June, and that my repair would be done (based on the queue) in August. I got an email when the part order went in, when the part arrived, when the rifle was on the bench next to fix, and when it got shipped back. I also was asked to give feedback and make sure everything was good when I got it: they watched the tracking and phoned me a week after I got it in the mail. I waited because I felt validated in my need to know where my property was, what condition it was in and when I could have it back. When my dad's Pointer went in he got none of that... just a fear he wouldn't be able to enjoy an inclusive and friendly sporting competition that mentally was helping him a lot with his life: he feared he'd not be able to chat with friends and get his companionship he craved.


Henry, if you want to sell to the knowledgeable and smart gun owners of Canada who can (through their good reputation as gun owners, trainers, gun shop employees, gun range regulars, various forums regulars and such) help you sell more firearms because they praise you and spread good will for you, you need to understand Canadian warranty issues including the warranty provider(s): when I had a choice between a Henry product and your competitor with virtually an unlimited budget I did not buy a Henry when I wanted to because of this.

 

[Super Mario]

Actually they’ve already responded.

 

[Creecher]

Sounds like Henry isn't the gun to buy if they need warranty work this much.

 

[FranksPop]

some of you may have read some of the B.S. saga I went through with Grech trying to get a Chiappa revolver repaired. I eventually had to involve the Headquarters in Italy before it was resolved. In the process, they actually terminated the agreement they had with Grech, due other complaints about him, and mine was the tipping point.
He “almost” got the last laugh. I got the gun back, however it failed before I even got to the range to try it out. I contacted Chiappa HQ again, since they currently are trying to let a new contract to fill his place as warranty service.
While both Chiappa and myself are convinced a competent gunsmith will be able to repair it, in lieu of sending it back to Grech, they told me to just keep the gun & do with it what I want. They are sending me a brand new pistol as a replacement at no cost.
This feels like a “Win” to me. I know my regular Smith will be able to repair it easily, and Chiappa will provide the parts needed if any at no cost. Also getting another gun out of the deal seems more than generous on their part. An interesting twist to the whole deal; the Chiappa at the center of this whole debacle? I WON it from another CGN dealer in a contest last spring! That makes TWO free pistols in under a year, though I’m not sure if all the hassle was worth it

 

[Consults]

Sounds like Henry isn't the gun to buy if they need warranty work this much.

Read the list above and include all those too (Mossberg, Savage, CZ...)

Henry has rarely had a need for warranty work that I have heard of and I just got a Long Ranger AFTER I had the warranty fix on the single shot.

 

[Bigmedcin]

Read the list above and include all those too (Mossberg, Savage, CZ...)

Henry has rarely had a need for warranty work that I have heard of and I just got a Long Ranger AFTER I had the warranty fix on the single shot.

In this case I would buy with confedence, I own two Henry's and a Chiappa, two years of steady use and zero issues, but any gun can have issues. After reading all these posts, it just tells me if I do have any issues....I am basicaly on my own!

 

[Consults]

In this case I would buy with confedence, I own two Henry's and a Chiappa, two years of steady use and zero issues, but any gun can have issues. After reading all these posts, it just tells me if I do have any issues....I am basicaly on my own!

Given the comments both those have stood behind what they built very well indeed so no issue with them. I did buy with confidence.
The ones using Grech for work either went in in-person or had long (some very long) waits, of course issues can be expected with any repairs and we don't know how many were fine, is he worse than others, perception or reality? The old "everyone forgets when I get it right and never forgets when I get it wrong" and the ones he gets wrong will complain and create a worse perception.

HOWEVER the long waits, that attitude makes it worse and the complete chaos I saw are points of concern that Henry and the others should address with Grech, he needs a customer facing organizing person that can tell customers parts might take months or other delays for sure and probably another staff to reduce the waits. The manufacturers should give him a push for that or the manufacturers should find different or look for, best for all, additional service locations due to the delays! Thinking about what I saw I think that the extra sales/contact person would probably let him better handle sales of other items since the store didn't look very stocked and he might be missing out on alot of sales due to the bad reputation.

 

[Jpwoody]

Read the list above and include all those too (Mossberg, Savage, CZ...)

Henry has rarely had a need for warranty work that I have heard of and I just got a Long Ranger AFTER I had the warranty fix on the single shot.

How's the Long Ranger treating you? What chambering did you go for?