I received an email from Blaxsun yesterday morning (Monday) concerning an issue he discovered with the chrome lining of his LMT 13.5" MWS barrel. He provided pictures of the bore (and only the bore) in his email. I responded to him within an hour of receiving his email. I provided a return shipping label to have the barrel returned to us for inspection and resolution as directed by LMT and to be able to better answer any questions LMT may have. At the same time his pictures were send to LMT with a request for resolution. LMT's representative requested that the barrel be returned to them for them to take corrective action. This information was passed along to the customer.
Actually Scott, I tried to reach you by phone the day the barrel arrived - the afternoon of Friday, May 12. I was told you'd already left for the day, were gone for the weekend and probably wouldn't have a chance to respond until Monday (at the earliest). After I got off the phone with your rep, I quickly sent you an email with the photos of the flaws in the chrome lining (only) so you'd have that sooner as opposed to later. I emailed you Friday; you responded on Monday. As indicated, I wasn't necessarily expecting a response earlier - but I did want to correct the impression that you left in your statement that I waited 3 days before contacting your company...
And with respect to your correspondence with LMT, this is what you indicated:
"I'll need to contact LMT for you. As I am out of stock on these I don't have one to replace it with. I've attached a mailing label for you to send it back with as I am 99% sure they will want it back to replace.
The implication here was that you needed to speak to LMT. At no time in your email correspondence or our brief phone conversation did you indicate that you had actually spoken to LMT, and that they'd requested the barrel back. What you did specifically state was this (these are separate emails):
"I can't give you a firm time frame as there are many things that can affect it. I would expect anywhere between 4-12 weeks from when we get the barrel. If LMT replaces it, it will be the same configuration.
Unfortunately as we are not the ones who provide the warranty a refund is not applicable at this point. LMT needs to deal with this issue (and they will) as they are the manufacturer.
Questar International does NOT provide the warranty on product we do not produce. We will support you with your warranty claim with LMT but at this time will not be issuing a refund.
Mr. Blaxsun purchased the last barrel we had in stock so exchanging it for another was not an option. He then inquired as to the timeframe that this could take, he was told approximately 4-12 weeks. Up to this point the only issue brought to our attention was the bore.
Just to be clear Scott, I provided you with the additional photos of the barrel after you gave me a 4-12+ turn-around on the warranty, and then indicated that this was a working estimated based on numerous factors. When I indicated to you that this would potentially derail my plans to shoot it this summer and politely requested a refund instead, you refused. In fact, you didn't even respond to the email with the second set of images - and I actually had to contact your office later to inquire if you'd received it or not. It was during that phone conversation that you acknowledged your staff actually
examined (granted, a cursory lift out of the box),
took pictures of and then shipped out the barrel prior to it arriving. I'm not sure if you're trying to imply that I've deliberately marked up the barrel to support my claim, but since you didn't have a chance to respond until Monday anyway - what difference would it have made receiving the rest of the photos earlier? Would you have offered me a full refund? Besides, you didn't refute my assertion that it was sent out like this - and I'm still waiting for the photos of what it looked like pre-shipping. Please feel free to post them here.
As LMT is the manufacturer of this barrel they are the ones who provide the warranty and the ones who direct what they would like to do to resolve the customers issues. LMT has always stood behind their product and on several occasions have gone above and beyond replacing items that the customer clearly damaged on their own for various reasons. That is clearly not the case with Mr. Blaxsun as I believe he has done nothing to cause the issue with this barrel.
Obviously LMT would have to fix it, but according to LMT it left the factory after being inspected and fired (there wasn't any snippet of a target or any other documentation that accompanied the barrel, though). So if I didn't damage it - and LMT is pretty sure it left the factory in minty condition... is this really a warranty issue?
Mr. Blaxsun then sent his email with the pictures of the exterior further requesting a full refund. At which point he decided to call our offices prior to any response being sent to him. A conversation commenced and it was reiterated that LMT would resolve the issue in the timeliest manner feasible. While the conversation did not end with the resolution Mr. Blaxsun was hoping for I continued to work with LMT to try and expedite a replacement barrel for him. LMT has confirmed that they are working on getting one sent to us and we will be able to resolve this is a timely fashion.
Actually Scott, I contacted you an hour or so after I'd sent the photos without receiving a response. Which is fine - I didn't necessarily expect you to drop everything on my behalf to try and resolve this. You may also recall me asking what your "best case" turn-around for prior LMT warranty was, and you indicated 6 weeks. You also indicated that all manufacturers in the US (not just LMT) were experiencing severe delays. Suffice it to say, your
4-12 week estimate neither tracked or instilled a lot of confidence.
As to the point of inspecting goods as they arrive in our facility. When items arrive they are inspected for conformity to PO (did we get what we ordered) quantity is confirmed and a brief inspection of condition. We do not inspect bore's, we do not disassemble firearms or other products and we do not clean firearms and or products. Many manufacturers test fire the guns prior to shipping and some like LMT test fire their barrels prior to shipping as well. Evidence of this is left with the item as many customers expect to see this evidence and are concerned if it is not present.
While I don't expect you to clean my barrel for me, it was clearly much worse for wear than anything I've ever received (new or used). I find it really hard to believe that it left LMT in this condition. And as it was packaged fairly well, I also doubt Canada Post manhandled it in transit. As for the bore, a cursory look would have revealed what appeared to be several flaws in the chrome lining. These were detectable without any equipment beyond an artificial bore light and the naked eye... I know you've stated it's Questars policy, it just seems as though a quick check would have saved everyone a lot of grief. With respect to the evidence of test-firing, as mentioned above - nothing accompanied this barrel (aside from the box, some cardboard packing and bubble-wrap). Was this inadvertently discarded or possibly misplaced?
As to Mr. Blaxsun, once the replacement barrel arrives from LMT and should Mr. Blaxsun wish to return his, we will exchange it without issue. This should be able to be accomplished in 4-5 weeks. Within the timeframe originally provided to Mr. Blaxsun.
Can you please clarify how we've now gone from 4-12 weeks (estimate), 6-12+ weeks (realistic) to 4-5 weeks (best case scenario) in a span of 24 hours? I'll reiterate your earlier comment in an email to me:
"I can't give you a firm time frame as there are many things that can affect it. I would expect anywhere between 4-12 weeks from when we get the barrel.
I'm not trying to suggest that I'm unhappy with what at first glance seems to be a revision in your estimate... I'm just trying to understand what's changed? I may have misinterpreted your post, but it sounds like you've already ordered or requested a replacement barrel from LMT. I was under the distinct impression this was a warranty issue and that you needed my barrel back first...
