Fed up of Tech delays. (Last update...)

[Asomodai]

More of a rant then anything. 

I understand that this is a niche hobby, with niche hobbies they can be one man bands all the way down the pipeline from design, supply, retail and repair. It can be very difficult finishing up work in a timely manner and I am sympathetic to it. But I am absolutely cheesed off with being taken for a ride by recommend techs. 

I currently have five different RIFS at 3 different retailers who have a tech on site.

The SL8 was taken in for upgrading, it was upgraded and claimed as working well, I picked it up, took it home and immediately found a trigger issue where it wouldn't fire unless pressure was applied from either side of the trigger which didn't exist before. I returned it at my expense and have been waiting for over 7 weeks for it be fixed. 

The MP5 was posted off up north to install new compression parts, barrel and tracer modification for the hop unit. I was quoted a rough lead time of two weeks. 2 and a half months later I am still waiting. 

My gas Tavor which has been at a certain retailer waiting for warranty work having never been able to skirmish it because of terrible gas consumption and has been there for almost 6 months, my F2000 has been there for over a year again waiting on warranty work for a previous upgrade job and one of my FAMAS which was supposed to be upgraded and its been sat for over a year. 

When chasing up on these works regardless of retailer I consistently get the same excuses "It's next on the bench" and "it'll be done over the weekend" only for weeks to go by without any communication. I can only conclude that new work keeps going in front of my work unless everyone else has been waiting months as well! In which case, why are you not rejecting new work until you are caught up? Only once has someone admitted and said that "Management has asked me not to work on your stuff for the meantime". 

It's not exactly hard to have a ticketing system, work comes in, you assign it a ticket. When it is next in line it is worked on, if you wait on a part you ORDER it, you tell the customer that you had to order it and a rough timescale, when it comes in, you finish what you are doing and go straight back to the one that has been waiting longest! 

It is not my responsibility to have to chase up work or go through a legal process to try and get the work done. I cant even name and shame for fear my work wont get done at all. All the power is with the retailer who has the rifle.

These were all recommended techs, which makes me wonder how bad the non recommended ones are! 

 

[Adolf Hamster]

Not gonna lie, the tech i have the 42 with is taking his sweet time, barely been on the field in a year.

(I do all my own tech work )

 

[Immortal]

Defo worth doing a LOT of homework and learning to do it yourself.

If I was to give a tip (which I guess I'm about to) it would be:

Do one thing at a time and learn how each change effects the rif.

And a bonus tip is "if it ain't broke don't fix it..." :lol: (basically means many are just fuckup-grades IMHO)

 

[Asomodai]

Defo worth doing a LOT of homework and learning to do it yourself.

If I was to give a tip (which I guess I'm about to) it would be:

Do one thing at a time and learn how each change effects the rif.

And a bonus tip is "if it ain't broke don't fix it..." :lol: (basically means many are just fuckup-grades IMHO)

I can do it myself. I did rip the guts out of a P90 and replaced everything. I'd just rather pay someone else to do it for me as I don't have much time otherwise. 

 

[Immortal]

I can do it myself. I did rip the guts out of a P90 and replaced everything. I'd just rather pay someone else to do it for me as I don't have much time otherwise. 

Oh I didn't mean you specifically, just a general Tuesday broadcast

I followed your P90 thread with great interest. I was there with your highs & lows, I was just a shadow reading mostly. ?

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

This makes me think even more about starting up tech work full time.

 

[jcheeseright]

This makes me think even more about starting up tech work full time.

You've met airsofters, imagine those same people having the opinion that the customer is always right contacting you all the time. 

I'd rather do back street abortions. 

 

[Resistor170]

Not airsoft experience but what has bugged me most is - exactly what you have had - when you contact when the item is passed due and they promise this weekend. Then the weekend after an excuse and promise this weekend and so on. What I was waiting for was only about 6 weeks late. I wouldn't mind a big delay if the person was honest about it, the more you get false promises, the less trust you have and the more concern you will get nothing and lose your money.

I am shocked you have been waiting over a year for a couple! I would have asked for them to be sent back untouched before then. I doubt you will get your work done in the next 3 weeks, I imagine they will have their hands full will other things

 

[Steveocee]

I think the thing I took from your post was most if not all problems were caused by upgrades.

It's probably worth taking the time to do it yourself and learn them properly inside and out.

 

[Rogerborg]

my F2000 has been there for over a year again waiting on warranty work for a previous upgrade job and one of my FAMAS which was supposed to be upgraded and its been sat for over a year.

Ouch.  Truth to tell, after that amount of time, I'd assume that they're liars and thieves who have most likely lost or sold your property.  I hope that I'm wrong and that you get the guns back.

 

[Wo1f]

This has pissed me off royally over the past few months. I do all my own work on gas guns, but I hate AEG’s. I’ve sent a couple out to have issues fixed or upgrades and they’ve come back with the same fault or additional ones. 

Ive just recently spent £700 on a second hand  “full Prometheus” TM 417, only to crack it open to find its full of shit magic box parts. The seller, to his credit refunded me the price of the parts.

the only good experience I’ve had with a tech is @Davegolf (SixG) who’s built me a TM 416 that is so good it’s almost unfair to use and is working on something else for me currently. He takes a while, but the work has always been beyond my expectations.

@Asomodai, the problem with the tavor is it’s KWA.. I did warn you ?

 

[Musica]

For me reliability trumps a performance upgrade. 

I really don't know what I'm going to do when I have a mechanical don't like the idea of shipping it off for it to mutilated and taped back together. 

 

[Prisce]

Don’t you think it’s because of the type of work your asking for?

Not saying it’s right, but look at it financially, fault finding and trouble shooting to find the issue is labour intensive and incredibly frustrating. Your not likely going to want to pay for days of trying to locate and fix a niggling issue, and most techs don’t have the patience for it.

However, when newbie Nick walks in with his Nuprol M4 and it needs a gear replacing, it’s easy cheap work(for the company) and you can bash 10-20 these out a day compared to maybe 1-2 like yours. 

Even completely upgrading a gun takes more time than you think to make sure everything meshes, little fettling etc.

@ImTriggerHappy You’d probably have too much work to keep up with.

 

[EDcase]

Asomodai: You've got more patience than me.

I'd rather learn to do it myself than get into that situation... 

Already had to replace mech box, hop rubbers and rebuild a hop arm.

Its not that hard as long as you don't rush things...

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

@ImTriggerHappy You’d probably have too much work to keep up with.

Yeah just had to put some stuff on hold until June. Keep telling people not interested but then they beg and whine and I cave in.

Asomodai: You've got more patience than me.

I'd rather learn to do it myself than get into that situation... 

Yeah @Asomodai you went to the wrong people.

 

[Prisce]

Yeah just had to put some stuff on hold until June. Keep telling people not interested but then they beg and whine and I cave in.

I know what that’s like. And I tend to do the exact same. 

Youll have to to make a post if you do go full time, happy to recommend people your way, not that you’ll need the extra work.

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

I know what that’s like. And I tend to do the exact same. 

Youll have to to make a post if you do go full time, happy to recommend people your way, not that you’ll need the extra work.

Have been looking at mills and lathes a lot lately.

ITH airsoft services is looking like a possibility.

 

[Asomodai]

For me reliability trumps a performance upgrade. 

I really don't know what I'm going to do when I have a mechanical don't like the idea of shipping it off for it to mutilated and taped back together. 

I think the thing I took from your post was most if not all problems were caused by upgrades.

It's probably worth taking the time to do it yourself and learn them properly inside and out.

Don’t you think it’s because of the type of work your asking for?

Not saying it’s right, but look at it financially, fault finding and trouble shooting to find the issue is labour intensive and incredibly frustrating. Your not likely going to want to pay for days of trying to locate and fix a niggling issue, and most techs don’t have the patience for it.

I don't think that is particularly right to blame me for what I wanted. If the techs say they can do it and take my money then the onus is on them to provide me with the service I have paid for. I paid around £200 for the SL8 to be worked on and I already provided 90% of the parts. I knew they charged a lot more then other techs, but I wanted it to be perfect and what I received, wasn't. 

The MP5 was to replace compression parts to improve longevity and to install a tracer unit into the hop unit which the tech assured me they have gone before with success. 

The F2000 was only double firing and is a relatively easy fix. The KWA Tavor in theory only needed replacement O-rings. 

Ouch.  Truth to tell, after that amount of time, I'd assume that they're liars and thieves who have most likely lost or sold your property.  I hope that I'm wrong and that you get the guns back.

I know them in person. Bizarrely, I can forgive them to some extent even though I have waited for my stuff longer then the other retailers. Though sometimes I think I have been taken advantage because we are friendly with each other. We have worked out a new agreement in the past few weeks. Hopefully it will come to fruition. 

 

[Prisce]

I don't think that is particularly right to blame me for what I wanted. I paid around £200 for the SL8 to be worked on and I already provided 90% of the parts. It should have been perfect considering how much it cost me, but it hasn't been. 

Wasn’t my intention to blame you.  Was more suggesting that shops see that sort of work as more cumbersome than a simple repair.

 

[Asomodai]

Wasn’t my intention to blame you.  Was more suggesting that shops see that sort of work as more cumbersome than a simple repair.

They don't have to take the work if they don't want it and think it would be difficult. They did, so you assume they'll put in the effort and give me what I ask for.