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..." (basically means many are just fuckup-grades IMHO)

[Asomodai]

Just now, Immortal said:

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..." (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]

4 minutes ago, Asomodai said:

 

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]

20 minutes ago, ImTriggerHappy said:

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]

2 hours ago, Asomodai said:

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]

3 minutes ago, Prisce said:

 

@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.

Just now, EDcase said:

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]

3 minutes ago, ImTriggerHappy said:

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]

10 minutes ago, Prisce said:

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]

 

45 minutes ago, Musica said:

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. 

 

 

 

1 hour ago, Steveocee said:

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.

44 minutes ago, Prisce said:

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. 

 

1 hour ago, Rogerborg said:

 

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]

7 minutes ago, Asomodai said:

 

 

 

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]

1 minute ago, Prisce said:

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. 

[Prisce]

26 minutes ago, ImTriggerHappy said:

Have been looking at mills and lathes a lot lately.

 

ITH airsoft services is looking like a possibility.

You’d have liked the company I was at today... they were machining the front sights of a NATO machinegun that I’m not allowed to name....

 

The machinery in this place was incredible, wish I knew what half it did.

3 minutes ago, Asomodai said:

 

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. 

See there’s where you went wrong.

You assumed.*sarcasm*

 

Working in a service industry, I can honestly say you would not believe what some people say they will do and what they actually do. 

 

They take on work because its work and money to be made, but put it off for days and weeks because they can make more money elsewhere. 

 

I see it everyday.

 

[ImTriggerHappy]

31 minutes ago, Prisce said:

You’d have liked the company I was at today... they were machining the front sights of a NATO machinegun that I’m not allowed to name....

 

The machinery in this place was incredible, wish I knew what half it did.

 

 

Modern machinery is a souless thing. Done plenty of firearms type stuff including a barrel stabilizer/locking rig for a gun firing armour piercing shells.

 

Somewhere out there on a test range is a gun firing rounds that will go through a tank that is relying on the mounts I made making sure everything goes to the same spot everytime.

 

Their neighbours are fucked

32 minutes ago, Asomodai said:

 

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. 

Main problem is most so called airsoft techs would be stretched by technic lego. Very few are actually worth paying. If I couldn't figure out a problem on an airsoft gun within half an hour I would book in for an MRI.

 

Airsoft guns are very simple.

 

 

[clumpyedge]

What annoys me more than unmentioned delays is no comms at all as said in previous threads. Some retailers who offer tech work wont even reply to messages it seems unless it has a high price tag along with it or they just aren't interested!

I've messaged techs before about work and never even had a reply! I understand that the more sought after tech people have a heavy work load but there's something to be said for prioritization of work if you cant reply to mails and messages (and this isn't just me that's had this issue apparently) Yes everyone has a life outside of work but don't offer services when you cant get the bare essentials right or have someone that can answer simple things for you day to day.

 

Really it comes down to - if I've paid you to do a job and there's an agreement in place as to when that should be completed and it isn't there's not many excuses that should cover why it hasn't.

 

[RMDavis]

Did I read this correctly? 

 

One of your guns has been away for upgrade/repair for over a year!? 😐

 

That is mental!

[Steveocee]

9 hours ago, Asomodai said:

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. 

 

Please don't take my statement as being critical of you directly. Sounds like you're going the hard way around learning what I'd say a lot of "seasoned" airsofters learn in time that eventually you begin to love the simplicity of taking a TIF out the box and using it standard.

 

Another lesson to learn is that you agree a time scale, you stick to that time scale and hold the stores to it. 1 Year is a stupidly long time to wait and I'd doubt they have it any more.

When I used to run a cycling department in a "well known retail outlet" repairs and upgrades were prioritised on time they were due to be collected. I never had a cycle lying around for months on end, if it needed parts then parts were ordered and customer expectations adjusted.