Wilson Combat/Scattergun Technologies VERY,VERY BAD!!!!!!!

TOMBSTONE

TOMBSTONE

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Oct 31, 1998
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This is what I posted on The Firing Line,I decided to post here because alot of knife people are into guns also.As of today since my phone coversation with the superviser Monday morning,haven't heard a response from him or company e-mail or post.Yes,I did e-mail them a link to The Firing Line post.The silence speaks volumes.

I will try to make this short and to the point.I'm not posting this to force a resolution.I have given them two opportunties to correct the problem,in which all I met with was reluctance and rudeness.To make a long story short I sent my Brand new Remington 870HD to Wilson Combat for their Remington Steal Package with Trak lock sights and armor tuff finish.Not including the shipping charges this was incredibly expensive at a cost of about $450.00.In the advertisement for this package they fail to mention that they utilize the brand new "take-off" parts from the express guns they purchase from Remington and build their combat shotguns.Well the Remington Steal Package rebuild is a seperate issue to my main complaint here.So I won't write a lengthy statment on that subject,although they screwed me on that issue in addition to the following.The biggest problem is they refused to warranty a defective finish.My father and I went to the range 1-2 weeks after getting by gun back from Wilson.After we cleaned our guns.I was using a brand of gun scrubber and some gun solvent(Eezox) There was a small pool of liquid at the end of the barrel and magazine extension that I wiped dry with a cotton rag.To my suprise the finish started coming off.Similar to how paint would react to paint remover,just to give you a mental picture.When I looked at the mag tube,it was bare metal,there was no parkerizing under the Gun Kote finish that is part of the process.This Armor-Tuff finish was anything but "tuff" This is the same finish they advertize as being able to withstand 24hour submersion in gasoline hydrochloric acid and other strong chemicals.For those that do not know Armor-Tuff is comprised of parkerizing the parts and then spraying them with what in reality is Gun Kote and then curing the finish with heat.Well,I don't know what happend to mine,not properly prepped?bad batch of Gun Kote? No parkerizing?Apparantly!Somone forgot a step or two?Frankly what went wrong is their problem to figure out.Well,I e-mail them and ask them to pick-up the gun via courier on their dime and refinish my gun just in parkerizing alone and refund the difference in the finish costs between parkerized and "armor tuff" price,about a $125.00 difference.At this point the finish does not impress me,I do not need any further or future incoviences,so my request is more than fair.To redo the finish it has to be reparkerized anyhow.Well after having my gun for several days.Here is the in what my opinion is a rude response I got from Wilson Combat.I just love the part when they accuse me of using something "abrasive" on the finish.Why don't you just call me a liar after I explained in detail the circumstances surrounding the finish problem!


Dear Ralph,
We have looked over your gun, and we will be shipping it back to you today. Per my supervisor "It looks like he took an abrasive to it, which is not covered under warranty." We have done you a service and payment will not be reimbursed. I know you felt the job should have been done with Wilson parts, it says clearly in the catalog "Remington Steal" We are not going to parkerize the gun either, this is not cost effective for our company. I will apologize for you being the 1 out of 100% that is not happy with our work, and suggest that you find a company you will be happy with.

Sincerely
Mary

PS. If you have any further inquires please refer them to johnm@wilsomcombat.com

I called the so called "Supervisor" who was worthless after speaking with him for 20 minutes,he offered no resolution and only demanded that I e-mail him all the e-mail correspondance.The e-mails we exchanged have no bearing on the issue.He said,we have never had this happen before.He also stated it was not a simple matter,that the gun sights would be destroyed in refinishing the gun.So apparantly I was suppose to give them 450.00 for this work to be done,have the finish come off with regular gun cleaning chemicals.Then go out and have somone else fix their mistake at my cost of refinishing and eating the cost of the new Trak-lock sights expense because they find themselves in the unique position of never having to warranty their finish before.A simple apology and offer to fix the problem would have been acceptable.Now since they have decided to steal money from me and not abide by their own warranty and customer service creed,I have disputed the credit card charge,and will be posting my experiences on all the boards and report them to the BBB as time permits.They really blew it,and added insult upon injury.I recommend anyone contemplating doing business with this company consider utilizing your money with a company that doesn't make false claims about the products,and the refuses to make good on their warranty.
R.Swanno
 
I would never pay their prices for services or a gun heck if i want to put a grand into a shotgun i would just get a Benelli M4 and have a better combat gun than any tricked out 870 and im sure they have better customer service.I never understood the alure of paying so much money for a so called custom gun,i have a DPMS M4 and a mossberg military shotgun that have never failed me once and cost a third of just one of his guns.I guess people just need a way to get rid of their disposable income.Sue his ars,get your money back,get a benelli and live hapily ever after. :)
 
I would not pay thier prices either and I will also not use Gun Scubber on anything but bare metal.I have had very bad experiance with it on some blued.painted and plastic parts.It works great on my Kimber SS I just make sure to keep the grips away from it.
As far as the finnish the gun scrubber could have had a little something to do with it but with their ads for how good the coating is it should have been fixed no matter what as long as it is not abuse and your case was not abuse.
 
Vang has told me that he has to fix a lot of Wilson guns. Get a Vang gun and you will get quality, value, and PERFORMANCE.

Seems to me Wilson puts a lot of guns together then sells them at VERY high prices. I buy the parts from Brownells, put them on myself, then get the barrel done by Vang. That's all there is.
 
I haven't done any business with the Scattergun part,but did have similar problems with the son's knives.I figured since his dad ran a Gun business his knives would be Exceptional.I was wrong-the fit and finish on the knife sucked.After sending the knife back (The knife was sent back to me with Nothing done to fix the problem twice).I did get my money back finally.There is no way in hell I'd do business with either Company again! Vangcomp blows the doors off of scattergun tech Anyway!!!!!
 
Sucked? Buddy S. very interested in the story on your knife.

Hans Vang does excellent work, but I thought that the track loc sight was only available from scattergun tech, and that it is a truly superior sight for the 870, is that not the case?

Finishes are tricky. I usually have "tech" finishes done by Robar, and bluing by Glenrock Blue, they are the best. Otherwise, it ain't worth S**T.

Cheers,

Steven Garsson
 
I've had positive dealings with Wilson, but it's been for minor stuff. I did buy a used CQB, and I know several people who have them, and the finish on them is quite durable. That said, I've heard a lot more bad things about their work lately.

As for parkerizing a gun under a coating, I have a friend who coats guns, and he says that you don't need parkerizing underneath. Parking it does enhance the durability, but he has coated a number of pistols and long guns with no adverse effects from not parkerizing them first. So what I'm saying is, if my friend can do this with stuff he buys from Brownells and it holds up (including one guy who uses nothing but Gunscrubber to clean with), your WC coating should not have come off.

Try and move up the food chain until you get some real answers and satisfaction.
 
Keith Montgomery said:
I wonder how they determined that an abrasive was used? If you asked them about this, what did they say?
Click to expand...

I suppose it was just an excuse to not fix my gun or refund my money.They didn't say anything other than the people who apply the coating said that it looked like an abrasive was used.It was like talking to a brickwall.I'm pretty much in disbelief as to their reaction.I've never been treated this horrible before by a company.
 
Geraldo said:
I've had positive dealings with Wilson, but it's been for minor stuff. I did buy a used CQB, and I know several people who have them, and the finish on them is quite durable. That said, I've heard a lot more bad things about their work lately.

As for parkerizing a gun under a coating, I have a friend who coats guns, and he says that you don't need parkerizing underneath. Parking it does enhance the durability, but he has coated a number of pistols and long guns with no adverse effects from not parkerizing them first. So what I'm saying is, if my friend can do this with stuff he buys from Brownells and it holds up (including one guy who uses nothing but Gunscrubber to clean with), your WC coating should not have come off.

Try and move up the food chain until you get some real answers and satisfaction.
Click to expand...

Well whether the Parkerizing is needed or not is subject to opinion.Nevertheless though,I paid for Armor Tuff which is parkerizing then gun koted on top,and they basically screwed me,and blamed me for the coating problem.I dealt with a customer service rep several times,then a supervisor twice,I'm done with their service chain,I just want the card company to get the money back.
 
Take it to an Expert and pay him for his opinion that the work done by Scattergun Tech was/is defective then immediately file a small claims with the Court in YOUR Jurisdiction.

It will be far more cost-effective for them to just 'settle' the Suit than travel to your home State to defend the Suit which would include an Expert from their Company to counter what your expert has to say.

And, if they did show to defend they would then need to prove their claim concerning an 'abrasive'.

I do not advocate Small Claims except in instances when Companies are unresponsive to valid complaints. Whether it happens to 1 in a million, 1 in a 100, or almost never it did happen in your case and they need to acknowledge it and work with you.

Plus, their E-mail response was RUDE!!!!
 
They did NOT treat you properly with that said my wilson scattergun has been flawless and a true piece of art. Not a detail missed and can be cleaned with freakin ajax with NO ill affects. Im truly sorry you got a bad one in the batch, NO excuse for them not making it right though.
Loandr.
 
Tombstone, I understand what you're saying, my point was that even had they ripped you by not parkerizing, the coating still should hold up. There's no doubt that WC screwed this up the coating process by first not doing what you paid for, then by poorly applying the coating they did.

Having heard some of their recent stories, if I were to pony up for a new semi-custom pistol, it would be from Ed Brown, not Wilson.
 
Wilson Combat might have been a fine company several years ago when Bill was personally 'at the helm' but, IMHO, it has grown into a large, retail business and is after nothing more than bottom-line profits........

I feel they are highly over rated for the prices that they want for their mediocre line of products. :(
 
Thanks for all the replies.I will consider small claims court if it becomes neccessary.I'm hoping the card company can easily identify the badguy in this dispute without argument.Thanks again
 
btt,just because these people are still scumbags and need to be reminded every now and then ;)

FYI,I did take it to an "expert" and have the documentation to reveal Wilson Combat's shoddy work.It was refinished by a nice gentleman wanting to help me out from another gun forum,but unfortunately the color turned from black to brown.He did offer to redo the finish,but In the end,I purchased a couple cans of OD green gun kote from brownells,prepped,sprayed,baked/cured the finish myself in my old ladies oven.Aside from pissing the wife off,the job came out pretty much flawless,and has stood up excellent to the outdoors,chemicals/cleanings.It looks really good! :cool:
 
Filing a claim in your jurisdiction won't do any good. I doubt they (the court) would let you do it anyway. The credit route is a sure thing. It is very hard for a merchant to win a dispute of this sort with a bank that issued the customer's credit card. Actually, I've never heard of it happening. Do the chargeback. That will work.
 
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