Shotgunworld.com

I've been debating on sending another barrel to them to have some work done. But I can't get them to return calls or emails. I've even asked if they would sell me a muzzle brake (KA-1212) and I would have it installed by a local gunsmith - still nothing. Then, while I was searching for some more information, I came across this topic on another forum:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/topic.html?b=1&f=5&t=932138

Now, I'm a leaning a little towards not doing business with them. It sucks because I really like the job they did on my 500. Customer service is a big deal for me!

I have my own horror story re: "King Joey". I have debated posting all the sordid details here but have decided against since I am a fairly new member here and he seems to have a decent rep on SGW.

What is the point? His abysmal customer service and complete meltdown of polite communication skills will out him on the forums soon enough.

Hmmmm.

This is very surprising to me. Joey has always responded quickly to my messages to him. I've talked to him on the phone before and he has taken plenty of time to answer my questions in detail. He has always been professional and polite with me. I'm not saying that others haven't had a different experience with Joey. But the Joey that I had contact with is nothing like the Joey described by the guys from AR15.com. This is very, very weird.

No clue what's going on at KA right now (last I heard they were closing up their retail storefront and going back to internet/mail order stuff). That said, Joey had a legitimate beef with Arfcom that I don't think was handled well.

Seems like you pretty much got it all out there anyway!

Not even close, not even remotely close to "getting it out there"....

I had a great buying experience with them fairly recently (post-retail closing era). I just called, and they shipped the part. Easy enough for me to give them a gold star, but I've only bought one thing. I would try PM-ing him on here before openly bashing him. You know, the "catch more flies with honey" kind of thing... Just my thoughts...

All I know is my Form1 FINALLY GETS HERE and after sending it via email to Joey, posting a PM here to him a week ago, I have not heard back.

So I go to get their phone number off the website and find it is broken, then I find a cached page of the crap that the OP's link is talking about and read about a "melt down" so I figured I'd get the skinny here and found this post.

QUESTION: Where the hell is my Remy 870 barrel now that it is 5 months later since I sent it in and the Form1 is done and I'm not getting feedback from Joey?

I copied this off a quote from the AR site.

>"ATTENTION: WE ARE EXTREMELY BUSY RIGHT NOW AND ARE BEING PLAGUED WITH MANY IMPATIENT CUSTOMERS WHO ARE
WANTING DAILY UPDATES ON THEIR ORDER OR SHOP JOB AND ARE CALLING OR EMAILING REPEATEDLY. THIS ONLY MAKES US
EVEN MORE SHORTHANDED AS WE HAVE TO SPEND A LOT OF TIME ANSWERING NUMEROUS PHONE CALLS AND EMAILS. WE ARE
WORKING 14-16 HR DAYS TRYING TO GET THINGS DONE, CALLING/NAGGING/EMAILING ISN'T GOING TO EXPEDITE ANYTHING.

-WE ARE A BUSINESS, WE GENERATE PROFIT BY GETTING PRODUCT OUT THE DOOR. GENERATING REVENUE AND KEEPING THE DOORS OPEN IS PLENTY OF
MOTIVATION. YOUR INPUT OR BUSINESS THEORY IS PROBABLY NOT GOING TO HELP.

-IF YOU CALL AND SCREAM THAT YOU THINK YOUR BARREL/BOLT/WHATEVER SHOULD BE DONE ALREADY AND THAT WE MUST HAVE
STOLEN/SOLD/DESTROYED YOUR PART, YOU WILL SEE A $25 FEE ON YOUR INVOICE FOR 'IDIOT TAX' SINCE WE HAD TO HAVE PEOPLE TRACK DOWN
YOUR PART AND GET AN UNNECESSARY STATUS UPDATE.

-IF WE TELL YOU THAT A JOB WILL TAKE AT LEAST 2-3 WEEKS TO COMPLETE AND YOU START CALLING TWO DAYS AFTER YOU SEND THE BARREL IN TO
SEE IF ITS DONE YET, YOU WILL SEE A $50 FEE ON YOUR INVOICE FOR 'IDIOT TAX' SINCE YOUR INABILITY TO UNDERSTAND SIMPLE CONCEPTS REQUIRES
US TO GET UNNECESSARY STATUS UPDATES.

-IF YOUR SHOP JOB IS TAKING 1-2 WEEKS LONGER THAN ORIGINALLY EXPECTED AND WE RECEIVE A LETTER FROM YOUR LAWYER OR THE BETTER
BUSINESS BUREAU, YOU WILL SEE A $75 FEE ON YOUR INVOICE FOR 'IDIOT TAX' SINCE YOUR IMPATIENCE IS MAKING A SITUATION UNNECESSARILY
MORE DIFFICULT AND EATING UP EVEN MORE OF OUR TIME AND MONEY.

-IF YOU ARE WAITING FOR A REFUND/EXCHANGE/CREDIT OR PAPERWORK, WE PROCESS PAPERWORK AS FAST AS WE CAN. UNFORTUNATELY IT IS
OFTEN THE LOWEST PRIORITY RIGHT NOW WITH THE VOLUME OF SHOP JOBS RIGHT NOW. WE APOLOGIZE FOR THE DELAY, WE ARE WORKING AS FAST AS WE CAN."

I don't care much about kicking up dust but there are some folks here that I think would be pretty good people should we meet face to face and I'd hate to see you guys take a hit from a business that seems to have gone south. Anyway, and presumably this was copied from their web site on the 24th of October but the web site no longer exist. Frankly, the language sounds much more like a guy who is frightened out of his wits rather than a guy who is angry. Reading between the lines, something much deeper is going on here than "busy."

I just got a call from him saying my SBS M4 barrel is getting re-finished and sent soon. It's taken him much longer then originally quoted, but I was in no rush. I'd rather it done right. When I have been able to correspond with him over the phone and through email (usually responded within a day or two) he has been awesome and took the time to answer my questions, but I never pestered him with "is it done yet?" stuff. He's insanely busy, opening a new shop and transferring orders to the new facility from what I understand. Just be patient, nothing in the firearm business moves fast. Try ordering a precision rifle, a McMillan stock or a custom 1911 from a top tier smith, now that's a wait. I'll post how it looks when I get it, but based on all the work I've seen of his in the past I think it's going to be top notch. His prices are also very reasonable.

Everyone is patient.

He needs to post what is going on so people don't fear he is doing a Todd Bailey on them. A simple "I'm behind, won't be answering emails, or phone messages until I'm caught up" on his dead website would do the trick.

WTF, over?

Here is Joey's "one post" that I'm putting up for him after talking for 20 minutes with the guy on the phone tonight.

- idiot employee did stupid stuff
- playing catchup on orders, working 14+ hours a day
- website crashed, computer got virus
- website being redone
- Joey should be able to post in the forums in week or two
- local number works even though the normal one is full of messages

I'll leave the rest up to him... pass it on.

Hey all, I'll be back here shortly. Long chain of sordid events but we are alive and well. Between random events, a bad employee, the economy, and the retail store fiasco, it all smacks of something out of a B-ticket horror movie. We fired a guy and one guy has been out on an escapee hunt, so I got to close the retail shop and clean up the mess by myself. I've been working 15-18hrs/day for the last 6 weeks and am trying to get everything done. I am also handling our website overhaul so we should have online parts ordering in the next couple days which will free up a lot of time. Look forward to being able to burn time on forums again shortly, this is the first time I've had time to log in since September

PS: Word of advice to employers, if someone seems like a turd but comes with good references and honorable combat experience........they're probably still a turd

I think that guy used to work for me too.
If not, musta been his brother.

Mike