There are some changes on the www.pennbullets.com website with the speciality bullets being put back into production. Check out the new PennBulletin on the site for more details. There will be other site updates coming in the next few weeks as well.
On Dec 22nd I called and spoke with Bob Palermo @ Penn Bullets. I told him that my credit card had been charged $155.00 twelve days earlier and that I had not received the shipment yet and had he sent it? He said no and that he was awaiting the .41 mag run. I told him that waiting 9 months was a bit ridiculous for anything...but a baby! I asked him to cancel the order and issue a credit to my credit card. He said he would. It's now Dec 29th and no credit has been issued. Obviously I have contacted my credit card company to dispute the charge.
In fairness to Mr. Palermo, he claims the order was placed in May. According to my records, the order was placed in March with a followup call placed in May to check on the order at which time he said he'd split ship.....which of course he didn't.
I have no doubt that Penn makes a fine bullet. My purpose here is to simply present a heads up to those who might be getting themselves into a similar position by ordering from Penn.
Happy and Healthy 2010.
I addressed some of these issues before but apparently nobody takes the time to read our site carefully with regard to orders and our procedures which are spelled out very clearly. This would include updates thru the PENNBULLETIN section of the site. Plus the fact that certain months are busier than others and that the panic that has been going on for the last 18 months is not over yet but seems to be improving. (of course every time I think I get a handle on this it comes back to bite me again)
BTW, I have yet to see anyone on any forum complain about waiting 9 months without communication, not getting product, or being charged and not recieving anything from Missouri Bullet on any forum.
That's because I'm waiting to do that when Walkalong finally places an order with us and I didn't want to spoil it by doing it early
If you want to be blind and not read then don't complain when you don't get what you expect when its spelled out for you.
To BDS. The fact is I cater to all customers large and small. Small customers are what built this buisness in the first place and I'm not about to turn my back on them now. Some of these small customers have been with me from almost the begining. The nature of this buisness doesn't lend itself to always picking and choosing the type of customer one wishes to cater to. So don't wait to give us a try. I'm pretty sure you'll be pleased.
The fact of the matter is that despite what is happening now ours unfortunatly is an aging and shrinking industry that occasionally gets a shot in the arm from the rampant political scene but facts are facts and the youth of this country are NOT enetring and engaging in the shooting sports especially with the schools and their zero tolerance policies.
Take an informal survey yourself and talk to kids when you come across them and you will find a shocking concensus that most think guns are bad and if its not wrapped in the latest murder and mayhem video game then kids aren't interested. One only has to wonder why childhood obesity is at an all time high. when the CEO of WalMart says that hunting and fishing sales are down between 20-30% yet the video game market is one that they haven't seen peak yet then one starts to get some perspective. I did 30 gun shows a year in 4 states for 26 years and can tell you that you don't see a lot of young shooters in the crowds. Look at the average age of those in a gun show and you will see what I mean.
If the THR members' business represent such a small percentage of your business, why not focus on your higher priority larger customers and let the smaller operators meet our "small fish" needs.
If many larger casters closed, perhaps, the added demand for hard cast bullets will keep the remaining small casters alive and keep them from going bankrupt.
I came to THR because many quality posters here have helped me from making mistakes they made while reloading and I intent to pass along information that might help others.
Solution to your THR member issues is quite simple. Focus on meeting your high priority larger customers needs first now. When you are able to provide smaller bullet orders (1000-5000) in a timely manner, set a reasonable delivery time frame on your website and offer a money-back guarantee/payment after delivery option to your customers. If you meet your published delivery performance promise, I am sure those experiences will be posted here on THR.
I believe in fairness and consumer protection.
I have worked hard to provide by what many, many customers have said is one of the best and most informative web sites of it kind. I have done my part to put the information there and I can tell you once again that most of the customers that order from us read that information. The problem is that while a particular bullet may be a low demand item all it takes is one order or a group of orders to come in for that bullet and now it gets put into production instead of waiting. That just happened with the 38/55 bullet when One order came in for 5000 of them and it was put on the casting schedule and that order was filled along with any orders that were pending and any new orders that came in while they were in production or after from the extras that were run for inventory. so that 1 year time figure is not something set in stone but rather subject to outside conditions.Even though you have it in writing somewhere else on your website, I think casting once a year and the extended wait time information should be right next to the order button since I believe most reloaders anticipate reasonable casting/processing time to be a few weeks, not several months.
As to your quoted statement above, right now there are over 100+ readers viewing this category (1000+ viewing THR overall), would you want your current/potential customers reading that?
IMHO.
Normal Order Processing
When orders are placed securely online or by phone or at the gun show they are now in the process of being computerized to help the order processing system. This system will be developed over the next several months and will enhance our ability to serve you more efficiently.
ORDERS ARE GROUPED AND ARRANGED IN BATCHES AND NOT NECESSARILY IN THE ORDER THEY ARE RECEIVED.
Credit card orders in the batch to be worked on are charged up front insuring that the order is valid. Groups of currently placed orders may be delayed before they are batched and charged depending on the volume of preceding orders that are currently pending completion.
As I go through the casting/lube sizing rotation of all the bullets the orders are filled. I do multiple styles of bullets of the same and different calibers at the same time doing multiple rotation cycles through the entire bullet line up which is quite extensive. Many bullets have been cast ahead waiting for orders to come in while others are done when the order is placed.
Orders that are comprised of different bullets or special requirements (custom sizing, black powder lube, special alloys for example) will take somewhat longer than single bullet type orders.
Some orders are split and bullets that are ready right away are shipped out while the balance of the order is worked on.
During this time period it is possible that your credit card statement may show the charge for the order but you have not received the order as of yet. This is normal.
DO NOT PROTEST OR QUESTION THE CHARGE WITH THE CREDIT CARD COMPANY as this results in a $25.00 inquiry fee which will be passed onto you the customer.
As demand for our products increase, the time to process orders increases as well. Most orders go out in 1-3 weeks or less. Others can be up to 5-6 weeks.
Demands during the months of January thru May are the highest and WILL result in some extended delays from our normal schedule. In addition certain specialty bullets that are low demand items may only be run once or twice a year; but those bullets will not be charged until I am ready to run them. If your order is mixed with regular production bullets and specialty bullets then your order will be split and the specialty bullets will be backordered and the backorder will be charged ONLY when I am ready to run and ship the backorder.
Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions about your order. When inquiring by e-mail please include your full name and a list of what bullets you have on order to facilitate a prompt reply
Phone calls take us away from our work adding to our delays.
I APPRECIATE YOUR UNDERSTANDING.
Thank you for letting me be of service to you, Bob Palermo/ President.
certain specialty bullets that are low demand items may only be run once or twice a year; but those bullets will not be charged until I am ready to run them
As to the money back gurantee after delivery that is on the site as well and has been one of our founding policies for 30 years.
His order was charged up front as stated in the procedure and at that point it was valid order to be worked on and was put in process. His order would have been done in the time frame as outlined in the policy and then shipped but he opted to cancel and that was fine and the credit was issued. The money back gurantee refers to the product after recieved, not to a cancelled order that is issued a credit. I think at this point if there are any more questions I would be happy to give you a call or you can call me and discuss this further theres too much cross listing or responses that is getting confusing. Theres no need to carry this on any longer here.So why was ljnowell's credit card charged? And if you run them, why weren't the bullets shipped?
I believe he did ask you to reverse the credit card charges - wasn't he invoking the money back guarantee? Of course you can say he has to wait after delivery, but he never got the bullets. So the money back gurantee does not apply to your delay in delivery?
Phone calls take us away from our work adding to our delays.
To Brad, too late, I'm pretty sure I already sold bullets to Walkalong but he may want to give yours a try.
Brad I wish you all the luck to keep growing. I know that may sound strange coming from a fellow caster but I want to retire in about 5 years and I figure you might just be ready to buy me out then so I can retire and go shooting.Drat! I guess that I'll have to keep on shipping bullets from stock, then.
Heck Bob, I'm already retired! I quit my day job last April, one that paid me $92k/year base salary plus bonuses so that I could do this full time and just relax and hang out.Brad I wish you all the luck to keep growing. I know that may sound strange coming from a fellow caster but I want to retire in about 5 years and I figure you might just be ready to buy me out then so I can retire and go shooting.
You picked a strange buisness to retire with. Oh well maybe I'll just retire with it too. Right now TGIF as its snowing to beat all out here right now . Might get 12 inches so that means it'll be time to call the snowplow.Heck Bob, I'm already retired! I quit my day job last April, one that paid me $92k/year base salary plus bonuses so that I could do this full time and just relax and hang out.
I'm loving this retirement! In 5 years I am going to buy Canada so that we don't have to pay the $2250.00 annual ITAR fee to export to it.