Very dissatisfied with Hornady right now

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tightgroup tiger

tightgroup tiger

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I am a very dis-satisfied Hornady owner right now. Not that anything is wrong with my press but I bought a Hornady shell plate for my LNL-AP a while back and it was machined so poorly on bottom that it wouldn't even bolt down to the carrier.
I called them and they sent me a UPS label to send it back for warranty.

I got an email confirming they received it on April 21, called them again, they said it normally take 2 weeks for someone to look at it. I called 2 weeks later and they told me it was definitely machined wrong.

I sent it in to Hornady and they received it on the April 21, 6 weeks go by, I called them again. They told me it was in Heat Treat right now. It would be another 2 weeks. I called them again today, they told me that it's in Heat Treat again. I said to them "You told me that 2 weeks ago. They went to check, they said "it will be another 2-3 weeks before you get it".

That will be 10-11 weeks total to get a lousy shell plate.

I told them very nicely that I have 500 cases that need loaded and $800.00 worth of machine sitting here that I can't use.

They offered to send me a tee shirt or a sticker for free.

I told them "I didn't think a new tee shirt or a sticker would help me get this machine up and running and get these shells loaded".

Now, I THINK they could have called one of their stocking distributors and had them send me one from them at Hornady's expense, unless they had to recall them all.

From what an OPs experience on another post has been, Dillon's customer service hasn't changed, a bit. That person in the below post, had their new shell plate in 3 days. Hornady's customer service clearly has changed.

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=754295

Do you think I'm being unreasonable with giving Hornady plenty of time (8 1/2 weeks to date) to make this right?

A tee shirt or a sticker doesn't make it. I expected more out them.
 
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What caliber is the shell plate for?

The last time I dealt with a shell plate problem it did take 4-5 weeks since they were out of stock. That was 5 yrs ago when I upgraded the base plates to the newer EZ-Eject.
 
Are we talking about a $30 shell plate? How much time and effort are they going to invest in this problem. They should have just scrapped it and replaced it with a new one. It would have been much cheaper in the long run.
 
I can't believe they just did not send you out a new one
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They don't have any. That's the problem.

Are we talking about a $30 shell plate? How much time and effort are they going to invest in this problem. They should have just scrapped it and replaced it with a new one. It would have been much cheaper in the long run.
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Yes, were talking about a $39. something shell plate. The price has gone up on them. I couldn't believe they didn't have any and it would take all this time to make them.

I was going to buy a second LNL-AP but now I'm not so sure.

I don't think them offering me a free sticker or tee shirt to make this problem right was the right thing to do.

It sent me very mixed signals about their customer service, that what is worrying me the most.
 
I'm guessing that they didn't have any in stock. Anytime that I've had a problem - including once with the casefeeder - they shipped me a replacement without even asking for the old one back.
 
I had a lengthy delay getting some 8mm brass returned from them but was satisfied with the overall experience.

To Hornady's credit, I think they follow a good quality protocol in that they investigate why the defect occurred.

That can be frustrating for the end user, but beneficial to other shooters and reloaders. (If that makes any sense).
 
Welcome to the new world of wall street and college boy american manufacturing. Throw in a pinch of goverment irs tax. Nobody has crates of stock laying around.

Maybe Dillon has crates of stock and enjoys paying tax on it come year end. But most manufacturing is based off a just in time idiot model.

Also please remember your .327/.32 is not a very popular or used cartridge. So I'm sure it's in a production batch run.

I work with a lot of big time screwed up manufacturing company's. We rep the biggest pump co. in the world. We currently have pumps held up in production because the idiots can't source the cartridge style high dollar mechanical seals. I found them on the shelf for cheaper than we can buy them from the pump co. So to save the job I told the pump manufacture to crate up the pumps and parts less seals and get them to me. I will assemble the pumps and hydro test them and get them to the end user. Now the union twerps are raising cain cause I'm taking work away from them on the production line.

You just can't win anymore in america. Between the college boys, bean counters, wall street, gov. with epa/tax system and unions the country is screwed. And Honestly Hornday doesn't care if you buy another press from them. They can't make enough as is.

Good Luck. :)
 
Tightgroup I feel your pain. I had my LNL AP for almost 1.5 years before I picked up a #16 shell plate. I have another press and only looked from time to time but when I did they were never in stock. I called Hornady and they said there was nothing they could do.


I finally started reloading 5.56 on a progressive but it's not the LNL AP, I went Blue this time and bought a Dillon 1050.

I would say that my Hornady is for sale but, I hate selling stuff I paid a pretty penny for and I am sure I can dedicate it to load a caliber or 2.
 
Everything else aside, them offering you a t shirt or a sticker is like saying, "Here is a piece of candy little boy now stop crying." That alone would anger me, it's just not right!
 
Everything else aside, them offering you a t shirt or a sticker is like saying, "Here is a piece of candy little boy now stop crying." That alone would anger me, it's just not right!
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I think that what bothered me the most about this. I don't need condescending behavior from someone I've been giving money to.

As far as being an odd caliber, like I said in an earlier post, I found two different major suppliers that have them in stock. Including Midway USA.

I was going to buy a second LNL-AP but now I'm not so sure.
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quote from me.

And Honestly Hornday doesn't care if you buy another press from them
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I know , And my entire loading bench is Hornady except for my original RCBS rock chucker. I'm glad I didn't buy the new one yet, I'd really be torqued then.
 
Had the same scenario but knew what to expect and went ahead and bought another shellplate right away. I had really messed up the old one with a lame attempt at a modification, but they replaced it anyway because it was still obviously out of spec. otherwise.

I did have to wait quite awhile for that shellplate, because they were waiting for the next scheduled run of that number. No problem though, because the new shellplate I bought in the interim worked perfectly. I guess it would be nice if Hornady kept a lockbox stock of every part, but what if they run out?

If I had a point, I guess it would be to have realistic complaints. If you can't wait, what is plan B?
 
You may be disappointed with Hornady, but the truth is, they may be doing the best they can. If they are out of stock and your item is batch produced.......you have to wait for that batch to be made. Many times batches are made in order of demand, especially these days of high demand. They are not going to set up a batch to produce out of order just for one shellplate. Odds are, They have no system to buy a shellplate from a distributor to exchange for you, unless someone working there would order one personally. Did you buy the shellplate from Hornady direct or from a distributor? If from a distributor, would have returning it to them for an exchange for one they had in stock been easier and/or faster? That means nuttin' if all of those in your caliber are defective tho.

I ain't defending Hornady...I have no red on my reloading bench. But they are known for customer service and quality products. It could be you are an exception because of a series of circumstances outside their control and the availability to them, of a quality replacement for you, is two months out. They offered you a shirt or a sticker, probably standard procedure and not meant to be an insult........I'd work 'em for something more.
 
Ok, flame proof suit on, check. Never happed to me with Lee. That is all.:evil:

Russellc
 
Never happened to me with Lee
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I agree. I have never had a issue with Lee's customer service, RCBS's and just started using Dillon. I stuck a case in a new die not all that long ago and I emailed RCBS letting them know I damaged the decapping rod/pin while removing the case. I was only asking where I could order the parts and they said don't worry it's on the way free of charge!

Now with that said most of the time I don't have any issues with Hornady either. They have a 95% satisfaction rate with me to date.
 
psyshack said:
Welcome to the new world of wall street and college boy american manufacturing. Throw in a pinch of goverment irs tax. Nobody has crates of stock laying around.

Maybe Dillon has crates of stock and enjoys paying tax on it come year end. But most manufacturing is based off a just in time idiot model.

Also please remember your .327/.32 is not a very popular or used cartridge. So I'm sure it's in a production batch run.

I work with a lot of big time screwed up manufacturing company's. We rep the biggest pump co. in the world. We currently have pumps held up in production because the idiots can't source the cartridge style high dollar mechanical seals. I found them on the shelf for cheaper than we can buy them from the pump co. So to save the job I told the pump manufacture to crate up the pumps and parts less seals and get them to me. I will assemble the pumps and hydro test them and get them to the end user. Now the union twerps are raising cain cause I'm taking work away from them on the production line.

You just can't win anymore in america. Between the college boys, bean counters, wall street, gov. with epa/tax system and unions the country is screwed. And Honestly Hornday doesn't care if you buy another press from them. They can't make enough as is.

Good Luck. :)
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That was fun to read.

Titegroup T,
Did they really try and give you a sticker? While I agree with Buck that they may be doing the best they can, that's almost a slap in the face.
 
Wow, that kind of shocks me. Sorry to hear this TG.

The only thing I can think of why this would take so long, would be because it was a production error and they wanted to investigate and maybe had to make some changes to the model.

I do agree however that being offered a t-shirt and/or sticker would just piss me off.

Hope this gets worked out soon.
 
It was a standard production shell plate, #36, 327 fed mag, 32 H&R magnum, ...

I just looked at two suppliers a minute ago that has them in stock.
Click to expand...

Better grab one. For a relatively low volume caliber like 32 such and such, it could take awhile...a long while. s
So what if you will wind up with two like I did? Move on.

Note that you could be loading on a turret in the mean time. How many Federal Magnums can you really shoot? I have a Lnl AP and a 327 Fed Mag, and I currently do the 32s on the turret. I believe I do have the #36 shellplate though.
 
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