Varminterror
Member
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2016
- Messages
- 14,900
I had a bit of a roller coaster this week on a barrel order for a customer, but because of fantastic customer service from Black Hole Weaponry, it ended up better than I could have imagined - and I want to give credit where credit is due.
I bought my first Black Hole Weaponry barrel about 4yrs ago after seeing a few buddies’ rifles which were fantastic shooters. I’ve bought over a dozen of them since then, both customs and “shelf” barrels through distributors. They’ve all been sub-MOA rifles, easy cleaning, and very fast for the load, so my customers and I have been happy. But the last two years or so, I have seen a lot of forum posts citing QA/QC and customer service issues, complaints about long lead times and price raises... I’ve been happy, so I’ve kept ordering them, but was contemplating going back whole hog to Krieger and Shilen.
Tuesday after work, Feb 13, I got a call from Black Hole - the QC bug had bitten one of my barrels, and it was cut with the wrong profile. Their QA system caught it before it went to coating - do I want this barrel with the wrong profile, or do I want to wait? I responded: neither, I wanted the barrel we ordered in the time we expected... The customer is building a 458 socom SBR, and will hang a MASSIVE can out front - we actually wanted a heavier barrel than we ordered, so the light profile they made wouldn’t work. I called the customer to give him the options - while I was on with him, Black Hole texted they could make a heavier National Match profile replacement, at no cost. The customer and I agreed to wait for the replacement, but really didn’t want to wait another 12wks. We were already 11wks into our order. Black Hole said they’d let me know as soon as possible how quickly it could be expedited. Business hours closed...
This morning I received another text from Black Hole. They had walked our barrel through the line yesterday and it was ready to go out to coating today!! In ONE production day, they’d expedited our replacement, AND threw a custom profile on top! We were expecting to hear back next week, and expecting to hear 8wks at best, but Black Hole came through and fast tracked a corrective action to only delay our delivery by a day!!
They earned my business those handful of years ago when I saw how well they did my buddies’ barrels. They kept my business by consistently delivering quality barrels on every one I have bought since then. I was getting cold feet after reading all of these rumors online, but after going the extra mile here on this mistake, they’re going to keep my business!
I bought my first Black Hole Weaponry barrel about 4yrs ago after seeing a few buddies’ rifles which were fantastic shooters. I’ve bought over a dozen of them since then, both customs and “shelf” barrels through distributors. They’ve all been sub-MOA rifles, easy cleaning, and very fast for the load, so my customers and I have been happy. But the last two years or so, I have seen a lot of forum posts citing QA/QC and customer service issues, complaints about long lead times and price raises... I’ve been happy, so I’ve kept ordering them, but was contemplating going back whole hog to Krieger and Shilen.
Tuesday after work, Feb 13, I got a call from Black Hole - the QC bug had bitten one of my barrels, and it was cut with the wrong profile. Their QA system caught it before it went to coating - do I want this barrel with the wrong profile, or do I want to wait? I responded: neither, I wanted the barrel we ordered in the time we expected... The customer is building a 458 socom SBR, and will hang a MASSIVE can out front - we actually wanted a heavier barrel than we ordered, so the light profile they made wouldn’t work. I called the customer to give him the options - while I was on with him, Black Hole texted they could make a heavier National Match profile replacement, at no cost. The customer and I agreed to wait for the replacement, but really didn’t want to wait another 12wks. We were already 11wks into our order. Black Hole said they’d let me know as soon as possible how quickly it could be expedited. Business hours closed...
This morning I received another text from Black Hole. They had walked our barrel through the line yesterday and it was ready to go out to coating today!! In ONE production day, they’d expedited our replacement, AND threw a custom profile on top! We were expecting to hear back next week, and expecting to hear 8wks at best, but Black Hole came through and fast tracked a corrective action to only delay our delivery by a day!!
They earned my business those handful of years ago when I saw how well they did my buddies’ barrels. They kept my business by consistently delivering quality barrels on every one I have bought since then. I was getting cold feet after reading all of these rumors online, but after going the extra mile here on this mistake, they’re going to keep my business!
