THE FOLLOWING ARE SAMPLE EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE WITH GS CUSTOM SINCE THE FIRST OF JANUARY, 2003 REGARDING A BULLET ORDER I PLACED in 12/01. THE FIRST HALF OF THE BULLET ORDER WAS SHIPPED in 11/02 AND THE SECOND HALF OF THE BULLET ORDER HAS NEVER BEEN SHIPPED.

_____

7/16/03

Dear Gerard and Gina:

I think I have been more than patient in waiting for the second half of my order of bullets. If you recall, I sent GS Custom US$504.00 in 12/01 and received half of the order in 11/02. In 3/03 Gerard told me the second half of the order had shipped. But I have not received that shipment and you have refused to respond to my email inquiries.

I must conclude that you did not send me the order in 3/03 and that your statement at that time was FALSE. At this time please either send me the bullets that I ordered or send me a refund. I am tired of hearing false promises and false statements and just want to be finished with this.

Please respond to this email. I will continue to post the true status of my order with GS Custom on internet web sites until this is resolved. Thank you.

Sincerely,

_______________

6/24/03

Dear Gerard,

Since you refuse to respond to email for months at a time (except email placing orders), I have resorted to an open letter to you in hope that you can resolve my grievance.

On 12/4/2001, I ordered more than US$500 in bullets from you, to be shipped via airmail which I paid a premium for. The bullets did not arrive in the promised two weeks, so I began to inquire. After three months you told me that a replacement shipment of bullets had been sent. Your excuse for the first shipment going missing was dishonest people in the RSA post office.

The second shipment of bullets did not arrive either. After ignoring several months of emails from me, via telephone you said that you would have your daughter look into it.

In the late summer of 2002, your daughter told me that the bullets were never sent at all; neither the original shipment nor the replacement was sent. The excuse was that an incompetent employee had logged orders as shipped when they were not.

But at the time, your equipment was broken and you could not make bullets. Then when the equipment was fixed, I was told that you ran out of copper and could not make bullets. Then when you had copper I was told that you ran out of boxes and could not ship bullets. Finally, your daughter told me that half of my order had shipped and I received them in late 2002. Thank you.

As for the second half of the order, on March 26, 2003 you wrote the following to me:
quote:

quote:

---

Dear Dan,

We have finally got this confusion sorted out. Your bullets are on the way (Thursday past) and we have added extra for you by way of an apology. We are all pretty stressed out and this will continue for the next couple of months till the new factory is running. By mid year, backlogs should be a bad memory. Let us know when they arrive and how you do with them. Some pics of the rifle you use the 640gr FNs in would be nice for our gallery pages!

Regards from an apologetic

Gerard and Gina

---

I waited patiently for more than a month for the bullets to arrive via air mail, but they never came. Then I started emailing both you and Gina to try to get you to run a trace on the bullets but to date neither of you have responded to any of my many emails.

Now I am wondering if the March shipment of the second half of my order was a real shipment, or a phantom shipment. Maybe the bullets were not shipped at all.

I would just like to receive the bullets that I paid you for. Please respond, and if the bullets were not actually shipped, then please ship them. If the bullets were shipped, please track them and put in an insurance claim and ship new ones.

Hoping for some customer service....

Sincerely,

_____________

5/8/03

Dear Gerard and Gina:

I understand from the email below that the second half of my bullet order was mailed on 3/20/2003. It has not yet arrived. Is it too early to worry, or should it have arrived?

Is there a way to run a trace?

Thank you.

Sincerely,

________________

3/26/03
Dear Gerard and Gina:

Thank you for confirming the order, and thank you for the extra bullets.

I will be happy to send you photos of my searcy 500 NE double and my 585 nyati rifle with the sample targets.

I hope you are well.

Sincerely,

__________________

3/26/03

Dear Dan,

We have finally got this confusion sorted out. Your bullets are on the way (Thursday past) and we have added extra for you by way of an apology. We are all pretty stressed out and this will continue for the next couple of months till the new factory is running. By mid year, backlogs should be a bad memory. Let us know when they arrive and how you do with them. Some pics of the rifle you use the 640gr FNs in would be nice for our gallery pages!

Regards from an apologetic

Gerard and Gina

________________

3/26/03

Dear Gina:

I cannot understand why you have not responded to my email regarding shipment of the second half of my bullet order. I do not think I am being unreasonable since the order was paid in full on
12/4/2001.

PLEASE TELL ME IF THE ORDER HAS SHIPPED, AND IF NOT, PLEASE TELL ME WHEN IT WILL SHIP.

Thank you.

______________________

2/24/03

Dear Dan,

We have a many orders being sent this week, yours being one of them. We where waiting for our packaging boxes to arrive from our supplier because we ran out. The only ones we had where the small ones that we got first, so I hope you don't mind getting the 510 FN's in the small boxes we packed them in.

I know it's been a long wait and that you're anxious to get them. I'll be sending your parcel by Air Mail and it should take about 4 weeks to reach you.

Regards,

_____________

2/9/03

Gina,

It's been a couple of weeks since you were packing the order. Have you been able to ship it yet?

Sincerely,

________________

1/24/03

Dear Dan,

Your order is being prepared and packed by the shipping department at the moment. I left it with them yesterday so I'll be able to send it next week

Everything is going well here. We are very busy with the expansion plans and are now aiming to be up and running in the new factory as early as April instead of June/July. We'll be able to put more dealers in place in the US then (we have a list of guys to get back to). The backorder problem we have at the moment will also come to a end and hopefully stay that way, because we'll keep on steadily expanding. Who knows, we might be the largest bullet manufacturer in a few years!

Regards, Gina

By the way, the missing second half of the order is for:

4 boxes 475500FN .075x25
1 box 580640FN .106x25
2 boxes 458450FN .049x50

...just in case Gerard Schultz stops by to read this.

GS told me my order was shipped in May:

"Sent: Tuesday, May 13, 2003 8:52 AM
Subject: Re: Tax Invoice INV01555 from GS Custom

The tracking number for your parcel is PA 232 743 495 ZA. Thank you for the patience you've had with me.

If you need anything else, just let me know.

Regards,
Gina"

Two months and no package received.

Inquiries get the following:

"Your message was bounced by our server.
<support@gscustom.co.za>:
Sorry, no mailbox here by that name. (#5.1.1)"

Since GS claimed the order was shipped AND provided a (South African, non-traceable) tracking number, it is difficult to believe there is some sort of "delay" or "mistake". That only leaves one explanation.

KLN,

I am shocked that, after all the complaints (here and elsewhere) about non-delivery, and GSC's refusal to return e-mails or provide refunds, anyone would order bullets from them.

George

HI,

I can synthesize with 500grains. It is very frustrating to order things that you paid for and do not get them. I do not have anything against GS Customs, but I understand as a consumer if you order a product and are told it will be there in a certain time it should. I have had this problem with many companies and gunsmith, it will be done on this date, it is not. It will be there in 5 weeks, it is not.A mans word should be gold.All of use work hard for our money and if we pay for something and are told it will be done, do it or do not say so, this is just my opinion. Kev

500 grains,

Buddy it's time to hire a lawyer in RSA! I know it's more money, but think of the satisfaction you'll get out of it.

I had problems with a taxidermist in RSA, after several attempts to settle it on my part it took one email with my attorney's name mentioned and the issue resolved quickly. Worth every penny!

On second thought I think all of y'all stiffed by GS should get together and hire one lawyer!
Surely you could fine other unhappy souls. Hell, this has drawn on so long I want to file on him! and I haven't order anything!

Rusty
We band of brothers!

Several of us have been recommending that no further fools, such as I, Dan, Alf and others, be parted from their money by GSC. I plan to have no more angst over it. African charm being a seductive mistress sometimes, and a downright whore the rest of the time, I am writing it off. Those great bullets were little pieces of Africa. They were alluring, and damn good bullets.

Dan, take consolation that you got half your order. I got none of my 500 buck order on the final con job by GSC.

How about the supposed US distributor waiting on a starter pack of (?)$$$$$(?) US?

Gerard probably went out and bought the liquor store when he got that payment. Maybe he hasn't sobered up yet?

Is this why his daughters have the business in their name? Who will be the business owners next? The dachsund and the Rhodesian ridgeback?

I am sorry I ever extolled the virtues of the GSC FN. They even have my endorsement of their bullet FN bullet in the "peanut gallery" of their web site. Forgive me, y'all.

Has Gerard no shame? Shameless hussie that he is, hope he gets wind of this thread. If he does, he will be smelling himself. A foul wind blows from Port Elizabeth.

Thank you Dan.

"KLN,

I am shocked that, after all the complaints (here and elsewhere) about non-delivery, and GSC's refusal to return e-mails or provide refunds, anyone would order bullets from them.

George"

George: Me, too. Slow learner, I guess. Of course when I contacted then last year to place the order, there were all kinds of assurances that the problems were over and delivery would be prompt. Fortunately, I cut my order in half at the last minute just to see if the promises were going to pan out before going whole hog.

500grains: "That the tracking number is fake?

I can't think of another."

500: Seems so. And I don't see how that could be a "mistake". That would have to be an intentional deception.

Ron, I did not know he bilked you out of 500 bucks. Alcohol may indeed be the key to this mystery.

The part that I find most upsetting reading these posts, they actually had a great product and they forgot that customer service is second right behind making a great product. Wonder if they`d sell the whole outfit to someone who really wants to run it right. Someone must see the potential that this company has if run correctly.

What a darn shame, for all concerned. A fine line of products which truly held our collective interest. I think all will work out in the end and the trust you have shown, rewarded.

500Grains:

Why don't you ask someone in RSA, or someone going, to stop by GS, check it out, and see if they can pick up the bullets?

Plenty of people are booked, IIRC...

s

Can't pick up bullets that they can't get made. I see it as the African curse: They can't get the materials and parts they need, and then the ones they do get, end up "missing"..... I can't even imagine trying to run a business there; it is hard enough to run a startup (marketing, cashflow, etc) without those kinds of hassles.

However, I came accross some information last Thursday that seems to indicate there IS light at the end of the (delivery) tunnel. Give it a week or so; I expect we will all learn more. FWIW, Dutch.

/

Why doesn't Gerard respond to the emails of his long-lost customers, or post a reply here?

[ 07-22-2003, 00:32: Message edited by: Dutch ]

Dutch, are you defending GS Custom's dishonest business practices again?

500 grains, are you whining again? Dutch.

Still no word from that fine businessman Gerard Schultz.

Why bullets from South Africa if you can buy Nosler, Swift and Woodleigh?

Sunshine

My Importer for Impala Bullets here in Austria told me that he gets the bullets from RSA to Austria sometimes in 2 days sometimes it takes 4 days, never longer than that....

Post isn't that bad in RSA.

Franz

Never shot/used a GS bullet. I remember about a year ago when they were being championed as the very greatest thing by some on A-R. I suspect GS encountered problems, but in the process stiffed some good people that sent him money. Kind of like Art Alphin of A2 did.

I think Sunshine made a good point; there are some tried-and-true bullets available, might as well stick with them.