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:

---

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....

Dan

Good luck 500Grains! I have delt with you and know you do everything you say. Every deal we have had I have been more than happy. I am sorry that other people don't live by the golden rule.

I hope you get your order.

urdubob

[ 06-05-2003, 02:17: Message edited by: urdubob ]

I had a personal friend send me bullets as a gift from overseas(not GS or South Africa). I have been waiting for a couple months and they havent arrived. I know he sent them so that isnt the issue. What could be the issue is just getting them in past our boarder, im not sure where the breakdown is. But there is a breakdown somewhere.

Just thought I would post this for perspective only. I'm noting defending or taking sides here.

Let me state for the record that I have never ordered bullets from GS.

Why? Because I refuse to put up with "Africa time". Come on guys! We put up with "African Hunter", "MAN Magnum", "African Sporting Gazette", and a host of other publications in a vain hope of keeping the African candle lit. GS Custom is no different. They all make us pay a huge premium for a small slice of Africa. The service is shoddy and the price is expensive.

They all take our money and laugh all the way to the bank. How else can you explain such poor business practices? Why can't the magazines be published in other countries? Why can't Gerhard move to Montana and become a millionaire making bullets?

Because they make much more in Africa ripping off 20% of the customers! Or they are piss poor business people.

Think about it. Every PH you know is overworked and underpaid by American standards. BUT, every one of them returns your calls, replys to your emails and chats you up after the hunt. Is their profit margin 20 times the magazine or GS? No. However, each one of them is quite wealthy by African standards. The only difference is the PH is dependant on return business. The rags and others can lose many but pick up more first timer's every week. How many of us subscribed to and African hunting magazine within 5 months of returning from our first hunt?

It doesn't add up.

Ski+3

GS's problem is probably quite easy. Its called cashflow. Lots of underfunded small businesses liek them that eventually go under.

They rob Peter to pay Paul.

They need new sales to finance the production of the old ones. Except now they are only fulfilling half of new orders and trying to fix up half of the old ones. Thats why they charge the credit cards immediately. To pay for the repairs of machinery. To buy more copper and more boxes. These should be already IN STOCK if they are charging you for your order.

Pretty elementary trick. Thats my opinion of the reasons why they are operating the way the are.

/

I agree with Alf.
I no longer subscribe to US mags because I can buy them in the local bookshops weeks before my subscription arrives. Now at least I can pick up a copy if it has anything of interest and not waste money on rehashed articles.

As far as Gerry/GS custom is concerned, I live a few hundred km's from him and I can't get what I need.
He is a great guy but is essentially a one man one machine business. He is trying to get his act together and build his business but is being hampered by local politics insisting on affirmative action involvement before he is given access to business development funds.

What is not excusable is his lack of communication with his customers

I agree that all this has all the symptoms of "cash flow problems", plus a few poor business management symptoms.

I love the bullets. If Gerard is listening, I have one word for him:

"outsourcing"

If you don't have the capital to buy a $120,000 CNC machine, don't buy one on the come. Overhead is a killer. JMO, Dutch.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by SkiBumplus3:

A very accurate assessment.
DJ.

As for credit cards, call the company and reverse the charge.

That's just rubbish
Jeffe

I think next time you go over the pond you need to make a personal visit.

Gerard, your response?

@all

Since February 2003 I�m waiting for a reply from Gerard regarding a bullet, which would fit to my particular rifle. The rifle I�m using is the 10.3x60R aka 450/400 2 3/8� BPE. Since that email I didn�t get any answer from Gerard.

Now I have started designing my own bullets. I designed 3 different prototypes. And with the detailed specifications of the bullet I found a company nearby me. This company was able to produce the prototypes within two weeks. After accuracy and penetration tests at the shooting range I ordered 300 bullets for my own purpose�

Why spent so many time and money if you are able to do by yourself?

I won�t expect any feedback from Gerard� Just my two cents.

Good shooting and good hunting

Collani

http://www.collani.ch

Any News????

If you put the charges on your VISA and assuming you are a good customer they will take care of you. I had a problem where a charge was put on my bill and the product never delivered...very similar to this. It drug on for over a year and I finally called VISA and ask for a credit of the amount. I had to fill out quite a bit of paperwork (they sent similar paperwork to the bum) and when he didn't return it they continued to drag their feet. I eventually sent a registered letter to customer service that included my cut up VISA cards thanking them for their prior service and letting them know I would use my American Express card for all future personal and business use.

VISA sent me new cards and a revised statement showing a credit of the amount in question along with an apology.

DB, that's interesting.

I contacted them and they told me there was a 30 day dispute policy and they could not offer any help after that. Perhaps I should rattle their cage more loudly.

And perhaps you should shout far and wide how GS bullets treated you, as well.