My brother in law mailed his rifle to Brockman's in Feb 05 to do work that was arranged with Jim Brockman at the Reno SCI show that Jan.

He has now had the rifle over a year with payment in full and now refuses to return phone calls.

Does anyone know him and what may be going on? There is simply no excuse for such poor customer service. Any suggestions?

Howard , is Brockman in Boise?

He's over by Twin Falls.

Howard, tell Adam to try a registered letter with some not so subtle threats including ATF by his failure to return his rifle along with the Idaho State Attorney General. Jim has always had an excellent reputation. Can't imagine what has happened.

quote:

Originally posted by Customstox:
Jim has always had an excellent reputation. Can't imagine what has happened.

That reputation is what got him the work and why Adam felt comfortable in paying in advance. Simply no excuse for not returning phone calls. Sometimes when you call the phone rings and rings sometimes you get the answering machine. If you are a business and going to be gone for any length of time you need to state such on your machine.

Sorry to hear this Howard, I have dealt with Brockmans and always came away very pleased. Hopefully this will get resolved in short manner.

That is our hope to Jimmy however still no response.

ROAD TRIP REQUIRED

Same type of story again. Today as has happened in the past an employee answered the phone and stated "he is out", again left name and phone number no return call.

Hey Howard, Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't you have somehting like this happen to you when dealing with the 1-eyed, cbs employee, belk a couple of years ago?

Perhaps I'm just remembering it all wrong, memory sure isn't what it used to be.

Jim has been around 20 years that I know of and has been well thought of every single day of that time. He has a gun of mine too but I'm going to be patient at this point.

Howard
Had the same thing happen to me with Brockmans. I called and talked to Jim on the phone about a job and he stated "Thats an easy job, it'll only take a couple of months." I sent him the gun and prepayment. After a couple of months I called to check on the progress, and was told it was in the shop, I would hope it was in the shop cause that is where I sent it. I would call back every 3 to 4 weeks after that checking on the progress, I usually got the comment "He is out, but I'll have him call you back." Needless to say I never got a call and it took almost 18 months to get my rifle. The work was first rate but the lack of communication and the job taking 8 times the amount of time that was quoted was irresponsible and bad business ethics. As the saying goes, Been there done that.
Good luck.

Steve E........

Hotcore yep had a similar issue with Jack Belk but that was also different. Jack always returned my emails and I was usually able to make phone contact with him in a somewhat timely fashion. Also Jack is a friend and I knew when I gave him my rifle that it would be sometime and I was in no hurry. Were you thinking the two issues where related somehow?

Jim Brockman knows this rife is intended to go to Africa the end of April and promised it would be ready before now. Now when Adam calls to check on his rifle he suddenly is not available. Funny how you can get people on the phone when you want work done or want to send them money but then they disappear and can’t be found, I have a rule now; never pay for work until its actually been done.

If the rifle is not ready it’s not ready. What is Adam to do? Wait and think the rifle will show up soon or give up on it and start readying another rifle? All Brockman has to do is return his phone calls and give honest answers.

Go throw eggs at his house.

quote:

Originally posted by Howard:
...Were you thinking the two issues where related somehow?...

Hey Howard, No, I was just thinking you seem to have been "snake bit" as we say down here in dealing with the Gun Smiths.

I certainly understand your concern and can see where he has created totally unnecessary stress due to your time frame for the hunt.
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By the way, I'll always remember your comment back on HA when you said, "I want to have enough confidence in the rifle and cartridge to know the exact hair the bullet will hit.", or words to that effect. Still the best quotable attitute toward killing I've ever see.

I wish you the best of luck in getting the rifle back with enough time to get a good Load Developed for it before the upcoming hunt.

Hope I am not snake bit that would be bad news eh..... ;-)

One other difference between this and the work Belk did for me was Brockman's is paid in full while Belk only got 1/2 up front.

Hey Howard, Oh yes, Snake Bit is bad news!
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Had some business to attend to today that required some travel. So, while on the journey I was thinking about this "knack" you have with the Gun Smiths.

Any chance we could get you to Pre-Warn all of us when you decide to go to another Gun Smith?

Howard,
send me a check for $100 and a notarized letter authorizing me to pick the rifle up, and you'll have it in three days. I live less than 100 miles from his shop. I expect he will answer the door, or I can just sit there and waylay him on the way out that evening.

Rich

Howard, call the shop again under the false pretense that you want to send him a gun to have some work done on it. Tell them you have to speak to Jim about exactly what you want done and then you will ship the rifle to them. I bet you'll get him on the phone then.

Adam finally got Brockman on the phone though he had to call Brockman never did return his calls. Bottom line was he is still working on the rifle and can't give a date that it will be done.

I've phoned Brockman's twice on unrelated matters since this thread was started. He answered the phone both times and was very helpful. Even though he was extremely busy, he didn't hesitate to afford me his time.

The longest I've had to wait to get a completed rifle from a popular smith was two years(a York rifle). He was so busy that he had a year long waiting list just to take the work. He then took 50% down and it took him an additional year to complete the work. If I'm not mistaken, Brokman only requires approx. 50% down for him to take on work without a waiting list. You may be caught up in the additional time it takes him to get around to your particular project.

Gary

Gary the wait is not the issue. What is the issue is he agreed to perform the work be a certain date and accepted payment in full then did not return phone calls.

Update on the Brocksmans issue. Adam received his rifle back a few days ago. A couple of items that where to be done where not done but overall Adam feels the quality of work is very well done.

The way he got the rifle back was he started to make hourly phone calls to Brockmans. Never once did they return a call. He finally got "lucky" and the sectary answered the phone. His rifle arrived a few days later with no notification of shipping or anything.

Such behavior is inexcusable and good quality work does not make up for nor excuse shoddy customer service.

Is it huntable, will it go to Africa? Did he get reimbursed appropriately for the work that wasn't completed? Not trying to stir the pot, just curious.

Red

It is huntable. The two items not done, which where items requested at the first meeting at SCI, where a shell holder on the butt stock and a second sling stud on the forearm for use of a Ching sling of course no refund was provided.

Well hopefully he had those requests in writing. If he paid for them, they are on the contract and no provide a refund should be made. If it was a verbal with a handshake he might be out of luck. Gets into who remembers what.