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Let me start off by saying that Mary and the crew at CCR have always been polite and professional in their communications and the quality of their work is top notch but I feel like it's necessary to share my experiences with the company and the service that they perform for the firearms community. So to start, this refinish is fantastic. They took out the pits/nicks that I put on the frame after 25k rds. The color is consistent throughout and no imperfections to be seen.
That said I encountered challenges with CCR in the customer service department. I am posting this publically and I'm sure that there will be CCR diehards who will chime in and tell me not to complain about it. See below.
This is to let people know the experience I encountered and what they themselves may encounter. Since my original post I was contacted by a couple of people privately with similar experiences and so I feel that there is a need to share the facts of my situation.
I called CCR sometime in March to inquire about refinishing my Sig P226. I explained that the gun had been tuned by the wonderful folks up at Grayguns and that I would want to make sure that the internals would not be modified to change the characteristics of the trigger. They explained to me that they had experience working with GG tuned sigs and knowing how much CCR participates on the forums here and on calguns I had no doubt that they would return the sig in better quality and condition than what I send in. When asked what the turn around would be, the answer was 6-8 weeks. I ask if I should send in my pistol and the answer was yes. I shipped the gun overnight on March 29th, and it got there the next day.
I inquired into a status of the pistol on April 28th knowing that it would be a bit longer at minimum to complete the work but I was interested in seeing how the refinish impacts the laser etched logos on the slide. Between April 28th and July 9th (when I got the pistol back) numerous emails, PMs, phone calls took place to try and get a status on the pistol.
I received a couple of reasons why it had been delayed including them running out of necessary plating chemicals and the ones received were the wrong ones so the necessary ones would be there by the 22nd of june. It was surprising to hear that a refinishing company would run out of a fundamental ingredient needed to support their business but no matter. So in almost 3 months of having my pistol, the necessary chemicals weren't at the shop. A week and a half went by before I contacted them again since I didn't receive a tracking number like I was told. After inquiring again (note, there were no proactive communications to me from the folks at CCR, I had to inquire into each delay) I was then told that they were waiting for the chemical order but it had to ship hazmat and so it was shipped via freight and thus the delay beyond the June 22nd date. They've been doing this for a while so it can't be news to them that the chemicals are controlled and may require ground freight.
Ultimately I got my pistol, almost 15 weeks after the pistol arrived at CCR. On numerous occassions during that time I asked for realistic delivery dates but ended up being strung along week to week. I wasn't expecting it to be done within 6 weeks and would have been happy to wait 12 weeks had I known up front or at some point that it would realistically take that long.
In addition to the delays, my pistol was shipped back without the factory hard case that I sent it out in. No problem as the person who shipped the pistol back to me hadn't been aware that the case went with the gun. On July 11th I pm'd CCR on calguns and mentioned the case, Mary was quick to reply (the 12th) and apologize for the case not having been sent with the gun and that it went out that day. Well this past Monday July 26th came around and I called CCR and spoke with Mary again. She apologized and explained that the case was returned by USPS (had been boxed/shipped priority) as undeliverable even though the address was the same as the pistol. She explained that they resent the pistol on Saturday (assumably July 24th) and so I thanked her and moved on. Well the case finally arrived today Thursday and it had been shipped priority. If it had been shipped priority on Saturday it most likely would have arrived Tuesday based on experience. Knowing that delays happen at USPS I took a look at the packaging. The box didn't look like it had been previously shipped (no other labels, no duplicate shipping labels, no other markings indicating other attempts. Then the kicker... the date on the USPS label, Monday July 26th, the same day that I called.
That said I encountered challenges with CCR in the customer service department. I am posting this publically and I'm sure that there will be CCR diehards who will chime in and tell me not to complain about it. See below.
If you are dissatisfied, call Brad and give him a chance to fix it. Don't complain here. I've never had a frame done, but all other work has been perfect.
I called CCR sometime in March to inquire about refinishing my Sig P226. I explained that the gun had been tuned by the wonderful folks up at Grayguns and that I would want to make sure that the internals would not be modified to change the characteristics of the trigger. They explained to me that they had experience working with GG tuned sigs and knowing how much CCR participates on the forums here and on calguns I had no doubt that they would return the sig in better quality and condition than what I send in. When asked what the turn around would be, the answer was 6-8 weeks. I ask if I should send in my pistol and the answer was yes. I shipped the gun overnight on March 29th, and it got there the next day.
I inquired into a status of the pistol on April 28th knowing that it would be a bit longer at minimum to complete the work but I was interested in seeing how the refinish impacts the laser etched logos on the slide. Between April 28th and July 9th (when I got the pistol back) numerous emails, PMs, phone calls took place to try and get a status on the pistol.
I received a couple of reasons why it had been delayed including them running out of necessary plating chemicals and the ones received were the wrong ones so the necessary ones would be there by the 22nd of june. It was surprising to hear that a refinishing company would run out of a fundamental ingredient needed to support their business but no matter. So in almost 3 months of having my pistol, the necessary chemicals weren't at the shop. A week and a half went by before I contacted them again since I didn't receive a tracking number like I was told. After inquiring again (note, there were no proactive communications to me from the folks at CCR, I had to inquire into each delay) I was then told that they were waiting for the chemical order but it had to ship hazmat and so it was shipped via freight and thus the delay beyond the June 22nd date. They've been doing this for a while so it can't be news to them that the chemicals are controlled and may require ground freight.
Ultimately I got my pistol, almost 15 weeks after the pistol arrived at CCR. On numerous occassions during that time I asked for realistic delivery dates but ended up being strung along week to week. I wasn't expecting it to be done within 6 weeks and would have been happy to wait 12 weeks had I known up front or at some point that it would realistically take that long.
In addition to the delays, my pistol was shipped back without the factory hard case that I sent it out in. No problem as the person who shipped the pistol back to me hadn't been aware that the case went with the gun. On July 11th I pm'd CCR on calguns and mentioned the case, Mary was quick to reply (the 12th) and apologize for the case not having been sent with the gun and that it went out that day. Well this past Monday July 26th came around and I called CCR and spoke with Mary again. She apologized and explained that the case was returned by USPS (had been boxed/shipped priority) as undeliverable even though the address was the same as the pistol. She explained that they resent the pistol on Saturday (assumably July 24th) and so I thanked her and moved on. Well the case finally arrived today Thursday and it had been shipped priority. If it had been shipped priority on Saturday it most likely would have arrived Tuesday based on experience. Knowing that delays happen at USPS I took a look at the packaging. The box didn't look like it had been previously shipped (no other labels, no duplicate shipping labels, no other markings indicating other attempts. Then the kicker... the date on the USPS label, Monday July 26th, the same day that I called.
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