Bad customer service

[budprop]

I am not one to bash companies on an open forum, but I feel like I need to share an experience I recently had to help others to avoid a similar situation.

In September I placed an order with Sperry Ballistics for 100 rounds of once fired 7.62x39 brass. It was the cheapest entry on AmmoSeek so I went for it ($25 shipped). The brass arrived quickly and I put it on the top of my "to process" pile.
On Nov 8th I finally got around to processing them and out of 104 rounds, 24 were Berdan primed, 2 were 5.56x45, and two were 300blk rounds. Twenty-eight out of 104: 27% were throw away. 27%
I contacted Marc Sperry expecting him to make it right and below is the interaction:

Me: I just got around to processing the brass that I ordered on 8 September and am incredibly disappointed. Out of 104 shells received, only 72 were useable. There were 24 that were berdan primed, two 300 blk, and two .223 shells. I expect a small percentage of loss with once fired brass, but nearly 30% is not acceptable. Please let me know what you are going to do to make this right.

Marc Sperry: Hello Sir,
I am sorry that the lot of brass you received had as many berdan primed pieces as you claimed. That is one of the reasons we put 5-10% more pieces per order quantity. We strive to give you the best workable piece of brass possible for the money. We are currently unable to separate boxer from berdan primed brass without fully processing it ourselves, which would up your cost.
I appreciate your feed back and value your opinion. I will see about getting you a coupon code for 10% off your next order. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to earn your business.
Respectfully,
Marc Sperry

Me: This is unacceptable. You didn't include 5-10%, you included 4%
(104). Your inability to separate boxer from berdan is ridiculous.
Sending me 27% berdan is not ok, it is ridiculous. Giving me 10% off
and ripping me off by 30% doesn't make sense. Either send me the 28
shells as ordered or refund me 30%.

Marc: You show me another company that would do that for the price you got, and I will happily oblige.

Me: All I want is what I paid for. I paid for 100 rounds of reloadable
7.62x39 brass. I got 72 rounds of 7.62x39 brass. You show me another
company that would rip a customer off by 27% and I will happily let
this go.

Marc: I empathize with your disappointment.
I have made special arrangements to give you a discount on another order if you could see giving us another chance to earn your business. Unfortunately, we cannot take back returned components, regardless of the situation.
The order was for 100 brass cases of 7.62x39, which was fulfilled. I would guess, the berdan primed and other cases skewed the weight that would have otherwise given a better percentage of usable brass. It is our goal to offer exceptional products at fair value, and provide them in good faith. I thank you for your recent business, and hope to have the opportunity to serve you again.
I apologize in advance if we cannot find common ground to resolve this issue.
Respectfully,
Marc Sperry

Sperry Customer Service: Dear sir,
Please accept this gift of 10% off anything on the web store that is currently in stock from now until Dec 31st.
At checkout, enter the promotion code LOCKNLOAD to have the discount applied to your order.
We thank you for your business and hope we can continue to earn it in the future.
Best Regards,
Sperry Ballistics


Huh, a coupon for 10% that expires in less than two months for a ~30% shortage in my order.... Not ok.

That being said, I won't be using their coupon to give another dime to Sperry Ballistics, I hope you won't either. I have ordered a lot of brass in my life, I have had a lot of unusable brass shipped to me, but I have NEVER been shorted like this - ever.

[sofbak]

If u paid with a credit card, time to file a dispute with the card issuer.

[stilly]

If u paid with a credit card, time to file a dispute with the card issuer.

There ya go.

On your replies though, you screwed up.

I would have said, "You promised me this, you gave me that, this looks like a bait and switch so since what you are telling me does not add up, I will give you the opportunity to send me the 28 shells and in return I will send these back to you. If you do not wish to do this minor act of good customer service, then I will stop doing business with you and share with social media and 7 other gun forums the experience I had here in an attempt to see if others have also had the same experience and if so how they dealt with your customer service."

Then end it with, YOU HAVE TEN SECONDS TO COMPLY! - then give him a machine gun burst to the chest like in Robocop!


Okay, maybe leave out the ten seconds to comply part... Only in real life. And upon doing so you would be required to tell him he is mediocre and then flash your visible abs before blasting him... I will witness you though.

[robert101]

I do understand the frustration BUT. You paid $25 for 100 cases and +-3/4 of the order was usable (30% berdan primed.) So the value of the order was reduced from $24 paid for the 104 total cases. The discrepancy is some +-$8.00. Not enough to sweat over. Go to another supplier in the future and have fun shooting. At the very least the guy was polite in his email responses. That does mean something to me.

[baih777]

That's not bad customer service. I checked the website. You got what was described. 7.62x39 brass. It does not specify boxer primed cases. He could have sent you all berdan primed cases.

[baih777]

This is what you should have been looking for. Read the description.

http://www.gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.aspx?Item=520347555

[Jeepergeo]

File a dispute with the credit card issuer and you will come.out on top.

If you paid by money order or check or debit card or barter , you are prerty much on your own.

[M&P1554]

I see both sides but everyone knows that a upset customer is gona scream bloody murder online. And that could affect sales

[loopy]

I don't know, I understand your upset and frustration. Having been both a vendor and purchaser for many companies his terms are pretty straight forward, its how we interpret what we read that makes a difference. From your post and his website his website tells you what you will receive and how its processed. Which you received. There was never any mention of type primer pockets and unfortunately is an assumption beyond the post of the ad. As for filing a credit card claim about your purchase your gonna lose that battle. Terms and conditions are forward and even if the cc company agreed with you and assumed you were supposed to get all boxer primer cases a 30 day refund policy was available to you. Technically you received what you ordered +4%. The seller made no guarantee of what it did not include.... Just states you get the the size you wanted tumbled and dried if of course were looking at the same ad he currently has posted...
Hope this helps.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

[DaveInOroValley]

The seller should of rectified this period. Then update his web site with a disclaimer that states what he obviously practices. That way no one in the future can complain.

Companies as a whole need to practice good customer service from the lowest member of the team on up to the top rung. Sadly it is usually the opposite that occurs and all it does is lose a customer and create discontent.

[FLIGHT762]

That's not bad customer service. I checked the website. You got what was described. 7.62x39 brass. It does not specify boxer primed cases. He could have sent you all berdan primed cases.

There was never any mention of type primer pockets and unfortunately is an assumption beyond the post of the ad.

Nonsense, you go to the website with the ad and there is a very clear photo of the brass. The photo clearly shows a Winchester head stamp and a PMC head stamp (both boxer primed manufacture), which are the only two head stamps visible. There is also a clear photo showing the inside of a case showing the single, Boxer primed flash hole in a case. There is no photo of a Berdan head stamp case.

The photo it's self implies the brass for sale is in fact Boxer primed. Anyone would have been fooled by the ad.

The seller should send the O/P some Boxer primed cases and then update his web ad indicating the presence of some Berdan cases that will be included with the Boxer cases.

See for yourself here: http://www.sperryballistics.com/762x...ING_p_103.html

[Heretodaygonetomorrow]

The Website ad is deceptive by omission. No where in the ad is there a disclaimer/warning that the brass will be mixed boxer and berdan primers. Or, that the Sale is As-Is. That the brass is not counted (actually sold by weight). Or, that some additional cases will be included to cover unusable/unrecoverable brass. Or, that some of the brass may not be what was ordered. Sending an extra 4% of cases that are the wrong caliber, is not an acceptable substitute/replacement for sending 24% unusable product.

Just because the website ad did not explain/omits the pitfalls of ordering from them does not relieve them of the responsibility of delivering usable product.

Bad Customer Service. The responding person at Sperry, should have apologized for the mistake, and sent additional product to cover the defective/missing/unusable product. A unhappy customer is not going to throw more money at a company after being unhappy with a previous purchase.

[bandook]

I don't know, I understand your upset and frustration. Having been both a vendor and purchaser for many companies his terms are pretty straight forward, its how we interpret what we read that makes a difference. From your post and his website his website tells you what you will receive and how its processed. Which you received. There was never any mention of type primer pockets and unfortunately is an assumption beyond the post of the ad. As for filing a credit card claim about your purchase your gonna lose that battle. Terms and conditions are forward and even if the cc company agreed with you and assumed you were supposed to get all boxer primer cases a 30 day refund policy was available to you. Technically you received what you ordered +4%. The seller made no guarantee of what it did not include.... Just states you get the the size you wanted tumbled and dried if of course were looking at the same ad he currently has posted...
Hope this helps.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

I totally disagree... by this logic, he could have received 100 split cases and have to suck it up - because, you know, nowhere does it say that you will actually be able to reload these cases and fire them out of a firearm without causing injury to yourself, the firearm and people and objects around you.

Besides, the seller himself agrees that Berdan primed brass is unusable (the reason why they include some extras), so making the argument that 'this is just the customer's interpretation' is not correct. The listing does not say that the brass will be a mix of Boxer and Berdan - which I do think is a material omission by the seller.

Overall, I do agree that this is a lot of time and effort expended for $5.

[LynnJr]

If the cases were split it would not be useful for any purpose except scrap. So not really a point worth mentioning.
And you can reload Berdan brass so while not what he wanted he got what he ordered which was cheap bulk brass that included shipping.
On the other hand Sperry should update his website so people know what to expect. Winning the battle but losing the war is not good for business.
I would 100% side with the OP except he waited to long to find the problem.

[M&P1554]

Seller is hurting his rep regardless. No way would I let something as little as a few pieces of brass be the cause of my company getting a bad reputation. But then again I don't own my own company.

I wouldn't expect a good out come. Live and learn an move on. Try to find a new supplier and get back to shooting