Weatherby Service Department Report

[WbySub-MOA]

Well, Well- I just finished an interesting conversation with Weatherby Service Dept...hence the shooting public must be made aware of our conversation pronto!

I contacted the service depart. via their 800 number (1-800-334-4423) and reached a lady going the name Tereasa. I explained that I had recently purchased their new Sub-MOA Varmint, that I was pleased with the factory target group, but there were issues with the action-bedding block and barrel channel-issues that I could remedy myself. But most importantly, it's trigger was less than desirable, as I'm sure everyone has read about across other forums and e-zine columns/comentaries.

I asked if they were aware of the multitude of complaints surrounding their triggers being installed on the Vanguard series. She politely said "No, I wasn't aware of any complaints." She then suggested that I purchase an aftermarket trigger. I asked to speak with the Service Manager, which I was told that he wasn't in the building. I asked to speak to speak to a Service Tech, when she then transferred my call.

I asked the service tech the same questions, and he wasn't aware of the complaints. I mentioned that I knew about their spring producer supplying them with the wrong spring(s) specifications...where at that point he seemed to remember that there was an issue about that, and if I wasn't happy w/my trigger, I should contact my nearest Weatherby Service Center, and he gave me their local and telephone number. I asked if they thought that the trigger assembly was bad or any of the main components, and the tech simply did not know and let it slip that he just wasn't aware of any shortcomings that the vanguard trigger design could expose. I asked him what the cost of certain components within the trigger would cost, and he had NO IDEA.

Next, I called the service center suggested to me, and that person stated that he didn't have any parts to work on the Vanguard triggers, that he would have to order them from Weatherby direct- and that the turn-around time would be at least two weeks. And to heap the insult- I would have to pay for the shipping/handling/insurance out of my pocket.

I called Weatherby back and asked for the price/availability of the trigger, and she said that they did have the part in stock, and it would run $25.00 plus ten dollars shipping to their field reps. Then the field rep would pass that charge and other fees plus my shipping costs of the rifle. Comes close to $60.00 for all of this fuss, when Timney can be purchased for $70.00 to my residence.

This is my fourth vanguard, my other 3 had fine triggers and were excellent performers. While this particular rifle prints well, I'm very fussy about having to focus on trigger let-offs. A gritty, half-mile of creep ain't gonna cut it in my arsenol. And yes, I can stone it and all the little tweaks and tricks one can apply to achieve a glass-breaking crisp trigger. I like my triggers to give me the perception of breaking a glass needle. Once you've worked with wonderfully crisp triggers of this nature, its nigh impossible to deal with anything less.

As posted elsewhere online, I am no longer going to purchase a rifle from a gun company that really doesn't make their gun.

Whenever I needed service from Remington, whether it was a replacement part or major servicing required or total rifle exchange-out. . .those boys were ON IT and I mean now. No Questions Asked !!! Their turn-around time was less than a week...and through the years, I had come to know several members of the Remington team. Top-Flight gentlemen, everyone of them.

Weatherby personnel portrayed a non-chalaunt, don't give a **** attitude.

 

[Fiftydriver]

Interesting thing is that if you put an aftermarket trigger on the rifle or modify any of the factory parts you mentioned such as bedding or barrel channel fit or such, if you ever need to return the rifle to Wby for serious work, not only will your warrantee be void but they will also, without asking mind you , replace your aftermarket trigger with another lawyer proof factory trigger and replace your stock as well, ON YOUR DIME and not return the replaced parts with the rifle.

I actually witnessed this happen to a friend of mine many years ago, right then Wby was off my list of rifles I would buy. Not only that but for the money, they do not perform the way they should on average.

Wby customer service has been very bad for many years in this respect.

I had another friend burn out the barrel on his Mk V in 257 WBy and wanted to get it rebarreled by the company. He sent in the rifle with instructions on why and what he wanted done and in a few weeks got a reply that they would not do any work on the rifle because he had shot hand loads through the rifle and that was the reason for the accelerated barrel wear.

His reply was that if you do not allow handloaded ammo, why do they sell empty brass under the Wby name for ungodly amounts of money, just for conversation pieces????

He did not get a reply but in another month or so he got his rifle back with a new barrel and was charged fully for the replacement. Bad thing is that the old worn out barrel shot better then the new one with most loads.

Anyway, just another reason I do not recommend or use Wby rifles or receivers.

Kirby Allen(50)

 

[silvertip-co]

Wby

Sad to hear all that. But as a person who has been a purchasing agent( among other mfg professions) for many years, it all doesnt surprise me. There are wayyy to many companies out there who 'manufacture' n.o.t.h.i.n.g. and sell everything with their name on it. The mfrs are usally contract companies who are the actual producers and some times those 'producers' are not able to sell direct to the public( John Q. Customer ). I think the Vanguards are still Howa's and the top of the line Wby are made by Saco Defence Systems or a similar company in MN ( ATK ?) with similar mfg capabilities. It sounds like Wby customer service and tech depts arent 'aware' of their own products. Maybe Roy Jr aint the shooter we thought he was. If they have a forum or customer thing ontheir site I'd be prone to post some negative comments.

Was thinking myself about gonna buy a Wby for my retirement gift to myself in 4 yrs. Looking at LH German Wbys online etc.

Oh well, we'll see how this all shakes out I guess.

 

[philny1]

I'm sure we've all had our share of bad/good experiences with various customer sevice departments.
About a year ago I purchased a Wby Ultra Lightweight 338/06. This rifle would not measure up to Wbys accuracy standards. I returned it through one of Wbys service centers, and at that time was warned that they don't move to fast and to be patient. It took awhile, eventually was contacted by a guy named Rodney. He wanted to know if I would consider a replacement rifle, I opted for an ULW in 257 Wby. Upon checking their inventory Rodney said one was available, it would be sent to the range for test firing. It was another 3-4 weeks and I had a new gun.
Now if ya want to hear a rant, mention Zeiss customer non service.

 

[hogwild]

A year and a half ago I bought a brand new 338-378 Weatherby accumark. From the get go the gun shot poorly and soon discovered the front action screw would not stay torqued. The screw would stay torqued for 7-8 shots and loosen up again. I contacted Weatherby about what was happening and they sent me a "new" front action screw and advised me to put blue loc-tite on the threads. I did as they requested and still the screw would come loose after 7-8 shots. I contacted Weatherby again and they wanted me to send the rifle in so I sent the rifle to an authorized repair center on my dime and the repair shop installed a new action screw, I had sent a letter along in the guns hard case informing the shop that a new screw had already been installed and it did not correct the problem. Now I was out 36.00 or so dollars and still had the same problem.

I then took the problem in to my own hands to get it corrected and sent the gun to Fiftydriver. Needless to say the gun was fixed and the screw never came loose again.

Now that the action screw issue was fixed, (poor bedding was the original cause) it was time to work up some loads. I ended up finding 3 different bullets with 3 different powders that shot sub MOA on several occasions at 100 yards and I was pretty excited. I chose to try the 250 NP load out at 200 yards first. Well it shot horriable, looked like a shotgun pattern. I thought it had to be me, the scope or something I was doing in the reloading process because it shot so well at 100 yards. I talked with several knowlegeable people about what was happening and upon their advise I decided to try some 225 accubonds. I loaded the accubonds with some "new" Norma brass, wanted a good fresh start. These loads shot great at 200 yards and I was once again excited. I went home and loaded up some more rounds using the recently once fired brass to try and headed back to the range. The joy from the last trip to the range came to a grinding halt quick fast and in a hurry because once again these loads shot as horriable as my 250 NP did on my first attempt. I then decided to do an expirement with some new brass, once fired and 3 times fired brass. I loaded up 9 pieces each for all 3 types of brass. With in the 9 pieces of brass 3 were neck sized, 3 were partial sized amd 3 were FL sized. Well the only brass that shot great at 200 yards was the new brass, all the rest shot just like mentioned above, horriable. The new brass shot repeatedly well on several more range trips.

I contacted Weatherby about what was happening and of course they said they don't recommend reloading, blah,blah... I asked the tech why in the hell do you sell "Weatherby brass" to the public IF Weatherby was so against reloading? He said it's because they have no control over the loads in which people make, makes logical sence to me. I went on to explain that my gun was in no way damaged but rather something was not right from the factory. The tech asked if the gun would shoot 1.5 at 100 yards and I said yes, 100 yards was not an issue the problem was at 200 yards and beyond. They said that the gun was shooting with in their guarantee so they would not even look at the gun. Well needless to say I was ****ed and to some point still am. Weatherby already has my money for the gun, brass ect.. What would it have hurt for them to have taken a look at it and try to see if something was wrong, **** happens and I can understand that. I have lots of respect for a company or a person who can/will admit to a problem if there is one and is willing to make it right. But I can't respect a company who takes your money for a product that does not live up to their or my standards and will do nothing to make it right.

On a positive note from this whole issue is that my gun is now in the hands of Fiftydriver and it will be transformed in to the very accurate 338AX. I'll never own another Weatherby again.

 

[Buffalobob]

Reminds me of Black and Decker two years ago. I bought a toaster oven even though I knew it was not a tool and therefore should have bought a brand that knew something about kitchens. After about a week the heat caused the knob to get brittle and break.

Well, I grabbed some super glue and glued it back together. About two weeks later the knob broke and shattered so bad I could not super glue it back together. So I went up on their website to order and pay for a new knob, even though it was obvious that the plastic in the knob was not appropriate for hot applications.

After searching around on B&D's website for nearly a half an hour, I finally found their parts order section and began filling out the order form. When I got to the address section of the form, there was a pull down for "state". Nowhere could I find District of Columbia, so I tried to type it in but it would not accept typed because it did not correspond to their list. So I dcecided if I entered the right zipcode the Post Office would ignore the state and get it to me but the B&D website double checked zipcode against state and would not let me enter a DC zipcode for either Maryland or Virginia.

Then I decided to give up and think about all of this for a day. The next day I tried again with the same results so I decided to use their "contact us" email. I asked them if any of them had graduated from the fourth grade because that is where we learn that Washington DC is the capitol of the United States and that it is a real place. I then asked them if the reason it was not listed in the "states" in their address form was because they knew good and well that they had been electing the most worthless people from each state and exiling them to congress and the white house and therefore did not want to hear from anyone in Washington DC because every one was a worthless corrupt crook. I then informed them that I was not an elected official and would they please send me a new knob part number XXXXX and preferrably one that was made of material that was suitable for a hot location to the following address.

I got an email back that their department was not responsible for the programming on the parts order page.

Surprisingly enough, a knob came in the mail.

 

[WbySub-MOA]

Thanks for the heads-up, Fifty. You can bet my attitude has swung a sincere 180 on Wby.

 

[WbySub-MOA]

Oops...I'm still finding my feet around here..

 

[blackco]

Ya know, I'm suprised to hear this about Wheatherby. I have never dealt with them but I have dealt with Winchester, Remington, Marlin, and Freedom Arms. EVERY time I have been treated more than fairly by EVERY company.

Years ago I lived in Alaska and after a Friday afternoon range visit preparing for a Sunday morning fly-out caribou hunt, I found the fireing pin in my Casull was broken. On Saturday I called Freedom Arms (knowing nobody would be in on a Saturday) and low and behold, someone was in the office for a minute picking something up AND answered the phone. I told him my problem and he said, "go to (local Freedom Arms dealer) have them pull a fireing pin from a gun on the shelf and put it in your gun. I'll call them and let them know you are coming. Tell them to bill us and have a great hunt!" WOW!!!

I have contacted both Remington and Winchester to get parts I messed up. Each time I told them it was completly my fault and their reply was ALWAYS, the part is on its way free of charge, have a nice day.

I have ALWAYS been amazed with the customer service I have gotten from compainies in the shooting industry. I have always been impressed that customer service meant just that. That has been MY experience. Its too bad Wheaterby hasn'e stood up to the same tradition. Oh well, I guess I'll stay with "Big Green."

I'm sorry to haer the problerms you all have had, it is VERY frusterating. Maybe if we start talking with our wallets the "less good" companies will start listening.