Don Golembieski

[uscbigdawg]

Hi all,

I'm moving all over now (visiting the girlfriend in Oklahoma so I'm more than a little busy since I haven't seen her in a year).

Anyways, I've been trying to e-mail Don Golembieski about paying off a rifle but haven't heard back in a while. I'm hoping of my fellow BE.com'ers that are in AZ to maybe get a hold of him and ask him to check his Cox.net e-mail (the address that's on his Kodiak Precision website).

Thanks for any assistance and I'll try calling him this week.

Rich

[Anthony Lombardo]

Hi all,

I'm moving all over now (visiting the girlfriend in Oklahoma so I'm more than a little busy since I haven't seen her in a year).

Anyways, I've been trying to e-mail Don Golembieski about paying off a rifle but haven't heard back in a while. I'm hoping of my fellow BE.com'ers that are in AZ to maybe get a hold of him and ask him to check his Cox.net e-mail (the address that's on his Kodiak Precision website).

Thanks for any assistance and I'll try calling him this week.

Rich

I emailed him several times about building a gun for me but alas he was too busy to ever return my call. His loss.

[BigDave]

When I e-mailed him, it was nearly 2 weeks getting a reply. when I called, he picked up the phone. If it is a priority, folks, pick up the phone.

Most of these gunsmiths have been running mills and fitting slides long before e-mail was an everyday thing. But, ol Alex Bell invented that pesky telephone long before even our grandparents were born (well, most of us anyway ). I'd be willing to bet that for most gunsmiths the website that they have is more for advertising and a FAQ (services, general pricing, etc. ) If you want an answer, pick up the damn phone.

BTW - Don did tell me when I talked to him nearly a year ago tha he will be scaling back the gun plumbing business in favor of R&D work for Vhit/Lapua.

[Anthony Lombardo]

When I e-mailed him, it was nearly 2 weeks getting a reply. when I called, he picked up the phone. If it is a priority, folks, pick up the phone.

Most of these gunsmiths have been running mills and fitting slides long before e-mail was an everyday thing. But, ol Alex Bell invented that pesky telephone long before even our grandparents were born (well, most of us anyway ). I'd be willing to bet that for most gunsmiths the website that they have is more for advertising and a FAQ (services, general pricing, etc. ) If you want an answer, pick up the damn phone.

BTW - Don did tell me when I talked to him nearly a year ago tha he will be scaling back the gun plumbing business in favor of R&D work for Vhit/Lapua.

Maybe people who are in business who do not check their email should not post their email?

[uscbigdawg]

Sounds like I'm not the only one. I'll call him as soon as I can.

Rich

[shred]

I think anybody that posts an e-mail should at least look at it occasionally, but e-mail is not the near-real-time communications medium some of us would like it to be. Given the tremendous quantity of spam that a website-published e-mail address gets, my usual plan when dealing with people that aren't in tech industries is to give them a week to reply before worrying about it. If a week is too long, then I have to go dust off my phone.

[TreblePlink]

I too am beginning to learn this about a lot of folks in this sport. In my "world" almost everybody I know checks email (and will respond) in a day or less, often very quickly. I don't understand folks who post their email address but rarely or never check it. Worse yet, some seem to check it but don't respond - "Oh yeah, I got that ". Its like giving somebody directions to a dead end road.

Most businesses will benefit from a website - seems like if they don't want to fuss with email, they should provide other means of contacting them and not include the email "mailto."

I think anybody that posts an e-mail should at least look at it occasionally, but e-mail is not the near-real-time communications medium some of us would like it to be. Given the tremendous quantity of spam that a website-published e-mail address gets, my usual plan when dealing with people that aren't in tech industries is to give them a week to reply before worrying about it. If a week is too long, then I have to go dust off my phone.

[al503]

Maybe people who are in business who do not check their email should not post their email?

x2. Can't be more simple than that.

Smith's/businesses that get back to me quickly get my business. I think it's a good barometer of their character/customer service as a whole. Those that don't, won't get my business unless they're the only ones that carry what I need.

Edited July 25, 2006 by al503

[Flatland Shooter]

If fast e-mail response is your requirement to be your gunsmith, e-mail George at EGW. Always a fast response to e-mails and phone calls.

(Not recommending you e-mail George just to see a fast response, place a order or pose a valid question, please.)

[boo radley]

Has anyone read "Eric Clapton's Guitar -- watching Wayne Henderson Build the Perfect Instrument?"

This thread kind reminds me of this recent book; Wayne Henderson being a brilliant, but somewhat eccentric, luthier who'll build you a world-class acoustic guitar for (relatively) peanuts, but there's a 10-year waiting list, that's not maintained very well. (Or maybe less than 10 years, you pester him and bring him doughnuts, or...Etc.).

edited to add: I, too, find lack of response to email frustrating. I realize 'smiths (or whomever), probably get mail-bombed with constant inquiries or "how much would it be to...", 99% of which never occur, and composing an individual response to each inquiry has to be tiresome. But IMO, a simple form letter, or hell, boiler plate text that can be cut 'n pasted, that provides ANY kind of response is goodness."

Edited July 25, 2006 by boo radley

[Mistral404]

Don is a gunsmith. His computer keying skills pale in comparison. He reads his emails and will answer his emails but he is not at his computer very often.

He prefers phone calls. He will answer them when he can.

Don is assuming other responsibilities which take him away from the the phone for days at a time. Leave a message and he should return it.

There may be other personal reasons why Don is unavailable. My suggestions is be patient. And try again.

BTW: I talked with Don last week. So it is possible to reach him.

"x2. Can't be more simple than that.

Smith's/businesses that get back to me quickly get my business. I think it's a good barometer of their character/customer service as a whole. Those that don't, won't get my business unless they're the only ones that carry what I need."

I take exception to this statement as an inference into Don's character. Don is a stand up guy. He does a lot of work for big names in the shooting business and does not brag about it. My suggestion is if your criteria is the basis for deciding who gets your busines then so be it. Don will always get my business first because 1) his work is superior 2) his service is excellent 3) his guns run!. Go to someone else - so maybe my next gun will get done sooner. Perhaps you guys have no real perception of how many emails these people get. I was talking with Angus the other day about my email to him. He explained he was at a match and he had over 250 emails to read. Get the idea that reading emails v. doing business. hmmmmm Don would rather be building customers guns.

[al503]

I take exception to this statement as an inference into Don's character. Don is a stand up guy. He does a lot of work for big names in the shooting business and does not brag about it. My suggestion is if your criteria is the basis for deciding who gets your busines then so be it. Don will always get my business first because 1) his work is superior 2) his service is excellent 3) his guns run!. Go to someone else - so maybe my next gun will get done sooner. Perhaps you guys have no real perception of how many emails these people get. I was talking with Angus the other day about my email to him. He explained he was at a match and he had over 250 emails to read. Get the idea that reading emails v. doing business. hmmmmm Don would rather be building customers guns.

I wasn't trying to single out Mr. Golembieski. I've never tried to contact him so I have no personal experience to go off of. My statement was fueled more by my experiences with other well-known people/businesses in the industry that don't seem to answer e-mails or phone messages.

I'm glad you bring up Angus. He actually has/had a little blurb on his site about being away on the weekends competing and that there might be a resulting delay in getting something out. In addition, despite having so many e-mails, Angus gets back to me every time and within a couple of days. His e-mails are short (often a broken sentence or two) and to the point but he answers my question(s) and I purchase some of my equipment and supplies from him as a result. The same goes for other vendors, a few of them here on enos.com.

[jhgtyre]

Don has always been accessible to me even if I did have to wait to get his time. I realized a long time ago that people who run a business by themselves often have a lot do for a lot of people and very little time to do it in. This isn't a Jiffy Lube with a staff on hand to crank out your service in half an hour. Give Don some time and he will create one of the finest firearms you've ever held.

-ld

[benos]

Although Don's one of the finest smiths in the country - he's not a "computer guy."

Call him:

480 832-8107

be

[uscbigdawg]

Okay...called him today. Answering machine said he's unavailable until 19 September, so I should be good.

Let's hope it all works out.

Any suggestions for glass to put on a Kodiak Precision 6mm AI?

Rich

[Carmoney]

Have you guys not yet figured out that most gunsmiths are absolutely horrible businessmen?

[Merlin Orr]

I have spent just about every day piddling/working at Triangle Shooting Sports for the last couple of months. Really an eye opener as far as the e mails go. Benny goes through about 60 - 100 or so in the morning and more during the day. I would guess he does about 20-40 calls a day also. For someone who actually has to work away from a desk to do his "job" the e mail and phone take a huge part of his actual work time every day. It really seems a juggling act between keeping up good customer relations (and taking time for his friends) and building the product that keeps the doors open. It sure does not appear as "glamorous" of a job as I thought it was a few months ago.......

[Rob Boudrie]

When you look at your smith's hourly rate, remember the time you pay him for also has to pay for the time he can't charge for.

There is a way to make a small fortune in the gunsmithing business. Start with a large one.

[BritinUSA]

...There is a way to make a small fortune in the gunsmithing business. Start with a large one.

The way to make a small fortune in the gunsmithing business is to hire an experienced person to answer the phone/emails and also to schedule the work-orders. That person would need knowledge of how long each piece of work takes (approx) so they could schedule the time into the next available slot.

The gunsmith can then spend 8 hours a day doing all the magic stuff. Anyone can accomplish an astonishing amount of work if they are not being interrupted all the time. It's like writing code, everytime the phone rings your brain has to do a reset and deal with that call and then reset again to get back to what you were doing.

A good gunsmith should be able to triple their output and double their money even taking into account the cost of the receptionist/work scheduler. It's all about time management...

I spent a day with an incredible gunsmith back in England while he was working on a new compensator for my gun. I was there about 4-5 hours and his phone must have rung at least once every 10 minutes. It was insane, and this was before email took off.

[uscbigdawg]

I tend to agree with Brit. When I was in college, I part timed at a hot rod shop. The owner was self-admittedly a horrible businessman. But, he knew his faults. He hired me to turn wrenches and be as Brit suggested the job scheduler. If I didn't know how long how to do something and Scott was busy/unavailable, he gave me some mechanic's books that list approximate time (labor) to do a particular block of work.

There's nothing saying that anyone in any business can't do the same thing.

When I was still doing architecture and a fee was agreed upon, I only had so many hours to take out of the fee, and still keep the bosses happy. My chunk had to pay for me, my assistant(s) (depending on how big the job was) and all of our consultants (structural, mechanical, electrical engineers, et. al.). After about 6 months and going through a couple of similar types of projects, you can find a pattern. Establish a template still allowing for variations. Proper planning/strategy in advance will yield if nothing a smoother outcome of the product and odds are you'll find greater efficiency and more $$$.

Just my opinion. I know Don's busy and appreciate it. Just want some info to work with that's all. Patience is a newly acquired virtue, and it's working pretty well.

Rich

[Mistral404]

Talk with Don about the glass. He has two that he does a lot of business with-Sawarski and Khales-I apologize for the spelling. Both are big bucks but once you see those optics everything else pales in comparsion. I have shot his guns with that glass at the 550 meter ram at Rio Salado. Then I shot another friends AI with another brand X. Major difference in clarity. Now that is not to say the other brand X was not very good but the Don's was far superior. Also note that my friend wins alot matches with Brand X.

BTW: I talked with Don on Tuesday.

[Putty]

Ever get ahold of Don? I have been trying for awhile.............

[Mistral404]

Sandoz,

I have talked with Don twice this week by phone.

I am not sure of the logistical issue why you guys can not connect. But I can also tell you I have also left messages with him and he has not returned them. Be aware he does travel quite a bit so that may be an issue. My advice is to try again. Probably late next week although he will be at A2. So it may be until A2 that he is actually returning calls.

[uscbigdawg]

Left messages, with no return call. I'm sure he's busy, and I can appreciate that. Basically, I just wanted to make sure he was alright, but too, check up on paying him off on a rifle that he built.

Rich

[uscbigdawg]

So...since Nov. 2nd (my previous post) I've left 2-3 more phone messages and equal number of e-mails before I left for A-Stan in January. No returns. Anyone have an idea on what's up? I've been trying to pay this rifle off for a long time and Don has been super patient about it. Just need to know what my balance is. My brother lives in AZ and will do the paperwork.

Rich