Buy A New Reloading Press? Please Read!

[Run n Gun]

EricW,

I faired better with our old chum Hirohito, what you describe are my every day table manners, however, Das Fuhrer took offence. I guess it’s all right to create an axis if the other guy (and his table manners) stays on the opposite side of the world!

My trip to “the Fatherland” wasn’t a total waste, during that now infamous, all night keger with Reichsmarschall Goering (they seized the photographs… DAMN) I did manage to convince Hermann that an hour and a half of duration in the Bf-109 was PLENTY. “Think of how much fuel you’ll save not filling those big fuel tanks”. FDR even sent a “special” cigar along with me to help with that.

A Flying Tiger eh? Boy you DID piss somebody off. I spent the duration flying Blimps out of San Diego, ostensibly on sub look out, it’s amazing what you see if you hover quietly over that beach on summer days.

Ed

[PistolPete]

Here is my thought on this:

Everyone I know that owns a Dillon and had something break on it Dillon had the parts out to them free of charge with a few days. That to me is VERY impressive. As for them not helping your friend I see your point but I do see Dillons as well. If they no longer make parts for that particular press or the press itself then I can see them not fixing it. However, I agree with you in the fact they should take a return on his old press and give him a credit towards an upgrade.

Pete

[Duane Thomas]

I guess I haven't owned my Dilon or my Glock long enough to get that tunnel-vision mind set yet. Will try harder.

Oh please. I called up Dillon and talked to them about this very topic yesterday. The RL 300 was never covered by the no-BS lifetime warranty. That didn't start until later, from the RL 450 on. Get it? So now you can stop libeling the company based on your incomplete understanding of the facts.

[texasag93]

I thought this topic had died down already but guess not. My friend has an advertisement from Dillon that states "all of their reloading equipment is covered for life." that was printed prior to his purchase of the 300. There is actually an advertisement for the 300 in the same publication. Dillon didn't state that the 300 was excluded from this warranty. All he wanted was parts for his press and was willing to pay for them. He was not politely told they had none; he was rudely told that they would do nothing about it. I don't care that it wasn't covered(I know that now and knew it before). I don't like poor or even worse, rude customer service. This man has 5(well now 4 working) Dillon presses and loads exclusively on them. I think a repeat customer like that would be treated a little better. The public needs to hear the good with the bad. I am not "libeling" anyone. This is a captive audiance that bleeds Dillon blue so I may be laying this on def ears. Once again, I own one, I love it. Just reporting a bad incendent with the all mighty Dillon.

[Duane Thomas]

texasag93,

I just got off the phone a few minutes ago from talking to Mark Pixler, my editor at Dillon's Blue Press, specifically about your friend's problem. The idea that one of their phone people might have been rude to a customer, or customers, is something they're taking very seriously. AAMOF there was a meeting at Dillon earlier today on that very topic. Your friend is encouraged to call Dillon (1-800-223-4570) and tell the story of his experience. He's also encouraged to name names as far as who exactly was the offending phone person. I think someone is about to get fired. Your friend should ask to speak to Gary Kieft, Dillon's Sales Manager, and if Gary can't solve the problem, he should ask to speak to Steve Dillon, Vice President and General Manager.

And please, allow me to apologize personally for being rude to you. I believe I have lowered the tone of civility we strive so hard to maintain, here in the Enosverse.

[crazyaboutguns]

Mr. Thomas: By your statements in your posting, you are afilliated with Dillon Precision in a monetary relationship

derived from your writings. You did not so state in your earlier postings concerning the

matter of customer service, product support and warranty issues. In fact you were sarcastic to, and dismissive

of the issues raised by texasag93 in his postings concerning a Dillon press. Your most recent posting

states your concern for the customer, Dillon Precision's concern, and asserts that specific subjects will be the

subject of formal conduct within a Dillon Precision internal meeting. If Dillon Precision is so concerned, why are you

serving as a surrogate for an official contact with this forum, instead of a titled official of Dillon? Also, how and

why are you, a professional writer, privy to corporate information conerning a firm that a professional writer

covering the shooting sports should, by professional standards, have an arms length relationship with?

[PistolPete]

Glad to see we're all getting along again.

[EricW]

yo crazy,

Everybody on planet freakin' Earth besides you knows that Duane writes for the Blue Press and has done so for years. It's the worst kept secret ever. All the guy did was contact Dillon on Texas' behalf because there was a concern about poor customer service.

And Dillon is CONCERNED and will act accordingly. My guess is that Texas' pal gets total satisfaction after this. There is no problem. There is no hidden conflict of interest. No one has a hidden agenda. This whole mess probably stemmed from an advertising mistake of 20 years ago (which may well be a *misinterpretation*), which was then compounded by what may or may well NOT be questionable customer service. Give people the benefit of the doubt for good intentions.

That said, if I had a 20 year old, obsolete piece of equipment that had given me good service and finally could not get parts for it, I would call it even and cough up for a modern press. After all, it cost me 20 bucks a year to save a couple hundred. But...I'm not everbody, and I'm sure people thank their lucky stars for that.

[georgel]

Tex, that press that your friend has, would it by chance be a 450 Jr.?

I have one and it works great. Mines's setup for .38/.357, 9mm and I have the parts for .45 Colt but I couldn't get a setup for .45ACP. Now I'm thinking about letting it go. Haven't decided yet. If your friend has the same press, maybe we could talk.

[Duane Thomas]

This whole mess probably stemmed from an advertising mistake of 20 years ago (which may well be a *misinterpretation*), which was then compounded by what may or may well NOT be questionable customer service.

Eric,

I appreciate the thought. I was initially disbelieving of texasag93's statements about what his friend experienced because it's so foreign to any dealings I, or anyone else I've ever known, has had with Dillon. This company is known for its extraordinary customer service, and with good reason. I couldn't believe that any Dillon phone rep would be so rude to a customer, thus figured this was a case of an overly sensitive individual blowing things out of proportion and misstating the facts. But after talking to Dillon, apparently it's true they have had problems with one of their phone guys doing exactly that. And that's when I realized tag93 had a valid point.

[EricW]

Duane,

If it's a real customer service problem, OK, give the guy both barrels. Obviously, it sounds like Dillon's dealing with a pattern of behavior and not an isolated phone conversation gone sour (I don't care *who* you are, this happens occasionally in a customer service business - and no one's to blame.).

I've been on both sides of this issue many, many times now. I've been in way too many conversations where no matter how nicely you told a customer that something was obsolete - a thermonuclear blowup would ensue. I'm hoping that things work out well for everybody.

FWIW, I just bought a throttle linkage for a 30 year old John Deere. I was AMAZED that not only was it still in production, that they had it in for me by noon the next day.....AND it actually fit perfectly. It's pretty easy to get spoiled in America. I think we tend to fly off the handle occasionally when everything doesn't go our way - which is what I thought happened in this case.

Clearly I was wrong and stand corrected.

[PistolPete]

UPDATE:

Well I received my Dillon 650 press and I have it about 95% set up. I will say the difference between this press and my Lee Progressive 1000 is night and day. Everything on the Dillon is better built and it is so much stronger. The primer feed system is 200 times better. The die adjustment is also much better. Glad I spent the money to buy this press. Just wish I did it a year ago and saved my money on the Lee.

Pete

[EricW]

Another soul is saved and delivered to the Promised Land.

[texasag93]

OK, my internet has been down for over a week now(Gateway customer service really sucks!!) so I am just now catching up on this topic. I will let my friend know that he needs to call Dillon about the poor service he received. I didn't mean to ruffle any feathers here. I should have explained more clearly the situation and what I was peeved about to begin with. POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE. I just bought a Dillon myself and have heard nothing but good things about the company. I have not had to deal with them yet so I have no personal experience with their care of customers. While on the subject of customer service...I will never ever buy another Gateway again. The system is fine but if you ever have to deal with customer service you may want to pull your hair out. Hope we can all be cyber friends again!

[Duane Thomas]

We never stopped, man. Please let us know how things turn out with your friend.

[texasag93]

End result was not good. He told me today that he talked to Gary and got nowhere so he wrote(hand written and snail mailed) a 2 page letter to Mike Dillon himself. This was awhile back. He has had no reply since. I guess he won't have "total satifaction" on this one.

[Duane Thomas]

I talked again to the folks at Dillon today. The RL 300 never was covered by the No BS Lifetime Warranty. What Dillon did, lo these many years ago, was that after the machine was discontinued, they still gave away the parts for free, to anyone who needed them, until they were all gone. Chances of getting parts for this machine today, or asking Dillon to "honor" a promise they never made, seem zero.

Bummer.