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Brent Turchi

22K views 152 replies 82 participants last post by  gvf 
#1 ·
I just tried to get through to him & was told by Customer Service on the phone he is no longer employed by Colt.
Utterly insane.
Denis
 
#30 · (Edited)
Customer service rep told me yesterday that they are are not taking any new orders at this time. Said they would be again at some point in the future and they were working on older orders still, indicating there are still custom shop workers.
Said some changes or improvements were being made and then they would take orders again. ( I can't remember the exact wording) ..
I did not expect an answer, but asked how many were laid off at Colt and the person did not know. I asked if we are talking 40 or 50 people, .. didn't know numbers but said oh no.. less than that.


As always, likely only a Brent could confirm that as fact or fiction if he chooses to say. If he chooses to make no comments, I will understand and respect his decisions.
 
#36 · (Edited)
Colt, from outside, appears more and more, to be an "Inward Facing" company, not "Customer Facing" (read the marketing book), who listens to only their own voices? Some unfortunate inner dynamic had to get them in the position that they have corralled themselves into? Each time there is an issue within Colt, they face further inward, lay skilled people off and stop taking orders? This is not, IMHO, the way to success for what seems to have become a boutique gun company? This seems to be a company which can not sell anything they don't make in the Custom Shop with a two year, lead time. These inward facing approaches are menus for failure as they do not generate healthy cash flows, sales growth or sustainable profits?

I hope that I am wrong but with privately held company's, they never reveal any insight or promote interaction with their customers. These company's have no meaningful way to for clients to give feedback and they ignore feedback when given anyhow? I understand Dennis Veilleux's comments about feeling that Colt is unwelcome in Connecticut's, anti-gun, Liberally oriented culture and wishing that Colt could move to another state that would be more tolerant and welcoming? Mr. Veilleux has extensive engineering and manufacturing experience at other gun company's, including Ruger.

The Hartford area has over 8% unemployment and I would guess, has an aging manufacturing base which is not growing? Maybe they need a merger with another similar company, with a more nurturing cultural environment within this country, where they can prosper and grow and expand their product lines without being treated like a corporate Pariah just because they manufacture shooting products?
 
#38 ·
It is likely one day soon Brent will look back upon this and realized no longer being associated with this dysfunctional Colt company was one of the better things that happened in his life. I speak from experience, not at Colt per say, but getting the axe once in my career was a springboard to a much better job and company than the one I was in. And I'm sure others on this forum have had the same experience.

Hang in there Brent, better days are ahead.
 
#40 ·
There's a thread on the 1911 forum where a poster managed to talk to someone at Colt about firing Brent.
They invited him to email them and they'd pass it upward in the company.

The address:

cfrancis@colt.com

I emailed and was polite.
I told them that in addition to resolving customer problems, to Colt's credit, Brent also "sold" a lot more gun then Colt probably suspects.

I've been a "Colt man" for well over 60 years, and that's just how soon I was legally able to buy a Colt.
I actually wanted a Colt Government Model since I was about 5, and that's before I even knew what the name was.
It's getting hard to maintain the love.
 
#41 ·
There's a thread on the 1911 forum where a poster managed to talk to someone at Colt about firing Brent.
They invited him to email them and they'd pass it upward in the company.

The address:

cfrancis@colt.com

I emailed and was polite.
I told them that in addition to resolving customer problems, to Colt's credit, Brent also "sold" a lot more gun then Colt probably suspects.

I've been a "Colt man" for well over 60 years, and that's just how soon I was legally able to buy a Colt.
I actually wanted a Colt Government Model since I was about 5, and that's before I even knew what the name was.
It's getting hard to maintain the love.
Do we know if C Francis is a man or woman? Thanks.
 
#44 ·
I talked with Brent a couple of times and he is definetly a straight up guy..............He will be missed. If someone cares to write a very strong worded letter to Colt, I would gladly sign it...........It would be really something if we could get about 25,000 signatures on it...........
 
#45 ·
I would sign the letter for Brent as well, having spent the better part of 40 years within a very insular corporate culture who actually told us that we (the employees) had "no value" to the corporation and "do not expect any loyalty in return from us"!!! This was a New Jersey based, Medical Company, where most staffers had 20 or 30 years with the company? What a farce when they laid off 300+ Managers, Directors and VP's, all over 55 years old, because our Ferrari driving, Italian (rich guy, Marketing-MBA) CEO lied to Wall Street with outrageous, divisional EBIT numbers (he invented!) which we told him were bogus and he could never obtain!!!!
 
#48 ·
This is just terrible news. Brent is such a class act and always a pleasure to deal with. He truly cared about Colt customers. This is a HUGE loss for Colt. This is reminding me of how I felt when Bushmaster was taken over by Wall Street's "Freedom Group" and 5 years later let us all go.

Good luck to you Brent. You will be missed but some lucky company out there is going to be very lucky to have you. If it's a gun company I think they are also going to pick up more than a few customers with your move.
I am also going to send an email to that address above.
 
#56 ·
I'm pretty much floored by this news. Brent has been the "face of Colt" for many of us over the past several years and has been our connection to a company that most of us have admired and supported with our dollars. I'm am saddened that Colt management has made such a foolish and unbelievable decision to terminate his association with the company. Colt has clearly been struggling for several years and to let one of their key employees go is just a terrible business decision. I don't see a favorable future for Colt under the current management. I have been a Colt customer for the past 47 years but I am rapidly losing my enthusiasm for their products and their business practices. Thanks to Brent for all he has done for so many forum members over the years and best of luck and success for the future.
 
#57 ·
Brent has been the "face of Colt" for many of us over the past several years and has been our connection to a company that most of us have admired and supported with our dollars.
I concur. And for those who would like to put a face to Brent's name, here he is, on the left, receiving "The Most Significant Handgun Award" on behalf of Colt's for 2012 from Down Range TV.


Also, posted here a few years back by our Colt Forum member, Javier y Cesar Garcia Rodriguez, when he met Brent at the 2012 Shot Show.


Brent's countenance will surely be missed at Colt's!
 
#58 ·
This is the P.M. I just sent to Brent. Having reviewed it, I didn't see any indiscretions that would prevent me from posting it in public, as long as I sent it to Brent first. Reading it over, it is exactly what I would have posted here first, if we had no P.M. function.

"Dear Brent,

I want to personally express my sadness that you are leaving Colt.
The "reasons" are personal, and I am sure they are not something that should be dissected on this forum.

I have to say to you, as I have said before, you garnered this company a ton of good will, especially in a era of impersonal sales where customer satisfaction conflicts with balance sheets and profit/loss calculations.
You were Colt's ambassador to the buying public. You will be sorely missed as the face of Colt, to this forum, and I'm sure to many others.

Thanks for everything you have done to promote Colt to us, and to make sure that Colt customers are happy with the products. It's a shame to see a person who is obviously such an asset to the business lose his job.

I sincerely hope you land a great job somewhere else in the industry.

God bless you and your family,

Mike H."

Last year I bought a new in box Carbonia Blue WWI Mod O pistol. Unfortunately, the slide and the frame didn't match in color. This was not nit-picking. The color difference was glaring. Frankly, for a product that costed approx. $990-1K new (and probably worth around $1300 now), this is not acceptable. The charges for sending the piece to Colt or to Doug Turnbull for a complete refinish, was around $550.00 Brent charged me about 70% less than that figure to do the refinish. And, he apologized for having to charge me at all. After 7 months or so, I received the pistol back, and it looks beautiful; the way it should have looked before it even left the factory to ship to a distributor.

This gentleman has a strong feeling about what is fair to a customer who's decided to spend a large amount of money on his company's product. I guess that makes him as obsolete as most of us are ;).

Because of Colt's actions against Brent, I am going to seriously re-think whether I am going to buy the new Cobra I so enthusiastically pledged to buy here on this forum, a matter of weeks ago. Plainly, I do not like the way they treated Brent.
As I said in that post, I need another revolver like I need a tumor. If they can't see how great an asset Brent was to the company, they aren't getting any new sales from me.
Colt will get by without me. It won't cause even a ripple. But I can also do without them.

So I guess the only Colts I will continue to buy will be the fine old ones. Ones that don't put any money in Colt's pocket.

Out.
 
#61 ·
If we have a pistol waiting to be repaired or serviced should we be alarmed. Brent was our only contact that actually responded. Perhaps we could demonstrate our outright disapproval for the Colt administration's treatment of Brent by flooding Colt's email inboxes and switchboard with inquiries as to when to expect the return shipment of our repaired firearms. Is Cory Francis the person to call? Can someone provide his extension number? All of the money they will save by cutting back staff will only amount to a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of money the Colt PR department will have to spend to repair the damage they have done to their image. I wonder how many folks have changed their minds about buying the new Cobra?
 
#63 ·
Malysh,

I could not add to what you posted above:

"Because of Colt's actions against Brent, I am going to seriously re-think whether I am going to buy the new Cobra I so enthusiastically pledged to buy here on this forum, a matter of weeks ago. Plainly, I do not like the way they treated Brent.
As I said in that post, I need another revolver like I need a tumor. If they can't see how great an asset Brent was to the company, they aren't getting any new sales from me.
Colt will get by without me. It won't cause even a ripple. But I can also do without them.

So I guess the only Colts I will continue to buy will be the fine old ones. Ones that don't put any money in Colt's pocket
."


My sentiments exactly! I am another that may not buy the new Cobra revolver. I need another revolver like another hole in my head, but I wanted to keep Colt viable.
 
#64 ·
If you call the Colt number , 1 800-692-2658 and choose the option for customer service, you can talk to a customer service rep and Corey is one of them. I called on Monday and was told about Brent, was told that the custom shop is not taking new orders to work on a tremendous backlog. ( which has already been the case several times recently) they are currently still working on the current jobs. They will eventually be taking new orders.


That is what I was told.

I see on the 1911 Colt forum that there is a post that a regular Colt custom shop customer that deals with them regularly is saying the custom shop is still open.
 
#66 ·
I certainly cannot wrap my head around this.
I have not had any direct contact or business with the Company, but the information posted here, and the reputation of Brent
as thecustomer service rep. speaks for itself. An asset is an asset. It has value. Whether that value is realized by the Company or not does not degrade that value.
Colt loses.
In more ways than they realize.
Utterly shameful.
Best wishes, Brent.
Stay on task.
 
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