[Rigby]

From my own personal experience and from some of the many forums I belong to, it seems that this is the "norm" for a lot of custom gunsmiths. I am on the Accurate Reloading forums and there are threads there about a project taking YEARS longer than promised, even when paid for in full. Most of the posters over there defend this practice as the normal way a custom gunsmith works. I had a gunsmith I worked with for years in this area, but the one time he told me two weeks to put sights on a rifle and 3 months later it was not done, and then told me that "what is your hurry, you have other guns you can shoot", is when I found a new gunsmith. I understand there are delays, some can be helped, others not, but that is NO excuse for poor communication. I hope it works out for you. Right now I am waiting for a gun that I sent of to be refinished. I was told during a phone call early last month that "he was getting ready to start your gun". I sent it in in the middle of December and they said up to 12 weeks, so I will be patient until that 12 week mark, then I will start being a "pest". Anyone who performs any service should be able to stay on a schedule that they themselves set. If they say 12 weeks, then they should have it done in 12 weeks. They know their workload, their supply issues, their abilities, so they should sure as heck know how to quote a time frame and stick with it. I do understand that certain issues come up, but then again, communicate. As many of you well know, there is a certain highly regarded restorer that even when he knew that there was no way he could continue, he kept taking money and guns from people. Now those clients are out thousands and thousands of dollars and some of them are missing valuable parts. There were a lot of people who defended this person on various forums, but in my opinion he is nothing more than a common thief. All he needed to do was communicate and stop taking work he knew he could never get to. There may be other services that have the same issues, but I have never run across service providers as bad as some gunsmiths are. Imagine if you took your car into the dealership and they quoted you a time frame of 2 days. 3 months later you still don't have your car back. I don't know about you, but I bet most people would have a real problem with that, yet when it comes to gunsmiths that doesn't seem to be an issue.