Post
by GNV » Fri Feb 07, 2014 2:44 am
Dear Brihaji,
my above post is not an example of the "Customer Care" of Precihole Sports. But what I am giving below is definitely an example of their Customer Care. I purchased my first ORION from aimco.co.in in the last week of DEC 2012 and received it in the first week of JAN 2013.It is from one of the earlier series bearing a serial no: AB00429 and was suffering from the initial teething problems as we all know.The problems with my ORION were that the safety was not engaging automatically, ( later I learned that aimco is selling PH air guns with manual safeties only and I also know the reason why aimco is opting for manual safeties instead of auto safeties.), the second issue was with the Trigger Shoe fastening screw which was getting loose after firing a few shots and turning sideways ( I fixed this issue using a little Loktite ) but the worst fault was that the scope mounting grooves were not machined to the correct specifications of 11 mm dovetail mounting rails because of which I was unable to fix a scope on my first ORION. I should have sent the air gun to Precihole Factory for a replacement. But as I live in a small town in the countryside of the state of Andhra Pradesh and sending the gun to PH factory in THANE, in Maharashtra and waiting for the replacement to arrive would take considerable time I foolishly decided to try and rectify the faulty mounting rails myself using a DREMEL Moto Tool and a cutting disc ( I fully knew that doing this would void the company warranty ) and SUCCESSFULLY RUINED the receiver tube itself COMPLETELY. I still could use the gun with the open sights but I had to use a scope to shoot at targets beyond 10 yards because of my bad eye site. The end result was I had a brand new ORION in my hands and I could not use it for field shooting which is my primary need. So I e-mailed Dr.Shirsat about what I had done and requested him if he would consider selling a spare receiver to me and offering to pay for it and freight charges.At that time Doctorji was in Bangalore attending some business seminars. Even then he took the pains to answer my e-mail at midnight after finishing his business sessions. He informed me that the scope mounting rails being faulty was due to the machinist not following the specifications and also told me that the receivers and barrels are matched and hand fitted together and are not interchangeable. However he told me to my utter delight and amazement that if I would send the action of the gun to their factory in Thane, they would very happily replace the receiver and send the action back to me FREE OF COST.
Happily I removed the rifle action from the stock, made a strong durable custom box using coroplast sheets which I have (as I am also into RC aeromodelling) at hand along with thermocole sheets on all sides to protect the gun, covered the box with thick cloth backed paper sheeting and sent the package by courier service declaring it as sports equipment to Precihole sports PVT Ltd, Thane. Only to receive the package back from the courier stating that the address was not found after 10 days. I called the PH company and the company's contact person Mrs. Anjum A.Qazi told me that their address is not that hard to find and advised me to provide their contact phone number and factory working hours details along with the address to the courier company. I did that and sent the package again. This time the package reached their address safely. Mrs Anjum acknowledged that by calling me but informed me that the production of ORION ARs were temporarily stopped to implement some changes in the design to rectify the initial problems experienced by the customers and that production would resume in the last week of March 2013 and they would send my gun as soon as the production starts again. I thanked them for their effort.
Being an impatient guy by birth I decided to by another ORION from aimco and purchased it in FEB,2013. This time I knew that the safety would be a manual one, don't know about the trigger blade screw which is not a big issue to correct but hoping that the scope mounting rails would be of correct specifications. Which proved to be correct. It is an AC xxxxx series gun. Right now I don't remember the serial number because I kept it at my farm and I am a bit lazy to find the warranty card of that gun right now to find out its sl.no. I received the action of my first ORION in the second week of March,2013, instead of last week of March,2013. much earlier than they said they would be able to send it to me. AND they sent it Freight PREPAID. AND my action came back fitted with auto safety lever, the bigger trigger blade fastening allen bolt which eliminated the earlier fault and of course correct scope mounting rails.
"NOW THAT IS WHAT I CALL CUSTOMER CARE."
The most important thing is they seem to listen to what their customers want and need. Between JAN,2013 and March,2013 , I pestered Dr.Shirsat with a lot of e-mails. I asked him to make available an exploded view diagram of their rifle available on their website to which he replied that they are already in the process of doing that. I asked him to start their own online shop, to which he replied that they don't have the resources to do that presently and that they prefer to sell their products through dealer network. Then I requested him to at least make spring piston air gun lubricants like moly-grease which are required in small quantities only to lubricate an air gun spring and metal bearing areas like barrel pivoting area etc, which are currently available in India from select online sellers only, but only in large quantities only which is quite expensive. What I mean is moly grease in small quantities enough to lubricate a gun two or three times. And he told me that they would consider my suggestion. I am more than happy for that. They are already making available replacement springs and piston seals through their dealer network. What more can we ask them?
Still I am not satisfied with PH air guns about a couple things.
1. Barrel Drooping: Both my ORIONS suffer from this to some extent. I don't know if this is completely rectified or not in the current models rolling out of the factory.
2. Even though PH is the one and only Indian Company offering an adjustable trigger which is better than the rest of the guns without adjustable triggers manufactured in India, it is not as good as it should be. Adjusting it to one's liking is a pain in the xxx in my opinion.
BUT STILL I AM A DIE HARD PRECIHOLE AIR GUN FAN.
PS: I also wish Precihole starts using choked barrels which I strongly believe increases long range accuracy, because I don't believe German air gun manufacturers like Weihrauch, Anschutz, RWS,etc use choked barrels just for the fun of it.
but that gonna take a year or so..A springer & a Nitro Piston Air Pistol is also in the pipeline & it is going to be available real soon..May be a month or so..As Briha Sir rightly clarified that they are not planning of launching any air gun in wooden stock...it's a synthetic stock only but tastefully polished in 'wood finish'..Nevertheless it's a great effort by an Indian manufacturer..All the best to them...
). By doing this, and that too not for a select list of "premium customers" like most companies, but for ALL those who register at the site, Dr. Shirsat and Precihole have set new standards in corporate communications. I hope some of the other companies follow suit! I would love to, for example, receive a hard copy Ferrari calendar!! (can't put up the Kingfisher one, better half is watching!! 
