Undersize Lee mold (.490)

[dikman]

So, three weeks ago I sent a letter to Mr. Lee (President of Lee Inc.) explaining my problem and asking why I was being treated differently to many other customers who reported faulty equipment.

Result - nil response.

Make of that what you will.

 

[Rifleman1776]

So, three weeks ago I sent a letter to Mr. Lee (President of Lee Inc.) explaining my problem and asking why I was being treated differently to many other customers who reported faulty equipment.

Result - nil response.

Make of that what you will.

I had a similar experience years ago with some modern reloading equipment. I filed a complaint with some Federal product safety commission. I actually got a response and they forced Lee to make changes to the product. One in a million happenstance. The old saying: "First ye gotta git their attention.....".

 

[Dean2]

Lee sells for far lower prices than the others. Their QC and warranty response suffers to accommodate the smaller margin on each product. They have intentionally set up their warranty service to hold down the number of claims. What you are experiencing is not just some staff member who is badly trained or has a bad attitude, they are doing exactly what they are instructed to do, make it somewhat difficult to get issues addressed so it is cheaper to just go get another one. The "President" is well aware of the policy and has NO intentions of changing it. Writing him is a waste of time.

If you want top quality and very good warranty service Lee is not the answer. RCBS, Redding and Lyman are priced where they are because there are higher costs to better quality and top notch customer service. You really do get what you pay for when it comes to the shooting sports.

 

[Zonie]

I really wonder if RCBS, Redding or Lyman would do better?

We are talking about sending things half way 'round the world to Australia, not simply shipping to someone on the North American continent here.

 

[dikman]

Sorry Dean, but you're wrong (at least partially). There are many reports on forums of customers having replacements for faulty parts sent out by Lee simply by them advising Lee that they are faulty. Not too long ago a member here (at least, I think it was here, I think I'm on too many forums), who lives in Tasmania (part of Australia) complained about two faulty mold handles. Two days later he received an email that replacements were on their way, so it's not as if there isn't a precedent.

 

[Dean2]

Sorry Dean, but you're wrong (at least partially). There are many reports on forums of customers having replacements for faulty parts sent out by Lee simply by them advising Lee that they are faulty. Not too long ago a member here (at least, I think it was here, I think I'm on too many forums), who lives in Tasmania (part of Australia) complained about two faulty mold handles. Two days later he received an email that replacements were on their way, so it's not as if there isn't a precedent.

I think what you have in those cases is someone on the phone taking the customer's side and exercising some discretion. That is not the stock issued operating procedure at Lee. That operator is far more likely to get in trouble than the one sticking to the hard line.

Zonie

I have lots of friends in Europe and a few in Australia that use RCBS and Redding heavily, exactly because there warranty service is so stellar. I can also tell you that up here in Canada, Lyman, RCBS, and Redding all have far better customer service reputations, both from personal experience and on the many different forums I participate on, than Lee does. I see lots of glowing reports on their service and rarely have I seen a positive comment about Lee warranty service.

To each his own but when you are paying less than half the price I think one should expect that certain things are not going to be done quite as well, like QC and warranty service.

 

[Patocazador]

I really wonder if RCBS, Redding or Lyman would do better?

Redding and RCBS have given me wonderful service in the past .. 20 years past. Don't know about today.

If you expect any service from Lyman, you will be disappointed. They will not respond, replace, refund for any reason. I've tried. :cursing: :td:

They charge quite a bit more and supply whatever they have but service is not in their current vocabulary.

 

[dikman]

Fair enough, Dean, you may very well be right about a "Customer Service" person exercising their discretion, but from what I've been reading it seems to happen a lot - just not to me!

 

[Rick Boylan]

I've been a Lee customer for 30+ years now. I own a number of their Lee Pro 1000 3 stage reloading presses and I own a Lee RB mold along with a melting pot. I've never had a problem with my Lee equipment in all the time I've used them. I've never had customer support issues either. That is when I've had a rare need to use them. In my opinion, Lee is very solid and reliable and their support is right up there with any of their competitors. I'm about to buy two more Lee products and know I will get quality equipment from them.

 

[dikman]

Cool. I'm pleased that you've had good products and good service (I seem to be the exception to the rule here).

 

[Rick Boylan]

I've had that with other vendors. I'll read great things about some on line store and then order something from them. Wait a few weeks and start calling them for my order. They give some weak excuse and finally I get the item. Most times it's good and somewhat worth the headach. Sometimes it's not so good and I chalk it up to a lesson I learned about believing everything I read. :wink:

Over time, I've heard good and bad about some of the guns I own, some of the products I use, and some of the places I've been. All I can look back on is how it was for me. If I'm OK with it, then I will continue to do business with that place or use that product or go back to that place. I can't say what others experience is wrong, I just didn't have their experiences.

:thumbsup:

 

[Billnpatti]

YOu have gotten a lot of excellent replies but I think all have missed the obvious solution.......move to the U.S. Your shipping costs will go way down. :rotf: :rotf: :rotf:

 

[Rick Boylan]

We need to work out some kinda trade with other countries. We trade them a couple of our anti-gunner liberal types for one of their pro-gunner types. That way we keep a balance in population while bettering our situation. :haha: :stir:

 

[dikman]

Bill, I've already had a few nice folks I met on a motorcycle forum wish I was over there so that we could go riding together. Some are also shooters and kept asking me to go over there so that they could show me around. I would love to be there to enjoy the incredible countryside that you folks have, and of course have the relatively easy access you have to firearms - it's a real pain here!!!!

As for the anti-gunners, thanks for the offer but we have enough of our own! We have a political party called the Greens who are trying to have semi-automatic handguns banned (not even the police would be allowed to have them). According to their reasoning, if they were made illegal then it would stop criminals from getting them! :youcrazy: .

Yes, I know ff but it's my thread so I can do what I like :blah: .

None of which changes the fact that Lee's Customer Support for faulty products sucks!!

 

[Rifleman1776]

We need to work out some kinda trade with other countries.

I'm kinda going ff here. But, the reality is every country sets it's own postal regulations. I used to sell some products online (not ml related) and shipped worldwide. The two countries I had the most difficulty with and eventually refused to ship to were Canada and Australia. Sadly, those countries have many things in common with the U.S., share a 'sorta' :wink: common language and have really great people. But, I couldn't afford the hassle and complaints from products not reaching the buyer. I believe Australia opens every incoming package to inspect the contents. It is a sad situation for which I see no solution. It is up to the citizens of those countries to make the authorities change things.

 

[dikman]

I believe Australia opens every incoming package to inspect the contents.

Not quite, the volume of parcel traffic, due to internet sales, is too great for that, so like most places it is scanned, but some countries are considered "high risk" and parcels from there will be subject to greater scrutiny.

Which has little to do with the high cost of shipping :cursing: .

 

[dikman]

Update:
I recently placed an order with Titan Reloading for a heap of reloading stuff, so it seemed an opportune time to order another .490 mold as it only added a couple of $ to the overall shipping cost. (After not receiving any response from my letter to John Lee, I've come to the conclusion that a) I'm not going to get any help from them, b) they're very inconsistent with their customer support policy, c) they're selective in who they decide to help and d) John Lee couldn't care two hoots about his customers, unlike his father).

So, with some trepidation I cast a few balls with the new mold. After letting them cool, I started measuring. First reading was .485 - urk, not good - so I moved around the circumference, .485 - .487. A bit undersize, but at least it's not out-of-round. Tried a few more and found that some agreed with the first readings while others were up to .488. It appears that the two cavities are fractionally different. Still, under-size I can work with.

It was a relief, because I'll admit that I wasn't too confidant to start with.

Oh, and the funny thing was this parcel had been opened by Customs, first time that's happened to me. I'm guessing it's to do with the fact we're on "heightened alert", and I suspect that anything to do with firearms is automatically suspect.

 

[Maven]

Answered you on the Cast Boolits site.

 

[mooman76]

If you only cast a few balls I think you will find that after you get going and cast more the ball size will increase slightly so they may get better. Also adding a tiny amount of tin will increase the ball size without adding to hardness enough to really matter.

 

[dikman]

The size I can live with, it's just a relief that they're not significantly out-of-round.