Ben Taylor & Son

[putty1]

. I had a convo with him this morning ......

So what are his contact details? See op.
I'm sure those that bought into the BT dream are starting to have issues and would like to contact him.
I have gone back to standard components and with a lane reg am getting 85 shots at 22ft/lb with deviation of 6fps so now wonder what all the BT hype was about. I also had a BT service done some years ago and thought it was expensive for what little appeared to have been done.
I stripped it right down myself in the end. Works well now 🙄

[rgc_swanseaARC]

Aye, I have done the same now.
Leaking cylinder, o rings not changed, grease in the hammer assembly.
Done properly now by me

[snock]

BTAS have closed which, from a customer service perspective, can only be a good thing.

I sent the leaking regulator for my ''Taylored'' FAC mk1 Rapid to him as it was letting by. I saw the O ring was perished before I sent it (cause of the let by?) and pointed it out to him; it returned to me with the same leak, the O ring was still the same perished item, and there had been insufficient postage applied to the package, which meant I had to pay the surcharge.

Therefore, not only did BTAS take the fee to fix and return it, they actually didn't address the fault, and returned it to me in the same condition as I sent it, and it cost me a few quid to pay to have the Post Office hand it over.
I would never recommend BTAS, or Ben for that matter. Never have I experienced such terrible attitude and flagrant disregard for customer satisfaction.

In the end KevG said he'd sort it for me. It was fixed at no charge, and I was returned in 2 days.

It's funny how Baz used run KevG down as being a monkey, whilst selling his mate, Ben, as the man to see for all things rapid, but in my experience Ben was the monkey and Kev's still the go-to guy.

[Baxterbasics]

BTAS have closed which, from a customer service perspective, can only be a good thing.

I sent the leaking regulator for my ''Taylored'' FAC mk1 Rapid to him as it was letting by. I saw the O ring was perished before I sent it (cause of the let by?) and pointed it out to him; it returned to me with the same leak, the O ring was still the same perished item, and there had been insufficient postage applied to the package, which meant I had to pay the surcharge.

Therefore, not only did BTAS take the fee to fix and return it, they actually didn't address the fault, and returned it to me in the same condition as I sent it, and it cost me a few quid to pay to have the Post Office hand it over.
I would never recommend BTAS, or Ben for that matter. Never have I experienced such terrible attitude and flagrant disregard for customer satisfaction.

In the end KevG said he'd sort it for me. It was fixed at no charge, and I was returned in 2 days.

It's funny how Baz used run KevG down as being a monkey, whilst selling his mate, Ben, as the man to see for all things rapid, but in my experience Ben was the monkey and Kev's still the go-to guy.

Kev is a superstar, Pete. Has sorted two rapids for me, over the years and the turn-around, quality of work and price were, quite frankly, unbelievable

[barrel]

BTAS have closed which, from a customer service perspective, can only be a good thing.

I sent the leaking regulator for my ''Taylored'' FAC mk1 Rapid to him as it was letting by. I saw the O ring was perished before I sent it (cause of the let by?) and pointed it out to him; it returned to me with the same leak, the O ring was still the same perished item, and there had been insufficient postage applied to the package, which meant I had to pay the surcharge.

Therefore, not only did BTAS take the fee to fix and return it, they actually didn't address the fault, and returned it to me in the same condition as I sent it, and it cost me a few quid to pay to have the Post Office hand it over.
I would never recommend BTAS, or Ben for that matter. Never have I experienced such terrible attitude and flagrant disregard for customer satisfaction.

In the end KevG said he'd sort it for me. It was fixed at no charge, and I was returned in 2 days.

It's funny how Baz used run KevG down as being a monkey, whilst selling his mate, Ben, as the man to see for all things rapid, but in my experience Ben was the monkey and Kev's still the go-to guy.

I would echo your sentiments with regard to his attitude. I spoke with him and found him incredibly condescending, it was for this reason I did not put the job his way. KevG on the other hand know's his stuff and is a nice bloke to deal with.

Kindest regards

Barrel

[Rapidnick]

It really saddens me to read this thread. Clearly everyone should 'speak as they find' and equally clearly, some on here have had poor service from BTAS which is a great pity. By contrast I have had excellent service every time I have had anything needed to be done by Ben. The great thing about him is that he was an innovator and not just a fixer. His work on regulator efficiency and reliability was outstanding. OK these days HUMA and Edgun have moved regulator technology on considerably-progress continues all the time after all.
Kev is also a great help and is my 'go to' man when I am unable to sort things out myself.

[DSidelever]

I had several dealings with Ben in his BTAS days at that unit in the middle of nowhere.

I have to admit he was a generally 'grumpy' man by then (home life issues, I believe), but was always very honest in his appraisals of the work required. He was famously 'grumpy' about airguns that had been messed around with by owners in regard to FPE.

His retirement had been postponed several times due to outside problems. I understand he now devotes his time to Motorcycle tuning/racing (or similar).



During one visit (a LONG JOURNEY for me) a small, dark-haired lady come in with her BTAS / FX Verminator. "sort this out now" type of thing.

WOW, did Ben go into overdrive or what!

I nodded my agreement to her far more pressing issues




I'm sure it was a lady 'Rapidnick' will remember from a few years ago, on here - 'Fran'

(Small but incredibly fierce ).

[Hellequin]

BTAS have closed which, from a customer service perspective, can only be a good thing.

I sent the leaking regulator for my ''Taylored'' FAC mk1 Rapid to him as it was letting by. I saw the O ring was perished before I sent it (cause of the let by?) and pointed it out to him; it returned to me with the same leak, the O ring was still the same perished item, and there had been insufficient postage applied to the package, which meant I had to pay the surcharge.

Therefore, not only did BTAS take the fee to fix and return it, they actually didn't address the fault, and returned it to me in the same condition as I sent it, and it cost me a few quid to pay to have the Post Office hand it over.
I would never recommend BTAS, or Ben for that matter. Never have I experienced such terrible attitude and flagrant disregard for customer satisfaction.

In the end KevG said he'd sort it for me. It was fixed at no charge, and I was returned in 2 days.

It's funny how Baz used run KevG down as being a monkey, whilst selling his mate, Ben, as the man to see for all things rapid, but in my experience Ben was the monkey and Kev's still the go-to guy.

Absolutely agree with this in relation to BTAS. I had one of their BTAS Cyclone's years back and the awful & inconsistent performance was only matched by the customer 'service' from BTAS. I wouldn't touch another, even if they were still in business.

[barrel]

It really saddens me to read this thread. Clearly everyone should 'speak as they find' and equally clearly, some on here have had poor service from BTAS which is a great pity. By contrast I have had excellent service every time I have had anything needed to be done by Ben. The great thing about him is that he was an innovator and not just a fixer. His work on regulator efficiency and reliability was outstanding. OK these days HUMA and Edgun have moved regulator technology on considerably-progress continues all the time after all.
Kev is also a great help and is my 'go to' man when I am unable to sort things out myself.

It does make me wonder Nick why some people (not just Ben) seem to have such an inconsistent manner. If they can be courteous and offer excellent service to some then why not to all. Just me thinking out loud but a question that leaves me wondering none the less.

Kindest regards


Barrel

[Gavlar]

Another vote for Ben from me.
I sent him a S410 to be regulated. I spoke to him before and after sending it. He was as good as gold and did a great job. Ditto when I sent him a rapid. Both guns I regret parting with!

[Rich]

First impressions count for a lot; maybe they shouldn't but they do, they put down a marker.

Snock and I went to the Theoben factory when the Fenman was being launched; didn't get good vibes then.

[eyebull]

It does make me wonder Nick why some people (not just Ben) seem to have such an inconsistent manner. If they can be courteous and offer excellent service to some then why not to all. Just me thinking out loud but a question that leaves me wondering none the less.

Kindest regards


Barrel

Good engineers don't always make the best businessmen. TBF most engineers need a good 'front of house' partner to keep them in the real world.

[Spitzer]

Good engineers don't always make the best businessmen. TBF most engineers need a good 'front of house' partner to keep them in the real world.

Yeah, and Theoben (Ben Taylor days) didn't even have a good 'front of house' partner to keep them in the real world, what with that CRAZY woman who always answered the phone when you had a technical question to ask or just plain wanted to make an order or something simple.

[Lol Moore]

Good engineers don't always make the best businessmen. TBF most engineers need a good 'front of house' partner to keep them in the real world.

I have experienced this several times, some time back read a study article which claimed very technically minded people are wired different and are usually quite high up the Autism scale, they also generally have poor interpersonal skills.

[Steyr]

Good engineers don't always make the best businessmen. TBF most engineers need a good 'front of house' partner to keep them in the real world.

So they chose a lady who was called frosty knickers by the shooting community. I have never considered Mr Taylor to be an exceptional engineer. I think he had an exceptional line in bull poop.... and an ability to really piss off his customers whom paid for his retirement. He engineered an agricultural concept air rifle and milked it dry.

I am.....I would add.....a former rapid owner and its a rifle I like. But the company and the people behind it would never get my cash and I bought my rapid 2nd hand.

Its a damned good gun. Partly due to the simplenagricultural nature of its engineering and its ability to be worked on outside of the factory thereby circumnavigating an exceptional standard of indifference and basic contempt for those who paid the rent and the wages.

There is better kit but the Rapid series is a bench mark rifle. The people behind it....as far as I was concerned ... didnt give a shit