Quote Originally Posted by snock View Post
Rich and I arrived at their Cambridge premises (I was surprised at how small it was) to have their 'tour' of the factory.
We arrived in the reception area and could see Ben and Dave through the window. Ben turned to look through the window and could not hit hide the irritation in his face that there were 5 or 6 eager visitors in the foyer waiting to be entertained and informed by the airgun maestros that they had read so much about in the magazines. The magazines gave you the impression that they were good company and very interesting to talk with...

It very soon became apparent that the Ben we walked around with was impatient, irritated by questions and generally couldn't wait to see the back of you, but only once you'd finished cooing and drooling over the array of toys at your fingertips.
I have no experience of the chaps mentioned in this thread. In fact, I don't think I was into air rifles while they were around but, some of these experiences are quite saddening and, I'm pleased to say, I've only experienced decent blokes and top class customer service in the few short years that I've been back to shooting.

A while ago, I wanted some Rowan parts for my TX so, I took a morning off and drove over to see them.
When I got there, it turned out that they were in the middle of a factory move so, it was probably a real PITA time for someone to turn up unannounced. Despite this, I was given a full factory tour and shown everything from the raw materials to the CNC machines working away and, the finishing of the end products.
They were happy to chat and answer questions. They took the time to make sure that I was happy with the parts supplied and, that I was confident in fitting them. They even threw in some stainless stock bolts FOC.
We even had a good natter about Robot Wars.

Nick has been patient and generous when I've been a ham fisted twat and broken his piston extensions.

BSA gave me a rifle for a charity raffle at work.

I always found Tony Belas helpful and happy to chat (by email) while he was at Daystate.

There are more instances that I can recall but, working in retail and, dealing with customers, suppliers and management, so far I've found the airgun community to be pretty unique - in a good way.