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I posted in this thread back in August and at the time what I posted was 100% accurate.
www.africahunting.com
Fast forward to today and I want to update the forum on what happened since then. First of all the rifle in this thread is part of the story:
www.africahunting.com
Somewhere around September I started getting emails from some marketer asking for a review on my experience with Matrix. They were worded as such that I was under the impression they wanted a review on services I had done by Matrix. The problem was I never had any work done by Matrix. I wanted some done but I was put on a wait list over a year ago and never heard back from them. I said as much in the first thread I referenced above. I ignored the email. Then I got another one. I ignored that one too and then I got a third one so I decided to give them a review. I was polite and simply stated what had happened. I was put on a wait list and never heard from them again. About 2 or 3 days later I got an email direct from Matrix asking if I would contact them so we could discuss what happened. I figured why not so I gave them a call.
I spoke with a gentlemen named Greg who was very cordial and very sympathetic. The long and short of it is Matrix had an issue and me and a few other people got lost in the shuffle. They were aware that people fell off the list but they didn't know who or how many. It was an internal problem with one member of their staff. I won't go into any detail about what that issue was for privacy reasons but the problem with the staff member was 100% unintentional and quite tragic. That's all I'm going to say. Any way, they were very glad I did the review because that's how they were able to reach out to me via my email address.
Greg is their new business manager and he and the owner Tim wanted to make this right. They offered to put me at the head of the line if I would kindly give them a second chance to earn my business. I was never concerned about the quality of their work because if they had Wayne's (AHR) seal of approval that was good enough for me. They sounded very sincere and I believed the explanation they gave me. I decided they deserved a second chance so Greg set up a telephone appointment between me and Tim. He and I had a great chat and we came to an agreement on the work and the cost. He'll probably hate me for this part but I'm going to tell you anyway because it's indicative how far out of their way they went to make me a satisfied customer. He gave a me a small but not insignificant discount on upgrade packages #1 & #2. It wasn't a ton of money but it was enough to let me know they were serious about making things right.
Now, back to the rifle the other thread was about. That's the rifle I wanted the work done on. It was a bone stock CZ550 American 9.3x62. As some of you may remember I was trying to make the case about why I wasn't going to put iron sights on the rifle. Yeah, well, that went by the boards. I ended up getting upgrades #1 and #2 except for the barrel band. There's a pic attached to this and you can see that the fore end on this rifle is pretty long and IMO a barrel band that far up the barrel wouldn't look right. Besides, it's a 9.3x62 and not what I even remotely consider a hard recoiling rifle. The standard sling swivel works just fine. The only choice I had to make was the finish. I opted for satin blue/black Ceracote and it turned out great. In case someone isn't familiar the upgrade packages include replacing the set trigger, installing a 3 position safety, straightening the bolt handle, adding iron sights, bedding the stock, recutting the crown, tuning the action and refinishing the entire rifle.
I sent the rifle off to Tim and he and Greg did a superb job of keeping me up to date as the work progressed. I was sent at least a dozen photos in various emails showing me the rifle in various stages of completion. I don't remember exactly how long it was between when I shipped the rifle and when it got back to me. Somewhere around 3 weeks IIRC.
Sorry for the long post but here's the bottom line. Tim's customer service is as good as it gets and the gunsmithing is outstanding. The way he and Greg hunted me down and reached out to me was very much appreciated. They did make things right and I'm a 100% SATISFIED CUSTOMER. I highly recommend Matrix Gunsmithing and both Tim and Greg were a pleasure to talk to and do business with.
Obligatory pics:
Experiences with Matrix Gunsmithing
As many/most of you know, AHR no longer offers the upgrade packages for CZ rifles and instead recommends the services of Matrix Gunsmithing in Colorado. I have an inquiry out to Matrix about an upgrade project on my CZ 550 but wanted to source any thoughts, experiences, etc. from the AH...
www.africahunting.com
Fast forward to today and I want to update the forum on what happened since then. First of all the rifle in this thread is part of the story:
Iron Sights. Yes or no?
I'm going to have some work done on one of my 9.3x62 rifles. It will used exclusively as a plains game, elk, deer gun. No DG. No big bears. IOW, no close quarters work with stuff that bites or stomps. I have a 375H&H and a 404J for that kind of hunting. I'm leaning towards not having...
www.africahunting.com
Somewhere around September I started getting emails from some marketer asking for a review on my experience with Matrix. They were worded as such that I was under the impression they wanted a review on services I had done by Matrix. The problem was I never had any work done by Matrix. I wanted some done but I was put on a wait list over a year ago and never heard back from them. I said as much in the first thread I referenced above. I ignored the email. Then I got another one. I ignored that one too and then I got a third one so I decided to give them a review. I was polite and simply stated what had happened. I was put on a wait list and never heard from them again. About 2 or 3 days later I got an email direct from Matrix asking if I would contact them so we could discuss what happened. I figured why not so I gave them a call.
I spoke with a gentlemen named Greg who was very cordial and very sympathetic. The long and short of it is Matrix had an issue and me and a few other people got lost in the shuffle. They were aware that people fell off the list but they didn't know who or how many. It was an internal problem with one member of their staff. I won't go into any detail about what that issue was for privacy reasons but the problem with the staff member was 100% unintentional and quite tragic. That's all I'm going to say. Any way, they were very glad I did the review because that's how they were able to reach out to me via my email address.
Greg is their new business manager and he and the owner Tim wanted to make this right. They offered to put me at the head of the line if I would kindly give them a second chance to earn my business. I was never concerned about the quality of their work because if they had Wayne's (AHR) seal of approval that was good enough for me. They sounded very sincere and I believed the explanation they gave me. I decided they deserved a second chance so Greg set up a telephone appointment between me and Tim. He and I had a great chat and we came to an agreement on the work and the cost. He'll probably hate me for this part but I'm going to tell you anyway because it's indicative how far out of their way they went to make me a satisfied customer. He gave a me a small but not insignificant discount on upgrade packages #1 & #2. It wasn't a ton of money but it was enough to let me know they were serious about making things right.
Now, back to the rifle the other thread was about. That's the rifle I wanted the work done on. It was a bone stock CZ550 American 9.3x62. As some of you may remember I was trying to make the case about why I wasn't going to put iron sights on the rifle. Yeah, well, that went by the boards. I ended up getting upgrades #1 and #2 except for the barrel band. There's a pic attached to this and you can see that the fore end on this rifle is pretty long and IMO a barrel band that far up the barrel wouldn't look right. Besides, it's a 9.3x62 and not what I even remotely consider a hard recoiling rifle. The standard sling swivel works just fine. The only choice I had to make was the finish. I opted for satin blue/black Ceracote and it turned out great. In case someone isn't familiar the upgrade packages include replacing the set trigger, installing a 3 position safety, straightening the bolt handle, adding iron sights, bedding the stock, recutting the crown, tuning the action and refinishing the entire rifle.
I sent the rifle off to Tim and he and Greg did a superb job of keeping me up to date as the work progressed. I was sent at least a dozen photos in various emails showing me the rifle in various stages of completion. I don't remember exactly how long it was between when I shipped the rifle and when it got back to me. Somewhere around 3 weeks IIRC.
Sorry for the long post but here's the bottom line. Tim's customer service is as good as it gets and the gunsmithing is outstanding. The way he and Greg hunted me down and reached out to me was very much appreciated. They did make things right and I'm a 100% SATISFIED CUSTOMER. I highly recommend Matrix Gunsmithing and both Tim and Greg were a pleasure to talk to and do business with.
Obligatory pics:
Last edited by a moderator:
