Rebarrel sticker shock

I can be sympathetic to the op’s bait and switch concerns, if that is his concern, it should be discussed. I have never received a to the penny quote on cost and timing from a gunsmith. I have received a good ball park estimate and spent my money. In business, I find this unacceptable. In Gunsmithing, it seems the norm. I take that back. My last one was an exact quote, but timing was not clear.

That said, I always paid close to what we discussed. This one seems a bit more and I suppose that should be discussed again, I suppose. In my case, I knew I was building a multi gun relationship, and the charges were fair. Wait time was good.
 
I was 24 when I had my first custom gun built, I try not to think to much about it now, I made all the mistakes you could make, no real quote, no clear instructions on what I wanted, it was a learning experience. That was the most expensive gun project I've done to date and that was 30 years ago.
The icing on the cake was the gunsmith had just gotten one of those automated engraving machines like they do sports trophies with, without asking he put my name on the bolt body so it appeared in the port when closed, I could have choked him on the spot.
 
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I'm sure I'm going to love it when I finally get it back but since I wasn't expecting the cost to be this high, I will have to liquidate at least my BSA Martini.

Any body know what 300 rounds of new Remington 9mm FMJ is worth. I'm half tempted to sell my S&W Shield but I'd probably take a beating on it...

Tony
 
Personally I think his prices are very much inline for the work done. That is just my opinion of course. On the 9mm question about a dollar a round on Gunbroker
 
When you say you don't think the quoted price was out of line, are you referring to the initial quote of $550 + $50, or the invoiced amount of $650 + $100?
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I can only go off the $550 "bid".
As mentioned in my reply, I cannot see the invoice that seems to be visible to everyone else. My security software has flagged a file in this thread as "dangerous" and won't load it.
You are all discussing a total without mentioning what it is, and I cannot see it.


But with the added information from Geezerbiker, even the higher price seems fine.
The details matter. The parts matter. The methods matter.
And, as has been touched on, language matters.
The failure here was lack of clear communication.

Bid, offer, estimate, quote, and other words all carry different meanings.

Combining those words with situations where cost is not discussed, methods are not discussed, materials are not discussed, and changes are made part way through the job, can lead to a situation where the customer thinks he's having a cheap barrel installed for $400; while the gunsmith is looking at a $400 barrel blank and $400 worth of labor.



*My gunsmith called a couple hours ago. He ran into an unexpected problem and wanted my input on what to do, before discussing what it would cost. We're at $650 now, to stick a tube in a hole.
 
2,150px × 1,263px is too big. Please reduce the size of your pictures.
$650 isn't unusual for a custom rifle barrel. However, one should always get an estimate first. I notice that Benchmark does not put their prices on their site.
 
FrankenMauser said:
When you say you don't think the quoted price was out of line, are you referring to the initial quote of $550 + $50, or the invoiced amount of $650 + $100?
Click to expand...
I can only go off the $550 "bid".
As mentioned in my reply, I cannot see the invoice that seems to be visible to everyone else. My security software has flagged a file in this thread as "dangerous" and won't load it.
You are all discussing a total without mentioning what it is, and I cannot see it.
Click to expand...
Well, then. The image of the actual invoice showed:

* Benchmark Barrel - 224 SS 14T 6 gr Ruger M77/22 Fin
. Installed on Ruger ##### . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $650.00

* Thread muzzle and Protector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $100.00

* Bed and freefloat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .$ 80.00

* Shipping via UPS with signature required . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 40.00
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

TOTAL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $870.00


FrankenMauser said:
The failure here was lack of clear communication.
Click to expand...

I quite agree.
 
T. O'Heir said:
$650 isn't unusual for a custom rifle barrel. However, one should always get an estimate first. I notice that Benchmark does not put their prices on their site.
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He did get a price first. That's the whole problem -- the price he was charged is significantly higher than the price he was quoted.
 
It's pointless to speculate without a written quote, people misunderstand or forget, hear what they want to on both sides.
When I used to work for the mega corp brand X pest control company I filled out contracts every day, half the time people didn't really grasp what was entailed in the service or the cost until they seen it on paper even though I explained it in detail several times moments before.
 
Aguila Blanca, thank you for that.
It offers a better perspective.

It's definitely in the category of stomach punch. But it sounds to me like it was caused by bad communication on both sides.
 
I'm going to put a bunch of my lesser needed stuff on Gunbroker with the hopes of raising the funds to cover the rest of the work.

This smith has a good reputation for quality work and while I think the final price is about $150 over what it should be, I don't really have much leverage to negotiate a lower price.

Thanx for all the input but I don't think there's anything left to debate...

Tony
 
I would ask.

You seem honorable, but he doesn’t know you aren’t the guy who will blab all over social media about the gunsmith <insert name> ripped him off, double charged him and it shoots like crap! (Due to shooter error)

I hate to say it. There are those posts and they cannot be defended, especially when calling out the customer is part of the truth. So, it seems like most gunsmiths will bend ove backwards to make the customer satisfied. That said, I don’t think you would be able to use them again.
 
I've always tried to be a reasonable person but sometimes I fail... This is why I haven't said who did the work. In the past he's treated me right but this time the cost of the repair took my breath away. About a year from now when I know how well it shoots, I'll post the whole story of my ordeal with this rifle...

I'm going to be listing all the ammo and reloading stuff I can do without on Gunbroker to try to raise the funds to cover the unexpected part of cost of the repair.

Tony
 
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