I was putting my Hornady Lock n Load AP through the motions earlier this week, pressing out some 9mm. I got to round 53 when all of a sudden "crunch", which prompted an immediate stoppage. It turns out that the guide rod that the primer shuttle moves on jumped out of its holder and somehow wedged itself in the ram. The piece that supports the guide rod on the upper end is plastic. Unfortunately that's where the crunch sound came from. It broke into 3 pieces, totally unsalvageable.

Early the next morning I call Hornady. I get an immediate answer from...a person. I know, it's almost too hard to believe. She was great. I explained what i did. she helped me decipher the schematic to find the exact part number. Pulled down my info and said a new one is on its way. Friday I found a small little box from Hornady in my mailbox with not one but two replacement parts. (She must know I'm going to break another soon).

One minute replacement time and I'm back up and running.

I just wanted to take a second to toss out kudos for the great customer service they provided.

Been dealing with them off and on for over twenty-five years. Never a bad experience.  Always like CS and their products.

So... How is Peggy and how bad was his accent? 

 

Glad you got great CS.  It seems to be a dying thing though.

in this day of pushing the blame on someone else and giving the customer the brush off (ahem CTD, please take note), its nice to see that some companies still actually CARE about customers.. too often we hear about the other end of the spectrum

I broke a hornady zip spindle and wasted the expander ball in the process.  I figured it was my fault for not tightening the nut on the die and contacted them to order a replacement.  To my surprise the sent me 2 zip spindles, 2 expander balls, and a die service kit for free.  I even told them that I broke it because I did not tighten the nut and they still gave me the parts for free. They even shipped em out quick!

Just like the OP, I am very pleased with them and I will continue to use their products.

Ken

Had the exact same problem, and the same result. I ended up ordering a couple of extras.

I had a great experience too. Had a squib load. They replaced every box I had from that lot.

in this day of pushing the blame on someone else and giving the customer the brush off (ahem CTD, please take note), its nice to see that some companies still actually CARE about customers.. too often we hear about the other end of the spectrum

 

I'll give you my $0.02. Got a powder measure with a missing mount (the cheap stamped steel dealie) Said they would have a replacement to me... nothing. Had a powder measure tube become detached fromt eh powder measure... said they would send one.. nothing. Had a primer sled get screwed up by following their advice on how to get it to stop skipping primers, would not cover it. Had a brand new 9mm plate that would bind up 9mm in the holes wouldn't replace it, wanted me to send it in. Took forever for me to get out of them what they were going to do to it. Took 3 minutes of polishing to fix it, 45 minutes on the phone to get an answer about how to fix a known problem. Wouldn't replace a powder measure that had voids in the casting (told me it wasn't a problem, eventually replaced it, turns out it WAS a problem, just not something that would blow up your gun). HAd missing lock rings with my case feeder, the replacement never arrived. Bought a powder through kit for .40, the expander has issues. Found out they redesigned it because it didn't work right, they would not replace it with something that worked. 

 

Have they always been pleasant on the phone.. yeah. Do they actually provide good CS? Not really. I've gotten a few items out of them, but mostly the answer has been no. They are reasonably capable of providing technical advice. My out of pocket to fix their mistakes still kept it cheaper than a dillion, but that was when the price difference was bigger (well over $200 difference), at the moment, I wouldn't do it again, and the frequency of missing parts on NIB items from high volume official dealers is a joke. Also, form a corporate level, they get a defective part, they seem to be committed to using up how many ever they have on hand. They got a batch of drive hubs that had casting issues so they cracked. They knew of the problem, fixed it for new production, and kept on mailing out the bad drive hubs as warranty replacements until they got rid of them. IF the things lasted months before failing, I'd say that wasn't unreasonable if there werew supply issues, but these things were dying after a few hundred rounds or less. 

I'll give you my $0.02. Got a powder measure with a missing mount (the cheap stamped steel dealie) Said they would have a replacement to me... nothing. Had a powder measure tube become detached fromt eh powder measure... said they would send one.. nothing. Had a primer sled get screwed up by following their advice on how to get it to stop skipping primers, would not cover it. Had a brand new 9mm plate that would bind up 9mm in the holes wouldn't replace it, wanted me to send it in. Took forever for me to get out of them what they were going to do to it. Took 3 minutes of polishing to fix it, 45 minutes on the phone to get an answer about how to fix a known problem. Wouldn't replace a powder measure that had voids in the casting (told me it wasn't a problem, eventually replaced it, turns out it WAS a problem, just not something that would blow up your gun). HAd missing lock rings with my case feeder, the replacement never arrived. Bought a powder through kit for .40, the expander has issues. Found out they redesigned it because it didn't work right, they would not replace it with something that worked. 

 

Have they always been pleasant on the phone.. yeah. Do they actually provide good CS? Not really. I've gotten a few items out of them, but mostly the answer has been no. They are reasonably capable of providing technical advice. My out of pocket to fix their mistakes still kept it cheaper than a dillion, but that was when the price difference was bigger (well over $200 difference), at the moment, I wouldn't do it again, and the frequency of missing parts on NIB items from high volume official dealers is a joke. Also, form a corporate level, they get a defective part, they seem to be committed to using up how many ever they have on hand. They got a batch of drive hubs that had casting issues so they cracked. They knew of the problem, fixed it for new production, and kept on mailing out the bad drive hubs as warranty replacements until they got rid of them. IF the things lasted months before failing, I'd say that wasn't unreasonable if there werew supply issues, but these things were dying after a few hundred rounds or less. 

Wow... there is always 2 sides to a coin but I didnt expect to read this.  This sounds more like my experinces with the jackasses at redding that dont know how to make a SW460 die.  RCBS has always been decent but Hornady was the best.  Just out of curiosity, how long ago did you have dealings with them?  Mine where within the last year.

Ken

Wow... there is always 2 sides to a coin but I didnt expect to read this.  This sounds more like my experinces with the jackasses at redding that dont know how to make a SW460 die.  RCBS has always been decent but Hornady was the best.  Just out of curiosity, how long ago did you have dealings with them?  Mine where within the last year.

Ken

 

Technically my last dealings are probably about 14-5 months out at this point and involved missing parts from a NIB product from midway. The entirety of my experience has been about 50-50 useful contact vs. a no or failure to deliver since I got the press in 2003. It's not a new issue, although the missing part thing has gotten a lot worse since 2008, I'm assuming due to whatever bad practices they had before then being aggravated by higher demand since then. I'd chalk it up to them having issues sending stuff to me in particular, but oddly enough they never have issues when I'm paying them for a product directly, and I ahve actually received one warranty item over the years, so...

 

AT this point, I avoid their products, I just don't feel like dealing with the hassle. Outside of spare press parts, the only thing they have that I consider compelling are their powder measures. To get teh features and accuracy, you are talking a minimum of a $50 premium, which you can catch the measure on sale for < $70 fairly often, is a pretty huge premium.  

I dont blame you.  If I had a problem like that (cough cough...Redding) I would look to other manufactures myself.  I cant stand sub par support.  Maybe they have improved.  All my dealings have been within the last 6 months.

Ken