Recently I visited Airguns of Arizona to find out on how the world’s leading high-end airgun dealership does things. In particular, I was interested to visit the AoA Service Department and talk to Shane, the Service Manager at AoA. That’s him in the photograph above.
I’ve known AoA for years and thought I knew everything about how they operate. Boy, was I wrong! Here’s eight things that I didn’t know about the AoA Service Department.
I’ll bet you didn’t know them all either…
______________________________________________________________________________
One: They Don’t Just Service Airguns They Sell
My guess was that the AoA Service Department would support just the guns sold by Airguns of Arizona. In fact, Shane told me, that’s not so.
The majority of work in the AoA Service Department is for non-warranty work and much of it is for airguns that were not even purchased from Airguns of Arizona, he explained.
AoA Service also handles warranty work for Precision Airgun Distribution (PAD) dealers around the country, when that is necessary.
While Airguns of Arizona Service has very wide capabilities, it’s impossible for them service every make and type of airgun ever built – mainly for parts availability reasons. (If you can’t source the parts, it’s very tough to offer a repair service). In this case, Shane tries to help owners by suggesting other reputable repair shops that may be able to help.
______________________________________________________________________________
Two: Sixty-Plus Years Of Experience
The AoA Service Department has three senior service technicians, Steve, Don and Kip. What I didn’t realize was that each of them has more than 20 years experience working on airguns. That’s a total of sixty-plus years experience among just these three guys!
Below. Left to right are Kip, Shane and Steve. Where was Don? We’ll see him below…
Steve is the Daystate and Brocock expert. He specializes on these PCPs, together with the BSA models. If you want AoA to provide a specific ART Tune on your Red Wolf for ultimate competition performance – a $400 special service requiring masses of detailed knowledge – it’s Steve who does this too.
In addition, Steve is a part owner of the company, along with his brother, Robert Buchanan. He’s been a mainstay of the AoA Service Department since the company started, waaaay back.
Don specializes in the LCS Air Arms models and the new Daystate Delta Wolf. A highly-qualified machinist who worked in a previous life for NASA on the Space Shuttle, Don has also been with AoA for many years. In his “other life” outside AoA, Don builds custom powder-burning rifles and is an avid competitor in long-range shooting competitions.
Below. Don Golembieski behind his favorite SK-19.
He describes the LSC SK-19 air rifles as “awesome guns but really too complex for the average owner to repair.” He encourages LCS owners always to never let HPA pressure fall below 125 bar as this is one of the secrets to a long, trouble-free shooting life for these guns.
Kip is well-known to many AoA customers as he answered phones in the Sales Department for many years, advising customers on their purchases. But he’s always worked on repairs too…
Nowadays, Kip’s the “go to” man for big bore PCPs. He’s also the Eastern European PCP specialist, working on RTI, AGT and KalibrGun models. In addition, he takes his hand at springers, too. That’s versatility for you!
______________________________________________________________________________
Three: The Best Way To Contact AoA Service
Most people naturally phone AoA and ask to be put through to the Service Department. In fact, Shane says, this is not the best solution as – due to the volume of phone calls AoA receives, it’s far better to send an email.
Although Shane is happy to help repair and warranty customers by phone, helping to diagnose issues and suggest a customer fix if applicable, he says the best way to contact him is via service@airgunsofarizona.com. He’ll get back to you asap.
Below. Service requires parts. AoA has a ton of them, as Steve Buchanan shows us…
______________________________________________________________________________
Four: Service Turnaround Time
“One week whenever possible up to about four weeks max,” says Shane. He explains further that some times of year are typically busier for repairs than others, obviously this affects turnaround time.
Also – while AoA keeps large stocks of service repair parts – if they need to order-in a part for some reason, then obviously that builds-in a lead time over which they have no control.
Basically, Shane explained that AoA Service always tries to do things correctly using their outstanding knowledge and experience. He stresses that often a quick repair is not necessarily a good repair!
AoA prefers to take more time when it’s needed. For example any PCP that’s in for leaking issues is going to have a 48-hour (or longer) leak test. It’s not gong back to the customer until it’s passed that test!
In addition, all repaired airguns are tested for Muzzle Velocity after repair to prove performance.
Below. AoA has machining capabilities to, in case they’re required.
______________________________________________________________________________
Five: How AoA Keeps Track Of Repairs
Every gun reaching the Service Department is registered into a specialized software system. This allows the status and location of every gun to be known and tracked at each stage of its journey through Airguns of Arizona’s Service organization, right up to final return to the customer.
AoA is not going to lose your gun!
______________________________________________________________________________
Six. What Guns Do They Work On Most?
PCPs make-up the vast majority of the service work for AoA. Shane stressed that the new Daystate, Brocock and Weihrauch models are all outstandingly reliable. His department typically only sees these models when they are old and have seen a huge amount of use.
And Weihrauch springers are “bombproof”!
In many cases, O ring issues are the “Achilles heel” of PCPs. Fortunately these are easy to source. This enables AoA to provide service coverage for a much wider range of PCP models than you might have thought.
______________________________________________________________________________
Seven: How AoA Handles Warranty Repairs
In the VERY unlikely event that warranty attention is required on a brand new gun for which Precision Airgun Distribution (PAD) is the US distributor, Airguns of Arizona will pay for shipping BOTH WAYS if the customer finds a genuine problem less than 30 days from receiving the product.
These brands are: Daystate, Brocock, LCS Air Arms, Weihrauch, KalibrGun, RTI, Diana, American Air Arms, Feinwerkbau, Western Big Bore, AGT.
I know of no other company that makes such generous coverage of return shipping costs!
Beyond 30 days, the customer is responsible for the cost of shipping back to AoA. The company then rectifies the gun and provides quality return shipping at no additional charge.
Finally, it’s important to understand that AoA does not provide warranty on all the guns they sell. Some of the cheaper products have their own warranty coverage and the customer will need to follow that company’s own support policies as appropriate.
But AoA does provide warranty support the vast majority of high-end products that they sell. The company is committed to providing outstanding warranty coverage for the products PAD distributes!
______________________________________________________________________________
Eight: Shane’s The “New Shane”
One final surprise. Shane is not a very common name, but a Shane worked for AoA for many years. Shane the Service Manager is NOT that same person. In fact, he’s the “New Shane” at AoA, having been with the company a little under a year.
He’s a great guy who has the customer’s best interests at heart and is keen to ensure that all warranty or service work is managed in the best possible manner!
Leave a Reply