
Originally Posted by
wetwrks
Guys...PTP has been making paintguns for what...years? Decades?
Then look at what else they are involved with...making grenade launchers for the military.
They are supposed to be the "experts" in this area and have fallen down on the last 2 products they have put out. They have made promises that they have not kept and then have passsed the buck to others.
Would this really fly for a military product? Wonder what would happen if they cut a grenade launcher too thin? Odds are someone would lose a hand and maby their life.
This is essentially mirrors my take on the situation. They are government contractors. On one hand, you can argue that this is the reason that they are producing sub-par specialty products for a niche market - they simply don't have the resources to devote. On the other hand, though, this should at least mean that they are somewhat competent, and would know better than to put out a questionable design, and a final product that fails, and then repeat the same process a few years later. Sure, lowest bidder, and all that, but at the very least, one would imagine that they would look objectively at the fiasco that was the MM2K9 project, and the say to themselves "if we are going to get involved with something like this again, we had better make sure that we get it right the first time."
I was one of the pre-orders for the MM2K9. At the time, I wasn't really concerned about timeliness, as I was busy with too many other things to be actively concerned. To be honest, I haven't even assembled the thing, although I am not sure I will even bother at this point. Looking back, the whole thing was just handled badly, and too much blame placed on the customer. After all of the runaround, and shipping of essentially incomplete products, I think PTP's commitments were not completely fulfilled. Sure, they tried to rectify things with the spacers, but that created new problems for some.
"Oh, but PTP didn't design or mill it! It isn't their fault!" Again, they knew, or should have known what they were getting into. I have worked with people who do custom fabrications, prototyping, and multi-source projects. It's really almost a priori that, if you are going to attach your name to the end product, that you make sure that all of your ducks are in a row. You don't just accept a design willy-nilly, with no beta, QC, or prototyping prior to full-scale production, especially from someone who has caused a headache in the past. Mistakes can fall through the cracks, but if you are producing a product, in good faith, that is solely the fruit of outsourcing, you are the one who assumes responsibility. I realize that there is a certain fraternal sense in the paintball community, and a pass given to many things as a result. We are talking about a real company, with real contracts, who needs to be treated just as any other company out there. When a car company gives you a lemon, you get your money back, or go class action. You don't say "oh well, the engineer goofed, but that CEO is a good guy, so shame on me".
That being said, Forrest has, at the least, put some effort forth to try to appease customers. It may be too little, too late - at least as far as any trust or good standing goes. Let's just hope they QC a little better with their products that actually go "boom".
"My Jell-O is dying in the audience..."
Merrill Howard Kalin