We're having a hell of a time getting Hussain's Angel Speed working right. There's two regulators in the gun, I've looked at both, and both look fine, but don't seem to work correctly. It's a mystery, and Hussain's not dealing well with it. As long as I've known Hussain, he's always had this strange attitude about service, the service industry, and generally how the customer should be treated. Today he said this to me: “there's a concept of service and respect that you don't seem to think exists.” To him, if something isn't being done right, you call the service provider up, you make a frowny face, and they get right on it. To him, this is a universal truth. I don't really know how that works, because in my entire life, I've never had a positive result from bitching at anybody.
Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe somewhere in this world you can call up, complain, and people get right on it for you. I've never seen it, but maybe Hussain has. I can promise you one thing, though, and that is that paintball is not the industry in which service is provided to match your desires. In paintball, the concept of service is treated with something between indifference and outright contempt. Hussain doesn't undertand this, so I am going to write up a little anecdotal story that will help him get a picture.
A fairly major player in the paintball world is a company called Warped Sportz. They sold one of the original “custom” Angels, the Dark Angel. They've got paintball personality Rocky Cagnoni on their staff, and he's a “pro” player, and all the kids think he just rules. They are one of the most respected, most legitimate shops in paintball. So, I decided to try out their services. My old Angel LED had a leak in the ram, and I didn't want to service it. So, I decided to send it to Warped Sportz. I also decided to order an Intellifeed hopper, and an “Angel Condom” protective cover for my Angel.
The gun came back, with an invoice, and immediately I noticed a number of problems. First off, there was no Angel Condom, and I had been charged for it. Secondly, the Intellifeed hopper I'd ordered was hugely overpriced. Lastly, the Proconnect I had on my Angel, a $50 piece, was not there. But, it got worse from there. I had a spare Proconnect, so I hooked up the gun, and was pleased to find that they had indeed fixed the leaky ram. Good. Then I hooked up the overpriced Intellifeed hopper, took a couple shots, and then the gun shut off. It made a smell like burning plastic and got very hot. I opened it up, and to my dismay I found that the wiring had been damaged somehow, and had burned up.
This, as you can imagine, was not good. I had to rewire the gun myself, which took quite some time and effort. I called Warped Sportz and asked them where my Angel Condom was, where my Proconnect was, and why the hopper was overpriced. They acted very apologetic and assured me they'd send my Proconnect back, as well as the Angel Condom. A week passed, and nothing happened. I called again. Same story. Another week, another call. Same story. This time, they sent the Proconnect, still no Angel Condom. At that point, I stopped talking to them.
This is a reputable business in paintball. They charged me for a product they literally refused to send me. They overcharged me for what appears to have been a defective product. They required multiple calls to even return my own property to me.