Before you proceed you should be aware that the tone of this post is not what you are used to seeing from 702Shooter. The “happy go lucky” positive outlook I typically display will not be present in this post. If you’re not prepared to see my negative side, do not continue reading this entry.
We’ve all heard the saying that if you can’t say something nice about somebody, don’t say anything at all. Sorry Mom but if I did that then it would kinda defeat the purpose of sites like this.
That being said, I could at least start off on a positive note.
On my 5th stop by the Krieger Barrels booth, during the 2010 Shot Show, I bumped into Mike Hinrichs (Krieger Technical Support). Mike was VERY helpful and friendly. He and I discussed my needs for some custom barrels and he really went out of his way to educate me and offer some advice. However, there is another saying that says: “One bad apple spoils the whole bunch.” and that “bad apple” is Helmut Kiesling who is a manager at Krieger.
As I mentioned, this was my 5th stop by the Krieger booth. Why 5 stops? I’m glad you asked…
On day 1 we stopped by their booth as we had decided to use Krieger barrels on our Precision Rifle build. The primary reason for us attending the Shot Show was to get some information and quick 1 to 3 minute videos from the different manufacturers that we wanted to use on the rifle build. (See the 2010 Shot Show entries and corresponding videos for examples) I explained this to Helmut who looked less than enthused and pretty much blew me off by asking me to come back the next day as he was far too busy standing around alone in their booth to take 2 minutes for us. I was polite, thanked him for his time, and said I would come back tomorrow.
Day two arrives and we went directly to the Krieger booth hoping to catch Helmut before he was “too busy” again. As we approached the booth, he looks up at us and LEAVES THE BOOTH.
Day 3. No Helmut when we stopped by.
On the 4th day we stopped by and again Helmut was not there. We returned a few hours later and Helmut acted as if he had never met us before. So you want to play stupid? OK. Perhaps I did not explain things clearly before so maybe I can get a fresh start here. I again tell Mr. Kiesling what we are doing. At this point I had loaded 20+ videos onto my iPhone that we had shot from other companies during the previous days. I offered to show Helmut some of the videos and he just kind of dazed off at the corner of his EMPTY booth.
I’m going to pause here for a moment to make sure that you understand where I am coming from…
What we are doing is offering FREE advertising to these manufacturers. Beyond that we are offering business to them as well. If you don’t understand that or are not interested in being featured in our videos, that’s fine. A few companies were like that and some people are just camera shy. I get all that. What I don’t get is why people feel the need to be rude about things.
I’m presenting these companies with an opportunity to have their product/company featured and reviewed. If they are not interested then they have two options.
Option A: Be professional and politely decline. This will still get you the feature and our business, we just won’t have video for our readers. Not a major issue, it’s all good.
Option B: Be a complete asshole. This is probably not your best option because nobody likes to deal with assholes but everybody loves to read about them.
Moving on…
So this Helmut Kiesling asshole jerked me around for 4 days then as I was trying to show him one of the videos he mumbled: “I can’t possibly explain why our barrels are better than everybody else in 1 to 3 minutes.” then he turned his back and walked away to straighten a stack of already well stacked flyers. I could practically see his nose in the air and the stick protruding from his ass. Had he politely declined on day 1 then this post would have taken a very different direction and we would be doing business with Krieger Barrels as well as sending them business. Whoever let this prick out of the back room and stuck him in a PR position at the Shot Show needs to reevaluate their decision making skills.
Hence forth, any time you see a post that refers to somebody as a “Helmut”, you will understand that the translation = “asshole” “prick” “jerk” etc… You get the point.
In closing I’d like to say thank you to Mike Hinrichs and a big F*@K YOU to Helmut Kiesling. We have found another barrel manufacturer who knows how to treat potential customers and media.
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I’ve never understood why people are rude to customers. I’ve done retail sales and even the worst customer I ever dealt with was treated professionally. I found your blog in a Google search while looking for a custom barrel. Thank you for letting us know how their management treats people.
Well written, and thanks for the “heads up”! The “customer-is-always-wrong” attitude has lost, and will lose business. Shame on “Helmut” – I’ll be using that term myself now – lol.
On the Shot Show 2010 I had the same attitude as you had with the guys at Meprolights and not only them I got that same attitude from Kimber arms (meprolight dealer side). I will never buy a set of Meprolights again. Did I say mine only lasted two years as well? Sucks you had to go through that and good on you to be brutally honest when needed be.