Warning on Alessi Holsters

[LoboGunLeather]

Lefty, the oldflatfoot, hit every note on this one.

I take all orders via e-mail, responding to hundreds of inquiries every week. Each response includes an estimated production time so the customer knows what to expect.

Some customers are just like kids in the back seat on a long car trip (Are we there yet? When are we gonna get there? Are we there yet?). If I were to publish my phone number and take calls during the business day there would never be any time for production work.

11 holster designs, with or without 4 common options, in 4 finish colors, for 137 different handguns results in over 24,000 possible variations (not counting left-hand versions). I still get requests for others every day. Open-stock inventory for immediate delivery? Not possible.

Tell the customers 4 to 5 weeks for production, some of them will start sending follow-up inquiries at 2 to 3 weeks and continue at least twice each week until they receive their orders.

15 to 20 hours per week responding to e-mails, 25 to 30 hours at the bench, 10 to 15 hours per week working with my assistant and building her skills. 5 days off in the past 3 years, 2 in the hospital, 2 recovering from a recluse spider bite, and 1 single day fishing with a grandson. What fun!

 

[photoman]

10 to 15 hours per week working with my assistant and building her skills...

What?! A girl making gun holsters?! Oy vey! Next thing you know, they'll be voting and riding motorcyles!

 

[38-44HD45]

Really hate to hear about problems at the Alessi plant. I had hopes that Lou's son-in-law would keep up the tradition. However, I sure am glad to hear about and from Mr. Ritchie. I might own one of those lovely shoulder rigs yet!

 

[joespapa]

Lefty, the oldflatfoot, hit every note on this one.

I take all orders via e-mail, responding to hundreds of inquiries every week. Each response includes an estimated production time so the customer knows what to expect.

Some customers are just like kids in the back seat on a long car trip (Are we there yet? When are we gonna get there? Are we there yet?). If I were to publish my phone number and take calls during the business day there would never be any time for production work.

11 holster designs, with or without 4 common options, in 4 finish colors, for 137 different handguns results in over 24,000 possible variations (not counting left-hand versions). I still get requests for others every day. Open-stock inventory for immediate delivery? Not possible.

Tell the customers 4 to 5 weeks for production, some of them will start sending follow-up inquiries at 2 to 3 weeks and continue at least twice each week until they receive their orders.

15 to 20 hours per week responding to e-mails, 25 to 30 hours at the bench, 10 to 15 hours per week working with my assistant and building her skills. 5 days off in the past 3 years, 2 in the hospital, 2 recovering from a recluse spider bite, and 1 single day fishing with a grandson. What fun!

I hope it's worth it! That's why I'm retired....see my grandson every day!
Seriously though if a guy wants to start asking about delivery on a four week lead time after two weeks...he should order from Bianchi or Galco, JMHO.

 

[Pote]

fwiw, I'd be a little worried about ordering a holster that claims it can accommodate 40 different handguns like the OP mentioned...that sounds a bit far fetched and misleading. I cannot imagine its retention is anywhere near perfect on more than one but what do I know..I always subscribe to buy the holster that is fit to one gun.

 

[HeyJoe]

on gun forums there never is any shortage of people who make excuses for holster makers who take your money, give unrealistic time estimates, dont communicate with you when they have a problem that will prevent meeting that timeline, dont answer phone calls or emails.
IF you are operating in that manner expect to get some grief from the customer, bad mouthed in person and online, have legal action taken against you.

Its just like any other business, put up or shut up.

 

[arjay]

There are no shortage of people who have no clue what custom work is.They shop at walmart.

 

[HeyJoe]

if you dont communicate with your customers and are very late on orders you are going to get grief.

i have a number of custom holsters. only had a problem with one holster maker who tried to rip me as well as many others off. ohio attorney generals office put a stop to those plans.

its too bad that not every state's attorney general office is as proactive, as witnessed by Oklahoma and Lawman Leather.

no holsters from Walmart by the way. i do have a couple of De Santis though.

 

[Arop]

No Warning Needed!

Guys, I just registered today because I felt compelled to Dispurse anything negative in regards to Alessi.

I Live in Buffalo and have been lucky enough to walk into Alessi Holsters whenever I Like. I am in there several times a month.

Without going into their personal business... or into the ongoings after Lou's Passing... Let me give you the facts as of today March 6th 2012 ;

1.) Fact: Alessi Holsters has settled in to their beautiful new location at the end of 2011. It is a wonderful facility with "secured" areas of manufacturing and many "old-school" machines that Lou has always used to manufacture his second-to-none holsters. The Processes are exact and protected. These "processes" were set up long ago and followed to the tee.

2.) Fact: There is only 1 owner of Alessi holsters today - and his name is Tom. Tom and Lou were best of friends - and Tom has produced holsters along side Lou for, what I remember, 15 to 20 years.

3.) Fact: Lou Alessi DOES still have family who work there.

4.) Fact: Most if not all of the same fabricators continue their craft as Lou had taught them.

5.) Fact: I Have Never called them and not had the phone answered... EVER. ( Not that it hasn't happened to someone but Never to me)

6.) Fact: Alessi Holsters had an outstanding booth at this years "Shot Show" in Las Vegas back in January. For those of you lucky enough to have attended - chime in to confirm with me.

In Closing - If any of you ever get the chance or fly thru the Buffalo Airport - Drive around the corner to Alessi Holsters Located at 247 Cayuga Rd, Cheektowaga NY 14225 - Walk in - and you will meet the proudest group of people who would never sacrifice quality - and would treat you like family in the first 10 seconds!

I can only imagine there may have been a bump or two durring the difficult transitions and then moving the manufacturing to a new location... Is it possible something got lost? Sure - however no one over there would ever intentionally ignor or avoid one of their loyal or new customers! Its never about the money with them... it has always been, and always will be about doing the right thing.

If ANYONE has any problems, call their main number at :
(716) 932-7497 ; Ask for Tom... He will absolutely make sure your taken care of!

Arop

 

[rondo]

Three words: Ritchie Leather Company.

 

[Austerity]

Lou died in 2009 and there's no telling what might be going on there.

Alessi Holsters died with him.

 

[Malysh]

Alessi Holsters is still in business and still making fine holsters just as Lou Alessi did when he was alive. The current owner, Tom Kulwicki is a very open and pleasant guy who has the experience to make the holsters just as well as they were always made. He also has all of Lou's original patterns and dies, including experimental ones that didn't go into production. I have one such IWB holster very similar to the classic Nelson Summer Special. It fits S&W J frame and Colt D frame snubbys, and fits both equally as well. It's pretty old but in good condition. When it starts to wear out it's going back to Buffalo so Tom can make me a fresh one.

You can't go wrong with an Alessi holster or one from Ritchie, either.

 

[brianwood]

I've always had a fantastic experience with Alessi. I ordered a Talon for my Kimber about two years ago. I know Tom took over after Lou passed, and i'm sure there were some growing pains for a while.

When i ordered my previous Talon holster, it took several weeks, but it was so worth it. My Kimber is the only pistol i carry now because i love that holster so much.

I came upon this post while trying to find the Alessi website on Google cause i'm wanting a holster for my XD. I found the site, called the number and got Tom on the phone the first time. He's a SUPER nice guy and always willing to chat. He personally took my order over the phone and promised i'd have it in two weeks.

 

[Hapworth]

I recently acquired an Alessi holster; it's a truly outstanding piece of work.

It also took much longer to receive than the company's quoted 10 to 12 weeks (I didn't start checking-in with them until the far end of the agreed upon timeframe passed). They made no attempt to contact me to let me know the item -- for which they required full payment up front -- would be delivered later than promised. Email inquiries were met with an automated response system.

It seems they expect their customers to sit, wonder and wait.

I called, and they do answer. They're truly polite and friendly, and tell you the item is almost done and will ship this week. They'll repeat this conversation with you for the next several weeks, with a different answer each time explaining the delay, and again, only if you call them.

They will offer nothing in the way of concession unless you push for it (marginally expedited shipping in return for my not finally canceling my order and demanding a refund).

This is a lousy way to do business. I'd chalk it up do my unpleasant experience alone except there's this thread and others like it.

This has nothing to do with not understanding the nature of custom work; that's insulting.

This has everything to do with basic, good business practice: keep paying customers adequately informed when you can't meet the agreement you've made.

If I hire myself out as a driver, and you pay me to pick you up next Thursday, and I have car trouble, don't show, and don't let you know, would you really accept "You don't understand the difficulty of car maintenance" as an explanation?

Of course not -- you'd expect me to call you as soon as I knew I wouldn't be able to pick you up, so that you could make any needed adjustments.

And you'd be right to expect that kind of basic customer service, in that situation or any time an agreement is reached and deal made -- especially one that involves money, goods and specific timeframes.

As stated, I eventually got the holster; it's truly terrific. I might even order from Alessi again, I'd just do it with no expectation of when I'd receive it, regardless of what they told me.

And that's a bit unfortunate.

 

[Dock49]

OK, first item--I do have a comment about Alessi Holsters, but I will get to that just a little later. Forgive me if I may break a few of the "unwritten rules of forums", yet I am a new member to the Smith & Wesson Forum, just joined today and I noticed this subject right off the bat; therefore, this is my first post to the S & W Forum. I read all of the previous comments, and I must say, you seem to be a bunch of good, intelligent, and knowledgeable people, especially in this area of conversation--proud to be associated with each and everyone of you.

My input: I guess we all have our favorite holster maker(s), mine is located back in the woods of Alabama near Springville (Kenny Campbell--KC Custom Gunleather). KC has made me close to 20 holsters (counting the ones he is currently making) and I have about 6 more I need to order from him--could be more since I have my eye on three new additions to my collection (incidentally all of the new additions are made by S & W).

A little about Kenny, KC apprenticed under the infamous recluse (other peoples' words not mine), Thad Rbyka. Interestingly, KC does not have an Internet presence. He does business the old fashion way, word-of-mouth. You have to call or write him, or you could do what I do...get in the car and go see him at his place--he has some good stories to tell. I first heard of KC from Mr. Kenny Jordan who works at Shotgun Sports, HW 431 in Anniston, Alabama and he owns several of KC holsters. Since I have bought a lot of my firearms from Mr. Jordan, I take his advice readily and he was on the money about KC holsters. As stated earlier, I always travel to his place in the woods and work with him in his shop picking the leather and the design of the holster I want (picked up a holster just last week for a Walther PPS 9mm in pigskin--don't laugh--it is a heck of a good rig).

Now with that said, I do buy holsters made by other craftsmen--DeSantis, Bianchi, Galco, Mitch Rosen, and others (yes, I do have a lot of holsters--one/two for each gun). Yesterday, before I joined the forum, I went online and looked over the Alessi Holsters (I have done this on several previous occasions, but finally had the urge to buy) and decided to order some shoulder holsters (KC has taken shoulder holsters out of his line). I talked with the person who answered (Laura?) and I finally got to a question that needed Tom's assistance. Tom was out, yet when he returned he called me right away, discussed my holster needs, came up with a very good solution to meet my needs. I even got a 10% discount for some reason, probably due to something I said in my conversation or it must be my wit. When I asked about billing, Tom told me they would call me when my order was completed and get my shipping address and billing information and they would bill me at the time they shipped the order. I thought, "Hey, this is pretty good, pay for the product when it is ready and not before." KC does the same thing, so I like the setup Alessi has, and they treated me better than family. Now, with that said, I admit that the wait time I was told is 6-8 weeks, but hey, I think we all have to wait to get good custom made holsters. Heck, we will wait weeks--even several months--to get a gun made, repaired, or "tricked out." I have had some places tell me the lead time for a holster is 16-20 weeks, and frankly I do not care about the wait time as long as I get a quality holster--so, all-in-all, not a bad experience. I will keep you posted on the rest of this story, but hey, so-far-so-good.

 

[Hapworth]

There are five Alessi apologists and/or cheerleaders in this thread who at present have exactly one post.

Just sayin'.

 

[-db-]

My input: I guess we all have our favorite holster maker(s), mine is located back in the woods of Alabama near Springville (Kenny Campbell--KC Custom Gunleather). KC has made me close to 20 holsters (counting the ones he is currently making) and I have about 6 more I need to order from him--could be more since I have my eye on three new additions to my collection (incidentally all of the new additions are made by S & W).

A little about Kenny, KC apprenticed under the infamous recluse (other peoples' words not mine), Thad Rbyka. Interestingly, KC does not have an Internet presence. He does business the old fashion way, word-of-mouth. You have to call or write him, or you could do what I do...get in the car and go see him at his place--he has some good stories to tell. I first heard of KC from Mr. Kenny Jordan who works at Shotgun Sports, HW 431 in Anniston, Alabama and he owns several of KC holsters. Since I have bought a lot of my firearms from Mr. Jordan, I take his advice readily and he was on the money about KC holsters. As stated earlier, I always travel to his place in the woods and work with him in his shop picking the leather and the design of the holster I want (picked up a holster just last week for a Walther PPS 9mm in pigskin--don't laugh--it is a heck of a good rig).

Here's a Ken Campbell holster I have for an N-frame:

 

[sipowicz]

There are five Alessi apologists and/or cheerleaders in this thread who at present have exactly one post.

Just sayin'.

Good obs...

 

[Dock49]

There are five Alessi apologists and/or cheerleaders in this thread who at present have exactly one post.

Just sayin'.

Valid point Hapworth, this was my first post. After all, a person has to start somewhere when joining a forum and I thought this would be a good place to do it since all of you seemed to be well informed about holsters and firearms just like me, so I thought I would add my two cents including my personal experience with Alessi Holsters with a nod to KC who has made most of my holsters (see the posting by db showing one of KC's holsters).

Hapworth, I concede that I have not gone as far into the process as you did--I have only ordered three holsters and discussed how and when payment would be made--I have not actually received the holsters. I did note that I would keep the forum members posted on the rest of the story. Trust me, if it turns out good or bad, I will let the forum know. All I wanted to do was share my viewpoint and an experience with you and that is all it was--my personal experience/opinion. OK, second post--thanks and have a good day.

Respectfully and with Best Regards,

Dock49

PS By-the-way, I like the moniker Hapworth--any literary connection to J.D. Salinger?

 

[Hapworth]

Valid point Hapworth, this was my first post. After all, a person has to start somewhere when joining a forum and I thought this would be a good place to do it since all of you seemed to be well informed about holsters and firearms just like me, so I thought I would add my two cents including my personal experience with Alessi Holsters with a nod to KC who has made most of my holsters (see the posting by db showing one of KC's holsters).

Hapworth, I concede that I have not gone as far into the process as you did--I have only ordered three holsters and discussed how and when payment would be made--I have not actually received the holsters. I did note that I would keep the forum members posted on the rest of the story. Trust me, if it turns out good or bad, I will let the forum know. All I wanted to do was share my viewpoint and an experience with you and that is all it was--my personal experience/opinion. OK, second post--thanks and have a good day.

Respectfully and with Best Regards,

Dock49

PS By-the-way, I like the moniker Hapworth--any literary connection to J.D. Salinger?

Perfectly fair reply, and gentlemanly, too.

And yes, my handle references Salinger's last.