I have not had to use CSMC for repair work but my sales experience with them was off-putting. Last spring and summer, I scoured every dealer site and auction house (including prior sales) for a 30” 20ga Fox in CE or XE grade. I located a DE through this board but could not convince the owner to part ways with it. At that point, I decided to order a gun to spec...a CE. I reached out to CSMC in August to understand what the ordering process was and to see if they would take a pair of guns in trade as the deposit. We discussed the specs and my request for just scroll engraving. They gave me a verbal estimate for costs and delivery and committed to accepting the pair as 40% of the total costs based on the pics I sent. I requested everything in writing because it was a significant purchase for me. Over the next several months and multiple “I’ll email you tomorrow” responses, I wondered if I would even get the order in by my birthday in December (I didn’t). They eventually started to waffle on taking the pair and said they needed to see them in person to judge condition and were mumbling about the amount they committed to. Mind you I dealt with the same individual through this whole process. I wound up buying an XE from a dealer this spring that is very close to what I would have ordered. That experience was a complete 180 from my experience with CSMC. Before I bought it, I asked CSMC if they could confirm the XE’s specs when it left their shop (particularly chokes) to which Carol responded “we don’t release private information like that.” Uh, ok. If I buy another CSMC gun, it won’t be through them.
