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m3's needle valves (recent shipments + negative comment)
A couple of weeks ago I took advantage of M3's APD sale and ordered two of
there $19 needle valves. They arrived about a week later. I excitedly
opened the package, eager to get my second co2 setup up and running (first
setup has a nupro valve). Only to be disappointed that the valve I received
was not the valve described on M3's web page, It had no 1/8 hose barb. I
called M3 to bring this to their attention. The person I talked to was very
nice but took no responsibility for the error. Instead he placed the blame
on Clippard (the valve's manufacturer). Unless Clippard direct ships for
M3 this was in my opinion was not the correct stance to take. He said he
would need to contact Clippard to resolve the problem and would give me a
call after he did. A few days had past and no phone call. I then e-mailed
M3 to check on the status of the situation. Apparently Clippard sent M3 the
wrong valve or the right valve without the hose barb fitting. M3's solution
was to get the missing fitting and send it to me and any other customers
who where in the same boat as I was, sounded good to me. I waited another
week and today I received the 1/8 hose barbs for the valves. So here is
where the problem starts. The 1/8 hose barb fitting has no "nut" or place
to use a wench to tighten it to the valve. I could not get an air tight
seal between the fitting and the valve. In fact, in my attempts to tighten
the fitting to the valve one of them broke. So now I have two valves that
will not work one leaks and one is in a few pieces. I tried to contact M3
to see what could be done about the situation and the icing on the cake is
that they are out of the office till the 19th.
Hopefully all this doesn't sound too bitchy but I am very disappointed with
this entire transaction. My advice would be to anyone who received a valve
without the proper fitting to send them back to M3 for a refund or exchange
for a valve whose hose barb was placed by Clippard and does not leak. Also
to any one who plans on purchasing one of these valves they are very small
and seem to be extremely fragile. The valve that broke did so very easily
with the 1/8 hose barb in a pair of vice-grips and the valve in my bare
hand. I'm only 5' 8" 140 lbs and not He-Man.
My criticism of M3 is that they placed the blame elsewhere for a product
they shipped out. And that they placed the responsibility of fixing
(literally) the problem with there customers.
Stuck in Seattle with a whole lot of gas and no means to control it!,
Jim Wilson