So in reviewing the past 12 months of posts in this particular forum, I see an overwhelming number of topics that are pertaining to "Talon Tunes". They are split half and half. Some guys rave about Talon Tunes, and others loath Talon Tunes. So the following is my $.02 based off of my personal experience with Tony at Talon Tunes.
But before I even get into my story, I want to appeal to your logic. Lets use math to do this. If there are 10 reviews on Talon Tunes in the past year, and 5 are positive, and 5 are negative, then Tony is only batting .500. If you were shopping on eBay, would you buy products from a seller who's store had a 2.5 star rating? Probably not. So let me go a step deeper. What do the positives and negatives all have in common? All of the positives are from people who got what they ordered from Tony without incident (probably placing an order online). All of the negatives are from people who had some sort of issue with their order, had to reach out to Tony, and got strung along, belittled, or shut down by him. Of course you're going to give a positive review if you order something and it goes without a hitch. But where customer service REALLY counts is when there's an issue, and you reach out to the supplier for answers, and they bend over backwards to make things right. Tony at Talon Tunes doesn't do this. I have personal experience on the receiving end of his poor customer service, and I know several others on here who do as well.
So let me start by saying if you ever call Talon Tunes, you will NEVER hear a welcoming voice on the other end. Tony's personality is VERY ABRASIVE. Almost to the point that you feel like he's put out by having to talk to you on the phone. If you order something from him online, and never have to interact with him, then you will have a pleasurable experience. But God help you if you have an issue and have to call him. Don't try to have a long conversation with him, because his time is very valuable. He will cut you off and ask if you intend on buying something- implying that if you don't, you're wasting his precious time.
His company is Talon Tunes. Talon being the Air Force Talon PCP which I'm assuming is where he cut his teeth in the world of air rifles. In it's infancy, I believe his business focused on Air Force platforms. Now he sells a gamut of other things. But in my case, my first dealing with Tony was to purchase some after market parts for my AF Condor. Since he sold the components, and since his company is called "Talon Tunes" I reached out to him for some expert advice. From the moment he picked up the phone, he was abrasive and cold. After a few minutes of questions, he hit me with the "So are you going to buy something or not?" Shocked, I timidly replied, "Yes. I will." And I placed my order. The order came in a reasonable time, but my interaction with Tony was ingrained in my memory. I ordered a heavier hammer weight with slap mod and a heavier hammer spring.
But I'm the kind of person to give someone the benefit of the doubt. So a year or so later I decided to but an Air Force extreme flow valve from Tony. I just placed the order online. After waiting over a week and getting ZERO shipping details, I called Tony. In his usual abrasive and semi-condescending fashion, he assured me the item would be shipped shortly. He offered zero explanation as to why the item hadn't been shipped already, which seemed strange and highly irritating from a consumer standpoint. So I waited another week. Called. Got no answer. Wrote an email. Got no response. Then out of the clear blue, I get a notification that my item was shipped. FINALLY!
The valve assembly took about a week to arrive. Picture Ralphie from A Christmas Story when he discovered that his Little Orphan Annie decoder pin was used to push crummy commercials instead of secret messages. That's what my face was like when I saw the valve. The anodization or bluing (or whatever he uses on the exterior body of the valves) was marred and discolored in several spots. It almost looked like it had seen some corrosion and had been wiped down with acetone or something. And there are 2 ambidextrous threaded ports for a high pressure gauge to read the pressure of the bottle (or regulator if you're utilizing one). The bottom of the ports were milled so deep that the layer of metal separating the inner workings of the valve body and the bottom of the port were paper thin. And on one side it actually had a small hole it was so thin. Then I realized that the only thing that made the valve "Extreme Flow" was the ports on the back end of the tophat and the Delrin plug were ever so slightly enlarged for a little more airflow. But compared side by side to the stock condor vale setup I had, it didn't make any more energy. Also, the threads on the gauge ports leaked like a sieve when I screwed the gauges into them. That's a LOT of flaws for a small, non-complex valve assembly.
With all of these things combined, I decided to give Tony a call. I braced for impact in anticipation of him picking up the phone. I started to explain to him my concerns. I said, "I'm thinking the tolerances of the machines that make these valves are too loose and the work seems sloppy." I made reference that is a common issue with products manufactured in China. Tony got PISSED when I said this. He said, "Who told you these were made in China?" I said it's the only explanation for this many manufacturing issues on a single mechanical device. And this it what Tony told me...… "Get some Mega Tape pipe sealing tape and put that around the threads on the gauges. If it leaks after that then you can call me back." And he hung up the phone.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. So I decided from that moment forward I would NEVER, EVER do business with Tony or Talon Tunes again. I kept this info to myself for a long time, but after reading a dozen negative reviews that all seem to similarly coincide with my story, I felt obligated to tell my story. I'm not telling anyone not to do business with Talon Tunes. If you feel the reward outweighs the sacrifice, then go ahead. I'm simply saying that I (as well as a multitude of others on here) will never do business there again, and we have valid, substantiate reasons for this decision. There are too many other retailers out there that have better interaction and follow through with their customer service.
