FX I think is, from a PR stantpoint, playing this one rather badly.
Distributors, in general not necessarily in airgun land, tend to be set up only to interface with dealers rather than with the public. From a management/systems/etc standpoint, this actually makes a lot of sense because dealing with consumers is challenging and expensive..... and after all, why would dealers get such a large markup (typically almost half the retail value of the product) if they don't provide that value. So if FX USA had been set up purely as a distributor, that'd have been fine and made sense. Nobody would be calling them for parts other than the dealers. Need a part an FX dealer doesn't have? Thats fine, the dealer can just add it to their, probably weekly or bi-weekly, shipment from FX USA. That'd make sense. The dealers, who are set up to handle customer interfacing, can do that and FX USA doesn't have to staff their warehouse with enough CS reps to answer everyone's emails and phone calls.
Unfortunately what FX USA has done is, not only fail to really clarify what their role with the public is, they've encouraged a shifting of CS from dealers onto themselves handing W&R direct as well as hoarding special parts which they won't release to dealers. And they've done all this without adequately staffing their facility to even pretend to handle the customer support requirements.
When I had an issue I needed to reach out to FX USA for I think it took a week and a half for my first email to be returned. After that, the rep was perfectly friendly, but replies came at a rate of about one per week. That is..... not great. And I don't even blame the FX reps, clearly they have more workload than they can handle, but I think FX either needs to change their strategy/policy here, or start staffing more people.
As an aside, as far as I'm concerned, the warranty/service/sales/etc stuff associated with a product I buy is the responsibility of the dealer who sold it to me. If I buy a product, particularly an expensive one, and the dealer tells me it isn't their problem and to contract the manufacturer or distributor, that really frosts my cake. So what if the product needs to go back to the OEM for service? Or it needs parts? It is the responsibility of the dealer to handle that on my behalf. If they can't support a product they retail, they shouldn't be selling it in the first place. So @OP, I realize you might want to be going to FX directly, but I might try contacting whoever you bought it from if I were you.
Just my take on the whole thing, for whatever it is worth.
