I asked Matt about locks around October or November of last year. My situation was unique because of ambulance doors… on four 60 series. I recognized the ask was large and custom, so I’d only ordered a data plate from him up to that point. I also knew Matt’s reputation the last few years and didn’t want to press a Mud friendship by becoming disappointed like many others.
So when I finally asked, he thought it was an interesting project, four sets of locks, all hand-keyed. He said he’d be interested in doing it, so I asked him when he could start… and I asked again, and again, and again. It took quite literally until the middle of January to get a commitment, at which point I reduced it to a single. If it took two months for a commitment to work, I couldn’t imagine how long it would take to get four sets of locks. Jesus would’ve come back by then.
He volunteered to do the single lock set in 10 days. This was a surprising turnaround to commit to, considering this was not an off-the-shelf product, and he was under siege for all the backorders, and it took him an inordinate amount of time to commit to a start date for the work. But he was confident, so I took him at his word
It didn’t take 10 days, and I ended up in the same situation as
@jonnyd42.
It took so long that I sourced two complete NOS OEM sets from a country sanctioned by the US and shipped through a third-party forwarding company. It took two months to get them, but STILL faster than Matt's set. To add insult to injury, Matt’s price was 3X the cost, and this vendor I purchased from is known for sky-high pricing on top of the expensive shipping. That was part of the rub. Suppose you charge three times the market rate and volunteer to deliver an item by a specific date, honor that commitment. It’s part of the reason a customer decides to pay a price.
@jonnyd42, you have two options: start the chargeback process with your credit card company or wait. You will likely be waiting months before you get it unless Matt prioritizes your project over other folks. He sees this post, motivating him to prioritize your custom order.
Regarding communication, Matt will respond when he’s ready and at his convenience. Your options are the same: wait patiently or start the chargeback process with your credit card company.
Hopefully, Matt’s new hire will help him catch up on his backorder, allowing Matt to focus on your custom key order. More importantly, hopefully, Matt will get better fulfillment processes in place so that this doesn’t continue to be a regrettable Groundhog Day experience.
I'm not sure what your key project needs are, but I can think of two overseas vendors who may be able to help if you just need new keys. If it is a key issue and you haven’t sent your locks to Matt, buried somewhere on Mud, there is a thread about an old-school locksmith shop in Southern California that rekeys locks, as I recall, for an excellent price. I believe they were in Torrance, CA. I don’t remember the name of the shop, and I don’t have any keywords that come to mind to find it.
Sorry, you have to go through this.
