First, let me say I am OK with the safe. The process of actually getting one that worked was a real problem.
After months of research I ordered a safe from Sturdy SafeManufacturing on July 24, 2012. It was to arrive my house in some four weeks. The delivery companies won’t keep a schedule, so I had hired help on site for most of the day to help move the beast once it arrived. It did arrive mid afternoon. The driver wanted me to accept the delivery while it was still on the truck. I said no – stating I needed to make sure it what I ordered. So we wrestled the 1000 pound beast into the garage. It was steel banded to the pallet, and had three layers of various forms of plastic under that. The outer wrap was spray painted with warnings and there was an address label on it. It looked OK, so I took all the packing off. I found the combination and tried it, but the safe wouldn’t open. I tried again as did the help. The combination simply didn’t work. I called Sturdy and they rewalked me through the opening procedure. The safe wouldn’t open. At this point I told the driver to go complete his day. Terry got on the phone and instructed me in various dial twisting, handle banging and other torture techniques thought to help in situations like this. Eventually another chap got on the line and gave me several other combinations to try. It was now past 6:00PM with the safe as closed as it was when it was on the truck. I had spent more than two hours of my not unlimited cell phone minutes on the phone with them. They were out of suggestions and I was out of patience, so I paid the help I had and sent them on their way. The next day I talked to several Sturdy employees again. One told me the “new guy” packed the safe and would be “written up” for this situation. What would they tell methis? Even if the “new guy” had a hand in this, they are exhibiting a real management problem. They either don’t train properly or don’t inspect properly. I was also offered a refund. Actually I was offered a refund several times. We tried additional combinations with no success. Others asked if I would consider having a local smith come over and drill the lock to obtain entry. This was not my preference, so we eventually decided to send it back. Terry instructed me to pack it up and secure it to the pallet. I don’t have strapping equipment, but I did go to the store and buy some rope in an admittedly feeble attempt to secure the safe. Then I had the privilege to wait around the following day for a delivery company to retrieve the safe.
A week later, on Thursday, I contacted Sturdy to see if the safe had arrived and to please keep me informed regarding the issues with it. Terry called me back on Tuesday. He proceeded to tell me there was “irrefutable evidence” the safe had been opened and tampered with (according to him, there was serious damage to the interior of the safe). During this conversation he accused me of opening the safe, damaging it and closing it and then calling them. He accused the people I hired. I believe he even accused the delivery driver. He accused me several times. I got hot and nearly told where he could put his safe Anyway, during the call I asked Terry why I had been offered a refund so often. He had no good answer. He said they would repair the safe and send it to me. I seriously consider a refund, but I really want a good safe, so I staythe course.
In a couple days I get a call from Sturdy. Their spokesperson was falling all over themselves apologizing for the situation. They ask me if there is anything they can do for me. I state I simply want a safe that works. They offer $100.00. At that time they had $2500.00 of my money. I am out more than $100.00 forthe help and rope, two wasted days, and half my cell phone minutes for the month. I simply tell them to do what they need to do. The next day they call to tell me three things, one: the charged me an additional $100.00 instead of refunding it and two: they are out of dry rods. The one that was in the safe I ordered initially had gone missing. They would mail one separately. Finally, they tell me the safe should be ready on Friday to ship and they would send an email and make a confirmatory phone call with shipping details. On the next Tuesday, I contact them as I haveheard nothing form them. They say they sent the email, but that they must have misspelled my address. I guess they miskeyed my phone number also. Before I heard back from Sturdy, Igot a call from the shipping company stating the safe would be delivered tomorrow. The additional credit card charge was straightened out.
The safe arrives and we get it into my garage. It looks virtually identical to what I saw a month before. The safe was wrapped as it was the previous month. The outer layer was spray painted the same way and it had the same address label on it. There is no doubt in my mind any issues with the safe originated in Sturdy’s shop in California. This time it works. The door seems to have some additional weld humps on it and the handle seems a bit loose. I assume they drilled the lock to open it, but that hole is not apparent. I unpack the shelves and there is the missing DriRod; it seems they never looked for it. Another review I read before buying states the mat in the bottom leaves a bit to be desired. That is true. It is cheap felt and is cut very poorly. I remove it and find a bunch of metal shavings, a big machine screw (from the lock?), weld slag and a big footprint in the paint. Much of the weld slag has been painted over leaving a very rough surface. That’s a shame. If they had spent another five minutes to clean up, it would save me a couple hours or more of scraping, sanding and repainting. There was no hole for the DriRod cord, I had to drill one. I can say the steel seems to be good.
I now have the safe secured. It is a good design, except for maybe the handle and locking mechanism. That remains far looser than other safes I am familiar with. The hinge welds are poor and the interior finish is prettyhorrible. I did request sufficient paint to repaint the bottom and received all of two ounces – not nearly enough and it came in a postage due envelope!
I kept telling myself that I was buying the steel and I still believe that. However, I do not think I will buy another safe from Sturdy Safe Manufacturing. They remind me of the US auto industry in the1970’s. That is, you get what comes out their door, when it comes out their door (in my case it was 9 weeks from ordering to final delivery) whether it is made with care and quality or not. I am certain they are no happier with this transaction that I. They paid for two additional 2000 mile deliveries and had to fix a safe that simply didn’t work. But that, nor the 100 bucks they gave me, certainly doesn’t make up for my time, trouble and cost for hiring help.
After months of research I ordered a safe from Sturdy SafeManufacturing on July 24, 2012. It was to arrive my house in some four weeks. The delivery companies won’t keep a schedule, so I had hired help on site for most of the day to help move the beast once it arrived. It did arrive mid afternoon. The driver wanted me to accept the delivery while it was still on the truck. I said no – stating I needed to make sure it what I ordered. So we wrestled the 1000 pound beast into the garage. It was steel banded to the pallet, and had three layers of various forms of plastic under that. The outer wrap was spray painted with warnings and there was an address label on it. It looked OK, so I took all the packing off. I found the combination and tried it, but the safe wouldn’t open. I tried again as did the help. The combination simply didn’t work. I called Sturdy and they rewalked me through the opening procedure. The safe wouldn’t open. At this point I told the driver to go complete his day. Terry got on the phone and instructed me in various dial twisting, handle banging and other torture techniques thought to help in situations like this. Eventually another chap got on the line and gave me several other combinations to try. It was now past 6:00PM with the safe as closed as it was when it was on the truck. I had spent more than two hours of my not unlimited cell phone minutes on the phone with them. They were out of suggestions and I was out of patience, so I paid the help I had and sent them on their way. The next day I talked to several Sturdy employees again. One told me the “new guy” packed the safe and would be “written up” for this situation. What would they tell methis? Even if the “new guy” had a hand in this, they are exhibiting a real management problem. They either don’t train properly or don’t inspect properly. I was also offered a refund. Actually I was offered a refund several times. We tried additional combinations with no success. Others asked if I would consider having a local smith come over and drill the lock to obtain entry. This was not my preference, so we eventually decided to send it back. Terry instructed me to pack it up and secure it to the pallet. I don’t have strapping equipment, but I did go to the store and buy some rope in an admittedly feeble attempt to secure the safe. Then I had the privilege to wait around the following day for a delivery company to retrieve the safe.
A week later, on Thursday, I contacted Sturdy to see if the safe had arrived and to please keep me informed regarding the issues with it. Terry called me back on Tuesday. He proceeded to tell me there was “irrefutable evidence” the safe had been opened and tampered with (according to him, there was serious damage to the interior of the safe). During this conversation he accused me of opening the safe, damaging it and closing it and then calling them. He accused the people I hired. I believe he even accused the delivery driver. He accused me several times. I got hot and nearly told where he could put his safe Anyway, during the call I asked Terry why I had been offered a refund so often. He had no good answer. He said they would repair the safe and send it to me. I seriously consider a refund, but I really want a good safe, so I staythe course.
In a couple days I get a call from Sturdy. Their spokesperson was falling all over themselves apologizing for the situation. They ask me if there is anything they can do for me. I state I simply want a safe that works. They offer $100.00. At that time they had $2500.00 of my money. I am out more than $100.00 forthe help and rope, two wasted days, and half my cell phone minutes for the month. I simply tell them to do what they need to do. The next day they call to tell me three things, one: the charged me an additional $100.00 instead of refunding it and two: they are out of dry rods. The one that was in the safe I ordered initially had gone missing. They would mail one separately. Finally, they tell me the safe should be ready on Friday to ship and they would send an email and make a confirmatory phone call with shipping details. On the next Tuesday, I contact them as I haveheard nothing form them. They say they sent the email, but that they must have misspelled my address. I guess they miskeyed my phone number also. Before I heard back from Sturdy, Igot a call from the shipping company stating the safe would be delivered tomorrow. The additional credit card charge was straightened out.
The safe arrives and we get it into my garage. It looks virtually identical to what I saw a month before. The safe was wrapped as it was the previous month. The outer layer was spray painted the same way and it had the same address label on it. There is no doubt in my mind any issues with the safe originated in Sturdy’s shop in California. This time it works. The door seems to have some additional weld humps on it and the handle seems a bit loose. I assume they drilled the lock to open it, but that hole is not apparent. I unpack the shelves and there is the missing DriRod; it seems they never looked for it. Another review I read before buying states the mat in the bottom leaves a bit to be desired. That is true. It is cheap felt and is cut very poorly. I remove it and find a bunch of metal shavings, a big machine screw (from the lock?), weld slag and a big footprint in the paint. Much of the weld slag has been painted over leaving a very rough surface. That’s a shame. If they had spent another five minutes to clean up, it would save me a couple hours or more of scraping, sanding and repainting. There was no hole for the DriRod cord, I had to drill one. I can say the steel seems to be good.
I now have the safe secured. It is a good design, except for maybe the handle and locking mechanism. That remains far looser than other safes I am familiar with. The hinge welds are poor and the interior finish is prettyhorrible. I did request sufficient paint to repaint the bottom and received all of two ounces – not nearly enough and it came in a postage due envelope!
I kept telling myself that I was buying the steel and I still believe that. However, I do not think I will buy another safe from Sturdy Safe Manufacturing. They remind me of the US auto industry in the1970’s. That is, you get what comes out their door, when it comes out their door (in my case it was 9 weeks from ordering to final delivery) whether it is made with care and quality or not. I am certain they are no happier with this transaction that I. They paid for two additional 2000 mile deliveries and had to fix a safe that simply didn’t work. But that, nor the 100 bucks they gave me, certainly doesn’t make up for my time, trouble and cost for hiring help.
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