Does anyone have experience with The Gyro House in Auburn, CA?

I ordered two factory-new Sigma-Tek vac gyros from them recently, with
air freight. When I ordered them, I mentioned repeatedly that I was
looking for factory new gyros and preferred that the gyros be no more
than 30-60 days old. The Gyro House confirmed that the gyros were
factory new, and that they had some on the shelf that were within the 30
day window.

When the gyros arrived, one of them appeared to have been repackaged
(shrink-wrapped) by The Gyro House with one of their stickers on top of
the instrument (under the shrink-wrap.) This gyro was date-stamped
April 2005.

The other gyro appeared to be in the original Sigma-Tek packaging and
was date-stamped November 2005.

Having concerns about the repackaging and shelf-life of the gyro from
April, I called Sigma-Tek, who told me that their gyros have a
recommended 6 month shelf life. They suggested that I ask The Gyro
House to replace the unit dated April 2005.

The Gyro House told me that I shouldn't have any concerns about a gyro
that's been on the shelf for 8 months, but they weren't willing to
commit that the gyro wouldn't have a reduced life-span. They did offer
to locate a newer gyro and ship it to me as an exchange, but they balked
at my request for expedited shipping even though they did not ship me
what I'd asked for the first time. They further told me that they would
be losing money on the returned gyro, because it would have to be
"re-worked" due to the fact that it was outside of Sigma-Tek's 6 month
window.

So... I'm trying to digest this situation and determine whether or not
I'm making a big deal out of nothing. Is 8 months on the shelf really
too long? Should receiving a re-packaged "factory new" gyro raise a red
flag, or is this a common procedure for these types of shops? Any other
first-hand experiences or advice?



Thanks,
JKG