Arsenal Democracy – Incommunicado?

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February 12, 2015  
|  48 Comments
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ALCON: We’re not happy to make this post, but we have some concerns that need to be addressed.

Arsenal Democracy – the  Florida based rifle company. Are they having issues filling orders and are just overwhelmed with their work load, or are they shady? This isn’t an accusation. We’re asking if any of our readers have done business with them and how the experience went – more specifically, did you get what you paid for?

The guys from AD seem like solid dudes. They’re legitimate craftsmen (lots of people extoll the quality of their work), they served their country honorably in an SF unit, they’re personally likeable – we have nothing bad to say about the individuals running the company. Hell, they’re exactly the kind of guys we want to support! Our readership knows damn good and well how we feel about vetrepreneurs.

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Thing is, we’ve had more than one person now claim that AD never provided what was paid for. Full weapons, custom work, you get the idea. In one case (allegedly) a “Reaper” rifle was ordered approximately 8-9 months ago. It was promised within 30 days and never arrived.  The buyer says AD stopped returning his e-mails and at one point even provided a shipping/tracking number that turned out to be bogus. We do know they haven’t been so prompt about returning phone calls and FB messages (including personal ones, not just to the business), but that could mean a lot or nothing.

Ultimately, this doesn’t sound like the dudes we originally met. But when there’s more than one accusation, you naturally begin to wonder. We’re well aware there are at least three sides to every story – is this a series of misunderstanding, or is Arsenal Democracy going the way of Legion Firearms as so many have begun to speculate?

James Pechi and David Pavlick seem like standup guys, are veterans of proven service and the guns they build are no shit works of art (our editor interviewed them a couple years ago). They haven’t gone off the grid or anything (they’re still posting on FB, appearing at SHOT, etc.) but this is just really weird. We want to give them the benefit of the doubt and we’re really hoping it’s all just miscommunication and overreaction, not some kind of shady fuckery.

We have called them and sent messages by FB but as of yet haven’t received a response – which again could mean a lot or nothing.

Arsenal Democracy - Rifle from Skunkworx 2015

Hopefully you can help us figure out which it is. Please advise what your interaction with them was so we can do them a solid and put the rumors to rest – or wave prospective buyers off.  Obviously we’re really hoping for the former, but people need to know if it’s the latter. Thanks in advance.

They’re on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/arsenaldemocracy and Instagram here: http://instagram.com/arsenaldemocracy.

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48 Comments

  1. Jared

    I have had a similar experience. I was hesitant to post it on here, I would have preferred these guys just respond to emails and do what they say. It’s really that easy. I placed an order for custom Glock work 9 weeks ago. I was given a 3-4 week completion time. At 5 weeks I emailed asking for an update, I got a quick response of roughly one week and it should ship. It’s been 4 weeks since then and I have left several emails and voicemails with no respone. In the meantime another guy sends in his glock slide for some of the free upgrades they are doing for people that have been waiting an exceptional amount of time on there rifles. He gets his slide back cut cerakoted and finished in 3 weeks. He sent his in 3 weeks after me! The motherfuckers need some sunshine, they are shady as shit.

    Reply
  2. Spencer

    It’s me again. I just wanted to add to this that Arsenal Democracy does have an “F” rating the Better Business Bureau, and you guys can contact them if you want, and have them file a claim for you. I think that is part of the reason why I finally got my money back from them. Like I said previously AD did finally give me my money back but it took a very long time, and a huge amount of hassle on my end to get it. Their customer service is for the birds, and they deleted everything that I said on their Facebook account, that they thought was bad for them. Even though it was truth. Then they blocked me from posting at all. Don’t give them your money in the first place, is my advice to anyone reading this.

    -Spencer

    Reply
  3. james

    I dont follow this page often. I had the same horrible experience as quite a few people. Ordered in Sept 2014. A few ignored emails and calls later got some responses, pretty terse and uninformative. Then asked to cancel the order. No response. Gave them a week and then had my bank’s fraud department deal with it. Got my money back from the bank and they determined fraud. Posted this article on their page tonight. Lets see how long it takes them to pull it down. Pretty disappointed in these dudes.

    Reply
  4. Ryujin1

    So, you have a company making custom rifles in house, cutting their own billet uppers, lowers and rails to exacting standards. Getting custom barrels and then applying in house treatments. Doing custom cerakote and dips. Simultaneously they are trying to improve the platform instead of just churning out the same old thing. Started by a group of former enlisted guys who doubtlessly started with very limited capital. Should anyone be surprised that it takes a few, or several, months to get a rifles out the door? I don’t think so. I have two AD rifles, a mod 0 and mod 1, and they are spectacular. I have orders in for a few more, and one is getting custom engraving of my rank insignia on the magwell. I knew going in that this would be a wait, but that’s the price of getting this particular rifle. It’s a limited amount of guys working in that shop, with a lot of demand. For the folks that haven’t gotten replies or been able to reach someone, I feel for you, but I’ve not had that same experience. In fact, last time I asked for a delivery estimate, I not only recieved an explaination of the delay, but an offer for some complimentary work on a glock. That’s just my experience, and my I would recommend AD to anyone, I would just let them know that you’re gonna have to wait for a while. But when you finally shoot it, it’s worth it.

    Reply
    • Cory a Gibson

      Wow ryujin or James

      Customers that spend that kind of money need to be kept in the loop. We did a face to face transaction with their word and a handshake. We gave them ample time to call us back and explain to us what the hold up was. finally, when I contacted him on Facebook in a PM all he had for me was insults calling me an idiot for believing him on his word! Also, they delete any customer complaints or questions about their order on Facebook that is shady in and of itself! Do they have a solid product at a great price hell yes they do but their CS is terrible and unfortunately that will be the downfall of them. I believe they will end up with charges from the Florida attorney General before all is said and done. Another smack in the face when I was a customer was the pictures they posted on Facebook of them traveling and buying that custom barret when that capital should of been used to reinvest in the company to hire people to get the product out the door and not buying toys.

      I hope that they do get thier issues worked out but I think they are to far gone.

      Reply
  5. Mark

    Well I have been calling and only get their voicemail. I have emailed customer service 5 times over the past 2 weeks nicely just asking for a status update on my order since I have not heard a word since I paid them $2200. I have messaged them on Facebook and still not one response from them at all. I simply want a status on my order since this is the week it should be completed.

    I own a machine shop. been in business since 1986. If I did this to customers I can tell you I would not have lasted in this business for this long. You can not ignore customers like this who simply want an update on their product. knowing they are ignoring my messages on facebook and email, but still posting and answering other email inquiries extremely pisses me off.

    As much as I was looking forward to this reaper 33, I have a bad taste in my mouth about the future of this company. I’m calling my bank tomorrow and getting a refund.

    Complete disregard to a customer who faithfully paid $2200 in full and you will not return their message or phone call over multiple weeks is a deal breaker for me.

    Reply
  6. Jason

    Staying tuned for the update…

    Reply
  7. ruben

    I ordered a rifle in april of last year. Time went by and after a few months i got an email in July saying they had begun work on my rifle. I wait then in sept i email again asking about my rifle, I get a response saying they are having issues with there suppliers, time goes by and in Nov of last year I email, them and they say that they have started putting my rifle together. In Feb of this year i emailed them again asking on the status of my rifle, silence no response. It has been almost a year, and i have yet to receive my rifle. To be honest i am starting to get a bit worried, are they just so overwelmed that they are having trouble fulfilling orders? if so a bit of communication would be nice just so those of us who are waiting for a rifle are in the know. –

    Reply
    • ruben

      order 201 sorry

      Reply
      • ruben

        sorry 221 not 201

        Reply
  8. Mark

    Damn.. You have no idea how bummed I am reading some of these messages.

    I ordered a reaper 33 right after I read about AD in Recoil Magazine. That article I read sold me and I immedialtely contacted them. They quickly responded as I had a couple of questions and immediately I placed my order. After I placed the order I asked how long was the wait period and quickly the response was 10-12 weeks. I was bummed to see that but hell, I’ll wait for it.

    It’s been 11 weeks now and I haven’t heard anything from them so I emailed them 3 times since last week and I have received no response. I just wanted to get an idea on shipment date and see if we were close.

    That’s when I started to Google AD not responding to emails and sure enough I come across this thread.

    So of course, now I’m worried. I sure as hell do not want to wait months more longer for my rifle. My order is in the 500’s and seeing guys who have not received their order in the 200’s after 9 months is making me worried.

    I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the best. If i get a response saying it will be much longer than originally told then I will cancel my order and take my business elsewhere. I was looking forward to do a full video review on this rifle since there is hardly anything on it on YouTube.

    Reply
  9. Cory A Gibson

    I was order number 279. They never completed the order and refused a refund only after we challenged our credit card companies did we get our money. We bought our guns after we toured the shop and test fired one of the guns. They were great salesmen. They promised us a two week turnaround they said everything is in stock and they would start our guns that day because they were moving us to the front of the line. James said he would hand deliver the guns and come to WakeFest with us. After 6 weeks we contacted them and asked where they were at on our order after we had noticed multiple angry customer remarks on Facebook and that they had been deleted. It was at about the 8 week mark when I heard back from them after multiple emails phone calls and Facebook messages. We were called idiots for expecting what we were promised. I still have the emails the Facebook messages and i think i saved the screen shots from Facebook that have all been deleted by the AD team.

    If you guys want that i can send it over and you can post it.

    Reply
  10. Brett Hargrave

    I have had numerous problems with AD. I am an avid collector/shooter and when I was in Destin with some shooting buddies for a vacation last June, we stopped in at AD for a tour of the facility and they gave us the opportunity to shoot a Reaper 33. Of the four of us who shot the gun, three of us ended up making purchases that day (order 279). We met with James personally and he promised a 2-4 week delivery time. That being said, we would have been fine with the 6-8 week shipping window as specified on their website. After about one month, we started to notice that AD was no longer responding to our emails and phone calls which started to make us apprehensive about the deal. After another month of zero communication, I started to worry. My other two friends cancelled their purchases at this point and I decided to do the same. After seeing on their social media that people with earlier orders hadn’t had any luck either, it was clear that they could not deliver their products in a timely manner. After several emails and phone calls to cancel the order and try and get my money back, they essentially sent me one email saying that I would need to be patient and that they would not refund my money. I then contacted my credit card company to dispute the charge becuase AD would not handle it on their end. After about a month of paperwork, Visa finally refunded me my money.

    I am all about supporting local shops who make great products, but this was the worst experience I’ve ever had to go through. After I received my money back, I made several comments on their social media sites stating my problems with their level of customer service only to get a very unprofessional email from James and his team and have all my comments deleted from their page. They ended it with “you got your money back, stop crying about it.” I did get my money back, but not from them. I got it back from the credit card company after filing fraud charges against them. I will never support AD ever again after this experience and I hope they go out of business so they can’t take advantage of more customers like myself in the future.

    Reply
  11. Spencer

    Update to my situation. They have refunded me the $1,250, so I am good to go.

    Reply
  12. KP

    When can we expect the follow up article?

    Reply
  13. Spencer

    Did you take down the post of this on facebook?

    Reply
  14. Evan Temple

    Ordered a reaper order number 270. It’s been 9 months. James only respond when you leave an upset message after the 15 message. He stated they lost my money to a hacker and are trying to recover it. I have turned them over to Bank of America fraud department. As they have been 95 percent misleading. I don’t think they mean to be like this but loosing 2600 dollars is bad bad business, especially after 9 months of bad bad bad customer service. I’m sure they are good guys. They are just bad business owners.

    Reply
  15. Moose

    I initially ordered mine through them in November of 2013. I even flew down to Florida and was able to meet in person, got a tour and some first-hand knowledge of what they were about. James and David are stand up and true to their word from my experience. I have spoken to them numerous times through email and phone in regards to my rifle. I chose to wait. As they keep coming out with new products, ie: rails, barrels, stocks and so forth, I have changed my mind a few times with no flak from them. I paid up front and have been okay with the wait as I wanted a specific paint job, personalized serial number, and picture designed in. I sent them a 1911 for personalized work and it was done and returned to me in 30 days. Dave did an excellent job and I have received numerous compliments on it. I’m currently waiting on my personalized Reaper 33 only because I send them an email about every 30 days asking them to change something. I want it just right and want it complete when I get it. I know they wouldn’t send me something they were uncomfortable with and I appreciate that type of service.

    It may take the guys 24-48 to get back to you, but that’s better than some of the mainstream companies out there. They are busy guys and have things on the calendar that aren’t posted on Facebook. Believe me, if you are unhappy with them and want your money back, they will probably give it back if you ask nicely. Otherwise, they will probably retrain you as a customer. If you want a Reaper 33, best advice, wait, its well worth it! If you want to complain about them not catering to your sense of entitlement, go buy a bushmaster.

    Reply
    • Jason

      I didn’t realize it was considered a sense of entitlement to expect a basic standard of service after spending over two thousand dollars on a product. You seem to be basing your opinion solely off your experience and not considering what many others have had to say about theirs. Yes, it would be outstanding to receive a response within 24-48 hours, yet many customers never received a response for weeks at a time, if at all. Let me get this straight, if a customer places an order, is quoted a timeline, the company fails to deliver, becomes unresponsive, ignores follow up requests for information, finally reestablishes contact and is told the product is shipping next week, then next week, then the week after, and so now. Now half a year passes and the customer finally gives up and requests a refund so he/she can have a rifle to shoot instead of waiting an undetermined amount of time, but if they don’t ask nicely they may not be eligible to receive their money back?

      Yikes.

      I wish nothing but the best for AD, hell I trusted them enough to spend 2k on an unknown company with little reputation, but we can’t simply ignore everything that’s transpired. There’s plenty of room for improvement on the customer service end, it really isn’t THAT difficult to be honest and responsive. Best of luck with your order, which from what I understand is now going on almost 16 months… because it takes a lot of time to machine and coat/dip.

      Reply
  16. Jason

    Quoted 8-10 weeks, received the rifle 9 months later with a whole lot of funny business in between. Based on my experience, I would have to agree with Spencer in that it seemed as if they were robbing peter to pay paul. It’s absolutely a quality built rifle, but I would never recommend anyone to do business with this company after what I experienced. Not responding to build inquiries while they’re posting R&D projects on Facebook and taking orders from new customers, STILL quoting 8-10 weeks. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of well built rifles out there that ship on time and without being mislead throughout the entire build. Nice guys, solid product, and they did their best to make it right in the end, but I sincerely hope they hire someone to revamp their customer service and start being prompt and honest with order updates and timelines. When that day comes, I will recommend their product once again.

    Reply
  17. Will

    I ordered a Reaper 33 on 20 MAY 2014. Nothing special, just a 14.5″ Black Rifle, w/ a Surefire muzzle device. There wasn’t any contact with them after the order confirmation until 1 JULY 2014 when I was called to confirm my FFL and received an email stating my rifle was going into production. In the message I was told that within 48 hours I would receive a timeline for production, but that never came. I didn’t worry about it. Now nearly 9 months later I’m reading this article with no rifle and no updates. Since October I’ve been regularly contacting them via their costumer service page, my civilian email (which the order was placed with), and my military email (Active Duty at Ft Bragg), with no response. I’m certainly interested to read any updates on this, as their Costumer Service has been non existent for me. My order number is 258

    Reply
  18. Spencer

    The only thing I can figure is they are robbing Peter to pay for Paul. They must not have enough capital to operate more smoothly. Unfortunately that’s the way it goes with young start up companies.

    Reply
  19. Spencer

    i have personally found this to be true. I was ripped off by Arsenal Democracy. They still owe me $1,250.00, for which I paid them, and never received the .300 blk I ordered. It’s been over a year, and I have emails I could provide to anyone interested, between myself and Arsenal Democracy. I did receive one of the first 100 rifles they built and still have it, but it was when I ordered for the seconds time that I got ripped off. Buyer beware when giving them your money. They also have many claims with the Better Business Bureau, for the amount of time they’ve been in business. Let me know if you want me to forward my email communications to you.

    Reply
  20. DJP

    I ordered a Reaper 33 during their initial Promotion. I have never shot, much less owned, a better rifle. The quality and finish is second to know. After seeing the quality of their work I decided to send them my M&P 9 to have it customize. Coincidentally, my M&P is the pistol that is pictured above in the post. I have had zero issues with the AD staff or my purchases. I also can’t wait to see their AR10 variant.

    Reply
  21. jason

    well i put my order in july and it now mid feb and nothing i keep getting a run around and thats even if i can get a hold of them. Seems like sometime around april 2014 is when all the bad shit started to happen or when it all went down hill. I cant ever get ahold of them for shit and the 1 or 2 times i have i get a bullshit eta. i am also military and i would just think they would have higher standards then this. o and the guy that runs there facebook page is a straight dick

    Reply
  22. Mad Duo

    We just spent over an hour on the phone with Arsenal Democracy about what’s happening over there. Certainly doesn’t sound like they’re headed out of business – more to follow next week.

    Reply
    • Richard

      Curious to see what your follow up uncovered? Any new news or feedback from them directly? I’m waiting to post my experiences with them for good reason.

      Reply
  23. Ben

    I’ve purchased a reaper 33 and had them trick out my glock 23, they do amazing work and I had zero issues. I will purchase the 7.62 variant when it becomes available! Top notch quality

    Reply
  24. Richard Parryra

    Order # 211. They hate us cause they ain’t us. I ordered from AD January of 14 and got my bangstick at 9 weeks. Not sure why there isn’t any traffic on these guys response but Im more than pleased with my rifle.

    Rich

    Reply
  25. JNZ

    Met them at a SHOT party. I was probably one of maybe 4 people there that weren’t former special forces.

    They had some interesting Glocks, and I briefly considered having them do some work – until a friend of mine was quoted a much lower price and a much shorter lead time just because he was mil years and years ago discharged on medical.

    Now… I get it. I’m not mil and these guys hold the brotherhood dearly. But that’s not how a real business runs. That’s how a buddy-business runs. I fully support a veteran discount, highly support, but you can’t give two people a vastly different price and lead time. At some point you need to draw a line and money is money, and your business runs on money.

    That lead time by the way was two to three weeks. Which I know to be almost certain fantasy, even based on the people who are defending them here. Which is a shame because they did have a unique application of aluminum oxide instead of slide serrations, I’m sort of interested in the idea of.

    I don’t know… Having met and trained with enough SF/PMC guys now, I’ve met some incredible people, and if I need someone to run a 12 minute two mile at 3am after sleeping on rocks, I know who I’ll go to! But for buying things, weapons, gear, I don’t see the green beret / Delta / PJ / Ranger / Recon / whatever appeal being a factor.

    Who ever is doing their ARs has an eye for design and they aren’t cheap looking guns by any means, but at the end of the day, it’s kind of a vanity thing to wait 6+ months for any AR.

    Reply
  26. Chris Kenson

    Sorry order#195

    Reply
  27. Chris Kenson

    I’m glad to see you guys are finally hitting these guys up I loved your post Mad Duo on mft and have been running it ever since. Damn you get the price for your buck. I contacted these guys at arsenal to get an upper made in 5/13/2013 because one of my buddies in STS said that he loved his rifle made by these guys. I wanted the whole package. So I had them get started on mine. Well misguided decision on my part! I contacted arsenal democracy and got my order. They told me that it was an 8 week lead time ( I have the email traffic). I emailed and called them many times and finally I had chase contact me back a week after my last email. He assure me my order was being worked on and then magically I got the UPS tracking number and my FFL called me to let me know my rifle was at his shop. I agree that is was difficult to contact these guys. I tried many times but after talking to them I can understand why my Reapper33 shoots like nothing I’ve ever owned. The recoil is like shooting my kid sisters 22 and I love the lifetime guarantee on the weapon. I’ve put 20,000 rounds of different variants between 55 grain and 62 grain through it and it still hold under 1/2 MOA. I truly wish these guys had better customer service and would respond to my emails in a timely manner. I agree with the post ahead of me they can improve on the service side of the house but they do make a one of a kind weapon!

    Reply
  28. Sean

    I ordered 2x ARs from them and had absolutely no issues. Beautiful weapons. Just hope the fuckery is not in trying to stain their name. Competition is a bear, I guess you have to do what you can to get yourself our front.

    Reply
  29. Jay

    I ordered a rifle form AD in April 2014 and waited till January 2015 to cancel my order. During that time they were not good at communicating an accurate timeline for build completion or sticking to any deadlines they set. At the end of January I contact my bank and they were able to help me get my money back because I never got the rifle I had ordered.

    Reply
  30. voodoo_man

    I contacted them initially about their reaper project, got very few responses and they did not really cover what I asked.

    Eventually I got an email, after posting on a forum about my issue with them about them dropping the ball, after telling them what occurred they did not respond.

    I hope companies have a little bit more sense than that.

    Reply
  31. chase

    Bought a rifle from them back in October of last year and it was suppose to be a December completion date. After several emails with replies it was pushed back to January of this year. Now halfway into February they are no longer responding to emails or voice mails. I’m thinking it’s going to be a hard $2600 to get back.

    Reply
  32. KP

    I ordered April of 14, same thing. Told 8-10 week turn around. At the beginning of July they contacted me to let me know my order was being delayed due to some custom work for an active military member that needed to be complete. I had no issue with this. Emailed them around the end of July with a response of ‘serial number has been cut, expecting to ship in 3 weeks.’ After 8 weeks (early September) I emailed again with no response. I used a different email and after a month (early October) I received an email stating they would like to call and answer any questions I had. After talking to a gentleman on the phone, (very nice and professional) I was told that there was a guy in charge of customer service who wasn’t handling his duties properly and he was no longer doing that task. He also told me the hold up had to do with a batch of rail systems that they had received were not up to par and they had sent them back. But the rest of my rifle was complete and it would be about a 3 week process before I had rifle in hand. At the end of November I sent another email asking for a status update to which I was told they were waiting on back orders and now could not give me an accurate time for delivery. I just recently sent an email for a status update to which I was told that basically they were still unable to give me an ETA on my rifle. So to help you figure out which it is, unfortunately, in my opinion, it’s the latter. I’m sure they’re great guys and make an outstanding rifle but unfortunately I have yet to see it.

    Reply
  33. Mike Pivvey

    I am not sure why this even making it to a Main Post on the front page, let alone be open to a public forum in this manner. I did a quick search and saw that Breach-Bang-Clear has never posted an article on “Legion Firearms” and I am not sure what went on with Legion, but after some ar15.com searching found that they took over 2 years to ship a rifle, and never gave a single dollar back to any customers. By the way it sounds they are defrauding paying customers. I purchased my Rifle on August 9th and received it 2 days after their 8 week window (probably due to the holiday weekend, but still two days late). I do not want to get personal but I actually asked for a refund @ the 3 week mark (due to dooming divorce) and they took about 1 week to get me a check. I spoke with Chase and then Dave & James. It was tough at first for them to hear my point but they understood in the end. I told them I was going to buy another and actually was able to re-purchase the rifle 1 week after the refund. They actually kept my original ship time-line too. These type of postings never bring out anything but bad news, this seems a little off to me personally. I cannot wait to see all the people come out start bashing them, it will suck for them but this interesting. BTW my order was #393. Lets see who posts their order number too.

    Reply
    • Mad Duo

      Mike, the whole point of this posting was to find out what other people have experienced and either confirm fuckery or have customers provide positive refutation of the rumors – which you just did. It’s making it to a main post and a public forum because we were asked about it and because we have an interest in Arsenal Democracy. Legion screwed a number of people over, whether intentionally or no, and we’re hoping AD isn’t going down that same path. You had a good experience, and that’s now posted for the world to see. That’s the whole point.

      Reply
      • Mike Pivvey

        Got the intent, they still are posting on Facebook/instagram so I assume they must still be doing something. Was Arsenal Democracy even contacted previous to this to give a response; if they did I would love to see that.

        You never posted a single thing about legion though… Why not? Is it such common knowledge that it does not need to be brought up?

        I could only imagine how their phone and email must be blowing up for refunds right now

        Reply
        • Mad Duo

          Our perception is that the Legion Firearms thing is well documented already (including in the link we provided in the article). As mentioned in the article, if you read it, we DID try to contact to them, to no avail.

          Reply
    • Morgan Atwood

      No experience with Arsenal Democracy, just a quick statement of support for BBC here:

      Things like this NEED to be talked about in the public forum.

      Our community and industry is horrible about transparency. Problems, bad behavior, outright lies and deception are rarely made public (even in the form of inquiry, as BBC has done here), and relegated to gossip and talk over beers. This does not help us grow, or help us be better. All it does is help the liars, cheats and scumbags keep lying, cheating and being scumbags, because it’s not “polite” to publicly discuss their behavior. This has to stop.

      Transparency also benefits the small shop that has fallen behind, and is looking at hurting their reputation; An open discussion of what is going on will prevent the “inside baseball” from circling around and getting them labeled as “scumbags” when in reality they are just “overworked”.

      No one loses from transparency, except guys who are trying to deceive. And they should lose.

      Kudos to BBC.

      Reply
    • KP

      My order is #241 and I haven’t received it…nothing special about my order. Special meaning I’m not waiting on ATF approval. Just the 14.5 standard rifle.

      Reply
  34. God

    I work for a police department (won’t say which one because I know fur a fact shit will bite me in ass) I contacted AD personally on getting a order in for 15 rifles (patrol rifles 14.5) this was about a 2 1/2 years ago before they really hit mainstream, I spoke with one of the owners and he stated his father was a state trooper ( forget where NJ or Conn I forget) and wanted more departments to start using AD rifles and get the brand up north. So I went to my higher ups and informed them of the deal that was worked out and have them the prices and what the rifles had for platforms. The review was passed off and the order was given the OK. As the request was being reviewed another officer and good friend of mine could not resist and ordered just the Upper from AD for his personal weapon using the CODE and contacts that I had gotten from AD for our department MIL/LEO purchases he placed his order and was told it would be a “few days” to fulfill the order. 6-9 months later he received his upper and this was after constant emails and unanswered phone calls ( although a majority of emails were answered with “the upper will be mailed in 2 days sorry for the wait”) of course mOnths later the upper was finally sent and received. The product that AD are supplying ARE SUPERRIOR, very well built and the attention to detail is artistic. The problem my organization had was the lead time told was not the lead time we saw in just one order for a single upper, even using the means of communication they supplied. I do know that I was disappointed once the word got back to the higher ups about the wait for one pet and the decision was made to not go with AD cause we could not rely on a company that could not even supply a single upper in the time told let only order 12-15 patrol rifles on agents/officers that would be basing a part of their safty on. It truly is with a heavy heart that I wrote this because I personally was pumped as a veteran to be able to get a agency so strict to allow us to purchase weapons from at the time a “no name brand” and deliver it to guys that ultimately their lives depended on them and also pumped because the weapon platform was at a reasonable price point and superior to any other blaster on the market and to me still to this day. The AD team is outstanding and are indeed mad scientist in this field but they either need to focus on their support for special units or black tags overseas or support the mainstream supports they have gotten in a short time here in the states. I hope this letter makes sense and if you have any offer further questions please feel free to contact me. For supporting documents. Thanks you and S/F

    Reply
  35. justin garay

    No this is true, i bought a rifle from AD back in March of last year. It went from 8 week turn around to a 17 week turn around, each email i sent all i got was the run around from to delay in parts to straight out lies. Was promised a rifle in mid july saying i my rifle was at the end of its build and be ready in 2 weeks give or take december came around and still nothing emails were sent and once again the same excuse half a yr later. Now. 10 months later emails are not being returned, and i have asked for a full refund due to the complete bullshit.i have yet to hear from them or receive a refund or finished product..

    Reply
    • tony

      Hey, I’m in the same exact boat. Just curious if you have gotten your refund since this post. Still waiting on mine with my communications not being answered by AD.

      Reply
  36. GT

    Yes. I had problems. I thought I was just unlucky and it was perhaps just a one time thing. However the way it unfolded was both weird and cold.

    Reply
  37. Scags

    ive bought a rifle from them. It did take a really long time but it was worth the wait. I know it’s a small company and they make rifles for guys over seas do they have a tendency to be overloaded with demand. I think they could do better filling rifle orders with manpower. They need more people to work on customer service only and not customer service and building rifles.

    Reply

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