Ares Armor/American Weapons Components, Inc

[jjl103]

I was wondering if anyone here had any idea how to reliably get in touch with the people at Ares Armor/American Weapons Components? I placed an order a while back and have gotten nothing but radio silence from them since.

[jgh365]

That being said my first dealing with American Weapons components, inc has been a NIGHTMARE!!!. On Feb 5th I put in an order for just less than 1000$ It was supposed to ship in 3-5 weeks it is now it has been almost 10 weeks now and I have not received my order. I have called and left many messages as they have never answered the pone, I have filled out the contact us location on their web page on multiple occasions and I have replied to their customer service email ... all in over 24 attempts since I started counting... I tried to log onto my account to track my order but when they transferred from Ares armor to AWC I guess their web page shut down all existing accounts and I could not log on. If you find a way to reliably get in touch with them please let me know..

[Eric]

Sounds like a great way to run a business into the ground. Even if you get product at some point, there's no CS to back it up. Run away.

[Battle Cock]

I don't know what the limitations on CC fraud claims are, but I'd look into it sooner than later if you want your money back to take elsewhere.

[jjl103]

So here is the story, and I'm saying this after the company, which is officially now known as American Weapons Components, removed all of their reviews from Facebook "for our protection" and announced that their customer service would strictly be through Facebook from this point forward.

About 2 weeks ago, someone from the company (through Facebook) promised me that they have everything cleared up and the parts arrived and he would have it out the following week. No update. Finally I hear back from them today (it should be around 30 minutes from their closing time) with this message (after messaging them over and over about any update at all):


We have received your communications on your order status and we are extremely sorry that communication is lagging on our end. The company has experienced a substantial amount of disruption and delays partly due to market conditions and partly due to the actions of former employees. We have been working though many issues and have cleaned house with regards to those actually working against our success.
On the vendor front, we have discontinued relationships with vendors that have dropped the ball on numerous past occasions. These bad relationships have been at the root of causing both us and the customer dissatisfaction. The great news is that we have brand new relationships with top tier vendors that are supplying dependable and steady stock flow. Please understand that there is a lead time and tooling time involved to get to full speed. We expect this period to not exceed three weeks.
At this time we are filling backorders in historical sequence, please accept our apologies that we cannot estimate the exact ETA nor can we determine your place in line. Many of you are frustrated at this and we hear you loud and clear. We are focused on filling orders as fast as possible. To be frank, when the product to fill your order arrives we will ship it out immediately.
Our customer service options have changed, we do not at this time have phone support, but we are answering people via Facebook Private Message. We are not accepting customer communications in the visitor comments, those post will be removed for your security.
There has been a massive shortage of products as of the past few months, we are working diligently to fulfill every order. Please understand that we are in business to provide excellence in service and deliver what is ordered. We want to earn your business for a lifetime. This is not the situation we expected to be in, the reasons for the disruption have been largely out of our control. We made substantial investments to improve this business and provide the best service in the industry. We appreciate your understanding and continued loyalty despite this bump in the road.
In consideration for this issue each and every customer on backorder will receive a gift in compensation for the wait and frustration.

Thank you,
Team AWC

Mind you, I placed my order on January 30th. It's now April 18 and they are just now informing me again that it will be another 3 weeks due to parts and vendor issues. I probed for further information or details, as anything specific to my order would just put me at ease, but they refused to give anything else. I asked for a refund, to which they responded there would be a 15% fee for any refunds given.

I'm looking into what I can do externally now because when I asked them to show me where the policy was documented, they decided to go AFK again. However, their site doesn't have this documented from what I can see, nor is it in any of the order documentation I received.

I guess what adds salt to this is the fact that they either spend time or a good bit of money making Facebook posts multiple times a day as if this isn't happening, suckering helpless people to the same fate as many, many others have had with their company. If this was my company, I would either abandon that and create a way to deal with the bad PR, or I would spend that time updating users on their orders non stop until each backfilled order is complete.

I don't mean to trash a company. I wanted to like this company (you might remember they were in the news about 80% lowers not too long ago), but this kind of stuff is what makes businesses fail.

For the record, because this is a Tactical Gear & Equipment Discussion thread, I had purchased the Derma Universal Cummerbund Kit, which basically adds a QD to any standard plate carrier.

[psybain]

That company died the day it changed ownership.

[UWone77]

If you never received product, seems like a charge back through your CC is in order... unless you paid by other means.

[Eric]

15% fee for a refund on a product not even delivered? CS comms only via Facebook? WTF?

[LCDR Dirtbag]

Hey, I have read through all your postings and have some info. I am friends with some former employees of Ares Armor. Take it for what its worth, I know for a fact that a former high level employee just filed a federal complaint with the FBI for fraud, specifically regarding all of the back orders. I was getting ready to order some parts myself and I am glad I didn't and that I am not dealing with the BS you all are. Good luck.

[alamo5000]

I don't know what the limitations on CC fraud claims are, but I'd look into it sooner than later if you want your money back to take elsewhere.

I am with you on that. I have worked in the financial world for a long time and you have plenty of time to file a dispute.

10 weeks is 2.5 months... and from what I understand a person can dispute something for either 90 days or 6 months depending on the type of card used.

I would not wait. Call the credit card people today and get them to dispute it for non delivery of goods.

[alamo5000]

15% fee for a refund on a product not even delivered? CS comms only via Facebook? WTF?

With a CC dispute for non delivery it will be 100%. They cannot do anything less.

[alamo5000]

Just FYI depending on how the dispute with the CC is handled it generally will be one of two ways...

1) the CC company will just give you a refund (provisional credit) and then contact the company to get things sorted out....sometimes they will not give you provisional credit (this is basically the CC company giving you credit back while the process goes on)...

or

2) you file a claim and you will have to fill out some forms stating exactly what happened and will have to sign them and send them back in... then the CC company will contact them with a transaction # of the original transaction and they have so many days (by law) to respond...

If they falsify in either case it is serious fraud and they can go to jail and their merchant services company can revoke their ability to accept future credit card payments.

Either way when they officially send them the dispute it's on the record and if you didn't get the product you quite simply will eventually get all of your money back.

That said I would not wait around for another day to do the dispute.

Just find your old statement that has the exact transaction date and call your credit card company and tell them they have not delivered the product after almost 3 months so you want your money back. Pretty simple process overall.

Your CC company might ask if you have tried to get a refund directly from the company and obviously you can say yes... 24 documented attempts is more than enough. 1 or 2 is sufficient as long as you have documentation showing when and where and how you contacted them. Sometimes a simple written statement from you is enough.

[SINNER]

Ares Armor was always a joke. If those idiots weren't using back order excuses to fund their business they were selling 80% poly lowers that didn't have ATF approval. I've bought some things before and the quality sucked. Looked like all seconds.

[Duffy]

I composed a long post but decided to not post it. Given their maturity level and business ethics, I wouldn't put it past them to sue me for sharing my experience as a business to business equal.

[SINNER]

Given their history I would expect it.

[alamo5000]

I composed a long post but decided to not post it. Given their maturity level and business ethics, I wouldn't put it past them to sue me for sharing my experience as a business to business equal.

You can redact all the names in it then let another forum member post it :) That way no names are used...

http://i.myniceprofile.com/482/48269.jpg

[Duffy]

The cliff notes version is like this:
Some companies have had years to perfect their skills at making excuses, promising to address their ills which earned them their richly deserved poor reputations, and of course, never delivering on them.

It's not hard to run a good business, even for folks that haven't done it before. To run it to the ground, repeatedly, takes talent I don't have, thankfully.

This is speaking in general terms, we all know companies that fit these descriptions.

[aj5bs]

This was received from AWC via Facebook Message on Monday, 23 May 2016. :mad:

Friends.

We are sad to announce that due to extraordinary circumstances beyond our control we have temporally suspended the operations of American Weapons Components. As we reported in our previous communication the company has been the victim of continual disruption by certain former employees and prior ownership. We have worked around the clock to resolve the issues but our efforts have fallen short due to continual harassment and theft. At this time we are seeking a capital raise to fill all outstanding back orders and set the company back on track. Unfortunately overwhelming negative commentary and outright bashing of our brand has made it almost impossible to generate cash flow necessary to keep the operations running at this time. Please understand that we have been exhausting every possible avenue to correct the situation. The current owner has taken on substantial personal debt and risk filling back orders. While we were heading to a complete resolution of this situation, the company experienced a massive amount of theft committed by our remaining employees. We are seeking criminal charges through the Oceanside Police Department in ongoing investigations. If you are interested in following those developments, contact Oceanside Police for a copy of the report. Please accept our deepest apologies as our goal was to deliver the very best customer experience, as well as, employ those transitioning from military to the civilian sector. Going forward we are pursuing funding to fill back orders and restart the operation. Our mission is to bring the company back to full operation and weather this storm. We are thankful to have the support of those customers who have shown us such incredible understanding and patience.

[Caboose]

Definitely reach out to the bank and file a fraud claim. I should know something by Thursday/Friday this week.

I also filed a complaint through the State of California Department of Justice webpage about this. https://oag.ca.gov/contact/consumer-complaint-against-business-or-company

[Caboose]

I contacted CBS 8 KFMB-TV, about all this mess. I'm not sure where it will go, but send them your story and hopefully it will gain some traction.

desk@kfmb.com is their email.

[UWone77]

I contacted CBS 8 KFMB-TV, about all this mess. I'm not sure where it will go, but send them your story and hopefully it will gain some traction.

desk@kfmb.com is their email.

Reminds me of when Duck Creek Armory went out of business. News crew did a story and went to their business, but ultimately even they couldn't squeeze blood out of a turnip.

Not sure what happened here, but don't put money down on a product you don't have in hand.