This is going to be a VERY lengthy explanation as it covers the last,going on NINE, weeks of my existence. I apologize in advance for foul language, general anger and the fact that I am not , by no stretch of the imagination, an English major. This is still an ongoing issue that I wanted to bring to the attention of the members/staff here and potential new builders like my self. I also feel that I have given this company more then ample opportunity to make this right prior to airing my grievances here. Let me also give you a little background on myself…
I’m an active Marine and have been for the past 10 years, a new father, and generally an easy (as easy as a Marine can get) person to get along with, provided I am treated with the same respect as I treat others with. To say I’ve earned it would be an understatement and to say I give it when sometimes it shouldn’t be is doubly so. I’ve been shot at for less then SOME people would show up to work on time for. I am not demanding, rude, or generally a pain in the ass…until provoked. To say at this point I’m furious with how my hard earned money has been dealt with would be a GROSS UNDERSTATEMENT.
So here is what happened/is happening.
It started around Christmas time I decided that for 2011 my gun project would be an AR-15, I originally started out with the plan of just picking up pieces throughout the year but as I started shopping around more, the more the wife started snooping around at what I was up to, the more I got interested the more the wife got interested ( she likes guns too soo hot!! ) to make a long story short I got permission to just build the thing. So I started shopping around for a place to buy and I tend to try and support the little guy as much as possible (in hind sight a huge mistake) so through my abbreviated research I came across Spikes. I liked their prices and from what I found out that their build specs are more then adequate for what I’m doing. So some time in December I purchased one of their stripped lower and a trigger guard.
Shortly there after on JAN 3RD I ordered and PAID FOR the remaining pieces of my build, give or take the items I’ve purchased from members here (thanks guys)and other various companies. Now I knew going in their website stated that there was a 3-4 week build time and I had no problem with this. The gentleman that I spoke with at Spikes was very friendly and courteous and I looked forward to doing business with them. The order was completed and I informed him several times, probably four or five times, of the fact that I needed ALL lower parts LESS THE TRIGGER GROUP as I had ordered a Wilson Combat TTU mil-spec. He told me to give him a call back in about three and a half weeks to touch base to see where my build was…keep in mind I already have the stripped lower and all they are doing is sending me pieces and a completed upper…thats it. Also I’m dealing with the same guy throughout this experience and he is the one telling me to call him back I’m not stalking this guy…also each of these calls is eating up at least a half hour to an hour of my day, not totally their fault I like to talk guns and I’m excited for my “Christmas” present to myself, a few times I was told i was going to be a getting a call back and never did or I’ll get an email and never did.
WEEK 3— I call, he says call him back the next week as they are waiting on some rails to get in from the MFR he says “we should be good to go next week give me a call and we’ll touch base”…No worries at this point he’s assuring me that the items will be on order and I should have mine shipped on week four.
WEEK 4—I call back he says they received only a small shipment of rails and they didn’t get the one for my upper…mine “should be shipping next week without a doubt we are getting in a large shipment”
WEEK 5—Called again on the day I was asked to call…the rails are in, the nickel boron coated BCG is in and complete, should be shipping Friday at the latest… at some point I added a laser engraved door and a stock wrench pushing my total parts list to over $1200 and thats not even a complete rifle…I’m starting to get annoyed at this point cuz we are well on our way to doubling the minimum advertised build time and I’ve been reading the forum here and seen all the truly sick builds all of you have built on here and I WANT MINE DAMN IT!! Not to mention if you’ve ever spent time around military personnel you know if you say something and it doesn’t happen they way you told them it would…news flash…your going to get fucked with so starting this week I’m getting my balls busted from a bunch SNCO’s. Am I going to lose sleep over it ? No. Would I do the exact same thing to some on else? Yes. Is it pouring salt in the wound? Bet your ass!
WEEK 6— I call back and this time, after several attempts, I can’t get ahold of the guy I’ve been dealing with so I ask one of the ladies that answers the phone whats going on. I’m told a completely different story, I’m told the “rail is at the annodizers (what ever that means), there are no Nickel Boron Coated BCG’s anywhere, and they are still waiting on small parts” I then ask her (hopefully) next week then? She tells me more like three weeks at the earliest…I am f@cking pissed, but we just had our daughter, my mom is in town, its my wifes birthday and Valentines day is a few days away and while I hate to say this I have more important things to deal with.
WEEK 7— Its the 22nd of Feb Tuesday… I paid for an item, I expected to take 21-28 days to get to me, 50 days earlier. I have at this point called probably up wards of 15-20 time at the request of Spike’s and wasted hours of my time and theirs with these attempts. I’m getting furious, but you’d never know talking to me, if you were standing where I could get my hand on you… that would be a whole other story. I call as soon as they open. The person ( I use this term but feel free to change it out for FUCKER!!) just so happens to answer the phone and I’m like WTF? he tells me “we have everything we are def shipping tomorrow” I ask him " you are sure ? 100%? " he says yes…
I wait another two days on Thursday I call and I’m told that the person I’ve been dealing with this whole time quit and that he just turned my price quote into a build order on Tuesday…MEANING THAT THE LAST 7 WEEKS I’VE BEEN GETTING LIED TO!!! I TOLD THEM I WANT TO SPEAK TO CUSTOMER SERVICE…I’m redirected to Paul who I’m assuming is a manger of sorts, if I had his managerial prowess Id be a private. He has no idea whats going on and is less then apologetic. He basically said it was a glitch in the way their system is set up. Turns out there is only a very small portion of their paper work that turns a price quote into a build order and some one has to physically get off their ass in order to turn said build order in and some how mine was just some victim of human error. People, I couldn’t give two fucks less to be honest I paid I want my sandwich, make sense? Here is a shocker I also want it five minutes ago. He initially tells, me with less then what I would call genuine concern, that there is no nickel boron coated BCG’s at Spike’s…anywhere…all I can think of is some one better be shitting me some Tiffany cuff links while they choke themselves…:suicide: he says I’ll call you back and to make a long story short some distributor has one and just so happens to be there…but I really don’t care at this point I want to know A) when is my rifle going to be in my paws B) how long is the list of free shit I had better be getting. I’m still not getting my rifle til the following wed…he says… and all I get is two free t-shirts. OK first of all there is no fucking way I will ever be used as free advertising for such a royally fucked up company, I do however have some really cool T-Shirts to clean my motorcycle chain…
and second I don’t know about you but I already paid for shipping, I think at this point over-nighting at your expense would be the way to go…call me crazy but all you’re paying is the difference to ship a 5 lb box… it ain’t a Ferrari.
Then to add insult to injury after they are closed I receive the UPS email saying that it wont be there til the next Thursday again they didn’t do what the said they were going to. So I decide call the CEO of the company on that Friday.
Friday of week 7-- I call and talk to Tom Miller the CEO of Spike’s Tactical because I know from past experience that if you talk to the big dog shit starts to roll down hill…but that is not the case at Spikes…what I get from the man that is supposed to represent this Company is excuses…" we have a new system" “we have doubled how many orders we are taking” “we are super busy” bro I don’t care I paid for something and I want it…if you, as a CEO, cant keep up with the speed at which the world turns then its time to fuck off. I manage by myself literally over 3000 items costing in excess of several MILLION dollars I not only have to be constantly aware of the status of these items but I have to have the knowledge of what to do if they fail…cuz If the items I work on fail people miss the training they need to survive combat and people die…its that simple. now If I can handle all that without thinking that its OK to make excuses…what is your major malfunction?
After basically being brushed off with a “next time you make a purchase you can take 10% off” lol…like I’m ordering from there again…even though I really wanted a 37mm launcher. I ask Paul why my order, after already taking twice as long as advertised, is arriving a day later then what I was told again. He basically tells me to take it up with UPS…
WEEK 8— The last bit of this is that I finally received my rifle, I will say it looks solid and despite all this BS I still cant wait to shoot it, but I’m still missing pieces that I repeatedly said I needed. I was told the wrong lower parts kit was ordered even though the parts kit I received is nowhere on their website. Again I was told those items would ship yesterday and again I have no tracking number…guess I’m wasting more time Monday…maybe this will end up being next years Christmas Present too:suicide2:
I understand that the majority of the issues I’m having with the company were caused by an individual…but YOU FUCKING HIRED HIM TO WORK FOR YOUR COMPANY…take ownership! If I screw up I do and the consequence are alot worse…
Week 9— …buy some where else fellas, I wish I would have.
