07-28-2011, 12:00 AM
I know something about them now. I had a similar experience with Fidelis Arms, which turned out to be a complete fraud. I kicked in my investigative resources and tracked his activities over the past few years, including name changes, moves, and customer feedback across several other sites. It all pointed to one thing: He took the money and delivered nothing, although one witness on this forum actually saw him at a gun show in Oregon.
I usually utilize a Visa gift card for the exact amount when dealing with a new company to protect myself, which is what I did with Fidelis Arms. Once I determined it was fraud, I reported it to the bank, and reversed the charges. I tracked the registered owner's excuses from emails sent to others, to forum posts, etc., and it was the same story over and over. "We just went through a major move, and are halfway done with your order. It should be shipped in the next 2 weeks. Thanks for your patience during our transition as demand for our products increases and we hire more people...."
This was the story being spouted to me and others, while what was really going on was other companies severed professional relations with Fidelis after experiencing the same behavior, he was forced to leave rental after rental, and locals in his area said as much. He actually told me he had my AR10 lower receiver right on his desk waiting on my FFL to fax their copy to him, and later told me it was halfway finished, and that he would hate to stop the order in the middle of manufacturing! The biggest challenge with lying to people is keeping track of who you told what lie to, and I caught him blatantly in the act. I only let that go on for 2 months, as I needed the lower for a rifle build for an international competition.
I hope this is not the case with War Dog Outfitters, but if it is, you need to protect yourself. I also don't normally deal with gunsmiths who expect advance payments or downpayments on services. There was a gun store here in Draper that took over $100,000 in customer money for advance payments on AR15's and AK's during the Obama salesman of the year period, and the owner put the money into other things, expecting business to be able to make a turnaround to actually buy the AR's and AK's when they became available again. I still see former employees from that store at SHOT, who duck and run in shame, thinking I was one of the customers who got taken, though I wasn't.
I usually utilize a Visa gift card for the exact amount when dealing with a new company to protect myself, which is what I did with Fidelis Arms. Once I determined it was fraud, I reported it to the bank, and reversed the charges. I tracked the registered owner's excuses from emails sent to others, to forum posts, etc., and it was the same story over and over. "We just went through a major move, and are halfway done with your order. It should be shipped in the next 2 weeks. Thanks for your patience during our transition as demand for our products increases and we hire more people...."
This was the story being spouted to me and others, while what was really going on was other companies severed professional relations with Fidelis after experiencing the same behavior, he was forced to leave rental after rental, and locals in his area said as much. He actually told me he had my AR10 lower receiver right on his desk waiting on my FFL to fax their copy to him, and later told me it was halfway finished, and that he would hate to stop the order in the middle of manufacturing! The biggest challenge with lying to people is keeping track of who you told what lie to, and I caught him blatantly in the act. I only let that go on for 2 months, as I needed the lower for a rifle build for an international competition.
I hope this is not the case with War Dog Outfitters, but if it is, you need to protect yourself. I also don't normally deal with gunsmiths who expect advance payments or downpayments on services. There was a gun store here in Draper that took over $100,000 in customer money for advance payments on AR15's and AK's during the Obama salesman of the year period, and the owner put the money into other things, expecting business to be able to make a turnaround to actually buy the AR's and AK's when they became available again. I still see former employees from that store at SHOT, who duck and run in shame, thinking I was one of the customers who got taken, though I wasn't.