AA Status

[blackfoot]

Anybody know what's going on with Alexander Arms? I placed an order for brass and magazines on 6/25, and after repeated emails and calls, I have yet to get ahold of anybody or get a response on the status of my order. Hasn't shipped yet as far as I can tell.

[bwaites]

Their power was out for a while last week with the storm that went through.

I talked with Bill while it was out and they are back up and running, but I suspect that they are now digging out from all the stuff that happened, complicated by the holiday in the middle of the week.

Keep trying to call, you will eventually get through.

[Grimmy]

On top of which the whole Ar industry is under a high demand burden all my distributors and manufactors are projecting longer than normal backorder wait times. It's a sign of the times.

[blackfoot]

On top of which the whole Ar industry is under a high demand burden all my distributors and manufactors are projecting longer than normal backorder wait times. It's a sign of the times.

That would be no excuse in my book for not telling you when you order that the product is not available, or not shipping for two weeks without responding to any inquiries. I didn't know they lost power/etc so I'll give the benefit of the doubt for that, although it's still a little sketchy.

[JDub]

I know. I ordered an AA upper last week and have had several inquiries go unanswered. At this point, I'm trying to take a deep breath and relax because... I REALLY WANT TO HAVE MY UPPER RIGHT NOW!!!! ARRRRRRRGGGGGGG!!!

Sorry you had to hear that.

[LRRPF52]

Power out and hit by major hurricane is sketchy? These guys are dealing with literally thousands of orders. Catching up after a major hiccup that you have zero control over sounds like a nightmare to me.

AA is a stand-up outfit. You will get your order as soon as they can process it and fill it.

[blackfoot]

My bad, didn't realize they were dealing with that much weather. I'm 4000 miles away and gave up TV, so I actually didn't realize some of those areas still don't have power from the 29th. I guess I'm used to Midway, Grafs, Sinclair, etc. that tells you when you order what they don't have, and ship the next day. This is my third order from them and I've never had very good communication from them. I'm sure they are a great company and stand up people, but if they are dealing with that many order it might be time to upgrade their order system.

[MrDraco]

Another thing to keep in mind is ASC is the only company making Grendel mags and when I inquired about them last week I was told currently there is almost a 1 month back order on the 10 round mags. I lucked out and found some on Midway http://www.midwayusa.com/product/357204/...uctDescrip however from past experience they will be sold out in less then a week.

[bwaites]

My bad, didn't realize they were dealing with that much weather. I'm 4000 miles away and gave up TV, so I actually didn't realize some of those areas still don't have power from the 29th. I guess I'm used to Midway, Grafs, Sinclair, etc. that tells you when you order what they don't have, and ship the next day. This is my third order from them and I've never had very good communication from them. I'm sure they are a great company and stand up people, but if they are dealing with that many order it might be time to upgrade their order system.

Growing a company like AA is really a lesson in frustration. You can never get the right people at the right time, then you find the right person, but your software won't keep up, so you fix that, then you find out that your computers need to be upgraded to handle that problem, only to find that doing so means your entire staff has to be retrained on the proper entry formats. Then you find out that you're supposed to actually build and ship guns in the process, only to discover that you can't produce enough ammunition to feed the guns you've already sold, so you move some people to ammo production, and then find out that your shipping person has come down with some illness that requires surgery so the shipping stacks up.

In the meantime, the person you thought was the answer to customer relations has been overwhelmed, and you actually need another person to help, but because you haven't built and shipped enough rifles and ammo that you can't really afford to do that right now, so you plug your finger in the dike and hope the rain stops soon!

If you are contacting AA by internet, you need to call, and keep calling until you get someone on the phone. They are short handed right now, so keep at it.

[LRRPF52]

Yeah, everyone in the industry has a major problem right now: Keeping up with demand. We've literally seen the US firearms industry go from $19+ billion in 2008, to $32+ billion in 2011. Let that sink in for a while. I estimate that we'll easily hit $36-$38 billion this year, if not more. We've seen a 30.6% increase in direct jobs since 2008, in THIS economy. What does that tell you?

It's like the defense manufacturing in WWII almost, and that's with prices rising. There are companies duplicating their warehouse sizes right and left, bringing manufacturing up to 100% increase in capacity as we speak. Imagine trying to pull that off and filling orders at the same time. JP Enterprises is doing that right now, for example, and their a niche company that sells high-end rifles at $3000 price points and up, inlcuding Grendels.

[blackfoot]

Another thing to keep in mind is ASC is the only company making Grendel mags and when I inquired about them last week I was told currently there is almost a 1 month back order on the 10 round mags. I lucked out and found some on Midway http://www.midwayusa.com/product/357204/...uctDescrip however from past experience they will be sold out in less then a week.

So chances are when I do finally get ahold of them, they don't have the 24 round mags I ordered anyway?

[bwaites]

They had plenty of mags last time I asked Bill about it, but....depends on how many of us are stocking up!

[kamrr4437]

i know the feeling man. Ive been waiting for beowulf ammo 2 mags and a gun case, since late Feb. First response was (We dont have bullets from our manufacturer. Then we dont have powder from our manufacturer. Then they said they had it all and were going to start making ammo first week of June. Came and went. Then they said they had to reprioritize and make a different grain ammo up and 300 grain would be ready the first week of July. I called last friday asked if they had 300 gr. the lady said Yes. So i asked her to look up my order and she said well we have the ammo ill get that right out to you. Its Tuesday and not even an email confirmation for send off. Whats a guy to do you know. At least i have Grendel and other guns i can get ammo for. I can understand waiting awhile for an upper because of barrels and etc. but ammo? Man. Sorry to hijack thread i just needed to vent. I love alexander arms but i just cant get my stuff!

[MrDraco]

So chances are when I do finally get ahold of them, they don't have the 24 round mags I ordered anyway?

I've never had a problem getting these mags, it's the 10 rounders that are the most popular and are hard to get.

[wheelguner]

One of the good things about forums and user groups on the internet is they give us a venue to say what's on our mind, seek help from others that share our passions/afflictions/addictions or just plain vent. One of the bad things is the sheer scope of the viewership and how much harm can be done because of it.

From reading and following many of the threads here I've learned the “horde” is made up of a large cross section of individuals, expert to rank novice and every thing in between.

I have had many careers and worn many hats. I am a former Marine, professional photographer, worked on a weekly newspaper catering to motorcycles and racing (Cycle news) sold speed parts, cameras and was a draftsman/mechanical designer and in fact that is what I do now, design cement plants.

I have seen the internet and the constantly improving, evolving technology shape and change ALL of those careers. From film and darkroom to digital and Photo Shop, from drawing board and pencil on paper to ink on mylar and now to powerful work stations running AutoCAD or Solid Works.

We are becoming a people, a nation, a world, becoming accustomed to instant satisfaction. Remember when you had to pull your car off the road to use a payphone to make a call.

The internet has created a market place to satisfy our every need or whim at the click of a mouse button. I worked at one of the Atlanta areas larger specialty outdoor stores in the late 60's early 70's and we had to place orders for goods 3 to 4 months in advance. Most firearms were sold through distributors and a special order took 30 to 90 days. In those days we took what the distributors offered us and had to put together minimum qualifying orders or we would have to order three 6” barreled revolvers to get an airweight Smith.

We have suppliers like Midway, Cabela's and Bass Pro that have huge warehouses with huge inventories and staffed by stock pullers, packers and web engineering staffs that design the websites that make it so easy order from, Customer service or sales staff a phone call away. God I love ordering from these companies and I have gotten spoiled by how quickly I get that box left at my front door by that Brown truck.

I even bought my first Grendel, my 24” overwatch from Midway, everything fell into place they offered a $100 off on orders over $500 and they actually had it in stock.
But let's face it AA isn't Midway. They are a small company with a designer that had a vision and he invested his money, his talent, his time to bring us the Beowolf, and the Grendel. I don't know how many employees Bill has, there are six individuals pictured on the AA site but there is no way they can compete with Midway.

I have called AA on several occasions and, yes it takes a while to get a voice instead of a machine but that is what redial is for. Every time I have gotten through the person I got has been great to deal with and took the time to answer my technical or order status questions.

The last time I called them on 26JUN it took about 5 or 6 tries, I had several questions about their 20” Lightweight upper and after all were answered I placed the order for it and look forward to shooting my second Grendel. I was told when it would probably ship and I will wait at least two weeks after that before I call to check on it but that's my choice. I am willing to wait for a custom quality rifle built to order by the company that created the beast. Said designer that cares enough about the users of his product that he follows this forum and replies to questions about his creation and I have never seen him “flame” anyone that uses this forum to complain or gripe about his company. I am impressed with both the man and his rifle.

My opinion, my vent.

[PrecisionFirearms]

Growing a company like AA is really a lesson in frustration. You can never get the right people at the right time, then you find the right person, but your software won't keep up, so you fix that, then you find out that your computers need to be upgraded to handle that problem, only to find that doing so means your entire staff has to be retrained on the proper entry formats. Then you find out that you're supposed to actually build and ship guns in the process, only to discover that you can't produce enough ammunition to feed the guns you've already sold, so you move some people to ammo production, and then find out that your shipping person has come down with some illness that requires surgery so the shipping stacks up.

In the meantime, the person you thought was the answer to customer relations has been overwhelmed, and you actually need another person to help, but because you haven't built and shipped enough rifles and ammo that you can't really afford to do that right now, so you plug your finger in the dike and hope the rain stops soon!

If you are contacting AA by internet, you need to call, and keep calling until you get someone on the phone. They are short handed right now, so keep at it.

Amen to that Bill, I too well understand this. As a growing company and personally answering 50 plus hours of phone time per month, I understand!

[blackfoot]

While I appreciate what you're saying, and understand more about AA and what they offer now, there are some simple facts that the marketplace demands for a company to sustain long term sucess. I have studied companies, seen many seemingly successful companies go belly up, worked customer service from selling guns and anything else, to buying for a $2 million/week company. I love what AA has brought to the market, offering quality and innovation. While demand is high, as it is right now, anybody can succeed by just satisfying 75% of their customers, or even less. But it's how a company takes care of their customers during these times that determines how many return customers they have and how they will succeed in leaner times. I don't care if it's Internet or telegraph, I have dealt with few companies in which you give them your money, and weeks later you do not know if they have the product or not, when they plan to ship the product, or if they've just taken an extended vacation. Customers are demanding people when they fork over their hard earned money, as well they should be. I don't mind waiting, I'm waiting on a Les Baer pistol that will probably be 30 weeks from when I ordered it. But when I call, email, or send a carrier pigeon, they have a way to answer me and acknowledge that they took my money and are taking care of their end of the bargain, and there's a good chance you can talk to Les himself if you have a problem or question. Unemployment is high, and there are quality people out there not working. If somebody is so busy they can't answer the phone, they should be making enough money to hire somebody to answer the phone, no??

I'm not judging AA or saying they aren't aware and working on these issues and certainly not flaming them, and I'm now more aware of the problems they've had with weather and power outages, but I do disagree with your assumption that because somebody wants to know something about what they ordered, they are somehow a product of the new age instant gratification. Not so. I believe it's a simple matter of customer service, which is more old school than new age.

[PrecisionFirearms]

We too have brass ordered from AA and understand the power outage affected them rather harshly. We have a standby generator to help lessen this type of problem and it happens fairly often as we are the literal end of the power line and when we lose power it's out by days. Doesn't help the internet problem though!

We also have 6.5 bolt orders dating back to March. Talked to Melissa today about that and from what I can understand the supply problem is a number of things, but we dealers/OEM's are second to receive after they supply themselves. Seems strange though, that they can't spare 10 bolts! I have 150 ordered, requested that just 10 be sent now from the March order, but no deal.

Email I have learned is slow, Just try calling back tomorrow. Patience is a virtue......

[biodsl]

I placed on order on July 4th and received an email confirmation of my order this morning (the 10th). I'd say they're working through the backlog.

[bwaites]

While I appreciate what you're saying, and understand more about AA and what they offer now, there are some simple facts that the marketplace demands for a company to sustain long term sucess. I have studied companies, seen many seemingly successful companies go belly up, worked customer service from selling guns and anything else, to buying for a $2 million/week company. I love what AA has brought to the market, offering quality and innovation. While demand is high, as it is right now, anybody can succeed by just satisfying 75% of their customers, or even less. But it's how a company takes care of their customers during these times that determines how many return customers they have and how they will succeed in leaner times. I don't care if it's Internet or telegraph, I have dealt with few companies in which you give them your money, and weeks later you do not know if they have the product or not, when they plan to ship the product, or if they've just taken an extended vacation. Customers are demanding people when they fork over their hard earned money, as well they should be. I don't mind waiting, I'm waiting on a Les Baer pistol that will probably be 30 weeks from when I ordered it. But when I call, email, or send a carrier pigeon, they have a way to answer me and acknowledge that they took my money and are taking care of their end of the bargain, and there's a good chance you can talk to Les himself if you have a problem or question. Unemployment is high, and there are quality people out there not working. If somebody is so busy they can't answer the phone, they should be making enough money to hire somebody to answer the phone, no??

I'm not judging AA or saying they aren't aware and working on these issues and certainly not flaming them, and I'm now more aware of the problems they've had with weather and power outages, but I do disagree with your assumption that because somebody wants to know something about what they ordered, they are somehow a product of the new age instant gratification. Not so. I believe it's a simple matter of customer service, which is more old school than new age.

In the past AA never took money until they were about to ship product, and when I recently ordered some parts, they actually called to double check right before the order shipped, and to double check my billing information. I haven't heard that they have changed that policy, so if they have, I'm surprised, it doesn't fit my experience.

I certainly don't disagree with your feelings on customer service. Bill Alexander and I have talked about it many times, and he is 100% in agreement too. The facts, though, are that growing companies experience these problems and they are frustrating on both ends. AA doesn't make money until it sells something, and they WANT to sell stuff, trust me!

They ARE tiny, especially in comparison to many of the companies mentioned. I'll bet that Midway, Brownells, etc. have more shipping supervisors than AA has employees!

That's no excuse, but the experience is that AA will eventually get back to you, as soon as they can. I do know that they recently changed their policy regarding phone messages, and that they now check the machine first thing in the morning and work through the messages trying to answer them all by days end. I'm betting that the last 10 days or two weeks have been crazy there, (there was also another incident on the Arsenal site that I'm not at liberty to make public, it involved AA only in that no one could go onto the site, period. That meant that no one could even go into work that day.) So..... storm, electrical issue, then Arsenal issue, then holiday. I'll talk with Bill and see where they are at in the next 24 hours and post that information here.