IndianaResident
Expert
- Sep 3, 2010
- 1,439
- 48
This is going to be long, but I want the full record to be available should other google this company.
This has been ongoing since roughly mid October but I was waiting for resolution to give Mississippi Auto Arms a fair shake, but believe I have come to that point without satisfactory results.
Bold text was done just for this post to highlight relevant portions.
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10/09/12: Ordered 2 VEPR 12 Shotguns on Pre-Order to be shipped with a bonus 10 round SGM magazine per shotgun, from Mississippi Auto Arms.
10/19/12: Order shipped to FFL dealer.
10/23/12: Pick up VEPR's from Dealer. Shotguns have canted rails and only 1 5 round factor magazine each. I do not notice the rails immediately.
10/23/12: Email to MAA:
10/29/12: Email to MAA regarding rail (No response)
3/4/13: Email from Fedex
Lists the shipping weight at 2 lbs in my email, but following the tracking information to Fedex's website lists the weight at .7 lbs. Additionally, I notice a little late that the package is being shipped to my FFL dealer rather than to my house.
3/4/13: Email to MAA
On 3/6/12 I respond via email and state that "I can most likely pick them up from him [my ffl dealer]".
3/9/13: Fedex Tracking Update
Shipping weight listed at .8 lbs in the email, and when follow the tracking number to fedex's website, listed at .7 lbs.
3/11/13: Phone call to MAA
My FFL contacted me to inform me that I had received a package containing only a single magazine, and no paperwork whatsoever. It had my name and his address on it.
Unfortunately I switched to phone conversations at this point out of frustration, but spend some time that day on the phone with Charlie from MAA (different from Charles listed above).
He informed me that he had never received my emails from 10/29/12 and 11/15/12 asking for updates on the magazines. I forwarded both emails to him again, and he said he failed to receive them. I then sent a test email, which he received immediately while we spoke on the phone. Roughly 10 minutes later (we stayed on the phone) he informed me that he had received the other two emails.
He further advised that I needed to talk to my Dealer again, and that he would check their record. Via email that day he informed me (forwarding from another party whom I believe was Nathan) that I need to submit a copy of my invoice, which my dealer did not have. He then sent me a copy of his invoice and a no arguments brooked statement that 2 mags were sent. Emails below:
3/11/13: Reply from MAA @ 10:58 AM
3/12/13: Email to MAA @ 12:55 PM
At this point lines of communication go dead.
3/~13/13: Call to MAA
3/~14/13: Call to MAA
I call twice more and both times am told that Charlie is very busy but will call me back. I request that I be called as soon as possible but do not receive a call.
3/18/13: Call to MAA
I call again and am told that I will need to speak with Nathan, the owner, but that he is out until Wednesday and will likely not be available until Thursday the 21st.
3/21/13: Call to MAA
3/22/13: Call to MAA
I call and am told that Nathan is back from his vacation/trip but is out of the office. Both times I request a call back and receive none. During my call on 3/22/13 the woman I was speaking with whose name I unfortunately did not get agreed that it seemed they owed me a magazine and added a note in there that it be shipped ASAP (again owing to my desire to use this as a duty weapon).
3/27/13: Call to MAA
With no response via email, call, or fedex email I called again today. A woman answered and said she would look for Charlie or Nathan for me. I was on hold for approximately 10 minutes.
Charles (not Charlie) returned to the line to inform me that I needed to contact my FFL Dealer about the item. He stated that he had video recordings of the packages being packed that he had just been reviewing, and that my weights from my labels were initial estimates that all packages receive and that the final, confirmed shipping weight of my package from Fedex was 2.5 lbs. I asked him to forward me this and he said he would. I have not received it in the last hour since we spoke.
He further advised me that my only recourse was to file a police report and have my Dealer arrested because he must have stolen it, unless perhaps a fedex employee stole it an altered the shipping weight labels, or keyed it in incorrectly. He also stated that they had had customers try to claim this before to get free magazines.
Multiple times he stated that he would not discuss it any further and attempted to hang up the phone. Charles stated that he had documents that reflected they had sent the items to the correct address (as my contention was that in addition to being wrong, this would not have been an issue if it had not been sent to the wrong address.) I suspect he is referring to my email acknowledging that I would pick it up from my FFL as I never otherwise implied or expressed that I wished it to be send anywhere but my home, and in fact have the email from Nathan stating it would be send to my house (unspecified address in the email above.)
I currently have only the 1 - 10 round magazine and no apparent recourse besides filing suit over a 32 dollar magazine to attempt to view all of their documents and supposed film recordings.
I have never had an Issue with my FFL (Target Faul Arms out of Anderson, IN. Home based FFL). Charles suggested that he had fallen on hard times, which I feel is nonsense as he has a ton of stock in his home and sells what appears to be very large amounts of items at each 1500.
Additionally, to defend my FFL, he charges a $10 transfer that he says will never change, and did not price gouge during the craze. Anyone that dealt with Victor Faulstich at the 1500 will be able to attest to this.
-----------------------------
That was extremely long, and if you read the entire thing I appreciate it. If you have advice that is very welcome, but otherwise I hope this at least serves as a warning for future customers of MAA. If you google them, you should also find other complains where they had the SGM 10 round magazines for sale but had not fulfilled their preorders until customers specifically requested them, and complaints of Canted rails on their VEPR 12's.
I will update if/when I receive their Fedex shipping proof and if/when I contact Fedex.
This has been ongoing since roughly mid October but I was waiting for resolution to give Mississippi Auto Arms a fair shake, but believe I have come to that point without satisfactory results.
Bold text was done just for this post to highlight relevant portions.
---------------
10/09/12: Ordered 2 VEPR 12 Shotguns on Pre-Order to be shipped with a bonus 10 round SGM magazine per shotgun, from Mississippi Auto Arms.
10/19/12: Order shipped to FFL dealer.
10/23/12: Pick up VEPR's from Dealer. Shotguns have canted rails and only 1 5 round factor magazine each. I do not notice the rails immediately.
10/23/12: Email to MAA:
10/23/12: Reply from MAA (same day)
(Nathan is the owner of the company, I later found out).
10/29/12: Email to MAA regarding rail (No response)
11/15/12: Email to MAA regarding rail and mags, well past 2 week date (No response)
02/27/13: Email to MAA
02/28/13: Reply from MAA
I receive an addition reply from MAA through Fedex that my package will be shipped on March 5th. The fact that it had been this long, and further reading on the internet, indicates that they had the magazines prior to this and were simply not fulfilling their pre order obligations, but rather selling the magazines outright. The stock on their website listed 179 in stock at this point.
3/4/13: Email from Fedex
Lists the shipping weight at 2 lbs in my email, but following the tracking information to Fedex's website lists the weight at .7 lbs. Additionally, I notice a little late that the package is being shipped to my FFL dealer rather than to my house.
3/4/13: Email to MAA
3/5/13: Reply from MAA
At this point I was (and still am) waiting for the magazines to make the VEPR a useful tool for my job, and sought the faster route.
On 3/6/12 I respond via email and state that "I can most likely pick them up from him [my ffl dealer]".
3/9/13: Fedex Tracking Update
Shipping weight listed at .8 lbs in the email, and when follow the tracking number to fedex's website, listed at .7 lbs.
3/11/13: Phone call to MAA
My FFL contacted me to inform me that I had received a package containing only a single magazine, and no paperwork whatsoever. It had my name and his address on it.
Unfortunately I switched to phone conversations at this point out of frustration, but spend some time that day on the phone with Charlie from MAA (different from Charles listed above).
He informed me that he had never received my emails from 10/29/12 and 11/15/12 asking for updates on the magazines. I forwarded both emails to him again, and he said he failed to receive them. I then sent a test email, which he received immediately while we spoke on the phone. Roughly 10 minutes later (we stayed on the phone) he informed me that he had received the other two emails.
He further advised that I needed to talk to my Dealer again, and that he would check their record. Via email that day he informed me (forwarding from another party whom I believe was Nathan) that I need to submit a copy of my invoice, which my dealer did not have. He then sent me a copy of his invoice and a no arguments brooked statement that 2 mags were sent. Emails below:
3/11/13: Reply from MAA @ 10:58 AM
3/12/13: Email to MAA @ 10:44 AM
3/12/13: Reply from MAA @ 11:03 AM
I forwarded the email and the Invoice to my FFL Dealer who calls me on the phone shortly. He is somewhat upset at the implied accusation, and advised that I check the shipping weight.
3/12/13: Email to MAA @ 12:55 PM
Additionally, during the call, Charlie was very rude. I was annoyed but under control, but when he stated that he had not heard anything of this problem of a canted rail from anyone else I informed him that I had seen it written about online, nearly only from weapons from MAA so I found that surprising. He responded heatedly and sarcastically that, "So, what, you think we called the distributor and requested only shotguns with canted rails?". I attempted to convey that I was wondering because I did not want to simply call a distributor and expect them to take me at my word that I had purchased the shotgun and they should honor some warranty when they had no record of me, but Charlie informed me that they would not call and I should be fine with just my MAA order number. That was an extremely frustrating conversation in which I, the customer who had 2 legitimate complaints, was the calmer party. He Later emailed me contact information for the Distributor.
At this point lines of communication go dead.
3/~13/13: Call to MAA
3/~14/13: Call to MAA
I call twice more and both times am told that Charlie is very busy but will call me back. I request that I be called as soon as possible but do not receive a call.
3/18/13: Call to MAA
I call again and am told that I will need to speak with Nathan, the owner, but that he is out until Wednesday and will likely not be available until Thursday the 21st.
3/21/13: Call to MAA
3/22/13: Call to MAA
I call and am told that Nathan is back from his vacation/trip but is out of the office. Both times I request a call back and receive none. During my call on 3/22/13 the woman I was speaking with whose name I unfortunately did not get agreed that it seemed they owed me a magazine and added a note in there that it be shipped ASAP (again owing to my desire to use this as a duty weapon).
3/27/13: Call to MAA
With no response via email, call, or fedex email I called again today. A woman answered and said she would look for Charlie or Nathan for me. I was on hold for approximately 10 minutes.
Charles (not Charlie) returned to the line to inform me that I needed to contact my FFL Dealer about the item. He stated that he had video recordings of the packages being packed that he had just been reviewing, and that my weights from my labels were initial estimates that all packages receive and that the final, confirmed shipping weight of my package from Fedex was 2.5 lbs. I asked him to forward me this and he said he would. I have not received it in the last hour since we spoke.
He further advised me that my only recourse was to file a police report and have my Dealer arrested because he must have stolen it, unless perhaps a fedex employee stole it an altered the shipping weight labels, or keyed it in incorrectly. He also stated that they had had customers try to claim this before to get free magazines.
Multiple times he stated that he would not discuss it any further and attempted to hang up the phone. Charles stated that he had documents that reflected they had sent the items to the correct address (as my contention was that in addition to being wrong, this would not have been an issue if it had not been sent to the wrong address.) I suspect he is referring to my email acknowledging that I would pick it up from my FFL as I never otherwise implied or expressed that I wished it to be send anywhere but my home, and in fact have the email from Nathan stating it would be send to my house (unspecified address in the email above.)
I currently have only the 1 - 10 round magazine and no apparent recourse besides filing suit over a 32 dollar magazine to attempt to view all of their documents and supposed film recordings.
I have never had an Issue with my FFL (Target Faul Arms out of Anderson, IN. Home based FFL). Charles suggested that he had fallen on hard times, which I feel is nonsense as he has a ton of stock in his home and sells what appears to be very large amounts of items at each 1500.
Additionally, to defend my FFL, he charges a $10 transfer that he says will never change, and did not price gouge during the craze. Anyone that dealt with Victor Faulstich at the 1500 will be able to attest to this.
-----------------------------
That was extremely long, and if you read the entire thing I appreciate it. If you have advice that is very welcome, but otherwise I hope this at least serves as a warning for future customers of MAA. If you google them, you should also find other complains where they had the SGM 10 round magazines for sale but had not fulfilled their preorders until customers specifically requested them, and complaints of Canted rails on their VEPR 12's.
I will update if/when I receive their Fedex shipping proof and if/when I contact Fedex.
