There is always a risk paying any money in advance. I, personally, will NOT do that.
Think about it. If a company can't hold any stock, or can't get 30-days credit themselves with their suppliers, that should be a Red flag.
Yes your right, thing is most big name builders are going to want some $ down payment, might be 10% or even 50%. That's where I screwed up by assuming that Tac Rifles was good to go by being featured in several magazines over the years, I guess it's hard to get anything done when you spend most of your time advertising and sending rifles out to magazines to show off!
Dave Lauck at DL Sports is the only custom smith I will work with from now on, I have a piston 5.56AR and a 1911 from him and both are flawless with amazing customer service. He is a true American that will go above and beyond to make sure everything is squared away for the customer, and also a strong supporter of the military.
How serious are you? It is against credit card companies rules to offer a cash discount. If they have the ability to process credit card transactions, they CANNOT charge more to do so. This contract is a HUGE red flag to me. I would never sign such a document, but I understand others doing so, especially if they offer a product you specifically desire. Most states have a "delivery contract" which means that the seller must deliver within some reasonable amount of time.
If you paid a big down payment, it would make sense to pay a lawyer to review the contract and make a call to them requesting a refund. He will know the laws pertaining to interstate commerce and what you can expect. Paying a lawyer a couple hundred bucks to retrieve a couple thousand is worth it, at least to me.
If you want to play dirty, you could call your credit card company, point out that this company is charging a premium for credit card transactions, and see if the company will go to bat for your money based on that.
BUT...a lawyer may be your best friend in this situation, as hard as it is to say that!
“The rifle itself has no moral stature, since it has no will of its own. Naturally, it may be used by evil men for evil purposes, but there are more good men than evil, and while the latter cannot be persuaded to the path of righteousness by propaganda, they can certainly be corrected by good men with rifles.”
Jeff Cooper
Colt: Might I make a suggestion.
Being in Florida, there is a large law firm based in Orlando named Morgan & Morgan.
One of their ads they run here says that if someone is having trouble getting satisfaction with a company, they( the person with the problem) can use Morgan & Morgan's name to effectively threaten the company with( say you will be contacting Morgan & Morgan if you don't get satisfaction) if the company doesn't give you satisfaction( either the gun or your money back).
Morgan & Morgan has a big reputation here and based their business on fighting for the little guy against corporations.
The owner is also a huge supporter and contributor to Democratic( I know. I know.) causes so they may love to go after an " evil firearm manufacturer".
Who knows it may be worth a try as it sounds like you're out of any of the polite options anyways.
Good Luck either way.
Lee
leopard: Roger that, thanks for the info!
If you have an email from them in March 2010 saying your rifle was 4-6 weeks out, doesn't that imply a delivery date? And since they did not deliver during that time frame, does that constitute a breach of contract on their part? Just wondering..
My thoughts exactly!
Lawyer, Lawyer, Lawyer! I would also consider contacting some of the magazines that had write ups on the company and see if they can help by either putting the arm on the company, or by perhaps doing updates on the guns, delivery, customer service etc.
Actually, its not.
http://usa.visa.com/personal/using_v...ees/index.html
http://www.mastercard.com/us/merchan...ual_public.pdf para 5.11.12
Its against their rules to charge extra for credit card payments. A bit of 6 and half dozen, but rules is rules.
I hope he payed by credit card.
Small claims court. The figure depends on your State. In Florida its:-
http://www.flcourts.org/gen_public/f...llclaims.shtml
Tactical Rifles Inc. Florida corporation registration.
http://www.sunbiz.org/scripts/cordet...s_filing_type=
Last edited by appleseed-kdc; 11-29-2011 at 09:33 PM.