Any other bad experiences from Aero Precision?

[Trochlea]

Wondering if anyone else has had problems with aero precision and poor customer support. It seems that they have a pretty positive rep so I am pretty surprised with my experience. Wall of text below but this has been my experience.

Abbreviated version: bought to sets of receivers from Aero, but they dont ship despites their promises. Is this normal for them?

I originally ordered a M5 308 upper/lower combo on July 1st as the price seemed to pretty amazing. The order went smoothly except when I contacted my FFL they said they had just received an order within the last week so their paperwork should already be on file. A quick email later and i recieved word from Aero that if they had recieved an order within the last month they should still be on file. No confirmation that everything is in place just that it should. My order was placed on Tuesday, so on Friday when I had not received the promised shipping notice, I contacted Aero again asking to verify that my FFL was correct.

The next monday, I received a reply stating that in fact my order had been delayed because the sets hadn't even been finished yet, and that they would arrive on Wednesday, when my order ship. I thought it was strange that nowehere on their website had they stated the sets hadn't been completed or that they were backordered. It seemed a little funny to me but given that this is a newer product, I figured that it would be par for the course.

Now wednesday came and as the first gift was meant as a gift for my father, I thought it might be cool to have one myself. With this plan I sold the bolt gun, and ordered a few parts to accompany the few left overs to finish a build of my own. I called to verify that my order had not gone through and that if i ordered that day, they would ship together that day so that I only had to pay for one background check. so order number 2 goes in on Wednesday July 9th, with a promise of both shipping that day. The rest of the week came and went with no shipping info.

Monday rolled around and i thought it was strange that i still had not recieved word from Aero. So I emailed and received another email stating that the uppers had not yet arrived from anodizing but would do so on Wednesday. Again this seemed strange as they had guaranteed me several days ago that my order would go out that day and now I learn that they don't even have the uppers. She assured me that all existing orders would be shipped by the end of this week.

Wednesday rolls around and I am a little antsy and maybe over eager, so I call that afternoon to determine if they had come in. The representative stated that they had and stated again all existing orders would "for sure" be shipped this week.

Friday afternoon I again got a little antsy and placed another call toe Aero. Again the representative said that my order was to be shipped that day and that it would take 5 business days to get to my FFL. In the past my local FFL has been less than snappy about internet sales, so I paid extra to expedite shipping under the condition that it would not cause a shipping delay. The representative confirmed with shipping that it would still ship that day and would be to my FFL in three business days. No shipping confirmation comes.

On Saturday, I send another email to customer service explaining my situation asking why yet again, the promised shipping day fell through. This morning, the representative from friday wrote apologizing that yet again my product had not shipped offering me a return of the shipping charge from Friday and a shirt. I wrote back stating that i would accept the return of the shipping as it had been conditional and refused the shirt as I would not wear their logo after this experience.

Now I know that every company has hiccups, but i really hate being lied to. Now I am kinda in a rock and a hard place, I had planned the whole budget around being able to acquire these sets for so cheap. So I have two boxes full of parts and still no recievers. Is this the type of customer support I should expect from Aero Precision? Am I over reacting? if in my situation would you just deal with it so you could finish both builds or get a refund and just finish one with a more expensive set from a competitor?

 

[godofthunder]

I've only ordered from aero a couple times, but my experiences were fine. Nothing extraordinary but I wasn't lied to and they didn't keep changing dates on me. Personally I would wait it out because of the sets being such good deals and Aero is known for quality. If they weren't such good deals I would ask for my money back and move on to a different set.

 

[Trochlea]

Just received another email from Aero stating that they do not have any uppers in house but expect another round from tomorrow with the soonest possible ship date of tomorrow, but could not make any more promises as to the date it would ship. When it did it would be sent by overnight over night shipping. Called them back and they are very apologetic and responded that basically things occur and that unfortunately they all had occurred to me at once. Apparently they do not update their website to keep up with order so it does not reflect their current inventory. Trying to be calm, but definitely frustrated.

 

[gasdoc09]

I have several Aero Precision uppers and lowers, and an Armalite monolithic upper which I believe is a rebranded Aero COP. High quality, no problems. No experience with their customer service.

I won't buy from them again though. During the worst of the Sandy Hook shortage, they jacked up their prices. At one point they were selling their stripped lowers for $200 each. Free market, capitalism, supply and demand, market price, etc etc etc - I get it. However, I will just choose to give my future business to companies that chose not to scalp and screw over the shooting community for a fast buck.

 

[Trochlea]

Didnt know about the price business. I do know that during their recent sale, they simply raised the prices on their receiver sets. paid 306 before the sale for a set with an assembled upper and 296 during the "sale" for the combo without the upper parts. thought it was just raising their price but it went back down after the sale was over.. definitely not what i would consider an honest up front move.

 

[velillen]

Didnt know about the price business. I do know that during their recent sale, they simply raised the prices on their receiver sets. paid 306 before the sale for a set with an assembled upper and 296 during the "sale" for the combo without the upper parts. thought it was just raising their price but it went back down after the sale was over.. definitely not what i would consider an honest up front move.

Aero is a company in it for the profits from everything i have seen. Look into their shenanigans during Sandy Hook. Then their "sales". Myself...i wont buy anything from them due to their actions. To many other companies at the same price points (minus 308 uppers/lower) to support them


But i will also say they make some good products. For the price point they are great. Many other companies use rebranded Aero products and they get rave reviews as well.

The 308 sets Aero are building are great and i would hold out for them if i were you. Can be frustrating but they will come

 

[-Nick-]

Many other companies use rebranded Aero products and they get rave reviews as well.

You have me curious since I know some things about Aero that most don't... What other companies exactly are they manufacturing for?

 

[sidewaysil80]

You have me curious since I know some things about Aero that most don't... What other companies exactly are they manufacturing for?

I don't know who they CURRENTLY supply with components. But I know the Armalite monolithic upper is the Aero C.O.P. system, and I could have sworn I read that they used to or maybe still do supply some of Spikes offerings as well as Palmetto.

 

[-Nick-]

I don't know who they CURRENTLY supply with components. But I know the Armalite monolithic upper is the Aero C.O.P. system, and I could have sworn I read that they used to or maybe still do supply some of Spikes offerings as well as Palmetto.

One is a clone of another... Much like everything else by Aero. They like to take ideas they see elsewhere and pull them into their designs and make them cheaper then label them as their ideas. For instance their EM and EQ handguards that amazingly enough have anti-rotational tabs that strangely resemble Seekins Precision's.

 

[FALex]

Palmetto State Armory is your friend.

 

[Trochlea]

Unfortunately PSA has still not made much progress on the 308 side of things, otherwise I would have ordered from them. At least then I would know that my wait was going to be weeks rather than the advertised days.

 

[Matno]

You have me curious since I know some things about Aero that most don't... What other companies exactly are they manufacturing for?

My Surplus Arms lower is an Aero. Great quality, but since I didn't get it from Aero, I don't know about their customer service. I over paid for it during the peak of the shortage, but it was, quite literally, the cheapest one available online (I was watching closely for several months and got it on gun broker), not counting polymer.

There's a thread somewhere on AR15.com with a list of who actually makes which receivers. Not sure it's entirely up to date, but it's a long list.

 

[firebert]

I ordered a barrel and a upper from Aero within the last couple of months. Shipping from them is slower than most internet sites. Maybe 3-4 days. After I received the barrel I decided to go another route and inquired about a return. They were willing to accept but charged a 25% restocking fee. Wasn't too happy but it didn't stop me from buying a blem upper from them a few weeks later.

 

[-Nick-]

My Surplus Arms lower is an Aero. Great quality, but since I didn't get it from Aero, I don't know about their customer service. I over paid for it during the peak of the shortage, but it was, quite literally, the cheapest one available online (I was watching closely for several months and got it on gun broker), not counting polymer.

There's a thread somewhere on AR15.com with a list of who actually makes which receivers. Not sure it's entirely up to date, but it's a long list.

Surplus is Aero...

 

[bustin]

Surplus arms and ammo is terrible. I received 50 Aero receivers. All of them had a short distance from front of threads to face where m4 ramps are cut. The ramps of the barrel extension overhung the alum by apx .020" and protruded from the receiver. I called to return them. The head honcho at Surplus arms and ammo said hire an engineer to draw the receivers in cad and prove to him that the receivers were machined out of mil spec. He would not accept them back otherwise. I measured the barrel extensions and know they were in spec. pretty easy to tell what was wrong. Needless to say that was the last thing we ever purchased from AP or Surplus Arms and ammo.

 

[Trochlea]

Update: Aero shipped them via next day air today, three weeks to the day after original sale. Ill post pics tomorrow. Any requests for pics or details?