Corby,
As a paying customer I feel a need to reply to this. Sort of more of a brief history, or you can look at it as customer feedback.
After looking at a number of rifles it is clear that the FD is one of the best looking rifles out there and the design sounds solid on paper. Looking at your rifle pictures is absolute gun porn. Before purchasing I emailed and spoke with you on the phones a couple of times. You where always quick to respond and seemed extremely competent. Based on this I placed a deposit with you about October 1st. This was well before Sandyhook, so at that point the parts and material for my gun, one would expect, should have been ordered. You stated at the time the lead time would be 3-4 months. It is now closing in on April 1st.
I have emailed you a couple times asking for an update and what number my rifle would be on the FD308 series. Those emails have not been responded to. I respect you and understand how busy you must be. That being said I am not a jerk and have always treated you with respect and I am not a "tire kicker" wasting your time. I'm a paying customer. So I sit here and wonder why you have time to send these long responses on the boards, but you don't have time to answer my emails? That's just some feedback, which is not meant as an insult, but just an observation. I would imagine others who have made deposits wonder the same thing at times. In any business paying customers are important and their feedback is important to the ultimate success and growth of a business. Focusing on their satisfaction and assuring they tell two friends, who tell two friends, who tell two friends etc. about their positive experience has never hurt any business. I imagine the converse is true as well. Just my two cents.
There is a reason these emails requesting a delivery date are not being responded to.
I sent out a mass email to all customers stating the status of the current build, also said I would not be responding to any inquiries as there are too many factors at play to be able to provide any kind of accurate lead time.
Especially since each customer has a substantially different lead time. The math required to calculate such a thing would be mind-boggling, much less extremely error-prone.
I do not start ordering parts once an order is placed, that is a horrible manufacturing practice.
Parts are ordered when they need to be ordered. Many parts were ordered LONG before you placed an order/deposit, some parts are ordered much after.
You can be assured that your deposit is being wisely utilized on building your order.
Even though I have been at this for about 6 years, F&D is still considered "new" simply because we didn't have millions of dollars to just jump into the venture in order to get things moving as quickly as other companies have.
And since F&D is essentially a one man shop, and still considered a "new" company, I am expected by the industry to provide a higher level of detailed information and support to customers.
And that is how I started F&D, by answering every single question that came up, and answering it with more than just a basic response.
This can be verified with numerous potential, past, and current customers; where many can attest that I have spent FAR more time with them that what they can get out of any competitors.
Once production got going, and now demands approx 12-14hrs per day, 7 days a week of my time, this level of customer service became a huge burden and only then did I decide to only answer questions about technicalities of the rifle.
First, I completely prohibited myself from trying to "sell" the rifle; instead I now direct people to the website and let them do their own research and comparisons. I will not go out of my way to sell a rifle, especially to someone who does not know what they want out of the rifle. As stated before I do my absolute best from getting into delivery dates, and always qualify my responses with "if everything goes according to the current plan, which changes daily".
As of today I do not answer the phone at all, and I do not respond to non-technical or non-warranty emails.
I do not return phone messages unless the customer specifically asks for a response on a technical question on one of my rifles.
I VERY RARELY get online to respond to these issues/complaints; and when I do, I make damn sure all my machines are running first and foremost.
As of last month I have started moving forward with a new investor/business partner and we are making huge changes to the company very quickly.
We have not been able to breathe enough to even think about hiring any permanent employees for customer service and machine-work.
If I am left to deal with manufacturing and design myself, and that is where I am best.
At the end of the day, I want the product to sell itself, and that's the way it should be.
If I make a good product and provide sufficient technical info upfront, then the customer should never need my assistance.
Did I buy a Toyota Tacoma because they have good customer service? Hell no.
I bought it because I knew I would rarely if ever have to take it in for repair.
That is the direction I intend to go with these rifles. And I already know it wont be a perfect venture.
Ideal F&D business model: you look; you like; you compare; you buy; you receive; and then I don't talk to you again until you need a replacement part or ready to buy another.
As stated several times before:
I'm not here to make buddies, not here to build relationships, not here to build a perfectly loyal customer-base, not here to build a vast firearms empire, not here to get rich.
I'm only here to build the absolute best functioning, best featured, and most stylish autoloading rifle that ever did and ever will touch the market.
And Ive still got a few things up my sleeve (in prototyping stages) to accomplish those objectives, it's a working progress.
