As of a few days ago, the "Lancaster Arms Sucks Blog" achieved a first-page Google ranking for searches of "Lancaster Arms". That was a big goal of mine with this blog. (Or at least, one of 'em.) I wanted EVERYONE who does a search for Lancaster Arms, to see who they're really doing business with. And now they will.
Thanks everyone for your backlinks! Keep 'em coming. Now that we're on the first page (woo hoo!), let's move on up and grab the #2 spot!
Monday, June 21, 2010
Lancaster Arms: Still the "BP" of the Firearms Industry
So, this blog has been up over six months now. Rational people might assume that Lancaster Arms would have “seen the light” by now, and fixed the many problems with its business. But has that happened? Nah. Not a chance. You see, getting Lancaster to “a good place” would take an owner who cared. And Chet Durda, the owner of Lancaster Arms, simply does not care. At least, that’s the only rational explanation for behavior and customer service that remains, in every way, bottom-of-the-barrel in the firearms industry.
One might think that having been publicly called out to the extent Lancaster has, that they’d be on their very best behavior until things settled down. But to think that, is to underestimate how much Chet Durda really, truly does not care. The man, and several of his staff, continue to lie to customers as if they don’t even know that not lying is actually an option. As a case in point, read this recent disaster of an experience that a Pennsylvania man had with Lancaster. When he ordered his rifle in January, the fork-tongued Durda told this man his rifle would be done in 8-10 days. It then took 5 MONTHS for the customer to get…a defective rifle. All the while, when he contacted Lancaster about these constant delays, he was shamelessly lied to multiple times by Chet Durda and the rest of the incompetent stooges employed at Lancaster.
To those of us familiar with Lancaster Arms and its owner Chet Durda, that episode is not at all surprising. Several of us (including yours truly) have had similar experiences, and the basic story is always the same: Durda tells you you’ll get your gun in a timeframe he knows damn well he can’t deliver on, people eventually call up wondering where in the hell their rifle is, Durda and his bumbling staff go down their list of “the dog ate your AK” type excuses, and eventually, after all that, Lancaster winds up delivering a rifle that has something wrong with it. There are literally dozens and dozens of versions of this basic story documented online, from people who exercised the bad judgment to trust anything Chet Durda says. In fact, one can now read certain gun forums and find the term “Durda’d”, to describe when one has been lied to. Yes folks, you KNOW things are bad when your last name literally becomes a synonym for lying!
So what’s the result of all this? Well, it’s pretty much as you might guess. An “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau, a growing problem file with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, and a reputation (especially online) that speaks to the level of distrust the firearms community has developed towards Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda. These days, when new people stop by a firearms forum and ask “I’m thinking of buying a rifle. What do you guys think of Lancaster?”, without fail, those new people are met with an avalanche of warnings to stay the hell away from Lancaster. Apparently Lancaster never heard the saying, “Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of bad news.”
There you have it, folks. Doing business with Lancaster Arms is bad, bad news, and if you attempt to buy something from them…don’t say you weren’t warned.
As a reminder, for those new to this blog (Google Analytics tells me there are several of you), read all the posts here to get a good sense of the problems with Lancaster. In particular, read the January complaint threads. You'll quickly learn why this company is SO bad...there's actually a blog dedicated to discussing how bad it is.
One might think that having been publicly called out to the extent Lancaster has, that they’d be on their very best behavior until things settled down. But to think that, is to underestimate how much Chet Durda really, truly does not care. The man, and several of his staff, continue to lie to customers as if they don’t even know that not lying is actually an option. As a case in point, read this recent disaster of an experience that a Pennsylvania man had with Lancaster. When he ordered his rifle in January, the fork-tongued Durda told this man his rifle would be done in 8-10 days. It then took 5 MONTHS for the customer to get…a defective rifle. All the while, when he contacted Lancaster about these constant delays, he was shamelessly lied to multiple times by Chet Durda and the rest of the incompetent stooges employed at Lancaster.
To those of us familiar with Lancaster Arms and its owner Chet Durda, that episode is not at all surprising. Several of us (including yours truly) have had similar experiences, and the basic story is always the same: Durda tells you you’ll get your gun in a timeframe he knows damn well he can’t deliver on, people eventually call up wondering where in the hell their rifle is, Durda and his bumbling staff go down their list of “the dog ate your AK” type excuses, and eventually, after all that, Lancaster winds up delivering a rifle that has something wrong with it. There are literally dozens and dozens of versions of this basic story documented online, from people who exercised the bad judgment to trust anything Chet Durda says. In fact, one can now read certain gun forums and find the term “Durda’d”, to describe when one has been lied to. Yes folks, you KNOW things are bad when your last name literally becomes a synonym for lying!
So what’s the result of all this? Well, it’s pretty much as you might guess. An “F” rating with the Better Business Bureau, a growing problem file with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, and a reputation (especially online) that speaks to the level of distrust the firearms community has developed towards Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda. These days, when new people stop by a firearms forum and ask “I’m thinking of buying a rifle. What do you guys think of Lancaster?”, without fail, those new people are met with an avalanche of warnings to stay the hell away from Lancaster. Apparently Lancaster never heard the saying, “Nothing travels faster than light, with the possible exception of bad news.”
There you have it, folks. Doing business with Lancaster Arms is bad, bad news, and if you attempt to buy something from them…don’t say you weren’t warned.
As a reminder, for those new to this blog (Google Analytics tells me there are several of you), read all the posts here to get a good sense of the problems with Lancaster. In particular, read the January complaint threads. You'll quickly learn why this company is SO bad...there's actually a blog dedicated to discussing how bad it is.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Lancaster Arms likes this blog!!! So, let's get more hits to it!
Folks, thanks for your support of this blog. As I noted in the previous post, this blog now ranks #18 for searches of "Lancaster Arms". We've passed 10,000 hits, and visits to this site are increasing exponentially. That's quite good, as it means word is spreading quickly that doing business with Lancaster Arms is a bad, bad idea!
But, we can do even better. So, please link to this blog whenever you appropriately can. The goal is to get front page Google results for "Lancaster Arms". We're almost there! Together, we'll help "remind" Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda that ethics, integrity and honesty actually DO matter. It's just a damn shame they need to be reminded.
And don't worry...Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda WANT this blog publicized! How do I know? Because Lancaster's own website told me so. From Lancaster's website, on November 7, 2007: "I [Chet Durda] believe open discussion is healthy for the consumer and the Industry in general. We don't live in a perfect world and exposing problems is the best way to resolve them. So, keep the discussions and comments coming, and try to keep the praise or criticism directed to those that actually deserve it."
Gee...I couldn't agree more, Chet! Glad this blog meets with your approval!
But, we can do even better. So, please link to this blog whenever you appropriately can. The goal is to get front page Google results for "Lancaster Arms". We're almost there! Together, we'll help "remind" Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda that ethics, integrity and honesty actually DO matter. It's just a damn shame they need to be reminded.
And don't worry...Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda WANT this blog publicized! How do I know? Because Lancaster's own website told me so. From Lancaster's website, on November 7, 2007: "I [Chet Durda] believe open discussion is healthy for the consumer and the Industry in general. We don't live in a perfect world and exposing problems is the best way to resolve them. So, keep the discussions and comments coming, and try to keep the praise or criticism directed to those that actually deserve it."
Gee...I couldn't agree more, Chet! Glad this blog meets with your approval!
“How To Destroy Your Own Reputation 101”. Taught by the experts at Lancaster Arms.
Well, I’d say it’s pretty much official. The transformation is almost entirely complete: Lancaster Arms is now widely regarded as a bottom-of-the-barrel AK manufacturer that should be avoided at all costs. And how do we know this? Simple. Nowadays, when the subject of Lancaster comes up on forums, there isn’t a whole lot of debate or drama anymore. Just several people responding with some variation of, “You don’t want to do business with Lancaster. They’ve dicked over too many people, and at this point you’d be foolish to take your chances with them.” This thread is a great example of what I’m talking about. Simple, direct, and straight to the unfortunate point.
It would be nice to think that the Lancaster fiasco of the last year would have caused the people who run Lancaster to re-think how they do business. But as I’ve stated several times now, a leopard doesn’t change its spots. Once it has been established that the owner of a company is prone to committing frequent dishonest acts, the idea that the owner is going to suddenly stop being dishonest is enticing…but ultimately elusive. Sure enough, reports are still coming in that “Lancaster told me weeks ago that they were going to do XXX, and they still haven’t done it. You guys were right. I should have steered clear of Lancaster.”
And BTW, I’ve gotten two emails from people asking, “Why did you start this blog? What did Lancaster do to you?” Well, if you read the first two posts on this blog, you’ll see why it was necessary to create it. Towards the end of last year, literally dozens of people came out of the woodwork to complain that they had somehow been wronged by Lancaster. Most of these complaints revolved around simple dishonesty, and Lancaster’s almost comical inability to actually do what they tell customers they’re going to do. Lancaster talks a good game, but ultimately, talk is cheap. It’s how a company executes that matters, and in this regard Lancaster is a disaster of epic proportions. It was only right and fair to warn others before they were lulled into a false sense of security by Lancaster’s owner, Chet “I make used car salesmen look good in comparison” Durda.
With regard to me personally, I was a victim of Lancaster’s fraud. Durda told me on two separate occasions that a rifle I had ordered was being shipped “tomorrow”. He once even told me the rifle was sitting right there in front of him. But on my last call about the rifle that never showed up “tomorrow”, a Lancaster employee informed me that not only had the rifle never shipped, but Lancaster didn’t even have the parts to build the rifle. Good ol’ Chet Durda had just flat-out lied to me, and was holding onto funds for a rifle he knew he didn’t even have the parts to build. I don’t know about you, but I call that “fraud”. A less despicable human would have called and said “Sorry, we can’t build the rifle you paid for. We’re sending your money back.” But Durda decided to play the “let’s see how long this sucker will let me hold his funds” game because…well…the guy is a scumbag like that.
Stay tuned. Much more to come…
P.S. Thanks for all the backlinks! This blog is quickly climbing in relevant search rankings for "Lancaster Arms", and is now ranked #18 for that phrase! That would certainly explain why traffic to this blog is exploding!
It would be nice to think that the Lancaster fiasco of the last year would have caused the people who run Lancaster to re-think how they do business. But as I’ve stated several times now, a leopard doesn’t change its spots. Once it has been established that the owner of a company is prone to committing frequent dishonest acts, the idea that the owner is going to suddenly stop being dishonest is enticing…but ultimately elusive. Sure enough, reports are still coming in that “Lancaster told me weeks ago that they were going to do XXX, and they still haven’t done it. You guys were right. I should have steered clear of Lancaster.”
And BTW, I’ve gotten two emails from people asking, “Why did you start this blog? What did Lancaster do to you?” Well, if you read the first two posts on this blog, you’ll see why it was necessary to create it. Towards the end of last year, literally dozens of people came out of the woodwork to complain that they had somehow been wronged by Lancaster. Most of these complaints revolved around simple dishonesty, and Lancaster’s almost comical inability to actually do what they tell customers they’re going to do. Lancaster talks a good game, but ultimately, talk is cheap. It’s how a company executes that matters, and in this regard Lancaster is a disaster of epic proportions. It was only right and fair to warn others before they were lulled into a false sense of security by Lancaster’s owner, Chet “I make used car salesmen look good in comparison” Durda.
With regard to me personally, I was a victim of Lancaster’s fraud. Durda told me on two separate occasions that a rifle I had ordered was being shipped “tomorrow”. He once even told me the rifle was sitting right there in front of him. But on my last call about the rifle that never showed up “tomorrow”, a Lancaster employee informed me that not only had the rifle never shipped, but Lancaster didn’t even have the parts to build the rifle. Good ol’ Chet Durda had just flat-out lied to me, and was holding onto funds for a rifle he knew he didn’t even have the parts to build. I don’t know about you, but I call that “fraud”. A less despicable human would have called and said “Sorry, we can’t build the rifle you paid for. We’re sending your money back.” But Durda decided to play the “let’s see how long this sucker will let me hold his funds” game because…well…the guy is a scumbag like that.
Stay tuned. Much more to come…
P.S. Thanks for all the backlinks! This blog is quickly climbing in relevant search rankings for "Lancaster Arms", and is now ranked #18 for that phrase! That would certainly explain why traffic to this blog is exploding!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
