Whatever Happened to Lancaster Arms?

It’s been a long time since I updated this blog, but I know some of you out there are wondering whatever happened to Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda.  Well, as many of you know, Chet Durda settled his case with the Arizona Attorney General’s office.  According to the Arizona AG, Durda was mostly uncooperative during the entire matter, stalling at every possible opportunity.  The court even had to issue a “Motion to Compel” because Durda would not provide the requested documentation concerning how he was running his business.

   

Nonetheless, he eventually agreed to settle with the AG, and to pay the State of Arizona $70,000.  Most of that ($67,000) was for restitution to his victims, and $3,000 was to cover court costs.

Apparently not knowing that Chet Durda’s word is meaningless, the Arizona AG agreed to let him make monthly payments until the debt was paid in full.  But according to the Arizona AG, Chet Durda never paid even a single penny of the judgment.  He immediately defaulted on the judgment, and that judgment was recently sent to a collections agency for further action.  Someone speculated in a previous comment thread that Chet Durda “got away with it”, but that is not the case.  The judgment against him was personal (i.e., the judgment was against him as a person, not against the business), so Durda still legally owes the entire $70,000.  And if anything, the collection agency is likely to be far more aggressive at collecting the money than the AG’s office ever was because…well…because that’s what collection agencies do. 

Of course, this judgment from Arizona is just one of Chet Durda’s many, many debts.  A cursory look at court and public record filings in Arizona reveals that as of 2012 he owed about $75,000 to a property management company called Estrella Associates, and $31,000 to the IRS in unpaid taxes.  As of 2011 he owed $8,000 to a Steven Delbarto.  As of 2010 he owed $6,000 to CMRE Financial Services.  Also as of last year (although I don’t know if the case is still active), Chet Durda was being sued in Federal Court by a former business partner, who alleged that Durda was guilty of “breach of contract, conversion and fraud”.  Durda borrowed $200,000 from Allen Myers and, predictably, never paid him back.  Hmm…I think I see a pattern here.  

And I could go on and on, because if you look at the Maricopa County Recorder’s office records, you’ll see that over the last two decades ole’ Chester Durda has made something of a hobby out of borrowing money that he never intends to repay.  Although I suspect that few of you reading this are even remotely surprised.   

As for Lancaster Arms, Chet Durda supposedly sold the business to a new owner.  That new owner unwisely decided to keep the Lancaster name (which is worthless given what Durda did to it), calling the new entity “Lancaster Armory”.  I don’t know whether this was a straight and legitimate sale of the business, or whether it was a “paper sale” only to get Durda’s name out of it.  I don’t wish to speculate too much in this regard, as if it was a legitimate sale than the new owner deserves a chance to rebuild the business.  

I do find it curious however that the new owner would choose to keep the name in place, since anyone who did even 10 minutes worth of research on the Internet would – I think – come to the conclusion that they’d want to change the “Lancaster” name as fast as humanly possible.  In the firearms world, and with AK-style rifles in particular, the “Lancaster” name has come to be associated with a fraudulent operation run by an incompetent hustler.  I can understand buying a business name for the associated brand equity, but in this case, I would say the “Lancaster” name actually has negative brand equity.  I suppose it’s theoretically possible to turn that around, but I’m not certain why a new business owner would want to start out in that hole to begin with.  Then again, nothing associated with Lancaster Arms ever made any sense, so…C’est la vie.

I will update this blog as necessary, and/or when anything newsworthy happens.  As for the new Lancaster Armory, I will take a “wait and see” approach.  I hope it’s legit, and that the new owner becomes known for running a quality company.  As always, actions will speak a heck of a lot louder than words.

Arizona Attorney General Sues Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda for Fraud

Well, we all knew this was coming. Today, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne issued a press release, announcing that the State of Arizona is suing Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda for fraud. The press release is as follows:

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HORNE ANNOUNCES LAWSUIT ACCUSING PHOENIX-AREA GUN DEALER OF DEFRAUDING CUSTOMERS

PHOENIX (Monday, December 12, 2011) -- A Phoenix-area firearms dealer is the subject of a consumer fraud lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court by Attorney General Tom Horne.

The suit contends that Lancaster Arms, LLC, which is owned by co-defendants Chester and Marsha Durda, defrauded consumers by failing to provide promised merchandise and services to dozens of customers between February of 2009 and September of 2011.

“Protecting consumers is one of the most important jobs of this office,” Horne said. “Businesses such as the one named in this lawsuit cannot be allowed to make promises to customers and not deliver on those promises. The problem is made even worse when, as in this case, some customers made advance payments with the expectation that they would get either merchandise or services in return, and instead they got nothing. The legal action requests that the court order the business to make restitution, pay penalties, and prevent it from defrauding additional consumers.”

According to the complaint, Lancaster Arms claimed to consumers, some of whom worked in law enforcement and the military, and to some weapons dealers, on the internet and through personal contact by Chester Durda, that the company sold weapons, parts and accessories and that it provided weapon kit assembly services to consumers who sent their kits to the company. Additionally, Lancaster Arms represented that some of its weapons were subject to its “Limited Life Time Warranty”. The lawsuit alleges that Lancaster Arms failed to ship merchandise that consumers had paid for, failed to repair weapons under warranty, and failed to provide refunds. The lawsuit also alleges that Lancaster Arms failed to assemble weapons kits sent to it by consumers and failed to return the un-assembled kits to the consumers or to provide them with refunds. The complaint asks the court to enter an injunction prohibiting the defendants from engaging in any further unlawful acts, require the defendants to restore money and property to consumers, order the payment of civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, and to reimburse the State’s court costs and other related expenses.

The case is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Cherie Howe.

A full copy of the complaint can be found here.
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In reading this, I find it a little puzzling that the Goodyear Police Department earlier this year stated that they couldn't find evidence of "intentional" fraud, when the Arizona AG now clearly says otherwise. Will the Goodyear Police now re-open their criminal investigation? And what does the ATF think of all this? Surely they now understand that there is no way this guy should have a Federal Firearms License.

I suspect we'll be hearing more on all of this soon.

Lancaster Arms Finished???

I got a tip in the comments section of the previous post that as of today, Lancaster Arms ’ website is no longer working. So, I checked online with the Arizona Corporation Commission to see if Lancaster Arms was still a going concern. Sure enough, as of November 16th, 2011, Lancaster Arms is no longer an Arizona corporation in good standing. It appears that Lancaster’s statutory agent resigned back in August, and Lancaster Arms failed to register a new agent in the allotted timeframe.

There could be several reasons this agent resigned. It could be lack of payment on legal bills (that’d be my guess), it could be that Chet Durda told this agent that Lancaster intended to go out of business (another good guess), or it could be that the attorney just decided he didn’t want to be associated with Lancaster anymore. Whatever the reason, as of this moment, Lancaster Arms is not properly licensed to conduct business in Arizona. I’m gonna put forth a guess here that Lancaster Arms is no longer in business.

If true, this should not come as a surprise to anyone. When the Arizona Attorney General and other law enforcement officials started looking into Lancaster’s operations earlier this year, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Lancaster would close its doors. Over the last few years, Lancaster Arms managed to rack up an almost unbelievable number of complaints with the Better Business Bureau (63 filed complaints as of today) and Arizona Attorney General’s office. This unusually large number of complaints prompted the authorities to dig a little deeper, and what they uncovered at Lancaster was a series of “poor business dealings” that, in my opinion, were indicative of a business that just didn't give a damn about staying in business.

I truly feel bad for all the people who had the misfortune of being screwed by Lancaster Arms and its owner, Chet Durda. Just a few days ago in fact, someone complained to the Better Business Bureau that “[I] sent a rifle for warranty repair in August and never saw my gun again!” I suspect this individual is not the only person who is now out either money, or a gun for which they paid. Here too, I’m not the least bit surprised. To say that Lancaster’s business model (such as it was) was “unsustainable”, would be putting things nicely. Anyone doing business with Lancaster in 2011 was, in my opinion, accepting a huge risk that they might never see their gun or money again. This is why in several previous posts on this blog, I warned people to be extremely careful when conducting business with Lancaster Arms.

Of course, there are several lessons to be learned from all this. The first lesson is that we now live in a “reputation economy”, and any business that is willing to sacrifice its reputation in the name of making money, will find it difficult to stay in business. In the Internet and social media age, if you are not 100% honest and ethical in your business dealings, you can be certain that everyone is going to hear about it. Apparently Chet Durda never got this memo.

Second, whenever you are contemplating doing business with a company – especially for large dollar purchases - do your research first! Check them out on Google. Look-up their Better Business Bureau profile. Look at review sites like Angie’s List, Yelp, etc. to see what other people say about that business. And if possible, try to find a person (or people) you trust who have direct experience with the business and see what they say. This blog has been in the top 3 search results on Google for “Lancaster Arms” for almost two years. During that time, anyone who bothered to Google “Lancaster Arms” before doing business with them would have received fair warning that there were substantial problems with this business. (And it wasn’t just this blog they would have seen. A search for “Lancaster Arms” would have revealed a significant number of different links suggesting that this company had “issues”.)

Third, if you’re ever dealing with a company and you get a “gut feeling” that something isn't right, listen to your gut! Most of us have been around the block long enough to know when a business transaction is not going as it should. If this happens to you, start asking questions, start keeping notes of your interactions with the company, and start demanding some accountability. Most businesses are honest outfits that want to do right by you. But it’s an unfortunate fact that every once-in-awhile you may encounter a business like Lancaster Arms, where your satisfaction is the least of their concerns. If this happens to you, don’t be a patsy. Start asking questions. Along these lines, also be on the lookout for business practices or policies that seem odd or non-standard. For example, when Lancaster Arms stopped accepting credit cards a year or two ago, and would only accept money orders and cashier checks as payment, smart people should have asked themselves, “Why would a business that primarily sells $500+ products, not accept credit cards?” That fact alone should have raised numerous red flags to any thinking person.

Fourth and finally, if you ever have an unusually horrible experience with a business, let others know about it! Now, this comes with some caveats. I am not saying that if an employee of a business is rude to you on the phone one day, that you should run out and start bad-mouthing that business all over the Internet. Businesses, and the people they employee, sometimes have bad days or make honest mistakes. It happens. I’m also not saying that just because you “feel” wronged, that you should always complain. As I’ve found out myself in the business world, sometimes the customer is NOT always correct. It is up to you to be reasonable, and not trash a business online just because you had unreasonable expectations to which the business wouldn't cater. No, what I’m talking about here is when you have truly been wronged, and when the business won’t fix the problem after reasonable and adequate requests to do so. When that happens, you will be helping other consumers by letting them know what they might expect if they choose to do business with a particular company. I can only guess how many people were spared from having to deal with the pathological liars at Lancaster Arms because those people saw numerous bad reviews, and knew to stay far away.

If any of you have thoughts on all this, and especially if any of you are still owed money or a gun from Lancaster Arms, leave a comment below. I will update this post and this blog as I learn more information about what has become of Lancaster.

Lancaster Arms Investigated By Various Law Enforcement Agencies

On a few different Internet message boards, I've seen several people ask, "When is someone going to investigate Lancaster Arms???" Well, in fact a few different law enforcement agencies have recently investigated Lancaster. The following is the "official" response from the Goodyear Police Department Criminal Investigations Division. Any bold or otherwise highlighted parts below represent my own added emphasis:

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"The following is the official response letter to consumers who have had pending business transactions (prior to 01/2011) with Lancaster Arms LLC, located in Goodyear, AZ .Lancaster Arms was investigated by the Goodyear P.D. Criminal Investigations Division in January of 2011, specifically regarding Arizona Revised Statues 13-2108 (Criminal Fraud schemes or practices). Goodyear P.D. could assert jurisdiction on this matter as a law enforcement agency and under state statutory authority which notes local law enforcement agencies are empowered to investigate criminal matters and then make the appropriate decisions, as to verify or collaterally identify whether any criminal act has occurred or not. If a criminal act has occurred then the practice of this agency would be to send the investigative findings to either the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office for felony charges to be issued, or the City of Goodyear Prosecutors Office for misdemeanor criminal charges to be filed. The results of this investigation were as follows: (that) No criminal act knowingly occurred regarding, repairing, purchasing or other services provided to consumers, prior to January, 2011. If purchases were made after January 2011, this may be a criminal act. At present this department has not received any complaints regarding business transactions with Lancaster Arms after January, 2011.

In June of 2011, the Goodyear Police Department was made aware that the Arizona Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Fraud and Complaints’ also conducted their own inquiry into the business dealings of Lancaster Arms. The Attorney General’s Office has determined, thus far, that Lancaster Arms and its ownership have had non-intentional poor business dealings with some of their consumers, as a result of some non-criminal business dealings which reduced the ability of Lancaster Arms to fulfill some of their past orders. It should also be noted the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms has also completed a recent inspection of Lancaster Arms regarding federal law, Federal Firearms Dealer Licensing Acts, and federal fraud acts concerning firearms and have concluded that no criminal violations have been committed by Lancaster Arms.

The Arizona Attorney General’s Office of Consumer Fraud continually monitors complaints regarding Lancaster Arms. You may choose to lodge your complaint with that office by going to their web site at www.AZAG.GOV and then following instructions to register a complaint under this division. It will be determined by the AZ Attorney General’s Office if Lancaster Arms would still be conducting on-line business after January, 2011, and if those acts are civil or criminal consumer-business fraud. At this point their office does not find any deliberate criminal or civil fraud regarding Lancaster Arms, but you are more than welcome to state your complaint in writing over the aforementioned manner.

Recovery of funds lost through poor business transactions ( if under $5,000.00) can be made through the local Justice Court which has civil jurisdiction on civil monetary recovery suits. The jurisdiction for the geographical area of Goodyear is the Estrella Mountain Justice Court and a claim can be made through them. You may reach this court, through the website at: www.superiorcourt.maricopa.gov then follow the link to Justice Courts and small claims.The U.S Department of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms website is www.ATF.GOV

At present this will conclude the Goodyear Police Department’s response and inquiry into Lancaster Arms incidents regarding business transactions with consumers prior to 01/2011. Transactions made after 01/2011 can be directed to the Goodyear Police Department. NOTE: This does not infer that if your transaction started prior to 01/2011 and is still pending with Lancaster Arms, that this is considered a new transaction because of reporting the issue. This is still considered to be a transaction occurring prior to 01/2011 and should be dealt with in the same manner as outlined in this response letter."

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There you have it, folks. The authorities could not find any "intentional" or "deliberate" criminal behavior on the part of Lancaster Arms or it's owner, Chet Durda. They concluded that Lancaster did not "knowingly" commit any criminal acts.

To those of us who have followed Lancaster the past couple of years, these findings are a bit amusing. Over the last two years, this blog has documented several dozen incidents of Lancaster Arms telling people "Your rifle will ship tomorrow", "It will ship next week", "The check is in the mail", etc., etc., which I personally believe were quite intentional acts of deception on the part of Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda. Proving that such acts were "intentional" or "deliberate" is the key here. We're talking about a legal standard of proof that is quite high. In my own personal opinion, and in the opinion of many others, I think you'd have to have been born yesterday to believe that these acts (many of which I have documented extensively on this blog) were not "deliberate" or "intentional".

Still, all of this is actually good news. Because at this juncture, Lancaster Arms is very much on the radar of the Arizona Attorney General, the BATF, and the Goodyear Police Department. They are now aware that there have been "issues" with Lancaster Arms, and that these issues have been of such a nature that they felt various investigations, including a criminal investigation, were warranted. All I ever wanted was for Lancaster Arms to make good on its promises and commitments, and by these actions, Lancaster is now in a position were it has to make good on all of the orders it has received to-date. That is a good outcome.

As instructed above, if you are not satisfied with this resolution yourself, and/or if you ordered something from Lancaster and it has not been delivered to you on the timeline and in the manner promised, make your concerns known to the Arizona AG's office. It sounds as if they are now more proactively managing these issues which, again, is all I have ever wanted.

For those of you who are reading this blog for the first time, and are researching a potential purchase from Lancaster, take all of the above into careful consideration. And decide for yourself if, given the information above, you feel confident placing an order with Lancaster Arms. Speaking strictly for myself, I would never again do business with this company. I wouldn't even contemplate it for a second. I've simply seen too many people get burned by trusting Lancaster Arms. But if you're the type of person who believes that a leopard can change it's spots...by all means, order away!

Warning: Lancaster Arms Spiraling

OK, folks. At this point I am being inundated with messages and emails from people who ordered a rifle from Lancaster Arms in 2010 or early 2011 (or sent one back for repair), who still don’t have their rifle. (Keep in mind…most of these people were initially told by Chet Durda that their rifle would be shipped in 10 business days!) Such complaints have been fairly common over the last couple of years, but recently, the volume of those complaints seems to have increased substantially. In addition, complaints like this and like this are popping up on the Internet gun forums with increasing regularity. (Not like such complaints were exactly a rarity before.) It’s now getting to the point where anytime I see a new Internet forum post that has “Lancaster” in the title, I already know what the post is going to be about: someone complaining that Lancaster Arms took their money long ago, keeps giving them empty excuses and bogus promises (when that person can even reach someone at Lancaster), and won’t deliver a rifle. And of course the Better Business Bureau complaint log keeps growing, now with a mind-blowing 50 complaints filed against Lancaster.

In other words, whatever is going on at Lancaster Arms right now…it ain’t good.

Under NO circumstances should you send any money to Lancaster Arms unless and until you have received a VALID tracking number indicating that whatever you ordered is already in the hands of FedEx or UPS. Lancaster has recently been known to tell you to send money because your product is ready to ship…and then the product never ships. I have seen two different people complain about this practice.

It's also worth nothing that Lancaster has a list of “National Sales Dealers” on it’s website, who supposedly carry Lancaster’s products. But upon calling a few of these dealers, most of them claim they are no longer doing business with Lancaster due to “various problems”. It appears Lancaster should update that list. Then again, it appears Lancaster should be doing a lot of things they're not doing.

As always, caveat emptor.

P.S. Be sure to read the comments that posters have left on previous blog posts, too. It is in those comments that you really get a feel for just how many people have been having problems with Lancaster recently.

Lancaster Arms: 43 Better Business Bureau Complaints, and counting!

Wow. It was just last month that I was contemplating, “How on EARTH can a small company rack up 35 complaints with the Better Business Bureau? How does that even happen?!?” As I’ve written before, most people who have a problem with a company won’t actually go so far as to file a formal complaint with the Better Business Bureau until things get bad. Like, really bad. And usually, for every person who actually goes through the process of formally filing a BBB complaint, there are many others who have had a problem with the company who have not taken the time to file a formal complaint with the BBB.

So, in looking today, I see that Lancaster Arms is now up to 43 complaints with the Better Business Bureau. Let me repeat that. 43 complaints! That is an increase of eight complaints in just the last month alone! Or an average of 2 complaints per week during the last month. And remember, we’re just talking about complaints actually filed with the BBB! Lord only knows how many other poor people are out there having problems with Lancaster, who haven’t gone to the BBB yet.

And as one would expect given Lancaster’s BBB troubles, complaints keep coming in to this blog, and I keep seeing Internet forum comments, alleging that Lancaster won’t answer emails, won’t answer their phone, won’t return voicemails, won’t deliver products as promised, etc., etc.

I don’t know what to tell you folks, other than what I’ve been saying all along on this blog for the past 1 ½ years: Doing business with Lancaster Arms is a really, really, REALLY bad idea. If 43 Better Business Bureau complaints don’t convince you that something is seriously wrong with this small company, then nothing ever will. In any regard, at this point you’d have to be a damn fool to send this company any money. Just ask any of those 43 people…

Lancaster Arms Now Up To 35 Better Business Bureau Complaints

Well, you can’t say Lancaster Arms isn’t efficient. Unfortunately, the thing they are most efficient at is pissing off customers.

When I posted about Lancaster Arm’s shockingly high number of Better Business Bureau (“BBB”) complaints back in January, and their “F” rating with the BBB as a result of those complaints, they had amassed an amazing total of 28 complaints. (And keep in mind, these are just BBB complaints. Other complaints have been filed against Lancaster Arms with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office and others.) There is no other company in the firearms industry of which I’m aware, that has such a terrible complaint history with the BBB.

While a reputable business might understand that such a high number of complaints was an indicator that they needed to make serious changes to their operations, Lancaster has apparently continued on with “business as usual”, and as a result is now up to 35 complaints…and growing. Apparently they are hoping to achieve sales by relying on the old P.T. Barnum saying, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

Worse yet, the BBB states that Lancaster has not even responded to 31 of the 35 complaints. Anyone familiar with the ownership of Lancaster Arms would not be surprised by this. The owner of Lancaster Arms, Chet Durda, has an unenviable reputation in the AK-owning community. Which stands to reason, as the factual record (as documented on this blog and all over the Internet) shows that Mr. Durda has no problem whatsoever with, uh, “being less than entirely truthful and forthright” in his business dealings. This clown would be a fantastic used car or mattress salesman.

Sure enough, a sampling of recent Internet forum posts validates that nothing has changed at Lancaster.

In this forum post, a gentleman discusses how he ordered some receivers from Lancaster back in January, sent payment, had the payment cashed by Lancaster, and never got the receivers or his requested refund. If I had a dime for every similar post I’ve read on the Internet (Lancaster cashes a check, and then doesn’t send product in a timely manner, if at all), I’d be a rich man.

And in this post, a guy bought a milled Lancaster AK rifle, it had problems, and he got the standard Lancaster Arms runaround. After trying to get them to fix the problem, and Lancaster being unresponsive, he eventually just gave up on Lancaster. And as often happens in such threads, other people also chimed in with the same familiar stories: “I ordered something in November and it still isn’t here”, “they keep telling me the gun will ship soon or that they will rush the order”…but the gun or product never ships.

As always folks, if you insist on doing business with Lancaster Arms (and I can’t state strongly enough how much I would advise against doing so), NEVER, EVER send payment prior to your order being ready. And even then, get a firm commitment IN WRITING from Lancaster as to when the product will ship, and send only a money order or other payment that can be traced and refunded by the issuer if necessary. Do not send cash under any circumstances. And if you speak with Chet Durda about your order, how will you know if he's lying to you? Simple: His lips will be moving.

Failure to follow these instructions will only result in much frustration on your part.

Lancaster Arms still up to it's old tricks...

I haven't posted in a couple months, but rest assured...it's not because things are better at Lancaster Arms. Reports are still pouring in across the Internet and on this blog from people who were promised a rifle or part in "weeks", only to still be empty-handed months later. Yes, you'd think the owner of Lancaster (Chet Durda) and his staff would get a clue and understand that lying to customers doesn't exactly help to rehabilitate their extremely poor reputation. But that itself is part of the problem: One gets the sense Lancaster Arms really, truly doesn't care. They'll continue with "business as usual" until they're either bankrupt or forced out of business.

If you're new here, please read all the blog posts from the past 18+ months, and in particular read the comments to each post! It is in the comments where you truly discover just how many people have been scammed by Lancaster Arms. Recent comments like these are still coming in:

"I was promised the guns in 8-10 business days back on November 8th, 2010. I got my guns Mar 8th, 2011. Thats 4 months of trying to get my guns. The barrels do not look to be chrome-lined. I was promised chrome-lined barrels. No invoice in the packaging. Had to call Lancaster to get one. Oh, and one more thing, the guns are not 922(r) compliant. They shipped them out with non-US pistol grips. Overall my experience with Lancaster would rate at a 2 on a scale of 1 to 10."

"Ordered a couple of AK-74 receivers from this little weasel [Chet Durda] back in January (Jan 05, 2011) and like all of you, nada, zilch, ZERO."

"The wheels of justice grind slowly, but they DO grind. It took me months to get my money, but I DID get it. If you follow these steps [contacting law enforcement], you will stand a much better chance of getting your money back sooner."

"I called the Goodyear police as well as emailing the mayor and city council. They put a detective on the case and the guns shipped 2 days later. No mags, scope rail or paper work." [Author note: When I ordered a Lancaster Arms gun myself a couple years ago, it was also sent without a magazine or any paperwork.]

In other words folks, the warnings remain. It is my strongly held belief, and the experience of plenty of people, that if you take a chance ordering a gun or parts from Lancaster Arms, you stand a high likelihood of regretting that decision. And even if you get your items, there's no guarantee what type of quality you'll receive. It became apparent to me a couple years ago that Lancaster Arms is in this business strictly for short-term monetary gain, and does not care what they send to you (or often, DON'T send to you). They've simply proven this too many times. It is unfortunate that the firearms industry has it's share of shady characters, and Chet Durda and Lancaster Arms are a shining example of this.

Read this entire blog, and if you still decide to order from Lancaster Arms, don't claim you weren't warned...

Lancaster Arms: 28 Better Business Bureau complaints, and growing...

As mentioned previously on this blog, these days, whenever someone inquires about Lancaster Arms on virtually any Internet gun forum, the answers that person receives are uniformly the same: "Stay away from Lancaster!"; "Crap quality, and crap customer service"; "I don't know how these clowns stay in business!"; "They've pissed off a LOT of people!"; "I ordered a Draco from them, was told upon ordering that I'd get it in three weeks, and I still haven't received it over a year later!" (By the way, as unbelievable as it sounds, that issue with the Draco is a 100% true story!)

And occasionally, someone will chime in and say something like, "Is Lancaster really that bad? Their rifles look nice." Or, "I bought a Lancaster three years ago, and it's been a great gun."

But when you look at the Better Business Bureau ("BBB") site for Arizona, and notice Lancaster Arms' "F" rating and the 28 complaints filed against this small company, you begin to realize that "something smells rotten in Denmark". (With my sincere apologies to Shakespeare for quoting him in this context.)

To put this in perspective, look at Century Arms; the largest seller (by far) of AK rifles in America, and a prime competitor of Lancaster. Because Century sells many, many more AK rifles than Lancaster, you might think their BBB rating would be questionable too, right? Wrong. Century Arms has had exactly one - that's right, one - complaint filed against them in the last three years. And even that complaint was "resolved" according to the BBB. So when Lancaster, a much smaller company than Century, comes along and earns 28 BBB complaints during that same time frame, well...you'd have to agree that something appears to be terribly, terribly wrong with Lancaster Arms.

Moreover, realize that filing a complaint with the BBB is often a "last resort" for disgruntled consumers. For every person who actually goes through the process of filing a BBB complaint against a business, there are probably at least 5 to 10 others who had a problem with the company, but didn't take it as far as filing a formal complaint with the BBB. In other words, it is very likely that the 28 filed complaints on Lancaster represents potentially hundreds of other people who have had problems with this company. No wonder seemingly nobody has anything good to say about Lancaster Arms.

Look, I realize that any company can mess-up, and have a disgruntled person or two file a complaint. Simply having one or two BBB complaints filed against you, doesn't necessarily mean anything is fundamentally wrong with your business. But I gotta tell ya...when 28 separate people feel like they have to file a formal complaint against you because you have wronged them, that pretty much proves beyond any reasonable doubt that the company in question is fundamentally untrustworthy, unreliable and stupendously incompetent. And that's putting it nicely! (And keep in mind, we're just talking about BBB complaints here. The Arizona Attorney General's Office has also been contacted about Lancaster Arms, and more than once I'm afraid.)

So, if you've been considering buying a Lancaster Arms firearm, or doing any business with them at all, you'd be well-served to think long and hard about whether that's really a good idea. With Lancaster, too many people have learned the hard way that it's never a good idea to do business with someone who has proven time and time again that they cannot be trusted! And don't think ,"Well, I'll purchase it through another dealer, and that way Lancaster won't feel like they can sit on my money for months on end like they have with so many retail customers." Wrong. Lancaster has been known to treat its dealers as poorly as it has treated its retail customers, which is precisely why some of Lancaster's dealers (or rather, "ex-dealers") are now refusing to carry Lancaster's products anymore.

All that said, if you are new to this blog...welcome. Read all of the 25 or so posts here from the last year and several months. If you do, you will understand why this blog exist, and why Lancaster Arms has completely, utterly destroyed its own reputation over the last 18 months. It's shocking that this company hasn't either gone bankrupt, or been sued out of existence yet. Yet...

Lancaster Arms: Still Can't Be Trusted

Well, it appears things never change at Lancaster Arms. Complaints are still being posted on this blog and throughout the Internet with great regularity, mostly involving the same ol’ thing: Chet Durda’s complete and total inability to operate his business in an honest and ethical manner.

The latest complaint, posted below, sounds all too usual…Lancaster is paid upfront based upon a promise to ship within a couple weeks, then MONTHS going by with delays, stalling tactics, excuses, and then outright belligerence towards customers when those customers complain about Chet Durda’s now famous (or is it infamous?) dishonesty.

From Calguns.net on December 2:

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“First off, my good friend bought a stamped AK-47 and stamped AK-74 from Lancaster. Also, he had another kit that Lancaster built on their milled receiver and different/custom stock. It took 6 months for the kit gun, but he was told up front about it. He ordered the other two 4 months later, and at 6 months, after all kinds of BS as to why the AK's were not sent immediately, all three guns showed up at his FFL without any notice from Lancaster that they were on the way.



When they arrived, poorly packed, they DID turn out to be nice guns. The AK-74 is a pleasure to shoot, and according to Lancaster, has an E. German 5.45 x 39 barrel, with remainder being Bulgy. After I shot it, I wanted a MILLED receiver AK-74--model 7471M.



I ordered on 9/16, and foolishly overnighted a Cashier's Check to them. That should have sent up red flags galore, but I wanted the gun, and ignored them. Shane also told me I could deduct shipping cost from the gun cost, so I sent money for the gun and additional magazines. Shane also told me all parts were in stock, so my gun would be built and ready to go quickly.



Chet signed for the USPS envelope on 9/17. Lancaster never contacted me. I emailed them on 9/23--no response. I called them five days later on Tuesday 9/28 and Shane told me that my gun would go out on 10/1 so I should call back on 9/30 for tracking. I called to get no answer and again, no gun. On 10/9 I received an e-mail from Chet responding to the 9/23 email, acting as if he'd never heard of me or that Shane had never promised me a delivery date earlier. The email said I'd be notified by phone or email as to the ship date withing the week. That never happened, thus broken promise #2.



All throughout this, I've been calling them to no avail--i.e. phone system down, hours of operation changed, illness, etc. On 10/14/2010 since I received no contact as per the email, I contacted Lancaster and informed the secretary this was the third message I’d left for Shane or Chet that had not been returned. She called back approximately 30 mins later and told me my rifle was being test fired and would go out on the following Monday, 10/18/2010. That was broken delivery date/lie #3.



On 11/01/2010 I called Lancaster and spoke with Chet. I was told my rifle to be shipped out on 11/04/2010, and he needed to verify my FFL. This was done. I spoke to his secretary in a second call to confirm the FFL. Guess What??? Broken Delivery Date/Lie #4!



On 11/18/10 I spoke to the secretary at 12:42. She said Shane and Chet were out after putting me on hold for 10 minutes. I told her of the broken deliver dates, and that I want the gun or the money, and that I’m perfectly willing to follow legal routes to get my money. She said Chet would be in in 2 hours, he would be given the message: no returned call. On 12/02/10 I spoke to secretary at 1551. I asked for Shane or Chet, she said she’d see if they were in. I was on hold for 8 minutes, then she said neither was in the building, and promised a call back. I told the secretary that I had been promised multiple delivery times that had not been fulfilled, and that I wanted the rifle or my money, and if my call was not returned promptly that I would call the police and pursue fraud charges.



Chet returned my call and stated my rifle OR my money would go out Monday. I stated I didn’t believe the rifle would be shipped, due to past behavior, and that I just wanted my money back. He said the girl who cuts the checks will mail it Monday. I stated that if I don’t receive it by Friday, December 10th, 2010, I will press fraud charges with the Goodyear PD. He told me to go ahead and do that now, and I responded that I would give him until Friday. He said again to go ahead file charges now, but this time in a more menacing tone, and then he hung up on me. I did not, at any time, raise my voice with these people, nor did I threaten them, I just stated my belief and what I would do if I didn't receive my money within a week.



I'm afraid that Chet wasn't just mouthing off with BS bravado when he told me to proceed with Fraud. I'm afraid, however, that if I file charges, at the preliminary hearing, the judge, as is commonplace, will tell Chet or his atty, to make restitution in the amount I paid, but that he has 6 months to pay, which he'd drag out to the end. Worst case scenario is that kind of delay, but still, 6 months is better than no money at all.”



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So there you have it, folks. Unfortuantely, this type of complaint is pretty typical when dealing with Lancaster, and is just one more reason - of many - that doing business with Lancaster Arms is a really, really bad idea.

Lancaster Arms Rips Off Group Of Californians

In a post several months ago, I mentioned that a group of people from the Calguns.net forum had placed a group buy order of Dracos from Lancaster Arms. This was back in late August of 2009. True to form, Chet Durda of Lancaster Arms LLC promised these guys the sun and the moon. As is typical of Mr. Durda and his toadie Shane, these guys told the members of this group whatever they thought the group wanted to hear in order to get the sale. And of course, Lancaster required the money up front.

From what I read, this group was initially told they would get their Dracos within a couple weeks. They did get a few of the pistols after a month and a half. I’ll spare you all the details of what happened after that since, if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you can probably guess how this ended. After about two months, people started growing impatient and suspicious. Lancaster missed several delivery deadlines, employed their usual arsenal of stall tactics and excuses as to why they hadn’t delivered, and to this day – over a year later – Lancaster has STILL not delivered all of the Dracos for which members of this group have paid.

If you have an hour to kill, the entire fiasco is laid out in great detail here.

If you’re one of the victims from Calguns.net and you’re reading this right now, understand that if you haven’t received your gun by now, you never will. You have essentially been defrauded by Chet Durda and Shane. Lawyer up or, better yet, just file a theft report with the Goodyear, Arizona Police Department. And if you’re not willing to do this, then just kiss your money good-bye, and understand that your failure to take action will only embolden Durda to do this again to someone else. In other words, if you have not received your gun, you have an obligation to take action so that others are not conned by Chet Durda like you were. If you need help finding a lawyer or dealing with the Goodyear Police, contact me and I’ll be happy to assist.

For everyone else, yes…this is typical of how Lancaster Arms operates. I don’t know of a more shady, dishonest seller of AK rifles out there than Lancaster Arms. Chet Durda’s refusal to run his business in an honest and ethical manner is now common knowledge amongst the firearms community. If you need other reasons to avoid Lancaster, just read the rest of the blog to learn about the dozens and dozens of people Chet Durda has conned and/or ripped-off.

Lancaster Arms No Longer Selling To Public?

Lancaster Arms recently announced that, as of January 1, 2011, they will no longer be selling firearms direct to the public. Whether this is actually true or not remains to be seen, since - as those of you who follow this blog already know - you can't really believe anything Lancaster says anyway.

But if it is true, one can only wonder: "Lancaster, what took you so long?"

Those who have had the unfortunate experience of dealing with Lancaster Arms during the last two years are keenly aware that Lancaster was never set-up or equipped to do business with the public; a point enforced by the fact that even though Lancaster Arms' victims were often promised ship times measured in weeks, in reality it often took months to get a rifle shipped. The buffoons who work at Lancaster Arms, headed by Chief Buffoon Chet Durda, couldn't seem to do simple stuff like, oh, I don't know...remember to actually build and ship the rifle after they were paid for it?

This new situation at Lancaster (again, assuming it's true) should solve one of Lancaster's problems. That is, the problem of pissed off retail consumers who were systematically lied to by Chet Durda. Now, Chet will have to lie directly to FFL holders, who I suspect (and hope) will be less tolerant of his mountains of pure, unadulterated bullshit.

Does this all mean I might now by a Lancaster Arms AK rifle?

Not just "No.", but "Hell no!" With this change, I still expect that Lancaster will continue to over-promise and under-deliver. The only difference, is that there will just be a new middleman (the buyer's FLL or dealer) involved now. I still don't trust Lancaster's products, many of which have proven to be shoddily built. And I for certain still don't trust Chet Durda. He is in this business strictly for the money, and if that means you might get a crappy AK because he doesn't want to spend the money on building it correctly, he doesn't care. (Those of you who want an example of this, need only look at the post below, where one of Lancaster's AK's blew itself apart due to sub-standard build quality.) As far as I'm concerned, doing business with Lancaster Arms is still a huge, huge gamble and mistake .

Lancaster Arms has essentially lost the trust of the AK community, and if you doubt that, just go to any of the major AK forums and mention Lancaster Arms. On nearly every forum, you'll hear variations of the same thing: "Those guys went downhill bigtime!" "They have a history of ripping people off." "Don't believe a word Lancaster tells you!" "Lancaster's guns are bottom of the barrel, perhaps even worse than Century." "Avoid at all cost!"

Whatever you do, don't be lulled into a false sense of security that because you ordered your Lancaster gun from a dealer, you won't have any problems. The same person is still in charge at Lancaster. As long as he is running the show at Lancaster Arms, then a Lancaster Arms rifle simply won't be worth owning. Any questions?

Thinking of buying a Lancaster Arms rifle? Think again.

For those new to this blog (there are many of you), please read this ENTIRE blog before attempting to buy anything from Lancaster Arms. They have a terrible habit of taking your money, and then not delivering product as agreed-upon. This blog contains complaints from dozens and dozens of people who, over the last 18 months, have been burned by Lancaster Arms and its owner, Chet "The Pathological Liar" Durda.

Lancaster is still apparently refusing to provide refunds on orders that are months overdue, as evidenced both by an email I received this week (where the victim literally had to call the police to get his refund), and recent posts like this, where a guy had to do a chargeback because he still hadn't received his refund more than a month after Chet Durda promised it.

Even worse, Chet Durda knows this blog exists, and he knows that when he lies to people it is going to be broadcast to the entire Internet...and yet he still does it! Folks, that's the sign of a person who is recklessly brazen, and who just doesn't give a damn about what he's doing.

So, if you ignore the warnings on this blog, and decide to order from Lancaster Arms anyway, understand that you do so at your own very significant risk! I can't tell you how many emails I've received from people who state, "I wish I had found this blog before I ordered from Lancaster! They've had my money for months now, and all I can get are empty promises, excuses, and the constant run-around."

Caveat Emptor.

Fail: Lancaster Arms Rifle Blows Itself Apart

I hadn't planned on putting up another post so soon, until yet another defective Lancaster Arms rifle caught my attention today.

Apparently, the rifle in the picture below was being used in a tactical course when the top cover blew off of it. Being a tactical rifle course, the operator of the rifle did what he might need to do in a "real" tactical situation: he tried to make lemons out of lemonade, and unwisely fired the rifle again.

BOOM!!!

This rifle essentially blew itself apart. The entire story on what happened to this rifle can be seen here. Apparently, this was not an old or high round count rifle. So why did it do this? While we can't be sure just yet, AK expert Jim Fuller of Rifle Dynamics thinks this catastrophic failure was probably the result of Lancaster using "substandard rivets" to build this firearm.

And while Lancaster recently had a significant batch of rifles recalled for overdrilled gas ports, this particular rifle was not on the recall list. Which makes the failure even more scary. How many other Lancaster AKs are out there that were built to this same, low standard of quality?

I wish I could say I was surprised. But to any of you regular readers of this blog, you already know what I think of the owner and management of Lancaster Arms. Due to their extensive, documented history of engaging in questionable business ethics, I don't trust any of 'em as far as I can throw them. The fact that they've now also put out rifles (with both known and, apparently, uknown defects), only solidifies my extremely low opinion of Lancaster Arms.

As always, Lancaster...you are free to comment here if you'd like. I will not edit your comments in any way (although I will most certainly respond in-kind).

Lancaster Screw You Over? Here's How To Deal With Them:

I continue getting emails on a weekly basis, and this blog continues getting user posts, where current Lancaster Arms customers are claiming some familiar things: Either they ordered their rifle months ago and it still hasn't been delivered (even though they were given a delivery date of weeks instead of months), or they called Lancaster to get a status update, were told "Your rifle is shipping tomorrow", and then 3 weeks later they still mysteriously don't have this rifle. In other words, nothing of substance has changed at Lancaster. Still the same ol' BS.

Since I am getting a lot of "What should I do???" emails, here is what you should do if you have become one of Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda's most recent victims:

1. IMMEDIATELY call Lancaster and demand that your money be returned to you within 48 hours. Explain to them that you are a reasonable and patient person, but that you don't appreciate being blatantly lied to, and that Lancaster will need to return all of your funds without further delay.

2. At this point, Chet or Shane will themselves immediately switch into damage control mode. Chet or Shane will try to "feel you out" on the phone, and will tell you whatever they think you want to hear so that you don't cancel your order. They will throw out every excuse in the book..."the CNC machine is broken", "everyone has the flu", "the wood isn't finished yet", "the dog ate your AK", "blah blah blah".

But don't buy any of it...Chet's word means nothing, and Shane isn't much better. At this point, they will take one of two tacts with you: either they will continue trying to "sweet talk" you into waiting just a little bit longer (they'll give you another empty promise of a delivery date they again won't meet), or they'll be outright rude and tell you that you can't cancel, or in some other way they'll cop an attitude and try to bully you. Don't fall for either of these tricks! A person who has already lied to you once, will have no problem lying to you again. When dealing with Lancaster Arms, don't forget this! Chet knows that you probably still want the rifle, and he will use your own emotions against you. He's very manipulative like this. But make peace with the fact that you've been screwed over and lied to, and demand your money back. Not doing so, only sends the message to Lancaster that "Yes, in fact, you CAN get away with lying to your customers!". That is not the message Lancaster needs to hear. Stay strong. Do not "wimp out". Get your damn money back! (And BTW, document this phone call you make to Lancaster. Note the time, who you spoke with, and the outcome. You can even use a cheap service like SpoofCard.com to record the phone call. It's completely legal to do, and I would advise that you do it so that there's no "confusion" later on as to who said what.)

3. If you were smart enough to have paid with a credit card, call your credit card company 48 hours after your phone call with Lancaster, and make sure your money has been refunded. If not, do a chargeback. Your bank will credit you the money, and will notify Lancaster of what has happened. (Lancaster will lose its ability to accept credit cards if they get too many chargebacks. And in fact, Lancaster currently claims they won't take credit cards...although at least one person has told me they will if you demand it.)

If you were foolish enough to have sent a check or a money order to Lancaster, things will be more difficult, as Lancaster knows your options are more limited. They HAVE been known to tell you "We'll refund your money", only for weeks or months to pass by with no refund in sight. Here too, if Chet Durda's mouth is open...he's probably lying. So, again, give them only 48 hours to have a check back in your hands. Notify Lancaster that if this does not occur, you will immediately contact law enforcement. And do NOT, under any circumstances, accept any excuses from Lancaster.

4. If you were told you were getting a refund and it doesn't appear, or if Lancaster refuses to give you 100% of your money back, your next step is to contact the Attorney General's Office in Arizona. I've spoken with them myself, and unfortunately, they are already familiar with Lancaster Arms. Nonetheless, they will help you get your money back if Lancaster exercises its common habit of not doing what they say they're going to do.

There you have it, folks. If you're tired of excuses and lies from Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda, the above steps are what need to be done to get your money back. And I can't emphasize enough: When dealing with Lancaster Arms, do not let Lancaster call the shots. After all, trusting Lancaster is what got you into this mess to begin with. Do not try to be a "nice guy" when dealing with Lancaster, as Chet Durda will smell your weakness a mile away and will play it for all its worth. Do what you need to do, and send a message: "Lancaster, you can't expect that when you repeatedly lie to customers and constantly give them the run-around, that those customers are simply going to put up with it." No more.

Lancaster Arms "Complaints": A Day Late and a Dollar Short

While I was thinking the other day about the disaster called "Lancaster Arms", I decided to visit their website to see if anything had changed on it. I didn't notice much. Their website was still promising that they would provide details on their "Black Widow" rifle on July 4th. (Keep in mind, this was on August 29th. Whoops.) And then I saw that they added a new section to their website called "Complaints". LOL!

Funny, how after over 18 months of screwing people over, they finally decided to make at least SOME effort to acknowledge the fact that over the last 18 months, they have completely, utterly decimated their own reputation with an avalanche of lies and piss-poor customer no-service.

So, I clicked on this link, and what I read was utterly predictable. Chet had posted a few hand-selected complaints, none of which addressed the dozens of people who feel like they've been thoroughly screwed by Lancaster.

As for delivery date issues, Chet predictably attempts to pass the buck by saying they've made changes in the "Personnel Department". This is comical on several fronts. First, Lancaster's "Personnel Department" consists of whoever happens to answer the phone. I can certainly understand Chet trying to puff his sad company up however, making it sound like they're so big they have an entire "Personnel Deapartment". Nice one, Chet! But more funny is the notion that someone ELSE at Lancaster - people who are now ostensibly gone - are the ones responsible for the rampant lying on the telephone, when in fact Chet Durda himself was/is the biggest culprit at Lancaster when it comes to sandbagging customers. Here too, this is completely in-line with Chet refusing to own up to his outrageous dishonesty. But never fear...Lancaster nows says they're going to check their email twice a day! But wait a minute...if you have an entire "Personnel Department", wouldn't they be checking the email every few minutes instead of only twice per day? And what was that "Personnel Department" doing up until recently, that caused them to only check email once every other day?!? Hmmmm...once again, when Chet opens his mouth, things don't really add up.

Chet hilariously goes on to finish that first complaint with, "Complacency has no place in this Economy". LOL! Chet, when you typed that, did you immediately look upward to ensure there wasn't a bolt of lightening about to strike you? "Complancency" has defined Lancaster Arms for the better part of the last 18 months. Well that, and raw, outright dishonesty. The audacity of this guy is mind-blowing.

Chet then goes onto a few other complaints, including posting one where a Florida man allegedly complained about Lancaster stealing his rifle. While Chet doesn't reveal why this guy would come to that conclusion, I suspect it probably had something to do with Lancaster telling him his gun would be returned in a week or two, and then the customer still not having the gun months later. To be sure, similar reports can be found on the Internet. Either way, anytime a customer feels like they have to write an email accusing you of theft...you have a severe customer service problem. Big time.

If I didn't know the things about Chet Durda that I do know, I might be fooled by this new "Complaint" section. I might think, "Wow. This company has made some mistakes, and now they're fixing them. Good on them!"

But here's the thing...the fundamental problem with Lancaster Arms isn't "personnel" who are now gone, or unreasonable customers who falsely accuse Lancaster of stealing firearms. No, the problem with Lancaster Arms is that the company is run by a guy who is completely, thoroughly untrustworthy. To believe that Chet Durda has "seen the light" after he has ripped off and lied to as many people as he has (read the rest of this blog for details), might as well be to believe in Santa Claus while you're at it. A leopard doesn't change it's spots, and a shady businessman doesn't all of the sudden recognize the error of his ways, and become an honest businessman. That might make for a nice Hollywood movie, but real life is somewhat different.

If you wish to understand why I've come to this conclusion, just read this entire blog top to bottom. (Or really, bottom to top.) The unfortunate details of how Lancaster Arms runs its business are all here, in plain sight. No sugar-coating or excuses required.

As for Lancaster Arms, Chet's latest attempt at damage control is a day late and a dollar short. Now, whenever Lancaster is brought up on forums, the consensus is usually, "You don't want to do business with them." And look at their complaint site and tell me...do you really want people building your rifle, who aren't even professional enough to use a spell-checker on their own marketing website? If they can't even be bothered to pay attention to obvious details on a simple web page they use to market their business, what on Earth makes you think they're going to pay any attention to details with the rest of their work?

Maybe they can get one of the millions of people who work in their "Personnel Department" on that right away! If they can get the "Personnel Department" to now answer emails twice a day, perhaps there's hope that a third-grade level of proficiency in the English language won't be far behind!

Lancaster Arms Called Out on Youtube

Well folks, nothing ever seems to change for the better at Lancaster Arms. Chet Durda, Shane, and the rest of the schmucks at Lancaster continue ripping people off left and right. Yes, the Internet continues to be filled with stories of people who are having very significant problems with Lancaster Arms. These people send money to Lancaster, are told their rifle, repair job or product will arrive in just a few weeks, and then MONTHS later they are still waiting.

"MrLockandload", who is a well-respected and popular firearms commentator on Youtube with over 2,000 subscribers, even got so pissed at Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda that he had to make a 10-minute video just to shame Lancaster into returning the money that he sent Lancaster back in March for 10 barrels. Shane at Lancaster told MrLockandload that he'd send a check three weeks ago. But that's what Lancaster does. Even though they don't send product when the promise they will, they tell customers "the check's in the mail". (Literally, in this case!)



Given the way Lancaster has been operating during the last year or so, I wouldn't be at all surprised to find out that some kind of ponzi scheme is going on. In fact, one of the leading builders in the AK industry has suggested that that's exactly what's going on at Lancaster...that Lancaster is using money from new customers, to pay for and fulfill orders for customers who have been waiting for many months.

Whatever the case, one thing is for certain. Chet Durda, the owner of Lancaster, can't be trusted as far as he can be thrown. Based on my own personal dealings with him, I know Mr. Durda to be a man of extremely low character, and extremely low integrity. Given the way he attempted to defraud me (see the story elsewhere in thsi blog), at this point I'm somewhat surprised Lancaster Arms is still in business. Especially given the way word is rapidly spreading about Lancaster Arms and Chet Durda's questionable business practices.

As I say at the end of almost every post, if you know what's good for you, do NOT do business with Lancaster Arms. In my opinion, it's just a matter of time before they go under. They've simply screwed over too many people at this point.

Lancaster Arms Continues Playing Games with Customers

Here we are, into July, and not only have things with Lancaster not improved…but they actually seem to be getting worse.

Various message boards continue to be filled with people who claim that Lancaster is jerking them around, not shipping rifles by promised ship dates, taking months to repair returned rifles, not returning phone calls and emails, and in general just acting as though their customers are nothing but a nuisance to them. This thread serves as a great example of what to expect if you unwisely decide to do business with Lancaster Arms these days.

Although it is certainly implied in all the posts on this blog, at this point I feel compelled to state this in no unequivocal terms: Given the way Lancaster Arms has been running its operation during the last year in particular, it is my strongly-held opinion that doing business with Lancaster Arms right now is very, very risky. From both my personal experience in dealing with Chet Durda and Lancaster Arms, and from the vast amount of data on the Internet indicating that Lancaster has now perfected the dubious art of over-promising and under-delivering, I absolutely do not trust Chet Durda and Lancaster Arms.

If you choose to ignore this warning, ONLY purchase from them with a credit card. Under no circumstances should you send cash, a check or a money order to Lancaster Arms, as doing so leaves you with little to no recourse in the event Lancaster treats you the same way it is currently treating many other customers. And if Lancaster Arms won’t take your credit card, you should consider that to be a warning sign and go elsewhere.

First Page Google Results! Thanks Everyone!

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!

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.