ATI- Customer service- NOT!

[Mgderf]

UPDATE-ATI- Customer service- NOT/MAYBE?

In April of this year, I bought an AR 15 (.410ga) upper on GunBroker. This upper was manufactured by Safir Arms in Turkey, and imported by American Tactical Imports.
From day one I had failure to extract problems, which resulted in double feeds and jams. Paperwork recommended a specific ammo (ATI ammo, imagine that!) so I purchased some of that, to no avail.

I contacted ATI customer service in May and they told me I would have to return the upper for warranty service. I packed it up and mailed it off on the 2nd day of May, WITH assurances that I would have a working rifle in time for deer season.

May turned to June, then June to July, and no word. I called ATI customer service and they told me they weren't sure where my upper was because they had to send it back to the manufacturer (in Turkey?).
I called Safir Arms, and was told that I sould have my upper back in two weeks or less. COOL!

Two weeks turns into three, then three into four, so I tried to contact Safir Arms again. Daily phone calls for more than two weeks went unanswered. No replies to emails, NOTHING.

So I re-contact ATI customer service. They seemed genuinely concerned now, now that I'm fit to be tied. I was told in July that ATI has LOST my upper! They can't find it, have no idea where it ended up, but that they would replace it with a new upper.

O.K. at least we're getting somewhere.

Three more weeks go by with no upper, so I call ATI again. "We'll check, and call you back tomorrow". I heard that three times in two weeks, before I finally got an answer that my upper had shipped.

September rolls around and still no upper, so I call AGAIN.

"You should have received it by now".

Finally got my replcement upper in the mail on Nov. 1st, and just in time for deer season! The I realize, "Huston, we STILL have a problem"!
They sent me an upper, but NO BOLT OR BOLT CARRIER!

I called customer service back. NOW they tell me I need to send my REPLACEMENT upper BACK TO THEM, just so they can install a bolt and bolt carrier!

Well, deer season has come and gone, and I STILL don't have my upper, an explaination of the problems, or even an "I'm sorry...".

Today it's now December 8th, 2011. It's been more than 6 months since I sent my upper in for warranty repairs/replacement.

I would HIGHLY suggest you avoid a need to have dealings with ATI customer service.

 

[SEIndSAM]

Wow, that really sucks. I have never bought anything from them, but thanks for the heads up. I never will if that's the way they work.

 

[Que]

Mgderf, I hope they get it worked out, soon. That's money you certainly could have used in some other way.

I assume you purchased it used. Did the guy on Gun Broker suggest that he was having issues with the gun in any way?

 

[ghitch75]

i bought ATI stock used from a member here and the top rail was a mile off.....called them and had a new top rail at my door 3 days later......i think there CS is top notch as far as my situation goes.....

 

[Gamez235]

i bought ATI stock used from a member here and the top rail was a mile off.....called them and had a new top rail at my door 3 days later......i think there CS is top notch as far as my situation goes.....

Different ATI..

While I have to work to get a hold of someone, when I do I get taken care of pretty quickly.

 

[ghitch75]

Different ATI..

While I have to work to get a hold of someone, when I do I get taken care of pretty quickly.

oh ok ...didn't know there was 2

 

[IndyGunSafety]

I had this EXACT problem. I sent back a GSG1911 that was bad out of the box (Safety broken) and they LOST my gun. Then I found out they mistakenly sent it to some guy in California.

Day after day of promises and insurance they would call me back later that day or the next. NEVER ONCE did they call me, that is until I left a message saying I was going to report the missing or stolen firearm to ATF.

Even then, they gave me the wrong tracking number and didn't send the gun for another 3 days. Took over a month and a half to get a replacement.

ATI CUSTOMER SERVICE SUCKS BAD!

 

[Mgderf]

Mgderf, I hope they get it worked out, soon. That's money you certainly could have used in some other way.

I assume you purchased it used. Did the guy on Gun Broker suggest that he was having issues with the gun in any way?

Actually NO! This was a brand new upper. Purchased on GunBroker through a dealer.
I did not even contact the dealer, as he has no control over quality control, or a lack thereof in this case, I thought I would go directly to the Manufacturer.

I tried and tried to get someone at Safir Arms, but they would not return emails or phone messages. When I could not contact the manufacturer, I contacted the Importer, (ATI) American Tactical Imports.

ATI "customer service" told me "..no problem. Send it back to us, and we'll make it right."
American Tactical Imports would not even pay to ship my upper back for warranty service!

I shipped it to ATI in Rochester New York. It took two days via U.S.P.S. Tracking services.

ATI then LOST my upper, and sent the replacement minus a bolt carrier group and bolt.

Update: I talked to ***** at ATI customer service today. When I first called, they could not find my upper in their "system", but they would "..call you back TODAY". O.K. I've heard that before, a few times now, from a few different people at ATI.
Low and behold, ***** called me back today! I wonder if it had anything to do with my mentioning the "BBB"? Anyway,

Seems now they "..have found my upper, it's been fixed, and it will be shipping out today. If you still don't have it in 10 days, call us back."

10 days? Really 10 days? When I shipped it to them, it took a mere two days.

Here is the really interesting part to me.
Original upper, #1 had more of a problem than just feeding issues. The front sight tower was cracked upon receipt, and the takedown lugs were WAY out of spec. I put the front takedown pin in place and shut the receiver, only to see misaligned holes in the takedown lugs on the upper.
I filed the hole in the upper on open until I could get the takedown pin to go home.
All of this was explained to ATI customer service BEFORE I sent upper #1 back for "repairs". They "lost that upper, and sent a replacement. I know upper #2 was a differernt upper, because the lugs didn't match on it either! Now I hate to admit it, but I was excited enough to FINALLY have my upper back, I went ahead and filed this one to fit my lower before I realized that upper # 2 didn't have a bolt/carrier.

Anyway, according to ***** at ATI "customer service" I should expect my "repaired" upper in the mail within the next two weeks.

I will know if they send me back upper #2, or if I'm looking at upper #3.
No matter what, I've already had my fill of American Tactical Imports.

I'll be sure to update again, IF/when I ever get my (an) upper back.

 

[Dirc]

oh ok ...didn't know there was 2

Same here.

 

[JohnP82]

Wow! That really sucks! Sorry to hear all the BS you are going through. Best of luck!

 

[Mgderf]

UPDATE:

O.k. it's after the first of the year and I'm done trying to deal with ATI (American Tactical Imports).

A few days before the end of the year I called ATI again and this time I threatened them with a report to the BBB.

They tried very hard to get me to send them a magazine, AT MY EXPENSE, so they could "test my upper".

When I questioned this, the guy told me that my upper was on the gunsmiths bench in their workshop waiting to be tested. They were unable to test it though because they did not have a magazine for it.

I told them that they had had my upper for 9 months now. They weren't getting any more of my property.
Customer service told me that they could ship it back to me tomorrow, but that they couldn't guarantee me that it would work if they couldn't test it.

Against my better judgement, I finally agreed to send one of my mags so they could test my upper, but THEY were going to pay shipping for it, NOT me!

Guy said he would overnight me a shipping label to returm my magazine. I wasn't real happy, but I want an upper that works, SOOO, I agreed.

Well now. I get home from work on the same day that I talked to customer service and agreed to send them a magazine, and what do you suppose I find?
Yep. There on my porch is my upper! On the smiths bench huh?

I brought it inside and opened the safe to retreive a lower. Matched it up to a lower and tried to cycle a few rounds. I could STILL not get 2 rounds in a row to feed properly.

This was just days before the holidays, so I just dropped the matter until I got back on a normal schedule.

Today I decided I would ttry ONCE AGAIN to bypass ATI since I am obviously not going to get any satisfaction out of them.
I took another chance and called Safir Arms (manufacturer) and somone actually answered the phone!
I took the opportunity to tell the Safir Arms guy about my troubles. He asked if I had an email address? I said yes, and he asked what it was.
I gave him my email address. He said he would send me an email so that I would have his address. I was supposed to reply to his email with a description of my problem, as well as my contact info. (mailing address) so he can send me a new bolt!

I just MIGHT actually get this thing working after all!

I'm not going to hold my breath, but I'm lot more optomistic today than I was a week ago.

Wish me luck!

BTW- I'm still considering a report to the BBB.

 

[db1959]

I wish you luck but from the sound of things you need way more than luck. Some kind of divine intervention comes to mind.

 

[Mgderf]

I wish you luck but from the sound of things you need way more than luck. Some kind of divine intervention comes to mind.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, but I'm NOT going to hold my breath!

 

[radar44]

Ah ATI I bought one when I was really board , Sold it 3 mo. later Took a $$ hit, never looked back . The thing was to hard to buy for.

 

[Mgderf]

Complaint filed with BBB today, 1-28-12

Updates to follow.

 

[Mgderf]

Complaint received by BBB today, and forwarded to ATI.

 

[Mgderf]

Looks like I might FINALLY get some satisfaction!

I got home today and checked my email. I found one (the first I've received) from American Tactical Imports (ATI) customer service.

The guy asked forgiveness for "being uninformed about the details" but from my communications it has been deemed that some-one at ATI had "dropped the ball" in dealing with this!??!
Gee, ya think?

Anyway, they said that part of the reason that they had not been able to replace or repair my upper is that ATI was not satisfied with Safir Arms quality, and would not be receiving any more of their products.

They said they hav been working with an American manufacturer to produce American made AR15 uppers in .410!

They are now in the final testing phase and expect the first batches to ship in 90-120 days.

They then asked if one of these new American made uppers would be an acceptable replacement for my non-operable Safir Arms upper!

I'm like a kid waiting for Christmas to come now!

NO, they did NOT tell me the name of the American manufacturer.
Has anyone heard of an American firm ready to start cranking out .410 AR15 uppers?

 

[Tactical Flannel]

Sorry to hear bout the issues. No one likes that.
But thanks for the heads up. At least the rest of us know what we maybe getting into if we buy from them.

Stay safe

 

[Mgderf]

In April of this year, I bought an AR 15 (.410ga) upper on GunBroker. This upper was manufactured by Safir Arms in Turkey, and imported by American Tactical Imports.
From day one I had failure to extract problems, which resulted in double feeds and jams. Paperwork recommended a specific ammo (ATI ammo, imagine that!) so I purchased some of that, to no avail.

I contacted ATI customer service in May and they told me I would have to return the upper for warranty service. I packed it up and mailed it off on the 2nd day of May, WITH assurances that I would have a working rifle in time for deer season.

May turned to June, then June to July, and no word. I called ATI customer service and they told me they weren't sure where my upper was because they had to send it back to the manufacturer (in Turkey?).
I called Safir Arms, and was told that I sould have my upper back in two weeks or less. COOL!

Two weeks turns into three, then three into four, so I tried to contact Safir Arms again. Daily phone calls for more than two weeks went unanswered. No replies to emails, NOTHING.

So I re-contact ATI customer service. They seemed genuinely concerned now, now that I'm fit to be tied. I was told in July that ATI has LOST my upper! They can't find it, have no idea where it ended up, but that they would replace it with a new upper.

O.K. at least we're getting somewhere.

Three more weeks go by with no upper, so I call ATI again. "We'll check, and call you back tomorrow". I heard that three times in two weeks, before I finally got an answer that my upper had shipped.

September rolls around and still no upper, so I call AGAIN.

"You should have received it by now".

Finally got my replcement upper in the mail on Nov. 1st, and just in time for deer season! The I realize, "Huston, we STILL have a problem"!
They sent me an upper, but NO BOLT OR BOLT CARRIER!

I called customer service back. NOW they tell me I need to send my REPLACEMENT upper BACK TO THEM, just so they can install a bolt and bolt carrier!

Well, deer season has come and gone, and I STILL don't have my upper, an explaination of the problems, or even an "I'm sorry...".

Today it's now December 8th, 2011. It's been more than 6 months since I sent my upper in for warranty repairs/replacement.

I would HIGHLY suggest you avoid a need to have dealings with ATI customer service.

Thread update, of sorts

This thread is 3 years old, but I was reminded of it when I found an email in my inbox from ATI.
I never deleted their last email promising me a new upper.

Well, I emailed them yesterday. I replied to their email of years ago and asked if they were EVER going to release that .410 AR15 upper by an American company.

I received a reply today informing me that they will be introducing an American made AR15 style semi-auto .410 shotgun at the January Shot Show.

It is just my opinion, if you are interested in one of these, I would wait a year to see how they pan out.

ATI did NOT offer to replace my P.O.S. Safir Arms upper this time around.
I guess they figure I forgot about the complete lack of customer service, and the $500 I'm out for the trash they sold me years ago.

Take this information and use it as you will. It is but my opinion, but everything detailed in this thread happened to me.
I will NEVER buy another product with American Tactical Imports as the importer.