HYRYSC

Just figured that I would start a post about these and hopefully everything will turn out good.

March 18th I ordered a set of A Pillar light brackets from Ares Fabrication. Seemed like a good home grown business and I try to give my money to folks like that. Website said they were in stock and shipping. Good news.

March 25th I had not received them yet, so I called James Van Hoose. He picked up after just a few rings. I inquired about my order and after checking for a bit, he said that for some reason mine had not shipped with the other orders that he had, so he was going to ship out ASAP either that day or the next day.

April 2nd. I have not received them yet, so I called again to check on the status. I am a bit eager as I have a wheeling trip planned, some nice Hella lights, but no brackets to mount them to. James answered again very promptly and said that they (along with several others) had been lost by the US Mail during shipping and that he is shipping them again. He told me that he was not making really any money on them anyway.

I am not for sure what I was expected to reply to that last statement. If I buy a product, it is not my fault if the seller is making money hand over fist, or is using rent money to finance selling me the product. I just expect the product and as an added plus (not necessary, but helpful), maybe some communication about when my product may arrive, any delays etc.

I have my jeep budget set aside for May to purchase a front bumper. I REALLY like the Ares Fab front winch bumper, but am having second thoughts.

Has anyone else had dealings with Ares Fab? Am I alone and just the victim of a bad set of circumstances or is it something else?

93gc40

I wonder if this is the same Ares Fab that got raided by the ATF and FBI a while back over the LEGAL AR-15 lowers they build and sale.. Might explain some of their issues, if so.

wrapstar

Here's what happened when I cut my rear bumper open. I'd say 20oz. came out it's only a year old. I paid for the d-rings and receiver and never got the tie ins

investinwaffles

Thats too bad, their Evolution front bumper looks frickin' sweet but it seems like alot of small shops are having customer service issues as of late.

I would give them the benefit of the doubt though (just how I tend to do things), they might be honest people with logistics issues after all.

Fred/N0AZZ

Try this shop excellent product materials, welds, strength, powder coating all prices include shipping. I have his rear Crawler Bumper/Swing Out Tire Carrier ($600) and could not be happier with it after 10 mo. of hard use.

HYRYSC

Which shop?

By the way, it appears as if we are almost neighbors. I live in the Springfield area. Do you get out to SMORR often?

XJmike0122

This is the one he was referring to.
http://www.roxolidtrailarmor.com/

HYRYSC

Just in case anyone is interested in ordering anything from Ares Fabrication, you might want to reconsider.

It has been 3 weeks since I ordered the A Pillar light mounts that the website said were "In Stock and Shipping".

I have received zero communication from the seller (other than the paypal notification that he took my money). He has been quick to answer the phone, but only to tell me the first time that my order got overlooked and the second time to tell me that the shipment got lost and that he wasn't making any money on them anyway.

So I don't anticipate seeing the light mounts at all at this point.

I am just glad that I decided to order something small first instead of his $550 bumper.

Anyway, my .02 cents. YMMV

pipeliner07

Wow I just had the same thing happen to me I bought a rear bumper and he said it was going to ship a week later it's lost and now he is telling me he has to build a new one !!! I think I'm getting scammed !!! This sucks I payed $800 bucks

Whiplash

these guys make a nice set as well

http://www.detoursusa.com/

CrawdadSlim

The industry is full of one man wonder companies and Broken promises. A lot of them are spending customers money before attempting to fab anything. Don't wait if you find yourself in a similar situation. Demand a refund take all actions possible to get one.

HYRYSC

UPDATE:
I received an email from PayPal (how I paid) that said that the mounts were shipped and that they will be arriving via regular mail on Saturday.

This is good news for sure, but my question that I asked myself was if I am getting this notification of shipping, why didn't I receive the previous one when he said that he had shipped them and they were lost?

I have mailed stuff before that had been lost, but I didn't know that it was lost until the person that I was mailing it to told me. I don't know how he would have known they were lost before I did.

My thinking is that he is probably a bit over his head, made a product that was popular, but that he didn't make much money on, and now is scrambling to cover.

I don't know that for a fact, just a thought.

I will post pics of the final product as I should have them mounted on Saturday.

pipeliner07

Well I emailed them last night and told him that I had seen this happened to another guy On the Cherokee forum and he told me that he said it only happened once before he did not seem very happy I hope that I get my bumper like you did your brackets!!

mwilliams0311

Just an FYI guys, be careful with some of these no name places. I had a similiar experience with my lift kit from CSL off road. A bunch of guys gave me good advice on here. IT was an "in stock" item that says it ships in 48 hours. Well they took my money day 1 of course but took almost a month for me to recieve it after over 30 calls and emails. (Zero customer assistance)

The thing I found that gets them going is I filed a Fraud report on them with Visa and my bank. The moment they heard about this they were emailing everyday with updates and apologies.

pipeliner07

If I don't see it by next week I'm going to start trying to get my money back !!!