Cryostructure seems to be a pyramid scheme

[manlymatt]

Just a heads-up to anybody tempted to deal with Paul Russ at Cryostructure:

Back in late January, I ordered a coupla' things including a barrel assembly for an MCS/Shrike. At the time, their site said the barrel assembly would ship no later than the end of March. I was charged the full amount immediately and the other item in my order was shipped and received in due course. You've already guessed the rest: they still have not turned out any of those barrel assemblies, even though they are still manufacturing and shipping other items, even concocting new ones.

Every first of the month since April, I've been sending him a message asking for an update, and for a while he'd reply with something about delays or manpower or whatever, but this month's message was the second in a row to go unanswered. At this point I'm pretty sure I'm simply gonna' eat that money, but I did call and leave a VM (in my experience he never answers the phone directly) and if I get to talk to him I'm going to give him the chance to do the right thing and refund my money before I start siccing my bank and various regulatory agencies on him.

Of course don't take my word as gospel and read the many flavors of opinions out there to make your own informed decision, but I would recommend never letting a "backorder" exceed the time that your credit card company will do a chargeback.

 

[striker55]

Don't forget https://www.bbb.org/

 

[Gordo]

Have you called the Mt. Sidney police ?
How about the local sheriff department.
How much $$ are you talking about ?
Tell them the story.
Have facts & figures, and how many times you have contacted them.
Ask them to drive by, and see if anyone is still in the building.
Ask them to ask anyone at the front desk what is going on.
They will need your name, contact info, and order number.

Or, sit on your ass, cry, and kiss the money good by.

 

[baboon]

Think of all the waiting that people did on getting their Shrike. A friend of mine confronted The guy from Shrike and got his deposit money back. Another guy that I know and actually seen the rear take down pin lug broke off. Herring charged him for a new receiver and labor. Seen another guy try to shoot his at a machine gun shoot, This is after watching him open the box there at the shoot. After a short period of time trying he hung a for sale sign on it and it got stupidly low in price.

Is this Cryostructure same guy that made the lowers that were to hang a nut sack on?

 

[manlymatt]

Update on this:

Paul Russ called me back last night and refunded my money from January without any hesitation. He said those barrels are in the works and should be available soon. Honestly I'm pullin' for him – I really do want a chance to buy one or maybe two of them once they're actually available. Also, just to be clear, there's no acrimony on my part: my assessment is that he over-promises but it looks like he's conceiving, and after a time, actually delivering, good products and I look forward to buying some!

 

[madwildcat]

The guys name is Paul Russ? Does this happen to be the same Paul Russ from Shadow Ops Weaponry and then Copper Kinetics? Sure looks like it. Fair warning, if it is, this guy has opened and closed a number of gun related businesses, used that same "just a little longer" technique to get lots of funds up front and then ghosted when "some unforeseeable problems occurred". He sends out a couple of the parts to random people so the company can get some reviews, but the majority never see anything.

I purchased suppressors from him that were then literally sold at auction with my serial info on them with no baffles, just the tube. Buyer beware. It was a total mess, ATF involved, etc.

Happy that you got your money back and some did in both of his previous iterations as well, but I would be all kinds of careful with this guy.

For anyone wanting a hilarious read, feel free to look over the facebook debacle with one of his past companies:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1547282702218692


Edit: Yep, its the same guy:
https://cis.scc.virginia.gov/Entity...2794&source=FromEntityResult&isSeries = false

 

[Lonesome Dove]

The name alone is a Red flag for me.

 

[majormadmax]

Update on this:

Paul Russ called me back last night and refunded my money from January without any hesitation. He said those barrels are in the works and should be available soon. Honestly I'm pullin' for him – I really do want a chance to buy one or maybe two of them once they're actually available. Also, just to be clear, there's no acrimony on my part: my assessment is that he over-promises but it looks like he's conceiving, and after a time, actually delivering, good products and I look forward to buying some!

Bullshit. If it were my money, I would want 10 months' interest on it!

Paul Russ sounds like a scam artist, and the multiple company fronts fits that description to a tittle!*

* - A "tittle" referred to a small mark or point in writing, such as the dot over an "i" or "j." Over time, "tittle" fell out of common usage, and the phrase evolved into "to a tee." I figured your impressive use of 'acrimony'--meaning situations where there is sharpness, harshness, or hostility, especially in words or behavior--had to be appropriately recognized and reciprocated!

@madwildcat is on target!