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R.I.P. J Allen Enterprises

so what about everyone who had their name on the waiting list? did they prepay? are they out of that money or what? I hate to hear of any small business closing doors as I have a small business as well. the only thing that I could think of that might've been the main weight on the shoulders would be the overhead cost.
Some have filed chargeback with their credit card company.
For those that didn't pay with a CC, I sincerely hope there is a resolution. So far no one has mentioned being contacted by J Allen since the closure though.
 
Some have filed chargeback with their credit card company.
For those that didn't pay with a CC, I sincerely hope there is a resolution. So far no one has mentioned being contacted by J Allen since the closure though.

man I hope not, I would be puke knowing I was out that kind of money. I hope everything works out for anyone who's in that situation, if any.
 
Hi,

So I will copy/paste this again, lol..but add...IF you know what a "Process Agent" sole duty is in regards to being required on a companies registration documents with the State; you will have a better understanding of what the cards may signal. Also FWIW..almost every state requires that the process agent address NOT be a PO box type/facility. It requires a legal entity signing for documents of a legal nature :)

---------------------------------

It more than likely was not as "overnight" as it appears....

Just in case it helps anyone....(You can search California corporations of J Allen Enterprises for the hard copy data)

Per the State of California "Statement of Information" filled June 1; JAE changed ALL their addresses to the mail center address listed on that invoice:

7114243



Up until that point the physical premise address was the "Star Machine" address and the registered process agent (Jeff) was apparently their home address.

Sincerely,
Theis
 
so what about everyone who had their name on the waiting list? did they prepay? are they out of that money or what? I hate to hear of any small business closing doors as I have a small business as well. the only thing that I could think of that might've been the main weight on the shoulders would be the overhead cost.

I had 50% down, haven’t heard back from them yet but my CC refunded my money while they investigate. Am told if they can’t get JAE to refund me then I keep the refund from them.

This is why I laugh when people tell me I shouldn’t use credit cards. They’ve saved me more than once in my hobbies.
 
If they were profitable within reason, not many reasons out there for them not to have sold the business.

You think they closed the doors, deleted all of their social media, and ghosted everyone who had made down payments for anything other than not being out of money?

I like their chassis, but don’t get emotionally invested to the point where you overlook logic.
Where does it say they sold the business? More speculation.
Lisa is still my friend on FB, and their Instagram is still up.
In case that was directed at me...
He's not saying they sold their business. He is saying it makes financial sense that a business that is on good financial footing be sold and not simply close its doors. The supposition is that companies with good financials are easier to sell than businesses businesses with books covered in red. This, of course, assumes one can find a buyer. Further, the contention is that seemingly abruptly closing all avenues of communication and changing the address to a mail drop (while conceivably explainable) doesn't pass the smell test- fair or not.

I'll leave this with an admonition often repeated by the former CEO of the company I work for. "Companies don't go out of business, they run out of money."
 
In case that was directed at me...
logo-no-text2-300x255.png

To our valued customers and fans of J. Allen:
It is with great sadness that after 16 years of designing and manufacturing one of the highest quality chassis systems in the world, we have recently had to layoff our employees and close our doors.
We appreciate all of you and wish that it did not have to come to this, but we were unable to find a solution to stay open. Please understand and respect that this is extremely difficult for our family and employees, and wish that we could have kept on going.
For everyone on our 5 person team, customers were our number 1 priority and it hurts us that it ended this way. At this time, we are unable to give any more info, and if that changes in the future, we will let you know.
Thank you to all who have believed in our products and loved them as much as we did. This was our life.
Sincerely,
Lisa, Jeff, and J. Allen Team
July 15, 2019

This really smells of an inability to pay the bills leading to eventual bankruptcy proceedings. I could easily be wrong but I don't think I am.
 
He's not saying they sold their business. He is saying it makes financial sense that a business that is on good financial footing be sold and not simply close its doors. The supposition is that companies with good financials are easier to sell than businesses businesses with books covered in red. This, of course, assumes one can find a buyer. Further, the contention is that seemingly abruptly closing all avenues of communication and changing the address to a mail drop (while conceivably explainable) doesn't pass the smell test- fair or not.

I'll leave this with an admonition often repeated by the former CEO of the company I work for. "Companies don't go out of business, they run out of money."

Tokay444 clearly knows little about business. He appears easily confused by the simple concepts we're discussing here.
 
People on the M14 forum received notices after they shut down their business that their stocks were shipping. One person received his on Friday and another received his shipment notification on Friday. I encourage you guys to give JAE the benefit of the doubt here. They are great people.

Lisa also sent me an Email this weekend and said they made 99% of their products in house and only outsourced the hand guard on the JAE-100 and a few proprietary hardware pieces and over the counter hardware.

"...We did all the other machining, molding, painting, and did all of our own fixturing. Completely self reliant with only 5 people...."

Tony.
 
Among others.

KRG = quality chassis for a half the cost and no wait time.

Looks like JA made some poor business decisions and couldn't handle the competition in the market.


IDK. KRG makes a nice chassis (I have three of them), but they are no where near the quality of fit and finish that the JAE has. I'm not convinced that it was necessarily poor business practices that caused the shutdown. In fact, none of us really know for sure what caused it yet.

To be clear, I own quite a few chassis systems, so speak from a point of experience, owning XLR evolution, KRG X-ray & bravo, JAE 700, and MPA BA Competition chassis systems.
 
In the M14 world, I consider the JAE to be best for accuracy and long range. I own two JAE-100 G3's and I use one of them to test customer actions. I also own two other aluminum M14 chassis systems and the JAE is the easiest to install and tune on an otherwise fussy platform.

Tony.
 
IDK. KRG makes a nice chassis (I have three of them), but they are no where near the quality of fit and finish that the JAE has. I'm not convinced that it was necessarily poor business practices that caused the shutdown. In fact, none of us really know for sure what caused it yet.

To be clear, I own quite a few chassis systems, so speak from a point of experience, owning XLR evolution, KRG X-ray & bravo, JAE 700, and MPA BA Competition chassis systems.
That's my point they are one of many. To the financially secure chassis connesour JA might be worth it. Line up all those for the average Joe just getting into it or even the budget conscious seasoned shooter. He would rather put the extra grand into a better scope, barrel, or custom action. Not to mention all the complete rifles you can get for the price of a JA chassis alone.

Competition drives the prices down and you either adapt to compete or lose your shares in the market place.
 
This still assumes that that competition actually hurt sales enough to drive them out of business. It leaves out any number of other reasons like property costs, personal finance mismanagement, losing seasoned workers, equipment failure, the list goes on a mile. I know plenty of people that make more money than me and are severely in debt, it happens.

If it’s not financial we may one day know the reason.

If it is financial, it is unlikely we will ever be able to say what exactly did it, especially that their product was too expensive to compete in the market just because you personally find it too expensive. It seems disingenuous for people that are not in the market for a Porsche to claim there is no market for a Porsche, because they can buy a mustang.

Correct me if I’m wrong and you have access to their order log.
 
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That's my point they are one of many. To the financially secure chassis connesour JA might be worth it. Line up all those for the average Joe just getting into it or even the budget conscious seasoned shooter. He would rather put the extra grand into a better scope, barrel, or custom action. Not to mention all the complete rifles you can get for the price of a JA chassis alone.

Competition drives the prices down and you either adapt to compete or lose your shares in the market place.

There's a thread on here about watches. I can get a watch that tells better time, is more durable and has more functions, for less than $100. And yet Rolex and others still manage to stay in business...

Horses for courses...
 
I had 50% down, haven’t heard back from them yet but my CC refunded my money while they investigate. Am told if they can’t get JAE to refund me then I keep the refund from them.

This is why I laugh when people tell me I shouldn’t use credit cards. They’ve saved me more than once in my hobbies.

good deal, glad it worked out for you and many others as well! it's certainly a sucky situation all the way around.
 
There's a thread on here about watches. I can get a watch that tells better time, is more durable and has more functions, for less than $100. And yet Rolex and others still manage to stay in business...

Horses for courses...

A Rolex is a status symbol more than a tool to tell time. Not sure that's sustainable business model in the shooting world. Being more of a blue collar industry.

I'm just saying, short of a personal issue. The demise of JA is most likely some critically poor business decisions.
 
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not to derail but the latest trend of expensive or vintage watches is to wear them as bracelets more than time pieces
everyone has a phone on them full time so it has become a wasted expense to keep them running properly

back to chassis:
myself included
we should stop posting until the owners come on here and post something
we are all speculating except for Theis who looked for the paperwork
 
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A Rolex is a status symbol more than a tool to tell time. Not sure that's sustainable business model in the shooting world. Being more of a blue collar industry.

I'm just saying, short of a personal issue. The demise of JA is most likely some critically poor business decisions.
And in that respect, the JAE-700 is a better deal, since it has functionality on its side as well.
 
Where does it say they sold the business? More speculation.
Lisa is still my friend on FB, and their Instagram is still up.

Wait, wtf are you even talking about?

I said IF they were profitable they would have SOLD the business and not shut everything down.

For all intents and purposes, j Allen doesn’t exist anymore. You don’t ghost an entire company for any reasons not involving money.
 
not to derail but the latest trend of expensive or vintage watches is to wear them as bracelets more than time pieces
everyone has a phone on them full time so it has become a wasted expense to keep them running properly

back to chassis:
myself included
we should stop posting until the owners come on here and post something
we are all speculating except for Theis who looked for the paperwork
We are almost always speculating except for Theis who is watching you RIGHT NOW! PUT DOWN THE DONUGHT AND CLOSE OUT OF THE PORN!
 
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You guys are letting your emotions get the best of you. I too like jae a lot and thought their customer service was awesome.

Unfortunately, the market doesn’t care if your one single product is awesome or if you are really nice people.
 
If it is financial, it is unlikely we will ever be able to say what exactly did it, especially that their product was too expensive to compete in the market just because you personally find it too expensive. It seems disingenuous for people that are not in the market for a Porsche to claim there is no market for a Porsche, because they can buy a mustang.

Correct me if I’m wrong and you have access to their order log.
They could have had an order book miles long and still go under if they can't turn those orders into cash quickly enough to meet their financial obligations.

How do people not know that?
 
This still assumes that that competition actually hurt sales enough to drive them out of business. It leaves out any number of other reasons like property costs, personal finance mismanagement, losing seasoned workers, equipment failure, the list goes on a mile. I know plenty of people that make more money than me and are severely in debt, it happens.

If it’s not financial we may one day know the reason.

If it is financial, it is unlikely we will ever be able to say what exactly did it, especially that their product was too expensive to compete in the market just because you personally find it too expensive. It seems disingenuous for people that are not in the market for a Porsche to claim there is no market for a Porsche, because they can buy a mustang.

Correct me if I’m wrong and you have access to their order log.

Except Porsche (or better, the parent company) also makes/owns VW.

You’re going to be hard pressed to find a comparison of a company who hasn’t diversified into products that are either cheaper or are consumable.

The comparisons you will find will not be in niche market with only a few thousand buyers of their product.

How many chassis do you think JAE could make a year with 5 people? I don’t care what number you throw out there. As long as it’s realistic, it’s not enough to keep up.
 
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^^^US Optics...
howd that work out over the past 10 years
 
the tale of who or what done it ... the fabulous case of J. Allen .
 
Except Porsche (or better, the parent company) also makes/owns VW.

You’re going to be hard pressed to find a comparison of a company who hasn’t diversified into products that are either cheaper or are consumable.

The comparisons you will find will not be in niche market with only a few thousand buyers of their product.

How many chassis do you think JAE could make a year with 5 people? I don’t care what number you throw out there. As long as it’s realistic, it’s not enough to keep up.


3 stocks per year ? 3 guys building stocks 2 guys getting coffee and egg sandwiches.
 
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It didn't really. I'm sure he'd rather have the chassis he wanted.


oh i'm sure he would've but it's better he got his money back vice being out of a chassis and hard earned coin.
 
oh i'm sure he would've but it's better he got his money back vice being out of a chassis and hard earned coin.
Seems there are still G100/G3 chassis being shipped though, but I understand, with a lack of communication and that much money on the line, and your CC company only giving you so much time to file a claim like that.
 
If I would have received an email or a returned phone call or anything I likely wouldn’t have done a charge back but as it was it wasn’t worth the risk of halting my build.
 
Over priced
Only for people who can't afford them.
Anyone know what actually went down in regards to the demise of J Allen?
The short answer is No.
Their note makes no mention of a reason. Their distributors are all in the dark on it as well. Everything is purely speculative at this point.
 
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It's sad a business that supports Precision Rifle went under. But the reality, as borne out by their current state, is that their chassis is way overpriced. Unless someone can specify based on their actual experience how their $1,900 chassis provides an advantage over an MPA, KRG, MDT or other popular and functional chassis systems that can be purchased for much less; I do not see the advantage over a J. Allen chassis.
And no matter what their defenders insist, you cannot wear one of their chassis on your wrist and have it on your person to trade it in for medical care, food or water like you can a Rolex watch in case of emergencies. It sucks that this happened but with the number of very functional chassis available to shooters, it is a very competitive market that prefers function over bling.

Although it sucks that there seems to be some customers who put as much as $700 down for a product that they will not ever receive and are having issues contacting J Allen.
 
1. Another person that because they don’t want one, believes their price is solely why they aren’t in business without ANY info on their financials

2. Anyone that is buying hobby items as savings for medical expenses is a fucking idiot. You should have a cash fund for personal emergencies, not a bunch of hobby items that you can take to a pawn shop.
 
i agree, if times are ever bad enough that people who have "Rolex's" are trading it in for water/food. your watch will more than likely be worthless to most. J-Allen didn't target the weekend warrior market. to the average joe, they're expensive. to the guy who appreciates what they make, well, they own them.
 
It's sad a business that supports Precision Rifle went under. But the reality, as borne out by their current state, is that their chassis is way overpriced. Unless someone can specify based on their actual experience how their $1,900 chassis provides an advantage over an MPA, KRG, MDT or other popular and functional chassis systems that can be purchased for much less; I do not see the advantage over a J. Allen chassis.
And no matter what their defenders insist, you cannot wear one of their chassis on your wrist and have it on your person to trade it in for medical care, food or water like you can a Rolex watch in case of emergencies. It sucks that this happened but with the number of very functional chassis available to shooters, it is a very competitive market that prefers function over bling.

Although it sucks that there seems to be some customers who put as much as $700 down for a product that they will not ever receive and are having issues contacting J Allen.
I take it that you've never heard of Cadex?


MSRP $2200-2400
 
I take it that you've never heard of Cadex?


MSRP $2200-2400
He can't afford it either. So its overpriced