Just curious if anyone has had any experience with the armor produced by Brian Price at revival.us. I ordered a pair of hourglass gauntlets in the 'bargello' style from his site and was told they'd ship in about 2 weeks. Well, that was in August. Needless to say it's November now. At first, Brian was good about emailing me when I'd ask about my order. But I kept getting responses to the effect of 'As soon as they're back from the heat treaters I'll send them on their way, any day now.'

Any day now has stretched in to months, and I'm starting to get anxious. They're not cheap, and naturally my money is already in their bank. I also have received no reply to my last inquiry made over a week ago, expressing my concern. I'm wondering if this is normal for them. I told him I have no problem waiting several months for quality work, but I would of course appreciate being told that it will take a few months rather than be told a couple days every couple weeks to no avail, which I think is reasonable and fair. So, has anyone else had a similar experience or am I the exception to the rule?

I ordered a pair of leather gloves from there about 3 years ago and about 6 months ago received a notification of shipping for them. I have not received the gloves yet...

I wish you better luck than I've had.

-Cory

I've never had a problem with them, and have always had timely shipping.

My experiences with them and their products have been mixed.

Your experience is not unique. Here are two links to reviews. Good luck.

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewto...ht=revival
http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewto...ht=revival

I've also had mixed experiences. Once upon a time I was a big fan of the company, but as time goes on they've had more and more questionable business practices, from unkept promises to what can only be described as lying to the customer. I've been charged for things that supposedly were in stock which never came after several months, though to their credit they did always refund the money when I demanded it. I have a friend who ordered some armor from them that not only took months beyond the promised time, but when she got them, they were pieces of junk that you see on Ebay, and not the armor that was pictured on the site. When confronted, they claimed that they'd given her a free "upgraded" armor (which was a load of garbage). They did allow her to return it for a refund at least.

That's not good to hear. I was thinking of ordering some armor bits from them.

I've purchased from them online and on-site at SCA events. The shoes I've got have been of interesting quality, but overall I've been pleased. I got shipped a totally wrong size of padded coif at one point that didn't even look like the picture on their site, and was refunded but I had to pay for shipping it back, which I thought was a bit silly considering it wasn't my fault at all. I'll probably continue to deal with them, but only at events. I've heard too many horror stories about dealing with them through their website.

-Gregory

I can only say that I've been pretty happy with them. Communication has always been good, and I've been pleased with the products received each time. That being said, our dealings have been largely face to face each time. At any rate, I'd still like to give them props for making me a satisfied customer.

I've bought items of theirs from the online site on two occasions. No problems. It has been 2-3 years though, so maybe things have changed?

I have purchased several small items. Gloves, Knives, etc. and all have arrived in a timely manor and were as described/shown on the site, so no issues with them.

Update for those interested:

So I emailed Brian about a week and a half ago and received no reply. So I re-inquired via email a couple days ago and still got no reply. So today I called their toll-free number. I was told that the gauntlet parts have all returned from the heat-treaters as of yesterday and should be assembled and shipped soon. Keeping my fingers crossed! I'm still a little annoyed that I don't get responses to my emails, but any news is better than no news, so we'll see what happens.

My experience is the same as Dave Smith's experience. I too have had good very service from them but that has all been face to face since they are just three miles down the road. I do know that Brian Price has been heavily engage in writing his PhD dissertation in the past months, which may or may not have had an affect upon his business.

I have just had a positive experience with them. After this thread started, i checked out their site for the first time in a long time. I found a bone-handled knife I liked and sent them an email to see if it was in stock. The reply to that email did take 11 days, but it was in stock. I ordered the knife Saturday and received it today.

Obviously a tiny in-stock item isn't the same as custom armour, but my experience was positive.

Unfortunately, as you can see above, I called them around 9 November on the phone and they told me the armor was back from the heat-treaters, and ready for assembly and shipping. It's been almost a month since then, and no word from them. I'm going to call them again and inquire, but I think it's just about getting to that point for me where I'm going to ask for a full refund, because I honestly don't know what to believe from them. I've literally been told any day now since August. Working with them has left a sour taste in my mouth.

Update 12/13/2010

Still no gauntlets... and no replies to any emails. I called them again today, and talked to a live person and was once again told 'They're working on them as we speak and should be out the door by the end of the week.'

Haven't heard that before... We'll see, I'll let you all know what happens!

I have bought from this company, 3 pair of leather embroydered gaunlets,plus,some rivets,and other small accessories,in 2 different times.
All went well,no problem with custom,and all received in Italy pretty fast,all arrived both times,in 10-15 days,but obviously,we are talkin about products at stock.
Andrea

I have finally received my hourglass gauntlets and am rather pleased with them. They fit extremely well, and are very comfortable to wear and grip things in. There are some historical inaccuracies in the design, but I knew this before purchase so I wouldn't complain about that. Overall, I'm happy with the pieces themselves, but still dissatisfied with the process of getting them. Just wanted to provide some closure to this thread. They can be seen in the Show Us Your Kits and Harnesses Thread