I took my new bow to Archery Unlimited at the end of deer season this year because the center serving had separated where the D-loop was attached and they re-served it. After around 20 shots I noticed that it was separating again so I took it back and offered to pay them to re-serve. I get home and on mly fifth shot I was at � draw when my hand and my release came back and hit me in the face. I looked at my bow and saw that the D-loop had broken at the knot and� you guessed it, the serving had separated. I called and talked to the owner and he told me to come back and they would make it right so I figured I would give them a shot, but since I was going to be getting a knew string set I would go ahead and buy one now. I had them order and put a set on my bow, two weeks later I get my bow back and went home to sight it in, 10 shots in and the center serving was separating in the same spot. I called and talked to one of the kids he has workinig there who told me that it was not an issue to worry about. I did a little research on the internet and called back two days later and talked to the owner who said that it was something that needed to be taken care of and for me to bring it back in. I get back down there and he watches the boy re-serve it and tells me he doesn�t understand why the problems. I get home, shoot 10 shots and same thing.

I decided to take it to Grabow Outdoors where they re-served the string and then let me shoot for an hour to check out the work they had done. After 200 shots the center serving is still as it should be. I decided to have a new peep site installed and the only place that I knew of at the time that had the Speciality Archery peep sights was Archery Unlimited so I shook of the gut feeling that I had and went to them. They installed the sight but it was as little twisted afterwards and when I got home I shot it once to check if I needed to resight the pins. Got off from my route last night and this morning I shot 6 times, 6 bullseyes, so I was going to get some yard work done and then shoot some more this afternoon. Only thing was that the peep was rotated nearly 180 deg. and I no where near centered at full draw. I decided to take to Grabow�s and have someone who does their job properly fix it for me. They put my bow on the press and stopped, looked at me and said, �you need to see this�. They bring my bow to me and nearly a � � of the string had been cut where the peep sight was tied in. I called A.U. and the owner wasn�t there but the kid own the phone said that they would be more than happy to replace the string but I told him I wanted to hear this from the owner, I wasn�t about to drive 62 miles one way to have the owner say no. I called back and spoke with the onwer; I told him what had happened and that initailly I was going to have them replace the string but had since thought about it and didn�t want them working on my bow to which he hung up.

I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt but this is not just wrong, it�s downright pathetic. Neither he nor his employees should be working on anyones bow from what I can see. After listening to him talk bad about some other places and the work they do and now having had these issues that man needs to keep his mouth shut about his competition.

Dangit man, that's scary stuff. Glad nothing serious happened. Could have been much worse. As far as this...



I try to never do business with someone who talks poorly about their competition. I don't need to know why not to do business with someone else...I just need to know why to do business with you. Trying to build your business by talking poorly about someone else's shows a lack of character in my opinion.

Hope it all works out for you! Sounds like Grabow is going to do you right!

I wasn't going to take it up there but thank God I did, the people at Grabow told me that I got lucky, that the string could have very easily broken on me so now they are getting my business and my $$, they are replacing the string for me this week.

I have known and dealt with Rick for many years. I do all of my own work, but if I chose to let anyone else touch my bow, I wouldn't hesitate to let him do it. I hate you had a bad experience with him. If you provide a service or product to the public, I don't care how good you or your product is, sooner or later someone is going to have a bad experience with you or with the product you provide.

I've sent a lot of people to Rick over the years and to my knowledge no one has ever had an issue.

I have yet to see Rick work on a bow, even after the D-loop broke on me he had the kids that work there do the work.

Grawbows is good people!

They have my business, so far nothing but good things from them, their very friendly and their prices are good

I hate you had a bad experience. I've always had a positive visit. In fact, I would say Archery Unlimited is the premier bow shop in Alabama if you were to ask me.

^^^ x2

Nah, that would be Shaw's shop.

Rick has more floor space.

I had problems with my peep twisting and the kid kept telling me it was normal and or would fix itself. After about 4 trips in someone who knew a little more got it right "I think". So far so good. Still a little off but workable. Didn't wanna go back again.

I can guaran-damn-tee you i would have been standing right in front of the owner when i told him he would pay for new strings (From String Addictions) and that i would have grabows put them on and tune at his expense.

I've had great service from Rick over the years and it sounds like he has some employee issues, possibly. I know that he cares about the quality work he turns out and would try to calmly discuss working out a satisfactory solution but he doesn't do well with being talked down to or disrespect. I'm not saying I would have done any different if I'd been in the same situation but since I knowi Rick, I realize that isn't the route to go.

I can say I'd pay good money to see how giving him an ultimatum turned out for anyone walking in there to give him one. I don't think it would work out the way you hope it would. Again, I'd probably be pissed too and probably would have showed my behind but since I know Rick I can say for sure he would want to get to the bottom of the issue and identify the problem.

Sorry Bill, Rick isn't that nice of a guy, hasn't been in the 4 months that I have been going there. He is not friendly but I looked beyond that because I had heard such good things about HIS work, problem is I have never seen him do any work on a bow.
Now, I am straight to the point, I'm not going to sugar coat anything for anyone, never have and never will, I told him that I had considered having them replace the string but decided I didn't want them working on my bow, that is when he hung up on me, in mid sentence. Yeah that sounds like a real nice guy there who is willing to do right. I didn't yell or talk down to him as you have indicated. I didn't go to his place of business after that because that would be asking for trouble and I would rather pay someone who cares about what they are doing to work on my bow. He could have very easily made a lot of money off me considering me and my 2 boys all hunt, he already had made several hundred in the past 4 months even being as unfriendly as he is, but not now.

Qoute from Bill "I've had great service from Rick over the years and it sounds like he has some employee issues, possibly"

He's the owner, if his employs can't do the job properly then HE is responsible as the owner. He got an attitude when I took my bow back when they couldn't get the center serving to stop separating. You believe what you want, I know that I got very lucky that the string didn't break on me yesterday morning when I shot it those 6 times and destroyed my bow or injured myself.

SBO, I understand and never said you were disrespectful. I never even said Rick had a sunny disposition. I even said I might have handled things the same way you did if I didn't know Rick. The only thing I did say is I'm positive he would want to know and take care of the problem if you guys could have gotten that far into the conversation. I imagine after you told him you didn't want him touching your bow again he probably decided to end the conversation. I'm not saying you did anything wrong I'm simply saying my experience has been that he wants to turn out quality work and has always done so, for me.

I drive 80 miles to Archery Unlimited because I believe in Rick and the guys there. If I'm taking a bow all over this country and others it has to be right and Archery Unlimited has never done anything but right for me. They have set up 3 bows and fixed another for me. They set it up, we paper tune it, I shoot a few shots at their range and then take it home and go to killing stuff. All my friends use them and I've never heard one bad thing. I too think they are the premier bow show in Alabama. They also have prices better than anywhere I have checked. They have my business for life.

Bill, misunderstanding as to what you were saying, my apologies.

Swamp, glad that they have done such a good job for you, wish I could say the same for me, as for their prices and the "premiere" bow shop; well I have found prices as good and in some instances better than theirs which are the same as Bass Pro and I just don't see them as the premiere shop, Grabow seems to be by far better than them.

I have delt with Mr. Rick since he opened the shop he's at now and I have never ever had a problem with any of their work. Everyone I know uses him also with the same results.

Maybe it's because I shoot a PSE and not a Hoyt or Mathews.

Any y'all use mike bennett ?

I have used him before also. I don't think you would not go wrong with him either.

Just to clerify my post mr. Rick has my business as long as he is in business.

I like Barry that works there. Known him for a while.

Rick is kindof dry, but seems to be a nice guy.

I've never had any problems with them.

I am confused. "Isn't a nice guy", "hasn't been in the 4 months ", "He is not friendly", and "problem is I have never seen him do any work on a bow". Your own initial post covers about a month yet you try to inflame the story by saying "4 months".

sbo1971, it sure looks like this is simply a smear campaign too me. That small paragraph alone provides several contradictions. If you are going to try to bad mouth a person's business, you should at least try to tell a little bit of the truth.

I would say it is safe statement to say that I know a few folks in the archery business in Alabama. And I have done business with many of them. I can assure you that Rick is top shelf. If I was out in north Bama and needed some archery help, I would go to Allen Conner in a heartbeat. When in south Bama, I got to Rick.

There are 3 sides to every story. Yours, his, and the truth. The truth is ALWAYS in the middle somewhere. Based on your statements, I would guess it was much closer to Rick's side than yours.

Those "kids" you refer to are all excellent employees.

Rick runs an OUTSTANDING shop!

I am sorry you have been confused by my previous post so let me detail this for you. I took my bow there the first at the end of deer season, around the last week of January so it may not be exactly 4 months so I guess you got me there Elkhunter. I took it there because of the center serving and had to take it back over a period of several weeks(I do work and since they are 62 miles away I cant just run down their at the drop of a hat). After the third time I decided to have new string put on after the D-loop broke on the fifth time of drawing my bow back. Now if you know them so well then you should know that they have to order your strings which takes at least 2 weeks, then they have to put them on which takes another week so there is another 3 weeks right there.
Now a week later I started having serving issues again and had to go back two more times to him which stretched out over a week. I Ended up having to take my bow to Grabow to get the serving issue taken care of. I also had them put a QAD rest on my bow around the first of April.
Now just this past weekend(April 30th)I took it down to him for a peep when they cut the string putting in the peep. I talked to the actual person that put the peep in but instead of taking his word that he himself would make it right, I wanted to hear this form Rick since it's his store.

Now you can call me a liar all you want I don't really care, screw you for all I care, I know what I know. The man has never been friendly toward me, the other employs have but not him, maybe because I didn't by my bow from him or what ever. As I stated, I overlooked that because I had heard good things about him. Everyone that has said that they have had good work done by them, good glad for you, but I haven't, maybe I pissed him off about something I don't know, but HE DID NOT offer or attempt to make it right. They cut my string and then tried to serve over it but it didn't work out.
Stand up for your friend all you want, but don't call me a liar.

I didn't call you a liar. Just back down a bit.

"Now just this past weekend(April 30th)I took it down to him for a peep when they cut the string putting in the peep. I talked to the actual person that put the peep in but instead of taking his word that he himself would make it right, I wanted to hear this form Rick since it's his store."

I wasn't on the phone so I can't attest to anything said by either party, but this statement is somewhat confrontational. I seriously doubt you were the angel you are portraying nor do I think Rick with the devil you are saying he was. I am simply saying the truth is somewhere in the middle.

"I tried to give them the benefit of the doubt but this is not just wrong, it�s downright pathetic. Neither he nor his employees should be working on anyones bow from what I can see."

And here is why I said this sounds like a smear campaign. Unless I am mistaken, you commented somewhere in this thread that you never saw Rick work on a bow. How many of the "kids" worked on your bow? Was it the same one each time? If so, how can you honestly make a statement like that about ALL of their archery skills if you have NEVER used them.

I am simply saying you have made inflamed statements because you are mad. The truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Rick runs a great shop. The "kids" as you call them are not kids. They have more experience than you would believe.

I don't know where you're from but; (Quote)"you should at least try to tell a little bit of the truth." is accusing someone of not telling the truth, in other words a liar.
I didn't claim to be an angel but, you can ask the people at Grabow how the first conversation with the person who tied on the peep and cut the string went because they were standing right there. I didn't yell at the person but I told him that if they replaced the string I was not paying for it. I also told him that since he wasn't the owner I wanted to hear this form Rick before I drive down there 62 miles.

I am not going to rehash with you what I said to Rick, the fact is I had to drop $70 for a new string with speed nocks plus my time and gas to make two trips to Grabow to repair their work.
I have had 3-4 different people at A.U. work on my bow during this time frame so I think I have a pretty good idea as to their skills, in fact the last time they re-served the center serving Rick watched the person do it for a few minutes and walked over to me and stated that he wasn't sure why the serving wouldn't stay, that it might be due to the short axle to axle and me having a 30" draw. I'm guessing you didn't see where someone else had trouble with their peep tying skills.

Again to say that I have made inflamed statements is to accuse me of not telling the truth which is to say a liar. You can dress it up all you want but the fact remains you are calling me a liar, just using different terms so my statement to you still stands, screw you. Maybe one day you'll will be on the receiving end of Rick's "great work" hopefully you catch it before your bow gets destroyed or you get injured.

As far as calling them kids, I don't really care how much experience you have, if the work you do results in what I have seen your experience means nothing, also, I call anyone under the age of 25 a kid.
Have a nice day.

Had I come on here singing the praises of A.U. you would be thrilled, had I come on here making my statements about another bow shop that you didn't know would you be responding the way your are? I think not, but since it's your good buddy Rick you come after me. My intentions are not to smear Rick, but to inform others of my experiences there so that people on here can decide if that is the place they want to take their bow. As I have stated, I heard nothing but good things about A.U. both on here and from other people, that is why I went there in the first place but MY experience with them has not been similar to other people. If you have a problem with that then too bad, get over it and keep going there.

How's this; When I took my bow to Grabow to put a string on it this weekend guess what, I got home and within 15 shots a speed nock came off. Called them up and told them about it and they apologized, told me to bring it back and they would take care of it. I drove up there that day and they put a new speed nock on and checked the others to make sure that they wouldn't come off. I will be taking my bow to them from now on, while there was a slight issue, they made it right without any problems and even threw in a hat for my trouble(and no I didn't ask for anything).
I understand that things happen, that is why I give people the benefit of the doubt, but after a while it gets old having to have someone repair their mistakes.

Hope you have good luck with your bow and really enjoy bowhunting.