This is a rather late reply to this thread... but as I thought about it, and it's worth an update.
With the negative comments here, sometimes businesses/individuals improve their service... sadly, this is not the case here...
My first use of RA was this year (2011) and involved three separate people... Richie himself, and two other business partners working separately to produce the Alien Environmental Suit. It's a huge project, and expen$ive.
I found his business partners to be a joy to work with, doing very good quality work, and responsive.
Richie on the other hand, seemed to bang out his parts rather quickly and carelessly... He achieves excellent looking work, but the care of construction is lacking.
Parts are often glued together with hot melt glue or super glue on dirty surfaces, so they simply didn't adhere well. Every armor piece I received had parts falling off, including structural parts, making the costume impossible to wear. Other parts were mislocated, forgotten to be glued, or missing altogether... like hoses and buckles.
Of course, talking with him on the phone before the order was placed was reassuring... if there were any problems, he promised to make things right. When there actually WERE problems, his efforts were minimal... he replaced parts with older USED parts that he had, and looked it. He "repaired" things by repeating his original mistakes, and he ignored other problems all together, and in the end, suggested that I fix things myself, and then stopped returning e-mails.
If it were simply cosmetic, that would be one thing... but missing parts, broken parts, structural failures... that's just not workable. It's a good thing I am able to do this work myself... but what about others that buy, but don't have the ability to deal with it?
Because he grossly mislocated a strap/snap that holds the helmet in place, this awesome helmet is not fully secure... he doesn't reply to this problem at all... nothing.
Again, his associates are a joy to work with, and do super high quality work... so the helmet and undersuit are great.
Richie, on the other hand... is less than satisfactory in my experience... and I have still not received every piece 4 months in.
If you are considering ordering from RA, be sure to ask specifically who is doing the work... with Richie, I think you are rolling the dice.
Buyer beware.
SMS