Per the OP: "I reported the problems to Brian Meckler himself, the response we received was a link to Edgun West's 'Terms and Conditions'."
I would think that after a customer spends nearly $10K with a business, the owner -- even the most jaded of owners -- would take the time to listen to the customer and go through a check-list of potential issues to resolve the problem.
I have made purchases from Brian Meckler before and I NEVER will again. Once the sale was done, I was unable to get any followup service from him. I ended up getting the needed parts from EDgun Shop (of Spain).