I was surprised to find this thread. I am a customer of HTM/DDR, and I recently had a customer service experience that went very differently.
I too received a custom AXD from Darrel recently - the four inch model, to be specific. When it arrived (May 29th, 2014), I found that the blade was very difficult to open. Apparently, some of the loctite that had been applied to the pivot had seeped out of the pivot well and gummed up the opening mechanism. I called DDR (around June 1 or 2, 2014) and spoke with Darrel directly about the problem. He apologized sincerely for the error and asked that I send him the knife for immediately repair. I also own an HTM mid-tech Gunhammer so I asked Darrel if he wouldn't mind me tossing it into the box as well so it could also receive some maintenance. He said it was no problem. I sent them on June 3, and they arrived June 5.
When the two knives were returned to me (June 19), they were in fantastic shape. Everything that I would expect from a full custom and a high-quality mid-tech.
Funny thing is, when I first received my custom AXD, it had actually been upgraded for me at no additional charge. I had originally requested M390 blade steel, but due to a shortage, that would have pushed back the completion of my knife. Ms. Lacey Ellis passed along the word that Darrel would be willing to upgrade my knife to CPM-S110V at no additional charge, just in the interest of getting my knife to me by the promised delivery date. I thought this was a very fine gesture from Darrel and his company.
My AXD-4 and HTM Gunhammer are now my favourite knives, and I use both of them every day.
It's unfortunate that the original poster had a bad experience. I've read through this entire thread, and I'm still not entirely clear on the details of what happened. Perhaps if he provided a new post, with a shorter video and all of his supporting evidence (with dates, screenshots of emails, etc.) collected together for ease of view, the BladeForums community could make a more informed decision about what transpired here.
All I can say is that I have had nothing but positive experiences with DDR. I will watch this thread for new developments.
Here are my two knives: