Yeah, there is no valid excuse. I completely understand that attitude of wanted to write him off, and asking for him to be banned from the community, etc. It's very frustrating. But the reality is, he IS working through his orders and getting them filled. Just very slowly. His current workshop is climate controlled I do believe. It's a nice looking office/shop in an office park. I'm just not sure he's there very often.
Beyond his own medical stuff he cares for his daughter who has serious medical issues of her own. His Mom was also suffering serious medical issues for a few years and Matt was her only caregiver. She passed away recently, which in and of itself can derail a person. His wife tried to step in on the business end and help him with emails, and getting orders filled. That seemed to work out well. I believe that was short lived, and now she's working on her MBA and just helping him out now and then. And yeah, he broke his thumb.
I think Matt certainly needs somebody to field his emails, work with his customers, and make sure he's staying on task and meeting deadlines. He doesn't have that. So that's what you get if you want some of Matt's work. You have to wait a really long time.
My own experience with Matt, I had to wait for a few years just to get a couple sets of Wanted grips and compensators. But he was always honest with me when I emailed him and said "Hey, any progress on those grips?" he never promised me they were being packed and shipped. It was generally "They're on the list, I'll get to them as soon as I can." and he did.
There was a time on the RPF when we only had guys working out of the garage on nights and weekends, and they had thier kids helping out, and people didn't mind waiting a long time to get kits. It wasn't a big deal. It was only hobbyists around here, and people seemed to be cool with whatever the wait time was. Long before Etsy, and even Ebay were things. I recently had to wait several months to get a John Wick 2 (edit) kit. It took a long time.
Some people don't take a lot of time. I order from some folks who do 3D printing, and those guys are much quicker with the kits. Just the nature of the kind of work and artist you're ordering from.
I'm not saying Matt is right or wrong here. If he told you that your kit is shipping, and months later it hasn't arrived, that's not cool. Not at all. But, I don't believe it's because Matt is sitting around his shop doing nothing, I don't think he's ignoring anybody or intending to steal money and not deliver goods. That's what I mean, and I think that's why he hasn't been banned. But that is only my opinion. Take it as given please.