Rant on militaria dealers

[MG42UK]

So this may have just been a bad week, but the almost "I really don't care how pi**ed off you are" approach of two Militaria dealers this week to the appalling, poor quality items I have got has left me deeply frustrated and unhappy. Posting on here is part of that frustration, and I'm going to call these people out, I don't see why we should put up with the kind of crap service a lot of these people think they can get away with.

Here we go:

1. SMG Mag
I ordered a ˜new/nearly new" mag off TheGunner in the UK, and a few days later (was meant to be next day after posting delivery) got a grubby horrible worn-out old mag. Annoyed, I emailed them and got at least a 'sorry our mistake' reply, but then it's down to me to post this thing back (that's frankly only good for the trash), before they'll demean themselves to send out the actual item I've ordered. Not happy! These guys should not only accept their mistake, but they should then get the item I ordered in the post straightaway and assume I will post the junk item back to them. It feels like although it is their mistake I have to do the running to get the item I want!

2. Pistol Grips
Ordered a set of pistol grips from Pistol & Revolver Grips Made by NC Ordnance, these cost me USD75.00 (US based firm), and well, OMG these things were awful, here is my feedback to the vendor on email:

<<This product is of appalling poor quality, the moulding on the reverse of each grip means they do not fit on the gun properly, the plastic is of a very brittle hard type, so any scraping away of the mouldings is not easy and the screw holes are too small. A complete waste of money!! Why can’t you sell a decent product that actually fits properly, or at least have the decency to explain on the website that these are roughly made cheap items that need extensive fettling in order to work. I am considering whether to also share this feedback on relevant forums.>>

I mean this stuff was bad!!!!

Anyway, not wanting to break into a sweat on this kind of feedback, all I got back on email was simply the reply from the vendor that said <return for a refund, Thanks, Bill>

So that's it??? I have to pack and post back another pile of streaming crap (this time to the US) to get a refund, no "we're really sorry to hear that, we'll just refund you straightaway" or "Sorry about that, we'll do an inventory check and send you free of charge a new set"

What really p*sses me is that these types of vendor really think they can get away sending erroneous, or inferior quality, items out to mugs like us and that we'll just accept it and get on with the appalling attitude we get in return, because these guys just don't care!

Anyway rant over, many other dealers are excellent, but I don't like being taken for an idiot by vendors, and I guess I just had a bad week with these two. Repeat custom probably not going to happen.

Anyone else have similar experiences?

[MAP]

I find that having a Rant every now and then relieves a lot of stress! Feel better after this??

Can't say however I've a similar experience. I've always been lucky with dealers.

What I do have a rant about my own local US Post office.

In this day and age we now have "tracking". And we even get text alerts each time there is a hand off or the status changes. When the package gets to my "local" post office. I get notified that it is "out for delivery". At least 50% of the time (near 100% for my overseas Militaria purchases)....I get a text late in the day saying that they "tried to deliver, but no one was home". This is a bunch of B.S. because someone is ALWAYS home and they didn't even attempt to deliver. It was just late in the day and they wanted to go home. I'm assuming they mark it as "no one was home" only for their OWN statistics!!!!

[carpediem]

I find that having a Rant every now and then relieves a lot of stress! Feel better after this??

Can't say however I've a similar experience. I've always been lucky with dealers.

What I do have a rant about my own local US Post office.

In this day and age we now have "tracking". And we even get text alerts each time there is a hand off or the status changes. When the package gets to my "local" post office. I get notified that it is "out for delivery". At least 50% of the time (near 100% for my overseas Militaria purchases)....I get a text late in the day saying that they "tried to deliver, but no one was home". This is a bunch of B.S. because someone is ALWAYS home and they didn't even attempt to deliver. It was just late in the day and they wanted to go home. I'm assuming they mark it as "no one was home" only for their OWN statistics!!!!

My over seas stuff takes forever, but the continental stuff is setting no land speed records let me tell you. I hear they closed a bunch of facilities and it has thrown a wrench into the already half assed operations of the US Postal Service.

[MAP]

My over seas stuff takes forever, but the continental stuff is setting no land speed records let me tell you. I hear they closed a bunch of facilities and it has thrown a wrench into the already half assed operations of the US Postal Service.

My regular mailman broke his ankle back in Feb. So instead of getting a replacement, the other mailmen/women are taking turns doing his route in ADDITION to theirs. We don't get our mail until 5 or 6 at night....

[MG42UK]

<I find that having a Rant every now and then relieves a lot of stress! Feel better after this??>

I feel good calling it out on this occasion, mostly I (we?) just suck it up and play the long-game not wanting to rock the boat unduly with some people, even if I'm not happy. This time, the disappointment factor was one thing in both instances (e.g. I spent a couple of hours on the grips trying to make them fit, cutting away at the moulding lines on the back of the grips), but what made we post was the 'I really don't care you've had a bad experience' response from both vendors. If one, or both, had responded in what I consider an appropriate way I would have been fine with it.

I'm glad I seem to be in a minority here . And, like I said, I mostly have excellent service from my 'regular' contacts.

[MG42UK]

Further to my original post, TheGunner delivered the money on this and offered to send on the mag I'd ordered before I returned my one, so please consider their card unmarked and my comments made in haste

[BrodieBartfast]

I had some trouble with a dealer called AKM Militaria a few months ago, regarding a relic Panzerfaust that arrived in pieces. Returning it was more of a hassle than it should have been, but I was fully refunded in the end. I tend to stick to the same group of dealers, and peruse their sites regularly. I know I can trust them, that they'll deliver a good service and that returning an item won't be a problem if needs be.

eBay on the other hand is a minefield. It's a coin toss as to whether they're a great seller, or an absolute cretin. Thankfully, the vast majority are the former.

B.B.

[MG42UK]

I had some trouble with a dealer called AKM Militaria a few months ago, regarding a relic Panzerfaust that arrived in pieces. Returning it was more of a hassle than it should have been, but I was fully refunded in the end. I tend to stick to the same group of dealers, and peruse their sites regularly. I know I can trust them, that they'll deliver a good service and that returning an item won't be a problem if needs be.

eBay on the other hand is a minefield. It's a coin toss as to whether they're a great seller, or an absolute cretin. Thankfully, the vast majority are the former.

B.B.

Cheers BB - what tipped it for me was the thought of having spent two hours with these over-priced pieces of c*ap sent all the way from the US (at some expense), and the guy the other end just couldn't be asked to make some effort given my strong feedback. I won't be posting his cheap bits of plastic back, partly as punishment to myself for having got them, and as a reminder not to buy from there again

Same for US guys buying from Europe, it makes a lot of difference if you have that distance and cost if the goods are faulty/wrong etc. returning them IMO just isn't easy or cheap. Vendors should be more aware of where their customers are if there are issues.

[Brig]

More and more dealers are solving these complaints for themselves by simply ceasing to ship international. Of course, that's not always the best course of action, from a business sense

[MG42UK]

...and of course it cuts both ways, you can get difficult customers and bad vendors. Given the postage content restrictions in place and customs charges, I think the US/EU level of trade is already quite boiled down in our hobby area. I'm not aware of vendors generally no-longer trading in the EU from the US in terms of a trend, but I know it does happen, but in my experience more around concerns on what can/can't be posted to the EU within the Militaria category.