Hi all, four years as a forum member & I've read a lot of posts a some great info. This site is a great resource. Being a firm believer in keeping quiet unless I have something useful to say I've kept quiet until now. I'm putting this post in the bear pit as I'm not sure where it should go.
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Story</span>
I've been having some dramas with a company that supplies gear to the sniper, law enforcement and tactical community (Alamo Four Star LLC) and want to tell my story as a heads-up to others here and to ask for help. It's been difficult trying to sort out the problem, given I'm in Australia and the company is in the USA. If anyone has anything to add or any suggestions to what I can do, in addition to what I've tried to date, please let me know. I'm not necessarily saying "don't buy off these guys", but be aware of what they're like as a company and make your own decision.
I served 12 years in the Australian Army and medically retired a few years back from service-related injuries. I've served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nowdays I do some consulting in the firearms, ballistics and security fields, and also write on these subjects. I still shoot competitively (service rifle and sniper comps). Between a Defence pension and scratching out a living writing/consulting, with a mortgage to pay and my wifle out of work with a 5-month old baby to bring up, I don't earn a lot, so the amount of money at issue here is a considerable loss to me.
I read a review last year on the Deros Level Grouse and felt I needed to get my hands on one, give it a good work out, and write my own review on it for <span style="font-style: italic">Guns Australia </span>magazine.
Consequently, on 13th November 2009 I went onto the Alamo website and ordered a Deros Level and Picatinny mount.
On 20th November Alamo charged my Credit Card the US$205 the order totalled.
To date (20th March 2010) and I have never received the order. Nor was it ever shipped.
I Contacted Alamo twice in December, via their 'contact' webform, as to what was happening with my order. Never got a reply. You see, in ten years of ordering tactical gear off US companies (as an officer in a Special Forces unit here in Australia), I'd never had my card charged until an item actually shipped, so I wanted to confirm shipping, method, etc. Alamo seem to work differently, however...
I then started emailing them. Now, their website didn't list a phone number, any email addresses, street addresses, or any way of contacting them other than the web form, so I got Mark Deros' email address from the order confirmation email I'd received, and checked it against the contact email in their website registration details on 'whois'. [email protected]. Email sent in late December - no reply.
Then I expanded, and in January sent another email, to the previous address, but also sent copies to [email protected], and [email protected]. No reply.
By this stage I'd gotten fed up with Alamo, needed the product (I was writing a magazine article on it plus wanted to trial it in an upcoming sniper competition)so ordered (and paid for) another one through Phoenix Tactical. Scott Hansen @ Phoenix was great and sent one pretty much straight away. Now why didn't I go to him first (I still kick myself).
I also looked up their phone number on whitepages.com and checked it was the same as one listed in a review of their products I found online. When I phoned, all I got was a phone company recorded message that it 'wasn't a working number'. I checked the number and tried twice more to be sure. Alarm bells were ringing by now.
In January I received an email from Mark Deros - Finally! But no, not for me: it was an email intended for Scott at Phoenix Tactical and had been sent to me by mistake! Must have hit the 'reply' button by mistake. He could email his resellers but not me? Seizing on the obvious - that Mr Deros had been getting my emails all along and was just ignoring me - I sent ANOTHER email (by reply) pointing out that I was <span style="font-style: italic">still</span> waiting for my order and still wanted it. By this stage I was fed up and told Mr Deros to please ship the item I had ordered and paid for months before or I would report him to the various consumer protection agencies. After all, to my mind ordering and paying for something and never receiving it, along with websites not listing email or contact details and disconnected phone numbers, spells 'ripoff'.
No reply.
At the end of February I emailed again, with an ultimatum - give me my money back. I gave him 7 days to refund my money or I'd take legal action against him.
No reply. No refund.
(I will point out that in all my emails, I was polite and professional at all times, and gave the company every chance to tell me if there was a problem and rectify the situation.)
Cut to Present Day: Four Months since I ordered and paid for the items from Alamofourstar.com. I have never had a reply to any of my emails or queries - though I had proof he'd been getting them - and I have never received my order or the refund I'd asked for when it became clear Mark Deros had no intention of giving me what I'd paid for.
In the last week I have filled out forms that have initiated an investigation, via my bank and the credit card company, into the matter (as I paid by VISA, there is some recourse there), plus filled out a report about Alamo Four Star via econsumer.gov (the Federal Trade Commission and International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network website) - a great site if a foreign company rips you off. I'm going to contact the ACCC here and find out what other consumer protection agencies there are in the US I can approach. Telling my story and warning others via forums may help as well.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Footnote:</span>
The Deros Level Grouse I receved from Phoenix Tactical had some problems. Firstly, despite the packaging saying batteries were included, there were none. The unit also looked a little beat up, with scratches on the casing and some paint chipped off a corner. It had a 'Demo unit' look to it, if you know what I mean. I'm not saying it <span style="font-style: italic">wasn't</span> a new one, but it was either dropped at some stage or put together very roughly if it was. Oh, and once I got the batteries in and started testing it for the article I was writing, it worked fine for about 15 min and then <span style="font-style: italic">stopped working</span>. One light just wouldn't go on no matter how much you tilted it.
I contacted Scott @ Phoenix Tactical. He was great and said ship it back ASAP and he'd get a replacement to me soonest. Sent it off via Registered post. Well, that was 6 weeks ago and haven't heard from Scott nor received a replacement. The saga continues. And the article never got written.
(apologies for any typos: it's past midnight and I had a Krav Maga training seminar all day so I'm completely shagged).
<span style="font-weight: bold">The Story</span>
I've been having some dramas with a company that supplies gear to the sniper, law enforcement and tactical community (Alamo Four Star LLC) and want to tell my story as a heads-up to others here and to ask for help. It's been difficult trying to sort out the problem, given I'm in Australia and the company is in the USA. If anyone has anything to add or any suggestions to what I can do, in addition to what I've tried to date, please let me know. I'm not necessarily saying "don't buy off these guys", but be aware of what they're like as a company and make your own decision.
I served 12 years in the Australian Army and medically retired a few years back from service-related injuries. I've served in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nowdays I do some consulting in the firearms, ballistics and security fields, and also write on these subjects. I still shoot competitively (service rifle and sniper comps). Between a Defence pension and scratching out a living writing/consulting, with a mortgage to pay and my wifle out of work with a 5-month old baby to bring up, I don't earn a lot, so the amount of money at issue here is a considerable loss to me.
I read a review last year on the Deros Level Grouse and felt I needed to get my hands on one, give it a good work out, and write my own review on it for <span style="font-style: italic">Guns Australia </span>magazine.
Consequently, on 13th November 2009 I went onto the Alamo website and ordered a Deros Level and Picatinny mount.
On 20th November Alamo charged my Credit Card the US$205 the order totalled.
To date (20th March 2010) and I have never received the order. Nor was it ever shipped.
I Contacted Alamo twice in December, via their 'contact' webform, as to what was happening with my order. Never got a reply. You see, in ten years of ordering tactical gear off US companies (as an officer in a Special Forces unit here in Australia), I'd never had my card charged until an item actually shipped, so I wanted to confirm shipping, method, etc. Alamo seem to work differently, however...
I then started emailing them. Now, their website didn't list a phone number, any email addresses, street addresses, or any way of contacting them other than the web form, so I got Mark Deros' email address from the order confirmation email I'd received, and checked it against the contact email in their website registration details on 'whois'. [email protected]. Email sent in late December - no reply.
Then I expanded, and in January sent another email, to the previous address, but also sent copies to [email protected], and [email protected]. No reply.
By this stage I'd gotten fed up with Alamo, needed the product (I was writing a magazine article on it plus wanted to trial it in an upcoming sniper competition)so ordered (and paid for) another one through Phoenix Tactical. Scott Hansen @ Phoenix was great and sent one pretty much straight away. Now why didn't I go to him first (I still kick myself).
I also looked up their phone number on whitepages.com and checked it was the same as one listed in a review of their products I found online. When I phoned, all I got was a phone company recorded message that it 'wasn't a working number'. I checked the number and tried twice more to be sure. Alarm bells were ringing by now.
In January I received an email from Mark Deros - Finally! But no, not for me: it was an email intended for Scott at Phoenix Tactical and had been sent to me by mistake! Must have hit the 'reply' button by mistake. He could email his resellers but not me? Seizing on the obvious - that Mr Deros had been getting my emails all along and was just ignoring me - I sent ANOTHER email (by reply) pointing out that I was <span style="font-style: italic">still</span> waiting for my order and still wanted it. By this stage I was fed up and told Mr Deros to please ship the item I had ordered and paid for months before or I would report him to the various consumer protection agencies. After all, to my mind ordering and paying for something and never receiving it, along with websites not listing email or contact details and disconnected phone numbers, spells 'ripoff'.
No reply.
At the end of February I emailed again, with an ultimatum - give me my money back. I gave him 7 days to refund my money or I'd take legal action against him.
No reply. No refund.
(I will point out that in all my emails, I was polite and professional at all times, and gave the company every chance to tell me if there was a problem and rectify the situation.)
Cut to Present Day: Four Months since I ordered and paid for the items from Alamofourstar.com. I have never had a reply to any of my emails or queries - though I had proof he'd been getting them - and I have never received my order or the refund I'd asked for when it became clear Mark Deros had no intention of giving me what I'd paid for.
In the last week I have filled out forms that have initiated an investigation, via my bank and the credit card company, into the matter (as I paid by VISA, there is some recourse there), plus filled out a report about Alamo Four Star via econsumer.gov (the Federal Trade Commission and International Consumer Protection and Enforcement Network website) - a great site if a foreign company rips you off. I'm going to contact the ACCC here and find out what other consumer protection agencies there are in the US I can approach. Telling my story and warning others via forums may help as well.
<span style="font-weight: bold">Footnote:</span>
The Deros Level Grouse I receved from Phoenix Tactical had some problems. Firstly, despite the packaging saying batteries were included, there were none. The unit also looked a little beat up, with scratches on the casing and some paint chipped off a corner. It had a 'Demo unit' look to it, if you know what I mean. I'm not saying it <span style="font-style: italic">wasn't</span> a new one, but it was either dropped at some stage or put together very roughly if it was. Oh, and once I got the batteries in and started testing it for the article I was writing, it worked fine for about 15 min and then <span style="font-style: italic">stopped working</span>. One light just wouldn't go on no matter how much you tilted it.
I contacted Scott @ Phoenix Tactical. He was great and said ship it back ASAP and he'd get a replacement to me soonest. Sent it off via Registered post. Well, that was 6 weeks ago and haven't heard from Scott nor received a replacement. The saga continues. And the article never got written.
(apologies for any typos: it's past midnight and I had a Krav Maga training seminar all day so I'm completely shagged).
