More Shopping 411...

[TechSeller]

As a one man economic stimulus package, I have made a number of purchases locally, in the US and HK. My feedback on the HK shops has been posted in the appropriate thread so in this thread I just wanted to pass along my experience with a few other retailers...

OpticsPlanet.com - anyone googling for gear has no doubt seen these guys come up early and often in searches. They are the search engine placement champs! <I need to find out who they use..>

Seems like they have everything readily available but a word of caution.. they do not post stock levels. I ordered 3 items only to find out 2 were not in stock and would not be available for a number of weeks. Not a huge deal for me, but for anyone needing something RUSH, I suggest calling ahead. They have a toll free that works from Canada and I have never had a problem reaching someone.

Another interesting note .. they cancelled my order for the ESS Turbofan Goggles saying that ESS does not allow them to ship outside the US. I contacted a number of other US based retailers of ESS and none of them were aware of any such restriction. Accordingly, I got them somewhere else.

BDU.com - I found their prices very competitive and service was exceptional. Used the toll free number to contact customer service and got a lot of help in terms of sizing and the material used by Propper. The order shipped within 2 days and the shipping was very reasonable with USPS.

ChiefSupply.com - Good prices and a 10% off coupon on orders over $75. Good place to get the ESS goggles. Like Optics Planet however, their site will allow orders of OOS items. Toll free support is available and no issue getting help from their customer service. Shipping was fair with USPS.

And last but certainly not least, I dropped into Army Surplus in Port Credit. Great little store with lots of goodies! Picked up a few T's and was assisted by a nice young lady in getting AV'd. I will definitely be back there to do some more damage.

That's it for now... I'm freakin broke!

Cheers!

[TechSeller]

The magical disappearing order ...

OK, if anyone is keeping score at home I just wanted to revise my somewhat positive review of Optics Planet. Since my original post they have firmly planted themselves right near the top of most frustrating online experiences (only second to Evike)

So, as mentioned before they have tons of stuff for sale... well, not really, you can order anything you want but be prepared to find out it is either discontinued, back ordered or can't be shipped to Canada.

Lets review shall we...

Ordered ESS Googles - a week later advised they cannot be shipped to Canada (not true) but told my other items are fine except the Tac gloves are backordered. OK, not in a huge rush and they have an MP5 scope mount I want... so i add that to the order and all is well. I am told it will all ship together in one happy package.

Next e-mail received another week later now tells me that they cannot locate the gloves and they are discontinued (but hey... you can still order them off their site... fill your boots!)

So now the goggles are cancelled, the gloves are cancelled so I figure I better confirm my bandoleer and scope mount are going to ship as I was told (twice). I send an e-mail and what do you know... they can't find either of them as my entire order has been cancelled. No call or e-mail explaining why. A hasty call is placed to customer service and when I finished with this rep he didn't know whether to shit or go sailing.

The upshot is.. the scope mount cannot be shipped to Canada and the Bandoleer is discontinued (ya.. whatever)

A colossal failure and waste of time. Thank you Optics Planet!

[Outcast569]

Horrible horrible site. Never had a good experiance with them for any thing. Half what they tell you is lies and the other is base stupidity.