I thought I could trust Buckshot's Camp (i.e., www.buckshotscamp.com ) because it is popular with folks on the various outdoor and survival forums. However, I have been badly mistreated by Buckshot's Camp, and after multiple attempts to correct the situation was finally screwed by them. I am a very dissatisfied customer... if you can call someone who has been baited and switched, lied to, and stolen from a "customer"... and I recommend that you avoid this company.
For anyone with an interest in all of the lengthy details:
Toward the end of January, I ordered a "Big Flint" (a 4"x1/2" ferrocerium rod, with a hole drilled through it, and a cord tied through the hole, also tied to a striker made from a hacksaw blade) online from www.buckshotcamp.com. I ordered it by filling out an online form.
As soon as I sent the order form, apparently the charge was automatically processed to my credit card by the software. While this is common software, and a common practice, it is slightly bad business practice to charge someone upon ordering a product. Instead, better practice would be to use software which just generates an email to the business with the details of your order, and the credit card charge should be processed when the product is shipped. The two reasons for this are: 1) The company is not entitled to the float on other people's money from the time of order to the time of shipping; 2) Nothing is certain until the ordered product is going out the door. This is a minor point of bad business practice, but worth mentioning.
Eleven days later, I received an email from buckshotscamp, saying that they do not have the Big Flint in stock, they will not be getting more, and they are going to send me a BlastMatch, instead. (For those who don't know: a Blastmatch is a 2.5" x 1/2 inch ferrocerium rod, without a hole drilled through it, mounted in a large, two-piece plastic handle/case/striker.)
I have three issues with this:
First, a minor point: They should've taken down the option to order the product, if they no longer have it in stock.
Second, also a minor point: They shouldn't have taken the better part of two weeks to let me know.
And finally, a very significant point: I consider it a VERY BAD BUSINESS PRACTICE to take and keep someone's money but unilaterally decide to send someone something different from what was ordered. I would have felt more sympathetic if they had emailed me and said that they no longer carry the Big Flint, and then asked me whether I would like a refund or would prefer a Blastmatch, instead. But for a business to choose for the customer to send the customer a different product than was ordered, without seeking the customer's consent, is absolutely unacceptable. Imagine a company taking your money for an order on a Spyderco Endura knife, then telling you they don't carry them anymore, so they're going to fill your order by sending you a Cold Steel Voyager knife. Imagine ordering the latest Tom Clancy novel, and having the company take your money, then tell you that they are out of stock, so they're sending you the latest Harlequin Romance novel. Imagine ordering an Apple computer, and having a company tell you that they no longer carry Apples, so they're going to send you a Dell computer that they consider similar in specifications. THIS IS APPALLINGLY BAD BUSINESS BEHAVIOR.
So I immediately emailed back to them, saying I don't want a Blastmatch; Don't send me a Blastmatch; Cancel the order and refund my money; Send confirmation that you have received cancellation of my order.
A couple days later, I received an email from Buckshot's Camp confirming that they have shipped me the Blastmatch.
I immediately called them, and said I didn't want a Blastmatch, I didn't order a Blastmatch, and I had specifically told them not to send me a Blastmatch.
While they were not rude, their tone of voice on the phone for this call made clear that they considered it a hassle to deal with my concerns. And I doubt it even occurred to them that they should apologize to me. They told me, "When the mailman brings the package, refuse it; and when we receive it back, we'll refund your money." I told them, "My mailman doesn't wait around for my approval to deliver mail, he just delivers the mail and leaves; and further, even if that wasn't the case, I don't have time to sit around the house waiting for the mailman, so that I can refuse this package." So they told me, "When the Blastmatch arrives, mail it back; When we get it back, we'll refund you for the Blastmatch and pay you back for your shipping costs."
I have two problems with this:
1) How about refunding my money immediately for something I never ordered, instead of making me wait until they get it back? By making the refund dependent upon their receipt of the returned item, they are making me financially accountable for their unilateral bad decision to send me a product I never wanted, never asked for, and specifically told them not to send me.
2) How about, as part of accepting their blame, writing off the Blastmatch, which is a fairly small cost item? By making me waste my time re-addressing the package and going to the post office and mailing it back to them (which is likely to cost more, from the perspective of the value of my time, than the refund is worth), they are putting the onus on me to rectify their mistake.
Totally unprofessional. But I tried to let it slide, because I'd rather deal with things politely than get nasty, as long as I thought they were at least being honest enough to refund my money.
Eight days later, the Blastmatch which they shipped to me still hadn't arrived, but my credit card bill arrived, with that charge on it. So I had to decide whether to pay for a product which I never wanted, never ordered, and never received, so that I could waste my time shipping it back to them, and hope that they didn't bungle my refund the way they bungled everything else up to that point.
I called them and told them that I never received the Blastmatch to send back to them, and the credit bill was due. They said they'd check on it. They called me back and told me that it was at my local post office, and should be arriving today or tomorrow.
"Today" went by. "Tomorrow" went by. Still no Blastmatch arrived. I waited several days more, then I both wrote to them and called them and said, "Fix my situation NOW. The blastmatch never arrived, so there's no way I can return it. I have a credit card bill to pay, so I don't want to keep waiting for a product that may or may not eventually arrive. And since I never wanted a Blastmatch, never ordered a Blastmatch, and never received a Blastmatch, there is no reason I should be held responsible to pay for one. Even if it does eventually arrive, the cost of my labor for taking time off work to go to the post office and mail the Blastmatch back to you is more than the Blastmatch is worth. So, write off this Blastmatch and eat the cost yourselves, and remove this credit charge immediately."
To which they had the effrontery to start arguing with me on the phone that a Blastmatch and Big Flint are "basically the same thing". After pointlessly arguing that it's not the same thing, and not what I ordered, I finally got them to agree to remove the charge. I didn't trust them much anymore, so I asked them to take care of it right now, while I was on the phone, and then tell me when they'd removed the charge. I waited, and they told me that they'd done so.
I called my credit card company to confirm, but they said that it would take at least two weeks to confirm. When I was finally able to get the information: No, Buckshot's Camp never removed the charge.
I think Buckshot's Camp manage their business so sloppily that it puts the customer at risk of complications and frustrations. Additionally, I think their business practices... (A) charging nearly two weeks before shipping, for a product they don't have in stock, and don't carry; (B) switching products without the customer's consent, and believing that is acceptable when they perceive products as "basically the same"; (C) ignoring customers' emails; (D) putting the burden and the financial accountability on the customer to rectify their mistakes ... are so appallingly bad that they are likely to cause problems for their customers. For a while, I thought they were fundamentally honest, but just really bad business people. However, having them, in the end, say that they had removed the charge from my card when they had not, forces me to consider them not merely bad business people, but also bait & switchers, liars, and thieves.
Weeks later, the Blastmatch finally arrived by mail. There's no point wasting my labor and postage returning it now, since I already know that Buckshot's Camp doesn't refund money like they say they will, and will only lie about doing so. Instead, I'm going to test it against other fire ignition tools, then give it away on a survival forum.
Avoid Buckshot's Camp.
Mike
For anyone with an interest in all of the lengthy details:
Toward the end of January, I ordered a "Big Flint" (a 4"x1/2" ferrocerium rod, with a hole drilled through it, and a cord tied through the hole, also tied to a striker made from a hacksaw blade) online from www.buckshotcamp.com. I ordered it by filling out an online form.
As soon as I sent the order form, apparently the charge was automatically processed to my credit card by the software. While this is common software, and a common practice, it is slightly bad business practice to charge someone upon ordering a product. Instead, better practice would be to use software which just generates an email to the business with the details of your order, and the credit card charge should be processed when the product is shipped. The two reasons for this are: 1) The company is not entitled to the float on other people's money from the time of order to the time of shipping; 2) Nothing is certain until the ordered product is going out the door. This is a minor point of bad business practice, but worth mentioning.
Eleven days later, I received an email from buckshotscamp, saying that they do not have the Big Flint in stock, they will not be getting more, and they are going to send me a BlastMatch, instead. (For those who don't know: a Blastmatch is a 2.5" x 1/2 inch ferrocerium rod, without a hole drilled through it, mounted in a large, two-piece plastic handle/case/striker.)
I have three issues with this:
First, a minor point: They should've taken down the option to order the product, if they no longer have it in stock.
Second, also a minor point: They shouldn't have taken the better part of two weeks to let me know.
And finally, a very significant point: I consider it a VERY BAD BUSINESS PRACTICE to take and keep someone's money but unilaterally decide to send someone something different from what was ordered. I would have felt more sympathetic if they had emailed me and said that they no longer carry the Big Flint, and then asked me whether I would like a refund or would prefer a Blastmatch, instead. But for a business to choose for the customer to send the customer a different product than was ordered, without seeking the customer's consent, is absolutely unacceptable. Imagine a company taking your money for an order on a Spyderco Endura knife, then telling you they don't carry them anymore, so they're going to fill your order by sending you a Cold Steel Voyager knife. Imagine ordering the latest Tom Clancy novel, and having the company take your money, then tell you that they are out of stock, so they're sending you the latest Harlequin Romance novel. Imagine ordering an Apple computer, and having a company tell you that they no longer carry Apples, so they're going to send you a Dell computer that they consider similar in specifications. THIS IS APPALLINGLY BAD BUSINESS BEHAVIOR.
So I immediately emailed back to them, saying I don't want a Blastmatch; Don't send me a Blastmatch; Cancel the order and refund my money; Send confirmation that you have received cancellation of my order.
A couple days later, I received an email from Buckshot's Camp confirming that they have shipped me the Blastmatch.
I immediately called them, and said I didn't want a Blastmatch, I didn't order a Blastmatch, and I had specifically told them not to send me a Blastmatch.
While they were not rude, their tone of voice on the phone for this call made clear that they considered it a hassle to deal with my concerns. And I doubt it even occurred to them that they should apologize to me. They told me, "When the mailman brings the package, refuse it; and when we receive it back, we'll refund your money." I told them, "My mailman doesn't wait around for my approval to deliver mail, he just delivers the mail and leaves; and further, even if that wasn't the case, I don't have time to sit around the house waiting for the mailman, so that I can refuse this package." So they told me, "When the Blastmatch arrives, mail it back; When we get it back, we'll refund you for the Blastmatch and pay you back for your shipping costs."
I have two problems with this:
1) How about refunding my money immediately for something I never ordered, instead of making me wait until they get it back? By making the refund dependent upon their receipt of the returned item, they are making me financially accountable for their unilateral bad decision to send me a product I never wanted, never asked for, and specifically told them not to send me.
2) How about, as part of accepting their blame, writing off the Blastmatch, which is a fairly small cost item? By making me waste my time re-addressing the package and going to the post office and mailing it back to them (which is likely to cost more, from the perspective of the value of my time, than the refund is worth), they are putting the onus on me to rectify their mistake.
Totally unprofessional. But I tried to let it slide, because I'd rather deal with things politely than get nasty, as long as I thought they were at least being honest enough to refund my money.
Eight days later, the Blastmatch which they shipped to me still hadn't arrived, but my credit card bill arrived, with that charge on it. So I had to decide whether to pay for a product which I never wanted, never ordered, and never received, so that I could waste my time shipping it back to them, and hope that they didn't bungle my refund the way they bungled everything else up to that point.
I called them and told them that I never received the Blastmatch to send back to them, and the credit bill was due. They said they'd check on it. They called me back and told me that it was at my local post office, and should be arriving today or tomorrow.
"Today" went by. "Tomorrow" went by. Still no Blastmatch arrived. I waited several days more, then I both wrote to them and called them and said, "Fix my situation NOW. The blastmatch never arrived, so there's no way I can return it. I have a credit card bill to pay, so I don't want to keep waiting for a product that may or may not eventually arrive. And since I never wanted a Blastmatch, never ordered a Blastmatch, and never received a Blastmatch, there is no reason I should be held responsible to pay for one. Even if it does eventually arrive, the cost of my labor for taking time off work to go to the post office and mail the Blastmatch back to you is more than the Blastmatch is worth. So, write off this Blastmatch and eat the cost yourselves, and remove this credit charge immediately."
To which they had the effrontery to start arguing with me on the phone that a Blastmatch and Big Flint are "basically the same thing". After pointlessly arguing that it's not the same thing, and not what I ordered, I finally got them to agree to remove the charge. I didn't trust them much anymore, so I asked them to take care of it right now, while I was on the phone, and then tell me when they'd removed the charge. I waited, and they told me that they'd done so.
I called my credit card company to confirm, but they said that it would take at least two weeks to confirm. When I was finally able to get the information: No, Buckshot's Camp never removed the charge.
I think Buckshot's Camp manage their business so sloppily that it puts the customer at risk of complications and frustrations. Additionally, I think their business practices... (A) charging nearly two weeks before shipping, for a product they don't have in stock, and don't carry; (B) switching products without the customer's consent, and believing that is acceptable when they perceive products as "basically the same"; (C) ignoring customers' emails; (D) putting the burden and the financial accountability on the customer to rectify their mistakes ... are so appallingly bad that they are likely to cause problems for their customers. For a while, I thought they were fundamentally honest, but just really bad business people. However, having them, in the end, say that they had removed the charge from my card when they had not, forces me to consider them not merely bad business people, but also bait & switchers, liars, and thieves.
Weeks later, the Blastmatch finally arrived by mail. There's no point wasting my labor and postage returning it now, since I already know that Buckshot's Camp doesn't refund money like they say they will, and will only lie about doing so. Instead, I'm going to test it against other fire ignition tools, then give it away on a survival forum.
Avoid Buckshot's Camp.
Mike
