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I stumbled across TacticalGear.com a few months ago and just recently ordered some boots from them. The description indicated that it would take an extra day or two, on top of there normal day or two, to ship. Not a big problem. Ordered on 1/14(Sun), Shipped on 1/17 (three days), and delivered on 1/23. Not bad and very acceptable.

Last Sunday (2/4) I ordered a Bushnell night vision monocular. Again their website says it takes most orders are shipped in 1-2 days so I expected then to ship on Tuesday based on my previous experience. The website said it was In Stock. I hadn't seen a shipping notification from them by Tuesday so I figured I would give them another day. Nothing on Wednesday so I called them this morning (2/8). After a brief hold I was answered by one of their customer service reps. I gave her my information and she put me on hold again to check. When she returned she said the order was going to be shipped today. I expressed that I had thought it should have shipped sooner since it was "In Stock". Her response was that some Bushnell items may take longer and the website indicated that. Pulling up the website I responded that there was no mention that Bushnell items would take longer and if there would have been I wouldn't have been so inclined to call. She then said it was, it was being dropped shipped from Bushnell. Drop shipping from Bushnell doesn't sound like it is "In Stock" to me was my response. She said that it meant it was in Bushnell's stock. After a minute or two of trying to impress on her that it was at least misleading to say it is "In Stock" at someone else's warehouse and if it was going to be drop shipped they should indicate that or otherwise let me know. She began talking over me and cutting me off.

I understand that there may not be anything she can do immediately about the shipping of my item but not listening to customer's complaints or suggestions is not good business. Speaking over and cutting of a customer that was calm and conversational is unacceptable. She could have handled it much better. I may be wrong in assuming that when something says "In Stock" that one of there workers should be able to go back and put their hand on it but that's what makes sense to me. I work at a John Deere dealership. When our parts guys say they have it in stock then it is on the shelves (if for some reason it is found not to be they call the customer). We don't tell our customers it is "In Stock" when it is sitting in the Dallas or Moline warehouse.

If it is going to be drop-shipped then indicate that. Then I know it may take a little longer (but their "shipping" time should be less). If it is not on the shelf at their warehouse then it is not "In Stock" and they could even indicate that it is "backordered, allow 1-2 days to return to stock." I do a fair amount of online shopping and that is pretty common with the other companies I deal with. Clear communication allows everyone to understand the situation.

I may give them another shot but between the time it takes them to actually ship (just about as bad as Amazon) and the customer service I am not likely to give them any more business.

Unfortunately, this is the case with a lot of on-line stores. I have come to realize that when it says in stock, that means in stock at the manufactures warehouse and not the stores.

troglodyte & RPBrown,

These folks are simply 'pretending' to be suppliers when in fact they're brokers.

An interesting twist. I was just refunded my shipping. No explanation. I might assume that they are refunding me my shipping for the hassle but I have yet to see my order shipped.

Brokers? Never thought of it that way. I think I'll try to make a habit of calling any new companies I order from to see if they indeed stock items or just reorder them.

I should have ordered it from B&H Photo (but I didn't think to check them). I do a little business with them at work. Ship no later than the next day and usually get free shipping. My last order from them was on a Tuesday and I received it on Friday, three days later. Now that is service. They are a little more expensive but their service is top-notch.

Now I was told it would ship today, that Bushnell had a three-day processing. So it took Tactical Gear two days to tell Bushnell to drop ship it. I have now been told it will arrive Wed. or Thurs. of next week. She also said they were going to take 15% off. We'll see.

I will say she was much nicer and accommodating today.

There was a small dealer I used to order from occasionally that was a broker like that. However, he was very up front on whether it was in stock or not.

IMO, with online retailers some are faster than others. SG Ammo for example has shipped within a day or so on every order so far. Other ammo dealers will ship within a week, some longer. OpticsPlanet was like that with an order once. They had it in stock, but it didn't ship for 3 or 4 days.