W McCollum
Member
I've recently been experiencing very slow service from a couple of companies, so I thought I would pass on a caveat emptor if you are considering on-line purchasing from them - Smith and Wesson and Alumalite USA. The details follow. Keep reading if you're interested.
Smith and Wesson's orders are handled by Thompson Center. They have no on-line inventory control, so you will not know when you place an order whether or not the item is in stock. You won't be notified that it is backordered or not available unless you wait a while then call.
I placed an order on July 17 for replacement standard grips for an S&W Model 22A-1 target 22. I called a couple of weeks later and was told that the warehouse shuts down for a while in the Summer and would not be open again until August 12. They confirmed that the grips were in stock and a set was allocated to me. Shortly after August 12 I saw that my bank account had a pending transaction for the amount of my purchase. Life was good!
Not so fast. The pending charge disappeared. I called again. It turns out they had changed computer systems and were just verifying that I still had the money in the account to pay for the order.
Each week since then I have called on Friday. Each week I have been told the order would ship that day "or early next week." Nothing yet.
Alumalite USA is a one man company in Illinois that fabricates really cool looking and quite functional compensators and muzzle brakes. His web site cautions that his products are NOT suppressors and says that items not in stock take about 2 to 3 weeks to fabricate and ship. DO NOT BELIEVE HIM!
He's apparently an accomplished artisan at his trade and his products are in high demand. If you order from him expect to wait at least three months for him to fulfill your order. He will process your payment immediately, though. He is very difficult to reach. His web site has a customer service tab where you can check on the order status, but he doesn't update it. He has a contact phone number, but he doesn't answer it and does not respond to voice mail messages. It is rumored that you might be able to catch him by phone in the early evening. His Facebook page has customers asking about custom orders from as long ago as a year!
I placed my order on June 6. My payment was processed on June 7. Numerous attempts to check the order status went unanswered. On August 26 I received a USPS notice that my order has a tracking number assigned but had not yet been delivered to the post office for mailing. Still not in the hands of the post office as of today.
Smith and Wesson's orders are handled by Thompson Center. They have no on-line inventory control, so you will not know when you place an order whether or not the item is in stock. You won't be notified that it is backordered or not available unless you wait a while then call.
I placed an order on July 17 for replacement standard grips for an S&W Model 22A-1 target 22. I called a couple of weeks later and was told that the warehouse shuts down for a while in the Summer and would not be open again until August 12. They confirmed that the grips were in stock and a set was allocated to me. Shortly after August 12 I saw that my bank account had a pending transaction for the amount of my purchase. Life was good!
Not so fast. The pending charge disappeared. I called again. It turns out they had changed computer systems and were just verifying that I still had the money in the account to pay for the order.
Each week since then I have called on Friday. Each week I have been told the order would ship that day "or early next week." Nothing yet.
Alumalite USA is a one man company in Illinois that fabricates really cool looking and quite functional compensators and muzzle brakes. His web site cautions that his products are NOT suppressors and says that items not in stock take about 2 to 3 weeks to fabricate and ship. DO NOT BELIEVE HIM!
He's apparently an accomplished artisan at his trade and his products are in high demand. If you order from him expect to wait at least three months for him to fulfill your order. He will process your payment immediately, though. He is very difficult to reach. His web site has a customer service tab where you can check on the order status, but he doesn't update it. He has a contact phone number, but he doesn't answer it and does not respond to voice mail messages. It is rumored that you might be able to catch him by phone in the early evening. His Facebook page has customers asking about custom orders from as long ago as a year!
I placed my order on June 6. My payment was processed on June 7. Numerous attempts to check the order status went unanswered. On August 26 I received a USPS notice that my order has a tracking number assigned but had not yet been delivered to the post office for mailing. Still not in the hands of the post office as of today.
