Tarpon Gunnery - AVOID like the Plague

I just want to warn people of this new company so they dont get burned. I found them when I noticed they had PSA parts in stock for a bit cheaper when PSA was out. The business ethics of this person who runs this company, Im guessing a single a person, is flat out outrageous.

March 3rd - Order placed for MOE Lower Receiver kit + 2 Charging Handles
March 11th - Contacted him as I did not receive a tracking number, received email back saying I would get it "Monday, Tuesday the latest"
March 14th - Decided to contact him, and this is where I just flat out was disgusted. Heres a part of his email.

"I'm sorry that you feel our service is in question. I've never made any attempt to make anyone think I have all of these items in stock. The more popular ones I do, but not all items. Your items did indeed show up Monday, but unfortunately my job had me out of town until today. Your items are here and I am prepared to box them up immediately, print your shipping label and have it in the mail tomorrow. If you would prefer I refund your card and cancel your order, just let me know before I print the label and I will be more than happy to do so. Again, I am sorry for this inconvenience and want to ensure you are happy with our transaction."

So basically, he is now 2 days past due on when it should have arrived and he did not even have the item in stock. Honestly, if you have the item on your website, don't state anything of it not being in stock, and allow me to check out Im damn sure ANYONE who has ever used the iNtErNeT can most definitely "think" these items are in stock. The fact that he's 2 days past due of when it should have been here and he did not even ship them out is flat out disgusting. Honestly I believe he takes your money and THEN orders the items from PSA via wholesale price and then mails them to you when HE gets them.

Basically, if you wanna let someone borrow $200+ dollars for 2 weeks so they can purchase some inventory, go with Tarpon Gunnery. If you don't wanna get screwed, stick with PSA direct for PSA parts.

Seller decided to email me and instead of upgrading the shipping to Next Day or at the least Priority mail he actually just recommended canceling the order. Flat out pathetic. Theyve had my money for 2 weeks and Ive got nothing, and will now get nothing. Again, HIGHLY avoid.

As I stated to you before, I apologize you feel our service is in question. I made multiple attempts to contact you via the phone number provided on your order only to get your voice mail, which I left asking you to call me back. The circumstances regarding your order were not what we want for our customers and truly not what is usually given to them. Some items we keep in stock, others we have to order from our vendors or wholesalers once the order has been placed with us. We then ship it out as soon as we receive it. Most of our items do indeed go out Priority Mail. Items that we do not stock I make every attempt to contact the buyer as soon as the order is placed informing them that we will be waiting on their item. I see that in your case I failed to do this, and I apologize. To call my business ethics into question over one order that did not go as usual I believe is a bit much. Any questions that my customers, or potential customers have had for me or may have for me going forward I will be more than happy to answer. If you place an order with me and I feel I cannot fill it in the time table you have allotted, I make every attempt to make you aware of that and have often suggested other suppliers. Bottom line, I'm sorry your experience with Tarpon Gunnery has been bad. We do take a little longer in some instances than what other companies do, but we offer our products at competitive prices as long as you're willing to wait the extra time.

http://www.longislandfirearms.com/forum/m-1330636863.62846/

Don't offer stuff that you can't deliver.

If you can't complete an order,don't take money for product you don't have.

I don't think the customer should have to loan you money for you to build your inventory.

Honestly, Im not interested in who you compare your company to whether positive or negative. Trying to lesson the blame by pointing at Palmetto means nothing, I ordered from YOU and lost out on 2 weeks because of YOUR business, not Palmettos.



You should post that in BIG BOLD FLASHING letters on your home page. As another member stated, don't sell what you don't have.

The purpose of the link was not to point the finger at PSA for their poor service, but to highlight the fact that I have other satisfied customers that I've dealt with successfully when Palmetto couldn't come through. I do not "borrow" others money to build my inventory, I charge once my order has been invoiced by PSA, which "usually" means they have shipped my items. They, like me, are not perfect and are sometimes behind, running short on items, or just plain forget. If I knew how to post a big bold flashing sign, I would. But generally speaking good old fashion follow up has kept my customers happy and very willing to do repeat business with me. As I readily admitted to you, and apologized inherently since, I failed to do that in this case. The only face I hope to save in this particular instance is that you are implying heavily that I did this maliciously and in bad faith, as though I never intended to deliver your product. That is just not the case. Am I guilty of not getting you your items in the timeline you expected, absolutely. I have no issues owning up to that.

Items NOT IN STOCK or on BACK ORDER should be appropriately identified. Are you saying you have no way of making such annotations?

Currently no, a-lot of my items are even drop shipped from the manufacturer. Like I said, I make every attempt to inform the customer of this as soon as the order is placed when I don't have that specific item in stock. Unfortunately, most of the major manufacturers are even having trouble right now keeping up with the demand. YHM currently has a 6-8 week backlog on their items. PSA I can usually turn in 7-10 days depending on the item. Other things like grips and optics I get from wholesalers and unless it's an extraordinary situation, can get them in 7-10 as well.

I was never worried over the fact that you would never ship it, its more about when I was suppose to receive it. As I stated in your email I needed this order by Friday the latest, which would have been 10 business days (opposed to the 5-7 stated). I also asked about upgrading the shipping (which I think you should have offered out of good faith) and only got a response about canceling the order. At this point, honestly if you were willing to work with me on shipping as I recommended I would have even gone as far as paying for the upgrade to get the package before/on Friday. But to leave me hanging for 2 weeks when you did not even have the product that i PAID for is just unacceptable as now I wont have my items that I paid for, when I paid for them.

Point taken on the shipping aspect and I'll admit it should have been offered, but in all honesty the content of your email pointed clearly to the fact that you did not want to do business with me. I wasn't going to push the issue.

OP... while I do see you're not happy, and have a fair reason to be, I think you're making more of this than should be... The man has said sorry and has explained himself.

Im not taking this any further, and the only explanation I see was that I was sold something that someone didn't have. I have personal reasons as to why I needed this item by Friday, to others not reaching a deadline could mean the difference between a sale or job. I planned ahead allotting some cushion room and failed to receive even the packaging of my item within that time. Im sure if I posted up something for sale that I did not have and waited 2 weeks to tell you I finally got one in stock with no explanation until I was called out and you needed that item for whatever reason whether personal or business, someone would be pissed.

Also I highly disbelieve that he is unable to do as you said, notice people an item is Out of Stock or On Back Order as that can be easily done by changing a couple words on his website or shooting out quick emails. As I said Im not taking this any further, just throwing out a simple warning.

Shooting out quick emails is usually the route I take and I, once again, take full responsibility for failing to do so in this case. I have since went in to my site and changed the automatic email response to indicate clearly what it is that will take place from that point forward so hopefully there is no confusion regarding this going forward. Bottom line is I want people to be satisfied with their experience when coming to me and you obviously are not. I apologize fully for that and understand that it has caused you some personal complications. I'll make every attempt at rectifying this issue for all future customers so that the same concern does not repeat itself.

tarpongunnery1-Are you a dealer?

I do not have an FFL but I do have a website for parts and accessories. Mostly AR stuff.

Ok..you do know that you cannot sell here unless you set up a dealer account, right?

I want to make sure you know that.

I agree..there are a lot of vendors that need to learn that and have a real time inventory system.

Yes sir I am aware. My contact with the OP did not originate from this site nor have I ever solicited business from anyone while here. He chose a very public forum to voice his discontent with the service I was providing, as is his right, I sought only to defend myself and my business by explaining fully and apologizing for the situation. I have also requested information on becoming a sponsor for the site, none of this situation withstanding.

Excellent.

Thank you for understanding.

I will say this.

I suggest that you get your inventory system worked out before you sell here, after you get your dealership worked out-or there will be problems.

This is a perfect example of the main rule on the EE,which is do not offer to sell items that are not in your possession.

When you have the item in hand,then it is acceptable to sell it.

If all these companies followed similar procedures,then all this nonsense would be avoided.The customer should know what he is getting himself into before deciding to continue.

When a company tries to take my money,knowing the item is unavailable,then I will not do business with them ever again.

Screw up like this a few more times and you'll be known as Botach East. That isn't a compliment.

I appreciate the honest feedback. I truly want to make my business better and grow it. I can honestly say in the 500+ transactions I've had with my website, I've only truly had customers this irate on 3 occasions, including this one. I understand the premise of not tying ones money up until their product is ready, but I guess I'm a little lost on the making sure you have the product in hand before allowing the transaction to take place. In many instances, customers have ended up at my sight because PSA shows something out of stock and does not allow back-ordering. In most of those instances, as a dealer, I can still place my order with them and have the item within 7-10 days to me, and then on to my customer immediately after. As long as I do a good job of follow up (which in this case I know I didn't), I don't see the issue. Now that's just my opinion of course, and this honestly isn't at this point me trying to convince you I'm right. I want to hear your point of view so I can improve going forward. Your thoughts?

I think what the community is saying, but you may not be understanding is this:

If a product is not in stock, it should be noted on your website before an order is placed, not by a follow-up email.

The reason is this: If an order is allowed to be placed, without any disclaimer at the time that the product is not in stock, it is assumed that product is in stock and ready to be shipped. Therefore, the expectation is that the order will be fulfilled and be in the buyers hands within 5-7 business days. Especially if the buyers credit card is charged at the time of order, and not when items arrive at your business.

With your business model, it may be 7-10 days (business days?) for the item to reach you, then another 5-7 business days to reach the buyer. That is therefore, in reality about three actual weeks to reach the buyer.

If the buyer is informed of this up front, and does not have any problem with it, then things are gravy.

However, if the buyer is not informed up front, but is informed via email later, and does not wish to wait the extended time, it is an additional step for the buyer to cancel the order and find another retailer. Time wasted that would not be wasted if the buyer knew up front that the product would be delayed.

Many, if given the choice, will skip any site that does not have items in stock, regardless of price. It should be up to the buyer to decide, when placing the order, whether to wait an extended time.

Thank you for the feedback. Very well stated!

Copyright © 1996 - 2013 :: AR15.Com LLC :: All Rights Reserved.
Any use of this content without express written consent is prohibited.