The last several orders I’ve placed at optics planet have all resulted in bait and switch. I shop, I place my order...I get an email in a day or two saying sorry, that item is back ordered.

This never used to happen and OP was one of my favorite online sellers, but lately (say the last year or so) I’ve been having this issue with them. It’s extremely frustrating!

I sent them an mail today and canceled two orders totaling about $3,000. I got a call within 30 minutes or so from someone in their CS when I canceled and emailed. I was in a meeting and couldn’t take the call, but I called back and got their VM. Basically told them I was returning their call out of courtesy but there was no reason to call me back. This practice seems to be an intentional business model change of theirs, but there are just too many other great sellers out there to give my business to.

Anyone else notice this practice from OP and sick of it? It’s so dishonest and makes me feel bad about spending anymore money with them. I just am going to move on.

Yep, but whatcha gonna do?

I ordered and paid for a Walther Threaded Barrel-Adapter P22 on Feb 10, and they stated it would be shipped “7 - 16 days.”

I can’t find it anywhere else.

So, whatcha gonna do?

I ordered a new set of binoculars from them. The time before I had a problem, but not this time. I asked the right question. They suggested I upgrade to faster shipping, and based on the prior experienced, I declined. That part of their business model is a loser. Sure, I can pay for faster shipping, but its not worth it if they take a week to pick and ship the item. Got to watch them on that. Otherwise, it worked out about how I expected.

I won't call them dishonest, just sharp business people. Remember, they don't make products, they just either warehouse them or trans ship them. You order and they call the warehouse up the line and have them ship to you. I don't object, as long as I'm getting a good price.

I don't buy much on line, or anywhere else for that matter. Some of you have a lot more confidence in the online retailers than I do. I'm wary of them, being pretty sure many are crooks. I have no idea what to expect this upcomming year with coronia virus and the problems we'll be seeing with china. I don't see how this will help.

Good, Fast, Cheap.

Pick 2.

I've had similar problems with Optics Planet in the past. The same thing happened to me today with an order I placed for work through Cheaper Than Dirt. I don't typically do business with them, but they were the only place that showed all three of the items I needed in stock. Then a couple of hours later I get an e-mail stating that one of the items is backordered, and my order for that item has been cancelled...refund pending in a couple of days.

Now I get to explain to the finance people why my CC bill doesn't match the receipt. Thanks for nothing, CTD...I knew better, and sure enough it bit me in the ass.

Along the same lines...why is everything out of stock everywhere these days? Usually I try to wait until I need several items and place a single order to save on shipping...but it's nearly impossible to find everything in-stock at the same time at one place anymore. At least Midway and Brownells don't lie and tell you they have it when they don't.

The tradeoff with Brownells is that they're a little more expensive and they'll charge you for shipping.

quote:

Originally posted by esdunbar:
The last several orders I’ve placed at optics planet have all resulted in bait and switch. I shop, I place my order...I get an email in a day or two saying sorry, that item is back ordered.

Anyone else notice this practice from OP and sick of it?

Not to be a dick but... well... that's what they do. That's what they're known for. This is absolutely nothing new.

I mean, you had to have heard the stories before, right? They're notorious for it. They've been doing this for many years, and they have a well-earned poor reputation as a result.

To reiterate: This is not a fluke. Or a new development. This is what they are well known for.


If you've been buying from them for a while and are just now getting burned for the first time, I'd say you had a much better run than most.

That's the problem with buying from vendors with no real-time inventory.

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
To reiterate: This is not a fluke. Or a new development. This is what they are well known for.

Yup. Which is why I've never ordered anything from Optics Planet, and likely never will.

Complaining about OP is sort of like complaining about a cheap Chinesium optic breaking. What do you expect?

I guess I must have been living under a rock? Been ordering from them for years without issue, but it’s just unbearable lately. I must have been getting lucky.

Its par for their course. My experience with Optics Planet was similar to yours. And I actually ordered from them a couple of times before I wised up. Want more fun? Try ordering from Natchez. Their profit margin is solely in shipping charges.
Example: To ship a Votex Venom to me, my choices for shipping are:
SmartPost (which is really StupidPost) $9.22
FedEx $13.64
USPS Priority $16.90
Must be because the Venom is so large and heavy!

I stopped ordering from them once they started to collect sales tax. At one time they had the best deals when factoring in the coupon codes the send out.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
To reiterate: This is not a fluke. Or a new development. This is what they are well known for.

Yup. Which is why I've never ordered anything from Optics Planet, and likely never will.

Yep, I tried to buy something from them years ago because it looked like they were the only ones in stock. It wasn’t, canceled my order and never went back because of these stories.

ive had it happen a few times with them. never had an order canceled, but just delayed up to 30 days or so. kind of annoying. with their sales+codes i still cant help myself. could not find anything close to that price. it always shows up...eventually. been a while though. they had a blowout on trijicon accupoints(i think the accupowers were going recently too). for the price, i was ready for their game. and of course it showed up in 5 days. the wonder of low expectations i guess.

Never have had a problem with ordering from them. Only thing that annoys me is that they jack up the MSRP so it looks like you are getting a bigger discount, but I shop on the final price, which is either good or it isn’t. About collecting sales tax, almost everyone does that now because of court rulings, so I don’t knock them for doing it. The days of avoiding state tax by buying over the internet are going away.

I've only dealt with them twice: once was perfect, and the other was as described. Product in cart but actually out of stock.

quote:

Originally posted by Il Cattivo:
The tradeoff with Brownells is that they're a little more expensive and they'll charge you for shipping.

It's worth joining their "Edge" services ($49.95) for free 2 day shipping as well as their "Forever Warranty" on almost everything.

I only buy from OP when I don't need it anytime soon and the price w/free shipping makes it worth it. Recently they had AAC 2.0 Brakeout MDs in stock which I bought several of and received in due time.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
To reiterate: This is not a fluke. Or a new development. This is what they are well known for.

Yup. Which is why I've never ordered anything from Optics Planet, and likely never will.

Same here.

I've learned a lot of things over the past few years here on Sig Forum.

Some interesting, some useful, some trivial. One of the more important lessons was never to buy anything from Optics Planet!