I have never had problems contacting Richard either, even when he was injured, he’s wife responded to my emails.
His responses weren’t exactly swift but he or someone has always gotten back to me. Like Blue say’s he maybe experiencing some heavy work loads.
How long ago did you email him? Also check to make sure his responses if any aren’t getting kicked to a spam or promotions folder too, this happens some times.
Have you ever been the go-to guy in the shop, busy trying to meet a quota? And the phone rings? And the door chime calls you up front? And the phone rings? And and and… the work in the shop sits waiting while you talk to people? Richard is developing his own line of light bars for off road vehicles, he’s maintaining the shop, he’s supplying drivers to larger businesses and so on and so forth. They have 3 kids as well. And this crazy lil thing called life throws fast ball change-up curve balls at you constantly!
Richard is a great guy, as is his wife Lisa. The business has grown and they have their hands full. And so it goes…
I can’t count the orders they’ve filled for me, but I can tell you there have been hundreds upon hundreds, totaling many thousands of dollars. They do a great job, he does everything within his power to ensure high consistent quality, and of course the provenance of same requires testing and field abuse which means… time… there’s so little of that left anymore!
If I try to email him from my yahoo account he doesn’t get my emails —- I have direct charter email account that he responds quickly to
Were your questions technical or build related? They don’t have the bandwidth to answer these types of questions probably. They get a ton of emails. Also, it is typical for a response to take 3-7 days in my experience.
My first, and last order, I asked to make a revision that included a change of one item and added a couple others. I was invited to take my business elsewhere. WTH? As a newbie, that’s a catastrophic response to receive from a vendor, especially as highly regarded as he/they are. Nary a cent will be spent at MTN by me ever again.
MTN has specific policies about adding and subtracting things from orders:
http://www.mtnelectronics.com/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=5
Order changes and cancellations have to be the Achilles heel of their operation.
I used to be guilty of writing long emails to businesses and people without realizing ain’t nobody got time for that. Now I try to be very concise in my correspondence.
Asking MTN technical questions or for order changes is basically inconsiderate to them and their situation, though most patrons are probably not aware that this is the case. They get an email every few minutes. 
Seems there are people who think that in the life of some sellers a day has more than 24 hours.
Same people who curse the elevator for not going any faster, even after pushing the button 25 times.
Operating a small store is like walking a tightrope. Richard could hire someone to take care of his emails, but the extra cost would cause his prices to go up, which would make his sales go down………
If he has a large contract going, good for him. If I were him, that would be my first priority. Because a contract of, let’s say, a few hundred items does not cause a few hundred times more emails. And so on.
For me, flashlights is a hobby. If things go slower than you expect, that’s not the end of the world.
Changing orders for customers still is part of running a shop like Richard does…
Not being able to do such a thing tells something about his workload and from what I read it is very understandable (I never understood where he found the time to do all the stuff that he did and staying responsive and also how he kept the prices so low, he must have been a superman the past years).
But not being able to deal with changing orders also makes his shop a bit less attractive, I can understand that too.
I have ordered quite a few things from Richard. Since he has a, can’t change order after it’s placed policy, I have asked my questions before I ordered. Worked out fine for me I reckon. We all want our orders fast and affordable. I would think for a 1 or 2 person shop that does a fairly brisk work in getting the order out the door quickly, wouldn’t have the time to be pulling back orders to modify them in some way and then making sure your after order request are filled and paid for would be quite the pain in the butt.
I know some people are under the impression that they are the most important customer and that policies set by the retailer doesn’t apply to them. Well, that normally doesn’t work that way. If he changed his policy for one person then he would have to change it for everyone. Then his time spent filling and shipping orders now will take twice the time. I get it. Makes perfect sense for a small shop to function that way. I just do my homework and ask questions before hand. If I find I need something different after I placed my order then I just make another order. If I have to pay for shipping twice then it’s my fault that I didn’t place a proper order to begin with. I can’t go to the grocery store and buy a cart full of stuff then 10 minutes later decide I need something else and ask them to add it to my previous order. They will look at me like I have three heads.
I get everyone’s opinion but there’s also another side of the business that needs to be attended to and its customer service.
I dont think it’s okay for others to search the internet for why a company doesn’t respond. I get that some of his loyal customers and those that know him well understand the pressure he is in, however, there are many that dont know this. There are many modders and tinkerers that dont visit these forums to get a pulse the business so they get an initial perception which can be bad for a company in it’s own rite.
Perhaps a public announcement on his website such as a banner that states his workload and inability to respond to technical questions at this time and divert them to a forum for questions would be a good idea.
I've always gotten fantastic, if not always prompt, responses from Richard. I've also only ever asked him one thing about an order change. I'd forgotten to add something to an order, so I placed a second one. I then messaged him and asked if he could combine the shipping, but I also clarified that I'd read his policies and understood if it wasn't something he could do. Actually, come to think, it was probably an "order note" that I added to the second order. Anyway, I don't remember getting a response, only a paypal refund marked "shipping" or something for the amount of the shipping on the second order. I think the item I added on was S2+ pocket clips.
I’ve purchased several items without issues from Richard. The few times I’ve contacted him with a question, he’s always responded within a few days. I personally have no problem with that.
As a frequent customer of MTN, here’s my take.
I get the customer service view that some could take. Totally understand how some may be frustrated or feel like it’s not up to par.
However, MTN provides some pretty unique stuff which would otherwise be unavailable or really hard to find. To me, I’d rather have a retailer that has strict policies in place vs not having that option at all.
With that said, every time I’ve put in an order, that order seems to show up reasonably quickly and more importantly, accurately. I can’t find a problem with my experience with MTN.
I’ve ordered plenty of times from MTN too, always got very helpful responses to all my questions in reasonable time.
With that said, I am aware that this and all other praises does little to help those who have not received responses. The one thing customers (and people in general) do not like is being ignored. If I was to order from a new place or person, I couldn’t care less about pages and pages of praises if I got ignored. Even an automated response is better than nothing.
Very, Very well said. I have found that regardless of the dealer, if he is well liked and someone puts a negative experience, they[customers who like him] seem to ignore or discredit the gentleman with the bad experience and justify all the good the dealer has done.
Basically until “we” have gone through something, we have no right to judge and can not possibly relate to it because we have not experienced it.
A much more serious example. My friend fought for 4.5 years with Pancreatic cancer before he passed away last year. If I were to say, Joe, I know how you feel, I would be a liar because thankfully I do not have pancreatic cancer……I have not gone through it,I did not walk a mile in his Moccasins.
Well put BIV777!
I operate my own debt-free business. Browbeat my review if y’all like, but any business owner knows customer retention is key.
I went so far as to clarify my newb-ness and apologized in advance for my mistake in prematurely ordering. I still got the brush-off. He literally invited me to take my business elsewhere.
Maybe I just caught the guy on a bad day. Who knows? Who cares at this point?
I buy infrequently from MtnElectronics, and the merchandise I received was always in excellent condition. No dead batteries, and no DOA or damaged flashlights. My emails got a timely reply.
My only complaint is that their shipping options are too expensive and too limited. My most recent order weighed only 1.5lb (a small flashlight and two 26650 cells) and I was charged $14.50 for shipping via “Priorty Mail 2-Day” from their location in Utah to the neighboring state of Idaho. The USPS calculator shows a shipping price of $9.45
With these high shipping costs, I will continue to be an infrequent customer.
He just uses the flat rate boxes. One price no matter how near or far.
which i also do.
the box is free from usps.
there is more to shipping than postage cost.material.time,ect.
and i am surprised MTN even has time to deal with tiny orders of misc parts with a large commercial deal going.
i am getting rid of all that type of stuff wholesale as its not worth it to sell 1 led to someone and hear them whine about postage cost.
i wont even offer less than 10 pcs.
then its marginal.
better enjoy the availability of these small parts sellers such as MTN as once serving the market becomes a bother these resources will dry up.
I feel I am annoying customer, at times, but they always answer my inquiries (within a few days), whether it's about a purchase or advice on a light mod I'd like to attempt. The only gripe I have is that some customer buys what I want to order before I know I need it!
Nevertheless, orders are packed very well and shipped in a timely manner.