Negative experience with NealsGadgets

How it is possible to know which items is out of stock when in listing there is no evidence for that. So in practise you make a order and after payment when after 2-3 days whitout shipping you figured out that the item is out of stock. You do not receive any notice or apology from Neal for that. You selling something you don’t have it and think a people for fools.

I’m quite happy with Neal’s service. And based on my purchases over the last year, he is now my favorite flashlight vendor. :sunglasses:

That said it probably wouldn’t hurt for him to update his website.

It would help a lot if the site told us if an item is in stock and how many are left. And if an item is on backorder, it would be helpful to have an ETA on when it is expected to be back in stock.

I agree it is frustrating that the website does not reveal out of stock items.
I agree it is frustrating that Neil does not answer emails about out of stock items.

put an end to frustrating relationships

I would then ask Neil for a refund.
If he does not reply, I would use Paypal dispute.

> it would be nice for some communication

Accept that is not happening.

End your Unhappy relationship with Neal.

So far I think there are more customers with negative experince compared to that with positive. Maybe if I make a oder for one thousand dollars I will receive better CS. In my country that is normal to be seen :money_mouth_face:

I am so surprised that there are so many customers having negative experience with Neal. We are both partnering with Lumintop, and I know that he has been in this business for a while and doing pretty well. I will definitively let him know the issues here and try to resolve them.

Thank you all for your patience and understanding.

i never did get another reply, but my order has shipped now. i wont know if it has the Amutorch XT45 sbt90.2 or the NIGHTWATCH NI40 sbt90.2 that he said he would swap the amutorch for.

Ive also had issues with other online stores based in china/hongkong in June so im wondering if there are other thing (other than covid/protests) going on that could be causing issues with these small stores

I will share my experience here too, I am not against Neal but someone needs to do something … he has updated products and in years ago I never had a problem with my purchases on his website, and it was always okay with his deliveries to Brazil. But currently I have faced many problems with purchases and deliveries, I am being forced to ask for a refund constantly for simply not sending my order. I have been trying to get some response from Neal by email but it is useless, he does not answer or explain why he does not send, my requests for May 27, June 4 and June 11 were not sent and I had to request a refund. The strange thing is that I don’t even need to ask Paypal, when I request a refund by email, I am answered the same day. But when I request shipping information, I am simply ignored. On the 21st of June I placed another order, and I have already sent 2 emails to get information about the shipment, and once again I am being ignored. Is Neal really receiving emails? does he know what’s really going on? Or are you just not caring? Too bad that happens …
Sorry for my bad English.

i got my order on tuesday , looks like he sent me the nighwatch ni40 in place of the amutorch which is actually good because i originally only ordered the amutorch one because the nightwatch was supposed to put out of stock. so im glad i finally got my order even if it took 3 weeks to actualy post it (and then only 5 days to arrive because i paid for DHL) but the delay without communications will make me think twice in future which is a bummer because he has a great selection

I am the same situation as CoRDS and Cesconetto. Finally at 7 July I received email confirmation for shipment. From tracking number I saw that my package is sent one week earlier.
But as CoRDS I don’t know what was actually sent is that my original NS43 or NS53A for which I asked for replacement from Neal. I have better communication with him over FB, so if you need to contact with him just try it first there. Neal really need to hire someone which to help him with customer service. He is currently destroying his business with this attitude towards his customers.

I came here specifically to see if there is a widespread issue with Nealsgadgets. Mainly I came to check because if there is BLF is always the place to find out. There have been people over the past 1-2 years or so that I have been reviewing lights that he sent me on my Youtube channel who have commented about a lack of communication from Neil. When I see these things I relay them to Neal in a nice way and try to encourage him to take measures to improve communication (an email notification or back order marker on the site I mentioned specifically).
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Relating my own experience on the subject is probly not valid evidence because its likely that even when I order through regular channels on his website that I may be getting “special treatment”. So all I will say about that is I currently have one order with an excessive delay and not been told when it will ship. All of the others I placed shipped within a reasonable time.
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I don’t want to minimize this at all. If I had an 8 page thread about my shop (Adventure Sport Flashlights) going around BLF you can bet your 5 best lights I would be in it to find out what went wrong and fixing it.
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.I will say this about it. He has never told me so but based on my experience I would bet that Neal is handling in the neighborhood of a million dollars a year in flashlights. Just for one example. When the FW3A was released, before I ever had one in hand something to the effect of 1500pc had sold from his shop. That is just one light over a few days time. Even if he packed and shipped 200 orders per day (and sold no other lights at all during that time) that is 8 days of non stop packing. If you figure he is processing thousands of orders a month that would mean maybe one in a thousand is landing here.
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And right or wrong this is the reality of the situation. Everyone buys from Neal because he gets the very newest, very best lights lights. Marks them at a cheap price and then offers coupon codes on top of that. This is just my opinion, but I think he is probly at the place where his business has taken off but that razor thin margin makes it difficult for him to hire and train more help.
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I have been communicating with him on a semi regular basis about this and I don’t know if hes considering my ideas about the website changes or not. I do know that he told me he planned to have his wife start helping him answer emails.

Sounds like Neil is robbing Peter to pay Paul.

1. Put up a website and collect money from customers (Peter), for lights that are not (yet), in stock.

2. When enough money comes in, pay the Factory (Paul), for a MOQ of 500 lights (of each color)

He does ship… just not when you order
Think of it as a prepaid group buy, and wait patiently
Dont bug him with emails that he can do nothing about.

Your light will ship, when:

1. the group buy is funded,
2. the factory is paid,
3. the lights are built, and
4. Neil receives them, and
5. ships them.

Do not expect his wife to explain that to you by email.

Myself, I dont order from Neil, because of this thread.

never had an issue with him, always shipping my orders within a few days or so and they arrived without any problems.

one thing he should list more clearly is the actual stock of lights so that u dont order something that is not in stock…

I’ve had two orders arrive within 8 calendar days from order to doorstep (Los Angeles). From what I can tell, the item is likely shipped in a bulk container, then received by a local Chinese shipping company where someone slaps a USPS shipping label over the foreign one. USPS delivers the last leg of the trip.

If an order does not ship within 2 working days, I would reach out to ensure it’s in stock.

I think this sounds like from a Charles Dickens novel. and very similar to the businesses ran by Charles P…… and Bernie…. That means you can’t just stop taking new orders and catch up with the old ones because the new funds have been spent on yourself already. That’s why you can’t trust anyone and hire anyone else but your wife.

I would simply assume that all 1-man-shops are doing it this way. There is no way a single person could fund several hundred of retail flashlights in a variety of colors, types, and models (let alone other brands and accessories). If a person had that kind of money under the mattress they probably wouldn’t need to work as a flashlight reseller.
Most smaller shops operate like this, ever been to your local, small-scale gun shop? They don’t have 500 different Heckler & Koch in stock because it would require half a million.

Different story for manufacturers like Olight et al, those are actual companies and not a small operation with proper business models, distribution partners and larger commercial agreements.

Hey, so I just received my Lumintop FW21 Pro from Neal, which I ordered on 2 August. I think that’s pretty great, given that it came from China (I think…). He answered some questions for me, kept me updated, sent notices when it shipped, tracking info…

For some reason, the two Imalent lights i ordered from him came earlier this week even though I ordered them at the same time.

Oh and this is off topic but man… This FW21 is gorgeous. I’m sitting here trying to find another Lumintop light to order :slight_smile:

I’ll 100% buy more lights from Neal

I have a pretty positive experience with him. Ordered something but shortly after found it cheaper elsewhere and with free shipping (Neal’s shipping cost $25). Responded within the hour and got my refund no questions asked. The shipping price is a pretty off putting but if I literally can’t find it elsewhere I’m willing to give him a shot.

I had to request a refund on some orders previously, but now it seems that everything is back to normal with Neal … he really liked to buy with him due to the news. And now that everything looks right, I already have a list of three more lights to place the order … Thanks Neal !!!

Hello people!

Does Neal looks at this forum for feedback about how he's doing?

Well, I am here for some bad news. I was taking a look at the Loneoceans' Lume1 driver thread and took a peek at Neal's gadgets website:

I have seen this sort of disturbing, stupid spammy stuff in other sites. In Neal's site you have to eat it whole, it won't go away by clicking close on the pop-ups. Really piss poor stuff. I really can't help to get amazed at this, because if that stuff even remotely works people must be braindeads. It makes me feel like kicking whoever is in charge's ass for turning the shopping experience into a piece of shite. :facepalm:

Usually my installed content blocker prevents these pop ups.