I dunno. I buy a lot of stuff from China. I’ve done 2 orders with Neal. First one took weeks to ship and only shipped because I contacted him a few times. Second is approaching 2 weeks and he has not responded. I’m trying to be patient but a repeated pattern like this does not inspire confidence.
Finally
I understand your feelings,
when dealing with someone unknown to you, who is so far away can make you fell vulnerable in a transaction (sale).
It seems to me the post office is the party to blame in this case. (or maybe just the fact that it got returned)
Do you think Neal is happy to pay shipping twice for your order? no but he will.
I know waiting is frustrating but try not to build this frustration and negative emotions towards the conclusion that Neal is a bad vendor, you are not making yourself any favors by thinking this way.
I am not denying you of the way you fell about this, i think you deserve to 100%.
What I am suggesting is that you make a leap of logic and put your faith towards the vast majority of blf members that think highly of Neal.
This could make you feel better about this situation, there is no reason to think Neal has not / or will not ship your order soon.
Do we know what tint?
Would it be hotter and less bright than the 7A?
To some extent, yes. But TBH, I often see the same things from western businessmen. There’s a friendly smile and reassuring words, but it’s not real. Sometimes actual meaning can be extracted, but it requires some interpretation and a lot of uncertainty. Usually it seems to mean “oops, I messed up, but I don’t want to admit it… so here’s something to calm you down while I go do the thing I promised I’d do weeks ago”.
It seems like a lot of businessmen and politicians view communication in a totally different manner than, for example, an engineer. The engineer typically uses words as a way to convey information as clearly and as accurately as possible… but a lot of businessmen tend to use words primarily as a tool to manipulate other people.
I have a strong distaste for that sort of thing, and for dealing with profiteers in general. It’s really common; there’s nothing unusual about the issues people reported in this thread… but personally I prefer to stay away from anyone who operates that way. Including the shop around the corner where V got her motorbike; I only trust that guy about as far as I could throw him.
The worst one I ever met in person was BJ Dohrmann. He made my spidey sense go off like crazy. So as soon as I got away, I looked him up and found the dude has a felony history for running large-scale scams… and he keeps subtly changing his name and his company names to throw off search engines. I’ve never seen anyone lie as comfortably as he does; it’s as natural for him as breathing. Even thinking about it years later, I feel like I need a shower.
I hate to be the one to deliver bad news, but… it sounds like you may have become, a, uh, … connoisseur.
Sometimes it’s not fatal though. Sometimes people recover. There may still be hope.
I wonder what’s going on with Neal.
- On April 27 - I ordered an FW3A preorder with expedited shipping and it arrived in California within a week.
- On May 11 - I ordered a couple glow gaskets and some trits. Also with $10 paid for expedited shipping. Now one month later it still shows as “unfulfilled” on Neal’s website and I haven’t received it.
I was impressed with how fast the initial order arrived, but service on the second order seems awful. And now he seems to have dropped out of this thread. I wonder what’s going on?
Maybe something in your order was not in stock. But realistically…. you/we will never know. Hopefully you will get it soon.
Ah… well, that may explain things.
So did your package leave China and get handed off to DHL or USPS? Because if it did and they were unable to deliver for some reason, doing a return to sender… then it may take a VERY long time to get back to the seller. “Return to Sender” gets the absolute lowest priority.
Most sellers won’t issue a new product to a buyer until they receive the return. Now, if Neal did get the light back and now it’s in his hands to resend to you, it may be in the back of the queue.
I can’t stand people like that Dohrmann. I have met a few in my days. If there was some kind of organization that would target “scum” like this and make their lives hell for their behavior, I’d join in a minute. The US legal system is overloaded and often those who are overdue for criminal investigation or social castigation manage to sidestep it. Like the disgraceful “you know who” in political office (who is WAY overdue).
el_dude……I wouldnt worry about Neal ‘taking your money’ or that he would not(eventually) take care of your problem. I havent heard any complaints about him being dishonest. For me it was simply the lack of communication and the time/inconvenience involved. I think Neal’s goal is focused on getting lights sold and shipped out…. not prioritizing customer concerns. Compared to the number of lights shipped, the problems are few and it only takes a minute to email update info if a buyer has a question or problem. If it is a shipping problem, you have no choice but to be patient but there arent but two options if a light cannot be repaired by the user……. either replace it or a refund. IF I had a flashlight store, ‘problems’ would have priority over new orders. Seems like common business sense. Why would a conscientious seller choose to further inconvenience a buyer for a problem they didnt ask for by not communicating with them? When there IS a problem, instead of putting it on TOP of his ‘to do’ list and taking care of it ……. Neal doesnt, and it is neither good business nor is it fair to his customers.
FWIW, no problem with my FW3A …… love it! Kudos to Neal for his part getting it to me
No, it never left China as far as I can tell, and it was being sent back to him about a month ago. It’s definitely at the far end of the queue for him. Oh well, to use a military euphemism, time to embrace the suck.
Fixed it for you…… :+1:
XBCHYHROZ
Can we not go into offtopic and politics, please?
This is not a place for that…
/\ . +1
I think its more that i’m resistant to change in any fashion. Either way, im happy that these features that I couldnt even fathom back in the early days are becoming more available and continually being improved.
Plus, on most lights I own now I can update/revert them if need be, or even switch to a completely different firmware if I want to play with something different. That actually reminds me that I wanted to mess around with Dark Horse before finally adding a ZL to my collection.
EDIT: This just saved me a few bucks so im bumping it. I was looking for beamshot comparisons between the stock 10511 and the clear, throwier 10507 and its incredibly minimal. Maukka’s review claimed a 12k candela -> 14k candela increase with more artifacts.
Sorry
Pls PM me your issues
every light with issues I will deal.
just lately the new baby make me crowded, pls PM me the problems and order number
thanks
Neal quoted Coscar, but I think he’s talking to el_duderino.
So el_duderino should do the above and also add the background of the light being returned to Neal and Neal saying he would resend it one week ago.
Neal was very helpful when my NA40SE springs got crushed by using a protected cell. He sent me a replacement tube and driver right away.
Thanks Jason and everyone else. I’ve PM’ed Neal, we’ll see what happens.