I just left a review on TP. I only have 2 reviews so far - didnât even remember the first one, apparently itâs from when I booked a car in Mexico just before the pandemic.
I can assure you Iâm not âthe same disgruntled individualâ as the others.
I once bought 2 Jetbeam Mini one from Neil which should be made of titanium. I was really looking forward to it, lamps made of stainless steel were delivered. To my complaint came the succinct answer that titanium would be more expensive. Thatâs ridiculous and thatâs how he annoys his customers.
Iâve had all GREAT Experiences with Neil until this one. I ordered a fire flies E07 on February 22. I was very excited to get one it was my first ff. I got a acknowledgment order email but the item never shipped. I figured it was Chinese new year so it may be longer but I asked other people and they had to order shipped in the same timeframe. I also ordered a second different light on March 2nd and that shipped. But my feb 22 order still didnât, still no word or response from Neal. I emailed Neil five or six times saying I would pay more for upgraded auxiliary lights if the one I ordered was out of stock and that was the actual hold up. I got no response. I had to reach out to contacts he hasOn here to reach out to him and I think thatâs the only reason I have any resolution. Last night I got a refund to my PayPal saying that it was my request. I never requested a refund but at least after 3 weeks I got my $75 back⊠I went on neals site To order a different variation of the EO7 bc I still wanted it and thought it was just the version I ordered that was the problem. Well every single combination of LED, auxiliary LED , and body color was out of stock. It was not like that two hours before, because I had been checking almost every day.
This is more of a warning that you can order something that is not in stock and he may or may not get a hold of you for weeks, holding up your money and keeping you in anticipation if youâll ever even get a refund. Although he did refund my money so there is that. I donât know, just really bad experience I feel compelled to share. And wierd because I had a dozen other perfect transactions with him. On the other hand the competition (Hank) emails me back everyday I email him. Every time.
Why does it take a PayPal dispute to get an answer out of Neal
I got a light that doesnât work. I was told Iâd be sent a replacement. It has been over a week and I havenât received a shipping number and have been ignored. I open up a dispute and get messaged within a few hours that theyâll ship it tomorrow.
If I cancel the dispute, I wonât be able to start another one and if I donât get a working replacement, Iâll lose the ability to get my money back and a light.
GT Mini Pro came yesterday, after 11 days from ordering, Connecticut, US. 11 days. So, my last experience with Neal before this sucked, and now the guy sends out my light, working perfectly, with exactly all of the correct extra stuff i ordered, to me in a week and a half from China. He wouldnât even email me back about my other order, but on this one he is the quickest shipping out of anyone in the game. I guess if the consistency were better Neal would be great.
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Your experience is encouraging. Strange how quickly it can turn positive.
Neal has lights and accessories I would love to order. But our bad experience with Neal goes unresolved.
So no orders will ever be placed with him.
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Nobody ever said 100% of Nealâs business is bad.
We are only saying that the percentage of unhappy customers is significantly higher than literally any other Chinese vendor.
The strange thing for me is that the guy is being promoted by a good amount of very well respected BLF members.
I advice all Nealâs customers to leave a review on TrustPilot, thatâs the only reliable way to know if we, the unhappy customers, are exaggerating, or weâre just being annoying and spoiled. His rating currently sits at 2.2/5, but only 8 reviews.
i agree, if i had an unresolved issue with anyone in this arena i wouldnât take the chance ordering again either. I was lucky with my one bad experience that he refunded me after 3 weeks or so.
I feel like if he has the item in stock, and it is in good working order, then you will be ok. but if either of those things are not the case, all bets are off, because he is not going to go out of his way to help.
I had a botched interaction with hank once, and he sent me something like 3 pocket clips and a led and mcpcb express mail, 5 days to Connecticut. I didnât ask for quick shipment either. Why deal with bad customer service when there are sellers out there who will make it right. I just wish there were more of themâŠ
Well, i feel that is exactly the problem the people that have been burned by Neal are experiencing. 3/10 (that may be low, but is probably really high) are being left out to dry by Neal and with how passionate people are in any hobby like this, it causes outrage. With the amount of product Neal probably moves (Just think Lumintop, Mateminco, and Olight- im sure he sells twice as much as hank and simon) the percentage of people who have been shafted by him is probably really low. I know this thread is large, but still. It is probably something like 5. Its enough for people to create a thread, but not enough to stop him from having bad communication with the orders that are really messed up. I mean i have had terrible purchasing experiences with Certain Sellers on AliX, but whats the recourse? Start a thread? No. get 30 of my money back and keep the crap light. With Neal people feel empowered to start this thread to change his handling of SH*T transactions because of his correlation to good standing blf members, but i have to imagine he is a small distributor getting around 1000 orders a month, and not staffed appropriately or doesnât care enough to take care all the issues. He does take care of some of them though. He refunded my money finally. I just read that someone said he is sending out a new light because of a PP dispute. So, really how many people are absolutely burned by Neal? Also, i would consider getting absolutely burned a âbad experienceâ, because if you have some resolution to a problem, then that is a vendor at least trying. âUnhappyâ customers is a very vague statement. Ive read reviews about people being unhappy for very unrealistic things, Not saying that is going on in this thread, but iâve read reviews that are mind blowing. Also, Neal, unlike Simon and Hank, doesnât make anything (actually, i dont know if simon makes anything. but anyway). So yes he should check every light, but its not like he assembled the light either. I dont know, i feel like iâm making excuses for him now, but iâm just saying i have been in business a while and i know how some things fall through the cracks even if you have the best intentions. I also know when you get 100 emails a week from angry people, and 75% of them are because their order is taking longer then 3 days to ship or 3 weeks to arrive, you eventually stop giving credence to all those emails. And in some of those emails are probably the very valid complaints. But to agree with you, bad customer service is inexcusable, and so is bad communication.
Correct me if I am wrong, but there are at least three parties involved in this contest:
1/ people who coördinate the contest
2/ participants in the contest
3/ people who have committed themselves to donate one or more prizes.
I assume that it is the responsability of group 1/ to officially start and finish the contest.
And to officially declare the winners. And to officially inform the sponsors of that fact.
Or do you think the sponsors have time to follow every thread about the contest to the letter?
Question: is Neal informed about the winners? Not suggesting anything, just asking.