Nobody ever said 100% of Neal’s 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 Neal’s customers to leave a review on TrustPilot, that’s the only reliable way to know if we, the unhappy customers, are exaggerating, or we’re 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 wouldn’t 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 didn’t 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 them…
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 doesn’t 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 “bad experience”, because if you have some resolution to a problem, then that is a vendor at least trying. “Unhappy” 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 i’ve read reviews that are mind blowing. Also, Neal, unlike Simon and Hank, doesn’t 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 i’m making excuses for him now, but i’m 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.
Also NONE of the prizes for this year Old Lumen competition, sponsored by Neals were delivered 
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.
Most likely. For my prize, I was privy to a group DM with the OL contest account and the donor.
My prize is delayed, since it’s a T1R and they’re all delayed.
Yes Neal was informed about the winners about two months ago but did not replay to any massage or mail since then
Perhaps its time to put him on do not buy lists… clearly things does not improve….
I won a Tiki light from him last year and never recieved it, no big deal along with a couple orders never recieved. I just do not buy anything from him anymore because there are many other places to shop. There are other people that have had great experiences with him with 100% positive feed back. Once is understandable but several times is enough for me. I am sure he is a nice guy from all that I have read but his business ethics are something else.
Ahhh still waiting for email reply sent oooh….beginning of January sometime. 
I won a stainless FW3A from him last July and received it pretty quickly so I’m very happy with him with regards to it.
I just got my Lumintop GT Nano from Neal with extension tube, but the only issue is he sent me a titanium body instead of copper.
My original order is for both in copper. I emailed him and looking forward to his response. Seems like it’s going to be such a hassle to return and exchange, but only time will tell.
My experiences with Neal…
He has ALWAYS come through!!
I have no complaints at all.
He has a lot on his plate but with a little patience on your end you will be taken care of. 
I had quite a few inquiries and he always got back to me in a reasonable time frame. So far, so good.
Hi everyone!
Since Neal had everything I needed to collect in one basket, I placed an order. I overpaid a little for expedited first class shipping but since I paid order status did not change for more than 10 days. I mailed two times each 5 days to Neal but I get no answer. (before he always answer after1-2 days). I want to know what happened to him and does Neal often delay shipping?
So far I have more negative experience. 
Delay in shipping would not bother me if I had at least some information from him.
From what I’ve been reading here, it’s a gamble to pay for fast shipping since items my not be in stock anyway.
Today my patience has come to the end. Pay-pal dispute started.
Damn I lost two weeks coz of this chinese as**e
+1 negative review on trustpilot.
If you have so many orders, why not hire someone to keep in touch with customers?
I do not understand this is stupidity or greed.
My personal experience with him is that often not respond at email and once one item was incomplete.
Why people still order from him…i would be afraid.My experiences with him are also very bad.No responses,wrong items,longtime delivery.
Sorry to hear everyone is still having issues buying from Neal. I just bought two Thor LEPs and the shipping was fast and the lights were perfect