Another user from reddit. Go figure :person_facepalming: Not a Neal fan, and the only thing I’ve bought from him was the original GT several years ago, and the original FW3A a few years ago. Tired of people whining, thats all.
I’m tired of people whining about people posting their legitimate problems with a seller. This whole controversy started because a handful of people for whatever reason attacked the credibility of members posting about problems with Neal.
In the face of pretty overwhelming evidence, (negative postings on 3 forums that I know of and a review site) these members refuse to acknowledge or admit that Neal is a unreliable and irresponsible seller. Very odd.
I never saw any member’s rights to free speech being denied or Neal being unfairly being accused or abused or not nearly as much as the members claiming that are accusing and abusing other members. A member or two seized on seems to be an innocuous statement to try to make that case. To me you fail.
So I believe a few people should let go of the hypocrisy, denial, and animosity toward other members and in the face of very convincing evidence admit that ordering from Nealsgadgets is a crapshoot and you stand a good chance of wasting your time and being disappointed and the members posting about it have valid complaints.
well said
especially this part:
“just make a statement…and not react to someone elses comment .”
agree completely… people who tailgate to disagree with a post, are off topic
it is very poor form to fail to post on topic, and instead target someone elses opinion
and regarding Neal
I waited a long time before taking a chance on ordering from him
My FWAA arrived quickly. It worked OK, but one LED was dimmer than the others. I knew Neal would ignore any after sale contact… and he did.
I chose not to use Paypal Dispute to get a refund, because I already expected to change the LEDs to 219b for myself
done… the light works fine… I fixed it myself
Add my vote for that - I think it'd be a good idea and a fair one. Neal has done us a lot of good and there's no need to totally throw him under the bus even though it's clear that there are some serious issues, sporadic and apparently inconsistent as they may be. OP was a new member and had his axe to grind, of course, but this thread should be retitled and merged with the other, put in the right place. What's silly is trying to squelch anyone, right thread or wrong thread, and the little war of sorts that seems to have evolved between these two + and - threads. imho.
It’s the fear of losing Nealgadgets’ coupon codes.
We’ve a local store which had terrible service, but still managed to amass a cult following as a result of its “competitive pricing”. Anyone who posted negative experiences will experience character assassination and be shut down immediately by the store’s fans.
yeah, it’s pretty telling that Intl-Outdoor (hank), Convoy (simon) and other similar stores do not have the kind of negative feedback which Neal gets
excellent post!
I think this thread is serving the purpose of warning people not to have high expectations of after sale service from Neal. There are many times when he ignores contact after sale, as this thread shows.
so, if someone has a problem with an order from Neal… and he ignores your email… Just escalate to Paypal Dispute and get a refund. Neal is quick at giving refunds when a Paypal dispute is opened.
^ This whole thread could be summed up to this comment right here. It has been said 1,000 different ways on many pages, but that is what people coming to this thread to get information about the precautions of ordering from NG should know.
People coming here for drama, well.. they are the ones who are likely to leave finding what they were looking for..
What do you guys think is an acceptable resolution to an incorrect order? I received the wrong variation of my order. Ideally, I would want to return and have the correct light shipped out to me. Would you guys settle for a measly 10% refund or would you want a full refund at the minimum? Somewhere in between?
well… you should ask for what you actually want
if it does not happen, due to ignored emails, or other distractions, and unacceptable offers (such as 10% refund)… you can take control of the situation by:
1. dispute the transaction in Paypal, suggest you use the category:
“I received an item that’s not as described”
2. after you get the refund, buy the light you want, from somewhere else
3. IF Neal wants the light you received, returned to him, then either he can provide you a prepaid label, or, Paypal can refund your return label cost.
That’s what I proposed and that was his offer (I guess I can count myself lucky I got a response considering the thread I’m on). Thanks for the confidence. I’m gonna stand firm and push back.
> I’m gonna stand firm and push back.
well… the most effective way to push back is to use Paypal Dispute
I suggest you use the category:
“I received an item that’s not as described”
I missed this thread before, but both of these comments are spot on. Some people really love drama and creating a stink for others to hear and egg on. Unless you’re a newbie and need direction like m00nshine is asking for, I don’t think this community needs to hear about how an order went wrong and how frustrated you are how thats not cool and how “never again” and blah blah blah. It’s a part of life plain and simple. People buy brand new houses and they aren’t perfect sometimes. But they have warranty and it gets fixed. When people buy a new car, sometimes you have to take it in and use your warranty because something isn’t quite right. Do people go and scream and get everyone to pile on with them if a car issue comes up? NO, an adult just takes it where needed and gets it taken care of. This should be considered completely normal in adult life. If you buy a flashlight and it didn’t go well, use your PayPal and file a claim. It’s seriously not that hard and doesn’t require an episode of General Hospital or Days of Our Lives to get to the bottom of.
Everyone needs to make sure to use services that provide buyer protections like PayPal and Amex do. And if you have an issue, take advantage of them and use them. I think not enough people do, and when they do, it’s not soon enough either. If after a week of getting ghosted or an unfavorable solution is offered. File a claim and tell them you did not get the working product or it did not arrive as described. One week should be the standard acceptable limit to hear back and have a resolution offered to you. If after that you’re still chasing them, file your claim. Sellers need to know we’re not gonna waste a month or two giving them all this leeway. Thats the only thing they’ll understand. And if everyone does it, it sets a precedence and lets sellers like Neal know that quick resolutions are needed or this will get kicked up right away for a refund. Then it will be on them to either do better, or lose the funds.
Neals can be very bad at times, but just protect yourself with him and all sellers and you will be fine. He has great deals that I would def take advantage of, but I would never let him or anyone else play me. I know I’m either getting what I ordered, or my money back, them’s the only options. Looking for an audience to cry and complain to about it on public forums achieves nothing to that end. Some around here are still new and don’t know, I get it. But one time is all anyone would need to learn this very simple lesson.
This is literally everything and cannot be overstated. No need to try and get responses from sellers if they aren’t responding. File a claim and put them and your refund on the clock. This is the biggest and most firm “push-back” one can do.
FYI…
If you place an order on Nealsgadgets that includes batteries but does not include a flashlight, they cannot ship your order. Your payment will be taken and then your order will sit in “unfulfilled” status up until the point where you reach out and inquire. If you did a “buy and forget,” your order might be sitting in perpetuity as “unfulfilled.”
So 2 weeks later, when I saw my order didn’t budge, I reached out and… that’s how I discovered this. There is NO warning on the batteries pages. Nothing at all. If anything they should have “Please be aware that if you buy this battery, you need to purchase a flashlight that uses this battery, or else we cannot ship it.”
When I learned, I was told “please add a flashlight to your order and we can ship it. You can add a cheap one.” Essentially, if I added something like an Olight i3 EOS, my order could ship… and the larger batteries wouldn’t be going installed in a flashlight. Well, everything cheap is sold out. Nice.
This is 2022… and there’s really no reason why this condition couldn’t be covered by text content on the battery pages or logic in the shopping cart.
I believe the law states that the battery has to be installed in the device. So, I don’t think it’s even legal to ship an 18650 and a i3 EOS in the same package since the battery can’t be in the device.
I quit buying there after 2 trials which were a struggle to get what I paid for. For 2 years I’m happy with Banggood and Ali.
I really admire people gambling with their site. I’d rather risk that money in Las Vegas, at least i would have some fun 
If the battery is sent in a plastic box, so it can’t short out on anything, it’s going to be fine. Unless it’s a junk battery. I bought several batteries from 1800Battery and that’s what they did. No problems.
Indeed. Vapcell sends their batteries on rubber cases without a hassle.
Retailer’s prerogative on shipping individual/loose cells….shipping rules vary by country and by service but the vast majority do allow it, within their parameters for size/quantity/max watt hours, etc. It’s often too expensive, though, and at least with outbound from China the airlines seem to reject these parcels way too frequently.
Neal does need to fix that and some other things on his site, though. Communication is still pretty dodgy as well. After my first semi-negative experience recently after nothing but good clean experiences previously, I’ve decided to just confirm details of stock and such for any future orders, and if there’s a problem I’ll try only once or twice to contact, after that it’s a paypal dispute rather than trying to be a good neighbor and avoid that with patience. He needs to step up the game a little. I do appreciate what he does for us and would hate to see him slide away out of the game.
The battery shipping law requiring a device be shipped with the battery is a loophole to allow things like laptops and phones to still be shipped. Not really accomplishing anything safety related.