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Old March 29, 2012, 06:34 PM   #1
stmcelroy
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Join Date: January 3, 2002
Location: Central Oregon
Posts: 562
RMB Custom Leather www.rmbcl.com Rob Bennett

Needed a few more Blue Guns for holsters and decided to give a new guy a shot. He's been very quick to answer my questions and his new website has live inventory which is nice, plus he takes Paypal so no money out of my actual pocket.

Ordered a Walther PPQ, KT PF9 and Glock 34 Monday evening and got an order confirmation along with Delivery Confirmation within an hour.

Today I go out to the mail box and what do I have, a padded envelope with nothing in it. Appears that this moron decided to put 3 large blue guns in a padded envelope without taping over the end, needless to say it burst along the way and the contents were lost.

Contacted the seller right away and was hit with "Did you buy insurance?" to which I replied I was not offered insurance so I never chose it. He then tells me his policy is to not replace anything and that if I wanted them covered I should have asked for insurance.

Funny thing is I paid $13.99 for shipping and he shipped in a $5.35 Priority Envelope, told him if he was so worried about insurance he should have put some of the $8.50 extra towards it.

I'm ****** that he won't just do the right thing and either refund my money or resend my items. I bend over backwards to take care of my customers and would eat a little money when needed to make someone happy, knowing that I will make it back in the long run.

Turns out that this guy also screwed over another local holster maker, but did offer free shipping on her next order....

So if any of you are looking to get ripped off on either Blue Guns or some of my competitions holsters give Rob Bennett at http://www.rmbcl.com a shout.

Buy the insurance, you'll need it

Last edited by stmcelroy; March 29, 2012 at 06:54 PM.
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Old April 1, 2012, 05:21 PM   #2
RMBCL
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In response to Stephen McElroy aka www.rkbaholsters.com complaint

I have debated whether to respond to Mr. McElroy’s forum posts (3 forums and counting) but feel that an official response from me is needed. Mr. McElroy purchased leather supplies (BLUEGUNS) not any type of leather item or gun holster that I make.
Mr. McElroy contacted me by email about purchasing a Bluegun (gun replica) on March 27, 2012 and I responded to him quickly and then forwarded him to my site to process the order. I shipped Mr. McElroy’s guns out the same day USPS tracking number 9101150134711276968725 which as you can see shows delivered on March 29, 2012. I communicated with Mr. McElroy in about four emails total before I shipped his package and he never mentioned anything about purchasing insurance (my policy requires to request it) or a special way he wanted his shipment packaged. The guns weighed less than 2 lbs and fit into the padded envelope with room to spare much less than the 70 lbs limit stated by USPS. I used the Flat Rate Shipping bubble wrap envelop 9-1/2” x 12-1/2”. The only opening to the bag was the manufacturer’s adhesive flap which closed easily due to the extra room left in it after placing the items in. I had no reason to add anymore material to the closure of the envelope to strengthen it because I have shipped numerous blue guns in this same packaging and have never had a problem with it failing. USPS does not allow you to alter their flat rate shipping supplies and could deny a package if you did add to it however they accepted it at my local post office. My shipping fees may seem high to some but I ship very fast especially if the items are in stock and cover the extra costs related to ordering and shipping items for my customers. Depending on what items are ordered and circumstance I sometimes pay more for the shipping then I charge. I have very good reasons for doing things the way that I do like every other merchant.
Mr. McElroy emailed me on March 29, 2012 and stated that he received a torn package without any guns in it. I requested him to contact his post office and see if they could locate them. He sent another email stating he needed either his money back or new guns. Mr. McElroy went on in the same email and threatened to dispute it with PayPal and stated “I have spoke with another holster maker locally who also had a package with dummy guns not show up, you did not work with her to fix it and lost her business”. I responded back and recommend him to proceed with the PayPal dispute. I give Mr. McElroy this advice due to the following reasons: I felt that a third party should make the decision because of how quick he was demanding money or more items, the fact that there were two customers who know each other, had recently spoke with each other, are both located in the same area, both stated they never received their guns. On both shipments the tracking showed delivered. I spoke with USPS and they advised they would have attached a note of apology for the items missing and Mr McElroy never made mention of anything except a hole in the package and his merchandise was gone. In one of his post before Paypal’s decision Mr. McElroy stated “Exactly. If it doesn’t show up it’s on USPS, if it shows up empty it’s on the seller. Even if I had insurance USPS would not cover the problem since they delivered the package” The other customer he refers to never received the package although it showed delivered by USPS but Mr. McElroy’s package showed up without any product. These are very expensive items even wholesale cost is high not even closely compared to the minimal cost of materials in small leather pocket holsters.
After responding back with his dissatisfaction he requested my friendship on Facebook. Mr. McElroy filed his dispute and I quickly responded to the dispute so he could get a resolution in a timely manner. I received four different emails through my site. One of which was obviously sent by Mr. McElroy because he used “I” in several locations but listed his name as “John Smith” and an email address of [email protected]. The emails contained links and references to four different forums in which Mr. McElroy had posted negative comments about me, my holsters, and that I had ripped him off. One of the emails threatened “Good luck with your customer service. Your going to need it.” Not sure if any of the emails are legitimate people or email addresses but I did respond to them anyway.
Paypal decided in Mr. McElroy’s favor so he was refunded his money back which I have found out is a common practice by them. They must have found validity to both our positions because they also made a somewhat fair resolution to me as well.
What is disappointing is how Mr. McElroy has conducted himself throughout this incident especially the harassing and bullying posts/emails which seem to be more of a personal attack to my leather work than anything else. I have reframed from copying this behavior because I don’t believe in stepping on someone else to make myself look better. It is ok to give reviews but Mr. McEloy has taken it to a different almost slanderous level. There are several more contradictions that I could point out but I do not wish to. I hope that the readers will see that we obviously had a disagreement on this issue and the difference in which we both reacted to it.
I am sure that my post will spark even more debate but I really have to get back to the shop and get busy. I will be posting Mr. McElroy’s review on my site. I am reviewing my site and how the polices are written and will make changes if necessary. I apologized to Mr. McElroy for his “lost shipment” however I felt I had good reasons to handle it like I did. I plan to let this be my only response to the incident and feel that it is “water under the bridge” and hope that Mr. McElroy does the same especially since he was given a full refund.
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Old April 1, 2012, 05:54 PM   #3
stmcelroy
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Join Date: January 3, 2002
Location: Central Oregon
Posts: 562
Beside the e-mails that we had going back and forth I never sent any additional e-mails to you from any "John Smith" account, that's just asinine to suggest.

At no time did I ever say anything slanderous about you, everything I have said I can back up with e-mails from you.

If you would have even suggested working with me from the get go it would have never got to this point. I would have quickly agreed to pay 1/2 the money towards replacement dummy guns, but all you wanted to do was blame me for not buying insurance even though by your own admission your new website does not allow it.

YOU are the one who took it to this level by your rude behavior once things went south and it is YOU who lost a customer who really wanted to do business with you.

Good luck in your business.

Stephen McElroy
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Old April 10, 2012, 10:05 PM   #4
Statureman
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Join Date: June 9, 2010
Posts: 36
wow. I have placed several orders from Rob and have been very happy. in fact, this post comes up when I Google a variation of his name to place another order... which is how I ended up clicking on it.

Now excuse me while I get a new Blue gun from Rob... :-)
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Old April 15, 2012, 11:51 PM   #5
Battlez
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Join Date: April 15, 2012
Posts: 1
Yeah I was just doing a random search because Rob has a coupon code section on his site but ran across this. It aggravated me so much I had to register for the forum just so I could post a reply.
(Although I will now be using this forum, excellent topics)

Rob is super professional, extremely customer friendly, and has even worked with me on several occasions to get me the best deal possible. I have ordered over 20 blue guns from him now and haven't had one single issue, and if you look around his prices for the blue guns and even shipping is the best around. He only charges $3.00 per additional item. It may be a dollar or two more on one item, but it's cheaper than anywhere else if you get more than one. So with his prices, great customer service, along super fast response time and shipping makes him hands down one of the best people online to deal with if you're looking for anything he sells.

It's the nature of online business. Once an item is out of a sellers hands a business cannot be responsible for everything that happens. If you buy something online and the PO lost it, or who knows some kids could have ganked it off your front porch. So the seller is supposed to be responsible because you live in a bad neighborhood or that your too lazy to contact the PO? This is the reason we have tracking and insurance. If there is some question of whether he actually sends his items. Do not worry, he is a honest reputable merchant.

Oh, and I've used those mailers too. You know People- the all plastic ones that you literally have to rip open because the adhesive fuses to the plastic bag. These bags don't just open on their own.

http://www.rmbcl.com speaks for itself - One experience and you will know why I don't even give the other guys a chance anymore.

Keep up the good work Rob! and thanks for your superior service!
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Old April 17, 2012, 12:48 AM   #6
Sixer
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Join Date: April 16, 2008
Location: Missouri
Posts: 1,891
Rob has always been great to deal with... He's the only guy I purchase dummy guns from.
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Old April 29, 2012, 05:27 PM   #7
bluesmoke9
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Join Date: April 29, 2012
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I don't know either of these gentlemen personally, but I felt I'd offer that I recently bought a holster from Mr. McElroy at RKBAholsters. There was an issue with the holster when I got it and I sent it back. He resolved the issue, in fact made me a new upgraded holster, and at no additional cost. He really went above and beyond to make me happy with my purchase and I wouldn't hesitate to recommend him and his products to anyone. In my estimation, customer service is what it's all about.
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