Myself I've had a less than pleasant dealing with Botach. As best as I can recall this is the jist of my experience:
I had heard of issues with them so I figured I'd give them a test myself. Botach had a very poor reputation from the LEO community when I volunteered for one several years back.
IIRC the website had some old Inova X1's on sale and I figured that would be a good feeler purchase. I also browsed around and put a couple hanks of small diameter rope in my cart (as of course you can never have too much rope), etc.
I put in my order ans waited. A couple weeks later I was called... yeah it took weeks to the best of my recollection. :shakehead I was informed that the flashlight wasn't actually in stock another item, one particular diameter of rope... and so we amended my order. Well, I wasn't happy about the fact that the website stated that they had one thing, and they actually didn't, but no harm done in the end.
Then a while later (I think on the same day) Botach calls me. They had an issue with my shipping address being different from my credit card billing address and the fact that my billing address was a PO Box. Well, that's fine I guess, although I'd never before had an issue with this and I've done a lot of e-commerce. So I explain to the lady that I am (was at that time) in an address protection program and that is why my legal address was a PO box, and if she had an isue they could contact the State of Washington. I gave her the hotline number for the program so that she could pursue any means she required in verifying my valid participation in the program and gave her the specific law for the Revised Code of Washington which allowed the program, etc. I also volunteered to fax a copy of my State issued ID which had the PO box as my legal address, and a copy of my program ID card.
The next day I get a rather rude message on my phone from the lady telling me to call them back. When I did call her back I'm told that no one picked up on the number I provided and essentially that I was going to be reported to the police for pretending to be government or some weird crock of @^%#. Well, I proceeded to directly contact the hotline and asked them if they had been down or not answering at any time in the past day, and if they'd had a querey on my participation in the past day. Both were negative.
So being the mild mannered person that I am, instead of spewing obsceneties and rage, I simply canceled my order and decided Botach was not worth my business. I have definitely chimed in from time to time when Botach has been brought up in various forums simply stating that they may not have in stock what they claim and that customer service is hit and miss.
However after a year or two to cool down, I am willing to give Botach a second chance. I too would have been very skeptical of the Botach ad (if I could actually see ads). However after reading the discussion, which I'm glad was brought up and was allowed to happen, I see that there is an understanding between CPF and Botach as to what's up. Botach the ball is in your court. You can bet I'll be interested in whether things have changed for the better, and if that [insert unflattering word for a woman here] has been fired.
In regards to Empath's post comparing Cheers vs. Jeers thread numbers, I think that's like trying to measure mass with a ruler... not a very effective or accurate way to do it. But fwiw, any place that has anything near 1/2 of it's threads there as Jeers, let alone ~62% Jeers, is obviously ticking a lot of people off and is very suspect to bad business practices. I would call a 62% unfavorable rating very conclusive. There is no such thing as consensus on just about anything, lest of all here on CPF. :tinfoil:
Due to the value of the OP, I'll keep on track and won't comment on topics brought up further down the post or on some other posts in this thread.
