Sale At Botach!

Doug

Enlightened
Joined
Jan 4, 2001
Messages
962
Location
SoCal
Woo Wee! Infinity's for $9, Photon II's for $9, Streamlight Batonlites for $26.10! And of course you probably all know about the Surefire E1 ($35) and 6Z ($52)... I ordered all of the above... except the 6Z ... several colors of Photon's, multiple whites for give-a-ways... wee... I just hope they actually have them, and send them now
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!

Doug
 
I wouldn't say they "actually screwed me" but darn close. I had to follow up with at least 6 emails (all of which were ignored) and at least a dozen phone calls to get credited for a light they never sent me. I finally talked with someone last week that told me they would credit my credit card.

A couple of tips, get the persons name and the date and time you spoke with them. At least 6 of the people I spoke with refused to give me their names, but that is how I eventually got a manager. All I want is to get credited for an item I was never shipped. I had been told more than once it was taken care of only to find out later nothing had been done.

Botach, no thank you.

Brock
 
I suppose I should also say this is the third problem in about 10 orders, but this was definetly the toughest to get resolved. I guess I am following the three strikes rule here
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Brock
 
If you do decide to go forward and order from Botech, this is from an email I received from them:

"As a token of our appreciation, we are offering you a 10% Discount on your next order. This coupon is valid for all products, and must be used on or before January 31, 2001. To redeem simply enter the word "Botach" in the coupon Field on your Order Form."

I've only made one purchase from them, but I was a walk-in so that good experience doesn't apply to mail orders.
 
The rumors of botach not being a real "store" but a closed down pawn shop also scare away quite a few folks. I've never personally been there, but I've gotten the royal runaround on the phone with them - again - won't give a name - then when they did, I called back and asked to speak to that person, funny - nobody by that name ever worked there! (WELL THEY DID YESTERDAY WHEN THEY TOOK MY MONEY!) - then when you do have a problem (not if - when) you can't call their 800#, you have to call a different "customer DIS-service" number, which either doesnt get answered, goes to a machine that is full, or gets picked up and hung up again.

I've formally complained about them to surefire after the censorship issue came up (surefire provided a contact to complain about botach, so I obliged) - but still no resolution to my problem.

ask yourself - for $1 less, would you rather deal with their grief, or order from a reputable dealer?
 
As a matter of principle, we should all avoid Botach. No point in praising some company for great products and good service but then giving the business to Botach because they were a couple bucks less. To encourage good business, you gotta support the good business and it sure sounds like Botach isn't one of them.

RonM
 
Wow, looks like I have started a hot thread
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!

Ok, one of the reasons for ordering from them (as if I need to justify anything
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!), is, I wanted to see for my self... and I will give you folks a blow by blow.

I placed the order on their website Sunday. I called earlier today, and they said my order looked good, and that they did charge my card (which I could see online (on-ling banking, gotta love it!)) ... They said they would have a tracking number after 5pm, once UPS does it's pickup (I thought those numbers where generated BEFORE UPS picked up packages? But, then I am not sure... maybe that is the way is works for bigger companies, like mine..?). So, I called a little after 5pm (5:11pm I believe)... at first I got a recording that said they where only open til 5pm, but that online help was available until some time later ... I hung up, and called back, got a woman, asked to talk to someone about a tracking number. She transferred me to someone that looked up my order, and said that one item was not in stock, I asked if all the other items where in stock, and they said YES. I asked them to remove the one item, and ship the rest, which they said they would tomorrow. I have no evidence that they tried to contact me about the one item not being available, if they tried the e-mail address I provided, then that wouldn't work, because that e-mail account is on my friends network, kind of my "e-mail address to give out to those that might spam me" address. My friend is changing ISP's, so his network is not reachable at the moment, but I will contact Boatach tomorrow, to see what is happening with my order. I picked ground shipping, which should take 1 to 2 days, since they are only about 45 minutes away from me.

I'll keep you all posted
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!

Doug
 
Update:
This morning I was able to get into my e-mail, and I found an e-mail from BotachTact at 6:32pm. With the items of my order (minus the one they didn't have), tax, shipping, etc. and the URL to check my order on thier site (just wish I knew about the coupon
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!). So I will be checking the tracking number from time to time today, to see when the package gets picked up...

Doug
 
Originally posted by Doug:
Update:
This morning I was able to get into my e-mail, and I found an e-mail from BotachTact at 6:32pm. With the items of my order (minus the one they didn't have), tax, shipping, etc. and the URL to check my order on thier site (just wish I knew about the coupon
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!). So I will be checking the tracking number from time to time today, to see when the package gets picked up...

Doug

Ps. I just checked my bank account ballance, and the Botach charge isn't there... hmmm..
 
Your bank account balance won't show immediately after Botach accepts the credit card. It depends on when they send their batch of CC transactions to their card processor. Once they send that, it should appear on your account the following business day.

(I used to work for a credit card processor.)

------------------
Kris Cox
anduin.eldar.org/~klcox
 
Gee I guess this must be some kind of freakish fluke; I ordered a Baton (where do I report the serial number?) and an E1 from Botach and they both arrived after a week or so...
I don't see what the problem is with them being a former pawn shop -- probably the right size set- up for storing lots of stuff with vaults in the back for the 'controlled' items...
Maybe they mean well but are doing alot of business since they carry so much stuff and sell it so cheaply --- if they hired more people, they'd have to charge more...(has anyone sent them the url of this forum?)
 
Well, I've had variable experiences with Botach. My first order was an absolute disaster, the answers to my questions changed everytime I spoke to someone new. My second order which included 2 Streamlight Batonlights went off more smoothly but with one caveat. The caveat is that they provided me a tracking number but autodirected me to the wrong shipper (fedex instead of UPS). I'll probably deal with Botach again, they are getting better.
 
The report of them being housed in a former pawn shop come from me when I went there to purchase 4 photon 2s a few weeks back.

The facility is quite big, farily well organized and stocked with lots of stuff. they had 3 or 4 people working the phones/computer terminals and 1 or 2 filling boxes.

They're located in a marginal part of town so using a former pawn shop makes sense. Serious security bars up front and two massive walk-in vaults in back.

It appeared to be a smooth running operation from what I could see but who knows what lurks beneath the surface.
 
Hmm... The 28th (Sunday night) I noticed a pending for the amount... and it was still there the 29th, then the 30th it was gone, and not the 31st it is back (but no longer "pending") ... not sure.. Oh, and I received the items today.

Doug

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Cyclops942:
Your bank account balance won't show immediately after Botach accepts the credit card. It depends on when they send their batch of CC transactions to their card processor. Once they send that, it should appear on your account the following business day.

(I used to work for a credit card processor.)

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>
 
Ok... I received my order, after placing it on Sunday, through their website. The items didn't get shipped until Tuesday, that is why I didn't get them until Wednesday (I chose UPS ground, because I live so close to them, basically any site in the same state as me (CA), is one day with ground). But they did fail to inform me that one of the items wasn't in stock... but, I called them Monday night, and that is when I found out that one item wasn't available ... I don't know how long it would of been before they tried to contact me before they sent my order. But, all in all, I saved money, I even got the new version of the E1 (S/N#A00331 for those who care) ... which I am surprised to find out is just a hair dimmer than my 3D mag ... AND THROWS AS FAR! Also, I got every Photon II color they had, that I didn't have yet, those being Turquoise, Yellow, Orange, Blue, Infrared, Green. I already have a red one. I purchased some white ones (I have one on my keychain, and I liked it so much, I purchased some more for friends). I immediately gave one to a co-worker, but she spotted the Blue ... and I must say, the blue is BEAUTIFUL! She wanted the blue... and she liked the turquoise ... also another female co-worker said she liked the blue and the turquoise! I think I will put those two on my keychain, along with the white... and maybe the red (geesh... filling up that keychain!). Oh, and I got a Baton also (S/N#002439 for those that care).

Over all I am a happy camper ... and I think I sold the VP of our department on buying some Photon II's in white for several people in our department (hehe)!

I highly recommend the BLUE!! Makes me want to ditch my white
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!

I await the Photon III's, and the Rav'n, oh and the Expedition 14! Weee! And the E2, and the 10X ... WeeEEeeEE... SOMEBODY STOP ME! HAHA!

Doug
 
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