Airsoft
Clan Review written
by Steve
(diablo2items@attbi.com)
-
Thursday, April 18, 2002
My Experience purchasing an Airsoft Gun This is was my first experience with over seas retailers and airsoft guns. I started this experience with a search for the best listed prices for the guns. Then I hunted for retailer reviews. After finding which retailers were most liked by fellow airsofters I sent out a request for pricing. For me purchasing a gun wasn't just finding one place and ordering it was a process. Since money doesn't grow on trees (maybe I just haven't found the secret yet?) I searched for the best deal. I went to different teams 'links' sections to find retailers. I found that War Gamers Club (WGC), Den Trinity, Red Wolf, AirsoftShop and Airsoftclan.com had the most competitive prices. I asked my self what set these retailers apart from each other? I had to find an answer to this question. To answer my question I had to do a little investigating. I went to Airsoftplayers.com and Airsoftzone.com's forums. Most people just said things like 'Great service' or 'Fast delivery' for WGC, Den, Red Wolf and AirsoftShop. People said different things for Airsoftclan.com. The overwhelming thing they said was 'Mike from airsoftclan.com is a nice guy'. For the most part none of the postings said airsoftclan.com had great service or fast shipping. After reading up on the different retailers it was time to send out price quotes. I sent out request for pricing to Red Wolf, Den Trinity, AirsoftShop, WGC and Airsoftclan.com. I sent Airsoftclan.com the first request. After sending it I decided that I wanted to see personally what set these vendors apart? So I formed up an email that said: 'Hi, I am very interested in buying an AK-47 from you guys. But being this is my first gun I had a few questions. Your prices are pretty much the same as every other dealer in Hong Kong what make your service any better. I guess this is what determines who I end up ordering from. Is there any way I can get the gun by Saturday if I paid via paypal? Thanks Steve'. I formulated this after sending the request to Airsoftclan.com. So I sent an email to them asking if they can get the gun here by Saturday. The next morning my inbox box had responses from Airsoftclan.com, AirsoftShop and WGC. Let me start with WGC. They responded with: 'Dear sir,Compare with other company, we are not the best so we need to do much better in otehr way!! =)'. I thought well at least they are honest. Next was Eddie from Airsoftshop. He said that it was impossible to guarantee that the gun gets here by Saturday. He gave me a forty percent chance of it getting here by Saturday. Then was the response from Mike (Airsoftclan.com). He gave me a lower price and said that he could get it here by Saturday. I initially thought was that this guy just BS'en me? From what I've read it takes 3-7 days for the guns to get to the U.S. from Hong Kong. Mike seemed very confident in his E-mail. I chose to buy from Airsoftclan.com. Mike was confident that if I paid that day (Monday) that the gun would get here by Saturday. I was like great! Only one problem I didn't have his Paypal account for Paypal in any of his emails! I sent him a message asking for it. Then I decided to read his quote and of course towards the bottom of the page there was his Pay Pal billing address. I felt dumb. I then sent the money. I was worried that since it took me so long to send the money my gun wouldn't get here. But Mike said he would do his best. Mike was very patient with my newbiness. He shipped the gun Tuesday. He told me that the UPS folks told him the parcel would arrive in 2-3 days. Mike later told me that he had never used UPS but they were the only one who could get the gun here within the requested time frame. It looks like he did some research and it paid off. I received the gun the NEXT DAY. That's right next day shipping! He didn't charge me more that the quoted price or even request more funds later. The gun came nicely wrapped. I don't think customs checked it because there wasn't any of that notorious yellow customs tape anywhere on the package. Everything was packed nice and snug. There were papers taped to the outside of the box (underneath the paper wrapping) that basically said: "This is a toy gun made of metal and plastic. If you have any questions please contact Steve Callow at (Then my phone number)." I thought that was a nice touch. My AK had orange painted from the flash hider to the front of the foresight. The only thing that wasn't there were the manuals. He emailed me right after he shipped it telling me that he forgot the manuals and that we would send them to me using the same shipping the next day. I was just happy to my new toy the manuals didn't spoil my opinion of the service any. (Airsoftplayers.com has all the manuals on there site). I was extremely pleased with the parcel and service.
Mike from Airsoftclan.com
didn't turn out to be this nice guy everyone was saying he was.
He turned out to be awesome. I would have expected the service
I received if I was ordering a thousand dollars in merchandise
but I only paid him three hundred and seventeen dollars. I only
wish that every retailer would treat people like Airsoftclan.com
treated me. If you are looking for any airsoft products give Mike
and Airsoftclan.com
a look before going any were else. Mike went above and beyond
the call of any retailer to gain my business then and in the future. " This is maybe more of a 'How to' on finding a retailer. I have all the Emails if anyone wishes to see them. For any question Please Email me at diablo2items@attbi.com written
by Steve
(diablo2items@attbi.com)
External Links: Airsoftclan.com Comment on this review in the forums Last modified: Wednesday, May 9, 2001 9:37 AM copyright 2001 ArniesAirsoft
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