I will preface this by saying that i have placed a few orders prior that were not an issue through PA.
I placed an online order on Sat 3/21 on the PA website because they were advertising a black tango down grip on sale an in stock for $29.99 which is one of the last pieces i needed for a M4 clone build. I didn't want to order just a grip so I found a few more small items on their site i'd eyeing bringing my total to $125.xx after sales tax and shipping (sales tax applying since I'm also in Texas).
Monday morning I received email notification that my order had shipped (aka FedEx label had been generated but entry scan had yet to occur).
Monday afternoon I received a call and voicemail from Laura at PA, requesting me to follow up with her about my order.
I called her back within 10 minutes and she stated that she did not have the vertical grip I ordered. Then offered me a "greenish-gray colored one" instead of the one I placed the order for or that we could cancel the order.
I told her at that point I needed a couple minutes to figure out what i wanted to do since the vertical grip was the only reason i had made a purchase to begin with. I called her back about 10 minutes later and requested to speak with Laura, the young man i spoke with said she was busy but he could help me as Laura had briefed him on the issue. I get that inventory discrepancies occur so I requested for him to simlply cancel the order since that was the only item i truly needed.
Tuesday morning a package shows up at my door with my entire order less the vertical grip i wanted. I call PA to figure out what the is going on and I speak with Kellie and she isn't sure whats going on and couldn't explain why this happened. She searched for the item on their site which now shows as OOS. She then says she would figure out what is going on and call me right back.
After a few HOURS I decide to call her back instead only to find no resolution. I speak again to Laura and no one can tell me why this happened, but that they were going to refund me the money for the vertical grip and that it was being processed at that time (WTF?). I again stated that i wouldn't have placed an order if it weren't for the vertical grip and that i requested for the entire order to be cancelled the day prior. I guess at this point i was hoping to receive some reasoning or to be told i would be back ordered the grip and shipped it later. They then offer to get me a return label and refund me for the entire order, i had already decided I would just keep the other items and look into taking my business elsewhere for future purchases since they had already authorized a refund for the vertical grip.
Today i received the refund for the vertical grip.... except not the price of the vertical grip plus tax as i was originally charged. I know it's only a couple bucks but I feel the principle of this isn't the amount of money involved but the way the entire situation was handled from start to finish.
UPDATE: IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT SHORTLY AFTER POSTING THIS THAT MARSHALL FROM PA HAD NICK CALL ME AND GO ABOVE AND BEYOND WHAT THEY COULD'VE DONE TO MAKE ME SATISFIED. I WILL CONTINUE TO USE PA AS A DIRECT RESULT OF THIS, AND I FEEL HE IS A STAND UP GUY IN MY EYES AND TREATS HIS CUSTOMERS LIKE WE ALL WANT TO BE WHICH IS VALUED.