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Page AK-47 » Optics & Accessories
AK Sponsor: palmetto
Posted: 7/10/2003 9:02:48 AM EDT
Well Kalinka finally answered my emails.....here is their response to my email inquiries. Not to proffessional in my opinion.

Dear xxx xxxxx,

Thanks for ordering from Kalinka Optics Warehouse. Your order is being processed
and will be shipped three days from when the order was placed. This allows us
to carefully verify your billing information and reduce fraud to protect you.
It also helps us continue to have the lowest prices on the net.

If you have any questions about your order, please visit our web site at: http://www.mikadox.com/.

Thanks again, KALINKA Optics Warehouse, Sales Team



OK, all sounds good. Now, 44 days later I decide to send an email and find out why my scopes have not been delivered? Here is the response that I got:

There was a problem but they finally got it out. It is in two packages and both should arrive to you this week.

Best,

April

www.kalinkaoptics.com




OK, now I get the feling my scopes will be arriving soon. I send another email on 6/25:

order date 05/04/03
inv number xxxxxxxxxxxxx
i was told 2 weeks ago that it had been shipped in to separate packages and i would get them LAST week.
where is my order?




No answer from Kalinka. So, I send another email on 7/1:


April,
placed order on 5/4/03
credit card charged 5/4/03 for $xxx.xx, to be shipped in 3 bussiness days
received email from April on 6/16 that i would "receive order this week"
today 07/01/03 STILL NO ORDER!
so where are my scopes? this is becoming a little ridiculous.
thanks




Again, no answer.


On 7/9 I sent this email to Kalinka:

April,
still no product, what is the deal with you people?
i want an imediate credit to my charge card. i am tired of screwing around with you people.
you refuse to answear my emails and you refuse to send me my scopes.
i expect a answear with in 48 hours in regards to a credit to my charge card. if not then i am contacing the attorney general and my attorney and anyone else my attorney recomends, and you can be sure that your bussiness practices will be noted on every gun board on the internet.
have a nice day



This is the response that I received from Kalinka why the scopes were not here:

Hello,

Customs stopped our packages in the name of the new regulations in the War on Terror, the US has put pressure on the Russians and now we can’t even get binoculars out of the country. Your order was shipped and stopped. They let it go out of the country eventually by land post. Our customs agent was somehow able to get the held packages released this way but we are waiting for clarification from the highest levels as to what exactly is going to be the future. This is not a problem local to us but rather even the big factories are being affected. The packages will eventually arrive however land/sea post is obviously slower. There is nothing I can do about this. The War on Terror and the draconian new laws which have even stopped binoculars and spotting scopes is beyond anything we could have anticipated. Your order will arrive. We are selling what stock we have here in the US and I can not say if we will be able to resume imports until our governments decide exactly what is allowed. I am sorry about the problems but we are dealing with the situation and our future as best we can.

Best,

Jeffrey

www.kalinkaoptics.com



Well, this is unacceptable to me and my customers. I sent the following email to Kalinka:


Subject: Re: where is my order?????????
Whatever....Sounds like a failure to deliver on your end. IIRC, I was told the scopes were shipped and on their way over 3 weeks ago. In fact, when I inquired earlier by email you said that they were shipped in 2 diferent packages because of a mix up. Now, 3 weeks later and 6 unanswered emails I get this. How do you expect to keep a business going? Your are committing electronic fraud which is larceny and theft. Why did you not make note on your web site that there were problems--afraid that sales would go to someone else? If you kew there were problems why was my card charged the day after? Common practice here in the US is that the credit card is charged until product is shipped. Now you have my money and I have been charged intrest on non-existant scopes-- not to mention the customers that are my case for undelivererd products. The problem does not lay within the Draconian laws but within the lies and deciet of your company. I could care less about your binocular and scope problem, but I am concerend my scopes are not here in a timely manner. I do not accept the idea that I will get my scopes someday whenever it suits someone else.

The shipping problem from Russia is not my problem but yours. When I ordered I was told the scopes were in stock--evidently not. As I stated yesterday, I expect my credit card to be credited--now you have 24 hours to do so. The credit card company has been notified, you have been notified, and now proper authorities will be contacted. Needless to say the exposure on various gunboards will have an affect on your business.


D & B Gold




The following reply was sent to me:

They packages were shipped exactly as you were told. You are a heartless axxhole.

Best,

Jeffrey



Then right after the above response from Kalinka I get this too:

One more thing, they held our packages 3 weeks before telling us there was a problem, your two packages were held for three weeks and then forwarded by ground. Even a moron such as yourself can figure out that this is obviously not our fault and we are left trying to put together the pieces and salvage our business. A redneck such as yourself would have a hard time imagining what this is like for us.

Best.




I put the emails and responses in sequencial order as they took place. Kalinka took my money 68 days ago, they have not delivered the product, and now are calling me names like heartless axxhole and redneck moron. Oh well, I hope that I will get my money back, but I doubt it. You can read the information above and form your own opinion. I do know this much, my objective is to let everyone know what kind of company Kalinka is and how they treat their customers.
Link Posted: 7/10/2003 10:28:41 AM EDT
[#1]
Credit card companies are usually pretty good about refunding you the face amount of the charge when goods are not provided more than a month after the charge (I have been down this road before myself with another business). Give the CC a call and besides posting fair notices on your favorite boards, move on. And you are not the first board member to get a nastygram from Kalinka when you do not just politley play by their rules.

1) Postal money orders are wonderful. For the cost of the trip plus 90 cents for the MO, failure to deliver fully in a few months gets the Postal Police involved. Meaning a Federal LEO visits them.

2) Tantal may not have everything at the most dirt cheap prices all the time, but this type of problem never, ever happens with him.

PS- thanks for laying out facts with minimum ranting for a valuable thread; I know it is not always easy
Link Posted: 7/11/2003 5:54:47 AM EDT
[#2]
So are the packages drop-shipped to your location from Russia, or are they shipped from Russia, to Kalinka, and then on to you?

Were it me, I'd call my credit card company, reverse the charges immediately, and then wait to see if they ever show up.

A reversal of the charges and cancellation of the order is what they deserve for lack of communication and ignoring your emails.

In the event that the optics arrive at your door months after the charge reversal, I'd personally say it's payment for the rudeness and foul language.
Link Posted: 7/12/2003 10:13:39 AM EDT
[#3]
In a day or so the longer duplicate thread in AK Tech Disc will get moved here.
Page AK-47 » Optics & Accessories
AK Sponsor: palmetto
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