My Rant

[shane111]

Better not name the business, but I paid for a new PowaBeam PRO9 HID spotlight and the remote handle on the website of a Victorian based camping and hunting store on the 12th July. 11 days after making the order, I still hadn't received the light, so I contacted the shop. The guy that answered the phone told me they didn't have any in stock, and there was a shortage of the reflectors, so they probably wouldn't receive the stock for at least another week. That information would have been handy 11 days ago when I ordered the light thinking I would definitely have it by this weekend. I have a couple of nights spotlighting lined up, and won't have the HID to test out. A phone call or email wouldn't have gone astray to let me know instead of me having to chase it up a couple of weeks later. I get the impression these guys think they are too big to care about missing out on a sale if I was to cancel the order. Anyway, thats my $0.02, the Lightforce will get another run this weekend instead.

[Curly1]

Pretty much a standard way that most Australian business seems to be run lately.

I remember a couple of years ago I had about 12 grand to spend on HF radios for comms in remote areas. Contacted 12 retailers/suppliers Australia wide by phone and e-mail and didn't get one reply!

Ended up getting what I wanted direct from the manufacturer and they were a pleasure to deal with and provided excellent back-up service for a faulty mic.

Seems to be a common theme these days that once a retailer gets your money it's a case of 'screw you pal, I've got your money'. Great way to run a business isn't it?

Good luck with your spottie Kilroy and I hope you (eventually) get it.

Let us know how it performs cause I'm pretty interested to get one myself.

Cheers.

[Zardez]

that sucks mate, i don't know why you would keep the business name secret, i would name them, so we can avoid them, perhaps sometime (hopefully soon) business will realise we are sick of #### poor customer service.

[AltonaHunter]

You should really name and shame the buisness, you'd be doing everyone a favor by just letting us make a better informed decision on who to buy from.

I've had experiances with Whitetail supply and Yeticam in the states that supply homebrew trail camera kits, they do the same thing. They dont advertise on theyre sites that items are out of stock, they happily take your money and only tell you of the shortage when you're forced to contact them weeks later. Then they expect you to wait longer as much as 6 weeks. #### poor

[500Nitro]

I had a quick look at he Powabeam HID's and didn't seem that impressed but really need to look out one night and do a comparison.

I prefer the LF system anyway - easy to adjust the light.

HID is good - the light is brighter, clearer and whiter but a few people have said it

is too bright for somethings - rabbits, jumpy foxes etc. On the other hand, even using

a Halogen 100W LF 170 or 240, I don't normally keep the main part of the light on the

animals anyway, preffering once found to keep them in the edge.

[shane111]

Living in the middle of nowhere, we rely on online retailers, eBay etc. so I've bought heaps of stuff online. I'm lucky the missus still doesn't know how to!!

Most businesses have stock calculators on their website, so it tells you when something is out of stock. I have had unexpected problems getting certain stock with retailers before, but I have almost always been informed if there is to be a delay. To be honest, I wasn't real fussed with the matter of fact attitude of the guy on the phone from the shop, I felt like giving him a blast but he was probably just an employee. If I had have just been contacted and told of the 3+ week wait, I could have had the option of cancelling my order and looking around. I can get the same light in town here for $375, which is a fair bit dearer than the original order price online. In fact, I think they may have undercut themselves too much because the price for the light plus postage was over $100 cheaper than the local price, and I see the same light is now $395 on their site. I was thinking they may have stuffed up the price and were just hoping I'd cancel the order if I didn't receive it after a few weeks. I asked the bloke from my local camping shop about the Powa-Beams and he confirmed that there is a shortage of the PRO9's, so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt.

For those interested, here's a link to the site. Powabeam

I have also heard that the HID's are very bright and may spook some animals, but I have also found that it is better having bunnies and foxes on the edge of the beam as they tend to stay put thinking they are out of sight. I still have a LF240 which does a very good job as a handheld spotty. The PRO9 is for a roof mounting job, so I guess I'll wait a couple of weeks and see what happens with these guys.