Hard to Beat Midway for Mail Order

[jsflagstad]

Update from F&M Reloading Supply

Well, I finally got an answer in the phone calling the F&M Reloading 800 number this morning 11 days after I placed the order. I promptly inquired about my order and the rep put me on hold and went to check the status of my order. The rep returned to the line after a quick minute and told me that he had good news, and that was that my order was just processed and will ship out today! Great! I said now I want to cancel it! He asked why and I told him that 11 days for order processing was just a bit on the rediculous side. He told me that the holidays slowed them down and that some items I ordered were on back order, but offered no recourse or offered no admittance that yes they screwed up by not keeping me informed as to my order status, especially when I received an email the day after I placed my order telling me that it will ship in as soon as 1 day. To make a long story short, I got my one an only order that I will ever place with them cancelled and went on with my day.

I hate to leave negative feed back for anyone trying to make a buck, but at the same time I expect them to step up to the plate and give me the common respect to offer me the best possible service they can when I am handing over my hard earned money to them. Who knows, maybe they have came through for some of you in trouble free orders and maybe i'm just the exception, and if that's the case, hey that's cool I then recommend that you keep supporting them. I merely started this thread to see if anyone had any history with F&M Reloading Supply because it had been so long since I placed my order and it was not showing up and my concern was rising. I mean no harm to F&M, but I have to say that they struck out with me...

JSF

 

[wild willy]

Just ordered from Midsouth less with shipping than Midway was just for the supplies

 

[shooter chef]

I had the same prob with slow connection to midway, i actually called them on it about 3 weeks ago, they said they had just started on TV and the increases volume was why they were slow.
Since then, most times it seems a bit faster.
I agree that their customer service is great.
they had a problem with one of my orders of bullets that they said was in stock, they discovered 2 days later that it was not,. They had held the whole order over because of it, they called me to let me know of the mistake, then shipped the in stock items 2nd day air to make sure I had it the day that i ordered it for.
I have not looked into Midsouth much, but for Midways customer service and the ease of their site, I will probably stick there if only to spend 1 or 2 more dollars..... although i am going to look into them if it means saving more than that!

 

[Deer Slayer 270]

Midway

I have been ordering a lot of stuff from Midway USA, but lately I have noticed that their shipping charges have increased significantly, to the point that it has caused me to change my mind from going thru with my order when I found out how much they wanted to charge me for shipping. couple of days ago I was going to put a small order to jut get couple of stuff I needed, totaling aroung $27, came to find out that shipping charges would have been almost $9 for UPS ground. Now that is getting a little too much, and I don't think it is all the actual charges from UPS.
My local sporting goods store has been getting alot more appealing to me lately.

 

[bfox]

Hi

I ordered from Fm reloading I had the same experience
as you . Wasn't showing up I called them and some targets for
2 bucks were on backorder . Finally got the order
after about a month . Could of cared less about the targets
just thought I would add them on to the order .
Tried them again same thing .
I agree with everyone don't think I will stray from Midway .
Orders from them always in 2 or 3 days .

Bill

 

[jsflagstad]

Well Fox,

Glad to hear it wasn't just me, but sorry to hear of your inconvienence. FM seems to have good prices, but they seem to fall down and shoot themselves in the foot when it comes to speedy order processing and shipping. If I owned or ran the company I would want product out the door ASAP as that would get the money in my bank quicker. I don't know, maybe there is a different business philosophy out there.....

JSF

 

[hivel37]

On Monday 1/8 I ordered a Marble tang sight and a brick of .22 LR from Midway. Tracking indicates it will be in this afternoon. Thats pretty quick. Shipping on these items was $10+. Seems a little high, but great service. Also good service from Cabela's, Midsouth, and www.lockstock.com. Brownells will have items you can't find anywhere else.

 

[Peter M. Eick]

Midway is a good company, and I order from them a lot, but ever since they switched from shipping included to shipping as a separate expense, I have found they are not the cheapest anymore. Actually, to be more accurate, they are the vendor of last resort for bulk items. Now for finding say a particular die set or some oddball part, Midway is great.

I find I can do better costs wise from Cabellas, Natchez or Wideners especially on bullets. Brass is usually cheaper from Starline direct (if you order enough at one go).

I find that what you have to do is find the item, say 230 grn FMJ's and then shop two or three of the providers including the shipping to find the best price.

 

[RERICK]

Fm

jsflagstad,
I placed an order around the holidays to FM.I got the same story about how its busy around the holiday bla bla bla.On the bright side I did get my order around when they said I would get it.It took about a week.I was in no hurry and I saved quite a bit.They seem to be a big Lee dealer and thats what I was buying so it all worked out OK.If I was in a hurry though I would definitely buy from Midway or Natchez.Midsouth has been good also.It's hard to beat Berry's for bullets since shipping is included.

 

[UniversalFrost]

About the only two places I order gun stuff from are Midway and Natchez. Both are very good.

Natchez can get a little pricey sometimes on shipping. Ordered 4 double rifle cases and a scope and they charged me almost 50 bucks for shipping the rifle cases by ground, then they shipped the scope seperately and charge me 20 to ship it. Haven't ordered from them since and let them know why I was taking my business elsewhere. They gave me a refund on the shipping of the scope, but made no excuses on the high shipping of the cases.

Now most of my stuff comes from Midway, with the exception of Cabelas and Brownells.

 

[softpoint]

I can agree with Midway having good service. I do believe that Midsouth has better prices on some things, they just don't carry as much stuff as Midway. I've used Natchez as well with good results, as well as Wideners, and Graf & Son, who helped me find a special forming die at one of thier competitive suppliers once!

 

[Selfdfenz]

I'm a very big fan of Midway but recently, in addition to what I determined were higher shipping costs, it seems everything I've bought was significantly cheaper at Natchez, Cole Distributing or one of the other vendors.

I really like Midway's fast service but I can easily save enough to cover the shipping someplace else if I'm patient, watch for sales etc. Some of the stuff Midway lists on sale really isn't much of a deal at all lately compared to the competition.

S-

 

[PsychoKnight]

I was shocked when I found FM was still doing business. I found them on eBay, and wasn't so surprised that it seems a very large portion of their business is through auction & buy-it-now listings. Then again, I wasn't so surprised they used eBay as their main vehicle. I ordered some items from their pricelist 20 years ago, responding to a 1" ad in gun magazines.

At that time, all mail order companies had a 6-8week shipping disclaimer. F&M Shooting Supply (name at that time) was the only company I've come across in my life that actually took the full 8 weeks to ship something. I would understand if it was surface-mailed from Sydney, AU; but come on, USPS domestic ground? Then, I got stuff that looked suspiciously used, but they passed that off as warehousing scuffs and routine business processes outside of their control, including the greasy finger smears (QC inspection), tooling marks (factory testing), and sliced tape on product box (postal inspection). Right.