I had a whole thing I was prepared to write and post. Instead of doing this while I was still hot about my last transaction with Sportsmans Guide (SG), I waited and processed the whole debacle. I tried to piece together what is more than likely the worst surplus vendor on the web. And attempt to put it into words.
Sportsmans Guide is by far the worst military surplus dealer.
Maybe the hint should have been that there was literally zero Dutch gear available from all the other shops. Or the fact that they had by far the lowest prices. Maybe it was the fact that they were selling packs of 2 or even 3 of some items for one crazy low price.
In short I should have known.
SG sucks for a myriad of reasons. For one, the prices most people will see are the membership price. So lets start there. SG wants people to pay for an annual membership in order to get the low price they advertise. For $49 you can have that for the entire year. Or you can get a trial for 3 months for $10.
They will trick customers who are ordering into doing this $10 deal, figuring they can save more than that with the first order. Which I would have.
However, the deal is that if you let the 3 month trial lapse they are going to charge you the full $49 and not refund your money even if you do not use it.
But how could they let someone get to that 3 month point without stopping the subscription? I will explain how.
In my case I built a fat order. I had about $120 worth of mixed gear. Including combat vests, load bearing set ups, pouches, canteens the whole nine yards. After I had it all in my cart and even added the trial 3 month membership I would save on the shipping and the membership would knock a bit off further. For the cart of gear I bought it would all be well worth it.
Fast forward. My package arrives. I excitedly open it and was quickly deflated. 3 of my items showed up. The rest were not in my box. And to make matters worse the combat vest I got wasn't even the one I ordered. It was a different color and model.
When I contacted customer service they immediately sent me info to just return the vest. No apology, no reason or anything about how it could have happened. Instead I emailed and then had a chat on the website explaining my situation.
The listing for my item was fraudulently listed. It was intentionally misleading in the description and I was not going to waste any gas, time, or money to ship it back. After explaining my side the rep decided to just refund me even though I said I would eat the cost of the item but wanted the listing for the item changed. The way this was handled told me these fucks didn't even HAVE the item I actually ordered. If they had it, they would have offered an exchange. I asked the lady where the rest of my items were. She said "they are on back order."
Well Ill be damned. I checked my order and went into details, all the other items I had were on back order. Some were estimated to ship about 4 weeks later, the others were saying they might ship out 2 months from that date.
So why was I able to place the order and pay for everything along with the membership if hardly any of it was actually in stock?
SG relies on this tactic of having the listings available. You stupidly order and pay for it (you pay when the items ship not at the time of the payment apparently) and then when your order comes and you are figuring out the back order status, you probably will accidentally let your membership lapse.
Most surplus sites wont show an item that is sold out to be purchased. As a matter of fact most surplus dealers will ghost an item completely. Making it not searchable on their site. Some will even offer disclaimers stating "because of the way surplus works, we have no idea if the item will ever be in stock again."
I was furious. While I didn't let me membership lapse I wanted the rest of my order. I cancelled some of the order and left only the few things I really wanted in limbo, waiting to maybe, potentially, never ship, in my account.
Called customer service and asked them outright to refund my membership of $9.99. I explained the bait and switch tactics and slimy back order thing was enough for me to say I won't order from them again and I will make sure to tell anyone who is into surplus to just avoid them. The rep said they couldn't refund me the membership because I already had saved more than it cost. It might have saved me that much had I actually received my fucking items I was purchasing.
After a while I decided to cancel all of the orders remaining and just search for them elsewhere.
Like I said at the beginning I should have known.
Unlike most items and products, surplus is different because there is a finite amount in circulation. Once they are sold, that is it. The country of origin probably isn't going to make more. None of my other suppliers had anything like these items available at the time I ordered from SG, and that should have been a major clue. The service rep I talked to said they rely on their suppliers and will move the dates back when they can't provide the products. After doing the homework other customers had nightmares according to trust pilots 500+ reviews.
Now I know I wasn't the only one. Some people said they had items like ammo get pushed back on backorder for over 12 months! Some had orders waiting to be sent for nearly two years once the Covid 19 measures were in full swing. Only to have SG cancel their orders and not honor the price or deal for being patient. They screwed their loyal customers that waited and hoped to get their orders.
I could go further into the other listed reasons why Sportsmans Guide sucks but I am not going to. They are not for surplus collecting folk at all. I will not be using them again, and I will forever tell friends and family and total strangers to avoid them like the plague.
Don't take my word for it. Click the link above to trust pilot that boasts their 1.7/5 star rating and read what the customers say.
Once they go on the banned vendor list the surplus collectors networks ban them across the board. They are no longer approved and should be avoided at all costs. No matter how good their products and listings appear on the surface.
