My experience with botach tactical :cuss:

[CSI304]

I have been buying stuff from Botach, and Optics Planet for years, and I would not recommend them to anyone. Poor service, and they almost always have nothing in stock.

[tonyxcom]

When you place an order online the merchants have a few options. Most will "Authorize" for the entire amount and then "Capture" the payment when they know they can ship.

They do this for obvious reasons, one of which is the verify the CC number matches your billing address and CVC code (if they request it) and to verify that sufficient funds are available to complete the purchase.

Most credit cards will only allow an "authorize" to remain for a number of days. They need to hold this money so they can complete the transaction when the merchant captures the payment. If the payment isn't captured in that time frame, it will fall off and the amount becomes part of your balance again. Most merchants still have your credit card number on file though so when the item does finally ship, they can re-authorize and then capture payment.

Some merchants will only "authorize" a $1.00 charge on your card to verify billing and identity information and will later authorize and capture the balance. The downside to this is that when they later try to authorize say $499 and the card is declined they need to call you.

By authorizing the full amount up front they save themselves that trouble.

[MikeR]

All my orders through botach have been smooth. The key is to pay with paypal, they will ship what is in stock and cancel backprdered stuff. If im willing to wait ill just reorder with a CC.

[highcenter]

Given all the terrible reviews, I was more than leery when considering my first order with them earlier this year. Saving a few bucks here and there is the only way I can afford my expensive hobby, so lowered my expectations (they're clearly not Amazon Prime) and took the risk. I'm happy to say that over several orders, the product, delivery, and pricing have all been great. All of my orders have been for clearance items and I have never been unlucky enough to get back ordered or deal with customer service. The last time I picked an item that was back ordered it showed as such in my cart before I finished checking out. At that point I removed that item, finished checkout with the in stock items, and put the back ordered item in a new cart to review next time I had $ to order. To my surprise, a couple weeks later when I was ready to order again the previous back ordered item showed as in stock and all items arrived as expected.

Given my experiences, I will continue to order and cross my fingers (for myself & fellow CalGunners).

Good luck!


Maybe they should hire one of us to revamp their inventory control and ecommerce systems. I'm available

[solanoshooter]

I buy from Botach all the time. Conservatively 15 - 20 times a year, for both personal orders and agency purchases. 95% of the time I have my order in a couple days.

That other 5%, I agree that their customer service via phone is horrible. I have never been able to get someone on the phone for a personal order. For an agency order, if I leave a message I usually get a call back in a couple hours and questions get answered and problems get fixed.

However, I have had great success resolving issues via live chat. I'd recommend trying that first before trying to get someone on the phone. I've had the live chat operator give me a direct line to call and someone picked up right away.

As far as backordered items go, they have never been able to give me an accurate delivery date. Now if I get an email saying that an item is backordered, I immediately reply and ask them to cancel. They always confirm cancelation within a day.

[obscura101]

It took them 5 months to deliver my ACOG. I completely forgot I placed the order when I received it. It was still cheaper than everywhere else.

[tpc13]

I totally agree they suck, some crazy lady tried to bill me twice for shipping and it was her fault. She kept calling and mailing letters for over a year. I finially called and the owner took care of it

[Mac7504]

All my orders through botach have been smooth. The key is to pay with paypal, they will ship what is in stock and cancel backprdered stuff. If im willing to wait ill just reorder with a CC.

This^^^ The only issue I've had with them is when I ordered ranger plates recently (backordered), I just didn't like that I had to call to see what the deal was.

I kept the order open and got them a month later, totally forgot I ordered them...lol Like a few others.

[chad68]

I totally agree they suck, some crazy lady tried to bill me twice for shipping and it was her fault. She kept calling and mailing letters for over a year. I finially called and the owner took care of it

Ha. That reminds me of the first cell phone I had in the late 90's. When I signed up they said after one year they would lift the roaming restriction.

After 2 years of paying my bill faithfully, they never lifted the roaming restriction and I stopped paying and switched carriers. 12 years later they still send me letters 2-4 times a year trying to collect 25 bucks. They have probabally wasted 5 times that much in trying to collect it.

[GM4spd]

I ordered from them ONE time---------------

[NHP1127]

I was glad to see this thread so I could comment. Their CS is non-existant. I have tried them twice and both transactions were big fails! No one answers their phones and it seems when an item is on back order they don't bother to inform you. What a joke company.

[mindwreck]

bought at least 10 orders from them.ranging from 10 bucks to 400 bucks. all went perfectly fine. all arrive between 2-3 days and very well packaged

only issue ever was some batteries were backordered after i submitted a order.they emailed me about it and i responded about switching them to another brand. they said it was okay and shipped those instead.

[far from tactical]

bought at least 10 orders from them.ranging from 10 bucks to 400 bucks. all went perfectly fine. all arrive between 2-3 days and very well packaged

only issue ever was some batteries were backordered after i submitted a order.they emailed me about it and i responded about switching them to another brand. they said it was okay and shipped those instead.

wow what a lucky guy i placed an order for my tlr 1s on the 16th and i just got it today (24th)

[res2580]

I ordered from them 3 times a while back and don't remember having any issues with them. I'm pretty neutral with botach but I'm not sure now.