5.11 ATAC A2

[crudos]

What does "discharged batteries" imply? Dead batteries?

Yep 

[hjmoosejaw]

This is my, ( I repeat, MY ) main light. The Olight M21X Warrior. I say MY, because it's for me, and not to be used to go out and feed the dog, or look for night crawlers by the family. lol It is costly, but I figure it's pretty much, my lifetime flashlight. (if not lifetime, a long time anyway) I have other lights for everyday use. This is mine for when I am carrying, or things that go bump in the night. It has a sick, 600 lumen led. It uses two, CR123 batteries, or one 18650. 18650's are the ones used in laptop computers. Usually, when people get rid of their laptops, due to the battery pack taking a dump, there are six 18650's in there, and usually, 3,4,or 5 of them are still good. AND rechargeable. Below, is a torture test done to their M20X Warrior, a little less bright one. Pretty impressive. Frozen, boiled, shot, etc.

http://youtu.be/W6WSPKuunCI

Now, I have a problem. They've upgraded my M21X Warrior, to the M22 Warrior. From 600 lumens to 950 lumens, and a better interface. Below, is a review of both in a comparison.

http://youtu.be/dwt086_bQAE

[JohnyMac]

I have been using my ATAC A2 without issue so far. Thanks for all of the follow-up on this lite by everyone.

As a side note: I have yet to receive a follow-up response to my complaint of having the qty and contents of the shipping box pasted to the outside. I even sent them a follow-up email which they did not respond to either.

I like the flash light so far  however, I will not be dealing with 5.11tactical in the future. Obviously they are not very responsive to customer (s) questions nor comments.

[rah45]

I have been using my ATAC A2 without issue so far. Thanks for all of the follow-up on this lite by everyone.

As a side note: I have yet to receive a follow-up response to my complaint of having the qty and contents of the shipping box pasted to the outside. I even sent them a follow-up email which they did not respond to either.

I like the flash light so far  however, I will not be dealing with 5.11tactical in the future. Obviously they are not very responsive to customer (s) questions nor comments.

I'm actually quite surprised by this. I know that Nutnfancy gets money from sponsors and stuff, but from him and other people on the interwebz, I have gotten the impression over the past few years that 5.11 is a standup company that is customer sensitive.

[JohnyMac]

After 25 days I have finally received a answer to my question concerning listing the contents of a shipping box on the outside of the box from 511Tactical.

Good afternoon John,

Thank you for your inquiry. We appreciate your feedback and your suggestion that would be more helpful to our customers that are in the same situation as yourself. What I can do is forward your message to the appropriate department for further review. If you ever have any other additional questions or concerns feel free to contact me and I will be happy to assist you.

Thank you and have a great day!

Marissa XXXXXXXX
Customer Service Representative

My response to Marissa:

Thank you Ms. XXXXXXX for your response to the email I sent on January 18, 2014.

Lets see now; it has taken 25 days for 511 Tactical to respond. Does that seem reasonable to you? To 511 Tactical Sr. Management?

I have spent over 30 years in retail and would have fired the manager that took 25 days to respond to a customer.

My expectation of the company I ran was that management should respond within 1 hour of receiving the complaint, even if it was nothing more than, "we are looking into your concerns/complaint and will respond within 24 hours." Then to followup within that designated time with the customer.

I ran a $160M company and when we had customer concerns, questions or complaints that is how we handled it.

With that written, your response (AKA 511 Tactical), is meaningless. "What I can do is forward your message to the appropriate department for further review." O-Kay what does that sentence mean?

Am I going to have to wait for another 25 days for 511 Tactical to respond? Or does it mean that my request will be promptly deposited in the electronic ashcan?

I liked the product I purchased from you folks. I liked it enough to look into buying more items from your company and reviewing them for my readers. I also liked it enough to broadcast how happy I was or not, to the 300+ forum members I participate on; However, I have been less than satisfied by 511 Tactical response to my simple request of - Not displaying on the side of your shipping boxes the contents within.

A simple response would have been:

> Sorry John we are not going to change our shipping methods for you, or
> Thank you John, in the future we will not list the contents of the shipping box on the outside
   of the box we send to you.

One of these responses would have sufficed. Plus hopefully the response would have not taken 25 freaken days.

So there you go Ms. XXXXX. The good, bad and ugly from old JohnyMac. Will your company survive by giving better than expected customer service or fall by the side the road in mediocrity.

Please feel free to pass on my humble comments to someone who might care.

John
John XXXXXXX
XXXXXXX, PA.

I use to work for a company that the Sr. Management would debate for weeks on how to respond to a specific issue. Then when they did respond the response was so anemic that it meant nothing. I called this way of doing business "making decisions by committee."  The reason that people do this is so "blame" can be spread around evenly.

In the 120+ stores I oversaw I had a rule. A Store Manager was allowed to spend up $500- to make a customer happy WITHOUT APPROVAL from a supervisor. District Managers were allowed to spend up to $5,000- to make a customer happy. NO QUESTIONS ASKED!

511 Tactical will not receive any more money from old JohnyMac.

I am done my rant now and I feel better.   

[rah45]

Wow, JMac. I can't say I would have gone as far had I been emailing them, but I am impressed. I for one would like to know what she says, if anything.

[JohnyMac]

Thank you for your comments Rah. If the Sr. Management is like i think they are; they will do nothing or at best reply with another lame email.

[Kentactic]

Hey JohnyMac, I actually also emailed 5.11 at about the same time you did about a nick in the glasses I got. It was in the same order as the light. My Email wasn't the nicest. I basically said thanks for sending me damaged goods that im stuck with forever because im definitely not taking the time to ship it back. So I received a response about a week ago asking for my orders shipping info. Then 3 days later I got an Email that I understand as another set of shades is headed my way free of charge. So ill have 2 sets now. The nicked ones (Very minor nick) can be my shooting pair. And I also dealt with this Marissa gal. The response time SUCKS, but they seem to take care of you.

[JohnyMac]

Cool beans Ken. GREAT story! 

Yeah their response time is weak for sure.

Many years ago while being a District Manager in the PNW (Pacific Northwest) I had a very agitated customer call me that he was on his boat in Vancouver, BC and the radar he had just purchased was not working. Back then radars were running in the $5K range.

I told him that I would get back to him within an hour to see what we can do.

Grabbed my electronics's guru and called the guy back. After asking some basic questions we determined that the likely problem was in the screen. We got his address and told him that we would send him a new screen for next days delivery. We asked him to call us when he received the new screen.

Well the customer called us back the next day and my electronics guru walked him through hooking up the new screen.

Bottom-line, we were not interested in the fact that the customer had two of our screens. The most important thing was that the customer was made whole ASAP. It seems like 511 Tactical did that for you 

Post script: The new radar screen didn't help the situation. So my electronics guru and I drove to Vancouver BC from Seattle the next day. No easy task as going through Canadian customs smuggling in parts and such. 

The guru determined that the installer had installed the unit incorrectly.  He fixed it and the unit worked. The customer was BLOWN AWAY by the customer service he had received from West Marine.

[rah45]

Wow, John. I've never heard of that level of customer service before. Good on you!

[crudos]

So how is the flashlight working for everyone? Kicking myself for missing the deal. 

[Kentactic]

@JM - Sounds like you guys had some badass Customer service!

@Crudos - mines running great now. I determined that when im drunk I constantly finger fuck my flashlight to ensure its in the outside edge of my pocket. When doing this I sometimes click the light on and dont notice until I feel warmth. Long story short im working on being drunk with a flashlight. Admitting I have a flashlight manipulation problem is the first step.

[JohnyMac]

Thx guys. My motto was always "under promise and over deliver." I lived it so the folks who worked for me lived it.

[JohnyMac]

Just a continuation of my gripe where 5.11 Tactical lists the contents of a package on the outside of the shipping container.

I have been having some good communication with Ms. Carranza in Customer Service and after Ken's positive earlier post I thought I would give them another try. So on Feb 19th I ordered another item. A pair of slacks to be exact.

The slacks arrived today and guess what? Yup you got it. The contents of what was in the package was pasted to the outside of the package. Attached is a picture of the label.

Ms. Carranza knows that I am sensitive to announcing to the world the contents of a package I receive. She was also aware I was placing the order.

This is what 5.11 Tactical thinks of my opinion and continuing business - Beware!

I will not be ordering anymore products from them.

Case closed.

[Kentactic]

Thats a shame JMac. You'd think she could have at least told someone to marker over that part of the label for you.

[Burt Gummer]

Ok so let me ask you guys for some 5.11 service advice. I purchesed a set of 5.11 Hard Time gloves from optics planet (who's CS is horrible) but my issue is not with them it's with the product it self.
http://www.511tactical.com/hard-time-gloves.html
The sourced leather segments are non uniformly sized. Which normally I wouldn't have a problem with as long as it works, except that it's caused stitching to rip at a stress point. Is this something that I could talk to them about?

Other then that, great gloves.

[Kentactic]

Ok so let me ask you guys for some 5.11 service advice. I purchesed a set of 5.11 Hard Time gloves from optics planet (who's CS is horrible) but my issue is not with them it's with the product it self.
http://www.511tactical.com/hard-time-gloves.html
The sourced leather segments are non uniformly sized. Which normally I wouldn't have a problem with as long as it works, except that it's caused stitching to rip at a stress point. Is this something that I could talk to them about?

Other then that, great gloves.

Shoot them an Email and include pictures and maybe even your order info on opticsplanet to help prove legitimacy even if they cant look up that order. They will likely replace them for you.

[JohnyMac]

Burt, this is whom I have been dealing with at 5.11- MarissaC@511tactical.com

She is in charge of customer service there. Just do me a favor, let her know that you got her contact info from Unchainedpreppers. She is fully aware that we (UP)  are keeping and eye on them.

Concerning Opticsplanet: They are the worst company I have ever dealt with on line. It finally took me calling my credit card company and filing a grievance and a letter to the CEO to get their attention. After two months of back and forth, they did finally come around. But what a waste of time on my part. In the future pay the extra $5- or so and go with a reputable company. 

[crudos]

While I missed out on the A2 deal, did find a ATAC A1 at a decent deal. Runs on one AA battery. Will replace my freebie Coast G10 as my edc light. 

[Kentactic]

I regret to report that my A2 has been pulled off the EDC loadout for now. I ripped the clip off brushing up against a fence at work. It has no retention device now.

[JohnyMac]

Ken, are you going to contact 5.11Tactical to try and get one... Maybe two?

It would be interesting to see how they respond. 

[Kentactic]

Ken, are you going to contact 5.11Tactical to try and get one... Maybe two?

It would be interesting to see how they respond. 

I just might JMac. If I do ill keep you guys posted.

[Kentactic]

So after Emailing them like 25 days ago I received a response today and they are sending me out a replacement clip free of charge. I asked for a couple spares. Well see what shows up.

[JohnyMac]

  Yeah, 25 days is about right for their turn around time on answering emails. 

It's great that they are going to send out the replacement though. Just remember that the envelope will have a big ass sticker on it that lists the contents. 

[Kentactic]

Yeah, 25 days is about right for their turn around time on answering emails. 

It's great that they are going to send out the replacement though. Just remember that the envelope will have a big ass sticker on it that lists the contents. 

Ya im not stoked about that lol