Very negative experience with MidwayUSA

[BD]

I need to vent.
My rotator cuffs are pretty well gone from years of kayaking, and my days of shooting a traditional bow, or compound bow, are over. I've debated this for a couple of years and came to the conclusion that if I wanted to continue to hunt the early deer season it was time for a crossbow, (legal for archery in Maine at my age). So on the fifth of September I ordered a Ravin R10 crossbow from Midway USA, while It's not Ravin's top of the line bow, it was a significant purchase for me, and I figured that at my age I'm only ever going to buy one, so I should probably get a pretty good one. I received an order confirmation and a projected arrival date of Sept 16th. They charged my debit card which they have on file. So I waited. Having heard nothing by the 19th I tried calling, but their phone line disconnects immediate after the "thank you for calling midway USA, Customer service is available 7 days a week from 8:05 AM to 4:30 PM". I tried about 6 times and then sent them an email. Today I received a reply telling me that as the crossbow is a regulated item it cannot ship to a PO Box so my order was cancelled and my payment would be refunded.
I am pissed off. Regular archery season starts the October 4th and I am geared up, except no bow. The reason I am pissed off is that I have been dealing with Midway for more than 30 years now. They could have sent me an email telling me this was happening the same day I got the order confirmation with the delivery date. They could have called me. They have my phone number on file, my mailing address on file and my street address for shipping on file. All of those things have been the same for decades, and they have shipped restricted stuff to me many times. Leaving me in the dark, (while leaving the charge on my account as well), for two weeks is simply unacceptable. Not being able to get someone on the phone is unacceptable.

[Shell knob]

I have slowly gotten away from buying from midway, and tried to find an alternative vender, although not always easy with all the scammers.

[Handloader109]

My only question is why you EVER had a PO BOX listed with them? Or for that matter, ANY company that sells gun supplies or hunting supplies? And while I totally agree with the poor CS and response, it's on you to a degree as any order you place shows shipping address and it put in the po box before you hit order button.

Btw, I've a business account with a 3dprinter company and their system failed to put in my street address when I initially sent paperwork to them to set it up. It took me almost 2 weeks to get that fixed. I could not alter using computer, it had to be THEIR personnel set up and then make changes. CS stinks all over



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[John Wayne]

Sounds frustrating for sure. I have only had 1 broken bottle of Tempilac from them which was not packed properly and they took care of it. I've dealt with them since about '85. I would start working your way up the chain of command and get it over nighted. We have local archery shops that would help you with set up and adjustments.
Good luck to you and best wishes!
JW

[walnut1704]

I think the reason is that they don't ship crossbows via USPS. Why? I don't know. The USPS doesn't prohibit it. In fact they have less restrictions on them than UPS does. The only thing I can think of is they ship it in the manufacturer's carton which indicates it's a crossbow. That is against the USPS rules. UPS requires an FFL for shippers (but not for receiving).

It looks like Midway only ships them UPS. UPS usually doesn't deliver to USPS PO Boxes, though I have run into some PO's that have a different (street) address you can ship UPS too. I'm not sure if they all do. But Midway says they don't deliver to PO Boxes in their shipping rules.

I can't find anywhere on their site that warns of all this. Like you said, they should have emailed you that your order was canceled. One thing I noticed is they have crossbows marked as "DOT Regulated" and I think that is wrong. You're not in the wrong here. After reading their shipping rules I'm turned off. They have extra charges for all kinds of stuff, especially to rural addresses.

[John Wayne]

Handloader109...all we have is a po box. The kids kept tearing down the mailboxes on our road. The PO signs for our packages and holds them as part of our PO Box fee. Nothing ever stolen or rained on at our gate. Works great!
JW

[elmacgyver0]

No local sporting goods places that sell crossbows?
It doesn't surprise me that they don't send to a PO box.
Why not just ship to your residence?
Got to be frustrating.

[white eagle]

sounds to me like they should have told you from the git go that they would not ship to a PO box
customer service is a internal issue and contactiing someone higher up the food chain may get that resolved

[elmacgyver0]

Handloader109...all we have is a po box. The kids kept tearing down the mailboxes on our road. The PO signs for our packages and holds them as part of our PO Box fee. Nothing ever stolen or rained on at our gate. Works great!
JW

I would take that as a challenge and make a mailbox that they couldn't tear down.
Set up some trail cams and catch the rascals. It is a federal offense to tear down mailboxes, or least it was at one time.

[fastdadio]

Take a look at your local craigslist ads under sporting goods. There's always cross bows listed in my area for what looks like good deals. Usually complete packages, bow, case, darts, some even have scopes mounted. I don't hunt with one, but my friends do. I`ve shot them all and they all work well. Even the off brand cheapos will get the job done.

[MostlyLeverGuns]

Amazon, Optics Planet, Sportsman Warehouse, another bunch or so selling Ravin crossbows, maybe at better prices? Shop around, "Ravin ceossbows for sale" brought up many vendors. I too have long and good history with MidwayUSA, but many others have better prices and carry items that MidwayUSA call discontinued when really just out of stock st Midwayusa.

[elmacgyver0]

Being 74 I do not have the upper body strength I once had, I have a 45 lb. recurve bow I can no longer use as I cannot draw it anymore.
I can get an antlerless license for seniors over 65 to use a crossbow in IA.
It is possible to get a physical exemption if you have a handicap, but I don't have a handicap, just weak.
I bought a Barnet crossbow from Sportsman's Guide, didn't take long to receive, maybe a week.
Found out I couldn't cock it using the compound leverage rope thingy that came with it, too weak.
I ordered the crank attachment that enables me to cock it.
Still difficult, but doable.
Make sure you get one you can operate, just because it is a crossbow doesn't mean it is easy.

[waksupi]

I recently had a bad experience with Midway, too. I ordered a .452 Lee push through sizing die. When it arrived, no push through stem. I contacted them, and told them the problem, and asked them to send me one. They wanted me to send the die back on my dime, so they could send a replacement. After several communications, they told me to contact Lee about it. Well and good, but I didn't buy it from Lee, I bought it from Midway, and expected to get what I ordered. I will contact Lee, but plan on continuing to harass Midway about their business practices. I have other push through dies, so have stems I can use, but I stand on principle.

[johnho]

I stopped buying from Midway some 20 years ago as it seemed their shipping costs were way over priced. Let alone many of their items. It is convenient buying from them but you pay the price. I enjoy the hunt on line for what I want. Won't even click on an item if it's shown as Midway. Sorry Charlie (Larry).

[Der Gebirgsjager]

About Midway-- I've dealt with them for many years and never experienced a problem.

About the post office box problem. That is one I've encountered many times. Usually it is from Amazon or Ebay. One goes through the order process and then the screen advises that "This seller does not ship to a P.O. box. Cancel the order or provide another address." We have a very small rural post office with one lady Postmaster and one parttime employee. The Postmaster put an advisory in everyone's P.O. box that shipments can be received by using the post office branch's street address plus the box number. So, example, 123 Smith St. #131. It works! Fed-Ex and UPS will deliver to it as a street address and then the Postmaster leaves a yellow card in your box notifying you to pick up the package. You might look into this-- I don't know if it is just small-town friendliness and cooperation, or if it is a USPS policy, but it works for me. You might just try it without saying anything and see what happens. Bearing in mind, of course, the postal regulations concerning what can/cannot be shipped through their system.

DG

[fatelk]

Those of us who have been buying from Midway since the 1980's remember the small, family run business that went out of their way for the customer.

They've grown since then to be the industry giant they are now. It seems that their small, family customer service has also grown to become the soulless, tone-deaf customer service of a big company. I'll still buy from them on rare occasion, but I do miss the Midway USA of decades ago.

[MrWolf]

I bought a $200 Xbow off ebay back in 2017. Taken three bucks with it before health issues. Basically all three dropped within 25' of being hit at around 50 yards. Only issue I had with Midway was a birthday pricing awhile back where I got shafted (pretty sure it was Midway). Talking about lousy customer service, Amazon screwed me with a xbox game pre-order. They decided it must be fraud or whatever and just canceled all pending orders and made it a nightmare to login. Took over an hour to get login sorted out but they never told me about the orders being canceled. When the game was released over a month later, I heard nothing, no code, etc. I called and ended up requesting a supervisor who stated that was their SOP in how they handled it with no notification, etc ( there was an email that did include a sentence stating orders would be canceled but it was somewhat buried and I never thought it would be for something pre-ordered over a month in advance). Told the supervisor why not do what the cc companies do and just call or text asking I the purchase was legit or not? Said Amazon does it differently. Basically agreed with me and gave me an Amazon gift card for that item to help make up for not being able to get the extra gifts for a pre-order.

[Rapier]

RFD can be interesting, here, the UPS and USPS deliver each other's packages. I had a bright red civilian PU deliver a package last week. Hey had a magnetic sign on his driver's door. Best bet is to go get one, our State Trapper has 300 he has taken, from poachers. Might call and ask if the local wardens have one to sell.

[jsizemore]

My only question is why you EVER had a PO BOX listed with them? Or for that matter, ANY company that sells gun supplies or hunting supplies? And while I totally agree with the poor CS and response, it's on you to a degree as any order you place shows shipping address and it put in the po box before you hit order button.

Btw, I've a business account with a 3dprinter company and their system failed to put in my street address when I initially sent paperwork to them to set it up. It took me almost 2 weeks to get that fixed. I could not alter using computer, it had to be THEIR personnel set up and then make changes. CS stinks all over



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Since I've been dealing with MidwayUSA from the 90's till now, everything has gone to my PO Box. If it goes by the USPS in my town, it goes through the same PO.

[stubshaft]

I have been avoiding buying from Midway and seeking other sources of the items I need. What I save on their products is often offset by the shipping costs that they charge.