We decided to make purchases from two vendors that supply airsoft gear and be able to use these gears for upcoming skirmishes and at the same time test how online retailers take care of their customers, especially how they process and deliver. So we placed orders at RSOV.com and Special Airsoft Supplies last 30 August and see who delivers first. Now, RSOV.com is Hong Kong based while SAS is in Buckinghamshire, England and the delivery address is somewhere North of Greater London.

You might think that this is rather a very unfair way of testing online airsoft retailers since one has a great distance disadvantage while the other one can just deliver faster due to its being in the same country. Well, we suggest you read on...

1st Test: Online Order Placement

We placed an order at RSOV.com for the following items:

• 2 (Lot of 2) x A.C.M. MP7 100 rds mid-cap magazines = £13.98
• A.C.M. drop-leg holster for MP7 (green) = £16.99
• (Lot of 2) x A.C.M. bipod grip for rail = £10.99
• Galaxy G-7 (MP7) = £34.99
• Dboy' RIS / RAS modular rail covers = £7.99
• Shipping Cost: £47.00
• TOTAL: £131.94

Order was placed on Aug 30, 2007 2:11 PM.

Right after, we placed an order at SAS for the following items:

• Viper Multi Gun Carrier = £40.00
• Guarder GC-04 Glasses = £27.00
• Tracpac Trek Boot = £26.00
• Shipping = £7.00
• TOTAL = £100.00

Order was placed on Aug 30 2007, 2:22 PM (so just 11 minutes apart from each other).

The experience in placing an order at these two sites is basically even. Everything was straightforward.


2nd Test: Paypal Payment Cancellation

We made payments for these items at both sites using the e-cheque facility of Paypal. If you pay for an order using e-cheque at Paypal, this will take 10 days to clear so the retailer will just hold on to your items until the e-cheque clears.

Both were asked to cancel the uncleared transactions so that we will be able to pay via direct debit, which will automatically transfer funds to their Paypal accounts.

SAS was prompt as it cancelled immediately the transaction. RSOV.com had to be emailed further to cancel this transaction since there was a mix-up in emails as there are new email addresses that have been setup just recently to properly process transactions. We sent our email to the old email address which is basically used for product enquiries.

Both were then paid with direct debit transactions on the same day (30 August) to allow them to process the orders immediately.

So this is fairly even, as we made a mistake on our part by not updating ourselves of the customer service emails of RSOV.com.

3rd Test: Order Follow-Up

We sent emails the next day (Friday 31 August) to both retailers to follow-up on the status of orders if  they've been processed and already out for delivery. We know that items will be sent to the delivery address within 7-10 working days by SAS, while RSOV.com gives 5-10 working days.

RSOV.com replied that their staff will get back to us as soon as the order has been shipped. SAS replied that "All of the orders will be processed today and will be out on Monday for delivery" so we were quite sure that SAS will beat RSOV.com in terms of delivery. And if the items get shipped out on Monday (3 September), we might have the SAS items by Wednesday at the earliest.

4th Test and the Most Important: Who Delivers First?

Monday (3 September) arrived and we received an email from RSOV.com that our order has been processed for shipment. We didn't hear anything from SAS about any updates. We figured out that both retailers will send the tracking codes for the shipments by Tuesday.

Tuesday (4 September) came and no tracking codes from both. SAS still hasn't notified us yet on the status of the order.

Wednesday (5 September) came and the same result as Tuesday.

Thursday (6 September) and an email arrived from RSOV.com's aftersales team informing us of the Tracking code and that the item has been shipped last 4 September. So far, no word yet from SAS on the status of our order.

Friday (7 September and as of this writing),  we are right now toying with the Galaxy G-7 which hopefully would be useful in CQB games. RSOV.com was able to process and deliver our order within one week.

Overall, the much-praised service of RSOV.com is still very much at work and wins hands down. Though with the VCRA sections on RIF make it difficult to purchase AEGs from overseas,  we strongly recommend RSOV.com for your other requirements such as spare parts, accessories and tactical gear as these are not affected by the VCRA.

As for SAS, no word from them yet as of this writing. Oh well, we might as well wait out the 10 full working days before we start pestering them on the status of the order again. Who dares wins? (*shrug*)

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We will make purchases from selected retailers or visit them on a random basis from time to time, all in the name of finding great online and offline customer service for our readers.