After years of ordering hundreds of items such as hazardous materials (solid-fuel rocket motors;…read morechemicals; lithium batteries; firearm components; wine; assorted petrochemicals; devices that contain radioactive materials -- such as smoke detectors; and a plethora of items that can't be shipped to a post office box), I've finally found a company that stands firmly on the rock of ignorance and foolishness: US Tactical Supply.
Add to that encountering one of the rudest individuals to ever work in a customer service position.
I'm told that my order has to be sent to my credit card's billing address: no exceptions. The reason? "Credit card companies are concerned with fraud..."
Yes, they are, and when I suggested adding my bank's personal manager and fraud department as a conference call -- all of which have both my mailing address (used for billing) and my residence address -- required for both my charitable veterans' foundations' and trust accounts by the IRS as well as those three-letter federal organizations for a truckload of reasons -- to verify my identity, this fearful individual working in US Tactical Supply's customer service department rudely announced he was cancelling the order and hung up.
Really?
Ever since having my credit and personal identities stolen, I've had all financial correspondence sent to a post office box; the tiny, rural mail box -- some distance from my residence -- is NOT lockable; any packages larger than 5" on a side is left on the ground for any thieves that happen to drive by, especially the local porch-pirate methheads who also follow delivery trucks in order to enrich themselves. Having a package delivered to a residence that requires a signature is perfect, especially when I'm purchasing any of the items that can only be carried by rail or cargo aircraft.
In fact, UPS, DHL, and FedEx all have my addresses cross-referenced: send an address label for something going to my US Post Office requires me to show my driver's license... which shows (and proves) my physical address, conveniently serving as my DELIVERY ADDRESS for those three companies. All three companies have my "billing" address, phone number, and (residence/physical) shipping address -- information which this US Tactical Supply customer service individual can almost immediately determine with a few keystrokes, especially because I have accounts set up for my personal, charitable foundation, and trust business... all this information consistent, across the board.
The branch manager of the bank serving my personal, foundation, and trust business accounts has joined conference calls where verification of information has been required, and spoke with me a few minutes ago stating that had I added him to a conference call, he would be happy to provide US Tactical Supply with the verification necessary or needed; the bank's fraud department has two- or three-step verification processes that have allowed me, as an airline pilot traveling worldwide, to conduct business from anywhere in the world with any legitimate, verifiable business in the world -- with the one possible exception of US Tactical Supply.
So I asked my personal banker (branch manager) to call this individual to see if we could work something out: he was hung up on.
My attorney contacted US Tactical Supply to see if we could get the name and contact information of the owner of US Tactical Supply so that we could work out the problem. Why? He's my training partner spotter. He was hung up on.
Someone should tell this individual that just because we use computers in business doesn't mean we should think like one. Either that, or maybe they've outlawed common sense, courtesy, and/or reasonability in Idaho.
