"I bought an Optimus Nova stove from North Adams last month. They charged my credit card and I never heard from them again. My attempts at reaching them through email and phone have been unsuccessful. I am currently working with my bank to get my money back. Do not buy from these people."

"All I can say is Wow I'll give a little background to my situation.. I own Double U Graphics, and re-sell Garmin Products, A customer Asked me to Price match with North Adams which is Pretty much Wholesale prices.

Lately We have had a Horrible Backorder problem on astro DC30's. and Since I new north Adams Outdoors was so cheap I decided to buy all the stock on hand, and Complete my customers back Orders with them..(sure it was more expensive, but a happy customer is better than $$ to me)

Anyways.. Long story short, a $1700 gift to my backordered customers turned into a Nightmare for me, and Now I have the Items Coming in via my regular channels.

I always tell my customers, Sure there are cheap options, but sometimes they aren't the best.

My Order confirmation was 22732577F4

I'm disputing the charges now. Expensive lesson, and a good reason what I try not to be like with my bussiness.

Buddy Woodberry.
Double U Graphics"

"8/24/09 UPDATE: Notice on their site that they are closing and I was issued a full refund through Paypal this morning. Not sure what to believe but I did get my money back!

I also called the FTC to update them that I received a refund. I guess I would give them the benefit of the doubt on the latest news of the site closing. I would add though my concerns could have been allayed had I been kept informed of what was going on with them closing the site. Also, they should not have taken my order if they were closing. All is well in the end I suppose, I got my money back.

*****************BUYERS BEWARE!******************
I read the reviews prior to placing an order and decided to give this seller the benefit of the doubt. I called and spoke to someone to get a warm and fuzzy. The rep assured me they had 95 of them in stock and it would ship in 1-2 days from payment. So I took the leap of faith and ordered my item. Here is the timeline of events.
8/09/09 Placed order online, but did not pay. Order was automatically canceled. I emailed and indicated I wanted to speak to someone first before going through with the order (this was my conscience trying to tell me something was not right with this site.)

8/10/09 After calling Monday morning and speaking to someone, I go ahead and place an order online, paid through Paypal $288.28
8/10/09 Received email confirmation of my order same day.
8/11/09 Received an email that my order would be cancelled and refunded. I emailed back and explained that was the order from over the weekend but this was a different order and I wanted it processed. Immediately received a response apologizing for the mistake. The rep indicated that he saw this was a different order and assured me it would be processed. No further replies were received.
8/12/09 I call and speak to someone to see if my item will be shipped and would I receive a tracking #, he assures me it will ship and I will receive an email stating tracking# will be available in 24-48 hours. He said it takes time to enter the tracking #'s to the site and then states that the line in the email of 24hrs or 24-48 hrs is the clue where it will ship from, St. Louis or Michigan.
8/13/09 I receive an email and sure enough it says tracking# will be updated in 24-48 hrs. It matched what he told me so I feel better. The website gets updated with my order conf# showing ship date of 8/12/09 but no tracking # of course. Check for yourself, Got the the site and click "Services" and enter the following Order conf# "827168841B" you will see all I've said is true.
8/14/09 I call and left a message asking for tracking # since it's still not updated, no reply. I also send an email asking for tracking #, no reply.
8/15/09 I call and leave a message asking for tracking #, no reply. I email again and no reply.
By this time I am thinking that I've been had. I contine to call but no answer. I email with no reply.
8/18/09 I call all day long with no answer.
8/19/09 I call all day long with no answer.
8/20/09 I call all day long with no answer. I also open a dispute with PayPal over the payment with no item received.
8/21/09 I read on this site of some other poor soul experiencing the same thing I have only at least he spoke to someone after he paid.

The fact is this is not a legitimate business. I believe this is a single person with a website defrauding people of their money. I believe he has posted any good reviews you may read on this site to counter the bad ones he's received. I believe he is taking advantage of anyone he can and taking money and not sending any product. Most people give up and accept the fact they've been deceived and take it no further. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS SITE OR YOU WILL REGRET IT. You will receive emails that basically string you along making you believe you will get your product. "Your Order Confirmation" and "Your Order Has Shipped" sounds good and makes you feel better about the fact you have sent them money for a product. Take it from me, they are crooked. I am not a spiteful person. I've accepted I am out the $288.28 but I don't want anyone else to experience the same thing I have. I will probably receive emails after this stating they have intercepted my alleged shipment and rerouting it back to their warehouse but I won't believe it because nothing they've said so far has been true. I intend to try to file criminal complaints, but trouble is I have no individual's name, only the web site. I'm sure it can be traced to someone. Do not trust this website. I hope it gets shut down soon!

****8/21/09
Today I called the Federal Trade Commission to file a complaint. Their website is http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/menus/consumer/tech/buy.shtm and you can call the toll free number to file a complaint if you have a similar experience to mine.

********************
8/22/09
So today they have a line on their homepage that says they are shutting down the business. They claim they haven't been able to access Paypal funds since 8/3/09 but they accepted my payment on 8/10/09, that's puzzling...My dispute is still pending with PayPal. Toledo BBB has been contacted as well."

"UPDATE: After over a month of wasted time and effort and the fear of losing my cash, Paypal advised that my money has been refunded. No doubt the long arm of Paypal withdrew the cash with or without their permission as the terms of their service agreement permit and as is evident on North Adams Outdoor's website - Paypal has frozen their account and their cash. Good for them.

North Adams Outdoors is dead, Good Riddance. Here's what they posted on their website:
---------------------------
North Adams Outdoors is in the process of shutting the doors after 3 years of hard work and great relationships with our customers and vendors. We will attempt to either fill the orders we have or refund any orders that we cannot. Our phone lines will be available but only for voice mail until further notice. The current ownership has re-evaluated the business practice and has determined that it would not be able to keep this business running any longer. We are working with PayPal on shutting this down correctly, the only problem here is once we informed them of our plans they instantly limited our accounts and we have not had any access to funds that have came in since 8/03/2009. Nor have we had access to any funds to either cancel or refund orders since 8/10/09.

I also would like to apologize for any one that has been trying to get in touch with either sales or customer service but since mid-last week, 8/10/09, we basically have begun shutting things down. However we have created an email account to help these customers with their orders or complaints.
****@****

Sincerely
Ownership
---------------------------
I guess Obama couldn't save them...lol.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
READ THE BAD REVIEWS FIRST!

Like many of the reviewers here I ordered merchandise from this company and NEVER received the product. It's been one month and every time I manage to get though on the phone or email I'm told the product "just came in" or "will be in tomorrow" don't worry be happy. I am worried and I'm NOT happy. I suppose if you're the lucky one who actually gets their product the prices are good. But beware. Also do a google search on their address and note this place is in the middle of a FARM field. I asked "Dave" about this and he played dumb..."gee I never noticed any farms..." Right. Expensive lesson.

Maybe I would have received a refund if I asked for it but I was assured that the item was "almost" there each time I managed to make contact (which is VERY difficult). So I'm still waiting and will accept the item if they could get their act together. But after one month I'm thinking a refund might have been better.

Reference BBB Case#40012812"

"I'm writing this review so that you understand the risk you take working with North Adams. I believe most transactions probably go well, but in my case, it went horribly wrong, in a creepy, weird way. Also note, that I'm a forgiving guy, who has never had the need to write a negative review. But this merchant really needs it.

Here's the time line of events:

7/28 - placed order online

8/4 - received a shipping confirmation email for 4-5 business day delivery by UPS, but no tracking number.

8/12- 6 business days pass, so I call the merchant to find out what's going on, and hope to get a tracking number.
Merchant wasn't able to get tracking number, and launches into an explanation of technical difficulties he's having with his system, but says that my package is on it's way. I'm not confident that my package is coming, and mention that I wrote a negative review of their store, but would update it if I get my product. This really get's him mad (I do feel bad), and he says that he's going to intercept my package, and refund my money.
The next day, he sends me an angry mail to reiterate that my rating is unfair, and he doesn't understand why customers do this, that because of my online rating, that they've intercepted my package, and will refund my money.

8/13
Merchant sends another email, regretting that they intercepted the package, and asks that if I remove my negative online rating, that they will 2nd day Air the product to me.
I remove the negative online rating, and ask that they send me a tracking number for the new 2nd day air shipment

8/14
Received email with a tracking number: UPS.1Z7285770200423961 for new 2nd day air shipment. All seems well...

8/17
Package is delivered, but *not* to me. I look closer at the online tracking information to find that the address is located in Danville, CA, whereas I live in San Francisco, CA.
I send a polite email asking to either ship the product, or reverse the visa charge.

8/18
I call a few times throughout the business day to merchant, but can't get anybody. I leave a polite voice mail. No response.

8/19
Again, I call a few times throughout the business day to merchant, but can't get anybody. I leave another polite voice mail. No response.

8/19 I file a dispute with my visa card to reverse the charge.

So here I am, almost a month later, really bummed I don't have my product. The creepy part is that this guy acts like he's a big operation with multiple people at work, but it's clear that he's the only guy running the show. Also, he sent me tracking info on my package, yet can't provide a tracking number? And when he does send me a tracking number, it's for a package that's not being delivered to me? I think he's just trying to delay me by sending me wrong information.

Also, be aware that he has an attitude that if something goes wrong, that the customer should be understanding instead of upset. I never got any apology, or clear explanation of what was happening.

If you have the time, here's the actual email thread I exchanged with North Adams. Judge for yourself if you want to interact with a merchant the behaves like this:

http://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AXG1k21j0n_0ZGM1ZzJtdmtfMTRkbnp2ZDNndg&hl=en"

"Payed 4 items Garmin Astro 220 with 2 DC30,Automotive mounting bracket and car adapter,
paid the 14th of May 2009 684,97 $ and the 2nd of June 2009 paid additional shpiing coast of 60,88 $
Unitl today no shipment has arrived, I called 3 weeks ago to get a tracking number of the shipment then I emailed 2 weeks ago without getting an answer, last week I emailed twice without getting an answer, then I called and I got the sames guy as usual on the phone, he hand me up, today I emailed again, no reply.
I would never ever recommend this store buy something. Poor service, they try to screw me,as I'm from Europe!"

"We purchased a Eureka Copper Canyon 1512 tent on 6/1/09. Our order was shipped on 6/3 and delivered on Monday! I have no complaints and I would recommend purchasing from North Adams Outdoors."

"I ordered a Garmin775t from this company on 5/24 & received it on 5/28. I originally asked to ship USPS, but was contacted by the shipping department on 5/26 asking if they could ship by FedEx since the item was over $500.00. They said this would be at no extra charge & actually refunded my original shipping fees. I got an email that night that my Garmin had shipped & I got it on the 28th. Like some of the others, I didn't get a tracking number until the night of the 28th, but who cares?! I got my item & I'm very happy with North Adams Outdoors. I sent my son & co-worker to them & they both got their items within a few days, too. I will continue to recommend this company.
Thank You & God Bless "

" Well I first checked the reviews on this store because the deal I had found was just too good to be true. I read mostly bad reviews but some good ones. I figured I would give it a shot.

I ordered my two items and immediately was charged on my credit card, expecting the items to be shipped right out, as they were in stock and got my order confirmation. After a few weeks of not hearing anything I emailed the company. Another couple of days went by and I didn’t get a response. So I called the company on a Saturday and got a machine but I didn’t leave a message. A few minutes later I get a call from a blocked number. The person asked if I had called a certain number, I told him I did and he said he was the owner and he had checked the machine and my number came up so he called me. He then asked me what I needed. I told him I was checking the status of my order and then I had not heard anything. I gave him the invoice number and he said there was anything he could do at the time but would look into it on Monday and call or email me.
Monday I waited around and didn’t get anything. I waited a few more days and still had not heard anything. I called them back and it was explained to me that the items were up in storage and had to be transported in a trailer. They had the trailer but they were not going to unpack it yet. He told me that they had sent me emails, I never got any. He said it would be unpacked the next week and then shipped out. OK, so I confirmed that it would be shipped out and waited again.
About a week and half later I received an email saying my order was shipped out and would receive a tracking # in the email within 48 hours. Maybe another two weeks go by and still nothing. I then call the company and leave a message. After waiting another day or two I got nothing. I call again and asked what the status of the order was, the person explained to me that this time they had only received half of the order and they were shipped out to a couple of people who had ordered. They were still waiting on the other half to arrive so they could send it out. He assured me that they had a big meeting about it and were taking care of the problem. He told me my items were scheduled to arrive in a few days at my house.
Finally the item arrives, YES ITEM, not plural as in ITEMS, they only sent me one of the two things I ordered but yet charged me for both. So I make another call to them and spoke to a rep, he checked the order and said that I must have been the last person to get the shipment and they didn’t have two left so they just sent one to me. He said he would get back to me, A few hours later he called back and asked if I wanted to wait until July for the next order to come or if I wanted my money back. Within a day I had received my refund.
"

"I ordered some radios from North Adams on 6/10 or so and soon after placing the order got a mail saying they had been shipped. From this point, I started having trouble with tracking as other customers reported. Because I needed the radios for a backcountry trip planned for 6/29, I was upset when the things didn't arrive on time. I called and asked about it and the person with whom I spoke said he would get someone to chase it down. I didn't hear back and got more angry, and left a few voicemails and emails for them. There is a happy ending though... I finally called up and talked to a person (I had called before outside of business hours) and that person really helped me with what I needed. He told me that the 3rd party order system had malfunctioned and that he couldn't see where my package was from the tracking number either. He put a search on that, but in the mean time, hunted down a few of the radios and arranged for them to be sent to me in time for our departure. He went to some trouble and extra expense to do this and I am grateful for him for that. This is a small company, so don't plan to interact with them in the same way you might an Amazon or J. Crew or some such. In my experience, they want to help and do right by their customers, but are probably a little short staffed so it may take a few phone calls. The radios arrived today, by the way -- three days before we are set to head out. The products are in perfect shape and North Adams' was the cheapest price I could find on the net. I will use their service again."

"Ordered a Garmin 60csx UPS Ground on 6/12/09 11:34 am EST. Then after i didnt get a shipping confirmation I tried to call them on 6/15 (got the voice mail and left a message). On 6/16 I got an email confirming it had shipped but no tacking #, so i also sent them an email (no reply). Now i am thinking i got the shaft. I called again on 6/17 and got the voice mail again. 6/18 I called and finally someone answered. They said "i promise you your order shipped but we had a system upgrade on 6/15 and we can't get you a tracking # yet". Per their request i kept checking the website for a tracking # to show up 6/18,6/19,6/20. Finally 6/21 the tracking popped up and the UPS info stated it shipped on 6/19 3 DAYS AFTER THEY SAID THEY SHIPPED IT and will be delivered on 6/23. I'll follow up this review on the 23rd.>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
OK. 6/23 I received my order as well as 3 emails from North Adams Outdoors letting me know that it would be shipped out of NJ rather than TN. They also stated the were going to ship a case at n/c for the inconvenience. Overall I am pleased with this company (after all it really only took 11 days) I sure hope this company gets this shipping/communication thing worked out as they will be an excellent retailer when they don't have to put out the fires."

"We purchased 10 Eureka Shelters from this company for a county sponsored event we hold every year here in town. These were purchased on 5/14/09 and we received a shipping notice on 5/18. These arrived in two shipments and a few days apart. The first package arrived on 5/20 and the second on 5/22. We were very pleased with the customer service we received and these people seemed to be very knowledgeable on the products that we were trying to buy. Thanks North Adams Outdoors, we will be back soon!!!!"

"..........................................................................................................................."

"A purchase order was placed with North Adams Outdoors on 5/29/09 for a Sightron Rifle Scope (~$350). The item was claimed "in stock" on the seller's web site, with a shipping policy of UPS "Ground 3-5 days". The credit card was charged at the time of purchase.

North Adams Outdoors, in emails and on their web site account information claims the shipment was made 6/3/09, with expected delivery of 6/11/09.

Besides being outside their claimed shipping policy (even "business days"), the item was in fact not shipped until 6/10/09 -- two weeks after the order was placed, and charged, to the credit card. This was confirmed in a subsequent email from them.

North Adams Outdoors then intercepted delivery of the item on 6/12/09 through UPS (yes, 6/12/09 -- still not delivered), and had it returned to their warehouse. But guess what, the credit card has not been credited however, for the undelivered merchandise.

This is all documented in correspondence with the North Adams Outdoors, and on the UPS Tracking web site.

American Express was contacted today, and they have opened a fraud complaint, and put a stop on the charge until resolution (6-8 weeks). Note that the charge has not been reversed or credited, just put on hold pending the investigation.

On a further note, while the www.northadamsoutdoors.com web site lists 9151 Hoxie Rd., North Adams, MI 49262 tel:***-***-**** as a mailing address, phone calls from them originate from a Kentucky based cell phone, based on caller ID. I have the number and the guy's name, but won't post it here. That individual called four times in the span of less than two hours on 6/12/09, leaving hang-ups and no messages on the voice mail.

There also appears to be a relationship with a "Susan's Variety Shoppe", also located at 9151 Hoxie Rd, North Adams, MI 49262-9720, Contact Phone: ***-***-****, -- same address -- although seller disavows any knowledge of this -- even though the North Adams Outdoors web site cross references "Susan's Variety Shoppe" for seller warranties and other items.

In short, North Adams Outdoors appears to be a small drop ship operation in the middle of nowhere -- check Google Maps for a laugh -- and see this listing with estimated annual sales of about $92,000:

http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_vbp1m

North Adams Outdoors operates under a number of names from the same location, and using various aliases in correspondence, all originating from the same single email address and single computer (based on DNS and IP information). They use different names to pretend they are larger than they really are, but can't get around the fact the emails originate from the same email box and the same computer. I even suggested they at least set up different dummy accounts and save face.

This seller pretends to be a much larger operation than they are, using EBay's Pro Stores drop ship software to operate a number of business out of that dirt driveway.

They charge merchandise to the credit card before shipment (in my case over two [2] weeks), do not ship as promised, and quite frankly, simply lie in their emails and on the phone.

Now, North Adams Outdoors will tell you that I had AMEX issue me a new credit card, and they would be right -- no way was I going to allow a merchant like this to have a valid credit card number on file. But, what I did not do was stop or even dispute the charge -- I only alerted AMEX that it had not been received. I was still waiting for what I at least hoped would be a new in the box item (given that they drop ship the orders anyway from major warehouses).

But, North Adams Outdoors then intercepts the shipment with UPS, has it shipped back to them, but does not credit the card back for undelivered merchandise.

In short, this has been singly the most disreputable merchant, I have ever dealt with -- STAY AWAY!"

"I purchased (2) Eureka Sunrise 8 Tents and an Air Bed Green, Queen, with 4D Pump on 5/18 and my item shipped out on 5/20. North Adams Outdoors sent me an email on 5/20 informing me that my items had shipped. On 5/22 I received an email informing me that my item was out for delivery and later that day I received it. They did email me the tracking but it was after I received my package, 1Z6730970370864329.



Tents are brand new and everything went great with this company. Thanks a lot and I will be back!!!
"