AFMO.com Richardson, Texas sends wrong product, charges fee and postage for return, Ripoff!

In the wake of September 11, I ordered new Israeli gas masks and filters from AFMO.com (Armed Forces Merchandise Outlet). They had none in stock, but boasted that they had an excellent "source" in Israel. The total came to about $95. They later sent me surplus East German gas masks and charged my credit card. I called the company and stated that I was returning the goods, as this was not what I ordered. Furthermore I felt that they should pay for the return shipping. I shouldn't have to pay to return something that I never ordered. They seemed receptive to this.

Weeks later my credit card was refunded $70. I called customer service. They stated that they would not refund the shipping fee, or pay for the return postage, and that there was a service charge for returning goods. So, not only did they fail to fully refund my money, I ended up paying for postage both ways.

I protested. The "manager" stated that they sent an e-mail to all who ordered the Israeli masks. The e-mail supposedly said that AFMO was going to substitute the East German masks because they could not get the Israeli masks. The "manager" said that the e-mail gave customers 72 hours to cancel.

Bottom line - I never agreed to alter our "purchase contract" and my failure to respond to their mass spam mail is no agreement to change the order. This was AFMO's slimy way of getting out of the fact that they had thousands of orders that they assured would be filled, but could not. In the end they only got about $15 from me (they spent $10 on postage, I spent $10 on postage). At least the US postal service made more money on the deal than AFMO did. Unlike AFMO, they fulfilled their contract.