"BAD BAD BAD!
I ordered a Kelty Light Year Climashield XP 0 Deg sleeping bag on Nov. 10 for a trip in early December. Good price at $139. I figured 4 weeks would be enough time. Campinggeardepot sent an order confirmation, with a link to track shipping about a day later. About 2 weeks later, I checked the link. It did not work. About 3 weeks later, I emailed them about the non-functioning shipping link. No response. There is no phone number to be found for campinggeardepot. The link started working a couple of days later with the status that the order had not yet shipped. I emailed again. No response. It's now December 7. I slept in my 35 degree bag in 25 degree conditions. Hand Warmers, Omniwool, extra socks, ets. The O deg bag would have been nice! My order still has not shipped. Last night I sent an email that I would dispute the charge, and require campinggeardepot to pay return shipping, or else my order will be accepted as a free gift. The email bounced! I know they are still in business, because I can reload the same bag in a shopping cart and to go checkout on their website. Save yourself the hassle. Buy from someone else. "

"I ordered 13 Gigatent Bear Mountain family tents for use at the National Scout Jamboree last year. The company was very helpful in getting this order placed, but when I received the items, I received only 11 tents. I repeatedly called the customer service number and left messages, but never received a call back. Finally, I had to purchase 2 additional tents for the event from another retailer. It took a dispute with the credit card company and about 60 days to finally resolve the issue.

Their prices are good, but customer service is deplorable. Buyer beware!"

"i ordered a tent from the store thinking that it was legit, due to the web-site size. not thinking to look for a phone number. i received a recite and they took the money for it with no shipping date, it is November and no tent and no return emails. i believe this site is fraudulent. do not buy from this guy. "

"Same old story. Credit Card charged the next day and order processing for 7 days with no shipping information. Sent 4 e-mails and one voice mail. No reply.
Fortunately I have safe gard on my credit card. Called them and they credited my account and will do an investigation on the company. Now he can explain to them what his problem is. To bad that they don't have an F- rating on the BBB site. This guy deserves it.Don't buy from this guy. His service is horrible. "

"I purchased a Kelty Red Wing Backpack. They promptly emailed me saying that they were out of stock of that color and I forgot to add my Last name. So I changed the color and gave them my full name. The money was drawn from my account by the next day. I waited patiently for 2 weeks and regularly checked the status page (with no update). I emailed customer service on June 14 and they still did not reply. I called with it only going to voice mail. I am now in the process of canceling my order. "

"I made an order on a Sunday. I received the confirmation shortly after. I didnt expect anything to happen until Monday at the earliest. Monday night I sent an email because obviously this guy never answers his phone, just asking for shipment confirmation and hopefully a shipping number.

Literally, while I was reading his F rating on BBB and the rough (scary) reviews here I was about to submit a complaint to the BBB. Then I checked my email again. I had one shipment confirmation with a tracking number from UPS AND a response to my original email from the owner saying it had shipped! When I checked the tracking record at UPS it said that the item shipped out Monday morning and was scheduled to be on my doorstep TODAY! GREAT! =)

So, as much as I have to agree with the others here that this company needs a lot of help with customer service... I also think that our society has become very immature, short-fused, MTV Paris Hilton whiners!

By the way, I ordered a $900 engine for my boat from this guy which he billed on Monday. I had a little bit more to risk than a back-pack or a new pair of trendy EMO jeans!

I hope this guy figures out his business but in the mean time, give him slack, he's probably swamped with business and not too computer savvy. I'll write back if anything appears wrong with the engine, but that would probably UPS's fault, not his.

UPDATE: Package Delivered. Brand New in Box! Correct item. Works perfectly so far! Couldn't be happier with this purchase. Again. His system is NOT perfect but, with patience, this guy (this transaction really, never met him) was fantastic! Would buy from him again."

"ordered stansport g-72 folding cot, received confirmation but no shipping info, after reading complaints i got concerned, but was very surprised to find item at doorstep on 8/15, dropshipped from stansport. item was in good condition, but packaging was beatup. for me, for this item, it was a good purchase. i would do it again and plan to order a second g-72. This is a common, easily available item. for a speciality item maybe another story???

well i did order a second item on 8/18/09 and received it in good condition on 8/24/09. order #10126701. "

"I wish I would have checked out camping gear depot's review on reseller ratings before I placed the order.

I ordered two Kelty Redwing backpacks from them. They charged my credit card the full amount for the order, but I only received one of the packs yesterday. I called them (goes to voice mail, of course), emailed them, etc. I received a response that they were going to look into it, but asked if the package had been tampered with. The box wasn't even big enough to fit two backpacks, anyway.

Update 8/4 -- I got a response back via email. They apparently were out of stock of the 2nd pack's color, so they said they will send me a different color. Maybe that was why I never got it in the first place. Oh well, better late than never I guess.

8/10/09 -- Got the second backpack, so I guess it was just a case of mixed up order and/or they didn't have one color in stock.

Not sure if I'll order from these guys again unless they get their order/pack/ship/track system down better. Not quite what I've come to expect from an online seller.

I think I've learned that I'd rather pay the higher price at REI, BackCountry.Com, Back Country Edge, or somewhere like that which has unbeatable customer service."

"This is the most horrific online shopping experience I have had to date. I ordered a Kelty backpack on April 22, 2009 and still have not received it. I finally received, after many ignored emails, a form letter/email from Rick Mennen stating that my backpack had been sent to Camping Gear Depot for their first stock shipment of Kelty products. They were very quick about charging my credit card but I still have no backpack and it has been well over two weeks. I am going to the BBB site now to lodge a complaint. JUST DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS HORRIBLE STORE - YOU WILL BE SORRY!!!!"

"I ordered a Eureka 1512 tent 4/10/09. They charged my acct next day $319.90. The cust service mailbox is full and they don't respond to e-mails. This seems to be a pattern. After seeing the same complaint on other blog sites I submitted a complaint with the (Better Business Bureau Austin, TX) www.austin.bbb.org They also list CGD Rick Mennen's business address and phone numbers. I will post an update in the future. - Update I finally got my order on May 5th - 25 days after I placed the order. The product is great and just what I ordered. Never did get any kind of communication from the company which seems to be their MO but from the blogs I've read almost all do get their order eventually. Good Luck"

"Hi, all. A lot of people, myself included, were confused and sometimes outraged by absolute lack of back communication by Mr. Rick Mennen of Camping Gear Depot. At the same time, most of us did receive the products as promised and described in the purchase order. The Kelty products were shipped directly from Kelty; I received mine within 9 days of placing the order. Same happened with at least two other people I communicated with. At the same time, I placed more than 3 dozens of calls and emails to CGD asking to provide me with shipping info. No replies. So,.... looks like the Camping Gear Depot fills the orders but absolutely sucks in terms of customer service. I can only imagine what a problem would be to return a product. "

"I ordered a wind turbine from camping gear depot, an item of nearly $600.00. I did not immediately receive acknowledgement of the order so I email them to confirm that the order was received. I quickly received a return email with a tracking number, and the item was delivered when expected.

The product is exactly as advertised.

Although I can see the frustration that limited communication can cause, in this case everything was 'ship shape.'

I hope the other are(were) able to resolve their issues.
"

"I ordered a kelty corona 20 sleeping bag and an Aero Bed mattress online. The aforementioned Rick Moren called me immediately and informed me that the air bed was out of stock, i switched to a less expensive INTEX one and my credit card was credited the difference rite away. I never recieved a new tracking number or a new order number. About 2 weeks later the INTEX bed came UPS but no sleeping bag. I have sent 2 e-mails and left numerous messages over the past 2 weeks and have gotten no reply. Looks like i'm out $95 dollars. This is a horrible company do not buy anything from them."

"I tried to purchase a backpack from Camping Gear Depot, the Kelty Cach Hauler pack and frame complete, with free shipping, on 2/11/09. The purchase order glitched at the end of the payment process and told me there was no item in the cart and there was no unit price listed. Upon checking my e-mail a few minutes later, I recieved two confirmations and two invoice numbers for the same pack. I e-mailed back stating that I did not intend to buy two. I received an e-mail back later that day from Rick Morren, (I assume the owner of CGD, though I cannot get him or anyone to answer the phone there to confirm this) who told me that the item was actually out of stock, and the transactions were never processed. I then checked my checking account, only to find I had been charged 5 times for this same pack. I called the bank (Wells Fargo) to confirm this and they informed me that my card had been charged 5 times, but the transactions were still pending, and would tie up my availible funds, making my balance $-473. They couldn't do anything about it until the transactions posted, and the only way for me to get my money back was to have CGD call Wells Fargo and drop the authorization for the transactions. After numerous e-mails and phone calls, I finally got a hold of Rick over the phone, and after I stated who I was, he proceeded to yell at me, saying he's done all he can, that he denies ever running my card more than twice, that it's my problem, and that he absolutely refuses to waste his time and call my bank to help me out (his own words), all while yelling very rudely. It took 7 days to get my money back. During that time I could not get home 30 miles away, I could not buy food or gas, my car broke down and was impounded because i couldnt pay for a tow truck, and one of my pets nearly died because I couldn't get them to a vet, all because Mr. Rick Morren refused to drop the authorizations for the transactions. As of yet the item is still listed as availible, with free shipping."

"This seller continued to advertise a tent, Kelty Quartz 2, on their web site that they knew was no longer available. When I ordered they re-direct me to a more expensive tent, the Kelty Radiant 2. I pointed out that this tactic is commonly called "bait-and-switch" and is illegal. Consequently, I filed a complaint with the FBI's Internet Crime Center (Complaint Id: I0901071457470102). I informed them of my actions and they have subsequently removed the Kelty Q2 from their web site."