Very unhappy with Safari Land

[Skribs]

I recently ordered a Safari Land model 557 for my HK VP9. I ordered a holster that was supposed to be compatible with optics and a flashlight.

I finally get the holster, and the gun doesn't fit. I assume they've sent the wrong model, because it seems to be getting hung up around the optic. The package lists the compatibility with the light, but not the optic. I reach out to customer support.

They asked me to send pictures, so I did. Including showing the gun being out of battery and about an inch shallow in the holster. Their reply is that I need to go fill out a return request (with very vague instructions that suggest they've never been to their return request page), and that "The 557 is not compatible with raised/suppressor-height sights, it has a 1/4" sight track." So they make a holster that supposedly fits a gun with an optic, and don't make it so that it fits sights that you can see over an optic. And now I have to jump through extra hoops to return it, instead of their customer support being able to handle that for me.

I had previously been a Safari Land customer and quite happy with their products. Now, I feel like they lied when they claimed this holster is optics-ready, and they're kind of making it out to be my fault for putting optics-compatible sights.

 

[Riomouse911]

Safariland sold out from a locally owned company many years ago, and ultimately moved from So Cal to Jacksonville Fl when bought out again by a conglomerate.

They used to care about customers. They wanted to know about their product performance, etc. and sought feedback on how their stuff worked in the real world. A real exchange I had; “You cracked the paddle on a holster? How long did you use it? Where did it fail? How can we improve? Here is a replacement, let us know how it works.” (I’ve been using their stuff for decades.)

Now it’s pretty much another faceless company beholden to shareholders and their dividends. So, your recent experience is consistent with ones I have had the past couple of years when seeking repair parts for the 65-odd holsters/mag pouches my former office issued

Good luck with getting your $$ returned.

Stay safe.

 

[kwb377]

What type of "extra hoops" are they requiring?

And Safariland didn't "lie" to you when they stated it would fit with an optic...it does. They just didn't specify that it would fit with the particular set of iron sights that you installed...because, how do they know which aftermarket sights each individual user has?

 

[Skribs]

The rest of the story (which most has unfolded since).

The customer support couldn't handle the return for me. I had to go to their site and put in for the return myself. This by itself isn't necessarily bad customer service, but it is poorly optimized.

Then the customer support sent me to a page on their site which talks about ironsights. Scroll down two screens and you see that all optics-ready guns are fit for suppressor-height sights. You have to keep scrolling a few paragraphs more to see that there are two exceptions, including the one I had just purchased. This is basically a CYA page and not of any real use to someone who is shopping on the site. It should list this as an exception of the holster page in addition to this.

The RMA comes in. They don't include a return shipping label because that's only for manufacturer defects. So I call them up, and they give me a shipping label. Less than an hour later, I get to FedEx, and the shipping label has expired. I call them up again, get placed on hold for a few minutes, before getting sent to a voicemail.

I ended up just paying the shipping myself so I can be done with this. This has been a pain from start to finish. I will never, ever, ever purchase a Safari Land product again.

And Safariland didn't "lie" to you when they stated it would fit with an optic...it does. They just didn't specify that it would fit with the particular set of iron sights that you installed...because, how do they know which aftermarket sights each individual user has?

They admitted as such on their page that says that most of their models come with these sights. It's pretty standard now for optics-ready pistols to come with suppressor-height sights. I don't agree with your assessment at all.

 

[zaitcev]

I will never, ever, ever purchase a Safari Land product again.

LOL

 

[JTQ]

I'm sorry you had so much trouble, but it seems like you got it worked out. From my general on-line shopping experience, I expect to pay return shipping for just about everything these days. I give them some credit for even making an effort to pay return shipping for you, even though it didn't work out.

I recently ordered a Safariland model 557 for my HK VP9.

I'll admit I'm not that familiar with Safariland's line-up, and just assumed since you were buying Safariland and it was for a gun with a light and optic, I thought this was a Level III duty holster. Then I looked it up.

https://safariland.com/products/model-557-open-top-belt-slide-concealment-holster-model_557

I would probably not be shopping for a concealment holster at Safariland. That's not their "wheelhouse". While I love helping folks find holsters for their guns, for the most part, I've backed away from helping folks looking for holsters for guns equipped with various "doodads" as there are just too many variables with the various optics and lights, and folks seem to choose the oddest of optics and lights, and it's just not worth my effort for that stuff anymore.

 

[jmorris]

I have never bought any of their stuff but have picked a lot of it up off of prize tables, seems like pretty good stuff but it fits the stuff I had.

You have to keep scrolling a few paragraphs more to see that there are two exceptions, including the one I had just purchased.

The “fine print” is what gets me too, sometimes it’s a lot harder to get details than just scrolling down. Sounds like a frustrating situation.

 

[StrawHat]

Why the hell do you need an optic sight on a handgun? I routinely use my revolvers (45 ACP) out to a couple hundred yards with the sight the factory supplied. What does the optical sight do for you?


Kevin

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I tried a red dot on a hand gun. Didn't like it. For supported shooting it was fine. But off hand no way. Seeing the dot bobble around drove me nuts.

 

[chicharrones]

Why the hell do you need an optic sight on a handgun? I routinely use my revolvers (45 ACP) out to a couple hundred yards with the sight the factory supplied. What does the optical sight do for you?


Kevin

Not everyone was born with or they may no longer have the vision to see handgun sights well. I’m one of those folks.

While I still use handgun sights, they are a blurry mess with my eyes and prescription progressive glasses. Precision use of handgun sights for me is virtually impossible for me now.

With the handguns I’ve used red dots on, I can focus on the target and simply place the focused dot on that target. Easy peasy and with greater accuracy than I can currently use iron sights.