Any body else get irritated about Midways ULTRA ULTRA slow web site?

It's a slow loading site made worse by slow connections.

Yup, and it's inability to jump to the desired catagory, and failure to go to requested page, and the very poor search function, and the huge number of items listed as out of stock, and difficulties in check out, and the under $40 surcharge, etc, etc. etc...

Midway's site makes you jump through too many hoops.

I used to like Midway. I began to like them less when they dropped their free shipping because, "we are loosing so much money." The real kicker was shortly thereafter when the owner included photos of him and his kids on a full bag safari in Tanzania. Yeah, you are barely getting by.....

The lack of improvements and supplies would indicate the company is going down the tubes.
Perhaps Mr. Potterfield would be better served dealing with the company and less time on the tube.
Frank

Yep their website sucks. For some reason it takes even longer to load on my Mac. It takes a good hour at a minimum to place an order. Then a couple of times I was almost finished with my order and the main item was on backorder. If it's on backorder Larry should pick up the tab for the shipping.

Midway went directly in competition with Brownells. I don't have a problem with Brownells and would encourage everyone to deal with them. They have an outstanding reputation and are genuinely in favor of their client base.

quote:

Midway went directly in competition with Brownells.

When you look at how much stuff Midway lists, but is out of stock on, it is not much of a competition.

Is Midway the only one short on supplies?

Midway is getting suckier and suckier.

Brownells is a TRULEY professionial company that many Companies could learn from, i have delt with them since the early 70's and they have been upfront and customer oriented to me.

Usually with Midway I get about half way through, then go to the phone- something always doesn't work on the website.

My experience is different. I place one to two orders per month from Midway. They ship faster than others. After reading these posts last night I navigated the site for a while, most pages loaded in under 2 seconds, longest took 5 and that was on a search. Same thing again this morning. I find it easy to navigate, like the Wishlist, order history, and remind me button.

Midway's website is bad, but Brownells website search engine is pathetic; what a waste of time using it is. It's a lot faster to look up the part numbers in the paper catalog.

I quit buying from Midway when Larry decided to do away with the dealer catalog and raised all the "dealer" prices to a point where it's not worth dealing with them.

Whatever Brownell's carries, I buy from them as their prices are better than Midway's. But there are a few things Larry has that Brownell's doesn't, so I buy Midway.
I buy a whole lot of stuff from Brownell's and must say they are THE standard upon which all others should follow; fast deliveries, right prices, and no questions asked returns.
Brownell's is a CLASS act..

Don

Midway's dealer discount is meager to start with. Then they run a sale that equates dealer cost or cheaper. How can a gun shop or store stock any Midway items when they undercut their customers who are dealers? I emailed Potter about this situation and he basicly said thats just the way it is.

Now I only use Midway if I cant get it from Brownells.

Midway bought out Fajen and Bishop stocks. Then tried to "improve" two businesses that had been successful for generations. They ran the business in the ground. Scattered the tooling, patterns, designs, employees and old world skills to the four winds of heaven.

Same effect as Walmart moving in to small communities, driving the small businesses out, sucking up all of the communities resources then closing their store as well and leaving.

I don't have any problems with Midways website and they ship QUICK!

I think Brownells website is awful and their catalog is totally unorganized. But their prices are good.

quote:

I don't have any problems with Midways website and they ship QUICK!

I think Brownells website is awful and their catalog is totally unorganized. But their prices are good.

There are good days, bad days and days like today

Kind of my feelings. Seems like a lot of sites have a larger list of "out of stock" items listed. I'm just not married to any one of them. Best delivered price in stock will normally get my $$.

Toomany Tools DITTO !.



Posted 09 May 2009 18:40 Hide Post
Midway's website is bad, but Brownells website search engine is pathetic; what a waste of time using it is. It's a lot faster to look up the part numbers in the paper catalog.

I quit buying from Midway when Larry decided to do away with the dealer catalog and raised all the "dealer" prices to a point where it's not worth dealing with them.


John Farner
Eagle Machine Gunsmithing, LLC.

None of the online gun shops search engines work well. Ran a search for barrel band sling swivels and Brownell's version returned twenty pages of assorted stuff beginning with the letter "B". When I finally got it sorted out there were only about a half dozen different types. The definition of frustration is trying to find something made by Hornady on Graf's webpage.

I don't have any problem using Midway's website until the time comes to pay then the cringe factor sets in.

I'm with Rick R -- the search functions don't impress me much, either.

Regarding Brownell's... ya gotta love that quality, no- nonsense approach to solid business practices and friendly customer services. -What would you expect from Montezuma, Iowa?*

Here's my testimonial from this week: I needed some HRN GAS CHECKS 44cal 1000/BOX. I bought 'em from Grafs for $32.99 + Handling & Insurance for $4.50 = No complaints. Midway wanted $48.99 + $9.60 S&H for the same item. My math makes that a difference of $21.10 for the same item.

What's up with that?!




PS *BTW... did any of you ever ski at Fun Valley Ski Area in Montezuma, Iowa? {Perhaps we should start a new thread for this?! -Or send me a PM to swap notes on the finest in Mid-Western skiing. }

Those were the days, I'll tell ya. When I was a lad... there were hours of fun to be had there. Only complaint was that the cows- pulling- you- back- up- the- hill- rope- tow were a little slow.

The place really developed over the years and was a nice resource for the area. I was saddened today to read: "Fun Valley will regrettably be discontinuing their winter activity center. We will continue to offer our motocross events and are looking to providing other activities in the future." There is now a Liquidation Sale of Ski Equipment

http://www.skifunvalley.com/index.html

From here one can access the photo gallery for a trip down memory lane: http://www.skifunvalley.com/skirates.html

Yup, and if you just need a couple of small items and don't make Midway's $40 minimum, bend over for the extra $10 small order fee. And that's on top of their way overpriced shipping fees. It is, indeed,

them

I haven't ordered anything at all in a while, but I did stop getting little things from midway due to getting raped on the shipping. normally when I think of rape positively it is me half-heartedly running from a group of catholic school girls, not getting shafted by a gun supply place.

brownells does have an abysmal search function though, absolute shit. and considering how good search engines are now, there is no excuse for it. Midways is actually not that bad if you put in what you'rel ooking for right.

Red

I gave up on Midway in 2000, but they are better now.

Finding things on the Brownells web site can be done with searches, but it anything but intuitive, and not every word is searchable.

I usually find what I want in a print catalog from both Brownell and Midway and enter the part # manually.

Sux but it works best for me.



And now a word from the man himself!!


"Sucky website? Too bad. I'm Larry Potterfield and that's the way it is."

Midway wont let me buy from their US site on a UK CC, even when the shipping address is in the US.
They want me to pay near twice as much for the same items from their UK site.
Luckily I've a friend with an FFL & he orders stuff for me, which I pick up when I'm over in the US.

Several other suppliers have no problems whatsoever sending me non restricted items, either within the US or to the UK.