False representation of items through pictures on website.  Actual item received not like photo.

Bad customer service, as in, nobody responded to me until AFTER my order had shipped... even though it sat there for days.  Made order on Aug 26th, got a "shipped" email on 28th, when in fact the item DID NOT ship until the 30th.  Why tell me it's shipped when it hasn't, then I'm concerned why I can't track my package?

Then, as if I wasn't already made suspicious by the "Top Rated Local" an apparent "third party review service" that is located at the bottom right-hand corner of the website only representing 5 star reviews from cherry-picked customers.

Finally after I got my product and decided to do a review of my own (after having to be "verified" if I was a REAL customer?  wtf?  How would Top Rated Local know if I was a REAL customer unless they had connection to US Military Marketplace?  

So, then they "verify" me after about 5 days wait to just LEAVE A REVIEW.

Then, I can't even leave a review for the BUSINESS, but only for the product.  Then, I'm met with several "random" error messages upon trying to submit my review (which by the way, under the review area, there is only the option to SAVE REVIEW or WRITE REVIEW, no SUBMIT REVIEW... hint hint).  So, I not only can't submit a review through their little fake review website, but I also cannot even submit a simple review for the product that seems to be based on their own website.

Keep getting random error messages like "The email you entered is incorrect. Please type it again."  or  "You can only submit one review every 30 minutes.  Please wait and try again later."  Even though my review never "submitted."  And I am signed into the website, so there is no need for an email address and the name field is "optional."  

There is a drop down menu to rate product 1-5.

Description of review form.

Actual review form.

Name field (optional)

Captcha form.

2 buttons underneath: Save my Review (Save to where>!)

or "Write a Review" (isn't that what I'm doing now?)

So, then I decide, OK, this website is obviously a piece of crap OR they will not accept a review that is NOT 5 stars only.

So, I decide "Ok, instead of reviewing the product, maybe I can just review the business."  I click the Top Rated Local "third party" review-this-business button to be met with the SAME thing as I had a week ago: please enter your name and email address so we can "verify" if you're a real customer.  Sigh,  ok.  I enter it, then it says this email already exists.  Well, yeah I know it does because I registered it.  But there's no where to "sign in" to and no possible way to actually review the business. 

Why?  Hell if I know.  But out of an alleged 102 reviews, only about 20-25 are shown in the "preview pane" and you can't click ANYWHERE to see ALL reviews or to see where all these 5 stars are coming from.  And somehow I doubt that you would have 4.8/5 out of 102 reviews.  That's every one of those fake 102 people giving a 5 star review except for literally like 2 who rated it 4 stars.  How else could you get 4.8/5 out of 102?  It's mathimatically impossible unless you are ONLY ALLOWING 4 & 5 star reviews.  

STAY AWAY FROM USMILITARYMARKETPLACE.COM

and ANY WEBSITE whose ratings are based in some little "third party" thing that is completely rigged and communicating directly with the business.   Stay AWAY from TOPRATEDLOCAL.COM.  It is NOT REAL.

Here's my review since I cannot submit it anywhere else:

Name of product: 

US Army 3-504th Parachute Infantry Regiment (PIR) Physical Training (PT) T-Shirt

Product Rating: 2 Stars.

Title: Excited to find this, but a little disappointed...

Review: 

Super excited to find this original design on a new t-shirt because I actually had the original and it was lost/stolen. Who knows.

So, I set out to find another one, not realizing that it must have been quite a rare shirt. This was the ONLY website I could find that had this shirt, so that's 5/5. Good job.

The original was a tri-blend fabric, in a large, and real heather gray. Unfortunately, this t-shirt I bought it in an XL (thinking new t-shirts are sized a little differently now and wanted to compensate for the shrinkage over time).

Well, the XL was gigantic! I mean, what I would consider at least XXL. That was unexpected. I was able to "fix" this problem by boiling a pot of water, putting the new t-shirt in, and allowing it to sit and cool in the water before washing it and drying it. This, I was able to do even though it specified it was "pre-shrunk." I was still able to shrink it quite a bit-- about half it's original size. Good thing because I really didn't want to bother with the return.

The next issue, a personal "pet peeve" of mine, personally, was that a) the t-shirt was not the 'darker' shade of heather gray that I expected when I read the words "heather gray." It is a standard "undershirt" type of gray, for example if you buy a pack of cheap t-shirts and you get the white, the black, and the gray? That's the color of this gray. It has the "grains" in it... the "heather" pattern is there, but the color is not. So, this is how it diverted from the original for me also. I am going to buy some fabric dye and just dye it myself so I'm satisfied with it... but that's another 5 bucks I'll have to pay on top of already paying $25.

Ok, and the grand finale here: The TYPE of t-shirt. The STYLE of the shirt is not a typical lightweight t-shirt. It is made more like a "fashion" tee. In this sense, I'm glad I got the XL because otherwise the shoulders/sleeves would be way too small, similar to a women's shirt. This is difficult to describe. I will try: The seams at the shoulders where they meet the sleeves have the tendency to stand UP, like pointed tips! This is really bizarre (but not if you know how 'fashion' tees fit). I really wish this would have been specified, but what are you going to say? "You probably won't like how this t-shirt is made?" lol Probably not.

And the final nail in the coffin: The NECKHOLE is GAPING.

If you have a problem with "gaping" neckholes, consider this. The neckhole on this t-shirt is nothing like the picture, neither is the shade of gray. And there's no shrinking the neckhole by much. It's way too big/looks stretched out.

It's also a little annoying that the business put their logo on the sleeve. Kinda further takes away the authenticity of it for me, even though, yeah, I know it's a replica.

Customer service was practically non-existent. I had to e-mail 2 times and by the time I had been responded to, my package had finally shipped and so it really didn't do me any good. So, if I really wanted to cancel my order or something after getting an answer to my question, it would have been too late!

I will say the logo itself is excellent and true to the original in design, size, and texture (screen-printed, not a cheap iron-on or anything. this was important for me.)

Shipping on the product was excessive: 5.99 for something that weighed 4.3oz, justified by saying "I have to pay employees, etc etc" This is why you buy low and mark up your products. It's not my problem you're paying too much for your goods and have to jack people on shipping. You are a for-profit business. All your money is to pay for your costs (including your employees). So, this was really a dumb thing to say. And if that's the case, why not just make the t-shirt 25 bucks and offer free shipping? Instead of 19.99 + 5.99 shipping. 25 $ and free shipping looks far more attractive from a consumer standpoint.

Basically I got a thin 'fashionable' t-shirt when I was looking for something more standard... you know... like you would actually wear in Physical Training. This is 'close,' but not it. I know tri-blend is more expensive, but that's what would make it authentic.

And I was actually sort of excited at first when I saw that S-XL was offered in the 4.3oz "lightweight" shirt and anything over XL was in the 6 oz version. I thought I was really going to luck out, but no. It's just 90% cotton, 10% poly. It's softer than a 'normal' t-shirt, but not in a "broken-in" type of way. It's missing the rayon that would make it slightly softer and semi-stretchy.

Anyway, this company really does have something rare to offer and I was glad I found it, but ultimately, I wish they would put a lot more effort in these specific t-shirts. A PT shirt should never have this type of 'style' to it. It looks like a rip-off, but like I said, I was desperate so I sort of will have to settle for it, for now.

I saw some other t-shirts I really liked too, but now I'm hesitant. I really don't trust there is a consistency in the types of t-shirts used at any given point in time. I might order another shirt, same size, same everything and get a completely different 'style' based on whatever vendor was cheapest at the time.

Please, USMMP, find a different vendor for your t-shirts or AT LEAST offer your customer a choice in what type of t-shirt 'style' they can choose, including a TRUE heather tri-blend tee. I would definitely order another one, with the 25 price tag if this were the case. Instead I feel like this shirt cost about 6 bucks to make and I paid 4x that. That's just an absurd profit margin, like I said, or your vendor for blank tees is ripping you off.

Name: Jordan D Tyler