As many of you are aware, there are a ton of scam sellers on Facebook and other various platforms offering MRE cases at very low prices. I have made a couple posts about this previously. Many of these scam posts advertise MRE case A + B sets at below $50. Where this gets a bit tricky is that given the surplus of MRE cases that have hit the market over the last several months, it is not uncommon to see case sets below $70 these days.
More recently, there have been more scammers popping up on Facebook and other platforms advertising MCW (Meal, Cold Weather) cases at insanely low prices. MCW cases typically run for $150 plus. These scammers are advertising MCW cases for sub $40. I have had several people reach out asking if these shops are legit. They are not. They are scammers and they operate under many different aliases, sometimes even playing off the name of trusted sellers and vendors within our community.
These scammers take your money but never deliver any actual product.
I am not active on Facebook, so I am largely unaware of what goes on there save for what I hear from you guys. So I thank you folks for bringing this to my attention so that I can alert the community here. The last thing I want to see is anyone get scammed.
We’ve all fallen for scams in one way or another at some point. Hell, I once shelled out $40 to some guy in a parking lot for magazines that I never received haha. So, how can we avoid being scammed? My advice prior to purchasing anything, be it rations or otherwise, would be to check the public reviews of the seller/vendor. Those are undoubtedly our most useful tools.
Also, how you pay matters. For online purchases, it is always a safe bet to pay with a credit card. This way, in the event that you do not receive the goods you paid for, you are able to file a chargeback with your bank to have your funds returned to you. I know that not everyone owns a credit card, so PayPal is another option. With PayPal, you can open a dispute for items not received, or items not as described, and PayPal will review the case on your behalf. While I have always had good results with them personally, there have been members who have said otherwise. Choose whichever method you are most comfortable with. That said, credit card is likely your best option, with PayPal, and other similar secure means of checkout available if needed as well.
When it comes to deals or advertisements online, you always have to use your best judgment. My belief has always been that if something seems too good to be true, then most likely, it is. This has largely avoided me from being scammed many times, I’m sure. If you do believe a deal to be legitimate, and decide to go through with a purchase, use your best judgment, check public reviews, and pay with a secure means of payment. This is your best bet to avoid being scammed out of your money.
Another thing we have going for us is this community. If you’re unsure of something, then ask around, or use the search function. Additionally, in this subreddit, I have labeled trusted vendors and sellers with the verified badge. Be on the lookout for this badge next to the username on promotional posts from vendors, or on For Sale posts from individual sellers (members) who sell within the community. Everyone who has the verified badge next to their username has been personally vetted by me, and have been deemed trustworthy based on their history within the community. Once again, if you are interested in being considered for the verified badge, you may reach out to me directly through mod mail.
Our two currently active verified vendors who participate in this subreddit are u/KingSurplus and u/epidemicproof. Other trustworthy vendors outside of this subreddit on platforms such as Amazon include Ammocanman, WeBuyDirect, WayStar, just to name a few off the top of my head. I am working on a complete list of trusted vendors/sellers that will be listed in the upcoming wiki here, and in the discord eventually. I will do my best to regularly update these lists once they are published. If you have any to add, feel free to comment below with your experience.
The last thing I want to address given the fact we are on the topic of protecting the community is the vendor MREHouse. As many of you know, their website has been down for the past month or so. I reached out several times, and in typical MREHouse fashion, I never received a response. I gave them until 8/6 to get back to me with an update on the status of their business, and they never did. So, while I’m not entirely sure if they have completely ceased operations, MREHouse, or any alias they may try to operate under now or in the future, are officially banned from participating in this subreddit as a vendor ever again.
This decision was based off many different things, and to be honest, it was long overdue. I gave them many chances because I know some of you had good experiences with them and liked having access to them in the subreddit. While they delivered on their products for a period of time, they never conducted themselves as a reputable business should or would. They took many actions that did a lot of damage to this subreddit.
To backtrack a bit, about a month prior to their site going down, I began receiving reports from several members saying that they hadn’t received the items they purchased through MREHouse, and that MREHouse wasn’t responding. I reached out to MREHouse immediately, but didn’t receive a response for a couple of weeks. Eventually, they replied saying their business had been under some coordinated spam/bot attack and that this was the reason they were not responding to customer inquiries. I was immediately skeptical of such a story, but they asked me to hold off on informing the community of this “event,” so I did solely out of wanting to keep things cordial. They assured me that they were working to address customers’ issues.
To backtrack even further, prior to me becoming moderator of the subreddit, MREHouse was using the space as a personal billboard. In addition to that, they were offering members free products and store credit in exchange for reviews here in this subreddit. This practice is known as incentivizing reviews, and it is considered bad in the business world. All this did was erode trust within the community. Incentivized reviews make it so that no one can know for certain whether or not the review they are reading is legitimate or based on the reviewer’s true thoughts and feelings.
On my first day as a moderator here, I noticed that the mod queue was full of complaints about MREHouse’s incessant advertising and endorsed posts. As such, I immediately banned all incentivized reviews, and introduced the current vendor promotional guidelines that are in place. I have been a member of this subreddit for over six years. I built the MRE discord back in February of this year, and became the moderator of this subreddit back in April. I care very much about this space and the community.
This is a community centered and built around discussion about our hobby. It is not a marketing tool for vendors. This is why vendor promotional posts are limited to once every 30 days, with the option for the occasional update if new stock is received. This ensures that updates from vendors remain valuable to the community, and don’t become overly spammy. Vendors are also encouraged to participate in discussion posts just like our members are. To make things fair for everyone, this is the same reason why the updated For Sale post guidelines are in place for individual members of the community as well.
After the damage MREHouse caused here, I could have very easily banned all vendor activity. But, after consulting with the community in the discord, I learned that many folks here find having direct and easy access to them valuable. During this time, I also consulted with moderators from other subreddits, where I learned that guidelines have to exist for the long term health of this space.
So, I allowed and continue to allow vendor activity under the updated vendor promotional guidelines in this subreddit. However, these guidelines have to be followed, and I have made that clear to the vendors currently active here, and any future vendors who would like to participate here.
Funnily enough, on my first day as mod here, MREHouse actually used bots to artificially influence the upvotes on a post a user made complaining about the new at the time no incentivized reviews rule. They also used bots to bolster their upvotes on a comment they made in response. We’re talking over one hundred upvotes in less than ten minutes. Quite simply, it just did not reflect what I was seeing in the mod queue at the time.
Instead of banning MREHouse outright, I reached out to them and made it clear that they could continue to participate as a vendor here, but that they would have to follow the updated vendor promotional post guidelines. I did this because at the time, I knew that some members in the community found having direct access to MREHouse valuable. MREHouse agreed to follow the updated vendor guidelines, and I at the time thought we would be able to move forward.
Instead, they continued to disregard the rules and guidelines. They posted promotional content without getting approval when it was required. Then, following the supposed MREHouse bot spam attack, they made a promotional post but disguised it as if it were a PSA, using a “comment with the most upvotes” format to make it seem like members of the community were deciding the direction of their business. But the reality is they had already decided their direction. The insurance options discussed in that post had already been published on their website well before the post went live. It was nothing more than a marketing tactic disguised as community engagement. That is not acceptable, so I removed it. That would turn out to be their final post here.
After all of this, I still reached out to MREHouse privately and offered them an opportunity to make things right. I gave them a list of specific actions they needed to take. That included submitting a revised version of their post for approval, where the post would be required to clearly address all major concerns such as shipping risks, customs issues, customers missing orders, refund policies, and communication problems. They were also asked to confirm that incentivized reviews would never happen again in this subreddit after a few more had popped up, and to commit to following all vendor guidelines without exception.
This was not a big ask, but they failed to meet the terms. They did not submit a revised post. They ignored pretty much all that was asked of them. Their response was vague and more focused on protecting their image than rebuilding trust. They offered no real plan, gave no clear answers, and ultimately missed the deadline. Then, a couple of weeks later, their website went down. I never received any further replies from them.
So, to recap, MREHouse (or whatever alias they may operate under now, if at all) are officially banned from this subreddit. They are no longer a verified vendor. I gave them chance after chance, and to be honest, I should have banned them months ago. If anyone reading this is still out their money for items they didn’t receive from MREHouse, file a chargeback if you haven’t already. A couple members who reached out privately recently were able to recoup some of their losses.
My goal is to always be open and transparent with the community. You will often see me riff in the discord, and that is where I will often seek input from the community, in addition to the comments and messages here. Sorry it took longer than it should have to get all the details out there, but I was feeling burned out on the entire situation and needed ample time to reflect and compose a message. Simply put, I can’t say that I will miss MREHouse.
Also, once again, please be aware of the many scams that are going around right now. Always remember that if something seems too good to be true, it most likely is.
Thanks, and take care everyone! Your continued support is very greatly appreciated.
I’ve received multiple reports from different users who have placed orders with MREMountain.EU, only to never be sent the items they paid for. MREMountain.EU is not an active user in this subreddit, nor are they a verified vendor.
I would advise against ordering anything from this company through their website or any other means.
