PLus POS mask

[Big J Umpire]

I am thinking about getting a new mask. I am looking at the plus pos zero gravity mask. Is that a good choice?

[kylejt]

I'm trying think of a reason not to buy the new Honig's mask, with the Team Wendy pads..

I can't think of one.

http://www.honigs.com/sub/176/K94

[Viper]

NO!!!!!!!! and here is why.

I ordered a mask from plus pos on feb 26th. The mask arrived 2 days later with torn pads. I tried to call plus pos to get this issue straightened up...it took me three days to get a hold of them. Once i finally got on the horn with him, i told him that the mask pads were torn and that i would like to return the mask. He told me that as soon as he received the mask that he would refund my money. So i sent the mask back and did not hear a word back from him for about a week and a half. I called him back (once again, it took me a couple of days to get on the phone with him) and he told me that he had not received the mask. I checked the tracking number...it read delivered. I checked the address three or four times to make sure i sent the mask back to the right place...the address was correct. He told me that he was going to look into the matter and call me back. Three weeks go by with no response. At this point in time i am a little perturbed to say the least, because i do not have a mask OR my money back.

I then sent him an email that basically said, I dont have a mask or my money back something needs to be done about this. Three days later I receive a package in the mail from plus pos with a mask in it. The only problem is it is not the mask I originally ordered nor is it a mask that i would ever consider putting on my face...call me spoiled

Today is april the 26th. I ordered the mask TWO months ago and have absolutely nothing to show for the 69.00 (54.00 for the mask and then the 15.00 it took to ship the mask back) that I am in to this transaction.

I will be sending the mask back tomorrow.

Moral of the story I would reconsider doing business with plus pos. My experience has been a nightmare.

Your experience may be different and honestly I hope it is. I apologize in advance for my rant but it felt good to finally get that off my chest.

[Kevin Finnerty]

AND...

That mask is the most unsafe mask ever developed. And the lawsuits arising from the maiming of umpires attributed to that mask is what bankrupted the company in the first place. It is no longer a legitimate company, but instead a website and an ebay store.

[Viper]

*sigh* I guess lesson learned the hard way.

Any advice on how I should handle this because at this point I have run out of ideas.

[kylejt]

I'd ask your credit card company about it.

[Kevin Finnerty]

*sigh* I guess lesson learned the hard way.

Any advice on how I should handle this because at this point I have run out of ideas.

A buddy of mine is currently embroiled in a similar dispute with the crackpot, who, after failing to answer the phone or email for six weeks, sent him a third magnesium mask after the first two dented immediately. My friend was asking for some sort of compensation, not another inferior mask. He tried the mask in the first place against good advice, simply because he was so loyal to the once-proud +POS brand.

My only dealing with Parsons was with a pair of awful shirts that I demanded he take back, and he responded with a full refund. But it was after a blistering email. And it was over a year ago.

It's a pitiful situation now. Your only recourse is definitely a call to the fraud department of your credit card company like Kyle suggested.

I have the feeling that the guy is robbing Peter to pay Paul right now, and you're playing the role of Peter.

[Viper]

Thank you so much Kevin. I really appreciate the advice and the details as to what is happening with Plus Pos. Its unfortunate I did not know about this in the first place or I never would have given them a chance.

[Marcus6]

*sigh* I guess lesson learned the hard way.

Any advice on how I should handle this because at this point I have run out of ideas.

A buddy of mine is currently embroiled in a similar dispute with the crackpot, who, after failing to answer the phone or email for six weeks, sent him a third magnesium mask after the first two dented immediately. My friend was asking for some sort of compensation, not another inferior mask. He tried the mask in the first place against good advice, simply because he was so loyal to the once-proud +POS brand.

My only dealing with Parsons was with a pair of awful shirts that I demanded he take back, and he responded with a full refund. But it was after a blistering email. And it was over a year ago.

It's a pitiful situation now. Your only recourse is definitely a call to the fraud department of your credit card company like Kyle suggested.

I have the feeling that the guy is robbing Peter to pay Paul right now, and you're playing the role of Peter.

No reason to use +POS, anymore.

[kylejt]

No reason to use +POS, anymore.

Their scraper plate brushes are really cool. Yeah, but that's about it.

Once Mom passed on, the business fell apart. Dan tried, but just never is able to balance his real job with the umpire business on the side. He's a one man operation. It's a shame, really. At one end he's emptying the warehouse, and if you know what to look for, you can get some deals. But he also tried to replicate their good gear with cheap Chinese knockoffs. So he's stuck with a lot of crap to try to unload. Honestly, I feel bad for him, and the whole family.

[Kevin Finnerty]

I used to feel badly for him, until all of these stories emerged about his fleecing and otherwise screwing people.

Now, I feel badly for all of the people he screwed. One of them's a friend of mine.

[Dan dada]

Fleecing people? Calling me a crack pot?

You have a real hardo* for me. Maybe I should fly out there so you can kick me in my teeth...lol

Finnerty,

I can assure you I am not robing anyone. . The only 2 masks I recieved back in the magnesium frame apparently are your friends. I recieved these earlier this week. He wants a refund for masks that are a year old. It is my understanding he is using them at pro ball level.

I have had more people tell me how well they like that mask and how durable it is. Metal masks will dent even welds will break.

I am not happy about the rumors you spread about masks shattering and people getting mamed. If you want 1st hand information you can call me for the REAL story regarding anything +POS related. 847 532-0533

I love what I do, I get to meet alot of great umpires and great people. I have met major league umpires and travel, the world. Been to countless MLB games..Cubbies dugout several times...and some Allstar games and world series!

I even got to meet Robert De Niro and he signed the plate coat I have that he wore in the movie "The Fan"!

I dont feel like I deserve pitty what so ever.

Viper, I thought I had sent you an AR label to return the mask. I upgraded the mask and sent you a better one. You said your association will not let you wear the charcoal frame with black pads. I am sending another AR label to return the mask. I will do anything resonable as far as upgrades to make you happy.

If anyone has a problem with product or service give me a call.

Daniel Parsons

+POS

The first 5 people who call me before 2:00 PM central time I will give them free products to review. Hopefull you can share good coments on here about +POS products. Hurry thats only 30 mins from now!

Thank You

Dan

[slo8140]

I just called.he said I was caller 2. I think he is sending me a charcoal mask and a pair of shin guards free. We shall see. Plus some scrapper brushes. Mine is about 15 years old. Time for a new one. Best brush ever.

[johnnyg08]

I don't know about the scraper brushes...post a picture please.

[Mike Prince]

I was caller #1. He is sending me a mask (not sure of color, I told him either black or charcoal was fine). He is also sending me 2 shirts to try. He said he may throw a few other things in there, he didn't have shin guards big enough for me.

As I promised him, I will try the stuff out when I get it and post an honest review here for all to see.

[slo8140]

I will also post honest reviews of everything he sends me. Back 15 or 20 years ago when I first started umpiring everything I wore was plus POS.

I have heard bad things on the site but I'm looking forward to trying some stuff out

[treydawgmt]

I wear some +POS stuff I purchased 12 years ago. I am very happy with that stuff. I will say now, I have had a VERY hard time contacting +POS these days. I live very near their store/warehouse, and the one time I contacted them was told I could not pickup the item I wanted, it had to be shipped. That is the sole reason I stopped doing business with them. Why pay shipping when I could stop by on my way to umpiring a game??

[NC Umpire]

I was caller #5 today. I am also looking forward to trying out the new gear he's gonna send. I have always used Davis, Wilson and now Allstar gear. I also will write honest reviews on the gear he sends.

[kylejt]

Dan also has some new old stock (NOS) jacket that are outstanding. They're the ones depicted with the white labels showing at the back of the neck. One is a current style, with a charcoal gray stripe (classy look, that matches you polywools). The other is a $20 navy pullover, that I stock for my Junior umpires.

[midmoump]

I'll get the review party started with a review of the magnesium mask sold by Plus Pos:

http://midwestump.blogspot.com/2011/06/review-of-plus-pos-mag-t-magnesium.html

I have worn this mask as my primary during the past spring season with no trouble. I had no difficulty with purchasing from Dan at Plus Pos. I would rate the delivery time and communication as average (although I am not that needy and do not need my indicator held throughout an online transaction). I went back through my email and did not find a tracking number for my purchase, although the Plus Pos website states you can find it by logging onto their website.

As a side note, every magnesium mask needs special care because the coating will chip easily. My mask never touches the ground (I consider it bad luck), and it goes straight into a protective bag when I am finished.

Pete

[BretMan]

I'm trying think of a reason not to buy the new Honig's mask, with the Team Wendy pads..

I can't think of one.

http://www.honigs.com/sub/176/K94

Same here. I'm in the market for a new mask, having had my primary mask dented by an untouched pitch (in a high school softball game, at that) and the leather pads rip in my back-up.

What I am looking at is purchasing the Diamond iX3 frame alone and the Wendys pads separately (from Ump-Attire). That combination would run about $10 more than the above Honigs mask.

I know that the Diamond frame is light, and I know that the Honigs frame is light, too. But does anyone know the exact weight of the Honigs frame for comparison? I imagine that they're within a couple of ounces of each other either way. I just figure that if I'm going to go the lightweight route, I'd like to go for the very lightest.

[Big J Umpire]

The Honig's frame is 18 ounces which is six ounces heavier than the diamond frame.

[Welpe]

Plus I'd rather give my money to UA over The H any day.

[Mike Prince]

As update, received my box from +POS today via USPS. In it were:

3 Scraper brushes

1 Black shirt

1 Polo Blue shirt

12 indicators

1 charcoal gray mask with black microfiber pads

Will post a picture later as I am posting from my iPhone right now. Haven't unpacked everything yet, but shirts look nice and the mask looks good although I'm not sure on the charcoal color yet.

I have 2 games tomorrow so I will use the mask and a shirt for sure. I'll post my review of the mask here to keep relevant to the thread and post the other reviews in their own threads.

[slo8140]

As update, received my box from +POS today via USPS. In it were:

3 Scraper brushes

1 Black shirt

1 Polo Blue shirt

12 indicators

1 charcoal gray mask with black microfiber pads

Will post a picture later as I am posting from my iPhone right now. Haven't unpacked everything yet, but shirts look nice and the mask looks good although I'm not sure on the charcoal color yet.

I have 2 games tomorrow so I will use the mask and a shirt for sure. I'll post my review of the mask here to keep relevant to the thread and post the other reviews in their own threads.

I got my box in the mail today as well. He must have shipped them as soon as I talked to him on the phone. Pretty good service to order on Friday afternoon and get the stuff in the mail on Monday.

The inventory of my box is as follows:

1 Black shirt Size XL

1 Light Blue Shirt with R/W/B trim Size XL

1 pair BB313 Size 17 Shin Guards

1 ZRO-G TB Mask (Tubular Steel frame in silver with black pads and standard +POS harness)

7 Scrapper Brushes

First Impressions:

Shirts:First off, I wear a XXL shirt on both the bases and the plate. He did not tell me he was sending shirts, so this is not his error. The shirts feel a little heavier in weight than my Ultimates and about the same as my smitty shirts. The fabric feels nice. I wish I would have the chance to wear them, but they are just too small for me unless I drop some weight. I might try to give them to someone else to review.

Shins: The use metal rings to secure the strap to the guard and a plastic buckle on the outside of the leg. If you are going to use plastic buckles, why not make all the strap hardware plastic similar to what Diamond does on their ump-lites. They basically look like a shin guard. I will give them a whirl soon at a Little League game to see how they work out. The quality looks good. More protective than my ump-lites, but also heavier. Not as protective as my Wilson Golds and my new Douglas shins.

Mask: It is a single bar hollow steel mask with some microfiber pads. They seem to be a little better than what diamond puts on thier masks. He told me he was sending me a charcoal frame, but the box contained silver. I was really looking forward to the powdercoated charcoal as I have never seen one before. I will try to wear this mask as is tomorrow night for a Little League Juniors game. It is a redundant mask for me since I have a All-Star FM 25TI that I use as my primary backup for my HSM. I also have a champro magnesium black mask that I use when I want to have a black frame.

Scrapper Brushes: The one I currently use is old...probably purchased in the mid to late 1990s. The construction of the brush has changed since my old ones were purshased. They are also darker in color. I will trim the bristles on one and use it tomorrow night. Not sure what I will do with 7 of them...if they are as good as my old one I will never have to buy another umpire brush again.

I will try to take some pictures tonight and post them, but all the images can be found at www.pluspos.com the site is not stellar, but pretty easy to navigate. Plus I included the item numbers above for easy reference.

(If anyone is interested in reviewing the shirts he sent me and is willing to pay the shipping cost I don't mind sending them to you...PM me if you are interested.)