I tried to buy locally.

Status
Not open for further replies.
A pattern is emerging.

Coyote likes to have it his way, or the highway.

Putting sales clerks in their place.

Making drama in front of the kids.

This really isn't about customer service after all.
 
This is getting to be a big weenie "Can you top this?" game.

"If a customer needs a shave ... or maybe a walker ... by the time I decide to finish clipping my toenails and look at him, he should weep with gratitude that I didn't charge him for the air he breathed while he stood there."

"OH YEAH? Well I once got an olive in my martini that was a little too big...let's just say that place isn't in business any more."

"Oh REALLY, well I am a huge [Prickly Guy] to my customers and they have to beg me for more of the same or I'll throw them into a wood chipper!"

"Ah HA! Well, I once decided I PROBABLY didn't like the kind of TOILET PAPER they PROBABLY had in their BATHROOM, which I didn't bother to visit because I already KNEW it wasn't clean! That place closed up 10,000 years ago and I don't miss them one BIT! In fact, I don't even think about them anymore...EVER!"

"THAT'S NOTHING! None of the "customers" who come in my store are GOOD enough to buy a gun from me! In fact, the only item I EVER DO stock in my store is bags of burned hair! And I don't even let the customers LOOK at them. And if they want to buy one, I say NO!"


...


Sheesh. "High Road," anyone?

Customers are people. Treat them as well as you possibly can. If your business model is sound and you make folks happy you'll do well.

Sales people are people. Treat them as well as you possibly can. If you are polite, spend a little cash sometimes, and develop any kind of human empathy with them, the results can sometimes be pretty rewarding.

Or not. Your choice.

Lock...please? This is getting embarrassing.

-Sam
 
Oh yeah?
I told a customer he needed to eat dog food and bark before he paid me double the going rate on a Bushmaster. He not only did that, he licked his privates too.
 
Oh yeah?
I told a customer he needed to eat dog food and bark before he paid me double the going rate on a Bushmaster. He not only did that, he licked his privates too.
Click to expand...

Now that's funny, right there! :D

And what's "double the going rate" on an AR-15 these days anyway? Infinity, plus one, times two?

This thread is odd. I would have predicted that, after a few rounds of story swapping about customers and dealers behaving badly, we would see a trend towards understanding, patience, humor, and the old do-unto-others theme. I mean we're a pretty homogeneous group (with a few exceptions) and we share a common passion. Every one of us has been a customer. A great many of us has been a dealer or salesperson. You'd think that by about page two we'd have managed to reach a consensus on what habits or mannerisms are acceptable and which are the marks of a jacka$$ -- on both sides of the counter.

Instead, we're 5 pages into a heated debate where each side's response seems to (inadvertently, I'm sure) JUSTIFY, excuse, and condone whatever dregs of inhuman rudeness the other side has most recently hauled into the light.

At this point I'm not sure where we'll go from here.

"I'd kill any man who handled a gun in my shop without buying THREE!"

"I'd wage JIHAD against the COUNTRY of a dealer who didn't INSIST I [date] his WIFE!"

:rolleyes: :D

Everyone knows what it's like to be treated well, right? We like that. Right?

Everyone knows what it's like to be treated poorly, right? We pretty much, generally, don't like that. Right?

Staying in business -- any business but especially the gun business -- is hard enough without ill will and animosity. Affording, selecting, and acquiring the accouterments of our sport/hobby/lifestyle is difficult enough without causing or facing hostility at the counter.

What's the point of having this thread?
To try to make things better in some small way? Then we'd better stop picking at each other.
To just have a laugh at the uneducated, obtuse, and just plain evil folks causing problems on both ends? Then this thread needs to get funny pretty d@mn quick.

-Sam
 
I've never been thrown out of any business, nor have I ever begged a business to take my money. I have however walked out of several businesses because of either the complete lack of service or ridiculous prices. I mainly deal with one local gun store. I don't buy everytime I go in, however on average I spend several hundred a month there. They know I'll buy from them if they have or can get it, however they will also transfer for me if they don't have it.

I pride myself on the fact that I act like an adult and I expect to be treated like one. That being said I refuse to pay exhorbitant prices for the things I want to buy.

I demand to be treated with respect anywhere I go and in turn I will treat you with respect. If not I'll go elsewhere and take my money with me.
 
There used to be a gun shop in the Cleveland area that I began visiting as a young child with my Father. I continued going there when I was old enough to shop there myself, and, in fact made my first firearm purchase there. Over the years, they sometimes said hello and treated me as a long time customer who had spent alot of bucks there, othertimes, they treated me coldly and with suspicion. I used to always check their used counter, as they would get some things that interested me at good prices. The last time I did that, the owner was playing cards on that counter with his cronies on the customer side...they acted annoyed that I was standing there.
The last straw was when I considered trying a trade there. I knew I would take a loss, even though realistically, what I was trading away was more desireable and valuable than what I wanted...the clerk turned to the owner and presented my trade. The owner spoke about me in the third person, never addressing me directly.
I never went back.
I have been in retail/customer service for 35 years. Gun shops in this area have no customer service, there is not a one I patronize.
 
A pattern is emerging.

Coyote likes to have it his way, or the highway.

Putting sales clerks in their place.

Making drama in front of the kids.

This really isn't about customer service after all.
Click to expand...

Read into it whatever you like. It’s my money and I’ll not pay someone to be rude or insulting or disrespectful to me or mine.

By the way, we weren’t the ones that caused the drama at the Chinese restaurant, we chose to leave after the wait staff chose to treat us very poorly. Trying to sit 7 people at a table designed for 4 wasn’t something they would have done to 7 adults and it plainly wasn’t going to work any better for 2 adults and 5 kids. We asked politely to be seated at the larger table and they agreed. They could have said “No” and we would have left without a fuss. Instead the waitress slammed every water glass down, making it clear we weren’t really welcome at that table at all. THEN we left. The waitress clearly got what she wanted and the kids learned a valuable lesson in self respect.
 
Awesome thread.

I'm beginning to understand how "discussions" like this can go on for six pages while other, far more relevant, topics are locked within minutes of opening.

Kudos.
 
I give my local folks a reasonable opportunity to get my money. IMO, what you were asked for was not reasonable. I would do no business with them.
 
WOW, I can't believe this thread is still going on.. Let's face it, people run their business the way they want. If it works, use it. Personally I would never do business with someone who thinks my time is a waste of theirs but hey, what ever floats their boats. In the end it is what make America so great. Hopefully a year from now we will still have the options that we have now.
 
Lots of gun shops where I live and most have a poor selection and high prices. I shop at the select few I find have a decent selection at decent prices. However my biggest gripe about gun shops are the non-customers who do nothing more than window shop all day and don't even have 2 nickels to rub together. They are far more annoying than the gun shops with high prices.
 
I always buy guns from local FFL's. They only charge $30.00 for transfer fees around here and they all pretty much charge the same overall price for a complete firearm.

I've got some good stores around me. I'm lucky.

I would have to say that most of the shops require long hours and I've seen customers who are unreasonable quite often.

One guy haggled over a box of .45acp for about twenty minutes one time I was completing my paperwork for a gun. I'm not kidding, he haggled for 20 minutes. Most of the time he just stood there like he was "thinking" about whether he would buy the box of ammo or not.

The manager had patience beyond mine. He just kept saying, that's what we have to charge to make a profit because the initial price is expensive for that ammo now.

MANY times I've seen people fondling the guns who ended up showing they never had any intention of buying a gun. That's got to be pretty irritating IMHO. (I mean these are people who didn't say, up front, that they wanted to look at various guns to make a future decision.)

So, from what I've seen it is probably a hard way to make a living. You'd have to get personal enjoyment from owning a gunshop if you get what I mean. Long hours and some wacko customers would make it hard but the personal enjoyment factor might outweigh it for the owner.
 
So, from what I've seen it is probably a hard way to make a living. You'd have to get personal enjoyment from owning a gunshop if you get what I mean. Long hours and some wacko customers would make it hard but the personal enjoyment factor might outweigh it for the owner.
Click to expand...

Other than the regulatory issues, I doubt its any worse than owning most other types of retail or service businesses, and better than many.
 
It's different from some, similar to others. My impression is motorcycle dealerships also attract their share of bullheads and self proclaimed know it alls.
If you like it, it isn't work.
About 80%+ of my transactions go very smoothly and everyone walks away happy. The another 10% are OK and everyone is sort of satisfied. The last 10% is what I tell at cocktail parties and post on the internet.
 
I'm just trying to picture all the bull that goes on in a gun shop happening at Bed Bath & Beyond. I don't see it.

"EVERYONE knows terrycloth is better than cotton-poly."

"In a SHTF scenario, you're not welcome in my camp if you don't wipe with Scott's."

"Low-Flow toilets are a violation of our God Given Rights. What part of "shall not be clogged" don't they understand?"
 
As I say, try hanging around a motorcycle shop some time. Same deal. The BMW is better than the Suzuki. I installed this gizmo on my bike. If you don't have one, you're an idiot. Helmet laws are unlawful restrictions on our freedoms. etc etc rinse, repeat.
 
As I say, try hanging around a motorcycle shop some time. Same deal. The BMW is better than the Suzuki. I installed this gizmo on my bike. If you don't have one, you're an idiot. Helmet laws are unlawful restrictions on our freedoms. etc etc rinse, repeat.
Click to expand...

Wow. Bubba613, you've been hanging out at the wrong places - that NEVER happens in a Harley shop...:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

Menwhile, back to the OP...

I have bought guns at the place that handles my transfers. He is a good guy, but his business is sort of a one-man-show. His prices are average for this area, but if I drive an hour north there are 2 gun stores that have larger inventories and are about 10% - 20% cheaper, especially on used stuff.

I guess it's a trade-off between convenience and price. It also depends on what I'm shopping for - and how much time I have.
 
Olimpic sez that all their ar's are match grade!!!!! hum. mine is a mix DPMS upper $600and Spike's Tacticl lower. $300.its all good so far.
 
I have a guy that does them for $20 at a surplus store.

Yes ,he has a ffl.

Do look around and ASK THE PEOPLE THAT RUN THE STORES.

A local gun store I always go to here in Northern Virginia said $50 too and I almost fell on the floor laughing.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

L
  • Locked
At what point would you not buy locally?
2 3 4
Replies
78
Views
3K
Old krow
O
P
  • Locked
Moral Dilemma-Internet Purchase vs. Your FFL
2
Replies
40
Views
2K
priv8ter
P
A
  • Locked
buying a gun locally
Replies
13
Views
704
leadchucker
L
S
  • Locked
the real reasons people are buying guns
2
Replies
44
Views
4K
Mr. T
M
P
  • Locked
Buying a gun online - HOW TO?
Replies
10
Views
2K
Das Pferd
D
Back
Top