Sir or Madam:
This very afternoon I visited your new Lewisville, Texas, store. I wish I could relate good experience, but that was not the case.
Earlier this day, I read this thread:
http://thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=121133
on "The High Road" message board, about a customer purchasing a F-1 Master Chrony at one of your stores for $69.99. (See below for description)
Then I called your Lewisville, Texas, store to confirm the availability of this item and spoke with Fred at the firearms counter. I put it to him directly, "Do you sell the F-1 Master Chrony for $70?" Fred answered in the affirmative, that the price was $69.99. I asked him to make SURE he had some in stock, as I was going to make a 30 mile drive in DFW traffic if he did and buy one. He responded, "I am looking at them right now."
I took this as confirmation that your Lewisville store had the F-1 Master Chrony in stock selling at $69.99 before sales tax.
Work has been hectic lately. Nonetheless, I took off early from work to make the trip and resolved to check out the reloading section in detail. I do like to see & touch what I buy before paying for it, even though it might cost a few more dollars than buying online.
At roughly 2:45PM, I arrived at the Lewisville store and walked back to the firearms counter and found the chronographs. I spied a F-1 Shooting Chrony (NOT the F-1 Master Chrony with remote control) priced at $69.99 and did not see any F-1 Master Chronys, the model I was interested in and had confirmed by telephone. I asked for a salesman to help me and explained the situation. He asked me who I had spoken with. I had forgotten, but told him my notes were in the car and that I would return with all the information.
Upon my return, I sought out Fred (the man I who had given my confirmation) and found him behind the firearms counter. I introduced myself and explained the situation. Fred dissembled a bit but eventually acknowledged he was mistaken by saying, "Well, sorry," and turning to another customer and blowing me off.
[I used to be in business to business sales. If I worked an order for a customer and I had personally laid eyes and hands on the product they desired, that product existed. Period.]
What makes me sore is not the lost opportunity to save a few dollars on a product or having someone give me their word that something is true and it turns out to be fiction. What makes me sore is the time I spent on the whole deal. About the only time DFW traffic lets up is between the hours of 2AM-5AM. I spent in excess of 90 wasted minutes on the road when I could have just ordered a unit online from the manufacturer or a reseller. My employer pays a lot for my time and I consider time my most valuable commodity. I don't take kindly to having it wasted.
I doubt I will go to the effort of driving to your store again, despite all the reloading supplies and the spotting scope I plan to purchase in the near future.
What a disappointment.
*F-1 Master Chrony*
This particular product is a chronograph used to measure bullet velocity and is useful to reloaders. It is made by Shooting Chrony, Inc. They have two main lines with several models: *Shooting Chrony* and *Master Chrony*. The main difference is that the Master Chrony line has a wired remote control that encompasses the computer and takes it out of harm's way while the Shooting Chrony line has all the parts in one unit, which is placed downrange of the firing line.
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Regards,
Jason Ruser
"We despise and abhor the bully, the brawler, the oppressor, whether in private or public life; but we despise no less the coward and the voluptuary. No man is worth calling a man who will not fight rather than submit to infamy or see those that are dear to him [suffer] wrong."
----Theodore Roosevelt
(Nobel Prize acceptance speech, Christiania, Norway, May 5, 1910)
