Very frustrated with Sportsmans Warehouse

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wombat13

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So I found a Savage Axis II XP in .280AI listed on the SW website. It's at the Prescott, AZ store and it says store pick-up only. I went to the local SW and asked if I could buy it through them and have it transferred to the local store. Nope.

Of course, I also had to wait 40 minutes to ask that question. 15 people waiting for service and one guy working at the counter. There were two other employees loitering at the counter, not actually doing anything.

This is what happens when gun shops have multiple years of record breaking sales. They know they don't have to offer even minimal customer service. They're going to make money regardless.
 
It's not just a SW problem. Right now just about every business is having a hard time finding a warm body to hire. And finding someone who knows how to do the job is even harder. The 2 guys doing nothing were probably getting OJT and weren't ready to deal with customers yet. The small Mom-n-Pop places are doing much better.

Many fast food places locally are still drive thru only simply because they can't hire enough people to run their businesses as usual. My wife and I ate at restaurant this evening where there were only 2 people trying to run everything including the cash register. And neither of them appeared to have been doing it very long. To their credit they were working their butts off, but it wasn't very efficient. There would normally be 5-6 people behind the counter at that place.
 
jmr40 said:
It's not just a SW problem. Right now just about every business is having a hard time finding a warm body to hire. And finding someone who knows how to do the job is even harder. The 2 guys doing nothing were probably getting OJT and weren't ready to deal with customers yet. The small Mom-n-Pop places are doing much better.

Many fast food places locally are still drive thru only simply because they can't hire enough people to run their businesses as usual. My wife and I ate at restaurant this evening where there were only 2 people trying to run everything including the cash register. And neither of them appeared to have been doing it very long. To their credit they were working their butts off, but it wasn't very efficient. There would normally be 5-6 people behind the counter at that place.
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Why is that, what has changed? It's not like the restaurants are slammed with business any harder than pre pandemic.
Where have all the people gone that were in the food service and grocery industry prior to the shutdown?
 
So I contacted SW customer service online and asked if there was any way to buy the rifle and get it transferred to my local SW. Here is their response:

“Unfortunately, here at Sportsman's, we don't offer store-to-store transfers. We need to allow other locations to sell out their inventory.”

Other than “no we don’t transfer” I don’t even understand what that means. It just seems…stupid? That rifle has been in their inventory for some time. It isn’t made anymore. They have a buyer ready to pay, but they’ll just keep it there and hope someotin AZ eventually buys it.
 
The one here in Colorado Springs was great right up until Sportsman's Warehouse was bought out by Bass Pro. It's been terrible since then. We have a Bass Pro here in town and I avoid their over priced butt like the plague. We have a Scheels now, and they are decent. For a yuppy outdoor store...
 
wombat13 said:
This is what happens when gun shops have multiple years of record breaking sales. They know they don't have to offer even minimal customer service. They're going to make money regardless.
Click to expand...

Or, this is what happens when demand grossly out paces supply and half your workforce quits due to covid nonsense and/or luxurious unemployment benefits.

I can't say I blame Sportsmans for not shipping you a 300 dollar rifle considering that whatever profit margin they had gets eaten in transportation and labor cost.
 
Their policies, their rules, their inventory. Like it or not, makes good sense or not, if you want that rifle, sounds like you have to go get it; otherwise, you will continue to have space between you and that rifle.
(EDIT): Wombat13: it is not deep but it is the truth - sorry for not being deep enough.
 
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Orcon said:
Or, this is what happens when demand grossly out paces supply and half your workforce quits due to covid nonsense and/or luxurious unemployment benefits.

I can't say I blame Sportsmans for not shipping you a 300 dollar rifle considering that whatever profit margin they had gets eaten in transportation and labor cost.
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First of all, there were other employees there, they just weren’t helping customers, so no, it wasn’t a lack of employees. Just crappy service.

Secondly, it is a $530 rifle and why not offer me the option to pay the shipping? And by the way, they offer ship to store for things that are lower priced than that.

Based on their response, I think they believe I’ll buy some other rifle from the local store if I can’t buy what I want. Wrong.
 
Steve S. said:
Their policies, their rules, their inventory. Like it or not, makes good sense or not, if you want that rifle, sounds like you have to go get it; otherwise, you will continue to have space between you and that rifle.
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Thanks for the deep insight. I had no idea a private company could make its own policies.
 
It's pretty rare for any business to give a damn when they don't have to in order to thrive. All I can say is the economic crash of 2008 gave a lot of people a dose of what they deserve.
 
wombat13 said:
So I contacted SW customer service online and asked if there was any way to buy the rifle and get it transferred to my local SW. Here is their response:

“Unfortunately, here at Sportsman's, we don't offer store-to-store transfers. We need to allow other locations to sell out their inventory.”

Other than “no we don’t transfer” I don’t even understand what that means. It just seems…stupid? That rifle has been in their inventory for some time. It isn’t made anymore. They have a buyer ready to pay, but they’ll just keep it there and hope someotin AZ eventually buys it.
Click to expand...
That's pretty normal policy at most big box stores, though this about the merchandise as a whole not just firearms or ammunition. They may have items in warehouse or available from distributors which can be ordered and shipped to various locations, but usually once it is delivered to a store it's their local inventory. Local inventory belongs to that location. If they did not operate this way, a few stores with big demand would pull all popular items away to themselves leaving other locations with bare shelves of in-demand goods. Sometimes you have to think bigger picture.
 
NW Phoenix SW; went in to check availability of componets, 2 behind the counter, one working a sale, one talking with a customer, talking, talking, talking...no line behind me, I'm leaning on my cane. After 5 min I turned to walk away; only then did the guy behind the counter ask if he could help. I asked, he went in back to check, came back with no stock.

Wish I had just said no, he couldn't help me because he was to "busy". And now that I tkink about it, that was the first time in a loooong time I was first in a nonexistant line. Prophetic?
 
.455_Hunter said:
SW is in the process of being ruined by Johnny Morris and the Cabelas/BassPro cabal, so I wouldn't be surprised by decreasing service and more managerial bureaucracy.
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Seriously? SW is going the way of Cabelas/BassPro? That SUCKS. BassPro ruined Cabela's. When are people going to wake up?
 
wombat13 said:
“Unfortunately, here at Sportsman's, we don't offer store-to-store transfers. We need to allow other locations to sell out their inventory.”

Other than “no we don’t transfer” I don’t even understand what that means.
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It means you should buy a rifle you don't want from the store nearer to you so that the company doesn't have to bother shipping the one you DO want.
 
Some stores believe you will buy what you can get. Some people will.

When looking for a .260Rem, I went to every LGS and Big Box within 50 miles. None in stock. Several tried to sell what was in the shelf.
I started on phone, calling to check inventory at further and further stores.
Happened across the exact rifle on Armslist (before they went full ****). Drove the 3 hrs to get what I wanted.

Have made several purchases and trades that required a 3-4 drive. Cost effective? Probably not, but I found what I wanted, examined it closely, talked with the other party and made the deal (or in a couple instances, walked away)

Decide how bad you want it and decide accordingly.

Good luck
 
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