CA Resident - Ordered 1000 rounds online and store "lost or didn't receive it"

Probably not much you can do here. You could put in a claim with UPS, but if they have a signed bill of lading, it's a he said/ she said thing......

If you think "Mike" is lying, you could gently suggest that his Google review rating might take a dive if he doesn't find the goods or report him to the BBB. Lots of FFLs I know couldn't care less, though.

About the only other thing is call Freedom Munitions and explain that their "recommended" dealer is not being forth coming and see if they can help you. If the polite appeal doesn't work, bigger companies tend to respond to threats of social media slamming more than little guys, so that may get you some traction there.

In the end though, this just shows how important it is to develop a trust relationship with local vendors before shipping to them.......

Good luck getting your ammo, bro. Let us know how it turns out- and welcome to the forum!

Yup. Be patient. He probably can't find his coffee at Starbucks either.

I bought a lower reciever and had it sent to the local shop. For two days after the "delivered" email they could not find it. On the third day I went in person. I saw my box, Aero Presicion, in plain view on the shelf with rifle ammunition. Someone just set it down there, absent mindedly, and they had been looking for a complete AR the whole time.

Mike is probably not malevolent. He is most assuredly scatter brained though.

Another thought. I don't know how big your store is, but if they get things on pallets, he could have "signed for it" and not know it's under a bunch of other things.

However, if it is found to be under handedness at play, you have a duty to tell it far and wide to all Californians not to buisness them. Find out for sure first though.

I had a ups package dropped off a block away and the man who lives there dropped it off at my house and I own him more than a few beers.

Demi-human said:

Another thought. I don't know how big your store is, but if they get things on pallets, he could have "signed for it" and not know it's under a bunch of other things.

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This. If you work at one of these places you’ll get shipments of dozens of boxes at a time. There’s no way they’re gonna count every box. The driver would strangle you if he had to wait that long.

I sell industrial chemicals for a living. I had an account that got about a dozen drums of product in Indiana. When I looked thru them, the truck driver had also unloaded three drums that belonged to another account in Illinois. I called the trucking company. They never did pick them up.

Just for your own information, call whatever CA department enforces the law and ask them what they recommend. I imagine they will be scrutinizing FFLs on these ammo transactions. Not saying you should file a complaint with them yet, but at least get to know the ramifications of the law and any legal recourse you have. Then contact Mike FFL and ask for an update and what he plans to do about it since he did sign for it. That legally means he took possession of it whether he knows where it is or not. If Mike gives you no clear plan of action then consider calling Freedom Munitions and notifying them that if they are not able to resolve this with Mike you will be forced to call your credit card company and ask them for a refund, since you do not have the ammo and it is now a matter between Freedom and Mike FFL.

If Mike is not the owner of the FFL, then I would quit dealing with Mike if he has no plan of action and contact the owner/manager ASAP and make sure they know they are at risk in this transaction. If you have any recourse through the State of CA then mention you will followup with that advice if the FFL has no plan to make good.

I always try to use big box stores for that kind of thing for that exact reason. But even then they have their faults. I had a mosin shipped to a field and stream store and it took the guy half an hour to find it in the back room. He literally had to google one to know what it looked like.

It's a passion for us, but to some of them it's just a job.

If Mike is not the owner stop talking to him and talk to the owner.

Mikes problem ,as the transfer has not taken place. Same as if he signed for a gun. Until its transferred he is responsible. That's why he charges for a transfer ,to assume responsibility until you pick it up.

BDW3432 said:

First post, great forum guys.

Need advice:

Cliffs:

-Live in CA
-Ordered 1000 45ACP from Freedom Munitions
-Shipped to site recommended firearm dealer
-UPS tracking shows it was received 3/8/2018 by "Mike"
-Call to check store hours to pickup and Mike answers
-He checks stock and says it's not there
-Mike scrambles around store looking and doesn't find it, claims he would only put it in one place and UPS must have screwed up or given to neighbor
-Mike will check with UPS and neighbor stores tomorrow and call me

If he claims he can't find it tomorrow, what the hell should I do in this situation? It says on the UPS tracking it was received by him 3/8 at 11:43am.

Anybody ever been in this situation?

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Any reason you didn't have it shipped to the LGS you normally frequent?

Hopefully Mike isn't lying.

I bet LOTS of people in CA go to Nevada and Arizona to buy ammo.

Glad I can still have ammo delivered to my house.

eastbank said:

I had a ups package dropped off a block away and the man who lives there dropped it off at my house and I own him more than a few beers.

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I had put in my address incorrectly (wrong street number - new house), fortunately the UPS guy recognized my name and brought them to the correct house ! (I was ordering a lot to meet the end of 2017 deadline then).

Also kudos to Midway, I had another package returned to them because of wrong street number, they emailed me and I called. They reshipped the package without charging me additional.

I had a situation where I sold a rifle stock and sent it USPS to the buyer. Tracking said it was delivered, buyer said he didn't get it. I filed a claim with USPS and was told that since tracking said it was delivered, they considered it delivered and I had no claim. I then contacted LE in the other city. An investigator called the local USPS office and somehow they found the package and delivered it a week late.

If it doesn't turn up soon, I'd report it as a theft. That may motivate someone to look harder. IF the local LE will even look into it. In some places such things are such low priority that the report may just be filed and forgotten.

Do you not see who signed for it when you look up the tracking number?

jmr40 said:

I had a situation where I sold a rifle stock and sent it USPS to the buyer. Tracking said it was delivered, buyer said he didn't get it. I filed a claim with USPS and was told that since tracking said it was delivered, they considered it delivered and I had no claim. I then contacted LE in the other city. An investigator called the local USPS office and somehow they found the package and delivered it a week late.

If it doesn't turn up soon, I'd report it as a theft. That may motivate someone to look harder. IF the local LE will even look into it. In some places such things are such low priority that the report may just be filed and forgotten.

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If sending something valuable I would suggest requiring the recipient's signature on delivery. The way the plain vanilla tracking works is the mail carrier scans the barcode on the item into his or her handheld device. There have been too many stories of mail carriers abandoning their mail or piling it up in their attic -- unless the device has GPS and notes the location at the time of scanning, the scanning doesn't really prove the item was delivered.

I would file a police report. Sounds like a theft to me, either by UPS driver, or someone at the dealer.

jmr40 said:

I had a situation where I sold a rifle stock and sent it USPS to the buyer. Tracking said it was delivered, buyer said he didn't get it. I filed a claim with USPS and was told that since tracking said it was delivered, they considered it delivered and I had no claim. I then contacted LE in the other city. An investigator called the local USPS office and somehow they found the package and delivered it a week late.

If it doesn't turn up soon, I'd report it as a theft. That may motivate someone to look harder. IF the local LE will even look into it. In some places such things are such low priority that the report may just be filed and forgotten.

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USPS is awful at times. Before Christmas, I sent Gunny a package. Tracking said it got delayed at his local post office. Then it was returned to mine, then it went all the way back to him to be delivered. The people in our Post office were very nice but totally clueless.

BDW3432 said:

It shows it was signed and received by Mike, the store owner and guy who told me he couldn't find it nor remembered receiving it.

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Then Mike owes you; HIS problem and he needs to figure it out, or you call the state agency involved in this stupidity of having ammo go through a FFL

Have you actually visited the store and talked to Mike, in person, when he wasn’t busy??

I've heard of USPS saying merchandise was dropped off and signed for and it wasn't. Here's why.


USPS delivers packages for other companies sometimes and to keep up with their contract it has to be delivered by a certain date. Well, many times they don't make that date, so they send you an email saying it was signed for and received and delivered and then it shows up a few days later.

I had this happen to me. I know I didn't sign for anything. Tried to track it down, couldn't. Filed a missing package with USPS. It showed up 2 days later.

If all else fails there is small claims court. It would be great to see this case on Judge Judy,

Also, there is a work around ( so I have heard ) for people living in California. Get a C&R license ( I think it is a type 3 FFL. Register with the state and you can then have your ammo shipped directly to your house. Ask the ATF to be sure.

Chalk it up as a loss and move on. You got burned, but life goes on.