Arrogance at a local gun shop...

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rono

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Have you ever went into a mom and pop gun shop and the owner ended up driving you out of the store with his arrogance??

Today at lunch went to a local gun shop to pick up some Wolf .223 ammo. My boy is coming home next week for Xmas from the Army. I figured I'd pick up some plinking ammo so I could take him to the range. A local shop usually has pretty good prices on Wolf ammo. Usually each time I go over I listen to the guy b.s.ing someone on a gun and how he only sells the best.. blah blah blah. I asked him if he had any .223 Wolf. He looked around the counter and had 1 case. Then looks at me and says " I can't sell you the whole case, it's my last one.." Ok fine, I didn't want the whole case, only needed 500 rounds. HE says he can't sell 500, don't know when he's getting anymore. I can sell you 2 boxes at .... (he raised the price since I walked in) THen he starts the upsell. Trying to sell me other ammo that was twice the price. He says Wolf is too dirty anyway, you don't wanna shoot that in your gun. By the way what kind do you have? I say AR-15 custom build with a RockRiver Barrel. Then I get I get a comment from him... "Oh you can shoot the Wolf in yours but I would never do that to my AR." :what: (he sells Bushmaster) That's it.. All I could take... Turned around and headed for the door. I really don't think I will ever go back there. I'll spend the $$ and have it shipped in. :cuss:

What ever happened to treating the customer with some respect???

Ron
 
This is the problem with what I call "hobbyist" stores. It can be small gun shops, comic book stores, craft stores or any other hobby. The owner/staff of the store may know a lot about what they carry, but they don't practice good customer service. I consider it a lucky find when I find a store that has both.
 
Newbie, here. This is a great site!

I'm lucky enough to live near a "mom and pop" gun shop that has been in business for 25 years. Everyone's on a first name basis, and they have my complete loyalty as a customer. I just ordered a 642 yesterday from them, and can't wait to get my mits on it. :)

That having been said, I order all of my .223 and 7.62x39 ammo from Cheaper Than Dirt. Availability is usually great, and delivery time is always within 5 days. The drawback is that the shipping charges completely offset any savings you might realize locally.

Lust a newbie's 2 cents...
 
"I can't sell it all to you because I need to keep some to sell"

wha-wha-what!?

You keep inventory for one purpose - to sell. If someone wants all of it, sell them all of it.

The first step in running a business is to actually know how to run a business. Some people should stick to shoveling out ditches as digging themselves into a holes seems to be their only specialty.

Brad
 
When I moved to my present home, I was happy to learn that there was a gun shop only a mile away. The first couple of times I went in there, I was treated rudely. Under normal circumstances, I would never go back.

However, the next shop is six miles away, their guns are routinely priced $100-200 above average, and they're jerks, too. The third closest place is Gander Mountain, which does not carry any military-style firearms, never seems to have ammo on sale, and is in an unbelievably congested shopping area.

Given those circumstances, I decided to keep going to the local shop. As I went in more often and got to know them, they lightened up and now we're all on a first name basis. They call me right away when they get something in they know I've been looking for, and have no problem ordering things for me quickly, no matter how small or cheap.

Ideally, customer service should be top-notch the minute you walk in the door. But in the real world, many people are ornery and sometimes you just have to get to know them. I think the relationship I've established was worth the effort.
 
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I can't sell you that, it's all I have!

Came across this attitude one other time in my life, at a church bake sale. My extended family shares a summer camp on Lake Ontario (Point Peninsula). Every year, the local church has a bake and craft sale, and one of the little old ladies makes some incredible strawberry-rhubarb jam which my uncle is just crazy for. Two summers ago he got up to her table and said "You have any of that Jam?" She showed him a case of about 20 or 30 jars. "I love your jam so much, I'll take them all!" he says, and he was serious. She refused to sell them all to him though, saying that she had to save some for other people who wanted to buy it. He came back to our camp with 4 jars of his favorite jam to last him the year, incredulous. He went on and on about how he couldn't believe she wouldn't sell all the jars. "What is she selling them for?", "What is she thinking?", etc.
Now, the flip side.
This church sale is every year on one of the major summer holiday weekends, I think it's Memorial Day. . . anyway, the very next year on the same weekend of the sale, my uncle could not make it up to camp until Sunday. Because of this, he missed the first day of the bake sale. He went to the sale on it's second day, and found the old lady who makes the jam. There were no jam jars on her table.
"I guess you sold out of jam yesterday, huh?" he said.
"Yes I did" she replied
"That's a shame, I really love it." he said, as he turned to leave. He stopped when she said "Oh, it's you! You're the one who wanted to buy all the jam I had last year because you said you loved it so much!"
She reached down behind the table and pulled out the last jar of jam from amongst her personal belongings.
"I saved you my last jar in case you came back this year. Since you like it so much, I didn't want you to go without!" :eek:


So there you go, both sides of the coin. Take from that story what you will. For some people, there is a perceived value in always having at least some of what a customer wants. how that value compares to the value of high sales volume is a personal decision for each seller.
 
Take from that story what you will. For some people, there is a perceived value in always having at least some of what a customer wants.
Click to expand...

There's also a very real value in selling people what they want to buy, especially when they are sitting there, money in hand, staring at it.

Telling someone they can't have a product that's sitting on a shelf right in front of them is, in essense, telling them that you value someone else's dollar over theirs. Good luck ever getting them back in the door. And anticipate your name getting out all over the internet as being hard to deal with.

Someone being upset about you being sold out of a popular item is an entirely different issue than someone being upset about you not selling them a product that is so obviously in stock. If you know that you will have a certain number of people wanting a particular product, you pull that amount of the product off the shelf and hold it in reserve. Never, ever, have a product on display that you aren't willing to sell, even if it means selling it all to the same customer.

If you want to limit availability, great! Mark it that way. But never tell a customer you are refusing their dollar on a product that is not obviously marked as quantity-limited. That is, unless you enjoy being an advertisment for why people should be patronizing the gun store down the street.

Brad
 
i agree and disagree.

an object in plain view should be sold to who ever has the money.

but if a shopkeep purposfully sets aside a small supply for the regulars thats reasonable too. but thats kind of a "out of sight out of mind" situation
 
I too have encountered this, as a matter of course I take what I hear from people behind the counter at Gun Shops as BS. Had a kid tell me 7.62x39 was illeagal to hunt with (it is legal in MN), Had someone tell me that 7.62x54 was Ballisticly Identical to 30.06 (closer to .308), Most recently that a person should not trust "Mass Produced" firearms like browning Hi-Powers and that only Custom Guns were safe to shoot. Flashes me some kind of Kimber in his holster. Of course the idiot behind the counter did not do the work Himself, so he would have to have you talk to his Gunsmith. Well I have more brains than Money (open to conjecture on occaision) so I said no thanks I'll just take that off the rack gun and used for a good price and tinker with it myself. Purchased a nice little FEG PJK 9HP for a great price and will deal with his boss from now on.
The absolute worst are the 19 yr olds at Gander Mountain/Cabelas/insert another store here who want you to think what they say is Gospel and if you disagree you should say a few hail Mary's and repent.
As why a business man would not sell you something since he wanted to sell more to someone else well what kind of HUA (Head Up A##) Logic is that.
My old freind Benny used to say "If I got one I'll sell one, If I got more I'll sell ya as many as I got or you want."
 
Two things leap out at me about your story:
1. He raised the price since you walked in. You didn't make this very clear, but I'm taking it at face value. If that's true, he's probably going to see who will bid up the price of the entire case, and then he WILL sell that entire case to that person.
2. He tried to upsell you to something else more expensive. If you would just buy the more expensive brand first, then he can save the cheapo Wolf and wait a few more weeks (Ammoman.com keeps sending me updates about the price of Wolf going up in coming weeks) and "legitimately" sell the Wolf for more because it's scarce.

It's an underhanded way of playing the supply vs. demand.

One other thing about "hobbyist shops" - the big problem with these shops is that in order to be accepted into the fold (or the pack, as the animal analog may be), you need to be deemed "okay." This smacks of elitism, and those of us who live by the very spirit of the Second Ammendment get rubbed the wrong way. It's like John Kerry telling us that he's pro-assault-weapons-ban, then going out duck hunting.

Anyway, I personally would have done the same thing you did. For what its worth, I've had pretty good dealings with Ammoman.com, as well as Gamaleil Shooters Supply (gamaleil.com). You might try either of them for your order.
 
Yep, had that experience also. It was a more commercialized Mom and Pop. They kept pushing Kimbers, but I already have two and am not interested. They refused to order my CZ for me. Something about an inferior product and the hassle of a special order.Then I found a Pop shop, Mom passed away. The guy is cool. BS and talk about whatever, always answers questions. Never condescending(sp). He has all my business. Priced a little higher than the comercial store becasue he doesn't do the same volume, but a quality experience in my book.
 
What is it that El Tejon's always saying? Most people don't go into the gun business to make money. They go into the gun business so they can tell other people "No!"

:evil:


Thankfully, I've got a local gun dealer who is more interested in turning a profit than telling people no!
 
A Little Stiff

One of my local shops was a little "stiff" when I first went in there.

I explained to them that I was "learning it all over again" after years away from the arts.

They answered my questions with one- and two-syllable words.

Kinda gruff.

I used to drop by every few weeks and declare "dumb question day." I would always shut up and stand aside when actual paying customers came in. Sometimes I would ask the buyer why he made that choice.

Few months later I bought an M1 Carbine and Camp 9 on the same receipt.

Now I'm one of the family. I get shown things that they normally keep in the back. Got a tour of the warehouse. Get to ask all the dumb questions I want.

The day I got a great deal on the S&W 586-7, I brought it by for them to admire. They both said they'd have jumped on that deal. "Congrats. Nice buy."

Funny how things change when you become a paying customer.

I have that relationship with a couple of shops now.

Don't worry, there's still a shop where I haven't bought anything. Some guys just never soften up. I may never get to buy from him. That would be too bad. I like making new friends.
 
Wesson Smith, welcome to THR. Which local shop do you patronize and where is it located? You might check out AIM Surplus for your ammo needs, their service is top notch. If you live close, you can also pick up there and save on shipping.

-jagd
 
The shop/range I go to is like that to an extent. The owner is an :cuss: and I avoid dealing with him, but some of his staff are top notch and I seek them out when looking to make a buy. My big gripe is the younger clerk that works there from time to time. Hes a nice enough kid but wouldnt know a Glock from a Sig although to talk to him he is the reincarnation of John Moses Browning. When I first started going there I wouldnt get the time of day however after I bought a Kimber and a Bushmaster on the same reciept one day I get waited on the moment I walk in the door. I can understand how some shops can feel that way, if I had to deal with people that walked in all the time and wanted to molest my guns and ask a million different questions without ever buying anything I would probably give them the standoff treatment too till I saw they were serious. The other local guy I check in with from time to time (he always has some good used guns in stock) kinda scares me. He likes to talk about how I should buy this and this now because "they are gonna be comming after me soon". Guys like that dont need to be in business they make us all look bad.
 
Post #7 reminds me of a situation I had selling Atwood cowboy hats last summer. My associate in the deal also sells t-shirts and tack and other assorted horse-related stuff and sometimes sells in the lobby of the horse auction. Well, my associate said she had a buyer wanted a size 7 Bangora but he didn't have the money that week and he'd be back next week. So, the Saturday night of the rodeo, we held that hat back so it'd be there when he wanted it. He never came across with the money. If I'd not been waiting on that guy to buy it, I'm absolutely sure I could've sold it at the rodeo as it was the last size 7 I had in either of two styles. Even though I've restocked sizes 7 and 7 1/8, I'm still holding that one hat. I'd have been better off to have made my money right then.

My opinion on that guy and his Wolf ammo... he could've made a sale right there. If it were me, I would have. Who was he saving it for? I know some retailers who'd order more if they could, if they didn't have what I wanted or as much as I wanted. But I don't know any who just set there and wait like that.
 
Another thing I just remembered... the guy I buy hay from... he'd put up 200 square bales and a lot more round bales last summer. He told me of the square bales, somebody bought 10 bales and fed 'em to their horses... came back three days later and bought it all. But, he also said he got a call from a guy down around Atlanta... that guy heard how many bales and said he'd take it all. My supplier said "no you won't either; I'll sell you a load- 20 bales or so- but I have folks who've been coming to me for hay for years and I hafta take care of 'em." I'm one of the repeat customers he was thinking of when he said that. I'm sure glad he worked it the way he did because hay's in short supply and chances are my horse'd be picking the dry dead grass instead of having good stuff.
 
Dick Atwood could teach everyone a sales lesson.

I shoot photographs for Mr Atwood. He could sell ice to esquimos...but he wouldn't.
If I could shoot highpower rifle out of an Atwood hat I would. Those are the greatest cowboy hats in the world.
 
This strikes me, as the common situation, where one party knows they know more than the other. Typically I observe it end with a complete termination, of any potentially useful communication. Bummer.
 
Hey Blackfork, The kind of highpower rifle shooting I do in warm weather, I do wear my Atwood hat. I've been wearing them from late Spring through early Fall for two years now.:D I noticed on his website, Dick Atwood said he hopes the wearer and the Atwood hat "become the best of friends". To say that's the case would not be an overstatement.:scrutiny: :cool:
 
I've got you all beat. When it comes to arrogant gunshop owners with over priced inventory, there are only three words necessary to define those characteristics in the Portland Oregon area: The Gun Room.

The owner is the guy that the local liberal media calls when they need some gunshop owner to support their howls of anguish about Oregon's gun laws (extremely permissive). Naturally, whatever he stocks is the best, most accurate firearm on the planet. I went in there once (before I knew better) looking for a .22LR handgun. I ask this moonbat if he had any Ruger MKII's. He immediately scoffs at the notion that I would buy "a piece of junk like that" and directs me over to a couple of used High Standard pistols. Both are Supermatics that look to be about 90%. He advises me that these pistols are from the 60's and are the best .22 pistols ever made. I tell him that I was looking to buy a new one, and that $1100 a piece was a little rich for my blood. "Besides," I added, "if I wanted to buy a High Standard, I'd buy a new one. They're making them in Texas now." He again scoffs and declares the new ones to be junk. Since I was looking to spend significantly less than $1100, I just thanked him and left, never darkening his doorway again.

The funny thing is, even though the owner has the personality of a brillo pad, and the charm of a bull shark, that place still does good business.
 
Well, at least the guy at The Gun Room was batting 2 out of 3; the Hamden High Standards are fantastic, the ones out of Texas have too many problems for me, but $1100.00 - yeow!
 
Doesn't know when he's getting more .223 in eh? You should have said, "well, WALMART never has trouble getting new ammo in!" and left...
 
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