Tejas Gunwerks said:
I wasn't really addressing the sales tax issue per se, but the bitching about what crooks Dealers are. How dare them to charge for shipping, transfers, marking up for credit card use and the fact we like to make a profit for our efforts. I find it most interesting that those threatening to call the credit card company or BATFE are breaking the law themselves.
I won't go as far as to say they're crooks, they're in a business to make money, the same as everyone else. But as a consumer, I am in the business of
saving money when I can when I shop. I certainly won't try and nickle and dime a guy into the poor house if the service is good. Of course, that's getting to be a rare thing these days.
I bought all but 2 handguns I have ever owned through Gander Mountain. I paid probably about $100.00 over what I would have had I gone online, but the sales guy I went to was a really nice guy and fun to chat with. He didn't know everything, but he knew a lot. Some things he was dead wrong on (industry news, new products etc...) across the board, but no one is perfect, right?
Anyway, I bought a Steyr M9 from them, and about 2 months later, I was firing it and somehow the action got completely seized up with a round in the chamber. The firing pin had released (or should have as I pulled the trigger) as there was no tension on the trigger. I was nervous as heck bringing the gun back with a live round in the pipe, but I was extra careful and followed every safety rule I knew of for a situation like that. I tried and tried and could not get it open myself. I took it back.
I went in without the gun at first and explained my problem. The guy that I normally dealt with was not there so I had to talk to someone else, a nice younger kid. I brought it in, he looked at it and had the gunsmith look at it. About 10 minutes later the smith comes out and says he used a punch to pry it open and that he'd never seen that happen before. he fired a couple of test rounds and it seemed to be fine as far as he could tell. I was happy.
2 weeks later, the same thing happened. I brought the gun, my range log (showing the rounds I shot and the result -I used to keep one of these for every new gun) and saw the guy I normally dealt with.
He said that Steyr was out of business for good (I had heard that they just lost their factory, not that they went out of business, but he insisted). Anyway, he talked to the manager and they agreed to take the gun back since they couldn't send it to Steyr for warranty work.
I got a Baby Eagle in trade, and he threw in an extra mag and a box of ammo (which as I understand it, he was not allowed to do but hey, nice guy like I said). I was very pleased with the service overall.
A week later, I saw my Steyr in the used case...they still stock Steyr's (as they hadn't gone out of business).
6 months ago I moved 85 miles away from that store, but I have a newly built Gander about 2 minutes from me. I went up there the day after Christmas asking about the new XD .45ACP. The guy I got was extremely clueless about it. But I walked him through looking it up and searching the Gander inventory for one. They of course did not have one. He asked me about the gun and he seemed to be really impressed, but his knowledge was pretty sub par when it came to firearms. He was a super nice guy though, probably new. Anyway, he asked someone about it and came back and took my name and number and said when they called their distributor they could see if they could get one or what the wait would be on one.
I still haven't heard anything back. I know folks that have their XD .45's already, I haven't even gotten a call back.
All of my rifles I got on-line and went through a basement FFL dealer. I always had great experiences with him and have recommended him countless times for transfers and purchases. he has rough hours, but he's a cool guy, too bad he's 70 miles away now. The last handgun I bought I bought through him after I moved. I drove 140 miles round trip to give him my business, but I can't honestly do that every time. I need to find a new dealer out here.