Dealers with attitude

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SsevenN

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Hey guys
Long story short, I recently moved from NH to NM, and a few days ago I picked up my first pistol here in NM. I have never in my life been treated so rudely as I was by the store owners wife (she works there full time)
Aside from me being 24 with a career and listening to her call me a "kid" to the person on the phone with her, she had the nerve to tell me the BRAND NIB Steyr M9-A1 was an unrealiable, inaccurate piece of trash that I paid too much for(When in reality I payed 400$ even for this pistol a great deal as most know, yes she said this to my face while I was filling out the 4423 form (or whatever it is))
I have no problem with people giving me their opinions, but this lady was going out of her way to belittle me. That's just BS, she is a SALESWOMEN and I am a buyer, if I went in to buy a car and was treated even half as bad as how she treated me I would make it a point to talk with her boss.
Anyone else run into a dealer who was just WAYYYY too full of themselfs and their "amazing plethora of gun know how"?
 
I have met one of these and you can meet them too! Walk into 90 percent of the gun shops in this country and you will find a person just like that!

I have found two gunshops that I will actually buy from out of the ten or so in the area because the service is good and the people behind the counters are knowledgable and helpful.
 
Bad sales lady!

I live in South East NM. Found a gun shop here that can have an attitude at times. Care to narrow it down to locale?

CheyennePilot.
 
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I guess we in central Ohio are fortunate.

I have never had a bad experience at Vances or Buckeye Outdoors other than the wait as they stay pretty busy.

I asked about Stag firearms at New Albany Shooting Range and the clerk stated that RRA is a better product but I wouldn't necessarily consider that rude just opinionated and maybe wrong although I have never owned either make.
 
I agree.... if a clerk gives you attitude or belittles you, speak to the owner. If the owner belittles you or gives you attitude, inform him that you will not be back because of it, and your friends will know of the reception you received.

However, make sure you are polite yourself..... if not, you get what you deserve.
 
See you are kind of new to the gun game. EVERY gun owner, and EVERY shop owner is a genius.
Not as bad as Corvette owners, but a close second. Ignore them both, and make your own choices.
 
There seem to be a good many people in the gun business who have no people skills. If it's an employee who acts like a boob, I tell the owner about it in no uncertain terms. If it's the owner, as in your case, I never deal with them again. At least around here, there are enough FFL holders that there is no real need to deal with disrespectful jerks.
I think too many folks in the gun business are there because they like guns, not because they want to be business people or enjoy dealing with the public. As I've said many times: Retail is retail. If you couldn't successfully run an appliance store or a shoe store, there's no reason to expect you'll be a raging success running a gun store. Building up a customer base is the key.
 
I went into a local sporting goods/hunting shop that had a Rock River AR-15. I asked them if they took trades and they said yes. So, I returned with a NIB Bushmaster AR-15. The guy asked what I had I started to say "Bushmaster" but before I finished saying "Bush" he said "Nah" and shook his head.

I raised my eyebrow, told him that I would have bought the carbine even if he did not want to trade, but because he was rude (I was the only customer in the shop and so it was not because he was too busy) I would never darken his door again. And so I have not. And so I never will. Had he merely looked at what I had and then told me he was not interested, I would have closed the case and bought the Rock River, even though it was close to $100 more than I could get online (support the locals and I could inspect it). But because he had to be rude (and yes, interrupting a guy in the first word, much less the first sentence, is rude) he lost all my future business. I would rather go to Gander Mountain than his shop, and since that is his direct competition, it was a real dumb way for him to treat a customer.

Ash

Ash
 
Been on both sides of that deal for most of my life, being in retail. That being said, you don't call your customers names.

Everyone is an expert. Having been a technician for over 30 years in a specialized field, I would frequently get "attitude" from "kids" who thought they knew far better than I, though I'd done X a thousand times, and they claim Y is instead true because they read it somewhere, and that makes them an authority.

But: As the guy behind the counter who is trying to make a living off these know-it-alls, I have to ask my self, "What is my goal here?" Do I want to correct this kid, or do I want a loyal customer? Sometimes, with tact, you can do both, but your main goal is to not piss them off.

It truly is a tightrope you have to walk when you're in business, but some things are no-brainers-- don't call your customers names.

I will get in a customer's face if he tells me that the reason he is returning my product is because of (some totally made-up flaw in my design). If you intentionally put my reputation on the line with BS, I will defend myself, even if I have to embarrass you in front of your friends.
 
CheyennePilot

"I live in South East NM. Found a gun shop here that can have an attitude at times. Care to narrow it down to locale?"
Click to expand...

I'm in Farmington NM (North West by Four corners) the store is "Ross' sporting goods/Southwest shooting authority"

The worst part is they are the ONLY local place to take a CCW permit class(required in NM), which means going back in at least one more time....:uhoh:
 
I live in south eastern NM too and was curious where you were. Since Farmington is about as far from me as you can get and still be in NM I won't worry about meeting the lady.
 
There are good and bad in every business out there. There does seem to be something about guns that brings the blow hards out though.
Was this an out of state purchase? If not, is that woman actually saying she ripped you off with that price?

I understand why you couldn't walk if it was just an FFL transfer deal from out of state, but I sure wouldn't buy anything else from them.

Complaining to the owner about his wife is a no win situation.
 
I have been in three gun shops with employees/owners who behaved rudely. On each occasion it was my first and my last visit to that gun shop.

I am very fortunate to have three gun shops in my moderately sized town who are great with service/dealing with the customer/overall good people.
 
the ONLY local place
Click to expand...
Local is relative to some folks. Is it that bad to drive an hour or two?

But then, here in Nebraska, we have to drive a while for everything except the John Deere dealership.
 
Was this an out of state purchase? If not, is that woman actually saying she ripped you off with that price?

I understand why you couldn't walk if it was just an FFL transfer deal from out of state, but I sure wouldn't buy anything else from them.

Complaining to the owner about his wife is a no win situation.
Click to expand...

Yes it was an out of state purchase, so she was implying this MT dealer was ripping me off (obviously not true for anyone up to date with their handgun pricing)

Yeah, I'm certainly not going to spend anymore time/money on them.

And I agree that talking to the owner about his wife wouldn't get me anywhere, so I didn't:banghead:
 
So I was once insulted in the cheese store. I wanted to have a nice selection for a party and asked the young lady what she recommended from their stock.

She sneered: we have Emmenthal - do you know what that is?

Well, I did. Then she sneered - How about Caerphilly?

Had that nailed also and left.

Damn cheese clerks.

There are nice gun stores and nasty ones. Let me tell you about going to coin shows to sell something.
 
Being treated like that has been cause for me to simply put my wallet away, cross out information on the 4473, and walk away without comment. I did finally find a store in each state I've lived in that treats me well, though in one state (current residence) it's over an hour each way.
 
Several years ago, I discovered that a new, local gunshop had opened. At the time I was in the market for a Llama Mini-Max .45 so I decided to stop by early one morning, give them some business and check them out.

I walked in and found two guys running the place. The front guy asked if I was looking for something specific. I told him that I was looking for a Llama Mini-Max in hard chrome. He told me that these were no longer available and shouted a question about it to the guy doing paperwork at the rear of the shop. That guy confirmed that they were no longer available and then they both had a really good long time laughing about this and the "fact" that Llamas are crap and on and on and on ... <shrug>

I completed my perusal of their stock, thanked the front guy for his assistance and haven't been back ... and I have purchased quite a few firearms since then ... but not from them.

Oh ... and when I got home from that gunshop, I went online and purchased a Llama Mini-Max in hard chrome and had it shipped to my 01FFL Buddy ... and the pistol works great.
 
I think we notice rude gun people more than we notice rude retail clerks in other retail stores. We're gun hobbyists so going to the gun store is, in and of itself, a special happy thing. When some boob behind the counter harshes all that, we remember and resent it. Nobody is surprised by surliness from minimum wage slaves at QuikeeMart so they just blow it off most of the time.
Mind you, I'm not saying you should tolerate, overlook, or forgive rudeness from clerks or counterhelp anywhere. If they are employees, call it to management attention. If they are owners/managers take your business elsewhere and let them know why. Retail sales should involve a certain level of civility from all concerned. Do not contribute to the coarsening of our culture.
 
Complaining to the owner about his wife is a no win situation
Click to expand...

True, but SHOULD (hint hint) they see it posted to a Forum it'll be a REAL eye opener !
 
SsevenN,

Check the San Juan Wildlife Federation for CCW instructors. I was certified to be an instructor there along with about 15 other people. It is a private range, but it is excellent and really close to town. Really nice facility.

If you're looking for a good gun shop try Big Bear Trading if it still around. One of the last stores heading out of town to the west on south side of the highway. They used to charge $15 for a transfer and had a very knowledgeable staff. Plus, their in-house prices were pretty reasonable. I bought several guns OTC there because they were such good deals.

I'm now in NW Arizona and the things I really miss about Farmington are the range and Big Bear.
 
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