Gun store just lost a customer...

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IdhalITi

Had that same thing happen to me about 45 years ago. I went into my local car dealer to buy a car. Salesman told me to bring my folks back with me. I went 15 miles bought the car by myself and then drove to the dealers and told the salesman and owner both at the same time, "that I didn't need my parents with me to buy MY car. Then told the owner exactly what the stupid salesman told me. again It is my money and I will not kiss ass to do business with anyone. Don't have to..
 
If there was a forum for McDonald's, just imagine the customer service comments there would be. It also happens at gun shops too. You have read comments both ways, WristTwister should have spoken up and the clerk was wrong. So, there you have it, quit shopping there or go talk to the owner face to face and resolve your problems. But go in knowing the owner might not care either. Should that be the case, then don't shop there.
 
That sounds like an average day at Bass Pro to me. The guys in the Fine Gun Room are really pleasant and acknowledge you right away, but you have to set yourself on fire to get noticed by the guys behind the regular gun counter.
 
Good for you!

Yay!

Poor customer service and/or bad employees suck $&*! :mad:

More customers with weapon/skill training should take these gun shops/mgrs to task. I'm not saying they should be bullet heads or factory trained gunsmiths but COME ON! :cuss:

I have been in places where the sales clerks are more concerned with sales/$$$ then service or real help.

Rusty S

FIGHT THE POWER! :D
 
I can tolerate rude.
I can tolerate stupid.
I can tolerate annoying.
I can not tolerate poor gun handling and lack of muzzle control.
I spend very, very little time in gun shops as I usually wind up staring at the muzzle of an 'unloaded' gun. :fire:
 
WT, I hope you haven't misinterpreted what I wrote. I certainly think you should've been helped first and I am sorry that the clerk you were dealing with couldn't see that you were there first or didn't acknowledge you appropriately. If you feel that he definitely KNEW you were there first you are definitely correct about his lack of customer service skills. My point was more that, if the clerk did NOT know you were first, one has to speak up, otherwise who ever is standing in front of me squeaking is getting helped.

Unfortunately, I also have to disagree with another poster who said that saying, "I want to buy this gun" makes you the first customer, if the other customer is undecided, unfortunately it does not. If someone was in the store before you and getting help from a clerk, they are FIRST regardless of whether or not you want to buy that gun, and I REFUSE to stop helping the customer who was there first (whether they buy a gun or not).

As I said, I personally do my best to take care of my customers and get them the items they want, but I do it on a first come, first serve basis and if I make an honest mistake or I don't know who was first, I need/want the customer who was first to step up to the plate and let me know, so I can help them accordingly.

-Rob

PS: I certainly meant no offense in my previous post or this one. I merely was attempting to point out another side and clarify that sometimes it's better to be assertive than patient in a store, especially a busy one.
 
The gun store I frequent uses the number system - customer pulls a little paper number off of a roll, the sales staff call out numbers and when they call yours, he/she helps you until you are done - whether browsing or buying. This is a great way to stop the 'butters-in' - if someone tries to just mosey up to the counter and call to a salesperson, they say "take a number."

Unfortunately, I've lost a gun this way, too. Was going in to buy an M1 Carbine I'd been thinking about getting for a month. I go in to get it and take a number. The guy who has the number before mine says to the salesman "I'd like to buy that M1 Carbine, please." It was their only one. :cuss:
 
It's tactics, not the system

I used to work in sales myself, and I understand that sales are money in the bank to salesmen... but so are repeat sales. I actually have no truck with the salesman waiting on the other guy first... other than the fact that I told him which gun I wanted, and he sold THAT gun to him... It isn't a matter of the system failing, and a customer losing out... it's the tactic of the salesman that cost me the gun I wanted. He knew what gun I wanted, and sold it to the guy that butted in. To me, that's unforgiveable.

RandomMan... no offense. I understand that things can get crazy in a busy store, but this wasn't the case here. There were people in the store, but it wasn't busy.

M47Dragon, I've had the same thing happen when I was at the gun show and the clerks were waiting on us in line. I've actually had people walk up behind me and pick up the gun I was about to buy and just simply "jump the line" to buy them. If we'd had a number system and the guy had the number in front of mine, this thread would never have been started. This is an issue with the tactics of the sales people... not the system they're using. They simply have no system. Obviously, just butting in is how "first come, first served" works at these people's store. They won't have to worry about me buying anything from them in the future, however... and an apology will only Pi$$ me off more.
Don't screw me over, and then tell me "Oh, I'm sorry"... "here, come buy something else"...:neener: ...ain't gonna happen!

WT
 
Excellent Wristtwister!

Good job!

Don't forget to let the owner/manager know about your experience and the permanent change of venue.

The only reason poor service even occurs is that people are willing to tolerate it. I don't.

Bill.
 
hell, our local dairy queen servers do that all the time. I have stood up at the counter and have had them walk by me and others like we were invisible. I have walked out numerous times, just doesn't seem to matter to them. Then people wonder why some people go "postal".
Click to expand...

I'm sure it's not universal, but some places they arent allowed to ring anyone up. Only the person assigned to cash register that day/shift.

M
 
I have found that speaking up, and letting both the other customer and the clerk know that I was next, and I would appreicate being served in order of arrival in the store, often precludes a problem like this. Sometimes you get a real jerk who gives you a hard time, either customer or clerk. If it is the clerk, I am out of there and they lose a sale.

All the best,
Glenn B
 
I think all gun shops need a strictly enforced take a number system! I've seen and experienced stuff like this before. And yes the help and sometimes owners/management at gun shops I've bought 20-30 guns at over the years still acts rudely to me here and there.

I have found in many hobby type businesses the owners/help may have a love for the hobby such as shooting or motorcyles or ham radios, but little business sense or people skills, in many cases being social retards.

Heres a good story, I recently went to pick up some guns at a shop where I've done maybe 3-4 thousand in business at in the last year. I live in a waiting period state and I look sort of Arabic when I don't shave, you will see how that fits in in a second.

I pull up and it looks like Boss Hog and the Klan are hanging out in front and are partially blocking the door. I get cold stares, not a good morning, I'd not allow such behavior at my shop but it's not mine, I assume my apperance may not have helped, I wasn't wearing my greasy, unkempt cowboy hat like one of the good ole boys out front, not that I have anything against cowboy hats.

My neighbor just bought a 100x Stetson at a store I reccomended. Anyways the new employee I didn't recognize didn't greet me and was quite surly and brusque, don't know if it was me resembling the leader of Hezbollah(though I was wearing jeans and a T shirt and speak perfect,unaccented English) or him just being an A-hole.

Anyways I get my gun. My state makes you do a safe handling demonstration when you pick up a handgun. Worker too lazy to do it so he asks how many handguns I have. I casually tell him 100, and he procedes to not do it.

He then tells me I can have my gun,I ask for a trash or grocery bag to tote gun out in, I neglected to bring a gun case. Guy goes in back and gives me a gun rug, I guess he felt sorry for being rude or more likely, he figured correctly I was a good customer and it wouldn't be a good idea to send me away unhappy or I might tell the owner about it.

Strange shop, one long trem employee I hate, 1-2 of them I like a lot. One acts like he wants to adopt me when I walk in! Don't know why, I've never done anything for him or talkedto him much.
 
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Why do gun shops have some of the poorest customer service out of any type of business?

People knock gander mountain, but at least they hire an appropriate amount of sales people in their gun section.
 
well i have the solution to getting help at gun store's, elswhere there is a thread about women at gun shows being model's, and not really gun enthusiast's, just take a Hooter's girl or two in with you, if it work's for the vendor's at show's, it will work to get store salesmen's attention in your favor!
or if your cheap just take your wife!:D
 
I believe the store should have notified the butt-insky that he would have to choose another gun. He did, after all, know that you wanted it. And I agree with the others, there's nothing wrong with speaking out, politely, but firmly. And always, always speak to the store's owner.

I think the entire situation could have been salvaged on the spot with a firm, polite statement, both to the salesman and the buyer. Both had to have heard you, and if the guy didn't leave with the gun, it might have still been salvagable if you'd talked to the owner. Once the guy's out the door with the gun, though, not much can be done.

Finally, post the name of the store here. Nothing wrong with letting people know what sort of service they can expect. You might also give the store a chance to make it up to you if it's willing. If it's not, don't do business with them.
 
Gun store just lost a customer...

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I was in the gun store where I usually do business yesterday, and they had several SIG P226's there which had "just come in". I patiently waited on the sales clerk to come over to wait on me, and the guy was "intercepted" by another customer as he was walking over to me.

This guy obviously knew absolutely nothing about guns, and was talking in circles to the clerk, while I was standing there waiting to buy the Sig. The clerk actually asked me what I wanted, and I told him "I want to buy this Sig", and pointed at the gun I wanted. "I'll be right with you"... was his answer.

He then proceeded to pull all three of the Sigs that he had in the case out and started showing them to the other customer. He even inspected each gun for the guy and recommended which ones he buy (he wanted two)... so my gun walked off in the other customer's hands.

He then came back over to me and asked me "which gun was it you wanted?"
I told him that I wasn't interested in "what was left" since he had just sent the gun I wanted to buy out with the other customer, and he kept saying "Oh, these are such a good buy..."... The problem was that the one I wanted had no holster wear on it, and looked pristine through the glass... and I suspect it was. The one that was left was holster worn and half the finish was worn off the slide.

I told him that he had probably just lost one of their best customers... and I was surprised at his reaction. "What do you mean?" he asked me...

Just in case he was in the slow learner's class, I told him "I pointed at the gun I wanted to buy and you sold it to the guy who walked in and butted in ahead of me. I've bought a gun a month from you guys for the past several months, and I don't appreciate being treated like this".

His reply... "Well, what do you want me to do about it? We've already sold those guns..."

"Never mind," I told him... "I know how to take my business elsewhere... I can just wait and buy my guns at the gun show in a couple of weeks... and I'll be sure and let everybody know how you treat your customers".

I hope they go out of business if that's the best they can do...

WT
Click to expand...

Did you have your wife's permission to buy a gun?
 
At my favorite local gunstore the store manager runs the shop and is usually the only one behind the counter during the slow hours in the afternoon.

I've been there when suddenly you've got 5 different customers in the store. He greets each one and tells them to let him know if they need anything. If they don't say anything after a short while he'll ask again, or ask if they need something specific.

What can happen sometimes, however, is that the guy who walked in 1st and is technically the "1st in line" doesn't say squat and the 3rd guy who walks in pipes up first with a question.

What is the store owner supposed to do? Tell the 3rd place guy to buzz off because the 1st guy wasn't ready to speak, or too shy to say anything?

Sometimes it's not poor customer service, it's people not being assertive, or just plain luck of the draw.

Now, in the OP's situation I would have said something like, "I want to buy THAT sig right there, can I see it please" just to make sure Mr. Buttinsky didn't walk away with it. Not saying the clerk in that situation handled the situation perfectly, but a little assertivness would have gone a long way.
 
For the record

This is about the third reference to either bringing my wife with me to the gun store or getting her permission to buy a gun. For the record, my wife died October 11, 2006 from breast cancer after a 3 year battle with it. We were married 32 years, and never questioned anything I bought or asked permission to buy anything herself. Her last gift to me was a target pistol.

WT
 
my appoligies wristtwister.

it was merely a poor attempt at humor, not a serious suggestion.
i did not know of your situation,
Due to the anonymity of the internet, sometimes i forget that something i type might offend someone,
 
If I go into a store and have been waiting and notice the employees shooting the bull with each other or a customer while I stand there picking my nose, I like to say" Excuse me-is anyone working here today?" They reply that they are and I come back with,"No, I said , working." I always speak up if I'm next in line, usually because I'm in a hurry and need to get moving.
 
wristtwister,

I hope that nobody was trying to bring the wives into this. But somebody did and for no reason. Accept my apology on behalf of those who simply didn't think before they wrote.
 
hell, our local dairy queen servers do that all the time. I have stood up at the counter and have had them walk by me and others like we were invisible. I have walked out numerous times, just doesn't seem to matter to them. Then people wonder why some people go "postal".
Click to expand...

I love this one! You must live in my town.
 
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