Has a gun dealer ever ripped you off or tried to? What happened?

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albanian

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Anyone that has dealt with enough gun dealers will unfortunatly probably have a story to tell about a scam or a rip off of some kind. What happened and why? I am not talking about a dealer offering you less than you think a gun is worth or over charging you for some ammo. I am talking about true rip offs and illegal activity.

I put two revolvers on consignment at a gunstore once at a set price. I needed the money bad so I made the price something that would sell quickly. The gunstore clerk informed me that they take 15% off the sale. I told them the price I wanted to sell it for and left. A few weeks went by and they didn't sell. I waited a few more weeks and decided to stop by the gunstore. I looked in the case and saw my guns with a price that was about $75 higher than what I told them to ask. They were going to sell them for the higher price and keep the difference. It really pissed me off for two reasons, one, they were trying to rip me off and two, I was actually trying to get some cash and they ruined it for me by putting the price up so high. I feel that they would have sold for the price I wanted to sell them for but instead they just sat there for weeks with a higher price.

I told the clerk that they were my guns and I wanted them back. I get them and went home. There have been other times but I can't think right now what they were.
 
Yeah when I was 18 I had a very limited budget and an even more limited knowledge of firearms. A gun store owner talked me into a sporterized 7.7 Jap for around $100. He also sold me two boxes of Norma 7.7 at a discounted $20 each. He neglected to mention how obscure this round was and that I could have bought an SKS and 500rnd for my money instead of the 7.7 and 40. Or even a Mauser or Mosin.

I went looking for more ammo after I blew this all up. Apparently walmart doesn't carry 7.7 jap. :confused: I went back to his store and suprisingly enough he didn't carry that ammo either. :neener: I believe he was asking a little more per box to order it. :mad:

A couple years later this guy got shut down by BATFE for the straw games he was running. Last I heard he was having heart problems and such.
 
Fool me once shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. I have not gotten ripped off too badly but it does happen especially to neophytes. Shop keepers who do this lose customers and in the end that will eventually kill their business. Think about it. You get good service and maybe you tell a few people about your pleasant experience. You get ripped off and you tell everyone who'll listen because you are so angry. If you go back after you have been ripped off then shame on you! My .02 cents.
 
Well, knock on wood, but no dealer who knows me would even think of trying to rip me off, and I would not deal with one who tried.

Now, on consignment sales, here is what I do. I set the amount I want out of the deal. I usually consult with the dealer since sometimes he knows better than I what is selling and what isn't. Once that amount is fixed, I get a receipt from him stating what I get if/when the gun sells.

Then he can charge whatever he wants to or whatever the traffic will bear, and I have no hard feelings. If I say I want $500, and he sells the item for $1000, good for him. If he sells the item for $550, too bad. Either way, I got what I wanted; he didn't "rip me off". If he knew something I didn't, so what? If I failed to find out the true value, that is my fault, not his.

Jim
 
+1 Path

Mktg 101 says a happy customer will tell 3-4 people, and unhappy one will tell a dozen.. I'm always happy to share good experiences, but I carry a torch for those who have skrewd me (or tried to).

I've been pretty lucky in that I've dealt mostly with Virginia Arms in Manasas. They're what a good gun shop should be - friendly, knowledgeable, honest, service-orientd and fair prices. transfers for $20, 15% on consignment, and they'll whip out the blue book or what ever to help you price stuff fairl/so it will sell. Their staff doesn't try to BS you - if they don't know about something, they'll either find out or find someone who does know, or just say, "I don't know . . ." They went to bat with me when one of their vendors messed up. I'm a customer for life -
 
This one shop I used to deal with- after a bad change of managers- tried to rip me off one way or another every time I went in there. This was the idiot who tried to tell me I needed a Tech-9 and a AR-15. They started to hate to see me coming because I wouldn't swallow the line they wanted to sell, plus I had a tendancy to debunk their crap. They were snobby too and tried to act like they knew everything and I didn't. I quit doing business there and I don't recommend them.
 
A dealer agreed to do a transfer for me for a given price, but when the firearm came in he shook me down for more $$$.

I *could* have taken him to court, but he had my gun, so I gritted my teeth, forked over the money, and completed the transfer.

It cost him a LOT more over time in lost business from me, and I know for a fact that my "word of mouth" has cost him at least three additional gun sales due to my warning other people about his shady business practices.

Found out that he's ripped off other people too . . .
 
I had a small-time dealer that's pretty much a fixture at the local shows here in DFW do a number on me when I was younger and mo' naive (2 years ago). :D Lesson learned - he gets none of my business and I make a point to not stop at his table.

I don't get mad - I vote with my dollars...
 
Happened with a SIG P226 got ripped pretty good. Lesson learned.
 
Ok, I admit it, I AM a gun dealer

I admit I am a gun dealer and after reading threads like this one, I now understand why people go to Wal-Mart on price and to avoid hassles. All I can do is offer my products and services at the best price I can and work to win customers.

I appologize for others in the business who treat customers like ATM machines. It reflects poorly upon those of us who do try to be honorable and fair business owners.
 
when I was shopping around a few months ago for an XD (since decided to wait, another story) I was in one shop. Now online and in most other shops gun was going for varying prices all at less then 500, guestimated 450 or in that range. He offered it to me at a sale price of 499 after I overheard while browsing him telling another guy 480. Now, MSRP on the XD is....539 or something like that? Forget the exact number at the moment. So yeah based on that it's a good deal. But when considering everyone else was selling them at less then 499, regular price, it wasn't. Theres a sucker born every minute, you just have to hope you were born between minutes.
 
Theres a sucker born every minute, you just have to hope you were born between minutes.
Click to expand...

It's kinda like another saying that goes "I might have been born in the dark, but it wasn't last night."
 
I remember when I first wanted to get a Storm. Went into a store in GB, and asked about 'em. Told the guy i wanted to handle one before making a decision. "Nope... sold our last one last week. We can order one for ya though! Only $700!"...

I found a Storm to play with at my local (REALLY small) dealer: $600 with case...
 
Mostly at pawnshops. There is this one right by my house that has this seedy sweaty bald guy who leans over the counter looking at you like your wasting his time and tries to charge outrageous prices for the guns in the case.

Last time I went it was a Charles Daly 1911 with no more than 40% of the finish left. Wanted $525 for it, 4 dollars below MSRP for the sorriest condition 1911 Ive ever seen in a shop. Asked him "what can you tell me about Charles Daly guns" and he just shrugged and said "I dunno, supposed to be a good gun.....". I made my polite exit and havnt been back since.
 
Well, there was that Gander Mountain that sold that pinned-and-recessed Model 19 before I could come back and buy it. :)

-Jeff
 
Yep. Twice. First one wrecked a gun with his 'gunsmithing'. It's cost him 1000s of work in bad recommendations. :evil:

The second jacked up the price of a H&K by $50.00 over the agreed price and supplied second hand magazines. He had me over a barrel as he waited until the night the permit to purchase expired to let me know the gun was in. He's in jail now for arranging to have his store held up.

I've also worked for a dealer and have seen the other side of the fence. Guys who, when shown the invoice cost try to get the gun at that price. :fire:
 
One charged me 75.00 for a trigger job on a Ruger Security Six. Picked it up and had ignition failures. When dissassembled, turned out he just cut the main coil spring in half. Nothing polished - just cut the spring. Butcher.

I also had a NIB pistol I paid full price for turn out to have someone's initials carved into the inside of the grip panels. I went back raising hell and got my money back. On that one I should have just shut up - it was a High Standard Olympic back when they were current production. The older folks will understand.
 
Let me put it this way.....

when I go gun shopping, I wear a pair of knee high rubber boots.......you know what they are for........chris3
 
Once purchased a S&W 66-1 from GunsAmerica ad. Seller apparantly has a good-sized store in Florida with lots of used Smith revos. Got it, barrel bulge and all (couldnt' see it in the pic). Guy was a real you-know-what, claimed it wasn't like that when he shipped it. After several weeks of phone calls, threats of litigation, etc., he grudgingly sent me a replacement revolver with the connotation that I not deal with him again. I'm using great restraint not to mention the store's name here on THR!:fire:
 
Oh yeah, bought a 1911 used for $450. Got to the range the next day, what a jam-o-matic POC it turned out to be. Told em the day after that it wouldn't cycle, owner tried the pistol, did the same thing to him. He would only give me $400 on a trade in, no cash refund. Bit my tongue but took the deal. About six months later I'm still waiting for a check written to him for something else to clear the bank. Guess he musta misplaced it, OOPS!! I don't get mad, I get even!
 
Radjxf, I'd mention the store name. You might save somebody some money. Maybe some new guy who doesn't know a lot about guns would be turned off the sport after being shafted by a crooked dealer.
 
I bought some AK mags from CheaperThanDirt.

Garbage. They were filthy. They sometimes didn't feed well, and were just this side of impossible to get out of the gun. CTD can rot far as I care.
 
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