TheDutchman
Member
I am thinking about cutting ties with my Gun shop I frequent. I will not name the Shop but has anybody else had to do this and how
Has your Gun shop ever Screwed you over
- Thread starter TheDutchman
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I hate both the gunshops near me. One is just a crappy store - everything is priced WAY too freaking high. I saw the guy charge some poor bastard $75 for replacing a Lorcin's firing pin. Guy also constantly badmouths his customers after they leave. Seems like a generall a-hole.
The other one wasn't so bad, but I got gouged twice. I know, no one forces me to pay what they ask, but it still makes me not want to go back. Their prices are a little better, but still overpriced IMO. I was friends with one of the employees, even. The thing that really irritated me was that they never contacted their gunsmith regarding questions I had (this happened a good 5 times) and the gunshop owner never treated me like I was a customer. He often ignored me.
I am a poor college student, but at one point I was buying 100 dollars in ammo a month. Treat me like I'm there.
I don't go to either one anymore. I buy ammo at gunshows (the cheapest way where I live, actually) and haven't had the money to buy a gun in awhile.
The other one wasn't so bad, but I got gouged twice. I know, no one forces me to pay what they ask, but it still makes me not want to go back. Their prices are a little better, but still overpriced IMO. I was friends with one of the employees, even. The thing that really irritated me was that they never contacted their gunsmith regarding questions I had (this happened a good 5 times) and the gunshop owner never treated me like I was a customer. He often ignored me.
I am a poor college student, but at one point I was buying 100 dollars in ammo a month. Treat me like I'm there.
I don't go to either one anymore. I buy ammo at gunshows (the cheapest way where I live, actually) and haven't had the money to buy a gun in awhile.
Yes by most and depends on what. Sometimes I'll quit going to a shop for a extended period of time or if it's an employee I won't deal with that employee. Sometimes it's just an old guy owner who can't remember what he has or what the prices are so he makes it up as he goes. One shop that's going under does exactly that. One day a gun might be $600 the next day $300, then back to $500, and my wife will get a different price. We used to try and catch him on good days. He's lost his ffl recently, not to good with the books I guess. If a shop is the only one that has it I may allow myself to get screwed occasionally.
spacemanspiff
Senior Member
its a business. take your money to a place where your business is appreciated.
its too bad the average gunshop is only out to make money instead of helping out the gun community. so what you as the consumer have to do is find a place that treats you right, and makes you comfortable.
its too bad the average gunshop is only out to make money instead of helping out the gun community. so what you as the consumer have to do is find a place that treats you right, and makes you comfortable.
yes, a gunshop has screwed me... and i thought i was friends w/ the guy (one man shop)...
i had my suspicions about being charged entirely too much there for awhile, but i wasn't that sure, and i figured i didn't mind paying a little extra to support the local guys.
my first suspicion came when i asked him to order a scope for me... he told me how much it would be, and i paid him upfront (stupid me - hindsight, and all that). well, the scope shows up later, and he called me and told me to bring my gun in and he'd mount it for free... well, i did that, and he produces my gun w/ 'my' new leupold on it... however, the leupold that was on my gun was not the one i ordered - it was less expensive scope. somehow i let him talk me into keeping it, and i never did get refunded...
next came when he charged me a completely unreasonable amount of money for some bino's... i trusted him, so i didn't shop around... again, hindsight...
the last time came when i brought him a brand new win m70 in 338 to do a little work on that i didn't have the time to work on at the moment... wanted the barrel floated, trigger adjusted, recoil pad ground and fit, and to fix some rings (was trying out the burris insert rings, and they wouldn't clamp evenly fore and aft, and they looked bad, so i asked him to fix 'em - said he could). anyway, he charged me for all the work, including fixing the rings, yet the only thing he did was the recoil pad. the trigger hadn't been fixed, the barrel, while floating, wasn't sealed back up... to make matters worse, he more than doubled his 'usual fees', citing the cost of his overhead had gone up.
anyway, i cut all ties w/ him. i think it hurt him when i left because this was at a time when i was buying 1-2 guns per month, plus buying factory ammo, and all my accessories (spotting scope, more binos, slings, bipods, scope covers, cases, etc etc etc)...
i am still not happy w/ the whole deal. mad at myself for not being a better consumer, mad at him for blatantly ripping me off... on the positive side, the experience got me much better informed... i do all my own smithing now, i reload all my ammo now, and since i feel no loyalty to any co. or shop, i price shop everything, and get it from the least expensive source. maybe it does hurt the little guy a little that all my purchases are now mail order/internet, but i don't care. if that's how the little guy wants to treat me, i'll spend my money elsewhere. let the little guys close up shop.
i had my suspicions about being charged entirely too much there for awhile, but i wasn't that sure, and i figured i didn't mind paying a little extra to support the local guys.
my first suspicion came when i asked him to order a scope for me... he told me how much it would be, and i paid him upfront (stupid me - hindsight, and all that). well, the scope shows up later, and he called me and told me to bring my gun in and he'd mount it for free... well, i did that, and he produces my gun w/ 'my' new leupold on it... however, the leupold that was on my gun was not the one i ordered - it was less expensive scope. somehow i let him talk me into keeping it, and i never did get refunded...
next came when he charged me a completely unreasonable amount of money for some bino's... i trusted him, so i didn't shop around... again, hindsight...
the last time came when i brought him a brand new win m70 in 338 to do a little work on that i didn't have the time to work on at the moment... wanted the barrel floated, trigger adjusted, recoil pad ground and fit, and to fix some rings (was trying out the burris insert rings, and they wouldn't clamp evenly fore and aft, and they looked bad, so i asked him to fix 'em - said he could). anyway, he charged me for all the work, including fixing the rings, yet the only thing he did was the recoil pad. the trigger hadn't been fixed, the barrel, while floating, wasn't sealed back up... to make matters worse, he more than doubled his 'usual fees', citing the cost of his overhead had gone up.
anyway, i cut all ties w/ him. i think it hurt him when i left because this was at a time when i was buying 1-2 guns per month, plus buying factory ammo, and all my accessories (spotting scope, more binos, slings, bipods, scope covers, cases, etc etc etc)...
i am still not happy w/ the whole deal. mad at myself for not being a better consumer, mad at him for blatantly ripping me off... on the positive side, the experience got me much better informed... i do all my own smithing now, i reload all my ammo now, and since i feel no loyalty to any co. or shop, i price shop everything, and get it from the least expensive source. maybe it does hurt the little guy a little that all my purchases are now mail order/internet, but i don't care. if that's how the little guy wants to treat me, i'll spend my money elsewhere. let the little guys close up shop.
TheDutchman
Member
No deals pending anymore , and not to bad mouth this shop but a I placed a order for equipment 3 months ago he took my money. After about a month I ask about my order and said he ordered it, months passed and no product. So I called the maker directly and they have not received a order from then in almost a year. I had something I wanted to sale on the internet and ask them to place it on a auction site, for 3 week he was telling me it up for bids it was not.
I have always frequented the same store, i go there so often that everytime i walk in the owner ask me if i have punched my time card. I still visit other stores in town but i can't bring myself to purchase anything, i just don't like feeling guilty. SO CAL Gun has always been nothing but helpfull to me and their prices are very good not to mention their selection and overall feeling of the store.
SO CAL gun has saved me from making bad purchases before and i noticed they only cary reliable firearms, no Bryco, Hi point ect.
I remember walking into one gun store where the owner didn't know the difference between blow-back and recoil operation.
SO CAL gun has saved me from making bad purchases before and i noticed they only cary reliable firearms, no Bryco, Hi point ect.
I remember walking into one gun store where the owner didn't know the difference between blow-back and recoil operation.
Standing Wolf
Member in memoriam
I got ripped off for $105 for a so-called "trigger job" on a Python and a wrecked front sight by the Gun Vault in Colorado Springs. I haven't been back. I'll never go back. I've helped steer a few people away from it.
I hate liars and thieves.
I hate liars and thieves.
0luke1
Member
It depends on what your sport is. I like high power, so I shop online. My favorite shops are Creedmore, Champions, OK Weber and Fulton Armory. I've been treated very fairly by all four of those businesses.
It's tough to get overcharged these days since you can shop very well online.
BTW, if you're in NJ, I recommend Caso's Gun-A-Rama (yes, that's the name). Frank Caso is a nice guy and very gentle on his fees - and the shop has 3% sales tax (instead of 6%) because it's in Jersey City.
The worst experience I've had was dealing with a big name highpower gunsmith. Ordered an upper that was extremely expensive, waited 8 months longer than he said it would take and it didn't feed. He blamed it on my Colt lower. I guess the other three uppers I've had on that lower didn't get that memo. I replaced it with a Fulton upper - ordered on Tuesday, received by Friday, works flawlessly.
It's tough to get overcharged these days since you can shop very well online.
BTW, if you're in NJ, I recommend Caso's Gun-A-Rama (yes, that's the name). Frank Caso is a nice guy and very gentle on his fees - and the shop has 3% sales tax (instead of 6%) because it's in Jersey City.
The worst experience I've had was dealing with a big name highpower gunsmith. Ordered an upper that was extremely expensive, waited 8 months longer than he said it would take and it didn't feed. He blamed it on my Colt lower. I guess the other three uppers I've had on that lower didn't get that memo. I replaced it with a Fulton upper - ordered on Tuesday, received by Friday, works flawlessly.
bountyhunter
member
The one at the range I used to have to use was run by a bunch of thieves. I asked them to quote me a price on an STI Trojan and they quoted top retail list price (right off STI's website) and they threw an extra 15% on top of that for their "trouble"!TheDutchman said:
They finally went out of business and were always pissing and whining that nobody supported them by buying ammo or guns.
Gee..... I wonder why.
bountyhunter
member
Don't underestimate the power of greed. There are still plenty of shops happy to shear the sheep. Try Kerley's in Cupertino (Kali), and be sure to bring kleenex: the prices are so high they'll give you a nosebleed.0luke1 said:
sharpie613
Member
All the big shops in the Bay Area are just dying to charge you 15% more than they should. Trader's is the worst, I've never been to Kerley's though. Reed's is expensive and won't sell a "certain" kind of gun or accessory, AKA, anything that looks "evil". Any FFL's in the Bay Area want my business?
I don't think it qualifies as 'screwed over', but I recently went into my local gun shop to purchase a Smith 642. It was priced at $425, and I told the owner's wife I could get it for $369 at another shop. She agreed to the price so we had a deal. I didn't have my California handgun card (whatever it's called) with me at the time, but it had been issued through her shop a few months before. She was too lazy to look up the number, so I left and went to the other shop to buy the 642. The owner there said he just got a call from the first shop (not identifying herself, but the caller id tipped him)wanting a price on the 642. She was checking up on whether I told her the truth or not. Kind of ticked me off.
Gunsnrovers
Member
Discount Gun Mart on Morena in San Diego screwed me just before the AWB went into effect. I put $500 down on a M1A that was going to cost me $1049. The AWB went into effect while I waited for a distributor to fill the order. I get a phone call from the shop that because of the AWB, the new price for my M1A was not $1700 and I would be charged a 10% restocking fee if I canceled my order.
I went into the shop, raised holy hell publicly and generally made an it very obvious to the many customers in the shop what I thought of their business practices. I was given my full $500 back and I never shopped there again.
Sold the 20 GI magazines I had for an obscene amount of money and I spent my M1A money on a built M1 Garand and lots of 30-06 instead.
I went into the shop, raised holy hell publicly and generally made an it very obvious to the many customers in the shop what I thought of their business practices. I was given my full $500 back and I never shopped there again.
Sold the 20 GI magazines I had for an obscene amount of money and I spent my M1A money on a built M1 Garand and lots of 30-06 instead.
bountyhunter
member
Bob Blank in Milpitas is a private FFL with decent prices.sharpie613 said:
jefnvk
Member
The ones I frequent (at least back home) were all good. The one I go to up here is a bit higher, but nowhere near as bad as some of you said. Actually, come to think of it, they are pretty good on ammo. Never mind, all mine are good.
S
schizrade
Guest
sharpie613 said:
Well I have been very pleased dealing with Traders, who seems to have consistantly good prices in the BA, but Reeds is aweful. Buch of pretentious jerks.
E36M3
Member
To make a long story short:
A smith that used to be a moderator on one of the forums said that he could straighten out the barrel on my SP101 - it was slightly crooked. After way more time than he originally stated a trashed gun returned with a different serial number. I immediately sent it back after a brief discussion on the phone. He said that he ruined mine trying to fix it and it was "gone". I had already paid for the repairs.
I didn't hear from him for awhile and then finally heard that he had a heart attack. I just wanted my gun back and I didn't care what condition. After almost completely losing it and threatening the highest levels of legal action the gun returned in a bag of about 50 pieces. He and his family was highly disturbing.
Ruger didn't have to, but they really sympathized with me and replaced the gun brand new with one that shoots perfectly at no charge to include no charge shipping.
A smith that used to be a moderator on one of the forums said that he could straighten out the barrel on my SP101 - it was slightly crooked. After way more time than he originally stated a trashed gun returned with a different serial number. I immediately sent it back after a brief discussion on the phone. He said that he ruined mine trying to fix it and it was "gone". I had already paid for the repairs.
I didn't hear from him for awhile and then finally heard that he had a heart attack. I just wanted my gun back and I didn't care what condition. After almost completely losing it and threatening the highest levels of legal action the gun returned in a bag of about 50 pieces. He and his family was highly disturbing.
Ruger didn't have to, but they really sympathized with me and replaced the gun brand new with one that shoots perfectly at no charge to include no charge shipping.
Good honest dealers are like good honest mechanics; rare and hard to find....luckily AFFES here in Alaska deals in handguns and long guns. Their policy is pretty much 10% over cost. Ive seen guns anywhere from 30 to 500 dollars cheaper than the gun store right outside the gate.
Ive seen completely bizzare prices at some of the "local" shops. Like $275.00 for a Yugo SKS. When I let the dealer know it was being sold on base for just over a hundred bucks he got insulted and acted like I was lying.
I can understand trying to make a living but I really dont have much use for rip-off artists.
Ive seen completely bizzare prices at some of the "local" shops. Like $275.00 for a Yugo SKS. When I let the dealer know it was being sold on base for just over a hundred bucks he got insulted and acted like I was lying.
I can understand trying to make a living but I really dont have much use for rip-off artists.
The two gun stores that I buy from have knowledgeable employees and they are pleasent to work with. But you pay a premium on any purchase, a new Glock 34 with two 10 rd mag. will cost over $720 out the door. I give them as much business as I can but I can't afford to do a lot of business with them.
standingbear
Member
yes..had bought a nice gun after swapping the same guy for a collector rifle.went back the following day to sign the papers yadda yadda and the next day..it didnt look like the same gun at all..this one had a trashed bore but was in the same condition othewrwise.complained that the bore was trashed and I wanted another one.he wouldnt help me but offered to downplay the bad bore as an unexpected consquence of these coming in now(a 650 dollar gun?).so I checked around to see if anyone would rebarrel it.I then complained to the importer and got nowhere also...so,I took it to the next show and a guy was interested,I mentioned the bore was bad and he agreed. he said he could rebarrel it but coiuld only offer me 300 for it on trade for the other one.I took a loss and paid him the difference and went home with a garand surprisingly missing a f.pin and had a bent op rod and a crack that I didnt notice..in the stock.
people will try and unload junk on you,this I have seen alot.
people will try and unload junk on you,this I have seen alot.
Ironman
Member
OMG 
720 for a glock? I love glocks but I guess here in florida they are just cheaper. I just paid 720OTD for a brand new USP compact 45.....
Take Aim Guns here in Tarpon Springs FL is a nice big shop, a little large on the prices, but that gets counter acted cause they treat everyone that comes in there with respect no matter of age. Really nice and knowledgable staff. A+
720 for a glock? I love glocks but I guess here in florida they are just cheaper. I just paid 720OTD for a brand new USP compact 45.....Take Aim Guns here in Tarpon Springs FL is a nice big shop, a little large on the prices, but that gets counter acted cause they treat everyone that comes in there with respect no matter of age. Really nice and knowledgable staff. A+
Vote with yer feet
With the exception of Wildalaska, Tamara and other members, any images you have of kindly, benevolent gunshop owners who are there to supply you with whatever your heart desires at rock bottom prices may need adjustment. It's a business, and staying in business is increasingly difficult and expensive. There's not a Chevy dealer every few blocks, either.
I expect my local gunshop guys to have opinions, and I value their experience. They also come up with deals occasionally or an uncommon gun that grabs my attention, and I buy it. I also go there for cleaning supplies and equipment that is a cut above the smattering you find at one of the marts. But it's like going to an auction, it's a matter of what it's worth to me versus what it's worth to them. If I don't do my homework and check the market before buying, I sure can't complain that I've been had. And if I think I'm gonna come out ahead on a gun trade with a dealer, I'm dreaming. Nevertheless, if I can turn 2 or 3 guns I don't use into 1 that I will, I'm doing OK and Cody can give em a good home and make a few bucks. It's a beautiful thing, but we both know he's in it for the money.
Fraud and deception are criminal offenses and should be prosecuted. Feigned ignorance, poker faces and letting us fall prey to our own phantasies have long been part of the guntrader's arsenal. And that's what makes it interesting.
With the exception of Wildalaska, Tamara and other members, any images you have of kindly, benevolent gunshop owners who are there to supply you with whatever your heart desires at rock bottom prices may need adjustment. It's a business, and staying in business is increasingly difficult and expensive. There's not a Chevy dealer every few blocks, either.
I expect my local gunshop guys to have opinions, and I value their experience. They also come up with deals occasionally or an uncommon gun that grabs my attention, and I buy it. I also go there for cleaning supplies and equipment that is a cut above the smattering you find at one of the marts. But it's like going to an auction, it's a matter of what it's worth to me versus what it's worth to them. If I don't do my homework and check the market before buying, I sure can't complain that I've been had. And if I think I'm gonna come out ahead on a gun trade with a dealer, I'm dreaming. Nevertheless, if I can turn 2 or 3 guns I don't use into 1 that I will, I'm doing OK and Cody can give em a good home and make a few bucks. It's a beautiful thing, but we both know he's in it for the money.
Fraud and deception are criminal offenses and should be prosecuted. Feigned ignorance, poker faces and letting us fall prey to our own phantasies have long been part of the guntrader's arsenal. And that's what makes it interesting.
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