Question for you all...

[Smokey Joe]

Olympic event: Broad conclusion jump...

Guys, guys: As Sherlock Holmes observed more than once, "It is a capital error to theorize in advance of data."

Too many possibilities here that we don't know about. And a lot of what I perceive as mere angry venting.

And, in the end, JB will do what he darn well pleases regardless of what we say.

Everybody has been "done wrong" by some retailer, for some reason, some time. (If we all stayed away from every place we had one problem with, we'd have precious few places to shop!)

IMHO, the only recommendations above that make any sense are the ones involving POLITE communication with the retailer. I've been on both sides of the counter when things went bad. It's almost invariably some kind of communication problem. To fix it, "More flies are caught with honey than with vinegar."

 

[Hungry Seagull]

Hm. Should maybe think about pulling credit card and buying that ammo sight unseen over the phone.

Then you stick it when he now must have it for you after you arrive yah?

 

[earlthegoat2]

Sometimes someone holds something for someone and it ends up getting sold by somebody else. It happens.

Gun people tend to be some of the most whiny little female dogs there ever has been.

Buy your stuff online and let gander mountain and dicks do the gun dealing.

Grow some thicker skin. You know how it is with gun shops. We get threads like this every two days. Gun shops, gun shop emplyees, and gun shop consumers are a unique breed that can either never be happy, mad about special treatment that is not towards them, mad about a gun not being available, mad about ammo not being available, or primers, or bullets.

Whine about when you buy something on GunBroker 2 days ago and it is not in your hands now, whine about the shipping price.

Boooohoooo.

 

[JB Books]

Hey sorry I didn't answer fast enough about gun shops owners response...

When I asked him to hold the ammo, he said "ok, we'll see you," when I asked him, on the phone to hold it.

No mystery to why I haven't responded to your inquiries as to what he said to me...I was at church. So calm down on the wink wink, nudge nudge a ha moment just because I didn't answer fast enough for your liking.


I am not trying to sound like a big shot when I said "I ordered $4k worth of ammo online." That's just a fact I relayed to indicate I am a serious buyer. I happen be an attorney with three offices in two states, and I make a good living. IN fact the only reason I mentioned how much I spent in the store was to illustrate the fact I thought I had earned some consideration there, and that as a great customer I believed I would be treated better.

Some of you should know reverse snobbery is just as obnoxious as regular snobbery.


Yes, I am venting a bit. I am ticked off. Some of you have had similar experiences, some of you think it's funny, and some of you get a kick out of telling me this is how the world works. To some degree, you all are correct. Heck, maybe I have become infected with the same entitlement mentality we all bemoan.

Still, I can't help thinking that being a loyal customer who spends a good deal of money should count for something. It does other places. So, I'm going to spend my money elsewhere. It won't make any ultimate difference to these folks, but it will make me feel better.

 

[Babbalanja]

You're right!

JB, take your business elsewhere. I get tired of posters weighing in always defending poor service. How in good conscience can you continue to patronize a business that deceived you?

 

[Just Jim]

All you really have is the honor of your word. If you can't keep your word then you don't deserve my business. Too many shops have turned to less than honorable business practices. It's bad for all of us, walk away and don't go back.

jj

 

[earlthegoat2]

So you wouldnt go back if they had that mint NIB Python for 500 bucks?

 

[JB Books]

Earl, you like to needle people don't you?

No, I would not go back and buy a NIB Python for $500. Financially dumb decision? Probably, but my decision to make.

 

[N003k]

Well, since he SAID he would hold some, but didn't, then I think its more then acceptable to be unhappy with that service. Regardless of whether you're a repeat customer or not. If I call any shop, ask them if they have something, and they say yes, then I ask if they'll hold it for me and they say yes to that also, then I get there and find out they DIDN'T hold it for me, well I'd be asking why. If they didn't have a good reason, that's probably the last time they would see me in there.

If they guy had said they had some, but had told you it was too in demand to set aside, or he didn't think it would be fair too, well thats a different story.

Heck, even if ya had gotten there and he told you someone had picked it all up and bought it before he got a chance to go hold some, that's acceptable, can't expect him to tell the guy 'Hey, I cant sell you all of that right now, I can only sell ya x boxes of that but gotta take y amount back.' unless of course he had a posted limit elsewhere to how much he'd sell to one person.

 

[Sapper771]

The Halo wants me to ask the gun store owner about the incident and ask him why he did what he did, talk it over, and then forgive and forget.
BUT......

The Horns want me to find somewhere else to shop. In my opinion , Good customer service and an excellent customer rapport is the keystone in my decision to shop at certain places. I will even pay extra just to get it from a gun shop I trust.
There are several shops in my area that I will not even go in, just because the owners, or their employees, are either rude, incompetent, or just plain "I dont need your business" A-holes.

What some of the shop owners dont understand is the power of "Word of Mouth". A lot a people come to me for info and recommendations on firearms, as I am sure I am not the only one. If a shop turns bad or is bad, I do not recommend them to others, just as others will recommend or not recommend shops to me.

My favorite is when the guy behind the counter tells me that I spent too much money on something....right after trying to sell me a Glock 17 for $619.99 +tax.
Or, when I am attempting to find a set of replacement Bo-mar sights for a 1911, and the Gun shop owner tells me that he has never even heard of those types of sights, and still doesnt recognize them after I show him the set on my 1911.

Sorry for the venting guys, I just get wound up!

 

[earlthegoat2]

Sometimes people call a shop and ask if they have something and the shop tells them they dont. Then the same person comes in and asks if they have it to which they say no. Then the customer goes on to say that they had called earlier and had been told the store had it.

This happened quite often at the store I worked at and it was very aggravating. They only did it I think to see if we might cut them a deal on soemthing because we mad a mistake. They didnt expect to be talking to the same guy behind the counter as they talked to on the phone a week earlier and that the guy behind the counter had a memory like a steel trap.

This is an example of the chuckleheads that stores have to deal with on an everyday basis. I have had my share of times when a store employee gave me a vacant expression because he had no clue what I was talking about. And I have given employees the same vacant expression because they did not know what they were talking about.

It is true that it is bad customer service to say one thing and do another especially when they know your a paying customer. I have had people call about a gun they had seen the previous day when they were in the store. I would tell them it is still here and if they would like me to put it on hold for them. They would say no. Then literally minutes later someone would come in and buy that gun and an hour later the guy who called would come in with cash in hand to buy it.

Guess who got blamed because it was now gone?

I am one of the first people to jump on gun store employees for being unknowlegeable or inept but I have been on both sides of the counter. I have seen how it can get when there is literally 15 customers to every one employee who all want to see this or that or want help with this all the while having to answer the phone on top of that. Those are times when you do your best and understand you are going to either lose some customers or get some customers angry with you. If your a smart customer you would just leave and come back later.

There was a time in the shop I worked at when we were so shortstaffed. We had 2 regular employees and 1 noobie. I was running pawns, selling guns, answering the GunBroker questions on the phone, mounting scopes, etc and this was the highest sales day that we ever had. It was total bedlam.

 

[JB Books]

I understand what you are saying. FYI, I have purchased about 100 or so firearms on Gunbroker, Auction Arms, and Gunsamerica, and never had a major problem. Never expected instantaneous delivery, and never was really disappointed.

My whole point was that I spend lots of money with these folks, thought I was on good terms with them, and that asking them to hold some ammo for me was a reasonable request to which, given the amount I spend, they should have readily agreed. I was bewildered and angered by the nonchalant way they informed me I was "too late." I thought I rated better.

My recourse is to call them and explain why I am pissed, or choose not to do business with them. At this point, I have no interest in speaking to them. I just won't spend any money with them. My boycott won't have an impact on them, but I was in there enough, they will notice I am no longer stopping by.

I vented on this forum and some folks agree I ought to be screwed, some tell me to get over it. I suspect those same folks full of sacrastic admomishments would be the first to holler if it had happened to them. Some folks here delight in anything that annoys others. Pretty pathetic.

My other point is that in our MTV, internet, "you don't know me," Springeresque society...customer service is pretty much obsolete. Nothing I can do about it, but I can choose not to patronize those who tick me off.

With that, I think this thread is tired.

 

[earlthegoat2]

My other point is that in our MTV, internet, "you don't know me," Springeresque society...customer service is pretty much obsolete.QUOTE]

This is the truth if I have ever heard it.

 

[RDak]

That happened to me once years ago JB with a used firearm and that FFL never got my business again. He said he would hold it for me. I got there 30-45 minutes later and he had sold it. No explanation, no apology, no nothing. I didn't get mad, just never did business with him again.

 

[Mr. Bojangles]

Nothing wrong with spreading your money around amongst several businesses, even if some are online. They have families to feed too, and in general I have received excellent customer service with online companies. I'll buy from whoever works hardest to earn my business.

 

[MachIVshooter]

If he had agreed to hold the ammo for you, and didn't, then he not only failed to honor his word, but wasted your time as well. I'd be pissed.

If someone agrees to do something, I expect them to do it. Unless they have a very good reason for failing to abide by the verbal agreement, it costs them my respect (and future business, in the case of a retailer). The gun shops I frequent know that when I tell them to hold something for me, I will buy it. I also give a time frame, though, because it would be unreasonable to expect them to sit on something indefinitely. I have never had them sell something out from under me. Usually they're willing to hold it for as long as it takes me to get there, but I do not ask them to do this with consignment stuff unless I will be down that same day because I know it's another customer's money.

 

[2nd 41]

I am just really puzzled by his action. I thought being a good customer counted for something. I am not going back, and the next day I ordered $4k worth of ammo on line.
Any ideas? What do you all think? Would that not piss off you guys?

That's the thanks you get for being a GOOD customer. Deal elsewhere.
Maybe the salesman will get stuck in traffic with stomach cramps.

 

[Suicide*Ride]

Ammo sold out from under....

Hey JB

With that, I think this thread is tired.

Give us guys who don't read this forum 24/7 a chance to respond before calling your thread tired.

It happened to me & I asked the store owner in a friendly tone "Hey, I thought we were closer than that" w/ a grin. If he is what you considered to be a "true friend", you should be able to pull him aside & ask why / where's the ammo he said he would hold for you.

Having been in the retail gun business myself, anyone who dropped dime in my store was a "friend", regardless of how many dimes he / she dropped. I did spend more time "shooting the bull" w/ the people that spent more, but everybody got the same attention regardless of the size of the sale.

In your case, w/ it bothering you enough come here to vent, why don't you go to the gun store & ask why they didn't hold the ammo for you, & then come back to the forum & tell us what they said.

If you have spent the amount of $$$ that you say you've spent, it sounds like that paticular store has got some good deals, & I wouldn't give up on them just because of one mishap/issue. You never know.... maybe when you got the call, Jr. was selling all of the saved ammo w/o your "friend's" knowledge.

Just a thought.

 

[searcher451]

Nothing beats a face-to-face conversation with the owner. Nothing.

Go in for a visit. Let him know that you are disappointed. Remind him of how much money you have spent in his shop in the past year, or six months, or three weeks, or whatever. Let him know that when you called him and asked him to set aside the ammo, and when he said that he would, you took him at his word. Then let him know that you don't know whether you can take him at his word again, and that very ting will mean the difference between future deals and your taking your business elseshwere. Then ask him what he's got to say.

His answer would tell me everything I would need to know as to whether I would ever do business with the guy again. His answer also might mean that for every purchase I made subsequently at a different store, were it to come to that, I might just also call him and tell him directly what I just bought and how much I just spent at his competitor's.

 

[BBQLS1]

IMO, the owner said he'd hold it for you then that's all there is to it. It doesn't matter if you're a good customer or not, he said he'd do it.

Now the fact that you are a good customer weighs in a little more. The only thing that could override this is an even better customer.

I'd write a letter or stop by to talk to him about your frustration. If he's a dick about it, he'd lose my business. Otherwise, I'd probably give him another chance, but I might not be so loyal as before.

Good luck.

 

[Clarence]

If he said he'd hold it, but he didn't..........then I think you're right in taking your business elsewhere.

However, I would let him know that you were going to do just that and why.

 

[MT GUNNY]

Send Him a Letter Explaining Everything You did!

 

[Clifford]

$4000 on ammo? Holy stuff!! I might spend $200-$300 bucks on reloading supplies every month and I shoot alot.

 

[JB Books]

I thought about sending a letter, but I don't think they would get it.

It's true there have been some good deals there and that is why I have purchased a lot from them.

Still, I asked them to hold it, they said "ok," and when I got down there they just smirked and said "you're too late." No apology, no explanation, nothing.

They could have offered up an explanation to save their face, but nothing, nicht, nada.

Thanks everyone for letting me vent. THe vast majority of you seem to agree with me that I am right in not wanting to go back there.

 

[Brian Dale]

I'm going to spend my money elsewhere. It won't make any ultimate difference to these folks, but it will make me feel better.

There's your answer: relax and move on.