A really bad experience with a gun dealer.

R

Rifleman1776

New member
Yesterday I went into a local gun shop I have been dealing with for almost 30 years. The owner is a pretty good, but high priced, gunsmith. He is also known for not being the easiest person to deal with. I have usually dealt with his wife who is knowledgable and very pleasant.
I needed two small screws to mount some target sights.
The dealer immediately blew up and started hollering that he didn't like selling screws because he didn't make much money on them. He really carried on. He accused me of not buying very much from him in the past couple years. What he doesn't know is I had had shoulder problems and haven't been able to raise a rifle for more than two years. Regardless, his extreme behavior was unnecessary. I have owned retail stores, including a gun shop, and would never consider treating anyone in this manner. And if an employee did they would be fired on the spot.
I asked for my sample screws back and left. Guaranteed, I'll never return. I went to a small gun shop a few miles out of town. The dealer there was very pleasant and dug around until he came up with the screws I needed. He refused to accept payment.
He made my day in a good way. Guaranteed, he will get referrals and return business from me.
In my town, the "bad" dealer has been the lone gun shop for many years. In the past three years four new dealers have opened up. Competition is good. I think it is time for "bad" dealer to retire and move far away. Our nice town doesn't need people like him.
 
My thoughts...

Seeing as how visiting my own local gunsmith is always a pleasant experience (even if I'm just there to browse or get free advice) I thought I'd chime in on this.

1) Everybody gets to have a bad day.

2) 'Sounds as if the fellow has been around a while; maybe old age, in one way or another, is taking its toll on him.

3) Maybe he's got a bad attitude because BATF has been breaking his b***s. That agency can (and does) give a gunshop a lot of tsuris over some very Charlie Sierra stuff.

4) The previous 3 points were more-or-less in defense of the guy. On the other hand, in retail business as in nature, there's a natural selection process, and it appears to be at work here.

You did your part by walking in his door. Then the guy, for one reason or another, committed a cardinal sin of retail: he made you feel unwelcome and drove your business elsewhere. The bottom line is that if his business suffers he has only himself to blame.
 
In my town, the "bad" dealer has been the lone gun shop for many years. In the past three years four new dealers have opened up.
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Sounds like he mistook your absence for disloyalty. Not that he necessarily deserved or could reasonably expect that loyalty anyway, but that he is probably being squeezed by the competition and that has him feeling at the end of his economic rope as a result. His response is to take it out on you.

If this is how he treats customers, whether they've been shopping elsewhere or not, he needs to go ahead and close up shop now before he loses everything.

Hmm... I think I have an idea for a thread.
 
I think people who aren't business-minded tend to not understand how these things work. If I own a gun store and make it a point to be polite and welcoming to anyone that comes in, whether they buy things or not; people will come to me for a vast array of things (like searching for mounting screws). Out of every 20 people who come in for menial things that don't directly bring me revenue, a certain amount of them will look for and buy items "while they're already here".

How that transaction should have gone...

"Hey Rifleman. What can I do you for? Screws? I might be able to find those. Surely if I can't we can order some, or I think Ol' Jim down the street might have them. Oh, here's a couple. No, no thanks they're just screws, forget the $0.50. You need help putting them on? No? Alright. You all set on ammo and targets? Ah, I thought so. The usual .38 special? Sounds good. Oh, and I got some new little paper targets in, would you mind taking just a couple and telling me how you like them? Great. Have "Linda" ring you up in the front. Have a great one Rifleman, don't be a stranger!"

Good Positive and personal experience (get to know your customers by name if possible). Offered solutions and alternative businesses if needed (lets the customer know that if uncertain; come here first and get answers). Came in for screws and while you were there, realized you could use some ammo too (impulse buy while on premesis). The owner would like your oppinion on new merchandise (gauging target market oppinion/free gift with purchase). And by including some free targets and asking your oppinion, the business is indirectly asking you to go and shoot the ammo you just bought, creating a need for MORE ammo (return business); with the possibility you may really like the product (target) and want to buy more (return business).

Really, are things like this really that hard to grasp?

~LT
 
Sounds like the original dealer is a bit... unstable? You really flip out on a customer that much because they haven't bought a lot from you recently? Way to make sure they don't buy anything else from you!!
 
Everybody may have bad days, but they sure as heck don't get to take them out on the customers!

I've often wondered if there isn't something in gun oil that makes some of these guys lose their minds. Maybe they aren't getting enough fiber, I don't know. I do know there seems to be a lot of cliquish behavior with a side-order of stink eye in many of the gun stores I've visited over the years. I almost prefer ordering online but then you find a transfer dealer and they try and make you feel guilty about not buying from them. It's an odd business.
 
Gun dealers are not always the best in customer service. On the other hand, dealing with the full range of people who hang out in gun stores day in and day out can be wearing on your sanity.
 
If you own a shop and make a living out of it, you're not entitled to have a bad day and discharge your frustrations on your customers. Had a bad day?. Leave it at the front door, please, I came here to shop. My money is good money, and I want proper treatment in exchange for it. That includes good manners.

I don't know if there's something like that over there, but here, if you receive such a treatment at a shop, you request a "customer complaint form". It contains three copies, one for the shop, another for the customer, another one for the Municipality. The case is reviewed and upon the circumstances, the owners get a fine. It's a good way to keep owners and employees friendly with those who enter there to spend their hard-earned money.
 
^ How much are you paying government officials to do this?

This highlights the centuries long idealogical conflict we have in America of what government should and should not do.

Some people in America think that government has no business messing around with these kinds of issues.
 
Had a similar experience......

I had a spring break in my Uberti 1873. I, using guidance, from this site I think, pulled out the spring and headed to the gunshop, that also had an area for gunsmithing, to get a replacement. I had not looked anywhere else for this spring. Did not go online, did not visit another shop. Just walked in, waited my turn, pulled out the broken spring, and asked if they could order or provide a replacement. The owner, actually said, "why would you come in here and bother me with a 2 dollar spring, go order it online." He did not say this nicely or with any respect. He rolled his eyes at me, turned his back to me and yelled "NEXT". Making sure that I knew he was done with me.
I did order it online, Midway I think, and I have not been back.
 
See, I guess I got a little spite in me. If any gun shop treated me that way, I'd leave and after I bought my next gun, I go back and pretend like I was going to order it from them. Right when we got to the end of the deal, I'd be like "oh, I tried to get some screws (or that spring) here awhile back. You remember that? Yeah, I got those screws somewhere else...(pulling out receipt)... I got the gun somewhere else too.

Then I'd walk out.
 
Once upon a time, I had a Smith and Wesson Texas Rangers .357 and knife set.

Don't know why I bought it. I finally realized I would not get my money out of it and would get even less if I shot the thing so I went to a gun store in Alton Illinois. I still remember the owner was a guy named Clump and he was noted for being abrasive.

I went in with this gun and knife and told him I would like to trade for something I could shoot.

He looked it over and asked me what I had in it and I told him.

He just went through the roof. "You got WAAAAYYY too much money in that POS and there ain't no way I am giving you that kind of money." He just went on and on and I turned around and walked out and never went back.

I realized the gun was not worth what I had paid for it and I knew I would not get my money out. While he made points in front of his friends, he lost me and everyone I ever talked to about the way he treated customers. There was no need for that.

Instead, I went to a friend of mine who had an FFL and a small business, and talked a deal with him for a Mini14 and 1000 rounds of ammo. I probably should have gone to him first as he treated me fair on previous deals. He was just a little farther away from me than the dealer in Alton.

I learned a good lesson and old man Clump went out of business a couple of months later.

I think I know one of the reasons why.

Geetarman:D
 
^ How much are you paying government officials to do this?

This highlights the centuries long idealogical conflict we have in America of what government should and should not do.

Some people in America think that government has no business messing around with these kinds of issues.
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Although I concur in a lot of your points of view (American points of view, I mean) regarding what and what not should the Administration mess around, or your "freedom and responsibility" mentality in a lot of fields, in this one, I have to disagree, Sir ;).

As a customer, I have some rights, which also assist me as a taxpayer. If I request a service from a business and I'm dissatisfied with it, I want the Administration to intervene and defend me. And I think is just because not in all cases there are grounds to go to Court, nor everyone is able to pay for the expenses that a lawsuit requires.
 
Good one Peetzakilla

I love it man!! The dude that treated me bad I wouldn't trust him not to shoot me if i did that. But otherwise, great smart ass idea.
 
We don't need no stinkin' government intervention

Nordeste [writing from Spain]:
Although I concur in a lot of your points of view (American points of view, I mean) regarding what and what not should the Administration mess around, or your "freedom and responsibility" mentality in a lot of fields, in this one, I have to disagree, Sir .

As a customer, I have some rights, which also assist me as a taxpayer. If I request a service from a business and I'm dissatisfied with it, I want the Administration to intervene and defend me. And I think is just because not in all cases there are grounds to go to Court, nor everyone is able to pay for the expenses that a lawsuit requires.
Click to expand...

The way we do things over here is that if we're dissatisfied with the service we get from a business, we vote with our feet and with our wallets.

Sure, there are far too many of us who, like Europeans, think that government is our benefactor and the solution to all our problems. But most of us can handle such situations without running, whining and sniveling, to the "authorities".

This is what I meant in my previous post about "natural selection" in retail.

And "Peetzakilla" has a pretty good idea, too.
 
Peetzakilla,

I had a very similar experience. I worked in Saint Louis at the time and one of the guys in the shop opened a small gun store in Edwardsville, Il. He also offered the use of his reloading bench for people getting into reloading.

I stopped in there on the way home from work and I was looking for a scope for one of my rifles and he gave me a pretty good deal on a Weaver K10. I actually still have that scope.

I was also kinda sorta looking for my second PPK/S and I checked out what he had. He actually had one in the show case and it had been handled a lot and had surface rust on it. He wanted over $400 for it and I asked him for a break on the price. He said no. I knew I could get them cheaper from Shotgun News.

I asked him if he would order one from the dealer I found for the price advertised in SG News.

He said that he would not order ANYTHING for me at that price because he ALREADY had one in stock.

I reminded him of the rust and he told me we would not be dealing on the gun.

I asked him why and he told me that if I wanted to get a "deal", then I needed to get my OWN FFL.

I went down the road to a friend who had a small shop. Actually the same guy I alluded to in a post or two above. Don Miller had a small gun business in his home and I had made several deals with him.

I asked him about a PPK/S and he told me that a company he was working with was selling the PPK/S for $219!! The tax brought the whole deal up to about $245. He was looking for one additional order to get a break on the price from his jobber.

I jumped on it and a week or so later I had my new PPK/S in hand along with my receipt and I waltzed back to the gun store in Edwardsville.

I asked the owner to look at my gun and the receipt and told him I would not be back but that he might benefit from a course in developing a positive attitude.

Needless to say he did not and went out of business in less than a year.

Just by driving less than 5 miles down the road, I got a new PPK/S for at a minimum $150 less than a rusty gun in a display case.

I really do not like getting in in someone's face, but sometimes, they need to get a wake up call.

Geetarman:D
 
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