airing the dirty laundry

S

stagpanther

New member
when not to use metaphors on a firearms forum

Some times it's really hard to understand how short-sighted people in this industry can be when it comes to customer service.

Last week I was in a LGS and bought a Glock, spare parts, holster, thousands of bullets and other reloading components--a tidy sale for a small store in the middle of the winter amounting to something north of 1.3 K.

Yesterday I noticed I had forgotten to get a pilot for my case trimmer to prep the 10mm cases so I called the shop and asked them if they had one. They verified the caliber and trimmer model and said yes they do and would set it aside. Said shop is 70 miles away and we have a couple of feet of snow on the ground--it was hard to justify going all that way for a $5.00 part, but I'm ready to go for reloading and I did the drive anyway.

This morning I unpackage the pilot--and of course it's the wrong size--it's instead for a 45 acp. So I call and tell em of the (their) mistake--and since the cost of driving there and back far outweighs the cost of the part could they simply send me the right one.

Not only did they not take blame--they refused any compensation at all unless I brought the part back with receipt and even then would only special order the part.

Now I understand there is store policy which employees must adhere to--but this was their fault to begin with and the only thing accomplished is that it guarantees I will never shop there again.
 
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So, for a $5 part, they've blown away all their goodwill and a future, proven good customer.
Brilliant.
And, unfortunately, all too common with small businesses.
 
I would ask to speak to the manager. Employees just follow policy. Managers can make things happen.

I fix stuff all the time to keep customers happy. Does it cost us money? Yep, but creating a new customer from ads and such is expensive too. Better to keep current customers happy and spending, so your ad dollars are creating new customers/not replacing old ones.
 
If they'll have to special order your part anyway, step on over to Brownell's and order from them. It'll come right to your door, no 70 mile drive required.

pax
 
SFWUSC beat me to it...were you talking to the owner or manager?

Sometimes a manager can be short sighted too but if you were talking to a clerk that's a 'rule book Johnny' and didn't realize he SHOULD have bumped it up to his manager (could be lazy or afraid of his manager) I kind of think you owe it to them to talk to somebody in charge.

It just amazes me that the LGS, probably crying out for business, would do this to a person that just spent well over a grand in their store.
 
I guess I should contact the manager--but I'm pretty burned about the whole thing at the moment and I have several other stores closer to me who, while being a bit more expensive, generally will bend over backwards to accommodate me. If it were something wrong about the Glock itself I probably would.
 
I realize you're posting about a small business, but do they have an email address publicly available?
A short, calm and polite message to the store's email may provide you the distance you still want but provide the feedback they seem to desperately require.
 
I did the drive anyway.

This morning I unpackage the pilot-
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If I had driven 70 miles in snow, you can believe I would have opened the part and confirmed it in the store myself
 
I am always amazed at the service (or lack of) from small LGS, in parallel with the advice they hand out to new gun owners!

"This will be the best gun for a new to firearms person" just so happens to be the most expensive.
 
Did the fellow you talked to happen to know you dropped well over a grand in their store last week?

Or did he just know that you got the wrong $5 part and for them to replace it, you need to return it?

Did he know you drive a long way so you CAN spend money in their shop?

I'd bet a fair amount that if the owner/manager knew things like that they would drop it in the mail to you as soon as they could get it.

There are polite ways to deal with this kind of thing, and they can be surprisingly effective, once the right people know the situation. The biggest cost is usually time, and your patience.

As for driving 70miles through 2 feet of snow? and back? 40 years ago, to see a girl, I would do that without hesitation. ;)
Today? for a $5 part? no matter how eager I was to get started loading, I'd let the USPS, UPS, FedEx or whoever do that. They get paid for it!

Just giving up on the LGS and going elsewhere only solves part of the problem. Like any boycott, to be effective, they have to know WHY you are doing it. Talk to the manager or owner, give them a chance. Ticking off a good customer and losing all future sales over a $5 item is hardly good business!

the guy may be a jerk, nothing you can do about that, if he is, tell him goodbye, and why!

Other side of the coin, if it was my shop, and I heard about this, I'd be ticked at the counter guy who gave you the hassle, and I'd go a little extra to make up for your trouble. Maybe offer a better than usual deal on something in the future? You'll never know, one way or the other unless you find out.

Don't ask a private to do something that isn't "in the manual" talk to the Sgt. IF the Sgt is no help, go to the Officer. Works for a lot of things.

Good luck, and please, let us know how things resolve.
 
The whole purpose of shopping a small store is the customer service and personal care. You are not getting it. In fact, they are being dicks since it was their goof. I don't know what to say. Did you speak to the manager if not the owner?
 
The manager might be the best guy in the world and his clerk could be the biggest jerk. Talk to him about what happened. You might accomplish two things: getting the part you're entitled to and getting a new (or improved) clerk working in the store so other people don't have the same problem. I'd always give the owner the benefit of the doubt. If the manager's a jerk too, then he doesn't deserve anyone's business. Don't let one bad employee ruin a possibly good owner. You'd be blaming the wrong person. Good luck.
 
You need to rethink your entire approach.

The person you talked with only heard, "I bought a $5.00 pilot from you and it's the wrong size. Can you send me a new one for free?"

You need to talk to the manager or owner and tell them -

1. I live 70 miles from your store and thought enough of your gun store to drive that distance and buy -
2. $1300 worth of products from your store including: (list them).
3. I needed a 10mm pilot to reload and called to have it set aside.
4. I drove a 140 mile round trip to buy a $5.00 pilot from your store.
5. Your employee apparently set aside the wrong caliber pilot. My fault for not checking it at the store, and when I got home, I found it was the wrong size - .45 instead of 10mm.
6. Can you drop a 10mm in the mail, and the next time I'm at your store, I'll drop off the .45 caliber pilot?

Then the manager or owner has the complete story to make a decision. If they still say "No" - then politely tell them that you will never buy anything from them again and will inform everyone you know of their lack of service.

But, first you have to present your case with ALL of the information to a person with the authorization to make a decision outside of their normal way of handling returns.

1. Compliment them - drove to your gun store.
2. Accept some of the blame for the FUBAR - I didn't check it at the store.
3. Propose a solution + future sales - you send me the correct size and I'll return the wrong one when I'm back in your store to buy more stuff.
 
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140 miles round trip, through snow, for a $5 item?

Heck, forget the USPS...
Brownell's is in Iowa. You should have driven there.
 
"This morning I unpackage the pilot--and of course it's the wrong size"


You are the one who didn't verify what you paid for, when you paid for it.

No blame for the shop, it was a minor mistake on their end; big mistake on your end.
 
Hey--we're talkin a small shop staffed by two guys--not a big box Cabela's or anything. They know darn well who I am and BTW I did say I would send the wrong pilot back--it's not like I was trying to extort a $5.00 item out of them God forbid after dropping all that other coin.

I already ground it down to fit 10mm so it's a moot point at this point. And I'm sure it was simple misjudgement on their part. Still--not a good call.

IMO--brick and mortar gun stores have very little to compete with the on-line big boxes other than service--that said, I'm always willing to pay that extra to support the small guy as long as they can reasonably add "that extra touch."

These responses are pretty funny--reminds me of the guy with the S&W blown barrel and how quickly opinions turned against him. I sorta knew that would happen if I posted this. LOL
 
You are the one who didn't verify what you paid for, when you paid for it.

No blame for the shop, it was a minor mistake on their end; big mistake on your end.
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I have to disagree with this. Yes there is blame on both ends, but I think the most blame goes the other way. Even if the OP had checked and seen that it was the wrong item he was still out of luck. If the shop was going to have to special order it like he said in his post then whoever told him they had it and to come get it had told him incorrectly and made him make a 140 mile round trip for nothing. He could have saved himself some trouble had he checked, but the person that supposedly set one back for him made the biggest mistake.
 
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