MrWhiteRabbit
Firefighter Gone Awry
- Sep 23, 2007
- 1,122
Venting (and a long post), feel free to ignore or commiserate.
Earlier this year, I won an auction on Gun Broker for an EoTech 552 from a retailer in Ohio. I'm still waiting on it. I was out of town when I won the auction and didn't even realize it until I returned in May that it hadn't arrived. I contact GunBroker, they can't help, it's been too long. I contact the seller and he promises to send one right away. Wait a month, nothing, contact seller again, he promises to ship one that day. Wait a month, nothing. Contact seller again, I luckily get ahold of the owner, that the previous guy he had doing Gunbroker is no longer with the company, he verifies my payment, promises to get one out that day. I wait another month... you see where this is going. So now, anytime I'm off during the daytime, I call and raise hell. I've been doing that a lot the last few workdays since I've got a lot of time off. Pause this story, it'll come up again in a bit.
Around about Election Day, I (along with every other red-blooded Marylander, it seems) decided to expand my collection. I called the four local gun stores to see if they had a particular rifle in stock, but alas, only one did. When visiting that store (we'll call them store "A" to protect the guilty), they really did have one in stock, but I didn't feel like paying the additional 35% premium that they were asking. Fine, that's their option to charge that much for an in-demand item, it's also my option not to pay it and walk away. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of that store anyway since it's pretty far out of my way, anyhow. No big loss, I'll just wait and get one at a reasonable price from one of the more convenient shops that I prefer.
So I start calling around to my three favorite dealers in central MD, "B", "C", and "D", waiting until they get this rifle in stock. "B" doesn't have it, but promises to put me on a wait list. I don't really like a few new policies at "C" and "D", either, and choose again to vote with my wallet and wait until "B" gets this rifle in stock. The owner tells me to drop him an e-mail and he'll let me know when he gets one in stock. There's one guy ahead of me in the wait list and his is en route to the shop, but I'll be the next one on the list. I do as instructed, e-mail the owner, and await my notification that it's in and ready to be picked up.
While I'm waiting for "B" to get that rifle in stock, a couple weeks pass, and I decide to start an AR build. So I call around to see who has stripped lowers. "B" is out, but "D" has some in stock, so I head up there and buy two. The week before Thanksgiving, I drop $300 on two lowers, paid cash up front, and ask about how they will notify me. It turns out that my wait period will be over *on* Thanksgiving, but with state holidays, they may have to wait until Monday to get the "not disapproved" notification. Fine, whatever, just call me when you get that notification.
Thanksgiving comes and goes. I was off Monday and Tuesday, hoping to take the time to build up these lowers, but both days come and go with no call, then on Wednesday, I call them and hear that everything's gone through, I can come in anytime. Great, thanks for that customer service, guys. So I'm already miffed that I had to wait the extra days, but that happens.
So today, I call the company in Ohio that still owes me the EoTech 552, the owner is at lunch (around 1400) but his secretary takes my name and number, he'll call me back when he gets in. An hour later, still no call. I call back, he's still at lunch, but the secretary has my message in front of her, she'll give it to him as soon as he returns. So I continue on about my day, reminding myself to call back later.
I go to store "D", to pick up my lowers and ask the owner if they have a parts kit; I'm informed that they don't. In casual conversation with another employee at the same store a bit later in that same visit, he says that they do have some in the back. He goes back, grabs me two, I buy and leave. What kind of responsible gun shop owner remains woefully unaware of their inventory? Okay, fine, LPK aren't regulated, so you aren't legally obligated to maintain oversight of that inventory, but are you so wealthy that you can choose to choose not to sell to a willing customer?
So I leave, with lowers and parts kits in hand, and decide to call Ohio once again to see if the owner has returned from lunch yet. No, he hasn't. But he's on his way (says the secretary), he'll call as soon as he gets in.
So I'm frustrated that I had to deal with what I consider an irresponsible owner at store "D", still no EoTech, so I might as well call store "B" and see what's up with that rifle from Election Day, right?
When they pick up the phone at "B", I ask if they have that rifle in stock. I'm told that they just had a shipment of three a few days ago, but they've already sold out. The voice on the phone wasn't the owner that I'd dealt with before, so there's no sense in berating them for bad customer service. What happened to the wait list? There was one guy ahead of me, and you just sold three of them, I doubt they all went to the same person? I call back later and talk to the owner. He says that the rifle I wanted is still on backorder, there was no shipment of three, and he verifies that I'm still on the list. Okay, fine, so "B" is back in my good graces, maybe the other voice on the phone and I miscommunicated something.
Come on, people! What reason do I have to support my local dealers if I get this kind of service? Nobody is getting their stories straight! Do you have parts kits or not? Is that rifle in stock or not? So at the end of the day, I'm getting screwed by this company in Ohio, and I have little reason to do more business with the locals because they don't even know what their own stock situations look like!
-----
Okay, fine. I've had time to breathe now and write something like a dozen paragraphs on this issue. Overall, this is all relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. After all the threads about it, these are things I expect from some place like Select Fire - I've never been there, but I hear horrible things about it. These stores I've gone to have great reputations. Is it really such a seller's market these days that owners can get away with not caring about consumers anymore?
Earlier this year, I won an auction on Gun Broker for an EoTech 552 from a retailer in Ohio. I'm still waiting on it. I was out of town when I won the auction and didn't even realize it until I returned in May that it hadn't arrived. I contact GunBroker, they can't help, it's been too long. I contact the seller and he promises to send one right away. Wait a month, nothing, contact seller again, he promises to ship one that day. Wait a month, nothing. Contact seller again, I luckily get ahold of the owner, that the previous guy he had doing Gunbroker is no longer with the company, he verifies my payment, promises to get one out that day. I wait another month... you see where this is going. So now, anytime I'm off during the daytime, I call and raise hell. I've been doing that a lot the last few workdays since I've got a lot of time off. Pause this story, it'll come up again in a bit.
Around about Election Day, I (along with every other red-blooded Marylander, it seems) decided to expand my collection. I called the four local gun stores to see if they had a particular rifle in stock, but alas, only one did. When visiting that store (we'll call them store "A" to protect the guilty), they really did have one in stock, but I didn't feel like paying the additional 35% premium that they were asking. Fine, that's their option to charge that much for an in-demand item, it's also my option not to pay it and walk away. Frankly, I'm not a big fan of that store anyway since it's pretty far out of my way, anyhow. No big loss, I'll just wait and get one at a reasonable price from one of the more convenient shops that I prefer.
So I start calling around to my three favorite dealers in central MD, "B", "C", and "D", waiting until they get this rifle in stock. "B" doesn't have it, but promises to put me on a wait list. I don't really like a few new policies at "C" and "D", either, and choose again to vote with my wallet and wait until "B" gets this rifle in stock. The owner tells me to drop him an e-mail and he'll let me know when he gets one in stock. There's one guy ahead of me in the wait list and his is en route to the shop, but I'll be the next one on the list. I do as instructed, e-mail the owner, and await my notification that it's in and ready to be picked up.
While I'm waiting for "B" to get that rifle in stock, a couple weeks pass, and I decide to start an AR build. So I call around to see who has stripped lowers. "B" is out, but "D" has some in stock, so I head up there and buy two. The week before Thanksgiving, I drop $300 on two lowers, paid cash up front, and ask about how they will notify me. It turns out that my wait period will be over *on* Thanksgiving, but with state holidays, they may have to wait until Monday to get the "not disapproved" notification. Fine, whatever, just call me when you get that notification.
Thanksgiving comes and goes. I was off Monday and Tuesday, hoping to take the time to build up these lowers, but both days come and go with no call, then on Wednesday, I call them and hear that everything's gone through, I can come in anytime. Great, thanks for that customer service, guys. So I'm already miffed that I had to wait the extra days, but that happens.
So today, I call the company in Ohio that still owes me the EoTech 552, the owner is at lunch (around 1400) but his secretary takes my name and number, he'll call me back when he gets in. An hour later, still no call. I call back, he's still at lunch, but the secretary has my message in front of her, she'll give it to him as soon as he returns. So I continue on about my day, reminding myself to call back later.
I go to store "D", to pick up my lowers and ask the owner if they have a parts kit; I'm informed that they don't. In casual conversation with another employee at the same store a bit later in that same visit, he says that they do have some in the back. He goes back, grabs me two, I buy and leave. What kind of responsible gun shop owner remains woefully unaware of their inventory? Okay, fine, LPK aren't regulated, so you aren't legally obligated to maintain oversight of that inventory, but are you so wealthy that you can choose to choose not to sell to a willing customer?
So I leave, with lowers and parts kits in hand, and decide to call Ohio once again to see if the owner has returned from lunch yet. No, he hasn't. But he's on his way (says the secretary), he'll call as soon as he gets in.
So I'm frustrated that I had to deal with what I consider an irresponsible owner at store "D", still no EoTech, so I might as well call store "B" and see what's up with that rifle from Election Day, right?
When they pick up the phone at "B", I ask if they have that rifle in stock. I'm told that they just had a shipment of three a few days ago, but they've already sold out. The voice on the phone wasn't the owner that I'd dealt with before, so there's no sense in berating them for bad customer service. What happened to the wait list? There was one guy ahead of me, and you just sold three of them, I doubt they all went to the same person? I call back later and talk to the owner. He says that the rifle I wanted is still on backorder, there was no shipment of three, and he verifies that I'm still on the list. Okay, fine, so "B" is back in my good graces, maybe the other voice on the phone and I miscommunicated something.
Come on, people! What reason do I have to support my local dealers if I get this kind of service? Nobody is getting their stories straight! Do you have parts kits or not? Is that rifle in stock or not? So at the end of the day, I'm getting screwed by this company in Ohio, and I have little reason to do more business with the locals because they don't even know what their own stock situations look like!
-----
Okay, fine. I've had time to breathe now and write something like a dozen paragraphs on this issue. Overall, this is all relatively minor in the grand scheme of things. After all the threads about it, these are things I expect from some place like Select Fire - I've never been there, but I hear horrible things about it. These stores I've gone to have great reputations. Is it really such a seller's market these days that owners can get away with not caring about consumers anymore?