HTSC hours?

Czechnologist · Jun 7, 2018

Looks like Heritage Training Center is no longer an MDS IP. Their thread has disappeared from the IP section.

Clueless management and an intractable business model is not the formula for success in this day and age.

copasetic · Jun 7, 2018

It must have been recent... I logged in today and noticed that my post count went down... I guess the posts I made in their thread are gone...

Czechnologist · Jun 7, 2018

copasetic said:
It must have been recent... I logged in today and noticed that my post count went down... I guess the posts I made in their thread are gone...

My guess is that the negative feedback combined with the general lack of interest in their IP section led them to make that decision. Probably no great loss since about all they managed to accomplish during their brief stint was to alienate the shooting community. Don't get me wrong: the facility itself is as nice as any 25yd indoor range I've ever used but, the place has all the warmth and appeal of an urgent care clinic.

pilot25 · Jun 7, 2018

Zzzzz_man said:
My guess is that the negative feedback combined with the general lack of interest in their IP section led them to make that decision. Probably no great loss since about all they managed to accomplish during their brief stint was to alienate the shooting community. Don't get me wrong: the facility itself is as nice as any 25yd indoor range I've ever used but, the place has all the warmth and appeal of an urgent care clinic.

Ha!Ha! I think we both contributed to that portion of the feedback.

I guess its better to not be on this site if there are three or four long negative threads about the place.

Sadly they reap what they sow.

Czechnologist · Jun 7, 2018

pilot25 said:
Ha!Ha! I think we both contributed to that portion of the feedback.

I guess its better to not be on this site if there are three or four long negative threads about the place.

Sadly they reap what they sow.

It's like they're unable to connect with anyone except their target market: brand new customers with little/no previous firearms experience. In other words, customers who don't know the difference between a good price and a bad price, a good policy and a totally stupid policy, etc.

MDS isn't a great fit for a business that wants to exploit the ignorance of the inexperienced. People seem to get educated pretty fast around here.

DaemonAssassin · Jun 7, 2018

Zzzzz_man said:
It's like they're unable to connect with anyone except their target market: brand new customers with little/no previous firearms experience. In other words, customers who don't know the difference between a good price and a bad price, a good policy and a totally stupid policy, etc.

MDS isn't a great fit for a business that wants to exploit the ignorance of the inexperienced. People seem to get educated pretty fast around here.

They are hosting another R&R day, according to their FB page. Range and relaxation (yoga). What else will they come up with for the hipsters to do on a Saturday or Sunday? FML...

pilot25 · Jun 7, 2018

Zzzzz_man said:
It's like they're unable to connect with anyone except their target market: brand new customers with little/no previous firearms experience. In other words, customers who don't know the difference between a good price and a bad price, a good policy and a totally stupid policy, etc.

Hey, that was me a couple years ago.... :lol2:

You are spot on though. Its a place for people who have never been around firearms. Unfortunately, that market isn't enough to sustain a business. You'd think, with such a nice building and two ranges, they could adapt to new and experienced alike.

Czechnologist · Jun 7, 2018

pilot25 said:
Hey, that was me a couple years ago....

You are spot on though. Its a place for people who have never been around firearms. Unfortunately, that market isn't enough to sustain a business. You'd think, with such a nice building and two ranges, they could adapt to new and experienced alike.

People of a curious and meticulous nature eventually land on MDS sooner or later. Your fate was sealed before you even realized it!

I think they seriously over-estimated the 'noob' market and how quickly it gets educated. Even someone who doesn't mind being gouged, at first, is eventually going to get tired of it and start doing business elsewhere. HTC's membership retention has gotta suck something fierce and that should've served as some kind of indication to management: be competitive or shut the doors.

HTC's mistake was refusing to embrace both beginner and experienced shooters alike...and making only a feeble effort, at best, to keep them coming back.

Kevnev · Jun 9, 2018

I was a member there and cancelled when they changed their hours. I received a phone call about a month later stating management went back to the drawing board after the mass exodus. They offered their new membership rates and I had about all I could do to not just laugh in their face.

altima98 · Jun 9, 2018

Its a nice facility, but value was low. Ranges like elite and NRA cost less and kids are free.

Also would have been nice if they had let me stick around longer when no one else was waiting to use the range.

pilot25 · Jun 9, 2018

Kevnev said:
I was a member there and cancelled when they changed their hours. I received a phone call about a month later stating management went back to the drawing board after the mass exodus. They offered their new membership rates and I had about all I could do to not just laugh in their face.

I never renewed and it was just before the public hour changes. They never called me to renew. Weird.

fidelity · Jun 9, 2018

Kevnev said:
I was a member there and cancelled when they changed their hours. I received a phone call about a month later stating management went back to the drawing board after the mass exodus. They offered their new membership rates and I had about all I could do to not just laugh in their face.

altima98 said:
Its a nice facility, but value was low. Ranges like elite and NRA cost less and kids are free.

Also would have been nice if they had let me stick around longer when no one else was waiting to use the range.

One would think avoiding these miscues would have been obvious ... don't renege on public range hours, don't charge higher than market rates when there are similar or better options in the area, don't shoe shooters immediately off the range if there's no one waiting for the lane (provide a courtesy 10-15 minutes), enable parents to bring their teenage children (from the get go), etc. It leaves the impression that management is short sighted and arrogant. Wonder how much money is going to be lost in the venture.

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Czechnologist · Jun 10, 2018

fidelity said:
One would think avoiding these miscues would have been obvious ... don't renege on public range hours, don't charge higher than market rates when there are similar or better options in the area, don't shoe shooters immediately off the range if there's no one waiting for the lane (provide a courtesy 10-15 minutes), enable parents to bring their teenage children (from the get go), etc. It leaves the impression that management is short sighted and arrogant. Wonder how much money is going to be lost in the venture.

Makes me wonder how their other locations are doing and if they're just as clueless/intractable/counterintuitive as the one in Frederick.

And it's easy to see why The Machine Gun Nest has thrived in spite of having HTC just a couple of miles away. TMGN gets it. When you go in there, it doesn't feel like you're walking into a big box retailer, like Best Buy, with uniformed employees who don't know shit from apple butter. Most of them seem to be fellow-shooters with a genuine interest in you, as a customer and not just there to collect a paycheck and enforce corporate policies. I enjoy chatting with them. I like the way they gauge my level of expertise right off the bat and once they determine I'm someone who has handled firearms for quite awhile, they leave me alone and allow me to enjoy myself. That's pretty much the same experience I have whenever I go to either the NRA Range in Fairfax or Elite Shooting Sports in Manassas. I'm not watching the clock. I don't have anyone hovering behind me.

TMGN may not be as imposing and as pretty on the outside as HTC but, they more than make-up for it by embracing the shooting community as a whole. You'd think that people with as much $ to spend on a facility as Heritage would also possess the intelligence to understand that principle of business but, I suppose that's expecting too much nowadays.

DanGuy48 · Jun 10, 2018

Zzzzz_man said:
Makes me wonder how their other locations are doing and if they're just as clueless/intractable/counterintuitive as the one in Frederick.

Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think they have any other locations. I believe that was the intention from the get go but I don’t think it’s working out the way they planned. As big as they are on “brand name” I can’t imagine they’d have other locations under a different name.

Czechnologist · Jun 10, 2018

DanGuy48 said:
Someone correct me if I’m wrong but I don’t think they have any other locations. I believe that was the intention from the get go but I don’t think it’s working out the way they planned. As big as they are on “brand name” I can’t imagine they’d have other locations under a different name.

During the Dottrio shoot in October 2016, I asked their GM if they had other locations and I could've sworn he told me there were two others and a fourth one planned for NJ. I searched on Google and didn't find anything else under the name Heritage Training & Shooting Center, though.

DanGuy48 · Jun 10, 2018

Zzzzz_man said:
During the Dottrio shoot in October 2016, I asked their GM if they had other locations and I could've sworn he told me there were two others and a fourth one planned for NJ. I searched on Google and didn't find anything else under the name Heritage Training & Shooting Center, though.

Interesting. I wonder if they have locations picked but haven’t done anything yet.

DaemonAssassin · Jun 10, 2018

Zzzzz_man said:
Makes me wonder how their other locations are doing and if they're just as clueless/intractable/counterintuitive as the one in Frederick.

And it's easy to see why The Machine Gun Nest has thrived in spite of having HTC just a couple of miles away. TMGN gets it. When you go in there, it doesn't feel like you're walking into a big box retailer, like Best Buy, with uniformed employees who don't know shit from apple butter. Most of them seem to be fellow-shooters with a genuine interest in you, as a customer and not just there to collect a paycheck and enforce corporate policies. I enjoy chatting with them. I like the way they gauge my level of expertise right off the bat and once they determine I'm someone who has handled firearms for quite awhile, they leave me alone and allow me to enjoy myself. That's pretty much the same experience I have whenever I go to either the NRA Range in Fairfax or Elite Shooting Sports in Manassas. I'm not watching the clock. I don't have anyone hovering behind me.

TMGN may not be as imposing and as pretty on the outside as HTC but, they more than make-up for it by embracing the shooting community as a whole. You'd think that people with as much $ to spend on a facility as Heritage would also possess the intelligence to understand that principle of business but, I suppose that's expecting too much nowadays.

If TMGN is busy, an RSO will let you know when you have 30-15-5 minutes left on your hour. I would naturally assume that they would let you burn off the mag you are currently using, instead of being the kind that force you off NOW. For me The Nest is close to home, has a good vibe to it, employees are friendly and awesome. I've chatted with some of the employees, while a friend was on the line, and they ones I have talked to are all shooters. There is one employee that was doing the RSO thing and I was talking to him about reloading and he was making noise about cheaper projectiles, so I filled him in on Sierra Factory Store and to get factory seconds there.

All in all TMGN is staffed with great people, has a good vibe, friendly environment, and has everything I could ever ask for. TMGN has my business, because of the impression they made on me, after they first opened.

Schipperke · Jun 10, 2018

altima98 said:
Its a nice facility, but value was low. Ranges like elite and NRA cost less and kids are free.

Also would have been nice if they had let me stick around longer when no one else was waiting to use the range.

Elite is not much farther for us, and for the same $25 gets a 100yd indoor range with video of the target and includes my son with me. The two times there near 90 minutes. No one ever asking us to leave, as there were lanes open. At Heritage the carrier just flies back at you after an hour, with one other lane occupied. I can understand not wanting to let people have a free ride, but maybe 15-20 minutes after the hour to nudge one out if the lanes are empty. I'm not sure what additional expense would be for the range to comp 15 minutes extra when lanes are not being waited for. The RSO gets paid whether you are there or not I'd think.

Czechnologist · Jun 13, 2018

DaemonAssassin said:
All in all TMGN is staffed with great people, has a good vibe, friendly environment, and has everything I could ever ask for. TMGN has my business, because of the impression they made on me, after they first opened.

I didn't go back to TMGN for about a year after one of their employees told me I was an "idiot" for not purchasing a membership. Everyone else there has been cool but, that one employee (who is still there) still breaks my balls about a membership every chance he gets so I limit my visits to TMGN to once per month or less. I'd probably go more often if it weren't for that.

DaemonAssassin · Jun 13, 2018

Zzzzz_man said:
I didn't go back to TMGN for about a year after one of their employees told me I was an "idiot" for not purchasing a membership. Everyone else there has been cool but, that one employee (who is still there) still breaks my balls about a membership every chance he gets so I limit my visits to TMGN to once per month or less. I'd probably go more often if it weren't for that.

If that employee is still taking pot shots, bump it up to management.

HTSC hours?

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