Why small gun stores don't answer emails?

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  • Michigander08

    ridiculous and psychotic
    MDS Supporter
    May 29, 2017
    7,685
    It is strange. They have a web site that says "email us". So I sent in emails inquiring about what they have in stock that I am looking for. Two weeks later still no response. Why bother to list email? Just let people walk into store talking face to face.
     

    John from MD

    American Patriot
    MDS Supporter
    May 12, 2005
    22,736
    Socialist State of Maryland
    It is strange. They have a web site that says "email us". So I sent in emails inquiring about what they have in stock that I am looking for. Two weeks later still no response. Why bother to list email? Just let people walk into store talking face to face.

    Not just small guns shops either. Try getting in touch with Crimson Trace customer service. Good luck. I think I just bought my last CT laser. :mad54:
     

    Melnic

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Dec 27, 2012
    15,282
    HoCo
    Probably cause they get so much spam, its not worth it, Plus people can disguise themselves so much with email, If I were them, I would not post it on a website.
    Many businesses have websites that are really out of date and they are not touching it (especially with them so busy).
    Ive had more luck with Facebook messages where they instantly get my name. (yes, you can fake that as well but less people do).
     

    Occam

    Not Even ONE Indictment
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 24, 2018
    20,239
    Montgomery County
    Small businesses, just like big ones, and like you, get their email accounts flooded with spam. Most people don't see a lot of it because it's being filtered out by up-stream spam filters. The baby often gets thrown out with the bathwater, and the intended recipient never sees your email - possibly not even in their mail service's spam folder. A lot of it simply gets tossed before it ever gets to where a human might see it. Thank the spammers for the problem getting bad enough over the years as to make public-facing "send us an email at this address" almost unusable.

    I've switched most of my clients over to a contact for on their web site, and what you enter there is stored in a contact even database table they can see by other means. It doesn't rely on email transport to work.

    This is also why so many small businesses gravitated to things like Facebook (with its internal messenger that only known accounts can use) as a way of inviting contact. Because its in an enclosed ecosystem, it's easier to police the junk.

    Also: a shocking number of small businesses only set up one computer or device to field incoming email on those contact mailboxes, and don't want to pay their friendly neighborhood IT person to show them how to deal with it from home, or from multiple devices, or in a way that multiple employees can trade off the responsibility of fielding that mail. And a lot of small companies are now running on a personnel shoestring because of COVID, and just can't keep up with the online inquiries - they're just not oriented around making their web presence central to their business, and don't understand how much potential business they're losing by neglecting it in this age of people not driving to their shops.

    Have you considered calling their phone number? Or seeing if they do have a presence on FB, and trying that way? It's worth a go.
     

    Docster

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 19, 2010
    9,768
    Gun forums get flooded with threads that are meaningless, irrelevant and nonsensical so I bet that businesses email also get filled with junk
     

    DutchV

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 8, 2012
    4,703
    Better to swing by and see them in person. A lot of small places are out of stock now. They're already spending all day answering the phone. "No, we don't have any Glocks, shotguns, or ammo."
     

    ToBeFree

    Ultimate Member
    Oct 5, 2011
    2,614
    Highland Cnty-Va
    It can be a malady of today's business's that are so busy they have to prioritize their efforts. Especially if you are a small shop there may be only one person to do it all. I agree that a response in a few days would be ideal but.....
    On the other hand I just transacted business with a small shop and am very pleased with the responses to my questions and the purchase I made at pre crazy prices (read reasonable).
    Edit: they are an IP here.
     
    Last edited:

    IX-3

    Active Member
    Aug 21, 2018
    424
    Eastern Shore, MD
    It can be a malady of today's business's that are so busy they have to prioritize their efforts. Especially if you are a small shop there may be only one person to do it all. I agree that a response in a few days would be ideal but.....
    On the other hand I just transacted business with a small shop and am very pleased with the responses to my questions and the purchase I made at pre crazy prices (read reasonable).

    On top of it possibly only being one person in a small shop by the time they see your email at the end of the day or even a few days later their complete inventory could have changed. It's better to just go in to see what they have than to email and hope they respond to you that day. They may have had what you were looking for but were so busy they didn't check their email and it was sold by the time they finally checked. If you're not close enough to stop in give them a call.

    It's worth it to stop in or give them a call even if they have a website and don't have what you want listed as in stock. They're selling so quickly right now that some of them don't even have time to update their inventory on their website before it's all sold. I picked up an upper receiver from my LGS the last time I stopped in that he didn't even know he had in the display case and wasn't listed on his website.
     

    adit

    ReMember
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 20, 2013
    19,512
    DE
    It is strange. They have a web site that says "email us". So I sent in emails inquiring about what they have in stock that I am looking for. Two weeks later still no response. Why bother to list email? Just let people walk into store talking face to face.

    So who was it?
     

    DavidA

    The Master of Disaster
    Dec 6, 2013
    371
    Annapolis
    In terms of what’s happening in the market the small store owners are inundated with request for specific guns and accessories right now. First it’s getting from the retail floor to the computer, while customers are hovering over their counters for whatever inventory they have. Secondly they can’t give you and answer about any inventory guest ones because in five minutes it will change. Welcome to 2021.


    Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
     

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