Customer Service

[byteheed]

So I purchased a used Marlin 80 .22LR from a certain retailer here in San Diego that has a small range. I went a week or so after my purchase to shoot it at their range and found that the magazine and ejector were broken on the rifle. The gentleman who sold me the rifle apologized and said that he'd have the smith look at it. I gave him the rifle back (as it was still within the DROS period) in good faith that someone would look at it and fix it.

When I went to pick it up, a day after my DROS completed, the gent helping me this time couldn't find the rifle right away. When he did find it, I took it out of the bag and noticed that it hadn't even been touched. I explained that it was broken when I bought it and that a smith was supposed to look at it. He replied that their smith wouldn't be able to look at it for six months! I was upset, but tried to keep my cool and asked what they were going to do to about fixing it. He said that the owner had left already and that he'd have him look at it. I said okay, and told him to have someone call me.

No phone call by Monday, so I called them and talked to yet another person. He said he'd fins out and get back to me. A couple hours later, I get voicemail saying that nobody's looked at it.

Am I being unreasonable? I know that this is over an innexpensive, used rifle, but where's the customer service!? You can bet I won't go dropping 600 bucks at this place on a new gun. Who sells broken firearms?

Both of my gun purchases have had me jumping through hoops. Turners DROSed the wrong gun for me and went further by misplacing the correct gun when I went to pick it up. I think firearms dealers ought to require drug tests for their employees as I only expect service like this from skate/surf shops!

Thanks for reading, folks.

-One angry gun-geek

[VeryCoolCat]

You are right, but i always thought that turners was like big 5, only like one out of 6 people are knowledgable and that the rest were just guys hired to drag stuff off the delivery trucks.

[ohsmily]

So I purchased a used Marlin 80 .22LR from a certain retailer here in San Diego that has a small range. I went a week or so after my purchase to shoot it at their range and found that the magazine and ejector were broken on the rifle. The gentleman who sold me the rifle apologized and said that he'd have the smith look at it. I gave him the rifle back (as it was still within the DROS period) in good faith that someone would look at it and fix it.

When I went to pick it up, a day after my DROS completed, the gent helping me this time couldn't find the rifle right away. When he did find it, I took it out of the bag and noticed that it hadn't even been touched. I explained that it was broken when I bought it and that a smith was supposed to look at it. He replied that their smith wouldn't be able to look at it for six months! I was upset, but tried to keep my cool and asked what they were going to do to about fixing it. He said that the owner had left already and that he'd have him look at it. I said okay, and told him to have someone call me.

No phone call by Monday, so I called them and talked to yet another person. He said he'd fins out and get back to me. A couple hours later, I get voicemail saying that nobody's looked at it.

Am I being unreasonable? I know that this is over an innexpensive, used rifle, but where's the customer service!? You can bet I won't go dropping 600 bucks at this place on a new gun. Who sells broken firearms?

Both of my gun purchases have had me jumping through hoops. Turners DROSed the wrong gun for me and went further by misplacing the correct gun when I went to pick it up. I think firearms dealers ought to require drug tests for their employees as I only expect service like this from skate/surf shops!

Thanks for reading, folks.

-One angry gun-geek

I don't think you should expect an implied warranty on a used gun except for latent defects that were known to the seller. Did the seller warrant that it was in working order? Seems to me like a basic inspection of the gun before purchase would have turned up the defect. When you buy used, you run the risk of getting a bad/worn/broken gun unless the seller warrants that it works. Also, if it is a latent defect that the seller knew about but failed to disclose, they should be responsible for that too.

[ohsmily]

You are right, but i always thought that turners was like big 5, only like one out of 6 people are knowledgable and that the rest were just guys hired to drag stuff off the delivery trucks.

I worked at the KM store for 6 months while I was at UCSD to get a few discounts and kill some time. Sometimes guys from the fishing dept would double as gun counter folks and some of them knew next to nothing about guns and ammunition. However, most of the gun counter employees knew more than just the basics and some were very knowledgeable.

[radioactivelego]

You are right, but i always thought that turners was like big 5, only like one out of 6 people are knowledgable and that the rest were just guys hired to drag stuff off the delivery trucks.This can work to your advantage, however...

Like getting a walnut stock K-31 in the box instead of a Mosin M44!

[byteheed]

Ohsmily, the seller neither warranted that the gun was in working order or disclosed the defect. Therefore, I assumed that I was buying a working gun. Through conversation while picking out the gun, the guy who sold it to me was aware that I was buying my first rilfe. When I checked it out the bolt was smooth, and everything appeared to work okay.

I would think that a reputable dealer would have tagged it "as-is" or "broken" if they were aware of a problem. This just looked like it fell through the cracks. Do dealers really sell broken firearms? You'd think they wouldn't take them even as trade-ins.

I've cooled down a little about it. What made me angry was the lack of interest on the part of the dealer's staff. I've shot at their range many times and purchased ammo and other goods from them. I just expected better customer service.

Cheers

[VeryCoolCat]

Dealers/People sell broken firearms all the time but they usually disclose whats wrong with it. Thats why people sell parts.

If they did not tell you it wasn't working then by law, they sold you a defective product.

[BigMac]

I have sold several firearms both new and used that were in some way defective. I have always bent over backward to make it right with my customer. I also have signs that say I warranty NO guns. I don't manufacture guns and I do not warranty them. ( I consider this my A-hole clause).


Take a deep breath.. find out who you need to talk with. Someone there with some firearms knowledge and authority. Find out when they will be there and go see him or her. If it were me I would rewrite the paperwork and give you another rifle.

[byteheed]

All's well that ends well. Considering I wasn't getting anywhere over the phone, I went down to the store to sort things out and the owner was there (found out it's a family-owned shop). I told them that I wasn't bent on getting this particular rifle and that I just wanted one that works. They ended up fixing the old rifle I bought right on the spot... and I'm happy. (:

I just might buy another gun from them now. Although I was ticked about their lack of interest with the deal, they made it right and were really cool about it.

Thanks for your thoughts. Now Turners... Ugh. I'll only go there for the random good sale.

[DSA_FAL]

I've purchased several guns from discount gun mart and have had no problems. It seems like a decent shop. Now all the guns I bought were new so maybe that made a diference.

[Ratters]

Customer service is everything. There are two shops I won't buy stuff at strictly because of their lack of customer service. Both lost out on at least a couple grand worth of business last year. Sad thing is they are a couple of the closest shops to me.

Flip side is I'll drive over an hour to get to Irvington Arms because of their customer service.

[SemiAutoSam]

If the seller is worth a tinkers damm he should have checked out the gun before it was ever put on the shelf or rack

IMHO The gun should be in operational shape before it was available for public inspection.

take it back to him / them and get your money back as no matter how much you paid new or used they shouldnt have sold you such scrap.

[Moonclip]

Customer service is a tricky thing. I don't expect stores to kiss my *** but being as I spends thousands of dollars on guns and all and the fact word of mouth hurts, it really makes no sense to be added to my s^*t list of gun stores, one just got added recently too. That really is suicide in CAs anti gun climate.

Applys to many areas too, had a friend who sorry to say could look like a bum at times but was fairly well off. Pissing him off or ignoring him could result in the loss of a substantial sale up to and including new cars purchased for cash. Sure customers can be testy and all but they pay the bills and it doesn't cost anything to be nice to someone.