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I did a private party transfer 8 months ago to a guy for an AR15. That guy then got denied on his back ground check and was going to look into it, since it was due to an invalid DMV ID/Driver's License. 8 months has gone by and the guy now wants his full money back. He paid me $800 for the AR15, and normally if it was within a month or so i would be willing to take back the firearm. However this is 8 months later. I offered to pay buy the gun back from him, and noted that the firearm is no longer worth $800 due to saturation of market and time decay, and made an offer of what the firearm now sells for new from factory which is $650 shipped, and he repeated that he wants his full $800.
His dad is apparently a lawyer, and threatened to take the dealer to court thinking the dealer was the one who his son bought the firearm from. Now they are insinuating they want to take legal action to get the money back.
My guess is that he got a felony DUI and "cant have a firearm" as he stated on the phone when i called him. Since they keep throwing out that they want to "take legal action" i almost want to dig in my heels and say screw them, but thats not the kind of person i am either.
I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks on this. I could probably get him his money within a few weeks, but i also feel i have no obligation to buy back the firearm.
I've been working at an FFL dealer for over 8 years and this one really has me stumped as to a fair agreement.
Thanks for any input offered!
For more information and clarification, i posted this a bit later today to clear things up.
This pretty much is the full story. The FFL we used for the transfer is the one that i work at. One of my coworkers new that i had some AR15's that i was looking to sell and so had me bring them to work so his friend could come check them out. The friend of my coworker is the guy that purchased my gun. I always tell everyone that sales are final, and if you cant own the gun it is up to you to re-sell the firearm. So for all intents and purposes the firearm is the buyers property, and he cant leave the store with the gun because of a DMV-reject.
8 months later, this guy that bought the gun and some other guy comes into the store and asks to return a firearm. We as an FFL dealer will return a firearm in full price with no restocking fee, the only thing we keep is the DROS fee. So the manager comes up, looks at the receipt and says, "im sorry this is not our gun, we cant refund you any money, this was a private party transfer." The guy yells, "You wont return the money? You will be hearing from my lawyers" and storms out of the store. The manager and him spent less then 15 seconds together. We then get a fax in the mail from the buyers "lawyer" who happens to have the same last name, and a simple search showed it was the guy he came into the store with.
The letter:
This letter basically said that there should be no 3rd parties and they bought an item from the store and therefor the store should pay them back in full since they were unable to obtain the property that is being held by the store. They expect a written response within 10 days explaining why the store is keeping their property and refuses to give back their money or legal litigation will ensue.
Enters me:
I call the guy and offer him back his money and explain that the item is now being sold new for $650 shipped and i would be able to do that for him, even though i always state all sales are final.
His stance:
I want my $800, you got my letter and read it im sure, so its $800 or litigation.
The fact of the matter is its now 8 months after the fact and now all of a sudden the guy wants his money back. I am merely looking for what other people would do in my shoes. While i may work at the FFL, we treated it no differently then if it was a PPT from someone else.
We even have multiple antique stores that use us for an FFL because they want to go through the transaction, and they all state sales are final as well. Also viewing gun broker and most dealers on there, sales are final, even for handguns that are not legal in the state and have to be shipped back.
His dad is apparently a lawyer, and threatened to take the dealer to court thinking the dealer was the one who his son bought the firearm from. Now they are insinuating they want to take legal action to get the money back.
My guess is that he got a felony DUI and "cant have a firearm" as he stated on the phone when i called him. Since they keep throwing out that they want to "take legal action" i almost want to dig in my heels and say screw them, but thats not the kind of person i am either.
I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks on this. I could probably get him his money within a few weeks, but i also feel i have no obligation to buy back the firearm.
I've been working at an FFL dealer for over 8 years and this one really has me stumped as to a fair agreement.
Thanks for any input offered!
For more information and clarification, i posted this a bit later today to clear things up.
This pretty much is the full story. The FFL we used for the transfer is the one that i work at. One of my coworkers new that i had some AR15's that i was looking to sell and so had me bring them to work so his friend could come check them out. The friend of my coworker is the guy that purchased my gun. I always tell everyone that sales are final, and if you cant own the gun it is up to you to re-sell the firearm. So for all intents and purposes the firearm is the buyers property, and he cant leave the store with the gun because of a DMV-reject.
8 months later, this guy that bought the gun and some other guy comes into the store and asks to return a firearm. We as an FFL dealer will return a firearm in full price with no restocking fee, the only thing we keep is the DROS fee. So the manager comes up, looks at the receipt and says, "im sorry this is not our gun, we cant refund you any money, this was a private party transfer." The guy yells, "You wont return the money? You will be hearing from my lawyers" and storms out of the store. The manager and him spent less then 15 seconds together. We then get a fax in the mail from the buyers "lawyer" who happens to have the same last name, and a simple search showed it was the guy he came into the store with.
The letter:
This letter basically said that there should be no 3rd parties and they bought an item from the store and therefor the store should pay them back in full since they were unable to obtain the property that is being held by the store. They expect a written response within 10 days explaining why the store is keeping their property and refuses to give back their money or legal litigation will ensue.
Enters me:
I call the guy and offer him back his money and explain that the item is now being sold new for $650 shipped and i would be able to do that for him, even though i always state all sales are final.
His stance:
I want my $800, you got my letter and read it im sure, so its $800 or litigation.
The fact of the matter is its now 8 months after the fact and now all of a sudden the guy wants his money back. I am merely looking for what other people would do in my shoes. While i may work at the FFL, we treated it no differently then if it was a PPT from someone else.
We even have multiple antique stores that use us for an FFL because they want to go through the transaction, and they all state sales are final as well. Also viewing gun broker and most dealers on there, sales are final, even for handguns that are not legal in the state and have to be shipped back.
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