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It has been awhile since I posted, but in many previous posts I said I was moving to Southern California. That has now occurred. On the way here I stopped by a storage place in a nearby state and secured all of my California non-compliant firearms and magazines. If you recall, I'm not a California resident, and never will be during my time in the state.
Fast forward to November, and Biden wins the election. As if buying guns, ammo, magazines wasn't already an ordeal due to COVID-19, I decided to jump into the mess and buy all the standard capacity magazines I wanted for guns and gun builds I already have frames for. The result was 128 magazines retailing at over $2,500. I had all of them shipped to a family member's home, whom also happens to live near to where my firearms are being stored. Now, before anybody gets upset at the quantity of magazines I ordered, understand I didn't horde a bunch of AR-15 magazines. My order was diverse and specific. I will not be reselling these to make a quick buck. That's not how I operate. I was simply concerned that if I didn't buy everything now I won't be able to when the time comes to complete the build.
I found more mainstream companies are limiting the number of specific magazines a customer can buy in order make sure as many people as possible have access to standard capacity magazines. That's understandable, and admirable, to a point. Therefore, I remained compliant with their rules and sought to complete my purchases elsewhere when I was unable to obtain what I wanted through a specific company. In all, I ended up placing orders with 9 companies. However, this process did run into some complications. That is what this thread is about.
The first I ran into was with a well-known company called Primary Arms. I initially placed an order with them on Nov 10th. On Nov 17th I sent them an email asking what the status of my order was. Their reply was as follows:
As you can see, their issue was with my billing address (which is in California), not my shipping address (which is not in California). This was not due to state law, but company policy as claimed in a future communication with me.
I then took my order to another company, Able Ammo. That company canceled my order without communicating with me. I was within full compliance of their requirements. When I contacted them to inquire about my order being canceled they apologized and said that if I placed my order with them, and put a specific comment in the order, then they'd make sure their fraud department didn't cancel my order. At least in this case Able Ammo was willing to work with me to correct the problem and complete my order. However, I opted to not attempt another order with them for 2 reasons. 1) I didn't want a repeat scenario of the first order, and 2) I found the exact same item at another retailer for considerably cheaper.
With the exception of Brownells, all the other orders processed and shipped quickly. Brownell was concerned about a fraud issue due to different billing and shipping addresses, but they attempted to contact me first by email, then by calling me directly, to ensure everything was okay and my credit card wasn't being used fraudulently. Imo, Primary Arms and Able Ammo should use Brownells' handling of the situation as a template for handling these types of cases. Again, at least Able Ammo was willing to work with me to fix the problem. Primary Arms pretty much gave me the middle finger.
I've lived in Chicagoland, Philadelphia, Virginia, and other places throughout the country with varying levels of laws that violate civil rights, but never to the degree Californians have prior to this incident. It is frustrating that a California billing address makes some people treat you like a 2nd class citizen in this country. I don't get a say in California politics, and never will, but I'm now suffering the results of decades of bad politics. I'm with you guys, and hope we can get things straightened out in the near future. You guys truly are in a bad spot out here.
Anyways, sorry for the lengthy post. I'll shut up now.
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
Fast forward to November, and Biden wins the election. As if buying guns, ammo, magazines wasn't already an ordeal due to COVID-19, I decided to jump into the mess and buy all the standard capacity magazines I wanted for guns and gun builds I already have frames for. The result was 128 magazines retailing at over $2,500. I had all of them shipped to a family member's home, whom also happens to live near to where my firearms are being stored. Now, before anybody gets upset at the quantity of magazines I ordered, understand I didn't horde a bunch of AR-15 magazines. My order was diverse and specific. I will not be reselling these to make a quick buck. That's not how I operate. I was simply concerned that if I didn't buy everything now I won't be able to when the time comes to complete the build.
I found more mainstream companies are limiting the number of specific magazines a customer can buy in order make sure as many people as possible have access to standard capacity magazines. That's understandable, and admirable, to a point. Therefore, I remained compliant with their rules and sought to complete my purchases elsewhere when I was unable to obtain what I wanted through a specific company. In all, I ended up placing orders with 9 companies. However, this process did run into some complications. That is what this thread is about.
The first I ran into was with a well-known company called Primary Arms. I initially placed an order with them on Nov 10th. On Nov 17th I sent them an email asking what the status of my order was. Their reply was as follows:
We are unable to ship your order as it sits currently. Magazines with a capacity of greater than 10 rounds are restricted in California, where your*billing address*is listed. The*billing address*must be in a non-restricted state in addition to the shipping address in order for us to send those magazines. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. If you would like to me to change you*billing address*or amend or cancel your order, let me know so I can get you squared away.
We apologize we could not assist you due to company policy. I have canceled your order and reversed the authorization on your card, please let me know if I may be of further assistance.
With the exception of Brownells, all the other orders processed and shipped quickly. Brownell was concerned about a fraud issue due to different billing and shipping addresses, but they attempted to contact me first by email, then by calling me directly, to ensure everything was okay and my credit card wasn't being used fraudulently. Imo, Primary Arms and Able Ammo should use Brownells' handling of the situation as a template for handling these types of cases. Again, at least Able Ammo was willing to work with me to fix the problem. Primary Arms pretty much gave me the middle finger.
I've lived in Chicagoland, Philadelphia, Virginia, and other places throughout the country with varying levels of laws that violate civil rights, but never to the degree Californians have prior to this incident. It is frustrating that a California billing address makes some people treat you like a 2nd class citizen in this country. I don't get a say in California politics, and never will, but I'm now suffering the results of decades of bad politics. I'm with you guys, and hope we can get things straightened out in the near future. You guys truly are in a bad spot out here.
Anyways, sorry for the lengthy post. I'll shut up now.
Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
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