What the hell is wrong with gun stores?

[Cokebottle]

I was very happy with Dave's in Berdoo. That's where I picked up my XD9 Service in '07. $30 for DROS, $25 for HSC, $625 OTD
Very helpful, no BS, no ignoring me, answered all questions, didn't try to talk me out of the XD, even when I showed interest in a 1911.

They don't allow Wolf ammo on the range.

[Vanguard]

I stopped by the Ammo Brothers off the 15 today on my way back from Bass Pro Shops. They were pretty busy but as I was buzzed in, one of the guys at the counter greeted us (my wife was with me) in a friendly manner. As I was looking around, two seperate times someone asked me if I needed any help or wanted to look at anything. The staff was very cool and friendly. I only ended up buying some cleaning patches though.

+100 for Ammo Bros.


Edit: Oh, and they weren't spreading any FUD. I overheard a guy was asking a bunch of questions about an AR and the Ammo Bros guys were giving him all the correct info.

[smle-man]

Went to Red Star Arms in Culver City long time ago. Asked to see a rifle. Clerk said it would cost me $20 to look at it. I waited for him to laugh and hand the rifle over. He was serious. Told me that the store was tired of tire kickers handling their firearms and not buying anything. Guess what? I didn't buy anything. I didn't go back in the store either. They're out of business. Wonder if the attitude had anything to do with it?

[etaon]

I've had some good and bad experiences at gun stores (mostly good actually). One thing I've noticed that seems to be very common is I'll go in, stand there for a while with no one helping me, as I try and stare at them or get their attention. I'm not counting when they were helping other customers, they just didn't really seem to be doing anything.

For people who work at gun stores: take 2 seconds to tell the customer you'll be right with him and finish up what you're doing (if anything).

[Sky_DiveR]

I've had some good and bad experiences at gun stores (mostly good actually). One thing I've noticed that seems to be very common is I'll go in, stand there for a while with no one helping me, as I try and stare at them or get their attention. I'm not counting when they were helping other customers, they just didn't really seem to be doing anything.

For people who work at gun stores: take 2 seconds to tell the customer you'll be right with him and finish up what you're doing (if anything).

That seems to be the current SOP. I'd go into a gunshop and just stand there or look at the guns thru the glass case... sometimes they help other people that walk up after me or they just walk around me and don't say a word. The ONLY gunshop that doesn't do that is, "The Gun Room" in Elk Grove... imagine that!

Wonder why I buy my guns PPT or out of state. Hmmmmm....

[tuna quesadilla]

Try this number.

714-744-3373
10am-6pm M-F

I think you'll find good customer service there.

Good customer service? Maybe, on a good day. Good prices? Heck no. :\

[Beelzy]

It'd be one thing if I was asking "SUP CUZ, I'M LOOKING TO GET A FOUR FIVE, WHAT YOU GOT IN STOCK SON?"

I'll bet you that would have actually worked.

I look like an A-hole, so I rarely get crap like that. But those rare times I do, I hand it right back with a fork.

[Fire in the Hole]

I find the same indifferent attitudes at many of the booths at the big gun shows like Crossroads of the West. Typically the booth owner is busy talking to his wife, or another assistent he has at his booth, and not really paying much attention to you. They consider what they have to sale to be priceless, and what you have to sale or trade to be junk. Very elitist attitudes. I now make all my firearm and accessory purchases at Scheels in Sparks, NV. Sure have to pay to have it shipped to a FFL here, but it's worth it. All the guns are right out there in the sales floor. Not cable locks running through them. You can pick them up and smell them all you want. The sales staff is about thte neatest cleanest and helpful sales people I've ever met. Knowleable too. Excellent prices, no gouging. Hughe selection. If they don't have want you want, they call their central inventory and get it ordered for you pronto.

[PonchoTA]

Every gun store I have ever visited in California has sucked balls.

The guys behind the counter have always been non-helpful, lairs, and insulting. What's new?

Try Uncle Paul's then

I've had nothing but great experiences with Paul and Eric both.



.

[Rob454]

II'll go in, stand there for a while with no one helping me, as I try and stare at them or get their attention. I'm not counting when they were helping other customers, they just didn't really seem to be doing anything.

For people who work at gun stores: take 2 seconds to tell the customer you'll be right with him and finish up what you're doing (if anything).

I used to do that. Wait till someone finally saw me standing there like a idiot came back from laughing with all their buddies from the back room ( probably taking bets how long they could make me wait)
Now if I see they're not doing anything then I simply say hey can I get some help here. Or hey let me see this gun. Some are shocked by my talking to them so they either snap to or they mumble and run in the back with some i gotta finish up with this customer ( no customer in sight and the phone hasn't rung)
I get tired of the elitist attitudes and I usually tell them off. I personally could care less and actually root for those places to go out of business. yeah we need FFL's bla bla bla. Sure I agree we need FFL and gun stores but these elitist attitude gun stores hurt us more than help us. I rather have fewer gun stores who know what theire doing than a ton of gun stores with elitist attitudes and fud spreading counter people. One bad experience at a gun store for a new gun owner usually turns that customer off from gun stores so they dont buy. MOST people tend to shop in their neighborhood stores so you will get local walk in traffic and if you treat that person right guess what. they will come back to shop there again. I know its baffling. Imagine treating a customer right and them coming back to buy from you again. It costs 3x as much to get a new customer than it takes to get a existing one to shop there again. A new customer may buy one gun and maybe some ammo from you while a existing one will buy another gun more ammo and accessories and probably order crap through you too simply because you make him feel good by the way you treat him. Granted you treat him like crap you not only lost a customer but theire gonna tell all their gun owner buddies abotu your crap attitude and they tell their buddies etc.

Gun store employees. If you don't know the laws STFU OR LEARN the laws and give out correct information rather than what you wish/want to be the information or what you choose to interpret the information to be. You're not a lawyer so don't act like one. Most people walking into your gun store have not one clue about the laws and they believe you ( the "expert" behind the counter)
Also if a customer walks in GREET them. NOTHING turns me off from a purchase than standing at a counter WATCHING you fart around doing nothing like I'm not even there. I dont mind waiting a reasonable amount of time but when you just flat out ignore me i get pissed.
When I have a customer walk up to me I either stop what Im doing or acknowledge theire there finish up ASAP and they get my UNDIVIDED attention.

To the gun store employees that know what they're talking about

Thank you for keeping our sport or hobby something we can still enjoy by keeping your doors open and treating us like family when we walk in the door.
There are a few shops I go to ( Ade's and Ammo Bros On Target)
There are other stores in my area but I simply dont go there due to the crappy elitist attitudes.

[1GooDDaDDy]

[okimreloaded]

I called one gun store in sac yesterday to ask about getting a gun from a gunstore in another county shipped up to them. IT's an off list pps - I found out it must be face to face transfer -however I found that out on CALGUNS as none of the stores knew that.

Second, the guy told me, "yeah you can have them ship it up here, I think, unfortunately since you can buy the same guns from us it's a conflict of interest and our fees are prohibitively high for transfers, you'd be better off just ordering the gun from us."

I was frustrated because for one, he clearly had no idea what he was talking about and two - didn't want to help me. I just looked up a small ffl in the area who said he would CALL THE DOJ FOR ME and find out how to do the transfer and would only charge me 65 for the transfer opposed to the 100. Next gun I get, I'm just going to see if he can order it up for me. I'd pay more knowing it was going to a guy who would find out if he didn't know the answer.

[Dangerpin]

Which gun store in Sac, so I can avoid them?

[Cokebottle]

Second, the guy told me, "yeah you can have them ship it up here, I think, unfortunately since you can buy the same guns from us it's a conflict of interest and our fees are prohibitively high for transfers, you'd be better off just ordering the gun from us."

I had something similar from Turner's in Chino Hills, though not in such an a-hole way.

I asked if they did FFL from online sales, and she said that they did, but their FFL fee is $125+DROS+Tax, so it would be smart to compare local pricing vs online pricing.

Okay, that's fine. She didn't specifically recommend that I buy from them to avoid the FFL fee, she just recommended factoring that into the difference (though she didn't recognize the legality of the BB).
And that's cool, and Turner's FFL is pretty high. My buddy brought in a Ruger 556 through a shop in Newport for something like $60 total FFL and DROS.

[Scratch705]

only reason a lot of FFL's charge very high transfer fees is to "punish" you for not buying from them, and to make money for almost doing nothing.

find FFL's that charge normal rates which is usually around the $50-70 range from what i've called around and emailed near me.