Completely unprofessional behavior at Turners in Orange

[UserM4]

This is absolutely NOT a straw purchase and the employee of Turners should be reprimanded. Without knowing the law completely, he began to scold you like a child, as if he was a person of authority, which he is not. Most likely he was compensating for his lack of self worth, working as a lowly clerk at a gun store. Probably made himself feel taller while suffering from Napolean Complex.

[Rukus]

FWIW you can contact Rob Zubek (Director of Sales) via the email listed on the Turners webpage under the "Contact Us" link.

I've sent an email regarding the idiots working at their Kearny Mesa store before and the lack of knowledge and help they gave during a PPT I did there.

I actually received an email thanking me for my concerns and for bringing the issue to attention.

[Asrielja]

Am i the only that gets the feeling like they seen this Original Post before? I could have sworn ive seen this same exact story a few months back here in the forum....

Anyways, its probably just me, that sucks that it happened to you, i recently had a bad experience at a local gun shop in Corona. The owner there pretty much went out of his way to make me feel like i was wasting his time. I had ask for a specific gun, I gave him my name and number as he asked me to, to let me know when said gun got to his shop(it was supposed to arrive in a few weeks) and i was pretty much blown off.

Im not gonna name the place only because ive shopped there before and had great service, and i feel like that was a one time situation, but it still left me kind of hurt, like my business wasnt wanted there.

[Pryde]

+1
The OP behavior triggered the sales rep reaction. OP acted exactly like the typical straw purchaser: got in the store with the seller and a woman who is not his lawful wife as the buyer, she filled in the paperwork and he tried to pay for the gun purchased with the money from his pocket. All this could have been easily avoided if the OP had the common sense to hand the seller the payment outside the store, or had the fiancee carry the cash from the bank all the way to the store and let her pay for the gun from her own pocket.
I applaud the Turners sales guy for pulling the plug on the transaction. I may not agree with the language that was used (probably the OP has his share of fault to that), but the call the sales rep made was absolutely correct.

Agree completely, 99% of the time a straw purchase is made in this exact same manner. Guy (who is usually a felon or other prohibited person) gives his wife/girlfriend money to buy him a gun DROSed under her name. The employee made the right call.

You need to look beyond yourself and appreciate the fact that there are scrupulous people in the firearms retail industry who won't turn a blind eye to a suspicious transaction to make a quick buck.

[hawk81]

Call turners corporate office and get a hold of Bill Ortiz. You need to let him know what happened and file a formal complaint to him. Usually something happens in your favor, or at least someone will get written up or fired. I know this because I have had to do this more than once and it does work.

[bombadillo]

You should just write a letter to corporate. Go in the store, get the names of the individuals you had to deal with, and write a long in-depth letter of how you were accosted and humiliated in front of people by the escalating situation and being screamed at. That is literally lawsuit material and if you were doing things the right way, (i'm assuming you were and not making a straw purchase) there is no call for any kind of public shame like that. Seriously a couple of letters to the big wigs makes a big difference especially if they smell lawsuit in it at all. This kind of behavior is absurd and I would seriously be pissed off if this were me. If I treated somebody in this fashion at my work, I would be written up, or potentially even fired.

I had a woman who was just coming at me and trying to get me to extend a prescription for her one time and I told her no, I can lose my licenses for doing things like that. She went off and started screaming at me that I'm an F'ing moron and I could do it if I want but I was just being a D**k and that she's gonna go over my head. I looked at her (I was by myself) and said if you're going to verbally abuse me, you can wait the next hour till somebody else shows up and they can tell you the same thing. I walked away and sat in the break room until a manager came in and grabbed me. He was all pissed off until I told him its against the state laws to do what she was asking and he wanted me to do it anyway. I told him no and its not my place to take verbal abuse. I took the prescription and stamped EXPIRED across it in big black ink and handed it back to her while she continued to cuss and scream. I just smiled and told her have a great day!

Moral is tread people how they want to be treated, and write a long letter to corporate.

[eaglemike]

I'm having trouble believing some of the responses typed here. There is no excuse for unprofessional behavior. Period. If an employee can't handle themselves in a professional manner, they should be re-trained. If it still happens - bye bye. No excuse.

We all should recognize there's a fair number of jackwads working in gun stores. That's why these threads keep coming up. That doesn't make it ok for them to go on a power trip when they get a chance. I've had people lecture me (they were wrong) about products I manufactured when they didn't know who I was. Yes, this was in a gun store a few years ago.

I worked for an FFL. When we thought there might be a straw purchase, we just said we couldn't sell them the firearm. No need for a rant.

There's a few stores that we never see in these threads. I wonder why.....

Somehow the original version of a straw purchase (see ATF letters) has gotten expanded. Straw purchase used to mean buying for a prohibited person. Sometimes we are our own worst enemy........

[compulsivegunbuyer]

wow what a pos that guy is. I would've shut him up. got his name and end his job there. Completely not cool...

As soon as someone starts yelling, I start yelling back. I would have asked for the manager immediatly, and asked him to call Turners Corperate so I could confirm with the brass that this is standard procedure for dealing with customers. If he won't call, I'll call, and ask them to call the store and mediate the problem. If it were an employee of mine, and he yelled at a customer, I would tear him a new ******* and send him packing right there and then.

[CSACANNONEER]

The employee made the right call.

You need to look beyond yourself and appreciate the fact that there are scrupulous people in the firearms retail industry who won't turn a blind eye to a suspicious transaction to make a quick buck.

Did you read the first post? The OP had no problem with being politely told that the store would not do the PPT. It was the meathod used to inform him of that fact along with the threats that were the issue. Besides that, the employee obviously did not make the right call. He made a call that no one here will fault him for but, in this instance, it obviously was the wrong call coupled with inappropriate behavior.

[Pryde]

Did you read the first post? The OP had no problem with being politely told that the store would not do the PPT. It was the meathod used to inform him of that fact along with the threats that were the issue. Besides that, the employee obviously did not make the right call. He made a call that no one here will fault him for but, in this instance, it obviously was the wrong call coupled with inappropriate behavior.

Yes I read it, my response was only regarding the issue of paying for his g/f's gun.

I take what I hear on the internet with a grain of salt. I don't know the OP but it sounds highly improbable that the guy would start yelling at him for no reason unless he escalated it also. But really I don't care because I am only commenting on the facts (PPT was denied) and not what allegedly happened between them.

Please explain how he made the wrong call? Are you telling me that if you were the FFL and you saw this happen you wouldn't say anything about it? What if the guy giving the money to his girlfriend was a minority with visible gang-style tattoos?

[mmurdock77]

There doesn't appear to be many decent gun shops available in socal. Are there any that the majority of calguns members endorse?

Straitline Tactical in Anaheim.
Don is extremely down to earth and in my experience goes the extra mile for his customers.
+1 for Straitline.

[Patriot Man]

Forgive me if I am wrong and correct me, but isn't a straw purchase when someone knowingly buys a gun for someone who is illegally unable to (ie felon)?

I believe you are correct- except it applies to a prohibited person also. You should be able to pay for a gun for your spouse and vice versa to my knowledge. Just got on the website for "Don't lie for the other guy" and it basically says making a purchase for another person who is a prohibited person (can't legally buy that gun) or who does not want to make the purchase in their name. Don't want to quote it for fear of copyright issues (which are confusing at best so don't like to chance it), so look up under "Don't Lie for the other guy".

[macey109]

why you going there when Ade's is around the block? Ade's knows the law and operates accordingly. The only time I ever go to Turner's is if they have an unbelievable sale (ie USC for 1299-took mine out yesterday with my T1!

[aermotor]

Turners: Where the Amateurs Work

God I really hate having to go to Turners most of the time. That guys sounds like a flipping pos jag off. Go back, get his name and call corporate or something. He's a flipping moron.

[mmurdock77]

why you going there when Ade's is around the block? Ade's knows the law and operates accordingly. The only time I ever go to Turner's is if they have an unbelievable sale (ie USC for 1299-took mine out yesterday with my T1!

I saw this deal and kicked myself for not jumping on it.
How is it?
I've always wanted to shoot one, but they usually list for about 16, which is way to rich for my blood.