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After shopping around and reviewing many comments from YELP, I decide to buy my Sig Sauer P226 from gun this store.
The day I placed the order, they showed me a demo Sig P226 on the shelf, it was apparently not a new gun, I am a newbie and only shot rental guns at range, so all I did was just pulling slide, after confirming the dry fire is ok, did a few dry fires.
Then I placed the order, and told him very clear that I want another gun, not this demo one. The employee told me that I am going to get a 'new' gun. In the mean time, he promised to throw in a cleaning kit to sweet the deal.
10 days later, I went to pick up, there are so many people that day so I waited in line for over 20 minutes and was let go minutes after signing the final paperwork and the safety demonstration. Since sig P226 comes with only one high capacity magazine out of the box, so I left with a disassembled magazine (and I cannot re-assemble it because it's against the law) and they didn't even offer a swap or credit to offset this, they simply ask me to go anther store to buy a legal one or charge me $5 to block the additional capacity and , most importantly, they insist that $5 cannot be waived (damn, I just spent 1k dollar in your store). So I had to drive to another gun dealer and spend additional $55 to buy magazine that I can legally use.
Another big problem here is that a later call to SIG SAUER custom service actually confirmed that there are two magazines in the box, and one magazine is missed from my gun case.
I went home and disassembled the gun, it's by no means a 'new' gun. The crappy box has a label of 01-Feb-2010, the gun itself even has the hand writing price tag still attached, shows it's the demo gun that I told them I don't want. The rail and takedown lever have wearing out on it, and no where you can find the original sig sauer seal tag on the grip. I took some pictures to back my statement.
I didn't get the cleaning kit that day tho because it hasn't arrived yet, they ask me to wait two/three days. Since this is my first gun, I don't have any cleaning kit, and I was so eager try my new gun out, I called them three days later and ask if they have any cleaning kit arrived, they told me that the store they book the cleaning kit was back ordered, so the order was actually placed two days *after I picked up the gun*, and it would take another week or week and half to ship. The guy apparently became impatient and told me that they throw in the cleaning kit and I should be patient because it's 'free', if I need one badly, I should just go to another store to buy one, WTH?????
Since this gun has been DROSed, I know I cannot get a replacement, but the attitude and the way they treat customer make me really upset, I would definitely won't go to this store for my shotgun. Anybody knows where else I can go to formally complain this store (like BBB/YELP?) except the CalGun forum?
Update 06/12/2011:
-------------------
Called the store and talked to a lady, she told me that she will let the ppl know what's going on and they will come here (CG) to take a look the discussion.
She is polite but basically repeated what you guys said here, the gun serial has to be put on DROS and if I want a new gun, I have to tell them on the day of purchase. Since they don't back stock guns, so it would take two weeks to order a new gun and start the DROS after it is arrived. (This actually means that she admitted that I got a display gun.)
I ask her that why you didn't tell me this on the day of my purchase? And still sell me the gun that I told you that I don't want it? She told me she needs to talk to the owner of the store and get back to me by the end of the week.
Finger crossed...
Update 06/12/2011:
-------------------
I missed a call from the store manager yesterday 20min after i spoke to the lady, he left me a message and politely asked me to call back when i get a chance. Not sure if he is aware of all discussion happened here, hopefully I don't have to repeat them. They close on Monday and Tuesday, so I will call them on Wednesday and let you guys know the progress.
Update 06/14/2011:
-------------------
Called SIG SAUER today, gave the P226 serial number, they told me that there should be two mags in the box. If one is missing out, the dealer is supposed to contact the SIG sales representative to get another one.
So there are two mags in box, the question is where is the other one?
Update 06/16/2011:
-------------------
Yesterday, I had a half hour talk with the store manager over the phone. Long store short: no any progress by any means.
The store manager is a polite gentleman, he admitted that there are some inappropriate handling of the purchasing. He told me that if there is no fault in store side, then there would have been no this conversation at all, but I should take some responsibilities for the whole thing (which I won't deny). He has talked with several employees in the store and he is fully aware of the whole discussion in this thread. He said he understand my frustration but there is nothing he can do.
He told me that once the gun left the store, it became my property and by store policy *and state of CA policy (law)*, the store cannot swap/replace a DROSed gun, which will be considered as 'buying back' a used gun even if I never shoot this after it left the store.
Then I asked about the missing mag problem, he told me he would make a call to SIG SAUER after this conversion (I am not sure if SIG SAUER CS still open after 6:30 pacific time, but whatever) and get back to me when he finds out anything.
So I backed down a little bit and asked since the swapping of gun is a non-starter, so how about giving me some store credits for next purchase, he told me he will *not* be able to give me any store credit. Let's put aside the 'new' and 'used' gun problem, after admitting somehow wrong doing and causing customer so much trouble and time I see no faithful apologizing gesture from this store.
Finally, he asked me to give him two more days to do some research and see if there is any other way around, and after that, I can do what I have to do. I seriously doubt any progress can be made afterwards, although personally he is doing his best to comfort me. He wants two days, let's give him two days.
Update 6/16/2011
-----------------
No update from the store about the missing mag today although the store manager promised to find out immediately yesterday.
Good news is that I received mags from the friend I made here, he is really generous. To my surprise, when I open the box, I saw *two* Germany made SIG P226 mags, not one. What a gentleman. I am going to send him back a greeting card tomorrow to express my appreciation. This really made me happy.
Update 6/19/2011
-----------------
No any update from the dealer at all after three days has passed: no word about whether they can replace the gun, nothing about why a magazine is missing at all and nothing at all about the cleaning kit. I am so disappointed, they left me no choices but to give the store name. Later I will comment this on YELP and reference the link of the entire discussion here. Hopefully people searching for gun store for their first gun purchase can learn something from me and won't be fooled by store's YELP rating.
Also sent out a small but delicate China artwork as a gift to the CG friend to express my appreciation of his generous yesterday.
Update 6/23/2011
------------------
Finally the entire thing has a happy end.
Notified by the store today that the mag and cleaning kit they ordered for me arrived. I drove to the store and have a F2F conversation with the store manager, they do apologize for the inconvenience they cause and I accepted the apology. We also clarified the misunderstanding between me and the store. At the end we shake hands and decide to be cool about the whole thing.
I learned a lesson from this and so did the store. But the most important thing we learned is that an effective communication makes huge difference. I decide to wrap up the entire thing, and will stop updating the thread.
The day I placed the order, they showed me a demo Sig P226 on the shelf, it was apparently not a new gun, I am a newbie and only shot rental guns at range, so all I did was just pulling slide, after confirming the dry fire is ok, did a few dry fires.
Then I placed the order, and told him very clear that I want another gun, not this demo one. The employee told me that I am going to get a 'new' gun. In the mean time, he promised to throw in a cleaning kit to sweet the deal.
10 days later, I went to pick up, there are so many people that day so I waited in line for over 20 minutes and was let go minutes after signing the final paperwork and the safety demonstration. Since sig P226 comes with only one high capacity magazine out of the box, so I left with a disassembled magazine (and I cannot re-assemble it because it's against the law) and they didn't even offer a swap or credit to offset this, they simply ask me to go anther store to buy a legal one or charge me $5 to block the additional capacity and , most importantly, they insist that $5 cannot be waived (damn, I just spent 1k dollar in your store). So I had to drive to another gun dealer and spend additional $55 to buy magazine that I can legally use.
Another big problem here is that a later call to SIG SAUER custom service actually confirmed that there are two magazines in the box, and one magazine is missed from my gun case.
I went home and disassembled the gun, it's by no means a 'new' gun. The crappy box has a label of 01-Feb-2010, the gun itself even has the hand writing price tag still attached, shows it's the demo gun that I told them I don't want. The rail and takedown lever have wearing out on it, and no where you can find the original sig sauer seal tag on the grip. I took some pictures to back my statement.
I didn't get the cleaning kit that day tho because it hasn't arrived yet, they ask me to wait two/three days. Since this is my first gun, I don't have any cleaning kit, and I was so eager try my new gun out, I called them three days later and ask if they have any cleaning kit arrived, they told me that the store they book the cleaning kit was back ordered, so the order was actually placed two days *after I picked up the gun*, and it would take another week or week and half to ship. The guy apparently became impatient and told me that they throw in the cleaning kit and I should be patient because it's 'free', if I need one badly, I should just go to another store to buy one, WTH?????
Since this gun has been DROSed, I know I cannot get a replacement, but the attitude and the way they treat customer make me really upset, I would definitely won't go to this store for my shotgun. Anybody knows where else I can go to formally complain this store (like BBB/YELP?) except the CalGun forum?
Update 06/12/2011:
-------------------
Called the store and talked to a lady, she told me that she will let the ppl know what's going on and they will come here (CG) to take a look the discussion.
She is polite but basically repeated what you guys said here, the gun serial has to be put on DROS and if I want a new gun, I have to tell them on the day of purchase. Since they don't back stock guns, so it would take two weeks to order a new gun and start the DROS after it is arrived. (This actually means that she admitted that I got a display gun.)
I ask her that why you didn't tell me this on the day of my purchase? And still sell me the gun that I told you that I don't want it? She told me she needs to talk to the owner of the store and get back to me by the end of the week.
Finger crossed...
Update 06/12/2011:
-------------------
I missed a call from the store manager yesterday 20min after i spoke to the lady, he left me a message and politely asked me to call back when i get a chance. Not sure if he is aware of all discussion happened here, hopefully I don't have to repeat them. They close on Monday and Tuesday, so I will call them on Wednesday and let you guys know the progress.
Update 06/14/2011:
-------------------
Called SIG SAUER today, gave the P226 serial number, they told me that there should be two mags in the box. If one is missing out, the dealer is supposed to contact the SIG sales representative to get another one.
So there are two mags in box, the question is where is the other one?
Update 06/16/2011:
-------------------
Yesterday, I had a half hour talk with the store manager over the phone. Long store short: no any progress by any means.
The store manager is a polite gentleman, he admitted that there are some inappropriate handling of the purchasing. He told me that if there is no fault in store side, then there would have been no this conversation at all, but I should take some responsibilities for the whole thing (which I won't deny). He has talked with several employees in the store and he is fully aware of the whole discussion in this thread. He said he understand my frustration but there is nothing he can do.
He told me that once the gun left the store, it became my property and by store policy *and state of CA policy (law)*, the store cannot swap/replace a DROSed gun, which will be considered as 'buying back' a used gun even if I never shoot this after it left the store.
Then I asked about the missing mag problem, he told me he would make a call to SIG SAUER after this conversion (I am not sure if SIG SAUER CS still open after 6:30 pacific time, but whatever) and get back to me when he finds out anything.
So I backed down a little bit and asked since the swapping of gun is a non-starter, so how about giving me some store credits for next purchase, he told me he will *not* be able to give me any store credit. Let's put aside the 'new' and 'used' gun problem, after admitting somehow wrong doing and causing customer so much trouble and time I see no faithful apologizing gesture from this store.
Finally, he asked me to give him two more days to do some research and see if there is any other way around, and after that, I can do what I have to do. I seriously doubt any progress can be made afterwards, although personally he is doing his best to comfort me. He wants two days, let's give him two days.
Update 6/16/2011
-----------------
No update from the store about the missing mag today although the store manager promised to find out immediately yesterday.
Good news is that I received mags from the friend I made here, he is really generous. To my surprise, when I open the box, I saw *two* Germany made SIG P226 mags, not one. What a gentleman. I am going to send him back a greeting card tomorrow to express my appreciation. This really made me happy.
Update 6/19/2011
-----------------
No any update from the dealer at all after three days has passed: no word about whether they can replace the gun, nothing about why a magazine is missing at all and nothing at all about the cleaning kit. I am so disappointed, they left me no choices but to give the store name. Later I will comment this on YELP and reference the link of the entire discussion here. Hopefully people searching for gun store for their first gun purchase can learn something from me and won't be fooled by store's YELP rating.
Also sent out a small but delicate China artwork as a gift to the CG friend to express my appreciation of his generous yesterday.
Update 6/23/2011
------------------
Finally the entire thing has a happy end.
Notified by the store today that the mag and cleaning kit they ordered for me arrived. I drove to the store and have a F2F conversation with the store manager, they do apologize for the inconvenience they cause and I accepted the apology. We also clarified the misunderstanding between me and the store. At the end we shake hands and decide to be cool about the whole thing.
I learned a lesson from this and so did the store. But the most important thing we learned is that an effective communication makes huge difference. I decide to wrap up the entire thing, and will stop updating the thread.
) and otherwise used by multitudes of strangers. I have more than once walked out of a store when they tried hard to push the display piece on me. My money, my rules.
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