Pay Penalty for Waiting > 10 Days??

[wsfarrell]

I did a PPT in Mountain View, but couldn't get back to pick it up until 13 days had passed. I was charged $5 a day for every day I was "late" ($15 penalty). I did the same thing on a PPT in San Carlos (I was 4 days "late"), and they never said a word.

This penalty strikes me as absurd. They make you wait 10 days, and if you pick it up ONE DAY later you have to pay a penalty? Is this legal?

[whatmeworry]

I assume that it was at Bay Area Gun Vault.

Last PPT I did there the paperwork was stamped IN RED with the terms of storage after the 10 days ($5 per day)

Legal - I think so...

Good business practice.....well you make the call.

[.22guy]

That would be the LAST 15 dollars I would ever spend in that place. And I would let them know that fact as well.

[Swatguy10_15]

Its legal, they can mandate fee's as they want for "storage" but..Yea time to find a new place to shop..Thats unheard of..Hello gouging 101..

[Mssr. Eleganté]

I did a PPT in Mountain View, but couldn't get back to pick it up until 13 days had passed. I was charged $5 a day for every day I was "late" ($15 penalty). I did the same thing on a PPT in San Carlos (I was 4 days "late"), and they never said a word.

This penalty strikes me as absurd. They make you wait 10 days, and if you pick it up ONE DAY later you have to pay a penalty? Is this legal?

PPT's are to FFL's in California very much like jury duty and military conscription are to American citizens. We don't like jury duty and we don't want to get drafted into the Army, but we all know that it's a part of citizenship and we suck it up and do our part.

Some "smart" folks have figured out ways of getting out of jury duty and the draft. Just wear a Dirty Harry t-shirt to jury duty and you won't get picked. Just flee to Canada as a "conscientious objector" or enroll at Oxford University in England until the war is over and you can avoid the draft.

In the same way, some "smart" FFL's in California have figured out ways to discourage people from attempting PPT's at their shops and push people over to other shops for PPT's. The $5 per day "storage" fee after 10 days is one of the ways the "smart" FFL's have come up with.

[kemasa]

There is short term thinking and long term thinking. Those "smart" folks are not all that bright and tend to annoy customers to the point of their not wanting to due business with them ever again and also have them tell others to avoid them, which can hurt the bottom line. That does not seem real positive nor bright to me.

Rather than view it as a negative, consider the fact that people are being forced to come into your business and perhaps they will buy something else and/or come back and buy a firearm from you. It is an opportunity for them to get to know you and you want that to be positive for future business.

As for jury duty, just ask about jury nullification :-).

[robairto]

I'd find a knick on the gun and ask to be compensated ... Two can play that game.

[Bowser]

I'd find a knick on the gun and ask to be compensated ... Two can play that game.

Being grumpy because a fee is legal and you don't want to pay is fine, go PPT somewhere else.

Fraudulently claiming a store messed up your gun so you can make a big stink about 15 bucks is retarded.

[Mssr. Eleganté]

Being grumpy because a fee is legal and you don't want to pay is fine, go PPT somewhere else.

That's the plan isn't it? Make the customer so grumpy that he goes to one of your competitors for the PPT? Make your competitor to do all of the PPT dirty work?

PPT's are a burden forced on the FFL community in California. Why not just suck it up and do your fare share of PPT's instead of forcing other FFL's to make up for your slacking?

[nicki]

PPT

Hardest part of any business is finding customers,

Dumbest thing a business can do is piss off potential customers and usually it is little things rather than big things that piss off customers.

Many people who go into stores buy something that they weren't planning on, but if you chase someone out of your store, they won't be buying anything from you.

Nicki

[rdubya]

As a customer I have done only a couple of PPT's. All were done at a neighborhood store. Each time I did I made sure that I bought ammo, mags, targets and other little things. The extra items all came to over $75.00. I felt that the dealer was helping me out why shouldn't I help him. I would like to pose 2 questions. First the fee charged for PPT is anywhere from $25.00 and up, exactly what does the FFL have to do besides use his FFL and paperwork? Second, on GunBroker, out of state FFL's, IF they will sell to Calif folks always add a fee "for the extra paper work involved for shipping to PRK". Is there any extra paperwork as opposed to say Arizona, Texas or any other state?

[djbooya]

BTW: BAGV (not that I'm knocking them) does the $5/day for regular FFL transfers too (not just PPTs).. I can see why though after talking to some other dealers (Cold War Shooters for instance). They clean out their safes monthly and find firearms where people have not come back for them. Even people who will have to restart DROS. You can imagine the position these dealers are put in. They legally have to hold your crap till whenever you decide to come get it.. it takes up space for their inventory and their active customers. While I personally don't agree with the fee, I understand why they do it. Any of you that to "doggy day care" or even regular child day care I'm sure can relate. I've heard that most day care places charges if you're late picking up your kid on the same fricken day. Why? Because they are officially closed and have to pay their employees overtime. Doing this a few time encourages people to be on time.

As for fees at gunstores. I probably wouldn't impose a fee unless the DROS lapsed. Legally the state gives the person 30 days, so I would think that's reasonable for the dealer as well.

Just my $.02 kind of looking at it from both sides.

[tenpercentfirearms]

The PPT PC language states no other fees, so I am not sure if the charge is actually legal.

I would ask where you were notified of that policy at the start of the 10 days. I would inform them that even though they made $15 now, you won't be using them again for anything ever.

[zinfull]

Outside of CA vendors charging extra for paperwork are charging to verify the CFLC. This is a crap charge as all they have to do is verify and printout authorization to ship. Takes a minute or two. This is another way to stop the shipment of guns into CA. Hassle the out of state vendors and small CA FFLs.

jerry

[kemasa]

What the out of state FFLs don't realized, until it is pointed out to them, is that if they refuse to ship to CA, then they are doing exactly what the anti-gun people want. Charging for the few seconds it takes to print the letter is just a joke. Again, I am sure that the anti-gun people love that as it annoys CA firearms buyers.