In defense of gun stores

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I have read posts lately knocking gun shops for not being very helpful lately, especially with phone calls.
We need to be a little more understanding with the shops.

I can tell you that every shop that I have been to since the Sandy Hook incident has been packed to the gills with customers. Many are buying and many more are tire kickers. These shops are usually not staffed to handle such demand for guns and gun related gear. I know that there is a small mom and pop store down the street from where I live. He operates out of his garage. Before Sandy Hook I would go there and there was always 2 or 3 other customers. Every day since Sandy Hook his dead end street is packed with cars and there is a line out the door waiting to get in. EVERY DAY!! He runs this shop with his wife and son and 1 part time cashier. I can definately understand that he is no longer as helpful on the phone as he used to be. He also does one hell of a job trying to keep up with the demand. Phone callers tend to be price shopping more than anything....he just doesn't have the time to waste on that.

I think that we all need to be a little more understanding of the incredible pressure that these shops are under. Not only are they unbelievably busy selling but they are equally busy trying to hunt down more inventory to sell. Inventory that just is not easy to find these days.

Let's cut them a little slack here.
 
I have read posts lately knocking gun shops for not being very helpful lately, especially with phone calls.
We need to be a little more understanding with the shops.

I can tell you that every shop that I have been to since the Sandy Hook incident has been packed to the gills with customers. Many are buying and many more are tire kickers. These shops are usually not staffed to handle such demand for guns and gun related gear. I know that there is a small mom and pop store down the street from where I live. He operates out of his garage. Before Sandy Hook I would go there and there was always 2 or 3 other customers. Every day since Sandy Hook his dead end street is packed with cars and there is a line out the door waiting to get in. EVERY DAY!! He runs this shop with his wife and son and 1 part time cashier. I can definately understand that he is no longer as helpful on the phone as he used to be. He also does one hell of a job trying to keep up with the demand. Phone callers tend to be price shopping more than anything....he just doesn't have the time to waste on that.

I think that we all need to be a little more understanding of the incredible pressure that these shops are under. Not only are they unbelievably busy selling but they are equally busy trying to hunt down more inventory to sell. Inventory that just is not easy to find these days.

Let's cut them a little slack here.

+ 1 Rich!!

Great post and if you check you will see most of the people complaining are new to NES.
 
I have read posts lately knocking gun shops for not being very helpful lately, especially with phone calls.
We need to be a little more understanding with the shops.

I can tell you that every shop that I have been to since the Sandy Hook incident has been packed to the gills with customers. Many are buying and many more are tire kickers. These shops are usually not staffed to handle such demand for guns and gun related gear. I know that there is a small mom and pop store down the street from where I live. He operates out of his garage. Before Sandy Hook I would go there and there was always 2 or 3 other customers. Every day since Sandy Hook his dead end street is packed with cars and there is a line out the door waiting to get in. EVERY DAY!! He runs this shop with his wife and son and 1 part time cashier. I can definately understand that he is no longer as helpful on the phone as he used to be. He also does one hell of a job trying to keep up with the demand. Phone callers tend to be price shopping more than anything....he just doesn't have the time to waste on that.

I think that we all need to be a little more understanding of the incredible pressure that these shops are under. Not only are they unbelievably busy selling but they are equally busy trying to hunt down more inventory to sell. Inventory that just is not easy to find these days.

Let's cut them a little slack here.

You talking about HOF?? Or is there someone else doing something similar? I've found that some shops have a person answering the phone, expect when called out to be behind the counter (to help out). 2nd Amendment is like that. I called back when I was looking to get an AR (had money to spend) and got through to a nice woman who told me what they had in stock. I drove over to Windham and made a purchase. It wasn't that bad inside when I got there (maybe one or two other customers at the time) but it was pretty well packed by the time I left (with my AR).

I think you'll start seeing more relaxed customers/dealers now. Hopefully stock will continue to ship in better numbers (as production is increased).

BTW, both HOF and 2nd A are NOT raping customers on prices. HOF is a small shop, and he's just getting enough to cover his replacement cost of items, plus make a reasonable amount (low overhead helps).
 
true that, my brother in az. tells me the same is going on down there, no ammo, all the local shops are slammed. no inventory or parts either.
 
good for them i hope they find the inventory to sell, just because

there are crowds doesn't mean things are good if they have nothing to

sell. i'm not a panic buyer, went thru this with primers, when things

settled out i bought what i needed.
 
Complaints on this forum about customer service at gun shops goes far back before Sandy Hook or Obama. I've been treated like shit at Collectors for at least 10 years now...

I think part of the problem might stem from the fact that MANY FFLs got into the business as a way to fund their hobby, not to create a successful business, and they operate as such. You can't expect Al's Reel and Gun to operate like Bass Pro.
 
HOF is another good example of someone doing things right. It's not his full time deal (yet), so his hours are not like other shops. He's open some mornings during the week, and on Saturday (all day, most of the time). He's also more than willing to help people out with things like changing out parts on an AR. [smile] Without charging 'gunsmithing' fees. Granted, I purchased the items from him, but still. In a couple/few years, he'll be officially retired from his regular job and will be able to focus completely on the store.
 
I wasn't referring to HOF. Al's Reel and Gun is my local shop..

I visited Al's, once, long before Sandy Hook. He was yelling at some other customer (the only one in the store): "You wont find any deals here! Can't stay in business making deals!". Sure enough he had some guns, that went for $299 onlin, going for $799. Everything else was way over priced too, far beyond reason. I did buy some overpriced ammo to be polite, but I'll never visit that place again.
 
Why do rude local gun stores even exist?

For a lot of these smaller shops, they wouldn't last long in any other business; It's only because federal law gives FFL holders a monopoly on certain types of firearm transactions, and then BATFE did their best to drive the friendly "kitchen table" FFLs out of business, and the big stores limit what they stock due to slow turnover and political incorrectness of EBRs and the like.

What other business can survive while being rude to their customers, both on the phone and in person?
 
I don't know-- I get stressed out with my job, often dealing with the same stupid BS, and I still don't/can't treat people like shit. And my customers don't have other options.

Not much sympathy here. Nor would I expect the NES membership to publicly give any to me under similar circumstances.
 
Not all the gun shops I've been to have had bad service, but the ones that do treat you like crap have been that way long before Sandy Hook.
 
Complaints on this forum about customer service at gun shops goes far back before Sandy Hook or Obama. I've been treated like shit at Collectors for at least 10 years now...

I think part of the problem might stem from the fact that MANY FFLs got into the business as a way to fund their hobby, not to create a successful business, and they operate as such. You can't expect Al's Reel and Gun to operate like Bass Pro.
Exactly. This is not a new phenomenon - the only difference is now the gun shops are making more money than they know what to do with. Like Business said, hiring some temp workers during this rush is not an outrageous idea. But, as it has been the case forever, they have the market locked down tight and there's not much the customers can do about it. What am I going to do? Only buy guns and ammo at the stores that treat me well? I would be pretty much shit out of luck if that were my plan.

Gun shops can't do anything about the lack of inventory - they have all the control in the world over their customer service.
 
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