Should I be upset or is this normal?

[skinman]

Let me get this straight...they gave you the run-around for 5 months...and you let them?

Why did it take you so long to get serious? You are way more patient than I am...

It is not unprofessional to demand satisfactory service...it is not unprofessional for you to want your money back and not store credit...what is unprofessional and just plain shitty is the way they treated you. You were way more patient and courteous than necessary. They lost a good customer and gained a bad reputation...just because they didn't care about you or your problem.

No excuses. The customer may not always be right, but he is NEVER wrong.

 

[recordingwhiz]

Thanks Skinman, you verify the way I feel about the situation, I am fairly forgiving and tend to give people the benefit of a doubt, but this situation just took it beyond my threshold of patience which proved to me by their actions following me gettign upset that they indeed were either clueless or out right lying to me.

The thing that has me in shock is how a few members here seem to be making excuses for the vendor, discounting the fact that I was lied to and received realy crappy customer service. I hope people stop putting up with this kind of lack of professionalism and start demanding good customer service from our gun dealers.

Now I am lucky to have found a very good dealer that treats me well and realizes that I am spending my hard earned money that i dont have to spend, but I choose to because I love guns. With this new dealer I have now purchased a Sig 226 extreme, a Mosin Nagant, ordered and paid for a STI 1911, as well paid and ordered a CMMG complete 22" upper. Proving the point that you cant judge a book by its cover.

the guy on Stubbner airlne will get my business from now on, cus he dont try to BS me and is upfront about everything.

 

[skinman]

Where exactly is this place that you like on Stubner-Airline and what is the name?

 

[recordingwhiz]

Houstongunforum.com just north of 1960 on Stubbner. you see his adds for CHL classes up on the add banner with the bikini model.

 

[shooterfpga]

Houstongunforum.com just north of 1960 on Stubbner. you see his adds for CHL classes up on the add banner with the bikini model.

+1 ryan is a good guy.

 

[sear!!iously]

Century Arms I believe they decided on the name because once in a century they build a rifle that runs out of the box. Sorry somebody had to say it.

 

[recordingwhiz]

Im still planning on getting one... but for now I spent that money on other gun toys.

 

[scap99]

All my money gets spent at AMSS. They have always treated me fair and with respect. It sucks that your situation took the turn it did, but it seems it was an anomaly rather than the norm.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[recordingwhiz]

They treated me nicely when I purchased the gun as well as a AR complete lower, but they failed by their business practices after there was a problem, I was lied to and brushed off very courteously.

And as I mentioned before, the guys behind the counter are really nice guys and courteous, but my situation has handled very poorly which I think most that have chimed in agree.

I do hope that my situation is the exception and not the rule. but they will never get a cent from me again nor any of my buddies who agree.

 

[Scalpel4]

A - This is definitely not normal.
B - IF they would have stayed in contact with you, I'm sure they wouldn't have dropped the ball, and I'm sure you would have felt better about the transaction.
C - They LIED to you about fixing the gun. Thats unforgiverable, you don't lie to the customer.
D - And this is VERY pertinent:
YOU HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO EXPECT MORE THAN A SIMPLE REFUND! They had your money AND your gun for SEVERAL MONTHS, basically an INTEREST FREE LOAN! I realize nobody refunds guns, but when lying to the customer ALL BETS ARE OFF! I don't care who it is, you make a sale to me, then delay a repair, make multiple promises that its being handled, then lie about a repair and RETURN IT TO ME UNTOUCHED? HELL YEAH I'LL DEMAND A REFUND AND MORE!!! Anything less would indicate a simple entitlement attitude by the store owner, like you owe them for the favor of the privilegde of everything they've done for you. Sorry, but thats WAY too liberal an attitude for me. I don't think you were owed anything automatically, EXCEPT respect as a customer, and everything they did was just short of spitting on you. You fought back and won, GOOD FOR YOU!

I got nothing more to say about that. Haters reply your feelings, I won't respond.atriot:

 

[Dutchboy]

I can understand that you would be upset. At least you got your money back. Thanks for the warning on that shop. I won't be doing business with them.

Good luck on finding a replacement for the Century.

 

[stdreb27]

They got you your money back. Realistically, even though they may have screwed up royally on support. That should leave you satisfied. I personally would be really annoyed about not having a gun for several months. But imo giving you a full refund is making it right. After that ordeal I probably wouldn't go back for a while. But I won't hold a huge grudge...
If you've been a retail manager you've got to understand that no one is perfect, and you've gonna drop the ball on someone at some point of time. It is inevitable. He ate the cost of the gun, plus the profit, and now he has a screwed up gun that he has to do something with plus costs on whatever time his employees spent dealing with the gun and you. And hopefully he will be pissed and bust some heads and make sure they execute the system they have in place for keeping track of that type stuff. For them costing him money.

 

[skinman]

I do not agree that giving a full refund is making it all right. It is simply doing the right thing.

I spent many years in the service business and the plain fact is that you simply cannot please every customer, and sometimes customer transactions get AFU, and sometimes the business is not at fault, but a good business that respects its customers, current, past, and potential, does everything to set it right, even if it is certain that future business with the customer is lost.

Any business that handles a service after sale transaction like this one has is usually already on the downhill. When I was in the service business, I often heard the saying that a satisfied customer will recommend you to acquaintances, friends, and family, but an unsatisfied customer will tell anyone and everyone who will listen. This topic reinforces that simple fact. Treat all customers with the same respect you want to be treated as a customer.

 

[TexMex247]

I think it's only natural that you're pissed. You definitely got screwed around. As someone who owns and runs a sales and service facility I always look at both sides of the coin. Not that you as a consumer did anything wrong but sometimes retail vendors are also at the mercy of the manufacturers. Especially when servicing a century gun. I bought one off of gunbroker(vz2008) months ago. It had a laundry list of issues. I know I could have sent it back but I would rather risk screwing it up myself before sending it to Century. However, I am not a typical gun buyer, I prefer to know how to work on every gun I own myself. Getting back to my original statement, sometimes a company is just not in a position to do much. Guns are not 100% mark-up items, and they certainly can't keep their doors open by giving stuff away. So future discounts,etc. are probably out of the question. I think in spite of the timeline and lack of correspondence, you got your cash back and that is as good as it gets in the gun world. In my line of business, when a vendor leaves us hanging, I just stop selling their products. If they "special ordered" this one for you, it is probably a sign that they have no confidence in the product either and typically don't try to stock or support them. If that's the case they should have prefaced the sale with that info. Either way, I know a phone call or email goes a long way and they failed miserably at that too. Glad you got your money back, good for you.

 

[Martinus_Turonis]

I recently have had to return a new firearm to a dealer. They could not exchange it or give me a refund. The reason is this. You fill out a form 4473 and the firearm's serial number is now attached to your name with the dealer. Unless the dealer is willing to buy the firearm back at the purchase price, you are out of luck. The best and only option is to get the dealer to return the firearm to the manufacturer for repairs/replacement. This is because of government rules, not retailer policies. A decent firearms dealer will ship the new defective firearm back to the manufacturer on their dime so you don't have to eat the cost of shipping. My biggest bitch is the cost of shipping a handgun cross country since the government rules demand the firearm is shipped overnight from an individual to an FFL or manufacturer. I've had to pay the $54 to ship a handgun back to Beretta in Maryland, for example. When you do that a couple of times, your losses add up. I am not sure the rules are the same for an FFL to ship to a manufacturer but I am sure they don't pay such ridiculous shipping costs.
In any case, it is not the dealer's fault they can't take back a firearm in exchange, it is government gun control laws that makes it difficult. Gun dealers have to walk a thin straight line with the ATF or they get shut down.
One good thing is that the manufacturer does have the ability to replace the firearm with a completely new one. The manufacturer can destroy the defective firearm and retire the serial number with the ATF legitimately. I have had a defective firearm replaced with even a different model.
The best thing is to do is let your dealer return the firearm and not give them a bunch of crap about it.
It is not fair you can't return a firearm for exchange but it is not the dealers fault, it is the government's fault. Raise hell with your congressman about it.

 

[stdreb27]

I recently have had to return a new firearm to a dealer. They could not exchange it or give me a refund. The reason is this. You fill out a form 4473 and the firearm's serial number is now attached to your name with the dealer. Unless the dealer is willing to buy the firearm back at the purchase price, you are out of luck. The best and only option is to get the dealer to return the firearm to the manufacturer for repairs/replacement. This is because of government rules, not retailer policies. A decent firearms dealer will ship the new defective firearm back to the manufacturer on their dime so you don't have to eat the cost of shipping. My biggest bitch is the cost of shipping a handgun cross country since the government rules demand the firearm is shipped overnight from an individual to an FFL or manufacturer. I've had to pay the $54 to ship a handgun back to Beretta in Maryland, for example. When you do that a couple of times, your losses add up. I am not sure the rules are the same for an FFL to ship to a manufacturer but I am sure they don't pay such ridiculous shipping costs.
In any case, it is not the dealer's fault they can't take back a firearm in exchange, it is government gun control laws that makes it difficult. Gun dealers have to walk a thin straight line with the ATF or they get shut down.
One good thing is that the manufacturer does have the ability to replace the firearm with a completely new one. The manufacturer can destroy the defective firearm and retire the serial number with the ATF legitimately. I have had a defective firearm replaced with even a different model.
The best thing is to do is let your dealer return the firearm and not give them a bunch of crap about it.
It is not fair you can't return a firearm for exchange but it is not the dealers fault, it is the government's fault. Raise hell with your congressman about it.

which gun store told you that?

 

[Iggy]

I have to say that they seemed out of line and unprofessional to keep the gun in for so long. I recently had an century Golani fire out of battery and was completely destroyed. The store I bought it from gave me a 100% refund even after I had it for a month. I WILL NEVER BUY CENTURY AGAIN!!

 

[skinman]

<snip>... it is not the dealers fault, it is the government's fault. Raise hell with your congressman about it.

Is this the same dealer who told you that it was the "government" that caused the shortage of firearms and ammo in 2008 and the same dealer who is telling you to buy now and stock up on ammo because if the current administration is reelected, the "government" will cause another shortage of firearms and ammo?

Yeah, Right!

 

[Martinus_Turonis]

which gun store told you that?

All of them.
Academy, Walmart, Gander Mountain, Gun show dealers, misc local shops, etc.
They all told me they cannot take a gun back for exchange. I've asked. They have all stated they have to send it back to the manufacturer or a local gunsmith contracted to warranty repair that particular brand.
There may have been a time when you could exchange a defective firearm but those days seem to be gone.

 

[SC-Texas]

I will say this. AMSS went above and beyond to keep you happy in the end.

I know the guys at AMSS and they are good people. Unfortunately, your issue obvisouly slipped through the cracks and I know that Roger and the team over there would have liked it to go the other way.

You demanded your money back. Their policy is to issue a store credit.

Someone realized that you really were upset and legitimately so, and talked to the owner who issued a REFUND (which is what you asked for) and called you and informed you that you would receive a refund.

You did not ask for a rifle at cost. You got what you asked for.

Are you "right" for being upset at teh delay in seding the firearm back to century? Sure.

Are you right for complaining that they gave you a refund when you asked for one? Not really. AMSS refuned your money on a used gun (that was defective) and that is more than ANY OTHER gun shop would do.

As far as being "Lied" to: How do you know the guy you spoke with lied? Could he have been mis-informed about the situation? As a manager, if you are told by an employee that "X is at Y's shop" and you relay that to the customer, but X is really still at Z's shop, have you lied? Just saying, calling someone a liar is pretty strong. Just saying and giving those guys the benefit of the doubt on this issue.

Not bashing you OP. Since you have retail experience, you know shit happens and you, as the manager, get to clean it up.

That said, why not give them another try?

As far as Ryan and HoustonGunForum.com . . . . Ryan is also a great guy and his shop is an up and coming store in Houston. He is squared away and serious about providing good customer service.