2 Bad gunstore experiences in one week.

[superjoe76]

I have never had a bad experience at GM. Maybe the one in Fort Wayne isn't too bad. I always get help, I always get to look at guns even after I let them know I am just looking! I have purchased 5 guns this year from GM maybe they know me now. I have gone to a few local shops and always get passed over for someone else. Guess I am just lucky when it comes to GM.

@target64-- Good job owning up to this. Most people wouldn't. Anyone makes mistakes its how we handle them that makes us great.

 

[sbcman]

I am relieved. For a moment I feared this thread would be about 2 gunshops in which the owners smoked.

Anyway...

To the first situation, I personally make it a practice if I'm going to unholster in a gunshop to let every clerk in the range of my voice know I am about to do so. Might be overkill, but I've had no problems with my practice.

The second, that's just ridiculous. I make it a practice not to purchase anything from companies with initials "GM".

 

[U.S. Patriot]

Gander is about as useful as an STD!

 

[45fan]

Sounds like a combination of bad days crossing paths at Ft liberty. As for GM, I dont know what to tell you. I cant walk into the gun area without a sales person coming over to ask if there is anything I need. There is even a manager there that every time I seem him, he usually takes over any interaction between myself and another employee, usually leading to even better service. I dont expect most of the kids that work the gun counter to be experts, but a certain level of customer service is to be expected. For lack of a better explanation, perhaps the issues reported from GM arent a result of poor company policy, but a reflection of the way kids have been raised in recent years. Customer service is no more than good manners, and a strong work ethic.

 

[indiucky]

To All Concerned, there is a possibility that I am the "clerk" from Fort Liberty that caused the Op concern. I will not say that Allen is incorrect about anything he said about his experienced that day. Here is part of my pm reply to Allen concerning his Op. I am just explaining how I perceived things that were transpiring in the store.

About a week or so ago, I was helping a customer and in walks the previous mention person with an Ar with the mag in it. He was holding it in a ready position(one hand and the pistol grip, the other on the forearm) I could not tell if he had his finger on the trigger. Yes I went to a ready position. He was instructed to drop the mag, and when he did it was appearant that it was indeed loaded. He was also carry a firearm in a IWB holster.
While one clerk was in the back boresighting the ar, In walks another customer.#2 He is armed, has a firearm in a small of the back rig. That person is looking at the guns, but he seems to pay more attention to the others in the store instead of the guns. All the while he keeps adjusting his holster or just fiddling with the gun. What was his intentions, was he just a new guy with a new rig, was he looking to rob the place, I have no clue.
So I maintain a somewhat ready position.
Then in walks custome #3 asking about a holster, he is a tall black man. I do not recall what he asked for, but indicated he had his firearm and it was "unloaded" he showed me, but honestly I was not paying attention to him, as customer #2 was once again reaching under his shirt towards his firearm.
Customer #3 is holding his firearm to me in what I thought was "take it and check for yourself" manner so I took the fiream and checked it and handed it back to him. We breifly spoke about his needs. He appeared not to see what he was looking for and left.

Customer #1 gets his ar boresighted and leaves, while customer #2 is still just kinda hanging around. He never asks to see a firearm, does not seem to want to engage in conversation, just acted kinda weird the total time he was there.

So could I have been the issue you had....yes. Was it my intentions as to make you feel uncormfortable, definately not. Did I give the customer proper customer service, no I did not and I actually thought about it later in the day. I just had other issues at hand, but how was customer #3 to know.

I do not know if we interacted togather on that particular day, but if we did I am truly sorry. Because it is definately not how things normally go. Maybe you might reconsider Ft Liberty as a option in your firearm purchases.

If in fact I am the guilty party I do sincerly regret making Allen feel uncomfortable. and also failing to giving him proper service.
Dominic

This post took class. Please accept my apology concerning the mall ninja comment. Reminds me of an Akira Kurosawa film called "Rashimon" where one event is told from the point of veiw of the three participants coming at it from different angles. All truthful but told through the prism lens each individuals story seems to contradict the other although in the end you see that each one was correct based on the veiw of the event they had.

 

[Sigasaurus]

Gander Mountain = overpriced as for ft.liberty I have had overall good experiences there. I think you may have just caught them in an odd situation or predicament. I personally would give them another chance the staff there is typically helpful and it always helps to mention you are an INGOer.

 

[steve666]

Never had #1, but then again never been to Ft Liberty. As to #2, Wally World and Dick's are just as bad if not worse.

 

[Concerned Citizen]

Bought my last sidearm from Ft. Liberty, and had a good experience all the way around. The guy that helped me the first time I went in was very helpful, & very knowledgeable. Don't remember his name, but he was the new guy. I bought a new FNP9, & got a $40.00 discount for being an INGO member.

I would recommend them again.

 

[FutureButterBar]

fort liberty has gone down hill since the old guys faded out out and the actual owners took more charge. the old guys were really freindly and i always get a cold impression from the owners.

 

[EvilBlackGun]

How does G.M. compare with Dunham's, re this purchase?

Bought an OnSale WASR hicap, chrome-lined Rumanian AK-47 type, $649.99 / $519.99 per carton-label markings, sale price $370. out the door. FFL transfer was simple, and for the very first time, I was escorted out the door after purchase! Came with 2 mags and a sling. Where do I start to find a bayonet, butt-stock cleaning-kit, threaded cleaning-rod, AND A SNAP-ON MUZZLE-BRAKE?? Are the snap-on brakes peculiar to Rumanians AKs? From anyone's Gander experience, are these "accessories" usually included at the inflated price?

 

[IN_Sheepdog]

Only comment as to #1. If you are in a gun store, (or any other STORE for that matter) and you start to draw a gun from a holster, without notice or explanation to the clerk on the other side of the what and why, I think he is right to do what he did... Just because he is a clerk in a gun store, does not mean that he automatically would turn off all situational awareness.

Sorry OP, but I think the clerk was in the right..., black, white, large or small. Unless you had been talking to him for some time and explained what you were doing, being in his shoes, I think it was a REASONABLE response... This person is carrying a gun (presumably for SD, and therefore PRESUMED to be loaded) Particularly if there were 'others' in the store he (the clerk) may have perceived as positioning themselves. Where (California excepted) would someone carry a firearm OC, UNLOADED??? It is more reasonable to assume on his part that you have come into the store (for the holster for your Carry gun) and that it WAS in fact loaded.

We tend to assume the worst in a parking lot when other peoples actions are questionable. Why should we expect a clerk in a GUN store, (ie. valuable loot to be robbed) to have a different reaction...?

For me, I NEVER remove the firearm from the holster unless everyone around who would observe it is aware of it and why. (And for the record, i ALMOST never remove it for the "Oh can I touch it crowd, either...)

 

[indyk]

With Gander Mountain, you don't need to worry about the race thing. They pull the same crap with us white guys!!! Seriously, if you follow the posts here you will see some stores are horrible with customer service.

Thats a ++++++++++++++++++++++++++1

+1 on "For me, I NEVER remove the firearm from the holster unless everyone around who would observe it is aware of it and why."



situation #1: I was always under the impression that its customary to unload your firearm prior to going into a gun store, Some places its even posted "NO LOADED FIREARMS"
Now I dont do this at Major retailers like Dicks or Gander Mountain but Mom and Pop shops its an automatic for me, especially if im "with notice" showing them any part of my firearm while its holstered.

 

[Titanium Man]

Well. A lot of stores names have been dropped, and not a lot of people are too happy with any of them.

Indianapolis, for it's size, and general centered location for a lot of hunting activities, is one of the WORST sporting goods markets I've EVER seen. No wonder the internet, and the Brown truck drivers are so popular in this town.

I don't like either of the locations you mentioned, as the service and smugness in both locations is at an all time high. You have to take all stores, especially big box stores, for what you can get out of them, but for a one stop shop in this town, you can't get it in Indy.

When it comes to long guns, I shop around and use spifs where I have them, but for handguns, I go to Bob's at PSS. I don't waste time anywhere else!! Some people have issues, and won't go in there. Heck, I don't want to be friends with who I buy my stuff from, just sell it to me cheap!! That goes wherever I patronize.

I will say, if I take a handgun or long gun into a business, I remove the ammo from it in the car, and I try to have some kind of soft case to put either type gun in, to keep from alarming people. I'm not worried about needing it from car to the front door of the establishment.

I would like to see Bass Pro and Cabela's move into town for one reason, it would become a buyer's market for Hunting Equipment and Firearms in Indianapolis.

As far as a Black or White thing, I'm positive if you have green in your pocket, they could care less what color a person is.

Good luck!!

 

[upchurch67]

Many years ago, my shooting buddy and I walked into a gun store together. It was a mid sized mom and pop store with two clerks behind the counter. I was chatting with one clerk and checking out the handguns and my buddy started talking to the other clerk about a holster to fit an M66. Suddenly, my clerk stopped chatting and looked over my shoulder toward the front door, reached under the counter, picked up a revolver and walked down to the end of the counter toward the other clerk and my friend. The Good Colonel Cooper would certainly have described him as being in Condition Orange.

Unknown to me, my friend had walked out of the store and retrieved his revolver from the truck so he could test the fit of the holster in which he was interested. My clerk was responding to seeing someone walk into the store with a gun in his hands.

When my clerk assessed that the situation was ok, he walked back down to me, put the gun back under the counter and we resumed our conversation.

My buddy had no clue about the whole thing until we were back in the truck.

 

[runavw]

I have to say that we went to GM this last weekend, and we had great customer service from the guy behind the counter. We had a long conversation about the used Tokarev in the case and I made a decision to buy a new gun.
BUT i went to bradis and paid $20 bucks more for the same Firearm just because I feel more comfortable with how things are handled and I know what to expect from Bradis.
The guy for GM must have been new!

 

[Yeah]

Indianapolis, for it's size, and general centered location for a lot of hunting activities, is one of the WORST sporting goods markets I've EVER seen.

Absolutely no doubt about that. I've lived in far smaller cities that had far more options than central Indiana. Reno, although I grew tired of every other thing about it, had both a Cabelas and a Scheels, and a half dozen other excellent smaller shops. Lived in a couple of little towns around the south, but I was always reasonably close to an Academy, which throughly thrashes GM.

How a place like Whittakers can exist on the outskirts of Ownesboro but nothing in Indy can come close, is beyond me. A guy who reloads precision rifle in quantity, get even restock powder at a competitive price.

 

[Yeah]

I have to say that we went to GM this last weekend, and we had great customer service from the guy behind the counter. We had a long conversation about the used Tokarev in the case and I made a decision to buy a new gun.
BUT i went to bradis and paid $20 bucks more for the same Firearm just because I feel more comfortable with how things are handled and I know what to expect from Bradis.

It is worth $20 to not be walked out the door by an employee carrying your new gun.

No, more than that.

 

[alwalker84]

Glad to see all the replys. And for the general consideration of personally replying to me, and posting in this thread (TARGET64), I will give Fort Liberty another try. They seemed to be pretty good guys when I bought one of my 1911's there back in March. This past situation did leave me a little ty, but I will past judgement on that one experience.

 

[Thomas Carey]

I would suggest you contact GM corporate and tell them about your experience. This is B.S.

 

[85t5mcss]

Glad to see all the replys. And for the general consideration of personally replying to me, and posting in this thread (TARGET64), I will give Fort Liberty another try. They seemed to be pretty good guys when I bought one of my 1911's there back in March. This past situation did leave me a little ty, but I will past judgement on that one experience.

I applaud you. Takes a big man to try something after what they feel was a very unsatisfactory interaction. Again, glad to hear you will give them another try. Just goes to show that you are a very reasonable person.