I have.
As a quick disclaimer- this thread is more about the business/consumer relationship but I'm keeping it related to a firearms forum.
With that said- I've absolutely purchased a firearm out of nothing more than spite because of how a business (one of which I've had a long established relationship with/and no I'm not intending to name them) treated me.
As a quick backstory- as I'm sure many here can understand I'm talking about a 'preferred' FFL. You likely might know the type- the one where you knew most employees by name & they knew yours. If an interesting trade came in- you'd receive a phone call from them to let you know because it was something you would likely be interested in- a business/consumer relationship that usually takes many years to develop.
I know it's often said from the consumer perspective in these stories that "I've spent a fortune!" there. And then someone points out that the margin is low and you just aren't that important. So with that said- just wanted to move on, I'd spent enough time & money there to build relationships with the owner & employees, and as for "how much I spent there over the years"... well let's just say I could have purchased a car in cash between the guns, ammo, & accessories. Maybe not a Mercedes but easily a Honda Accord or Nissan Altima easily across the categories I mentioned.
Long story short- the business was sold to a new owner (and this would have been around the height of the 2012/Sandy Hook gun craze where any gun dealer could throw out a line and make a considerable profit without much effort). The new owner decided they'd move locations, rebrand the FFL, and focus on the gun owner 'lifestyle'...
Ok- kinda changed the shop I built the relationship with, their prerogatives/outlook on things, and while I missed knowing the owner personally, I still knew a good portion of their (longterm) employees and decided to stay with them throughout the change in ownership/location.
I ran into my first "hiccup" with the new owners with regards to a Colt Delta Elite I had put a deposit on several months back when I was doing my weekly/biweekly ritual of stopping in to see what was for sale and low & behold there was a shiny new Colt DE there in the counter for several hundred dollars more than I had locked in my order for. In fact... here's the exact pistol I'm referencing...
Again, at this point I still knew most of the employees and brought this to their attention and (yep) they had my order from however many months ago. One of them got the store manager that remained with them from the ownership change/move (ironically one I also knew for over 8 years at that point and previously worked with) to hash out my... "thoughts" about seeing the exact pistol for sale in their counter that I had ordered months ago (easily over 6 months) without my order being fulfilled. Without getting into the "nitty gritty" details, we worked it out.
Time went on and I was seeing more and more of these type of shenanigans as the new owner changed their business focus, cut the loyalty programs, and the longterm employees all found new job opportunities. And... I still stuck with them because of my history with the business (or at least their name) and trying to support "small & local" businesses.
Whelp- it all came to a breaking point (for me) over a relatively insignificant inquiry I made. The gist was they advertised matching any competitors pricing on their social media & there was a comment made on that post asking if that included online pricing, not using the business's social media account, but rather the (then) general manager of their whole operation used their personal account to respond to that question and assert that "yes, online business are included and they would beat their prices".
Less than a month of that post- I was at the shop and eyeing up a Berreta 92 Compact that they had under the glass- it was something I was interested in but not fully committed to since it was more of a curiosity than a necessity for me at the time. I shared that with them as I was handling it and asked about the recent posts about beating competitors pricing. I'm sure you already know where this is going but I was told "nope" from the sales floor manager, best they could do was knock of $10 (it was something trivial like that) and was still well over a hundred dollars more than the online price.
You can believe me or not, after all I'm just another internet stranger here, but I STILL gave them the benefit of the doubt and asked to speak to the manager on duty because after all my years of doing business there and building relationships I was certain we could correct the statement. Well, that didn't happen and essentially I was told that if I could get a better deal (haha- their sarcastic response) then do it.
Well I had enough by that point and within the next 2 hours after that exchange I went ahead and ordered that dang pistol to be transferred to me by their closest FFL competitor. Come to think of it- I have a picture of that pistol here too...
So yes- I was close to purchasing this pistol regardless, but in this particular instance I bought it out of spite (it has been a fantastic pistol for what it's worth & I still have it).
This next part, as I've grown older and (allegedly) wiser, I'm no longer as proud of but after I purchased that pistol and did the transaction from their direct competitor (who was in the same town), on my way home I made a point to stop at the other gun shop and speak to the same manager to let them know that I followed their advice and pursued other options. Admittedly they didn't seem to care & it was a rather juvenile move on my part but dang if it didn't feel good at the moment.
To sum everything up- I have since stopped doing all business with the one I originally mentioned and the competitor has been my #1 "go-to" for all things firearms related for the past... 10+ years now.
I know- kind of a long synopsis but the question I wanted to pose is has anyone else had a similar experience with their firearm purchases over the years or in other business pursuits?
-LD
As a quick disclaimer- this thread is more about the business/consumer relationship but I'm keeping it related to a firearms forum.
With that said- I've absolutely purchased a firearm out of nothing more than spite because of how a business (one of which I've had a long established relationship with/and no I'm not intending to name them) treated me.
As a quick backstory- as I'm sure many here can understand I'm talking about a 'preferred' FFL. You likely might know the type- the one where you knew most employees by name & they knew yours. If an interesting trade came in- you'd receive a phone call from them to let you know because it was something you would likely be interested in- a business/consumer relationship that usually takes many years to develop.
I know it's often said from the consumer perspective in these stories that "I've spent a fortune!" there. And then someone points out that the margin is low and you just aren't that important. So with that said- just wanted to move on, I'd spent enough time & money there to build relationships with the owner & employees, and as for "how much I spent there over the years"... well let's just say I could have purchased a car in cash between the guns, ammo, & accessories. Maybe not a Mercedes but easily a Honda Accord or Nissan Altima easily across the categories I mentioned.
Long story short- the business was sold to a new owner (and this would have been around the height of the 2012/Sandy Hook gun craze where any gun dealer could throw out a line and make a considerable profit without much effort). The new owner decided they'd move locations, rebrand the FFL, and focus on the gun owner 'lifestyle'...
Ok- kinda changed the shop I built the relationship with, their prerogatives/outlook on things, and while I missed knowing the owner personally, I still knew a good portion of their (longterm) employees and decided to stay with them throughout the change in ownership/location.
I ran into my first "hiccup" with the new owners with regards to a Colt Delta Elite I had put a deposit on several months back when I was doing my weekly/biweekly ritual of stopping in to see what was for sale and low & behold there was a shiny new Colt DE there in the counter for several hundred dollars more than I had locked in my order for. In fact... here's the exact pistol I'm referencing...
Again, at this point I still knew most of the employees and brought this to their attention and (yep) they had my order from however many months ago. One of them got the store manager that remained with them from the ownership change/move (ironically one I also knew for over 8 years at that point and previously worked with) to hash out my... "thoughts" about seeing the exact pistol for sale in their counter that I had ordered months ago (easily over 6 months) without my order being fulfilled. Without getting into the "nitty gritty" details, we worked it out.
Time went on and I was seeing more and more of these type of shenanigans as the new owner changed their business focus, cut the loyalty programs, and the longterm employees all found new job opportunities. And... I still stuck with them because of my history with the business (or at least their name) and trying to support "small & local" businesses.
Whelp- it all came to a breaking point (for me) over a relatively insignificant inquiry I made. The gist was they advertised matching any competitors pricing on their social media & there was a comment made on that post asking if that included online pricing, not using the business's social media account, but rather the (then) general manager of their whole operation used their personal account to respond to that question and assert that "yes, online business are included and they would beat their prices".
Less than a month of that post- I was at the shop and eyeing up a Berreta 92 Compact that they had under the glass- it was something I was interested in but not fully committed to since it was more of a curiosity than a necessity for me at the time. I shared that with them as I was handling it and asked about the recent posts about beating competitors pricing. I'm sure you already know where this is going but I was told "nope" from the sales floor manager, best they could do was knock of $10 (it was something trivial like that) and was still well over a hundred dollars more than the online price.
You can believe me or not, after all I'm just another internet stranger here, but I STILL gave them the benefit of the doubt and asked to speak to the manager on duty because after all my years of doing business there and building relationships I was certain we could correct the statement. Well, that didn't happen and essentially I was told that if I could get a better deal (haha- their sarcastic response) then do it.
Well I had enough by that point and within the next 2 hours after that exchange I went ahead and ordered that dang pistol to be transferred to me by their closest FFL competitor. Come to think of it- I have a picture of that pistol here too...
So yes- I was close to purchasing this pistol regardless, but in this particular instance I bought it out of spite (it has been a fantastic pistol for what it's worth & I still have it).
This next part, as I've grown older and (allegedly) wiser, I'm no longer as proud of but after I purchased that pistol and did the transaction from their direct competitor (who was in the same town), on my way home I made a point to stop at the other gun shop and speak to the same manager to let them know that I followed their advice and pursued other options. Admittedly they didn't seem to care & it was a rather juvenile move on my part but dang if it didn't feel good at the moment.
To sum everything up- I have since stopped doing all business with the one I originally mentioned and the competitor has been my #1 "go-to" for all things firearms related for the past... 10+ years now.
I know- kind of a long synopsis but the question I wanted to pose is has anyone else had a similar experience with their firearm purchases over the years or in other business pursuits?
-LD
