Help me address issue @ LGS tomorrow.

Let me start off saying this IS my 1st purchase. I am purchasing as my HD weapon. In our area Home invasions are up quite considerably, enough that my desire to own a pistol has started to feel like a NEED to own one for family safety.

Last month I took the steps and applied for my CCW, it came in record time (8days from filing). I know I did not NEED this, but it was recommended by the LGS prior to buying my gun, so I took thier advice and did it. In the meantime I have been on this and other boards researching. I spent 2 evenings at the local range shooting everything in their case multiple times and settled on the m&p9fs with ambi safety.

I researched online and the price between online + FFL fees were coming out pretty similar to the LGS pricing. Most of the reputable LGS locally want $50 ffl fee, seems pretty high, but it is what I have to work with, I did find a couple in $20-30 range but I did not know the stores.

Up in my area the 9mm m&p fs is $475 (safety or no safety) at the cheapest place in town. My closest LGS is $485 instock in their case for normal version. Buds was $462 regardless of safety or not. Add FFL fee of $30 and your at the $500 point to order from Buds and have it in about 5days. I now found CDNN has them for $425, add the high $50ffl and it is $475, big savings, that is hindsight, but does not help my mood... :wallbash:

Now begins the frustration. Honestly paying a touch extra is not that big of a deal to support my LGS, they are neighbors, and also my local range. But I expect good or at least comparable service since they are brick and mortar and highly regarded. I ordered my M&P a week ago, we verified while I was there that the distributor had "PLENTY" (IE over 40 pieces) in stock. I paid IN FULL including tax right there on the spot, I paid $499+tax for mine with ambi safety, that's $15 more than they charge for the non safety version in their own display case.. I was told it would be here by Friday (today) and it is STILL not here? I stopped in last-night (I drive by on way home every day) to inquire if maybe it arrived early, and feel like I got brushed off. I was told it was ordered Friday and shipped Tuesday, ok, not unexpected. Now everything I have read says handguns must ship overnight, I know Fedex and UPS require it, so it should have been in on Wed? Did I miss something? I mentioned that fact and that I was told it would take 5 days as a worse case and that had been padded for delays like not shipping Monday. The response I get from the guy is "we will call you when it's here, it's in transit". Honestly that really pissed me off, knowing the rules and that I could have had it from bud's by now for less $. I work sales and have done quite a bit of purchasing, I know how buying and selling works. He should at least have a tracking number and been able to check and know, "it is stuck in Memphis", or "it just arrived in seattle", etc.. Instead I get the brush off response of "it will be here when it's here and we will call you" with not even a hint at an eta.

I am new to the store, but in 2 weeks I have put over $800 thru their register. I could have ordered last friday from bud's and been at the range now with my weapon. Instead I have NO idea when I will see it. I don't want to go in and be the angry furious guy, it is just not the right way to buy a pistol and I could fully understand if they refused to sell a firearm in that situation. I also do not want to seem impatient and suspicious, "why does he want the gun so badly?"

The issue I have is while I believe in supporting locals, I have spent more $ and am receiving slower service. I did not have cash in hand, I had put to this on my credit and will be eating pb&j for months to pay off this purchase. I did it because honestly it is more important to protect my family than anything else. Home invasions are out of hand here, with 2-3 more this week within a 20mile radius. These attacks are random and happening in good and bad areas, the perps are armed and do not care about home owners and there have been shootings.

I expect when I pay in full in advance that I should get good service, this is not a $25 keyboard for a pc, or a $75 cordless drill, this is a $500 weapon to protect my family. I could have spent much less and gotten the weapon days sooner and I am getting brushed off.

I am going to the LGS tomorrow for a Home defense class, and I would like to sit down with the owner while I am there, how should I approach the owner on this so as not to sound dangerous or desperate, but also express my extreme disappointment with the transaction? I am not sure asking for a refund makes any sense? If have to order from Bud's (Who now raised the price to $482) or CDNN I would not see anything until middle of next week, but right now I am looking at next week anyway from my LGS?

I feel almost like I am being robbed, they have my $ and I have to sit here and like it.. Is it out of line to "demand" an expected date at this point?

Your special order will probably be in tomorrow. Be patient grasshopper. Flat rate priority mail which many FFL's use has a turn around of 2-3 days generally, not necessarily overnight. A true overnight delivery would cost someone $60 to $80 dollars to ship depending where it's shipped from. Remember, you got 4 players here, the dealer, the distributor, and the shipper and your special order. I'd just chill and see if it is there tomorrow, if tuesday or wednesday rolls around I'd have some concern.

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Now everything I have read says handguns must ship overnight, I know Fedex and UPS require it, so it should have been in on Wed? Did I miss something?

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An FFL can have handguns shipped USPS. If you or I were to send a handgun to an FFL, gunsmith or manufacturer then it would have to go overnight through Fedex, UPS or some other private shipper.

Ahhh thanks for the info guys. I thought with the extra paperwork involved no one would use USPS. That would make more sense in the time delay for sure.

The good news is that it has given me time to get a securiuty cabinet and drawer lockbox inplace so that the weapon is secure from the kids in the house. That is when it is not on me. I am enrolled in a Home defense class this afternoon at the range, so at least once I do have it I will be better prepared if I do need to use it to defend my family.

Sorry for the text wall, and thank you for taking the time to wade thru it.

As others have stated it is most probably coming USPS priority mail and two to three days, they do deliver on Saturdays, so you should see it soon. If you meet with the owner just express your concerns politely and inform him that you felt like you had been brushed off. The person you dealt with should have taken the time to give you a better explanation, customer service is what should justify the extra cost.......JJ

What a difference a few days can make. One of the problems was that the person that told me "we will call you when it's here" was the owner, which is why I was nervous about pushing the issue.

THAT SAID. He has redeemed things at this point. I walked in the store today to go to the home defense course they host. He saw me and I could tell he recognized me, then turned to grab what he was looking for a turned back to me. He came right out before I said a word or indicated anything and told me he had checked and that it would be in on Monday. So I may not have my weapon but at least I know he cares that I was not completely happy and looked into it for me. So I am bummed but at least I am not bummed and feeling neglected.

The good news is I was able to talk with one of the store guys and find what I need to take the gun home and clean it. I was unsure since this is the 1st new weapon I have purchased. And the home Defense class was very informative as well, all in all a good day at the LGS.

Thanks guys

Glad things are working out. You had the right idea seeking to support the lgs and establishing a relationship can be a big help down the line. Assuming of course you don't get one of the occasional buttheads, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It really is nice to be able to go into a place where they know you and will answer questions and such. In a few weeks you won't be bummed anymore and you'll still have the gun AND the relationship! Also really smart thing to take the course.

Steve - thanks for the compliment. The class was informational and I learned a bit about how to better secure the house as well as the laws and my rights.

However - The dis-satisfaction continues. So I stopped in to the LGS on my way home Monday since the owner said it would be there, I walked in late in the day 4pm so I know usps had already been thru as they deliver in the morning in that area. The counter clerk looks and finds no paperwork for my order and I get the: "They will call you when it is here." I tell him The owner said it would be, and that he had checked on it personally since it was already late. The guy replies that the owner would know more than he does, but since he did not see any paperwork he can't help me. I ask for the owner and "It is his day off". I have a distinct feeling if the boss is not there things are not taken care of expediently, if he had been there I am sure I would have either had my weapon OR recieved a courtesy call from him that there was a problem. The owner knows the situation and was being pro-active, obviously the people recieving orders do not have any sense of urgency. They have me fill out all the paperwork, so logging in does not take a day to do.

I am not happy at this point, but know it is not the clerks fault, and getting irrate could just get me kicked out, unable to buy and potentially banned, so I just walked out.

So still sitting here stuck without my HD weapon. Meanwhile 2 more homes were invaded in our county since Friday.

Just consider that if you bought it mailorder and had it shipped there things may not be any better, and they'd make less profit on it so they'd care even less.

I would not have used them if I bought online, I would hve used another place that is 1/3 the FFL fee. This local LGS charges $50ffl fee.

Online and Fee from another local FFL I could have saved $50 before tax and had it last week, that is what makes this so frustrating.

I do know I will never purchase anything from them again unless it is in thier case and a rocking price, even though they are 3miles from my house. I will drive 20min away to another store(s).

No, you think you'd have had it last week. You have no idea what the online place would have been like to deal with. Most online places are good - but some can take 5 days to ship anything. One LGS here has had such issues with Bud's Guns they refuse to deal with them and have a nice big sign next to the FFL fee sign saying so.
I ordered some magazines off S&W as they claimed to have them when nobody else did...guess what? They didn't have them either.
When the manufacturers shade the truth to me, I'm sure they do it to the dealers too.

You may be right - this particular dealer may have poor customer service. I'd mention it to the owner after you get your gun - that you feel you'd be better off ordering online and having it shipped to a competitor. The guy can't improve his service unless he hears about the problems.

Given that you ordered by credit card I expect you could cancel the order and if the LGS balked contact the card co and have them force cancellation due to non delivery.

I just called the Owner and spoke to him on the phone. He had yesterday off, but had instructed his staff this was a special order and to be given priority as it was late coming in. He sounded surprised that I did not know the status or already have it . He went into the office and found the paperwork for it while I was on the phone, and someone in the office said it had only arrived this am. Sounds to me like someone covering thier butt in front of the boss. ;-)

The good news at this point is that it is there and he said it will be ready to go when I walk in after work.

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Originally Posted by lamrith

I just called the Owner and spoke to him on the phone. He had yesterday off, but had instructed his staff this was a special order and to be given priority as it was late coming in. He sounded surprised that I did not know the status or already have it . He went into the office and found the paperwork for it while I was on the phone, and someone in the office said it had only arrived this am. Sounds to me like someone covering thier butt in front of the boss. ;-)

The good news at this point is that it is there and he said it will be ready to go when I walk in after work.

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Great, but your special order is not that far off from the norm for delivery on firearms. I believe not too bad at all actually and like I mentioned above the seller does not have total control of the situation and must rely on the distributor and shipper. Suffice to say, it's hard to determine if it was the seller, distributor and or the shipper in this instance for not getting a special order to you overnight. As you had mentioned you needed to special order because of the ambi safety, if you would have just purchased something they had in stock all this would be a moot point especially regarding an immediate urgent need for self protection and other homes in your community getting broken into. That being said congratulations on your first handgun and let us know how it shoots.

Denner good points all around, shipping is a difficult situation many times. My only issue is that while I wanted one for SD/HD I was also not willing to bring a gun into the house that was not how I wanted it. The whole manual safety debate aside, it is what I am comfortable with. Bringing one into the house as my 1st handgun that I was not comfortable with was not an option, and felt unreasonably dangerous to me. I preffer the 1911 style condition 1 carry style.

Pickup went well. Spent 45min just chatting with the store Manager as we filled out the paperwork. They had a big shipment come in from the local distributor while I was there and a couple of the staff were grumbling looking at the stacks to be stored away.

Trigger on mine is pretty gritty :-/ MUCH more so than the rental gun was, the rental was very smooth.. The safety was really difficult to engage as well. It comes off safe fine, but trying to push it up requres a bit of leverage. I need to get some rounds thru it and see how the trigger smooths out.

THANKS AGAIN ALL!

:smt1099

You just need to be patient.

I know you considered Bud's and other online merchants, but I can tell you from experience they are slow too. It's hard to be patient because on Day 1 they have my money and my order on an "in stock" gun, on Day 2 they have all the FFL stuff they need, on Day 3 they confirm that they are ready to ship.... then a week or more later, they actually ship. Then, it's usually about 2 days before my LGS/FFL has received it. Honestly, I don't know what is going on in the interim week... maybe they're holding orders to bulk ship for some kind of discount. Whatever the reason, even if you get your stuff (money, FFL paperwork, etc...) to them right away, plan on waiting 2 weeks as a best case.

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Originally Posted by ronmail65

You just need to be patient.

I know you considered Bud's and other online merchants, but I can tell you from experience they are slow too. It's hard to be patient because on Day 1 they have my money and my order on an "in stock" gun, on Day 2 they have all the FFL stuff they need, on Day 3 they confirm that they are ready to ship.... then a week or more later, they actually ship. Then, it's usually about 2 days before my LGS/FFL has received it. Honestly, I don't know what is going on in the interim week... maybe they're holding orders to bulk ship for some kind of discount. Whatever the reason, even if you get your stuff (money, FFL paperwork, etc...) to them right away, plan on waiting 2 weeks as a best case.

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Good to know they are so slow. I read so many reviews all over that people said they had their gun in 3-5days from them I took that as std delivery.