Always excited to try out a new gun shop, I was excited when I saw their billboard on the side of I-70E just west of KC. I went out during my lunch break today and easily found the place.
Once inside, I was greeted immediately, and the guy at the counter apologized for things being somewhat disarray (stocking bins on the floor, shelves not all assembled, etc). Had all the look and feel of a store that had recently been acquired, and that's completely forgivable. I wandered through the store and checked their prices (I am in a gun store of one form or another at least once a week). Their powder is too high, their primers are just about right, given the market, and some of their accessories are reasonable. Magpul magazines for my AR in stock, which was good, and at a decent price. Handgun prices weren't too bad, either.
Bought one of said Magpul magazine and the guy that went to ring me up (different guy) asked me if he could run my Visa check card as a debit transaction. I told him that I'd rather he not do that, since I get dinged for debit transactions. He said that well, HE gets dinged for credit transactions. (See a problem here yet?) I told him I really wasn't interested in paying whatever it was, maybe a dollar per debit transaction (I really don't know, to be honest), and he basically told me I was lying and the most he had heard of was $0.50 and that he'd be changing banks if it were any higher, and then went on a tear about how the banks were making interest on credit transactions and how it was a ""bunch of bullsh*t."" He was indignant that I insisted running it as credit, and I absolutely could have done without this confrontation. I don't mind a little swearing, but when my salesman who doesn't know me does it, it smacks of unprofessionalism, even if it is a gun store. And since when is it the customer's *obligation* to take a financial hit on behalf of the people selling him stuff? Honestly. If you don't like Visa, don't use Visa. But don't pick and choose when you do and try to bully your customers. They're CUSTOMERS, for crap's sake.
Anyway, thanks to this gem of a customer service experience, I went from thinking of this as a place to wander by once in awhile and buy primers and look around for deals... ...to hopping on Citysearch and warning the world. Profoundly disappointing.
I'm the type of buyer who doesn't mind spending a little more here and there if it's in the name of supporting a local gun shop, but if the prices are marginal, and the staff are jerks, I'd rather just go to Cabela's.
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