Need some advice

[friend]

Hello everyone. This is my very first internet post so please bear with me...

I am looking for advice on an issue I have and I know you guys are the ones to ask.

Back on March 30th I ordered a handgun from a local gun shop. The owner said it would be in within a week and to stop back, which I did. When I returned, it was the wrong gun, so he apologized for the mistake and said to stop back in another week. I stopped back the following week and the owner said "not in yet, try again next week". Well, the shop is about 20 miles away, and although I don't mind traveling to visit some guns, I can't keep making the trek to be told "sorry, try again", so I now basically call every weekend. The response I get is still the same.

A week ago, I emailed the manufacturer, just to make sure the gun was being manufactured, and they said its still being made and they just shipped out a bunch and told me to find out the shop's distributor, and they could research further. I called the shop and explained what I did and asked who was their distributor. The answer I got from an employee was that they "put the order in the computer and they come from all different places".

My question here is what should I do at this point? Is there something else I should be doing? I don't want to ask for my money back, as I got a good price on the gun, but the "game" is starting to get a bit old here.

[cgbudde]

Sounds fishy to me, The gun shop calls either one or several distributors, he does not put it into the computer and waits, he makes the calls. he can look into certain distributors websites to see if any are available and prices. It seems to me that by giving you a very good price he is waiting until he finds it at a lower price so he can still make a good profit. I do not know if you payed him a deposit or what, but I would give him one week to get the gun or my money back. You may pay more at another location, but the gas you are spending going back and forth probable comes out to more.

[reels18]

What type of gun have you ordered? If it is a run of the mill stock handgun, you are being led in circles.

Some handguns are scarce depending on the factory run or high demand for that particular model and brand.

You should get a better answer than, "try next week". If their suppliers can not give them a definite answer on availability and delivery time, you need to find another gun dealer.

Let us know who you are dealing with. There is a good chance some of the members on the board know these people, they can tell you if you are dealing with a shyster.

[normanvin]

Did you lay out any money for it yet? If not cancel the order and go somewher else. If the shop owner ask why you are canceling the order tell him.

[PisnNapalm]

Get your money back and buy it elsewhere.

[friend]

Thanks for the responses so far.

As far as the gun, its only a Heritage .22, I got it so the wife and kids could use a handgun also. I got the one with the bird's head grip, as it was a bit smaller (looked at them in the past at other gun shops). That's the main reason I haven't been too concerned about the wait.

The shop is called Guns and Shooting Supplies R US, in Clearfield. I've bought guns in the past from this shop, good price and service, but they were all on sight, never ordered.

As the gun was relatively inexpensive (try to explain that to my wife), I paid for the whole thing, including the $5 check, up front.

Something else that makes me wonder...

During one of my "stop-ins" checking on the Heritage status, I asked the price of a Taurus MilPro 9mm. It was a great price, so I told him I'd take one. We dickered on a trade in for it, and as I knew it was such a good price, and I know he needs to make some money on the transaction I settled for a lower trade-in amount. I gave him my trade-in and he did his necessary paperwork.

Well, a couple of days later, I got a call from him saying he couldn't get the MilPro, and his distributors were telling him that they wouldn't be able to get it in, and he heard that Taurus might discontinue making them (which didn't make sense to me, but many things I see and hear in this world don't make sense). As a result, I said I would just pick up my trade-in and we could call it even - no harm, no foul.

When I went to pick up the trade-in, they charged me the $5 check to get my gun back! I understand because the gun was in his store for a week, he has to do the check and paperwork, but charging me?? He said they had to charge me, but would make it up to me when the Heritage came in, which does sound like a bunch of garbage.

I got my trade-in gun back, drove straight to another shop, and 15 minutes later, walked out with a MilPro 9mm. I paid a little more, but no BS involved.

The Heritage is a gun that is not on my "Gotta have now" list, so I haven't been overly concerned about the wait, but there does have to be a point where enough is enough. I don't want to bash the guy or his shop by this post, but should I be more ticked off here? Anyone else have any comments?

By the way, just called him again this morning, he said that he keeps calling his distributors daily, and they still haven't gotten any in.

[headcase]

Well..You wait, or you move on. What you are asking is common sense. If the firearm is a popular special order, then wait. If it is readily available elsewhere, then move on. If I was waiting that long for an ordered firearm, and had to keep calling a shop that already had my money, I would have moved on weeks ago. I am not doing business with someone to make friends. If you take my money on a transaction, you had better keep up with your end, or keep me informed as to why you can't. If not, I am going elsewhere.

[Montanya]

So from the sound of your last line, he hasn't even placed an order yet so his distributors don't even have any in. I would certainly call and request a refund of the amount you paid (yer not likely gonna get he 5$ pics fee back) but get the rest of your money back and learn your lesson. If you order something at a shop, never put more than 10% down on it, then get a FIRM range of when it will be in (shouldn't be a guess of more than a 1 week range) and find out on the spot what the refund policy is should it not arrive in that time frame.

If you call him for a refund on this one and he either refuses tries to covince you that he will have it next week, if he refuses, let him know you are filing a complaint with the better business bureau. If he tries to say he will have it next week, request the refund anyway and tell him if you still haven't found one somewhere else in that timeframe you will come back and get it from him but don't want to leave your money down on a gun that might be yet another week.

Just my 3c YMMV.

[str8shooter]

Could he be holding back hoping a good looking used will one come in that he can pass off as new? Find out who he's been calling (his distributers) and see you get the same answers. If you don't want to flat out ask, find a similar model from the same manufactur and see of the box lists the distributer.

[GunLawyer001]

This smells bad.

The shop owner is lying. Either he underestimated his cost, or else he's waiting until he has enough other things to buy so that he can justify an order from his distributor.

Get the money back and walk. There are just too many people on this planet for me to give money to the ones who lie to me, I can be lied to for free.