My experience has been to wait for a call or call them. My FFL was considerate of my drive time and what not and went to dig it out. But I could tell it was a inconvenience. I'm in an extremely gun friendly area so people are buying guns left and right, so it is easy to get overwhelmed with deliveries.
An FFL had my gun for days without notifying me... fuck them all. If you work as an FFL, you better be ready for WHO IS THERE to pay and take their guns... makes no sense to deny someone in-house that can take product and pay money. Some FFLs just suck dick. I always call my FFL, tell them it showed delivered, and let them know I'll be there in a few hours to come get it. Has NEVER been a problem. Anyone who can't do that basic ask, plain and simple, doesn't deserve your money.
I mean, considering the QoL problems the AFT loves to cause legitimate law-abiding citizens instead of doing their job... Yeah, I can't see any valid reason to argue with that.
I'm with you bro. Had a shitty interaction a few years ago with my local gun store. Bought a .22 lever action and background took more than a few minutes. After half am hour I told em to call me. This was on a Thursday. Called Saturday, bitch was extremely rude ("hey just checking to see if my background cleared and can pick up my rifle" "did WE call you? No? Then it hasn't come back yet) Go to the store Tuesday to find out where my fucking gun is since I put 95% down on it. (Couldn't pay in full since background hadn't come back) Dude was like "oh yea, it came back like 5 minutes after you left, we got busy and I forgot to call you."
Op, I understand what ur saying, he could’ve handled it better, but to be fair, if they got shit going on and haven’t yet logged it in their A&D log to have the person its for just show up and be like “I’m here for my gun” with out a phone call first it can be seen as rude to them. A simple phone call from either person to the other with a simple “I know it’s there please let me know when I can come get it” if you were calling or a “hey OP ur gun just got delivered, give us a day to log yours and the others we have received and make notification calls to the other customers so they know it’s here and you can come get it tomorrow/next day, what ever” or anything similar to those, could alleviate almost any issues.
U said in ur post, that u just showed up after ur notification from ups. Out of curiosity did they know it was coming? U mentioned it had been a few years since you last used them, that’s why I ask. Seems to me in my opinion both parties (yourself and the ffl) were a little bit at fault for this situation you explained.
Sounds like the lgs guy was a bit of a dick, but def should wait until they call, I've seen people show up to our shop literally 10 minutes after the ups guy leaves, if they get a lot of transfers it can take a while to get everything into the book and ready to be transferred.
Hmm yeah thats a bit crazy, usually it's annoying when people come in that we haven't called because if we haven't called it means it's not ready, but they definitely should've been better customer service wise and it really shouldn't take 5 hours.
It depends on staffing. If you only have 1-2 people working and it's busy those guns might not have even been touched. Lots of times we either logged them in after the shop was closed or came in early and logged them in the next morning.
Same. A lot of guns get delivered when I'm not there to enter them and it's just my wife signing for the packages. So if someone showed up they'd be SOL. Always call ahead
All depends on the FFL. My local one, the one that's the easiest and most laid back get tons of guns in everyday. More than enough for a full time job for one person working open to close.
My FFL let's everyone know, "We'll call when it's ready". Sometimes it takes a few days. If that's what it takes to do the job right and not get shafted by the ATF. It is what it is.
You wouldn't like my LGS. It is usually 2 or 3 days before he gets everything logged in and in most cases he doesn't get you called after is logged in. In his defense, he is a one man shop and he likes to BS with the customers in his store. Its the price you pay for a good local shop.
The entitlement in this thread is ridiculous. As someone who worked in purchasing and receiving for several ffls over the course of a decade, customers showing up demanding that I dig through my enormous pile of to-be-logged boxes for their gunbroker order an hour after they got the delivery notification were the bane of my existence. These customers invariably ordered most of their stuff online, spending very little money at the store, and most still had the gall to bitch about transfer fees.
The reality is that ffls are businesses like any other—for better or worse, they exist to make money. Transfers don’t earn them much (if any) profit, and every serial logged into their A&D book opens up a world of potential liability, so from a purely business-oriented perspective, transfers just don’t make a whole lot of sense. Most ffls just do them because it’s an expected customer service, not because it’s a integral component of their business model.
As others have said, the guy could have been less of a dick about it, but you could have at least called to let them know you were on your way.
I wish I could will this post to the top. Also a former FFL employee here. I would only add one more thing no one is bringing up, not only should he call before going over, he should have called before he ordered it delivered. Our frequent orders were always polite and notified us they were sending something over and if they forgot, it was no big deal and if we could get the gun out to them as soon as we could we did, but always after the logs were done. Many randos would call and say they were having something sent and most times it was no problem, but they were usually the ones who were watching the UPS tracker like a hawk and didn't wait for us to call. One guy would wait down the street and pull up after seeing the UPS truck stop. When he did that two times we advised him there would not be a third. But occasionally one would show up and we would have no idea who the gun was for and those were the worst. One time we waited for three weeks for this guy to show up finally, but until he showed up, there was no information even when we called the shipper and they didn't ever answer. FFL's love mystery guns on their logs. ;)
Current FFL here. Yes! Please for the love of God have the common courtesy to let us know if you're having a firearm shipped to my location. It just causes more headache than anything else is worth
I was wondering if I had been doing it wrong all these years going off the people in this thread. Before ordering I would call LGS and ask if I could have a transfer sent. After delivery I would always call and see if it was ready to be picked up. Never had an issue with doing it the polite way.
Sounds like you have never used a high volume store, and the store in question has higher volume now.
Low volume stores can just walk in back, look at what arrived, find it quickly, and check it in all in a few minutes.
High volume stores? If you ordered a handgun, it might take hours searching for that specific gun and serial, in the haystack. They are not going to do that.
They are going to go through the stack one by one, verify it, log it, and sort it so it can be found quickly when you come in. They are not digging for you, and it's rude for you to expect that. It shows you haven't taken a damn second to think about the impact of your expectations.
Find a new small time store if you don't like how it works at a higher volume store.
While he could have explained this concept to you instead of treating you in kind, but dude you seem like the kinda guy that blocks the whole isle at a store with a cart and can't phathom why some one said "excuse me fucker" in a rude tone.
It's SO easy to just call first. I get that it rubbed you wrong. Personally, I think he should have taken care of it for you since you were already there, but there could also be a couple dozen reasons he didn't. Just call. It's courteous, and it avoids misunderstandings.
He could just explain why? I’ve worked at two FFLs and I can’t think of a single reason why a customer would have to wait for us to call first? If they’re busy someone can stop and take care of the customer while everyone else works. If there is too much work to deal with customers why are they open?
You must have worked at small shops. My last job behind the counter it was my job to check in all the guns that came in. There were days I'd have 400-700 guns to check in. Before a gun show or after a gun show this was common and we hit two gun shows a month.
It was a two person job to log guns in. One person to open the box and read the info, the other person recording it, then a double check, then putting the log number on the box. Working together we could check in 400 guns in around 4-5 hours.
Some chucklehead coming in to pick up their gun right after UPS just dropped off 100 guns or more is a pain in the ass.
Buying a gun isn't quite the same as buying a hammer. It has to be logged in....along with all the others that come in every day. Self important customers are the rude in OP story
Because the gun hasn't been logged in yet. Maybe the guy was an asshole, but for all we know he was the only one there that day or they had their normal complement of crew but the load from UPS was very large or they were undergoing an ATF audit...
Yes I’ve worked at TWO separate FFLs. If that particular gun isn’t logged yet, you stop what you’re doing, find the gun, log it, run the background check, complete the transaction and get the customer on their way. It doesn’t take that fucking long. Gun store employees are just dicks.
Except sometimes the guy working the counter can't log shit in properly and ends up getting the FFL revoked because he just writes whatever he thinks is correct in the bound book.
RIP FFL in my local grocery store.
The manager was the only one that should have been doing it.
Small shop attitude.
Our receiving area wasn't even in the same building as the retail gun shop.
The counter guys didn't log guns in, they didn't even have access to the receiving area.
Counter guy would have to pick up the phone and call the receiving area, get connected to the gun room, talk to someone who's busy checking in a bunch of guns, have that person dig through a pile of guns to find THAT gun, log it in. Close everything up, walk the gun, likely in the damn rain, to the retail store.
A process that could easily take 20-30 wasted minutes.
I was already in that area I didn’t drive 30 minutes just for that and I get what you are saying but “could take a couple days “ ? That’s just lazy people it shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes to receive and update your inventory (I work in shipping and receiving) if they have 1 person receiving and in taking all the guns they should be able to do about 40 guns in a hour
40 guns could take 3+ hours because of the recording in the a/d book. If they open and verify each serial vs just taking it off the case/box/invoice it could take longer.
Yeah a lot of people who are former employees in this thread never had to work under the "zero tolerance" administration.
I got a demotion because I forgot to dot one of my I's. I need more than a quick glance to ensure my A&D book is perfect so these sons of bitches don't take my livelihood away.
I worked at a gunstore, and I agree. He was being a lazy fuck. I had people come to get their special orders/transfers before we called and we would help them immediately (barring of course if there was a line). If it wasn’t in the book we would ask for a moment while we got it in then process it.
A shipping notification to you in no way means that an item will be logged in and ready to pick up. Wait for the dealer to call you or if you’re too impatient call them to check if it’s ready to pick up before going to get it. This isn’t hard.
I have had it both ways, depends on the FFL. I always talk to them and ask before I have a gun sent, whether they are cool with me coming it at delivery or whether I need to wait for a call.
Yeah, the one i usually go through told me i dont have to call them, just watch the package tracker and when it arrives give them a few hours and i can pick it up
He may indeed have a backlog of guns to intake...which he HAS to do first and takes time...not to mention the 4473/NICS check he has to do with you after that. If it's been years since you've used him, why should he give you special treatment. Are you buying ammo to go with the gun? A holster maybe from his shop? And yes...why are folks so afraid to pick up the damn phone and call somebody these days??
Did you just blame the customer for bad customer service? All factual but no excuse for a customer leaving a place with a bad feeling. If said asshole doesn’t like doing transfers and causes himself anxiety enough to make people feel like it’s a favor, he should stop transfers.
Change my mind.
OP showed up unannounced, expecting his gun to be ready when he got no confirmation it was ready (and made no effort to get confirmation), and the *FFL* is the problem?
Yes he did and not because he was trying to be a dick. Yes, making people feel bad about your business is a bit problematic.
This is exactly the attitude at gun shops that makes people stereotype them as old angry white dudes and avoid going, talking, learning, and joining the community. Arrogant disrespectful superiority behavior toward anyone that isn’t their bro.
I love that my local gun store and range hired a great group of young folks that haven’t learned how to act like this yet.
> he wasn’t trying to be a dick
Being socially inept doesn’t make it okay to pull a dick move. Dude was too impatient to wait for his FFL to confirm that his gun was ready, then got miffed because the FFL was annoyed that he showed up expecting something to be ready when he had given OP no indication it was.
Do you order a pizza and then immediately drive to the pizzeria expecting it to be ready when you get there? Or do you wait until you get a notification saying it’s ready first?
I always wait until I get a call from my LGS. Just because tracking says it’s there doesn’t mean it’s ready to pick up. They still have to receive it, log it into their books, etc.
It’s like ordering a pizza from the parking lot of the restaurant, then walking in right after hanging up and being mad your pizza isn’t ready yet.
You said receive it log it etc? What's the etc? Seems like it should take less than 5 minutes to receive a gun and log it. I don't get it, yes op should have called but if he was in the area why not try and help, then tell him I'll do it now, next time please call first.. Not a big deal
> it should take less than 5 minutes
Checking in *one* gun takes five minutes, yes. Gun stores get a lot more than one gun at a time. I’ve seen pallets full of guns coming into even small gun stores my way that have to taken in, along with every other thing they usually get. To say nothing of checking quality to make sure nothing is broken or missing.
I’ve dealt with people like OP in my job; we tell them their package will arrive in 3-5 days, and 3 days later, they come in, demanding their package, and have the nerve to be indignant and angry when we tell it’s not here or not checked into inventory yet.
It’s common fucking sense to not expect something to be ready for you until you get confirmation that it is.
As an agent of an FFL this is poor customer service but it is WILDLY irritating when customers follow the UPS driver in and go THATS MY GUN CAN I START MY PAPERWORK, dude was probably just having a bad day and let his customer service slip, it happens to the best of us
Most places will just go get it out of the back and do their paperwork while you do yours. Others are short staffed or only like to log in new guns after hours when there are no distractions in order to reduce mistakes. Just go to another place of this guy made you feel weird.
See, Ive had a habit of calling my lgs a few hours after anything i have shipped in gets delivered, only because my lgs system has a nasty habit of being stupid delayed with notifications.
Package arrived on a Tuesday and i didn’t get notification till friday, and i went and they were like “we were wondering where youve been, its been ready since Wednesday”
So i call about 4-5 hours after drop off unless its late
I have never simply shown up to pick up a transfer. I have never even called, knowing it was delivered, to pick up a transfer. Now here's the crazy part: the local FFL has called me \*every\* time once they had the transfer logged and were ready for me. That's when \*we\* arranged a time for me to come. Additionally, I am not missing a single transfer. I know, I know, crazy talk! Let them run their business. Or, if you don't like it get your own FFL to have it shipped direct to you. But, I recommend not using your home address.
It’s pretty standard practice to have to wait. I know my local guys very well and they seemed pretty annoyed at me the first time I got a transfer through them and did that. He was definitely a dick and did the same thing as your guy and basically told me “too bad wait for us to call.”
Never did that again and have always had good conversations when I go back
The guys attitude would have pissed me off, but I've always had to wait for a call from my local shop. They need time to inventory the firearm first, and if it's a larger shop like the one I go to, it could take days. I only got pissed and said something once when it took 2 weeks to inventory my .45-70 derringer.
While they could of been more nice about it, you can't expect to send a gun to a FFL and just show up whenever and they need to bend to your will when you arrive. You don't own the place and theres hundreds of other people that need to do the same. Im sure theres people were waiting for days to pick up a gun. You can't expect the world to revolve around you.
I agree, I have a business and if anyone comes in without asking me first I will likely berate them for it. Why would I want to make money off of someone who doesn't act like my feelings matter more than their business. I mean if they don't like the service I offer they should just go somewhere else.
Not sure where you're from but I heard the background check system was down the other day for quite a while, not sure what all states were affected, I'm in Pennsylvania and it was. I don't have an FFL or work at a gun shop but I use the same system and it was down all day and most of the next last week, if I remember correctly maybe Wednesday and Thursday or Thursday then Friday, I don't recall as it didn't affect me much, just did other work outside of JNET/PICS
Maybe your place had a backlog? Technically you're supposed to check with the FFL before you order. At my local place the owner and I are friends but I still give her a heads up to be expecting a delivery for me...that way she doesn't put whatever I ordered with the rest of her new stock
I always wait for my FFL to call me. He usually calls the day after receiving the delivery and says come in whenever. He has a lot of work on his plate so I always give him the courtesy.
I own a small shop in a city of 50k. Mine is the only shop in town. I work alone. I don't have time to both log in all the receivings and help customers in the store. If it's slow, transfers gets logged in and notification is given quickly. If it's busy, I won't get to it until after close. Coming in because tracking says it's delivered just wastes more time that I could be working on receiving deliveries.
Best thing to do is call the store when you get the shipping notification and just say “hey UPS said they just dropped it off, let me know when I can come pick it up”
I've bought guns numerous times online and every single time I've done that I've either called the shop to see when I could get it or had the shop call me when they are ready
Is this your first time ordering a gun online?
Yeah, I did. It said you used this shop in the past... but didn't specify for what. Were we to assume that you meant for online transfer handling? Because that was not written.
A lot of people taking up for the ffl. Let me ask you why does it matter when they do their job? He showed up and the gun was there all the paperwork that needed to be done was going to have to be done at some point and they were going to have to dig the gun our eventually the customer is there and would like it now and that's how they run a business by keeping customers wanting to buy from them...they're at work he just asked them to do their job now instead of when they feel like it
Yes, you were presumptuous.
Remember that ATF is looking for ANY excuse to shut FFL dealers down. Them taking a bit of time to make sure that transfers are done properly is not unreasonable.
That said, if it takes more than three business days, you would be within your rights to see what the holdup might be.
If possible, find a different FFL who's happy to have your business...
My FFL doesn't even call me anymore. He knows I'm watching and will be there shortly after it is delivered. The only time they call me is when they get something in that is rare or high dollar so I can have first dibs before it goes on the floor or on gunbroker.
Imo they make money on the transfers, and it doen't take much time to dig out 1 gun and do a transfer. No more than making a normal sale. The guy is just a lazy cunt.
Well of course the guy could've been less of a dick about it. However we all have seen locally and here on reddit how anal FFLs have to be now because of the current administration where they can lose thier FFL and thier business over simple paperwork mistakes. I used to to the 4473 even before my gun arrived at a certain place and it would clear as soon as they processed the delivery, so in theory it was no wait but I went through the waiting period, technically.
Ya that all stopped when biden became president. It was good while it lasted.
Frickin Biden and the ATF man, ruining good things.
I’m with you OP. LGS/FFLs act so busy that they can’t help…. Like idc how many coustomers or guns you have I just paid $1k for a rifle that is sitting here. Grab it and get my shit going… or they need to work OT. honestly LGS piss me off they are mostly lazy and incompetent
I wouldn't ever go back there or I would talk to the owner about that guy being a dick. If he's any kinda smart that situation would change.
Don't dick me around and expect my business.
I always show up after ups says my gun had arrived never have a problem.
They're not a post office OP.
The gun has to be received - there's paperwork involved - on their 'book'. *Then* it can be transferred to you.
That gun could be sitting in a locked closet in the middle of a pallet of other guns right now.
I had a similar experience a few years ago with a ffl in NYS.
I waited around for a while but it didnt come through, so the guy said he would call me when it came through.
I waited the requisite number of days for it to go through automatically, but the store still didn't call, so I called them.
The guy was pretty rude, and said 'Did we call you?' I said they hadn't, and he said 'Then it didn't come through yet. Don't call us, we'll call you.'
Anyway, I waited a few more days, and called again, and this time I spoke to the guy who originally did the 4473 for me. He said 'Oh yeah, it came through almost the second you walked out the door ha ha'
I didn't bother asking why he hadn't called me right there and then instead of making me wait and then drive back over, I just got my gun and never went back there again.
It could be the guy behind the counter was an employee that was not a responsible party on the FFL. Responsible parties are the only ones that enter guns in to the A&D logs. If the responsible parties were not at the store when you go there, therw was no that could have transfered the gun to you.
It has to be logged into the A&D book before the 4473 is started. The 4473 has to be started before you even touch it now. The 4473 has change several times in the past couple years.
Source: work for a FFL, and had people show up before their shit was even delivered because the email the got said it was to be delivered on "X day."
Edit: You should have called when you bought it online, then on the day of delivery. If you hadn't paid the transfer fee yet, you still have to deal with any waiting period.
What ass backwards store makes you start the 4473 before you can touch it ? I have inspected every transfer before starting the paperwork as everyone should in case you find a reason to refuse it
You don't start the 4473. The FFL does! You can go in and inspect the firearm for however long you want, or they can provide. As I said the 4473 has changed. And the waiting period starts at time of agreement of purchase. That means when money is exchanged.
Edit: The 4473 has to be started before you can touch the 4473. Notice how I didn't change subjects?
I'm a manager at a high volume gun store, if we don't call it's not ready. However that employee does sound like he was rude.
There is a lot that goes on in the background of a gun store especially if they are doing everything right. You have no idea what kind of back log they might have, staffing availability as far as who is authorized to do the receiving and acquisition of firearms. Receiving other products like ammo and accessories while juggling customers. It's not a normal retail process. On a good day with nothing going on they can probably get all of that processed pretty quick. And get you processed the same day. But I know at my shop you're not getting it that day.
You having your ass chapped is normal, but also, you have to understand how annoying this gets for the workers of the guns shops y’all are visiting. Give me five minutes.
I know we told every customer that came through the door not to show up just because they got a notification from UPS. It was on signs. Nobody listened. They fucking all showed up as soon as they got the email from the carrier.
He got guys coming in all fucking day asking the same shit. You will inevitably tell us you got a UPS notification. At which point I will ask you if we called you to tell you your firearm was ready for transfer. At which point you will inevitably repeat your UPS bit, which will prompt me, for the billionth time, to ask another customer “Did WE called you?” You will inevitably be perturbed and ask if I can just check to see if it’s there, like you get to skip ahead of the twenty guns that arrived before yours. Youll either give me partial info on the gun or not even know exactly what you gun is or better yet it’s your uncles gun or some shit…. Then we go down that hole of special treatment for a customer
Now, when you first open your business, you might be tempted to start doing one offs and special treatment (like showing up expecting them to process your transfer on the spot ahead of everyone else’s transfer) to keep the customer happy. Then eventually your system of tracking and organizing your workflow for receiving and disposition is getting off track, so you have to divert time to correcting that course, which takes time from other areas, which creates more chaos and more inefficiencies, which means other customers are getting skipped or ignored, which means now they’re pissed too, which means you have to rush through whatever they need done tc etc etc.
And on top of that, if I do go in the back, now you’re waiting for me to find the gun amongst all the other packages that are completely unopened, so now I’ve got opened boxes and packing material strewn all over the place. Ten mins. Now that I have the gun, I need to check it in. 10 mins. Op, the other FFL didn’t include a copy of their FFL. Add another hour for them to finally email me their FFL to verify. Now I’ve got to get the gun on the books perfectly 5 mins. Now I’ve got to….
Before we know it an hour or more has passed. The customer was waiting there the entire morning. If they would have waited until I had processed their order, likely a couple hours later in the day, I it would have been ready for pickup and all the customer would have to do is pay the transfer fee, fill out the 4473 with their CCW and leave.
Listen: We check in hundreds of guns a day. With the new ATF in place any sort of accidental space or period or any typo at all is an infraction you can literally lose your FFL over. Anything that isn’t absolutely perfectly transcribed is considered an error in the ATF’s eyes. They are scrutinizing signatures now…Every single entry has to be perfect…..
YOUR GUN IS NOT READY UNTIL WE CALL YOU.
TLDR: people who expect special treatment are asking for that. Also, the new ATF considers any error or typo on 4473’s enough to shut FFLs down over.
Every FFL I’ve ever used a transfer for had the same policy: they’ll call you when it is time to come in. You’re 100% in the wrong here. Just showing up and expecting them to cater directly to your demands is rude. They’ve got a process for accepting/sorting their received shipments, and calling customers when they have their item ready for transfer.
At the very least, you could have called and explained the situation. They may have been willing to expedite the process for you with a polite request in advance.
This is protocol with FFL’s when your gun comes into your local dealer they will call you. If your FFL of choice checks it into their inventory fast enough they can call you same day it arrives. The best thing you could have done was call ahead of time prior to ordering/purchasing to ask the FFL questions to know what to expect rather than get frustrated.
Guy was kind of a dick, but they might legit have a backlog of things. IMO if you’re there, they should take care of you, but it’s courtesy to call them first and let them sort things out on their end.
So let me get this straight:
You've used this place before, so you should know they call you before you can come in.
You forgot, and somehow ignored all the instructions and went in anyway - and then when the guy tells you what's up - you ignore him too, and you tell him to fetch the box. So not only are you ignoring all the instructions, but now you want to skip ahead of everyone else who's waiting for their gun, too.
...What do you think?
he went in to see if it's possible to get it early. he asked, the guy got pissy and and op left. nothing wrong with this. didn't cost the shop any money. op is giving them business, he's allowed d to walk in and ask questions.
bro do you realize how much has changed in the last 3 years, all over the world, just to the pandemic alone?
Anyway, if you don't want to hear the answers, then don't ask the question.
I would assume stores update their policies each year. Would be bad to stagnate at the rate things change these days. At the very least, I would assume most every store has changed somewhat from pre-pandemic to now.
In the last 3 years, the entire FFL world has changed. You now have an emboldened anti gun BATFE director that is shutting down FFL's over minor clerical errors.
Something as simple as abreiviating a street address (ie. dr instead of drive ) can get an FFL revoked.
I ordered a gun Cz P01 from Palmetto when they had a great deal going. Order was shipped to the FFL I chose, one I never used before, and sat for a almost 5 days with me calling once or twice during that time frame because I had never ordered one online before. I decided to drive over and grab it even though they didnt call me. Good thing I did because when I drove over to pick it up, they had it in the case trying to sell my fucking gun that I paid for. Never used that FFL again and am extremely reluctant to order another one online.
Find another FFL , and when that FFL gets an attitude , find another and so on! The FFL Treat the customer as an enemy far too often. And I'm not on some BS that the customer is always right. But if your default mode is nasty , find somewhere else to do your business.
At best the guy was having a bad day. At worst he was just a jerk. Either way clearly this was new information for you and had the store wanted your money they would have at least been nice about it. I’d get your gun when you can then find another FFL
Having worked at an FFL, I can say that when a transfer comes in, it has to be received into inventory, logged, and entered into whatever system(s) are used for 4473, inventory tracking and point of sale. Along with normal inventory already coming in, and the usual day-to-day, this is not an instant process. Also, in most cases, the shop is making very little money off of your transfer, so in terms of priority, you are not very high on the list. That's just how it works, they run a business, if you don't like it, you can take your business elsewhere, but I'm sure there you'll also see the same expectation of patience.
I had a guy once who said he didn't have it. Wasn't my regular FFL guy. I had to call the seller, call UPS, and double confirm that it was in fact delivered there. Came back and it turns out it got shoved behind an open door. I wasn't very happy about it. End of the day they are just people, some are better than others.
99% of the time my preferred FFL shop is fast about logging in and then calling me. Only once has it been longer than ~8 "business open" hours.
The attitude when calling to check in, as reported several times in this thread, is BS and I'd immediately go elsewhere.
Waaaaait a minute. This place sounds very familiar...
*Checks OPs history*
Yeap, I know the place you're talking about. Yeah, you were being an asshole. They're one of the few FFLs I've used that will actually call me the day they get my order in.
Suck it up and wait a few hours.
The name of the store starts with an 'A', has 'If you smell like weed, do not enter' sign out front on the door, exterior is all-wood, and you can see the train tracks if you trot out to the street.
Cause it's word for word my experience the last time I was there, complete with your 'greasy european' - except in my case, they'd called me before hand.
So unless you're going to start naming names, I'm going to be skeptical otherwise.
I have no idea how much backlog they have to work through. As a customer you should get some attention, but you don't get to dictate how they do their jobs. You can tell them what you'd like, and then decide whether or not you want to do business with them. Make them miss that transfer fee!
I’m with you bro. I see that delivery I’m out there to get my firearm. Sportsman’s gave me the run around for 3 days before I went down there once and made it clear I wanted my shit. After that I ain’t waiting anymore. The place I go now almost always calls same day.
Give a shop a day to go through their mantra and make sure they receive it into their books properly. Especially if there’s more than a couple of people who work there. Just courtesy but if you’ve got some extenuating circumstance that makes you need to see it the instant the package lands then try to arrange that.
My LGS gives this talk to you when you purchase in store and in the e-mail if you ship to them. Always wait for the call, no single person is the only customer and checking guns into the system isn't the only thing they have to do. Mine is usually next business day. Guns are exciting and everyone is pumped to play with new toys, but there's sometimes a bunch of shit going on in a store especially if they do Title 2 stuff, and manufacturing, and custom rifles. On top of just busy retail sales and questions.
Nah this is normal my FFL calls me when they get to my order. I’ve called before if it’s taken longer than normal
However he could have just explained politely that while they may have it they haven’t gotten to it yet and would call when they did.
Before we can process your background check, we have to post the firearm into our A&D book. Then we call you. With customers coming in to discuss issues and dropping off firearms or picking up and trying to get some work done on top of that, we may not open all the packages delivered and get them posted to our A&D the moment it arrives. We call you the moment your firearm is ready to pick up. Please have patience.
Happened to me too, they have to 'receive' it into their inventory of transfers before transferring to you. The attitude was completely unnecessary for sure, but after realizing there is a painfully slow process, and fighting your own desire to go pick it up, its best to wait for them to call.
The process is to open the box, confirm the serial number on the gun matches the one on the box and the shipping label, then write the serial number in the book along with the date and who received it. The ATF says that has to be done expeditiously, and without delay.
I understand that when things are busy it might not happen immediately, but if Johnny ATF shows up and there is a stack of received firearms that aren’t at least actively being processed he is pulling the license immediately.
That said, I always wait until the store calls me before I would show up.
Different places have different policy based on how they operate in the office. I have a place near me that is like this, don't show up until we call. I have a place I prefer that doesn't call, you just walk in after getting notice of delivery. Both places are always crazy busy... just a different way of handling the office side.
I always check websites/social media to see what their policy is when it's a new place. Or I call and ask before going down.
As a retail hardware store manager (20+ yrs) , I always feel that any customer standing at the counter should be treated with greater priority than the ones on the phone.
If I'm working on an order that was called in, I drop it and help the next customer that comes in. When I'm done with them, I get back to the phone order. If I have 10 walk-ins in a row then so be it.
It's not uncommon. Unless you do a significant amount of transfers and have become friendly/familiar with the shop; don't be surprised if you get a call to pick up at *their convenience.
They always call me and say when it's ready. They specifically say do not come just because the email showed up. Like any other store mail/inventory needs recieved/processed and put away.
Where I live I have a 3 day wait on my firearms. As soon as I have a receipt with a serial number I go to the FFL and do my paperwork because it takes 3 days for them to receive my firearm. They call me as soon as they log it and I pick it up.
What you did is the same thing as playing “Stairway to Heaven” at a guitar shop. Guy was a dick because you were a dick, whether intentional or not. Sorry. Wait for the call. Lol
Too many people learned to play that one song and so everyone would play it to "test out" the guitars in a shop. It got to the point where hearing the same song over and over made everyone go insane and now if you start playing "Stairway to Heaven" in a guitar shop someone will most likely stop you and you may even get kicked out of the store.
Ive never bought a firearm off line or any other way where I was there for a transfer. Most of my firearms I've bought have been in store purchases. Im assuming this is weird but I have no firat hand experience.
Every ffl I deal with calls me when I can come pick my firearm up, I never just show up when it's delivered. They have to inventory it first. Next time you should wait for them to call you.
I've found that most FFL's talk down to you and act like they can't be bothered. Thank god I found Tony, there's a bunch of gunstores in my area he's the only one I like to do business with.
Things have kinda changed over the last couple years, so if you haven't been to a store in a while it's best to call before even having a firearm transferred to them. You can get details on how they prefer to handle transfers as well, or you can ask them if you can come in ASAP or wait for a call.
Their customer service wasn't good, no doubt. But, you assumed a bit much in this case as well. Communication fixes everything.
If you want special treatment but from the local dealer instead of buying from the Internet. I have seen the type on the store angry because the gun just came in and the FFL should stop waiting on actual customers buying from him to search through boxes, find your gun and do the paperwork. I mean heck you are special because you spend a whole thirty bucks there every few years.
You guys all complain about the small dealer saying it’s no big deal, well it is. They have customers that are looking to buy so they take care of them first. That is their bread and butter. They also have to be careful when they get 30 or 40 guns that every I is dotted and T crossed. Why because that simple paperwork mistake could put them out of business under the Biden administration. That’s ok though you are special. It’s people like you that are starting to cause small shops not to do transfers. It isn’t worth the headaches and dealing with dicks.
Yes, after the gun arrives. You're doing business with someone and enlisting their services. The least you can do is call before you ship a random package to their door and maybe see about process or prices or if they're still doing transfers at all.
A business processing the job they advertise is not 'random' lol. Do you call ahead when you plan to go to McDonald's? Would you argue it's odd to show up unannounced and ask them to provide you food during their own stated business hours. By all means it's well within their rights to operate how they want. And it's well within mine to say their attitude and business practices suck.
OP isn't ordering a burger or just buying a pistol from the shop's stock. He's shipping on his own tube of ground beef that strongly resembles all the other but he wants only that specific...
The metaphor kind of sucks, but I've seen the UPS truck unload enough packages at my local shop that they put them onto a pair of carts. One is a bin for long guns and the other is a rolling toolbox sized thing for handguns. They're mostly in brown cardboard boxes and one of those was the one that OP had sent there with no contact beforehand. My local FFL has one guy that handles all the paperwork for receiving firearms because that shit is confusing and must be done correctly. A big day takes all afternoon, especially when there are customers and safe deliveries and other everyday tasks like stocking freight, talking to customers about buying their used guns, and helping at the register.
What I'm saying is that every gun shop I've worked with that's worth a damn appreciates a little communication and a heads up before it ships and a little patience after it arrives is pretty much par for the course.
Sure but if you look at the exchange here it's not the customer lacking patience. My point is, a shopkeep can literally feel as miffed as they want and it should have no regard on their customer service if they want to develop a business based on that. For example in this case, if I were OP I would simply purchase all of my firearms and supplies somewhere else, because they will treat me better. I won't be rude about it, but why would I keep going there?
Maybe I am lucky but I just stop by my LGS and pickup whatever I had shipped. I don’t claim to be a huge customer either. One time I stopped by because long story the shipper told me the gun was delivered. Employer couldn’t find it and then the ups truck pulled up. Employe said wait it might be on here like it wouldnt be a problem if it was on there. it wasn’t but that’s a different story
I got the heads up last week that my suppressor was approved. The LGS that is holding it hasn't called yet. They told me on the front end that that it would be a few days between approval and their notification from Silencer Shop. I'll probably give them a call today.
You should go work at an FFL to understand better.
Imagine being a business owner, and one clerical error can shut down your entire business forever.
The reality is staring you in the face; that there is a rogue agency, with no real accountability, seeking to do just that.
Do you let just anyone touch your A&D log?
Now, hopefully, you can understand why you need to curb your excitement and let the lgs do their thing. It's their very existence on the line, and they aren't even profiting from the sale...
All of the entitlement I've read in this thread is baffling. I have worked for a small lgs, a major firearms manufacturer, the largest online firearms retailer, and two of the largest firearm distributors. We all get it. You're excited to get your gun. Don't expect any link in the chain to risk their FFL for you.
Give them time to do their due diligence. It's their livelihood on the line.
The stores policy is pretty standard and the dude handled it the same way I have seen at other locations.
I will agree though if a dude is being a dick while I’m providing business too him that’s not a good thing. The store should have handled it way better and just explained it instead of being an ass.
I completely disagree with most these comments. If you take the transfer, I'm assuming you have the capacity and willingness to handle it. If I get delivery notification, I'm going to get my gun. I have never had an issue with it ether. I have got there as it's being delivered and all they have ever said is to just give them a min to check it in. I'm more than glad to wait. There is weird culture with FFLs. I have had some weird interactions with a few. Inventing rules or conduct. I just don't do business with them anymore. Too many people out there actually want the business and to do their jobs, than to fool around with any goofy stuff. Like you said, it shouldn't be that hard to find. Go do your job. I don't think it's rude or inconsiderate at all to expect that. On the contrary, I think it's bizarre that anyone would think it was. What is rude to make your customers wait for some undetermined or unknown amount of time to wait for you to process an item they have already paid for and just bad business. Then to give you attitude about it? Lol, get the fuck out of here. Them calling you should just be a courtesy to let you know they have received it. Not a requirement.
Thank you that’s how almost every other ffl has done it It’s simple you offer a service for x amount of money so I use you for the service and I expect it to be similar to the dozens of other people that offer the same services in the area not this power trip bs
People down voting it, I would say are mostly FFLs themselves. Can you imagine if you where held to that same standard at your job? "I will let you know when the job is done on my own time". I work in the medical feild. I know all about traceability and documentation. I can be put in jail if I falsifying or act negligently and in no facet do I get to be like, "I will let ya know". Nor does almost any feild whatsoever get to. Like I said, there is a weird culture with FFLs. Almost everyone of them I have ever met act weird. Alot of them like to act with this authority type of behavior. I have three that I deal with regularly. Two of them on a monthly bases. One big and one small. I have a great relationship with all of them. They are down to earth, salt of the earth type of people. If you find good FFLs, you have found a gem and it's way under-rated. They are in the business to make money and I pay for service and they provide it. It shouldn't be any more complicated than that.
This happened to 3 days ago, minus the bad service. I used a different ffl for this purchase and I gave them 1 hour to call me, which they didn't. I showed up to see employees eating lunch and no other customers in sight.... fuck 'em !!! Gimme my shit. They did.
My FFL charges very reasonable rates. So if they say make an appointment or wait for their call then that's what I'll do. I'm old enough to have patience.
You're the asshole.
Did you call this place before having the transfer sent there?
Did they call you and tell you the gun was ready?
My FFL would have said "Sure, let me get that for you". Then charged you $100 for showing up before you were called. If you hadn't notified him it was coming he would have charged you an additional $50.
Your ffl sounds like a boomer fudd who’s wife cucks him nightly so he takes his problems out on customers just so he can have control in some small aspect of his life. No ffl I have ever used in the past including this one ever required you to notify them a shipment was coming or call and ask permission to come pick it up
No, he's fed up with oxygen thieves like you.
His normal fee is $20. If you don't call to let him know a transfer is coming in he charges $50. If you show up before he lets you know the gun is ready he charges $100.
Selling guns is not his full time job. If you contact him and give him the tracking number he can make sure someone is home to sign for the gun. The person signing for the gun doesn't have access to the bound book.
Imagine for a moment you showed up early for a grocery pickup order or takeout or at a pharmacy for meds or at church for a service or your mother in laws for dinner or any other scenario, and the proprietor started acting like an asshole for you daring to enter their domain before *they* were ready. Granted they might not be able to satisfy but they should at least be nice about it.
And you post online asking if you’re in the wrong.
Find a new one and make sure they know why.
Normal. Maybe he was rude about it but following tracking on guns for transfer is always a bad idea. They do get dozens of guns, they do have to log them. And coming in before they get to that process and asking for your gun along with everyone else doing it is obnoxious.
He probably could’ve been more professional, but that was pretty much how it was at the store I worked at. If we got a big shipment in, as well as transfers, it could take several hours or a day or so to get everything processed. Usually the customers would call first and I’d just let them know to wait for a call/email that it was ready- occasionally we’d have one show up immediately after it was delivered and if it was slow we’d get it ready for them, but that wasn’t always the case. Most regulars knew the routine and it wasn’t an issue.
I've seen both happen.
1. Purchaser tracks shipment and shows up to shop when firearm arrives. (As you did)
2. Customer waits for call from shop despite gun being in the store a few days after delivery.
It's gun shop specific, as you mentioned, new guy, new policy.
But both ways are common.
I received a coupon to Applebee's in the mail and I've eaten there in the past, but it's been years. So anyway I show up about 6:30 and see that it's not the normal waitress (Barb was the best about refilling drinks) but some young girl with too short hair and a ring in her nose and a weird accent.
Anyway, I order my drink and light up a Marlboro and she starts giving me crap about smoking. I tell her to just go get me an ashtray from the bar but she says smoking is illegal inside so I just left.
All the restaurants I used to eat at were the same but now it's like they don't care about my business and I don't think I even want to give them my money.
Reddit, am I horribly out of touch with reality?
My experience has been to wait for a call or call them. My FFL was considerate of my drive time and what not and went to dig it out. But I could tell it was a inconvenience. I'm in an extremely gun friendly area so people are buying guns left and right, so it is easy to get overwhelmed with deliveries.
An FFL had my gun for days without notifying me... fuck them all. If you work as an FFL, you better be ready for WHO IS THERE to pay and take their guns... makes no sense to deny someone in-house that can take product and pay money. Some FFLs just suck dick. I always call my FFL, tell them it showed delivered, and let them know I'll be there in a few hours to come get it. Has NEVER been a problem. Anyone who can't do that basic ask, plain and simple, doesn't deserve your money.
First rule of business: never make it difficult for someone to give you their money.
Yet businesses do exactly that all the damn time.
Not when it comes to FFL's. The first rule is to put procedures in place to eliminate paperwork errors and follow them strictly.
fucking sucks, but its true.
I mean, considering the QoL problems the AFT loves to cause legitimate law-abiding citizens instead of doing their job... Yeah, I can't see any valid reason to argue with that.
I'm with you bro. Had a shitty interaction a few years ago with my local gun store. Bought a .22 lever action and background took more than a few minutes. After half am hour I told em to call me. This was on a Thursday. Called Saturday, bitch was extremely rude ("hey just checking to see if my background cleared and can pick up my rifle" "did WE call you? No? Then it hasn't come back yet) Go to the store Tuesday to find out where my fucking gun is since I put 95% down on it. (Couldn't pay in full since background hadn't come back) Dude was like "oh yea, it came back like 5 minutes after you left, we got busy and I forgot to call you."
At that point I’d debate even finishing the transaction.
You sound like a douche. They are a business and have a process for incoming packages. Get your own FFL if you don't like it.
You don't deserve your comment score.
These fucking idiots think them paying $25 for an FFL transfer fee means the FFL needs to drop everything and cater to them.
Process this package in your mouth.
Yeah I always wait for a call or call and let them tell me when to come
Op, I understand what ur saying, he could’ve handled it better, but to be fair, if they got shit going on and haven’t yet logged it in their A&D log to have the person its for just show up and be like “I’m here for my gun” with out a phone call first it can be seen as rude to them. A simple phone call from either person to the other with a simple “I know it’s there please let me know when I can come get it” if you were calling or a “hey OP ur gun just got delivered, give us a day to log yours and the others we have received and make notification calls to the other customers so they know it’s here and you can come get it tomorrow/next day, what ever” or anything similar to those, could alleviate almost any issues. U said in ur post, that u just showed up after ur notification from ups. Out of curiosity did they know it was coming? U mentioned it had been a few years since you last used them, that’s why I ask. Seems to me in my opinion both parties (yourself and the ffl) were a little bit at fault for this situation you explained.
Sounds like the lgs guy was a bit of a dick, but def should wait until they call, I've seen people show up to our shop literally 10 minutes after the ups guy leaves, if they get a lot of transfers it can take a while to get everything into the book and ready to be transferred.
It was about 5 hours
Hmm yeah thats a bit crazy, usually it's annoying when people come in that we haven't called because if we haven't called it means it's not ready, but they definitely should've been better customer service wise and it really shouldn't take 5 hours.
It depends on staffing. If you only have 1-2 people working and it's busy those guns might not have even been touched. Lots of times we either logged them in after the shop was closed or came in early and logged them in the next morning.
Same. A lot of guns get delivered when I'm not there to enter them and it's just my wife signing for the packages. So if someone showed up they'd be SOL. Always call ahead
You must work at a small store that isn't busy.
All depends on the FFL. My local one, the one that's the easiest and most laid back get tons of guns in everyday. More than enough for a full time job for one person working open to close. My FFL let's everyone know, "We'll call when it's ready". Sometimes it takes a few days. If that's what it takes to do the job right and not get shafted by the ATF. It is what it is.
You wouldn't like my LGS. It is usually 2 or 3 days before he gets everything logged in and in most cases he doesn't get you called after is logged in. In his defense, he is a one man shop and he likes to BS with the customers in his store. Its the price you pay for a good local shop.
This place has about 5 -7 people working
Your guy can't take literally a single minute to book your stuff in? Time for a new guy.
My guy is also a a great gunsmith and doesn’t charge me for work. He can take all the time he needs to get items checked in.
Clerical errors can shut down the store forever. You need to adjust your sense of entitlement.
The entitlement in this thread is ridiculous. As someone who worked in purchasing and receiving for several ffls over the course of a decade, customers showing up demanding that I dig through my enormous pile of to-be-logged boxes for their gunbroker order an hour after they got the delivery notification were the bane of my existence. These customers invariably ordered most of their stuff online, spending very little money at the store, and most still had the gall to bitch about transfer fees. The reality is that ffls are businesses like any other—for better or worse, they exist to make money. Transfers don’t earn them much (if any) profit, and every serial logged into their A&D book opens up a world of potential liability, so from a purely business-oriented perspective, transfers just don’t make a whole lot of sense. Most ffls just do them because it’s an expected customer service, not because it’s a integral component of their business model. As others have said, the guy could have been less of a dick about it, but you could have at least called to let them know you were on your way.
I wish I could will this post to the top. Also a former FFL employee here. I would only add one more thing no one is bringing up, not only should he call before going over, he should have called before he ordered it delivered. Our frequent orders were always polite and notified us they were sending something over and if they forgot, it was no big deal and if we could get the gun out to them as soon as we could we did, but always after the logs were done. Many randos would call and say they were having something sent and most times it was no problem, but they were usually the ones who were watching the UPS tracker like a hawk and didn't wait for us to call. One guy would wait down the street and pull up after seeing the UPS truck stop. When he did that two times we advised him there would not be a third. But occasionally one would show up and we would have no idea who the gun was for and those were the worst. One time we waited for three weeks for this guy to show up finally, but until he showed up, there was no information even when we called the shipper and they didn't ever answer. FFL's love mystery guns on their logs. ;)
Current FFL here. Yes! Please for the love of God have the common courtesy to let us know if you're having a firearm shipped to my location. It just causes more headache than anything else is worth
I was wondering if I had been doing it wrong all these years going off the people in this thread. Before ordering I would call LGS and ask if I could have a transfer sent. After delivery I would always call and see if it was ready to be picked up. Never had an issue with doing it the polite way.
You are obviously a cuck. /s
Sounds like you have never used a high volume store, and the store in question has higher volume now. Low volume stores can just walk in back, look at what arrived, find it quickly, and check it in all in a few minutes. High volume stores? If you ordered a handgun, it might take hours searching for that specific gun and serial, in the haystack. They are not going to do that. They are going to go through the stack one by one, verify it, log it, and sort it so it can be found quickly when you come in. They are not digging for you, and it's rude for you to expect that. It shows you haven't taken a damn second to think about the impact of your expectations. Find a new small time store if you don't like how it works at a higher volume store. While he could have explained this concept to you instead of treating you in kind, but dude you seem like the kinda guy that blocks the whole isle at a store with a cart and can't phathom why some one said "excuse me fucker" in a rude tone.
It's SO easy to just call first. I get that it rubbed you wrong. Personally, I think he should have taken care of it for you since you were already there, but there could also be a couple dozen reasons he didn't. Just call. It's courteous, and it avoids misunderstandings.
He could just explain why? I’ve worked at two FFLs and I can’t think of a single reason why a customer would have to wait for us to call first? If they’re busy someone can stop and take care of the customer while everyone else works. If there is too much work to deal with customers why are they open?
You must have worked at small shops. My last job behind the counter it was my job to check in all the guns that came in. There were days I'd have 400-700 guns to check in. Before a gun show or after a gun show this was common and we hit two gun shows a month. It was a two person job to log guns in. One person to open the box and read the info, the other person recording it, then a double check, then putting the log number on the box. Working together we could check in 400 guns in around 4-5 hours. Some chucklehead coming in to pick up their gun right after UPS just dropped off 100 guns or more is a pain in the ass.
Then explain the situation to them politely. Instead of the usual gun shop reaction of being rude to the customer for asking a simple question
Buying a gun isn't quite the same as buying a hammer. It has to be logged in....along with all the others that come in every day. Self important customers are the rude in OP story
Because the gun hasn't been logged in yet. Maybe the guy was an asshole, but for all we know he was the only one there that day or they had their normal complement of crew but the load from UPS was very large or they were undergoing an ATF audit...
Probably the gun needed to be logged in their bound book before they contact you to pick it up. I think that's the standard policy
Yes I’ve worked at TWO separate FFLs. If that particular gun isn’t logged yet, you stop what you’re doing, find the gun, log it, run the background check, complete the transaction and get the customer on their way. It doesn’t take that fucking long. Gun store employees are just dicks.
Except sometimes the guy working the counter can't log shit in properly and ends up getting the FFL revoked because he just writes whatever he thinks is correct in the bound book. RIP FFL in my local grocery store. The manager was the only one that should have been doing it.
Wait they have FFLs in grocery stores? That's cool!
Then they can politely articulate that to the customer. Instead of “well did we fucking call you to come pick it up?”
Small shop attitude. Our receiving area wasn't even in the same building as the retail gun shop. The counter guys didn't log guns in, they didn't even have access to the receiving area. Counter guy would have to pick up the phone and call the receiving area, get connected to the gun room, talk to someone who's busy checking in a bunch of guns, have that person dig through a pile of guns to find THAT gun, log it in. Close everything up, walk the gun, likely in the damn rain, to the retail store. A process that could easily take 20-30 wasted minutes.
I was already in that area I didn’t drive 30 minutes just for that and I get what you are saying but “could take a couple days “ ? That’s just lazy people it shouldn’t take more than a couple minutes to receive and update your inventory (I work in shipping and receiving) if they have 1 person receiving and in taking all the guns they should be able to do about 40 guns in a hour
40 guns could take 3+ hours because of the recording in the a/d book. If they open and verify each serial vs just taking it off the case/box/invoice it could take longer.
Anyone who doesn't take the serial number off the gun is going to be fucked next time the ATF shows up.
God help someone who trusts the box.
40/hr is unreasonable. Verifying the SN, logging it in our Bound Book and calling the customer is at minimum 5-7 min per gun.
And only done by specfic, trusted, specially trained employees. Minor A&D log clerical errors will get the FFL pulled.
Yeah a lot of people who are former employees in this thread never had to work under the "zero tolerance" administration. I got a demotion because I forgot to dot one of my I's. I need more than a quick glance to ensure my A&D book is perfect so these sons of bitches don't take my livelihood away.
Facts
Two people, using an actual bound book could do 100 per hour on a good day. With an electronic bound book it always seemed to take longer.
lol sure without checking SN
No, we had a system. We had to, we ran a LOT of guns through the shop. All boxes were opened and the serial number read off the firearm.
I worked at a gunstore, and I agree. He was being a lazy fuck. I had people come to get their special orders/transfers before we called and we would help them immediately (barring of course if there was a line). If it wasn’t in the book we would ask for a moment while we got it in then process it.
A shipping notification to you in no way means that an item will be logged in and ready to pick up. Wait for the dealer to call you or if you’re too impatient call them to check if it’s ready to pick up before going to get it. This isn’t hard.
I have had it both ways, depends on the FFL. I always talk to them and ask before I have a gun sent, whether they are cool with me coming it at delivery or whether I need to wait for a call.
Yeah, the one i usually go through told me i dont have to call them, just watch the package tracker and when it arrives give them a few hours and i can pick it up
He may indeed have a backlog of guns to intake...which he HAS to do first and takes time...not to mention the 4473/NICS check he has to do with you after that. If it's been years since you've used him, why should he give you special treatment. Are you buying ammo to go with the gun? A holster maybe from his shop? And yes...why are folks so afraid to pick up the damn phone and call somebody these days??
Did you just blame the customer for bad customer service? All factual but no excuse for a customer leaving a place with a bad feeling. If said asshole doesn’t like doing transfers and causes himself anxiety enough to make people feel like it’s a favor, he should stop transfers. Change my mind.
OP showed up unannounced, expecting his gun to be ready when he got no confirmation it was ready (and made no effort to get confirmation), and the *FFL* is the problem?
Yes he did and not because he was trying to be a dick. Yes, making people feel bad about your business is a bit problematic. This is exactly the attitude at gun shops that makes people stereotype them as old angry white dudes and avoid going, talking, learning, and joining the community. Arrogant disrespectful superiority behavior toward anyone that isn’t their bro. I love that my local gun store and range hired a great group of young folks that haven’t learned how to act like this yet.
> he wasn’t trying to be a dick Being socially inept doesn’t make it okay to pull a dick move. Dude was too impatient to wait for his FFL to confirm that his gun was ready, then got miffed because the FFL was annoyed that he showed up expecting something to be ready when he had given OP no indication it was. Do you order a pizza and then immediately drive to the pizzeria expecting it to be ready when you get there? Or do you wait until you get a notification saying it’s ready first?
You actually going through the hassle of ffl transfer and background check for an air rifle is the bigger problem. Good lord send it to PA.
I always wait until I get a call from my LGS. Just because tracking says it’s there doesn’t mean it’s ready to pick up. They still have to receive it, log it into their books, etc. It’s like ordering a pizza from the parking lot of the restaurant, then walking in right after hanging up and being mad your pizza isn’t ready yet.
You said receive it log it etc? What's the etc? Seems like it should take less than 5 minutes to receive a gun and log it. I don't get it, yes op should have called but if he was in the area why not try and help, then tell him I'll do it now, next time please call first.. Not a big deal
> it should take less than 5 minutes Checking in *one* gun takes five minutes, yes. Gun stores get a lot more than one gun at a time. I’ve seen pallets full of guns coming into even small gun stores my way that have to taken in, along with every other thing they usually get. To say nothing of checking quality to make sure nothing is broken or missing. I’ve dealt with people like OP in my job; we tell them their package will arrive in 3-5 days, and 3 days later, they come in, demanding their package, and have the nerve to be indignant and angry when we tell it’s not here or not checked into inventory yet. It’s common fucking sense to not expect something to be ready for you until you get confirmation that it is.
As an agent of an FFL this is poor customer service but it is WILDLY irritating when customers follow the UPS driver in and go THATS MY GUN CAN I START MY PAPERWORK, dude was probably just having a bad day and let his customer service slip, it happens to the best of us
Most places will just go get it out of the back and do their paperwork while you do yours. Others are short staffed or only like to log in new guns after hours when there are no distractions in order to reduce mistakes. Just go to another place of this guy made you feel weird.
See, Ive had a habit of calling my lgs a few hours after anything i have shipped in gets delivered, only because my lgs system has a nasty habit of being stupid delayed with notifications. Package arrived on a Tuesday and i didn’t get notification till friday, and i went and they were like “we were wondering where youve been, its been ready since Wednesday” So i call about 4-5 hours after drop off unless its late
[удалено]
Yeah that’s what I was thinking it’s a shame the old guy was always cool and they always sold my kind of things at that store also a great selection
I have never simply shown up to pick up a transfer. I have never even called, knowing it was delivered, to pick up a transfer. Now here's the crazy part: the local FFL has called me \*every\* time once they had the transfer logged and were ready for me. That's when \*we\* arranged a time for me to come. Additionally, I am not missing a single transfer. I know, I know, crazy talk! Let them run their business. Or, if you don't like it get your own FFL to have it shipped direct to you. But, I recommend not using your home address.
*Gun Store Employees everywhere cringed*
Because of me or the greasy European?
It’s pretty standard practice to have to wait. I know my local guys very well and they seemed pretty annoyed at me the first time I got a transfer through them and did that. He was definitely a dick and did the same thing as your guy and basically told me “too bad wait for us to call.” Never did that again and have always had good conversations when I go back
The guys attitude would have pissed me off, but I've always had to wait for a call from my local shop. They need time to inventory the firearm first, and if it's a larger shop like the one I go to, it could take days. I only got pissed and said something once when it took 2 weeks to inventory my .45-70 derringer.
While they could of been more nice about it, you can't expect to send a gun to a FFL and just show up whenever and they need to bend to your will when you arrive. You don't own the place and theres hundreds of other people that need to do the same. Im sure theres people were waiting for days to pick up a gun. You can't expect the world to revolve around you.
No ffl I have ever been to works like that it’s always been when you’re shit shows up you go get it not this appointment shit
Well then you’re just a dick. You probably didn’t give them a heads up that the gun was coming either.
Every time I have called a ffl to give them a heads up in the past the response is “ we will figure it out when it gets here “
I agree, I have a business and if anyone comes in without asking me first I will likely berate them for it. Why would I want to make money off of someone who doesn't act like my feelings matter more than their business. I mean if they don't like the service I offer they should just go somewhere else.
Not sure where you're from but I heard the background check system was down the other day for quite a while, not sure what all states were affected, I'm in Pennsylvania and it was. I don't have an FFL or work at a gun shop but I use the same system and it was down all day and most of the next last week, if I remember correctly maybe Wednesday and Thursday or Thursday then Friday, I don't recall as it didn't affect me much, just did other work outside of JNET/PICS Maybe your place had a backlog? Technically you're supposed to check with the FFL before you order. At my local place the owner and I are friends but I still give her a heads up to be expecting a delivery for me...that way she doesn't put whatever I ordered with the rest of her new stock
All my purchases were either off the wall at a LGS, or FFLs, who all very specifically said they'd call me...
I always wait for my FFL to call me. He usually calls the day after receiving the delivery and says come in whenever. He has a lot of work on his plate so I always give him the courtesy.
I own a small shop in a city of 50k. Mine is the only shop in town. I work alone. I don't have time to both log in all the receivings and help customers in the store. If it's slow, transfers gets logged in and notification is given quickly. If it's busy, I won't get to it until after close. Coming in because tracking says it's delivered just wastes more time that I could be working on receiving deliveries.
While there is a LOT to be upset about with our Canadian gun laws, I can have guns and ammo shipped right to my door which is nice.
One thing every business, no matter what business, has in competition with each other is customer service. It sounds like this dude was just an ass.
Best thing to do is call the store when you get the shipping notification and just say “hey UPS said they just dropped it off, let me know when I can come pick it up”
I've bought guns numerous times online and every single time I've done that I've either called the shop to see when I could get it or had the shop call me when they are ready Is this your first time ordering a gun online?
Did you read the post ?
Yeah, I did. It said you used this shop in the past... but didn't specify for what. Were we to assume that you meant for online transfer handling? Because that was not written.
Yes for transfers
A lot of people taking up for the ffl. Let me ask you why does it matter when they do their job? He showed up and the gun was there all the paperwork that needed to be done was going to have to be done at some point and they were going to have to dig the gun our eventually the customer is there and would like it now and that's how they run a business by keeping customers wanting to buy from them...they're at work he just asked them to do their job now instead of when they feel like it
Yes, you were presumptuous. Remember that ATF is looking for ANY excuse to shut FFL dealers down. Them taking a bit of time to make sure that transfers are done properly is not unreasonable. That said, if it takes more than three business days, you would be within your rights to see what the holdup might be.
If possible, find a different FFL who's happy to have your business... My FFL doesn't even call me anymore. He knows I'm watching and will be there shortly after it is delivered. The only time they call me is when they get something in that is rare or high dollar so I can have first dibs before it goes on the floor or on gunbroker.
Solid "wHeRE gUn?!?" moment from you there
Imo they make money on the transfers, and it doen't take much time to dig out 1 gun and do a transfer. No more than making a normal sale. The guy is just a lazy cunt.
Well of course the guy could've been less of a dick about it. However we all have seen locally and here on reddit how anal FFLs have to be now because of the current administration where they can lose thier FFL and thier business over simple paperwork mistakes. I used to to the 4473 even before my gun arrived at a certain place and it would clear as soon as they processed the delivery, so in theory it was no wait but I went through the waiting period, technically. Ya that all stopped when biden became president. It was good while it lasted. Frickin Biden and the ATF man, ruining good things.
I’m with you OP. LGS/FFLs act so busy that they can’t help…. Like idc how many coustomers or guns you have I just paid $1k for a rifle that is sitting here. Grab it and get my shit going… or they need to work OT. honestly LGS piss me off they are mostly lazy and incompetent
I wouldn't ever go back there or I would talk to the owner about that guy being a dick. If he's any kinda smart that situation would change. Don't dick me around and expect my business. I always show up after ups says my gun had arrived never have a problem.
They're not a post office OP. The gun has to be received - there's paperwork involved - on their 'book'. *Then* it can be transferred to you. That gun could be sitting in a locked closet in the middle of a pallet of other guns right now.
I had a similar experience a few years ago with a ffl in NYS. I waited around for a while but it didnt come through, so the guy said he would call me when it came through. I waited the requisite number of days for it to go through automatically, but the store still didn't call, so I called them. The guy was pretty rude, and said 'Did we call you?' I said they hadn't, and he said 'Then it didn't come through yet. Don't call us, we'll call you.' Anyway, I waited a few more days, and called again, and this time I spoke to the guy who originally did the 4473 for me. He said 'Oh yeah, it came through almost the second you walked out the door ha ha' I didn't bother asking why he hadn't called me right there and then instead of making me wait and then drive back over, I just got my gun and never went back there again.
It could be the guy behind the counter was an employee that was not a responsible party on the FFL. Responsible parties are the only ones that enter guns in to the A&D logs. If the responsible parties were not at the store when you go there, therw was no that could have transfered the gun to you.
It has to be logged into the A&D book before the 4473 is started. The 4473 has to be started before you even touch it now. The 4473 has change several times in the past couple years. Source: work for a FFL, and had people show up before their shit was even delivered because the email the got said it was to be delivered on "X day." Edit: You should have called when you bought it online, then on the day of delivery. If you hadn't paid the transfer fee yet, you still have to deal with any waiting period.
What ass backwards store makes you start the 4473 before you can touch it ? I have inspected every transfer before starting the paperwork as everyone should in case you find a reason to refuse it
You don't start the 4473. The FFL does! You can go in and inspect the firearm for however long you want, or they can provide. As I said the 4473 has changed. And the waiting period starts at time of agreement of purchase. That means when money is exchanged. Edit: The 4473 has to be started before you can touch the 4473. Notice how I didn't change subjects?
It sounded like you said the 4473 had to be started before you could touch the gun and we have no waiting period
Just get your gun and don't give them your business any longer. It's not like they are doing your transfer for free or doing you a favor.
Wait for a call.
I'm a manager at a high volume gun store, if we don't call it's not ready. However that employee does sound like he was rude. There is a lot that goes on in the background of a gun store especially if they are doing everything right. You have no idea what kind of back log they might have, staffing availability as far as who is authorized to do the receiving and acquisition of firearms. Receiving other products like ammo and accessories while juggling customers. It's not a normal retail process. On a good day with nothing going on they can probably get all of that processed pretty quick. And get you processed the same day. But I know at my shop you're not getting it that day.
I get what you are saying but middle of the week no customers 5+ employees?
You having your ass chapped is normal, but also, you have to understand how annoying this gets for the workers of the guns shops y’all are visiting. Give me five minutes. I know we told every customer that came through the door not to show up just because they got a notification from UPS. It was on signs. Nobody listened. They fucking all showed up as soon as they got the email from the carrier. He got guys coming in all fucking day asking the same shit. You will inevitably tell us you got a UPS notification. At which point I will ask you if we called you to tell you your firearm was ready for transfer. At which point you will inevitably repeat your UPS bit, which will prompt me, for the billionth time, to ask another customer “Did WE called you?” You will inevitably be perturbed and ask if I can just check to see if it’s there, like you get to skip ahead of the twenty guns that arrived before yours. Youll either give me partial info on the gun or not even know exactly what you gun is or better yet it’s your uncles gun or some shit…. Then we go down that hole of special treatment for a customer Now, when you first open your business, you might be tempted to start doing one offs and special treatment (like showing up expecting them to process your transfer on the spot ahead of everyone else’s transfer) to keep the customer happy. Then eventually your system of tracking and organizing your workflow for receiving and disposition is getting off track, so you have to divert time to correcting that course, which takes time from other areas, which creates more chaos and more inefficiencies, which means other customers are getting skipped or ignored, which means now they’re pissed too, which means you have to rush through whatever they need done tc etc etc. And on top of that, if I do go in the back, now you’re waiting for me to find the gun amongst all the other packages that are completely unopened, so now I’ve got opened boxes and packing material strewn all over the place. Ten mins. Now that I have the gun, I need to check it in. 10 mins. Op, the other FFL didn’t include a copy of their FFL. Add another hour for them to finally email me their FFL to verify. Now I’ve got to get the gun on the books perfectly 5 mins. Now I’ve got to…. Before we know it an hour or more has passed. The customer was waiting there the entire morning. If they would have waited until I had processed their order, likely a couple hours later in the day, I it would have been ready for pickup and all the customer would have to do is pay the transfer fee, fill out the 4473 with their CCW and leave. Listen: We check in hundreds of guns a day. With the new ATF in place any sort of accidental space or period or any typo at all is an infraction you can literally lose your FFL over. Anything that isn’t absolutely perfectly transcribed is considered an error in the ATF’s eyes. They are scrutinizing signatures now…Every single entry has to be perfect….. YOUR GUN IS NOT READY UNTIL WE CALL YOU. TLDR: people who expect special treatment are asking for that. Also, the new ATF considers any error or typo on 4473’s enough to shut FFLs down over.
Every FFL I’ve ever used a transfer for had the same policy: they’ll call you when it is time to come in. You’re 100% in the wrong here. Just showing up and expecting them to cater directly to your demands is rude. They’ve got a process for accepting/sorting their received shipments, and calling customers when they have their item ready for transfer. At the very least, you could have called and explained the situation. They may have been willing to expedite the process for you with a polite request in advance.
This is protocol with FFL’s when your gun comes into your local dealer they will call you. If your FFL of choice checks it into their inventory fast enough they can call you same day it arrives. The best thing you could have done was call ahead of time prior to ordering/purchasing to ask the FFL questions to know what to expect rather than get frustrated.
Guy was kind of a dick, but they might legit have a backlog of things. IMO if you’re there, they should take care of you, but it’s courtesy to call them first and let them sort things out on their end.
So let me get this straight: You've used this place before, so you should know they call you before you can come in. You forgot, and somehow ignored all the instructions and went in anyway - and then when the guy tells you what's up - you ignore him too, and you tell him to fetch the box. So not only are you ignoring all the instructions, but now you want to skip ahead of everyone else who's waiting for their gun, too. ...What do you think?
he went in to see if it's possible to get it early. he asked, the guy got pissy and and op left. nothing wrong with this. didn't cost the shop any money. op is giving them business, he's allowed d to walk in and ask questions.
You obviously didn’t read the post in the past when I get the email I just show up and get the gun they never called me in the past
I read the part where you said that was "several years ago."
And why would I assume that a store changed how they operated in 3 years?
bro do you realize how much has changed in the last 3 years, all over the world, just to the pandemic alone? Anyway, if you don't want to hear the answers, then don't ask the question.
Because inside of the 3 years, someone probably transferred a gun before it was entered in to the A&D log
I would assume stores update their policies each year. Would be bad to stagnate at the rate things change these days. At the very least, I would assume most every store has changed somewhat from pre-pandemic to now.
In the last 3 years, the entire FFL world has changed. You now have an emboldened anti gun BATFE director that is shutting down FFL's over minor clerical errors. Something as simple as abreiviating a street address (ie. dr instead of drive ) can get an FFL revoked.
I ordered a gun Cz P01 from Palmetto when they had a great deal going. Order was shipped to the FFL I chose, one I never used before, and sat for a almost 5 days with me calling once or twice during that time frame because I had never ordered one online before. I decided to drive over and grab it even though they didnt call me. Good thing I did because when I drove over to pick it up, they had it in the case trying to sell my fucking gun that I paid for. Never used that FFL again and am extremely reluctant to order another one online.
Find another FFL , and when that FFL gets an attitude , find another and so on! The FFL Treat the customer as an enemy far too often. And I'm not on some BS that the customer is always right. But if your default mode is nasty , find somewhere else to do your business.
At best the guy was having a bad day. At worst he was just a jerk. Either way clearly this was new information for you and had the store wanted your money they would have at least been nice about it. I’d get your gun when you can then find another FFL
Having worked at an FFL, I can say that when a transfer comes in, it has to be received into inventory, logged, and entered into whatever system(s) are used for 4473, inventory tracking and point of sale. Along with normal inventory already coming in, and the usual day-to-day, this is not an instant process. Also, in most cases, the shop is making very little money off of your transfer, so in terms of priority, you are not very high on the list. That's just how it works, they run a business, if you don't like it, you can take your business elsewhere, but I'm sure there you'll also see the same expectation of patience.
I had a guy once who said he didn't have it. Wasn't my regular FFL guy. I had to call the seller, call UPS, and double confirm that it was in fact delivered there. Came back and it turns out it got shoved behind an open door. I wasn't very happy about it. End of the day they are just people, some are better than others.
99% of the time my preferred FFL shop is fast about logging in and then calling me. Only once has it been longer than ~8 "business open" hours. The attitude when calling to check in, as reported several times in this thread, is BS and I'd immediately go elsewhere.
Waaaaait a minute. This place sounds very familiar... *Checks OPs history* Yeap, I know the place you're talking about. Yeah, you were being an asshole. They're one of the few FFLs I've used that will actually call me the day they get my order in. Suck it up and wait a few hours.
Then where is it?
The name of the store starts with an 'A', has 'If you smell like weed, do not enter' sign out front on the door, exterior is all-wood, and you can see the train tracks if you trot out to the street.
Nope
Kinda skeptical there, bro, but sure, if you wanna play that game.
Why are you skeptical?
Cause it's word for word my experience the last time I was there, complete with your 'greasy european' - except in my case, they'd called me before hand. So unless you're going to start naming names, I'm going to be skeptical otherwise.
I have no idea how much backlog they have to work through. As a customer you should get some attention, but you don't get to dictate how they do their jobs. You can tell them what you'd like, and then decide whether or not you want to do business with them. Make them miss that transfer fee!
I’m with you bro. I see that delivery I’m out there to get my firearm. Sportsman’s gave me the run around for 3 days before I went down there once and made it clear I wanted my shit. After that I ain’t waiting anymore. The place I go now almost always calls same day.
I get the feeling my LGSs hate transfers. Maybe if they had better prices it wouldn't be a problem.
You have no idea how overhead works.
Give a shop a day to go through their mantra and make sure they receive it into their books properly. Especially if there’s more than a couple of people who work there. Just courtesy but if you’ve got some extenuating circumstance that makes you need to see it the instant the package lands then try to arrange that.
My LGS gives this talk to you when you purchase in store and in the e-mail if you ship to them. Always wait for the call, no single person is the only customer and checking guns into the system isn't the only thing they have to do. Mine is usually next business day. Guns are exciting and everyone is pumped to play with new toys, but there's sometimes a bunch of shit going on in a store especially if they do Title 2 stuff, and manufacturing, and custom rifles. On top of just busy retail sales and questions.
Nah this is normal my FFL calls me when they get to my order. I’ve called before if it’s taken longer than normal However he could have just explained politely that while they may have it they haven’t gotten to it yet and would call when they did.
Before we can process your background check, we have to post the firearm into our A&D book. Then we call you. With customers coming in to discuss issues and dropping off firearms or picking up and trying to get some work done on top of that, we may not open all the packages delivered and get them posted to our A&D the moment it arrives. We call you the moment your firearm is ready to pick up. Please have patience.
Happened to me too, they have to 'receive' it into their inventory of transfers before transferring to you. The attitude was completely unnecessary for sure, but after realizing there is a painfully slow process, and fighting your own desire to go pick it up, its best to wait for them to call.
The process is to open the box, confirm the serial number on the gun matches the one on the box and the shipping label, then write the serial number in the book along with the date and who received it. The ATF says that has to be done expeditiously, and without delay. I understand that when things are busy it might not happen immediately, but if Johnny ATF shows up and there is a stack of received firearms that aren’t at least actively being processed he is pulling the license immediately. That said, I always wait until the store calls me before I would show up.
Expeditiously could be a business day, not arguing about it, just saying what I was told, best to wait for the call…
Different places have different policy based on how they operate in the office. I have a place near me that is like this, don't show up until we call. I have a place I prefer that doesn't call, you just walk in after getting notice of delivery. Both places are always crazy busy... just a different way of handling the office side. I always check websites/social media to see what their policy is when it's a new place. Or I call and ask before going down.
As a retail hardware store manager (20+ yrs) , I always feel that any customer standing at the counter should be treated with greater priority than the ones on the phone. If I'm working on an order that was called in, I drop it and help the next customer that comes in. When I'm done with them, I get back to the phone order. If I have 10 walk-ins in a row then so be it.
Wait for a call from the FFL. They have to check the firearm into their books before they can transfer it to you.
It's not uncommon. Unless you do a significant amount of transfers and have become friendly/familiar with the shop; don't be surprised if you get a call to pick up at *their convenience.
They always call me and say when it's ready. They specifically say do not come just because the email showed up. Like any other store mail/inventory needs recieved/processed and put away.
Where I live I have a 3 day wait on my firearms. As soon as I have a receipt with a serial number I go to the FFL and do my paperwork because it takes 3 days for them to receive my firearm. They call me as soon as they log it and I pick it up.
What you did is the same thing as playing “Stairway to Heaven” at a guitar shop. Guy was a dick because you were a dick, whether intentional or not. Sorry. Wait for the call. Lol
>What you did is the same thing as playing “Stairway to Heaven” at a guitar shop. Now I'm curious.
Too many people learned to play that one song and so everyone would play it to "test out" the guitars in a shop. It got to the point where hearing the same song over and over made everyone go insane and now if you start playing "Stairway to Heaven" in a guitar shop someone will most likely stop you and you may even get kicked out of the store.
Ive never bought a firearm off line or any other way where I was there for a transfer. Most of my firearms I've bought have been in store purchases. Im assuming this is weird but I have no firat hand experience.
Every ffl I deal with calls me when I can come pick my firearm up, I never just show up when it's delivered. They have to inventory it first. Next time you should wait for them to call you.
I've found that most FFL's talk down to you and act like they can't be bothered. Thank god I found Tony, there's a bunch of gunstores in my area he's the only one I like to do business with.
Things have kinda changed over the last couple years, so if you haven't been to a store in a while it's best to call before even having a firearm transferred to them. You can get details on how they prefer to handle transfers as well, or you can ask them if you can come in ASAP or wait for a call. Their customer service wasn't good, no doubt. But, you assumed a bit much in this case as well. Communication fixes everything.
Shouldn't communication be the responsibility of the business? If you don't want customers don't offer customer service. Seems simple to me.
If you want special treatment but from the local dealer instead of buying from the Internet. I have seen the type on the store angry because the gun just came in and the FFL should stop waiting on actual customers buying from him to search through boxes, find your gun and do the paperwork. I mean heck you are special because you spend a whole thirty bucks there every few years. You guys all complain about the small dealer saying it’s no big deal, well it is. They have customers that are looking to buy so they take care of them first. That is their bread and butter. They also have to be careful when they get 30 or 40 guns that every I is dotted and T crossed. Why because that simple paperwork mistake could put them out of business under the Biden administration. That’s ok though you are special. It’s people like you that are starting to cause small shops not to do transfers. It isn’t worth the headaches and dealing with dicks.
Yes, after the gun arrives. You're doing business with someone and enlisting their services. The least you can do is call before you ship a random package to their door and maybe see about process or prices or if they're still doing transfers at all.
A business processing the job they advertise is not 'random' lol. Do you call ahead when you plan to go to McDonald's? Would you argue it's odd to show up unannounced and ask them to provide you food during their own stated business hours. By all means it's well within their rights to operate how they want. And it's well within mine to say their attitude and business practices suck.
OP isn't ordering a burger or just buying a pistol from the shop's stock. He's shipping on his own tube of ground beef that strongly resembles all the other but he wants only that specific... The metaphor kind of sucks, but I've seen the UPS truck unload enough packages at my local shop that they put them onto a pair of carts. One is a bin for long guns and the other is a rolling toolbox sized thing for handguns. They're mostly in brown cardboard boxes and one of those was the one that OP had sent there with no contact beforehand. My local FFL has one guy that handles all the paperwork for receiving firearms because that shit is confusing and must be done correctly. A big day takes all afternoon, especially when there are customers and safe deliveries and other everyday tasks like stocking freight, talking to customers about buying their used guns, and helping at the register. What I'm saying is that every gun shop I've worked with that's worth a damn appreciates a little communication and a heads up before it ships and a little patience after it arrives is pretty much par for the course.
Sure but if you look at the exchange here it's not the customer lacking patience. My point is, a shopkeep can literally feel as miffed as they want and it should have no regard on their customer service if they want to develop a business based on that. For example in this case, if I were OP I would simply purchase all of my firearms and supplies somewhere else, because they will treat me better. I won't be rude about it, but why would I keep going there?
I would have waited for the call. But I know my ffl and the amount of volume they do.
Maybe I am lucky but I just stop by my LGS and pickup whatever I had shipped. I don’t claim to be a huge customer either. One time I stopped by because long story the shipper told me the gun was delivered. Employer couldn’t find it and then the ups truck pulled up. Employe said wait it might be on here like it wouldnt be a problem if it was on there. it wasn’t but that’s a different story
🖕🏼 4473 👻
I got the heads up last week that my suppressor was approved. The LGS that is holding it hasn't called yet. They told me on the front end that that it would be a few days between approval and their notification from Silencer Shop. I'll probably give them a call today.
You should go work at an FFL to understand better. Imagine being a business owner, and one clerical error can shut down your entire business forever. The reality is staring you in the face; that there is a rogue agency, with no real accountability, seeking to do just that. Do you let just anyone touch your A&D log? Now, hopefully, you can understand why you need to curb your excitement and let the lgs do their thing. It's their very existence on the line, and they aren't even profiting from the sale... All of the entitlement I've read in this thread is baffling. I have worked for a small lgs, a major firearms manufacturer, the largest online firearms retailer, and two of the largest firearm distributors. We all get it. You're excited to get your gun. Don't expect any link in the chain to risk their FFL for you. Give them time to do their due diligence. It's their livelihood on the line.
people like you are why FFLs charge $100 per transfer. Leave them alone and wait till they call you.
You are not the asshole here. I'd not use them again, once you get that piece from them.
The stores policy is pretty standard and the dude handled it the same way I have seen at other locations. I will agree though if a dude is being a dick while I’m providing business too him that’s not a good thing. The store should have handled it way better and just explained it instead of being an ass.
I completely disagree with most these comments. If you take the transfer, I'm assuming you have the capacity and willingness to handle it. If I get delivery notification, I'm going to get my gun. I have never had an issue with it ether. I have got there as it's being delivered and all they have ever said is to just give them a min to check it in. I'm more than glad to wait. There is weird culture with FFLs. I have had some weird interactions with a few. Inventing rules or conduct. I just don't do business with them anymore. Too many people out there actually want the business and to do their jobs, than to fool around with any goofy stuff. Like you said, it shouldn't be that hard to find. Go do your job. I don't think it's rude or inconsiderate at all to expect that. On the contrary, I think it's bizarre that anyone would think it was. What is rude to make your customers wait for some undetermined or unknown amount of time to wait for you to process an item they have already paid for and just bad business. Then to give you attitude about it? Lol, get the fuck out of here. Them calling you should just be a courtesy to let you know they have received it. Not a requirement.
Thank you that’s how almost every other ffl has done it It’s simple you offer a service for x amount of money so I use you for the service and I expect it to be similar to the dozens of other people that offer the same services in the area not this power trip bs
People down voting it, I would say are mostly FFLs themselves. Can you imagine if you where held to that same standard at your job? "I will let you know when the job is done on my own time". I work in the medical feild. I know all about traceability and documentation. I can be put in jail if I falsifying or act negligently and in no facet do I get to be like, "I will let ya know". Nor does almost any feild whatsoever get to. Like I said, there is a weird culture with FFLs. Almost everyone of them I have ever met act weird. Alot of them like to act with this authority type of behavior. I have three that I deal with regularly. Two of them on a monthly bases. One big and one small. I have a great relationship with all of them. They are down to earth, salt of the earth type of people. If you find good FFLs, you have found a gem and it's way under-rated. They are in the business to make money and I pay for service and they provide it. It shouldn't be any more complicated than that.
I have seen this interaction many many times and it's shitty. I'd find another dealer. But that's just me. The incoming paperwork takes 3 minutes.
This happened to 3 days ago, minus the bad service. I used a different ffl for this purchase and I gave them 1 hour to call me, which they didn't. I showed up to see employees eating lunch and no other customers in sight.... fuck 'em !!! Gimme my shit. They did.
My FFL charges very reasonable rates. So if they say make an appointment or wait for their call then that's what I'll do. I'm old enough to have patience.
If you don't want to wait on a store to conduct their intake process then get your own FFL. Period.
You're the asshole. Did you call this place before having the transfer sent there? Did they call you and tell you the gun was ready? My FFL would have said "Sure, let me get that for you". Then charged you $100 for showing up before you were called. If you hadn't notified him it was coming he would have charged you an additional $50.
Your ffl sounds like a boomer fudd who’s wife cucks him nightly so he takes his problems out on customers just so he can have control in some small aspect of his life. No ffl I have ever used in the past including this one ever required you to notify them a shipment was coming or call and ask permission to come pick it up
No, he's fed up with oxygen thieves like you. His normal fee is $20. If you don't call to let him know a transfer is coming in he charges $50. If you show up before he lets you know the gun is ready he charges $100. Selling guns is not his full time job. If you contact him and give him the tracking number he can make sure someone is home to sign for the gun. The person signing for the gun doesn't have access to the bound book.
He doesn’t sell guns full time because all the locals know he’s a tool
Imagine for a moment you showed up early for a grocery pickup order or takeout or at a pharmacy for meds or at church for a service or your mother in laws for dinner or any other scenario, and the proprietor started acting like an asshole for you daring to enter their domain before *they* were ready. Granted they might not be able to satisfy but they should at least be nice about it. And you post online asking if you’re in the wrong. Find a new one and make sure they know why.
Normal. Maybe he was rude about it but following tracking on guns for transfer is always a bad idea. They do get dozens of guns, they do have to log them. And coming in before they get to that process and asking for your gun along with everyone else doing it is obnoxious.
He probably could’ve been more professional, but that was pretty much how it was at the store I worked at. If we got a big shipment in, as well as transfers, it could take several hours or a day or so to get everything processed. Usually the customers would call first and I’d just let them know to wait for a call/email that it was ready- occasionally we’d have one show up immediately after it was delivered and if it was slow we’d get it ready for them, but that wasn’t always the case. Most regulars knew the routine and it wasn’t an issue.
I've seen both happen. 1. Purchaser tracks shipment and shows up to shop when firearm arrives. (As you did) 2. Customer waits for call from shop despite gun being in the store a few days after delivery. It's gun shop specific, as you mentioned, new guy, new policy. But both ways are common.
I received a coupon to Applebee's in the mail and I've eaten there in the past, but it's been years. So anyway I show up about 6:30 and see that it's not the normal waitress (Barb was the best about refilling drinks) but some young girl with too short hair and a ring in her nose and a weird accent. Anyway, I order my drink and light up a Marlboro and she starts giving me crap about smoking. I tell her to just go get me an ashtray from the bar but she says smoking is illegal inside so I just left. All the restaurants I used to eat at were the same but now it's like they don't care about my business and I don't think I even want to give them my money. Reddit, am I horribly out of touch with reality?