[onthepaper]

Man, I am disappointed the way this went. I found a really nice Remington 700 BDL w. scope in 30.06 for $650 that I was going to buy and flip. It was in near-mint condition with CDL style checkering. I called and while waiting for a salesperson, I browsed their new arrivals online and saw a gorgeous, mint condition Interarms Mark X Mannlicher with European shadow cheekpiece and double set triggers for $999. I told the sales guy to pull them both and give me an in-hand description which was consistent with the pics (not a mark on either gun, slight plum color discoloration on the 700 BDL bolt handle).

My initial instinct was to do the sale over the phone but I told him I'd take them both and go online and complete the sale as long as they guaranteed they wouldn't be sold out from under me. He advised "Nope, they're both yours and set aside, no one else can buy them. Satisified with that, I went online, put both in my cart, verified they both showed sold and proceeded to set up my account and enter all my info. At the end, a flag came up that said "Sorry, the Interarms Mark X is unavailable.

I called back and didn't get the same salesperson so I asked for the Sales Manager. He advised "Sorry, it sold before you completed your purchase." Of course I'm not happy after receiving the commitment they were out of the system and were mine. I suggested he refund the other purchaser and do what his salesperson committed to. The Sales Manager conferred with the original salesperson and said "Gee, we're sorry this happened. If you want the Remington we'll take an additional 10% off but we can't reverse the other sale, he was first in line to purchase." I responded "You have your facts wrong about who was first and what was promised I think." He disagreed. I could see this was going nowhere and told the sales manager what I thought of their commitment to service and they could shove the Remington and their 10%.

 

[PaleHawkDown]

Usually, the only way a website can hold something for you is if they take it off inventory. If they take it off inventory, they cant sell it via internet.
It looks like the sales guy would have told you that, and that the best option was by phone. Heck, if he gets commission for phone sales, I'm surprised he didn't practically beg you to do it by phone.

 

[rando]

Ii trust like very few people. I wonder if one of the workers there or a salesperson decided to take it from under you.

 

[onthepaper]

Here is their stated policy from their website.

• Please email or call us toll free 1-877-214-9327 to find out if the item you are interested in is available.
• Once we verify the item is available, we will hold the item 5 business days awaiting payment. If payment is not received in 5 business days the item will be returned to stock immediately.

 

[onthepaper]

Ii trust like very few people. I wonder if one of the workers there or a salesperson decided to take it from under you.

Yeah, how often to see one of these at $995?

 

[K75RT]

No flame intended...a learning experience. you did allright! I have had worse experiences when dealing online... there are honorable people and those that are not.

 

[onthepaper]

I just looked at the enlarged pics on the website and I am really pissed at how nice a gun that was. The Mannlicher versions are rare as hen's teeth not to mention a Euro-spec model. The Manager called me back and offered 20% off the Remington (up from 5% off), free shipping and handling and no tax. Of course I took that deal, but I read the policy to the Manager and told him "I did everything right and you didn't honor your commitment to hold the gun for up to 5 business days as per your policy. You are not an honorable person and it's easier to blame me than face up to your mistake." Case closed, life goes on.

 

[runfiverun]

one point in their favor is they did make an extra attempt to try and give you something to make you happy.

i don't know what happened on the other rifle, but it sounds like they were kind of forced to honor the other commitment.
like it was on holdish? for someone else and they took under their 5 days, meanwhile the other sales dude seen it had been sitting with no movement on it for 3-4 days.
just speculating.


look at it like this,,, that other rifle probably shoots as poorly as the remington or maybe even worse, and they done you a favor.

 

[onthepaper]

one point in their favor is they did make an extra attempt to try and give you something to make you happy.

i don't know what happened on the other rifle, but it sounds like they were kind of forced to honor the other commitment.
like it was on holdish? for someone else and they took under their 5 days, meanwhile the other sales dude seen it had been sitting with no movement on it for 3-4 days.
just speculating.


look at it like this,,, that other rifle probably shoots as poorly as the remington or maybe even worse, and they done you a favor.

Here's the deal. You place an available gun in the cart online, the gun status changes to "Previously Sold". Having seen these systems in action, they do not necessarily reserve the item while you purchase it. If someone is online at the same time as you and already has an established account, FFL and payment method, he can beat you to the purchase. Whoever pays first gets the item.

If you call in your order, the gun automatically goes on a 5 business day hold for payment giving you the option to pay online with a credit card, mail a check or money order or whatever. Knowing I would have to take the time to set up an account, enter my credit card and FFL information before paying, I opted to call and have the guns put on the 5 business day hold to prevent the upset that ultimately did occur. Someone else bought the gun online as we were speaking because the employee did not put the rifles on prior sales hold while I finalized the purchase and payment.

No one did me any favors. Fact is guns with Mannlicher stocks are a hot commodity and hard to find. Add mint condition and European market specs (oil finish stock, skip-line checkering, shadow-line cheekpiece with European comb and narrowed wrist and double set triggers) and you a very desirable rifle while Remington 700's are a dime a dozen and no one else was trying to buy the Remington at the same time I was.

 

[onthepaper]

All water over the dam now. Next time, like good ol' Ronnie Reagan said "Trust, but verify."

 

[runfiverun]

sounds like most everything gun related now.
you can search and search for powder and primers for months then finally find it [ridiculously over priced] and while you have it in your cart and attempt to pay for it,,,, it's gone,,,, poof, and you can't finish your order.
the bot seen it and put in the pre-programmed info.
meanwhile the code writer is asleep and your looking for your glasses to read the numbers on your card.

 

[PaleHawkDown]

sounds like most everything gun related now.
you can search and search for powder and primers for months then finally find it [ridiculously over priced] and while you have it in your cart and attempt to pay for it,,,, it's gone,,,, poof, and you can't finish your order.
the bot seen it and put in the pre-programmed info.
meanwhile the code writer is asleep and your looking for your glasses to read the numbers on your card.

It isn't much better for dealers. I get notifications from my distributors that items I am looking for are back in stock. Within seconds, if possible, I will log into the site. I put a few of them into my cart, much less than the quantity they showed when I logged in, and click to check out. "Quantity not available." I lower the quantity, and I get "Item out of stock...click to receive notification when this comes back in."

 

[runfiverun]

yep.
it makes me wonder where all the money is coming from.
who has the cash laying around to just jump all over a hundred dollar brick of primers, or 40 dollar a pound powder over and over again?
that's not counting shipping and haz-mat.

guys with that kind of money can just buy 2-3$ a pop factory ammo and move on with their day.