Second time at NFA

[plstu]

I went to NFA because everyone was raving about the service and friendliness of this shop. My first time there was nice. A guy talked to me a bit and then left me alone to look at things. I enjoyed it........
I stopped in today with my son to pick up some bore cleaner, lube, 4 boxes of 38s and 2 boxes of 357s. Walked in and one guy was showing handguns, one guy was working on a gun transaction, one guy was kind or "floating around" and two ladies were stocking shelves. After looking around, I picked up my lube and cleaner and headed towards the checkout were the guy was still going through his paperwork for his gun transaction. I sat my two items on the counter and waited, and waited, and waited.... no one even spoke to me. I did hear one of the salesman say something to a guy about this website so I tried to start a little conversation by saying I had joined and was wondering who "Guido" was. They told me he was out back and I didn't want to meet him! Then it became apparent that the man buying the shotgun is either a moderator or something else on this site because the customer said that he keeps getting busted for foul language by the guy buying the gun. NO ONE SPOKE AGAIN TO ME as I stood there with my son for more than 20 minutes with a couple items in hand to buy. A simple "will be right with you" or "we only have one cash register and it takes a little time to process this paperwork" or "can I help you" would have been NICE!!! Finally my boy said he was going out to the truck to listen to music. I stood for another few minutes, then walked over and put my lube and cleaner away and walked out. No one said a thing!! I have had better luck at the Bass and Pro shop! So to all of you that say they get such "GREAT SERVICE"..... what did you have to do to get it? I am NOT exaggerating one little bit, I would NEVER do that to a business but this place was HORRIBLE at best! Do you only get service if you buy guns there? Actually after my first time there, I sent a friend over to buy a 38 special revolver they had. Is there a secret sticker or something I should have received so I could have gotten some service the next time I went in? Looks to me like they have made a name for themselves and now they are going to turn into just another gun shop. I wasted a good 25 minutes of my time there and was NEVER spoken to until I tried to force my way into a conversation. I am not sure if THIS is what you mean by "friendly and helpful" but I have felt 10 times more welcome at Walmart while being waited on by a 100 year old man. This really SUCKED because I really like to support locally owned, smaller businesses but I refuse to be treated like I don't even exist... Shame on you NFA and remember, you get what you put in.

 

[Guido]

Sorry you had a bad experience. I was here when the moderator you talked to was here and I know the guys were busy, but there's no excuse for the way you got treated.

No special stickers, and I'm sure once the guys got to you they would have treated you the same as everyone else in the store.

 

[JFComfort]

Sounds like the guys were put in a trance by requiem and his shot gun purchase. I'm sorry to hear about your bad experience but I'm sure if you stick with them they will easily earn your business.

Man after all the sh*t I've had to put up with when dealing with these guys its a wonder I still do business with them!! I'm kidding, you know I have to bust your guy'es balls when I get the chance!!

 

[shotdown]

If you stop by again, I'll be there tomorrow and I'll be more than happy to help you out. I'm the shortest guy there. Can't miss me (or maybe you could :blushing. Anyway, I can't speak about what happened today since I wasn't there and didn't see what occurred. Seriously, give us another chance to make it right. The store gets busy at times and with the amount of staff on hand and paperwork that needs to be done, service may be slow at times.

 

[Facejackets]

Hey man, They get super busy. Not everyone gets helped right away. I'm really sorry to hear about your bad experiences. These guys are really top notch.

I have known the owners since before the store was open, and have nothing but nice things to say about them.

Go back again, and tell them what happened. I am sure they will do what they can to make it right.

 

[Guido]

Not trying to bribe you or anything, but the more I think about this, the more angry I get.

I'd like to make this right, because as you can see by the other feedback here in our forum, thats not the type of shop we operate and that type of experience isn't tolerated here.

Let me make this right by buying you your first $20 in cleaning supplies next time you're in the store and give us another chance to earn your business.

 

[plstu]

FaceJackets, I have been aroud a while too and I know that when a place is busy, it takes a little time. If you think for a second that I was impatient, you are WRONG! It is a very small place and I don't need to be first in line, but no matter how "busy" that little place gets, they can STILL acknowledge your presence! Trust me, they had enough time to say something to me and explain why it was taking so long. I appreciate your dedication to them but just maybe you don't ever have this problem because you are friends with them???
Guido, I really appreciate your offer but something for free just isn't my style. I will swing by again and hope to get treated the way others here seem to always get treated. Thats all I want. I don't think a person should have to be a "regular" or a "friend" to get acknowledged and treated respectfully. I would LOVE to walk in and have the guys all know me and joke around but that takes time. Until then, just being treated nicely will do. I will try again...thanks

 

[YankeeGal]

Hey plstu coming from someone who has a background as a corporate trainer for a Fortune 100 company in customer service/sales/technical support I would have to agree with you. I would have been very irritated, since I hold most businesses to a higher standard. If that would have happened on my very first visit I too would have been irritated and walked out also. In fact, I've done it to other businesses before, where I simply just walk out of the store and not visit again. Ask my other half, I'm notorious for it. That or asking for a manager. To me, there is no excuse for bad customer service and it is one of my pet peeves (just ask my other half about my tipping policy).

However I do have to defend them as there are times that I have been there, and it has been so busy they just kinda get backed up. But I have to seriously defend them compared to other gun shops in town. They will not jerk you around, they don't pressure you, and they are very knowledgeable on matters with weapons. You really won't find a better shop in town. And this kind of incident is one that surprises me out of these guys.

They don't pre-judge who has money to spend and who doesn't, plus I'm a chick who is older and a bit "crazy" and I get judged as soon as I walk in the door at other gun shops in town. NFA didn't do that to me, which I greatly appreciate from them. Anytime I've had a question, they've taken the time to answer for me. Now I/we have spent a bit of money there yes, but that does not make me a "special" customer (although I'm sure many people would say I'm a "special" person.... LOL) and I have noticed that all customers receive the same manner of service as I do.

When they haven't been able to get to myself or others, it's generally been because they are busy. And when the background checks "back-up" (which one did when we were there getting a Mossberg, as it took 20 minutes to run) that can slow things down.

I would give them another chance as they are worth it, seriously. The only reason I/we keep coming back is because of their customer service.





P.S. Okay guys, I'll take my payment in Gold Dots now....

 

[teRRy702]

Personally, I'm a fan of NFA. The ONLY negative comment I could make is that with one register, the waiting can be a pain.

I don't know Guido personally, but I'm sure I've seen him there. I'm sure he's already looked into it, but I would seriously consider putting in another register. It looks like you're using a PC based system... shouldn't be too expensive to add one more, but ideally, I'd probably add two more... then again, I'm not the one paying the bills, so it's easy for me to say that.

My last purchase did take quite awhile... part of that was my own fault as I added a couple of things and basically had a second transaction... which, of course, somebody else who was being waited on was then having their transaction rung up and that took a little while...

However, when I am being waited on, I have NEVER felt rushed and have always had EVERY question (and I have ALOT of them, really) answered... I have even let others go before me because I'm a pain in the ass with the number of questions I ask...

I'm a huge fan of Cliff and Mark (not to slight the other guys, just haven't bought anything from them... yet) and I'm actually greeted BY NAME when I walk in now if either of them are at the counter. I can't speak for anybody else, but I don't typically get that type of service ANYWHERE.

Cliff has talked me out of buying something that I didn't "need". Seriously. It was only a couple of bucks on top of it. But that little token of honesty, in my opinion, was huge.

Frankly, I'm scared to death to go in there anymore, but not due to any safety concerns. It's more about emptying my bank account and my desire not to do so. I have, and could easily do again, spend over $1K in one visit.

I almost wish I did know Guido so I could see about buying into the business as a somewhat-silent partner. I've been tempted to put on my NFA shirt and just start working behind the counter, but I know I'd have my lunch handed to me as any one of them have twenty times the knowledge I have when it comes to firearms.

Sorry for the long winded rant... I would just ask that you give them another shot.

 

[geo]

Yeah everyone has bad days, I normally will give a biz a few tries before I write it off.

The only time I was in NFA they were super busy, but took care of me (Guido set aside a holster for me) and checked me out quickly.

Quite frankly I could walk in there and not notice I was never waited on because they have so many goodies I could browse for hours.. lol

My only problem with NFA is they dont have a store in Pahrump!

 

[shotdown]

Guido and Cliff have been talking about about getting another register. Just remember that NFA is a fairly new and most of the funds are going back into products. It's a small store with little space too so they have to make best use of space. There has been talks of expanding into the next suite over so we'll see what happens.

 

[Guido]

We do realize that its getting to crowded in there, and we have signed a lease and began the construction process on the suite next door so we can double the size of the store. Once that happens we'll have room for another register on its own checkstand away from the counters so things like today won't happen.


Thanks for giving us a second chance, I've talked to all the guys to make sure they're putting in the effort we expect them to when it comes to customer service in the store.

 

[Just Deserts]

Everyone has a off day, I wouldn't hold it against them. Maybe they should get one of those self check out scanners like they have in some grocery stores. Beep, 2 99, Beep 34 95, have you scanned your NFA discount card? Beep, Welcome valued customer! Beep 4 39, Beep, do you have any coupons? :jddb:

Plstu, you were kind enough to put the stuff back on the shelf you didn't get rung up, not saying I would do it at NFA, but nothing sends a message to a place with bad service than to leave your items sitting at the register. I've done it at places that broke the bounds of decent service.

Like Geo, I've actually purchased more items from places waiting to get checked out. I think it's part of their marketing scheme :tongue:

 

[shotdown]

I had military guy (military myself) that I was helping with some MBUS sights. I sat there explaining the details to him because he didn't know anything about them. When I was ready to ring him out, I told him that it would be an additional 3% for CC use. The guy said never mind I'll buy them online, turned around and walked out leaving the sights on the counter. I was pissed a bit about that. There are other people in the store waiting for help, and while I don't mind sitting there and talking to you about a product, I do hate the fact the person walked out because they didn't want to pay $2 more.

That causes situations like this one because I could of had helped someone else that would support a local business and wanted to be out the door quickly. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that there are lots of things happening on both sides of the counter that can slow us down a bit.

End of my story.

 

[Tophog]

I hope you give them another try, and that you have a good experience!

 

[Just Deserts]

I had military guy (military myself) that I was helping with some MBUS sights. I sat there explaining the details to him because he didn't know anything about them. When I was ready to ring him out, I told him that it would be an additional 3% for CC use. The guy said never mind I'll buy them online, turned around and walked out leaving the sights on the counter. I was pissed a bit about that. There are other people in the store waiting for help, and while I don't mind sitting there and talking to you about a product, I do hate the fact the person walked out because they didn't want to pay $2 more.

That causes situations like this one because I could of had helped someone else that would support a local business and wanted to be out the door quickly. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that there are lots of things happening on both sides of the counter that can slow us down a bit.

End of my story.

That is going to happen when you are dealing with the public :cursing: The problem is you have to treat eveyone the same, in this case you didn't know he was going to walk out until after you told him about the 3% additional fee. The thing is he probably didn't know how much 3% was going to cost him, if he didn't want to pay the $2 you don't want a customer like that anyways. You can never tell with people, but it's the chance you have to take.

Just curious why the extra credit card fee? There are lots of businesses that don't charge a fee. Maybe time to switch to a different system? or at least post a sign on the register? Just curious.

 

[Guido]

We get charged almost double that on Credit Card transactions from our merchant services because of the "firearms and related products" that we sell. There are only 3 merchant services in the US that will allow sales of firearms and ammo, so we're pretty much stuck.

Everyone charges extra for CC (Offering a cash discount in legal terms), you just may not see it. We can raise our prices 3% and not charge a credit card fee, but then the people paying with good old cash get punished, so we're out in the open on how we do it.

And there is a sign on the register, it takes up the entire back of the monitor that the customer sees while checking out. Its also on our website, and on our sticky's on all the shooting forums.

I'm going to lock this thread now because its getting off topic.

I'm glad we got this resolved, and thanks for all of you guys that support our shop. I'm glad you realize what lengths we go to to take care of the locals here in town!

Thanks!!:sifone: