Got ripped off on first gun purchase -- how to proceed?

[SMMAssociates]

Duke:

Exactly.... If the gun was a display model (not unlikely where I usually deal), I bought what I had in my hand, and really don't want to hear about further handling.... (The good news, here, is that we don't have "waiting periods" yet.... Yet.... )

I inherited a nice Commander about ten years ago, and managed to NOT put an "Idiot Mark" on the frame, somehow. It needed to go to a local smith a few times for very strange reasons. On about the third trip HE managed to scratch it....

(One of the "appearance" curses of the 1911 is that putting the slide stop back into the gun - essentially the slide stop holds the gun together - can result in a nasty scratch on the frame if you're not aware of how to do it.... This guy should have known.... 25+ year old gun, so I just ignored it, and it was a "daily carry" for the guy who willed it to me, as well as one that I carried often, so the loss was mostly bragging rights, but.... )

Briefly hijacking: The discussion of waiting periods got me to thinking about the garbage "Federal License" requirement that's in one of the usual criminal and terrorist friendly bills now in Congress.... With that degree of licensing, as much as I don't wan the Federal Camel's nose under the tent flap, I think it exceeds that which most states require for Concealed Carry. Sure looks like it could be turned in that direction....

Regards,

 

[armedandsafe]

Many years ago, I was active on the old WordStar forum on CompuServe.

Boy, that brings back memories. I was on the Alpha test and advise team team for WordStar. GNAT Computers CP/M serial #10. WordMaster was our line editor. Seymour visited fairly often, but Barnaby would work with us only over the telephone.

What has this to do with the missing magazine? I have no idea, but thought it was interesting, the people one runs across on the web.

Pops

 

[rscalzo]

I still can remember my compuserve ID for some reason.... but keep forgetting my home phone number.

 

[SMMAssociates]

rscalzo:

I still have a CompuServe ID.... You don't call your own phone very often if you don't have Telco-provided voice mail.... Or are married ....

armedandsafe:

Right before my time - I got into WS at WS3, and went legal with WS4. Rob Sawyer, Ed Z, Mojo, and later Peter Mireau (I always spell that wrong) and Rich Zuris, were all "around" at the time. Most of those guys had met Seymour or Barnaby at one time. I just missed that. I was on the beta group for WS5, but couldn't handle the download - HUGE in those days, but just a blip by today's standards. Rich did part of WSWin, too. Pete's the "NewWord" guy - WordStar bought that from him and basically re-boxed it. I still have WS7.0d installed somewhere. (I don't think it'll actually run on my big desktop due to pathing issues that I never bothered to fix. Dungeons & dragons - WSCHANGE - is a pain even if you're really into it.)

WSWin2, btw, wasn't all that bad, but just too complicated for most people as a Word Processor. Another "buy & repackage" thing - it's really a mid-level DTP program from it's era that happened to run as a word processor if you were lucky.

Nothing to do with this thread, of course, but fun stuff.

I still hear from Rob Sawyer, btw. He's still writing, and doing quite well at it. Don't tell him, but he's a pretty good SF writer.

Regards,

 

[armedandsafe]

Yeah, he is pretty good.

Just two things before we get slapped for hijack. Remember ADVENT? and ... Rob put the idea forward for the crl EDSX movement keys and I suggested the addition of A and F, and, later C and V.

OK, back to the missing magazine. Sorry guys.

Pops

 

[SMMAssociates]

Pops:

I'll probably get L-flagged too....

For the lurkers, if you've ever programmed in Turbo anything, used SideKick's notes, or about anything that asked you to use "Ctrl" plus a character (like "CTRL D"), you used the WordStar "Diamond". That's what Pops is talking about.... Rob Barnaby, though, not Rob Sawyer, but Sawyer was involved too.

(I think I got that right - it's been a long time! I did talk to Sawyer about a month ago, though. He sends his friends "guess what I just wrote" e-mails every once in a while.)

Back to topic.... (Hm....) I always buy four magazines (minimum) for each gun. Two for "carry", and two for the range. I swap 'em once in a while, and shoot off the carry loads every once in a while, of course, but the idea is that I can destroy two magazines and still have two good ones for carry.

(I'm not exactly deep into destroying magazines, but stuff happens....)

Regards,

 

[Cuzzin]

Similar to the OP - I got nailed by AJC Sports. AJC sold me a supposedly new handgun during a show in Fort Worth and when I got it home and carefully checked it - it had damage from firing (flamecutting of the cylinder and wear on the bottom strap from use and or a misaligned cylinder or crane. They (AJC) refused to provide a replacement new handgun and said it was the manufacturer's issue. They also claimed it was from "test' firing at the factory. The manufacturer will "repair" the handgun, but it will not be a new item. I paid for new and got a damaged used. My fault for not looking closer at the time of purchase, but still, use caution when buying from this seller or anyone else.

 

[MAKster]

About five years ago I read a story about a guy who wanted to buy a Lexus SUV. The dealer said they would have to special order it because they didn't have one in stock. So the guy bought it and waited a few weeks for it to arrive. In the mean time he went to the D.C. auto show and saw the same Lexus model on display. Out of curiosity he wrote down the VIN number. A few days after the auto show the dealer called him up and said the car had arrived. When he went to pick it up he checked the VIN and it was the exact same car that was used as a display model at the auto show. The dealer was trying to sell this car that probably 50,000 people had sat in and fiddled with the controls as new. After the story ran in the Washington Post and the dealer got lots of bad publicity he knocked a few grand off the sales price.

 

[Macmac]

As a now X gun store clerk, the most wear and tear a gun gets is in display, before it is bought.

If and when you can check out the gun on display in a case, and want one, ask to see if there is another 'new' one out back!

Still expect to find any 'new' gun dirty. Most factories fire 2 to 10 rnds thru each gun with really dirty ammo. The powders they use to shoot millions of proof rnds are not the cleanest burning powders, and the factory pretty much wants you to see a little dirt, which proves that gun went bang.

It just happens I am a X foreign car Mechanic too, and no cars have 0 miles on them and you wouldn't want one if it did either.

On the other hand i wouldn't want one that was at a 3 day car show either.. Too many little fingers turning things, than might want to be pulled instead.

I have no idea how many mags should come with this gun, and or if factory mags for this one are any good.

Often times factory mags can be junk and aftermarket mags can be found to work better, depending.

This carries over into common tools, like a circular saws which can be a good one, but most come with a 'for crap' blade out of the box.

Seems to me as a poor start with a good saw, and bad marketing, but then no one asks me. And I mean many more tools than just this one example.

 

[bannockburn]

Yosemite Sam

A few years back I bought a new Steyr M9 from a local gun store. I asked the salesman if it came with two mags (there was only one with the gun), and he said it only came with one. A few days later while reading through the owners manual, I came across a section at the end of the manual which listed everything that was included with gun. Here it was clearly written that each gun was shipped with two magazines. So I contacted the distributor, who referred me to another distributor, who sent me the missing factory magazine. Took a couple of weeks before I got it. Sometimes things happen in transit or at the point of destination. In any event, someone down the line honored the manufacturers written statement, and after a phone call and a letter, I had my spare magazine.

 

[jeepmor]

I find it common with some internet retailers to offer the gun as new and snag the spare magazine for a different auction.

 

[lonegunman]

You got ripped off by a crooked gun dealer. Most low life gun dealers, steal the extras from the boxes and sell those for a few extra bucks. I'd file a complaint with the local BBB and make sure they have a negative feedback on this guy.


If he offers a mag, ask him to mail it. Next time buy elsewhere and make sure your friends know to go elsewhere as well.

We have several of those locally, everything is retail plus and they screw countless uninformed buyers who needs parts or special requests.

One of them sold an AR-15 owner a new charging handle for $179.00 because "they are special order and really hard to find parts ". I talked to the idiot in the parking lot, he probably bought it anyway.

 

[Willo]

I'd chalk it up to experience.

Writing that letter that a previous poster suggested would get you nothing. It would go into the "round file" with an eye-roll. And I say that as an attorney -- I've written tons of demand letters and received tons for my clients. You can always tell demand letters written by non-lawyers because they are usually overly emotional and frequently misstate the law. Often in comical ways.

In fact, I think we've worried about the OP's $40 enough already. Lesson learned: keep your eyes open, inspect everything, and do your internet research BEFORE you buy.

 

[fingerbanger]

+1 to willo
Seriously; if this is the biggest problem you have to get stressed over, then God Bless America. Why would legal recourse be your first reaction. com on.
what ever happened to buyer beware? the store owner may not even be aware
of how much this bothers you. call him if you must and explain. but the fact is you got the gun you wanted for a fair price without the extra mag. grow up people! fairness is a concept only to be embraced by forth graders and below. It, like my punctuation, does not exist. It is a perception. And from where i sit it was a fair deal. Not directing this to the OP but some of you are acting like a bunch of women. Also not directing this to ladies just an expression. my apologies in advance.

 

[SMMAssociates]

fingerbanger:

Almost....

(Willo - you really do have the right idea, though.)

The problem here is that we should expect fairness and honesty in the people we do business with, and hold their feet to the fire if we don't get it.... Caveat Emptor really only works if you're selling out of a wagon and will be out of town forever by sundown....

Which is why I tell that furniture store story regularly. It's actual point is "never give anybody a payment without their invoice" - there's probably some code or other on there that their computer needs to properly post it....

In this case, it seems that the seller needed to be told (back then!) that the purchaser felt that it was wrong, and while other considerations may prevent driving over and picking up the part, he has thousands of friends out here who will not take kindly to the extra magazine not turning up in his mailbox in a week or two....

Nobody's going to heave a brick through anybody's window, or put parts of a horse in his bed, but "we" don't have to shop there....

(Before you post: "Fred's Gun Store and Hair Styling cheated me", though, be sure you've got it right - let "us" review it quietly if necessary. There are laws against some of this.)

In the final analysis, though, it's "us" who still need to inspect....

Many decades ago, as a Ham Radio type, I was at a "Hamfest" (kind of a flea market for the one guy here who has no idea), and bought a "TouchTone Pad" (like a telephone dial) for about $5. Nice box, etc., and I needed it for a project.

In those days, the telco pads contained a mountain of small parts and this particular one may have had the first IC's to turn up in a consumer product. Pretty good deal until I got it home, and found out that all the electronics were missing.... Probably still worth $5, but....

A few years later I found a piece of radio gear that I'd wanted back when they were over $300 for about $75. When I got that home (after actually testing it a little), I discovered that the transmitter was doing about one watt instead of the rated twenty-five, and the receiver could barely hear anything.... And somebody had blown up part of the power circuitry.

Fixing the transmitter turned out to be trivial - somebody had screwdriver'd it (we'd call that "bubba" in gunsmithing). They'd adjusted a few things better left alone, but easy enough to put back. (Hint: I screwdriver'd it ....) The receiver was another story. I ordered up a set of manuals, but then got curious. Found a transistor on one of the boards that had one lead sticking up and away from the board. This isn't totally unusual, but usually the manufacturer cuts off the extra lead to keep quasi-tech types like me from going nuts. But, in this case, there clearly was a solder pad where that lead ought to have gone.

I have no idea how it got up and out of the way like that - I'd guess that Bubba did it - but that was the problem. Bent it back and hit it with a teensy soldering iron, and I had a receiver!

It quit working a few years later, but someday I'll fix it again ....

The Hamfest is the equivalent of the guy selling out of a wagon. If it's too good to be true, it probably is.... In this instance, about $25 too good, but you never know. I once sold a little kid a complete transceiver, with some accessories, for $15. I told him that it worked, but he HAD to have somebody tweak it to something resembling standards. If he did that, he got a deal - I was "cleaning house" and the most I could have expected was about $30 anyway.... (It was older than the kid.)

Digressing: Mom was on my case for giving my daughter an old Nikon. I think I had $1,000 in it originally, in about 1992. I had to show her that folks who accepted trades were offering $34 for the body.... On $800+ worth of new stuff.... Why not give it to the kid.... (I'd still be using it, but I finally "went digital" in a big way. My cousin showed up here with a $15,000 Nikon a few years ago, and I decided that I wanted one. Being somewhat sane - look where I hang out - I waited until I could buy essentially the same camera for about $800....)

Mom's 93. I'm 62, but she still thinks I'm six. We all think my daughter is four.... (Try 23.... )

Regards,

 

[Deltaboy1984]

You got a really great deal just buy another mag.

 

[rbernie]

In fact, I think we've worried about the OP's $40 enough already. Lesson learned: keep your eyes open, inspect everything, and do your internet research BEFORE you buy.

Willo wins the thread!