You know, normally I bend over backwards to satisfy a customer. I had a case a few years back where I am convinced the customer dropped a gun while shaking it out of the box. He returned it because it had a chipped toe, the piece was in the box. It wasn't chipped when I (personally) packed it, in bubble wrap. I swallowed that. I had another where I shipped a guy a brand new set of Valmet 412 bbls. Normally I insist on fitting these, it's included in the price, but this guy wanted his in a BIG hurry as he was going hunting the next weekend and I was in Africa at the time so out they went. THREE WEEKS LATER he tells me the forend won't stay on the gun. I took them back and replaced them with a brand new pair. The forend lug had been filed down to a nub. On these bbls, if you file in the wrong places that's what you get. I think this guy, in a big hurry to go hunting, tried to fit these bbls himself. Needless to say, the bbls are ruined. But I ate that and he got a brand new set of SIC bbls that I fitted to his receiver.
It's not in my interest to misrepresent items as I get hit for 3% on credit card payments both ways when the item comes back. Even if someone pays by check, it's a pain to deal with refunds. In this case, he did pay by MO but my bank still hit me up for a charge since it was drawn on a Canadian institution. So I am careful about my descriptions and I typically get less than 5 returns a year. I got two last year, I think. I had a Parker 16 ga that had a weak toplever spring. I took it back, refunded the guy his money, replaced the spring, and sold it the next week to a guy who loves it. The other one, ironically, was the pair of WR 16 ga guns. They were a tad loose with the forends off, and I had Keith attend to that. That customer bought another gun from me instead.
But this gentleman's claims were so astounding and his tone was so offensive from the getgo that I just couldn't take him seriously. It's as if I shipped someone a sidelock and they told me that it was a boxlock. Read the posts again Bob and look at the picture. He got a very nice high quality case for $295. It wasn't good enough for him though. I offered to refund his money. He declined. I offered him a store credit anyway, letting him keep the case, just to pacify him. He told me to shove that too. And every email contained a new list of things that were wrong with it. Even now, six months later, he is still adding to the pile. And you know what, for all his allegations, he NEVER sent me a picture of any of the multitude of defects. Not one.
Here's what I think. He wanted this case to be perfect. Probably wanted to put his perfect pair of shotguns in it. He's a gunsmith so no doubt his guns are very nice. But it had a worn spot in one compartment, he knew that when he bought it because the description said as much. So he thought if he threw a big enough tantrum, I would pay to reline his case and viola, he would have a new case for the price of a used one. The fact that it arrived in Eastern Canada having shipping from the Pacific NW (yes, admittedly via San Francisco, two days from here by UPS) two weeks after his check arrived just gave him more ammo to fire at me. Why he is still firing is a mystery to me. That battle is over.
Are you saying I should refund his money and let him keep the case? I am sorry, no business does that. In cases where I have truly screwed up, I will refund the shipping as well even though our terms of sale say we refund the price of the item in the event of a return. But this wasn't one of those.
Every two years or so, I come across someone I call "the customer from hell". These CFH folks know the price of everything and the value of nothing. They are mad at the world and they are mad at themselves. If a transaction doesn't go according to their personal fantasy, they start a war, and if they don't get their own way, they get madder than hell. I don't let them bully me. Frankly, those are the kind of folks I would rather never see again so I don't fall for their tantrums and that's usually that. Not Mr. Vella though, he's going to take this $295 case to his grave with him. And it will be an early one if he keeps stacking this stuff up in his brain.
The CFH prior to Mr. Vella had me buy a Weatherby Orion III for him, as well as a Daly semi-auto. This was about 5 years ago. I ordered them specifically for him, from Bill Hicks. Got him a great deal. He had me cut the factory seals on the box of the Orion to take a picture of the wood before I shipped it. He got the guns, looked at them at his dealer's premises, took them home, then a couple of days later called me and told me that the Orion was a used gun and that he wanted to return it. He said the gun was still at his FFL. When I called his transfer FFL, he said the customer looked at the wood and didn't think it was nice enough. But he took the guns home anyway. Needless to say, I let this guy fume and fizzle but I didn't take the gun back.
We stand behind what we sell. On used items, if you don't like it, return it for any reason or no reason and you get your money back. On new items, make sure you want what you order because we don't take those back unless we shipped you the wrong item (and this has never happened. New guns are like cars...once you unpack them and handle them, they aren't new any longer. If new items are defective, they go to the manufacturer. But if you decide to keep the item, then we are done at that point.
Last edited by doublegunhq; 02/10/07 04:51 AM.
