thankfulI was looking for a used S&W .22 Model 41 in my home state of MA and wasn't having much luck. So when I went to visit my parents, who live in PA, my dad took me to his favorite gun shop and they had exactly what I was looking for, gently used and for a good price. The PA shop was excellent and assured me that they would have no trouble shipping the gun to MA. My fiance and I had dealt with a gun shop near our town and we decided to have the gun shipped there for me to pick up (we also called the other shop right from the PA store to set it up and were told it was ok). We set up shipping and I filled out all of the necessary paperwork. As an added precaution I made a note that my fiance was an emergency contact and listed his number as well. I paid and left with the UPS tracking number.
A few days after arriving home the PA gun shop called me to let me know that there was trouble with the paperwork from the MA store. They had faxed my paperwork up but the paperwork that the MA store kept faxing back had a man's name on it and did I know a "Fiance's Name"? Apparently, despite having my name all over the forms the MA store decided that my fiance was the buyer/owner. So I called the MA shop to put things right. The first clerk argued with me that "it wasn't a problem" and that the name shouldn't matter. I told him that the PA shop would not ship it unless the names matched and he tersely asked if I wanted to speak with the owner. I know it's hard to account for tone in text but the owner was nothing but condescending, repeating that the names shouldn't matter.
I finally lost my cool and reminded him that it looks very suspicious when one person buys a gun and someone with a different and unrelated name tries to pick it up and could he please just change the paper work to the correct name. Fine! We'll do that! And he hung up on me.
The PA shop called me back a day later to let me know that the paperwork had come through with the correct name and that they were shipping it. Bad service turned good until I went to pick up the gun and was heckled for the way I filled out the form in the shop. They tried telling me that the "government" might not accept it because I filled the bubbles in (like you're supposed to on a scan tron sheet) instead of checking them. Also cue being asked why I bought that model and wouldn't I like a smaller gun they could show me instead?
The thing that really killed me though was that there is a giant poster in the MA shop reminding people that it is illegal to buy guns for other people! I made a switch to another shop in town that doesn't seem to have an issue with a woman buying things at their store.
Not super bad service since I didn't die but still really annoying...
Great Store: http://www.armsdealer.net/businesses/7433-geiser-guns
Stupid Store: http://www.northeasttrading.com/