Sad trip to Steicher's

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Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby MisterOblivious on Mon Apr 06, 2009 4:13 am

Went to pick up a couple boxes of 357 sig Gold Dot for $29 on Saturday. The boxes wouldn't come up when the woman tried to ring me out. Once she typed in the info, she asked another fellow if the price was right and he replied it was. Turns out, they wanted just over $50 a box. Look of shock on my face. I mention the website has it for under $30. She tries to look it up, but can't find it. You've all probably noticed how slow the website has been lately. Another guy or two try looking it up as well. "Firearm Accessories: Handgun Ammo: Duty" I tell them. It's not on the site. One of the guys mentions prices have gone up. I'm a bit baffled at how it can go from $29 on Saturday in the early AM to Saturday at 2 PM. Girl asks if they do price matching. A different guy says "No, that's under our cost. If you want it, it's $50 a box. It's $75 a box at Cabela's and they send people here" End of discussion.
"Pay or get out" was the message I received from his tone.

Once at home I realized they have different sites and they were using one without ammo listed at all. Smacks of the Best Buy internal website scandal from a while back. The Gold Dot is still listed for the same price it was last time I looked. Under cost my ass! I was charged the full "dollar a cartridge" price other places sell this stuff for. Is the CCI/Speer labeled stuff restricted? Does Streicher's only sell Federal branded ammo at the lower price to civies? What gives?

I've been trying to avoid letting the landlord know anything at all about my firearms, but if Streicher's is going to play the mismatched prices game I may just have them ship it from now on. The ORM-D sticker sitting in the office all day is going to be fun to explain. :cry:
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby 1911fan on Mon Apr 06, 2009 5:26 am

that really doesnt sound like them. But it was a Saturday and the usual front desk people are off. I will call my guy there and ask for you. How many boxes do you want? No promises but that doesnt sound like their normal way of doing things.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby inspyrd on Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:28 am

That does not sound like them at all. I have never had anything short of fabulous service from them every time. I am usually in there mid week, so may be a case of different people, different attitude on the weekend.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby justaguy on Mon Apr 06, 2009 7:39 am

MisterOblivious wrote:Went to pick up a couple boxes of 357 sig Gold Dot for $29 on Saturday. The boxes wouldn't come up when the woman tried to ring me out. Once she typed in the info, she asked another fellow if the price was right and he replied it was. Turns out, they wanted just over $50 a box. Look of shock on my face. I mention the website has it for under $30. She tries to look it up, but can't find it. You've all probably noticed how slow the website has been lately. Another guy or two try looking it up as well. "Firearm Accessories: Handgun Ammo: Duty" I tell them. It's not on the site. One of the guys mentions prices have gone up. I'm a bit baffled at how it can go from $29 on Saturday in the early AM to Saturday at 2 PM. Girl asks if they do price matching. A different guy says "No, that's under our cost. If you want it, it's $50 a box. It's $75 a box at Cabela's and they send people here" End of discussion.
"Pay or get out" was the message I received from his tone.

Once at home I realized they have different sites and they were using one without ammo listed at all. Smacks of the Best Buy internal website scandal from a while back. The Gold Dot is still listed for the same price it was last time I looked. Under cost my ass! I was charged the full "dollar a cartridge" price other places sell this stuff for. Is the CCI/Speer labeled stuff restricted? Does Streicher's only sell Federal branded ammo at the lower price to civies? What gives?

I've been trying to avoid letting the landlord know anything at all about my firearms, but if Streicher's is going to play the mismatched prices game I may just have them ship it from now on. The ORM-D sticker sitting in the office all day is going to be fun to explain. :cry:


Call the manager and give him a chance to make this right. Then post back here.

Other people calling and saying they read about something on an intraweb forum is a little silly.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby Seismic Sam on Mon Apr 06, 2009 6:18 pm

5 boxes of 357 SIG ammo at $50 per will pay for a fairly decent reloading setup. I have never dealt with Streichers, and after this post I NEVER will. Please feel free to forward this to them from someone whose carry gun is mid 4 figures, and let them know that not honoring their internet prices make them equally despicable to Obama bin Laden.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby Einthoven's Triangle on Mon Apr 06, 2009 10:04 pm

You got one side of the story, and you are avoiding a business that you have never dealt with? Boy that speaks volumes, people whine before giving the company a chance. What a bunch of whining BS. I have always had good service from them for the last 19 years. They do what they say, and usually they go the extra mile. Like paying the frt on items, that are in stock at their warehouse, but not in the store show room. Who gives a crap if you carry gun cost's XXXX.XX I sure am not impressed! Deeds speak louder then words any day of the week and twice on Sunday. I bet it does not shoot any better then an off the shelf gun, just a matter of "mine's bigger then your's syndrome" nothing else!
They have done that for me on more then one occasion.
Seismic Sam wrote:5 boxes of 357 SIG ammo at $50 per will pay for a fairly decent reloading setup. I have never dealt with Streichers, and after this post I NEVER will. Please feel free to forward this to them from someone whose carry gun is mid 4 figures, and let them know that not honoring their internet prices make them equally despicable to Obama bin Laden.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby mnglocker on Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:08 am

Before you write them off Sam, try them for yourself. I along with several others here have had nothing but great service and great/fair prices on merchandise with Streichers.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby 1911fan on Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:11 am

ET. That post is a little, ok way more than a little harsh. Sam is one of the good guys and while his response is a little extreme he does have a great track record with us regulars.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby plblark on Tue Apr 07, 2009 7:25 am

Streichers has always been up front and honest with me. I'd recommend giving them a chance to make it right. Print out their page, call them with the web address and your receipt in hand.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby Paul on Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:14 am

Seismic Sam wrote: I have never dealt with Streichers, and after this post I NEVER will. Please feel free to forward this to them from someone whose carry gun is mid 4 figures....



Why would they care how much your gun costs?

And if you have never dealt with them after all of the years they have been in business, why would they lose any sleep over you refusing to possibly consider going there in the future...
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby VikesFan1 on Tue Apr 07, 2009 8:48 am

I personally rely on the web for merchandise/business reviews. The ability to get reviews from actual consumers is a great tool. Now, when someone says they experienced gross misconduct with a certain business, and they coherently convey the facts, it weighs heavily into my decision making process. But when 5 other people chime in to the contrary, then I'm led to believe it's a isolated incident.

I've never dealt with Streichers but it sounds like this might be a case of weekend part-timer syndrome, as suggested already.

If their service is truly as great as others say, I would think a phone call should suffice. Save yourself the trouble of printing off web pages and just try giving them call. My advice, just say your experience was unacceptable and how they handle it is up to them. Then give the details. Don't be demanding or act as though you expect anything from them, just see where it goes... How they choose to handle it will tell you everything you need to know. I recently had a similar incident with a bad product, from a company with a top reputation. The warranty was expired but I never used it (BECAUSE it was sub-par - I just didn't get around to calling right away). Anyway, I used this approach and the results were great. I told the customer service person that my faith was restored in their company. And when I received my new product, I called her again to thank them.

Let us know what happens. I'll be interested to hear how this ends.

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Last edited by VikesFan1 on Tue Apr 07, 2009 1:01 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby Seismic Sam on Tue Apr 07, 2009 9:39 am

Well, that was the first post I hade ever seen about Streicher's, and I made a judgement based on an n of 1, and if nothing else figured it might prove useful to the aggrieved shooter to show the people there what even ONE instance of ******* service was costing them. I was in tech service for 3M Medical for the last 3 years of my job, and the number of allowable pissed off customers was ZERO. You're not allowed a bad day, or a screwup, ever, and the customer is always right. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that if the customer saw a price on one of your OWN websites, then you give them that price with a smile and don't try and jack them up. If there's a screwup, you take that up with your own management after the fact. Once again, this is just plain common sense, and if a company can't reliably deliver that then it's got a major problem.

I am certainly glad to hear from other people that this may have been an off day for the company, and having people vouch for them does make me think that maybe they are worth checking out. (Where the hell are they??) As far as making a judgement based on one experience, how many more times than one do you have to go to Gander Mountain to figure out their used gun prices are totally phucked, and that there's no point in even going to that store because it will NEVER get any better??

The reference to the four figure carry gun was simply to indicate that I can afford to spend a fair amount of money on guns and reloading equipment, and that a making even ONE bad impression with a single customer could lose Streicher's a potentially good customer. Other than that, the gun has zero bling factor, although it does shoot WAAAY better than an off the shelf piece. (The two guys who make the gun have 40 years of experience at Wilson Combat between them.)

So that's my side of the story. Enough said.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby EJSG19 on Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:11 am

Seismic Sam wrote: ...... (Where the hell are they??) .....


Links: Several locations, the one in Plymouth is the closest, unless you prefer to make a beer, brat and cheese run to Milwaukee. On that note, if you're going let me know! Real men can't get enough of the above. Their heart can however...

http://www.streichers.com/

http://www.streichers.com/AboutUs.aspx

This thread really shocked me also. Usually if and when they do have carry ammo, it is HALF price of anywhere else or better. They sell boxes of 50, other places sell boxes of 20. Their per box price is often better than other places per box price. That adds up fast.
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby Stradawhovious on Tue Apr 07, 2009 10:51 am

In addition to EJS's experience, I have had nothing but fantastic service when I have gone there. Clerks were all about helping me find what I need, and made me feel very welcome. I wouldn't PooPoo Streichers based on one bad experience, but i also wouldn't let that bad experience go unchecked. Like Vikesfan said, a phone call to explain the situation to a manager would go a long way, a visit in person would go further.

In my management days, if a customer came in and softly stated that they were no longer going to shop in my store, and presented a legitimate reason, I would bend over backwards to get their business back. If someone came in both barrels blazing, demanding this or demanding that.... well, that's usually the way they left too. it's all in the presentation. :D
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Re: Sad trip to Steicher's

Postby MisterOblivious on Tue Apr 07, 2009 4:20 pm

I didn't mean to cause this sort of reaction with my shaggy dog ramblings.
The short version I should have posted:
Streicher's service is normally excellent but when I tried to buy some ammo listed at $29 on the website, it rang up as $50. Every employee in the store attempted to help, but the store was closing and it was time to go. Is there a secret handshake to get ammo at the good price I don't know about?



RE: The websites. Streicher's has... too many. The store was using PoliceHq.com while I've been using Streichers.com. Apparently, ammo isn't listed on the HQ site, which explains why they couldn't find it.


Sam, please don't let this dissuade you from shopping at Streicher's. This was a rather odd incident, which is why I posted about it in the first place. I'll certainly be heading back there in the future. I'm not a pissed off customer, just a sad one who could only fit one more box of ammo, instead of two, into the budget after the Bill's shooters show.
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