Gander Mountain Price Match (Rude)

[Stradawhovious]

This is what makes it so hard for me to figure out WTF to do with my GM gift card. It's $50, which is at least what they charge over everyone else. Use it on ammo or clothes I suppose.

Sell it in their parking lot (Lakeville location) for $45 and buy the same $50 worth of stuff right across the Highway at Fleet Farm for $25. See? I just made you $20.

[revluke]

Got a used (barely) Sig Mosquito at GM in Blaine for $250. Had a real nice experience with the guys there. Cabela's tries to sell used Mosquitos for $419. New is $400. Cabela's used guns are all overpriced and I told the guy last time I was there. But, yeah, that was the only deal in the gun section. Bud's or Bill's for me moving forward...

[Mr. White]

This is what makes it so hard for me to figure out WTF to do with my GM gift card. It's $50, which is at least what they charge over everyone else. Use it on ammo or clothes I suppose.

Sell it in their parking lot (Lakeville location) for $45 and buy the same $50 worth of stuff right across the Highway at Fleet Farm for $25. See? I just made you $20.

Funny, I had some druggie approach me in the parking lot the other day offering to sell me (probably worthless) 50$ gift cards for 25 bucks. I was going to inform store security but I'm glad that I didn't since he was probably just dissatisfied with the customer service at the SuperTarget

[akodo]

I came in with a GM add from the paper and said 'I want that gun'

GM: 'we don't have any'

Me: "well can you check if any of the other stores have it"

GM: (pokes computer for a while)" no they are all out too"

Me: Then why did you run the add for it?

GM: "add probably said limited availability" (I had only ripped out the one gun from the add)

Me: "Do you have another of Sunday's add here?

GM "I don't think so"

Me: "What's that over there?" (it was the add) Show me where it says limited availabilty

GM: "well it's supposed to....we have this one here that's basically the same thing"

Me: "That's blued...and it's USED"

Long story short, they had a model that had a slightly different option, decocker rather than a safety, that was in general a bit less expensive, I bought that one from them at the add price of the other. Ruger P95DC vs Ruger P95 I really believe half their add stuff is total bait and switch.

[lance22]

I once tried to BUY a $ 1,200.00 Kimber from a Gander Mountain (Maplewood, MN) and failed because they refused to take the trigger lock off. I told them I'd buy it on the spot if I liked the trigger and no way will I buy without checking the trigger. They declined. I was even wearing a suit so it's not like they thought I was a gang banger. I drove over to Sportsmen's Warehouse and bought it there. BTW they (Sportsman's Warehouse) had no problem removing the trigger lock for me.

I felt insulted by the fact that they wouldn't remove the trigger lock for me, a middle aged man with money, when apparently every gang banger in Maplewood goes in there to do their Fiddy Cent impersonations and the trigger locks always seem to come off for those safety-hating bufoons. I sent a brief but angry letter and got a response from their sales manager saying that he was shocked ... hey, whatever. I won't buy guns or ammo at Gander Mountain, ever. My wife feels more stongly about this than I do; she usually insists that we take the long drive to Rogers where we can buy raingear and other camping / hiking / outdoors / gun stuff at Cabellas.

I sincerely hope that Gander Mountain goes completely out of business.

[bstrawse]

That's really odd - since every time I've handled a handgun at GM, they've removed the trigger lock before handing it over... weird.

I was in the Woodbury GM today - saw nothing that I wanted in the handgun cases, and the used guns were overpriced as usual.
b

[Paul]

So you want Gander Mountain to start profiling? The fact that you are wearing a suit means nothing. If they have a policy or procedure in place for firearms handling, it should be enforced equally.

[Norsesmithy]

So you want Gander Mountain to start profiling? The fact that you are wearing a suit means nothing. If they have a policy or procedure in place for firearms handling, it should be enforced equally.

It isn't a policy, so far as I can tell. I have never had trouble getting the people at Gander to let me dry fire tons of pistols.

That's actually how I decided that I wanted a Kimber Warrior when I was in the market for my first pistol (not that I paid Gander Mountain prices on a Kimber Warrior )

Actually that shopping trip was before I was 21, so maybe they shouldn't have let me finger all those pistols, but w/e.

[lance22]

Yeah, I was told (since then) that they do not have a policy forbidding the removal of gun locks. So what does that mean? They broke policy to piss me off? The guy behind the counter sure was persistent, not removing the lock when they handed it to me, and not removing when I asked them to, and even NOT removing the lock when I promised to buy it.

This is what probably happened that day: The gun counter was VERY busy. The sales staff were all committed helping gang-bangers to wave their pistols at the other customers. So, in order to serve more people I *think* they got somebody to help behind the counter who couldn't get the keys, wasn't an authorized "gun sales" person, and found it easier to refuse to take off the lock than to go through the trouble of getting the keys. That's my theory, at least.

And I'll throw Gander Mountain a charitable benefit of a doubt ... They may have been confused and distracted by the fact that I don't have dredlocks or neck tattoos as do their everyday customers. I'm sure that threw them off a little bit. And for my part, it's easier to drive to Cabellas or a real gun store, than to get a teardrop tattoo on my face so that I resemble a Maplewood resident.

Anyway ... that was a few years ago. No big deal except I saw a Gander-Mountain bashing thread and wanted to share my own "Gander Mountain" story.

[SparkyJeff]

I bought a used handgun at the Eden Prairie GM over a year ago.

When I decided to buy the gun, the salesman said he would lock it up so I could actually purchase it the next day when they had one of those spend $200 get 10 or 15% off coupons in the Sunday paper.

I got a fair price, minimum hassle, and they sent me a bunch of discount coupons in the mail. I still have a card good for $10 off a $50 purchase, I simply haven't spent more than 20 bucks there since.

[ijosef]

I bought a used handgun at the Eden Prairie GM over a year ago.

When I decided to buy the gun, the salesman said he would lock it up so I could actually purchase it the next day when they had one of those spend $200 get 10 or 15% off coupons in the Sunday paper.

I got a fair price, minimum hassle, and they sent me a bunch of discount coupons in the mail. I still have a card good for $10 off a $50 purchase, I simply haven't spent more than 20 bucks there since.

It could be the discretion of the employee. A coworker of mine told me of his experience at Gander. He went to buy a handgun but they didn't have anything he was interested in. The guy behind the counter told him that they'd just taken a Glock subcompact .45 in trade and that he could have it for $450 plus tax (I don't know if it was a 36 or their non-slimline subcompact). I thought that was a fair deal, especially since the Gander he got it from usually tags their well-used and worn Gen 2 Glock 17's and 22's at $579.