A LETTER TO THE OWNER OF BACHMAN PAWN AND GUNS

[kyreb]

They have been great to me at the H-town area shows. Hate to hear they are not decent to folks at the store....especially the ladies. We need more females in the sport....Seems to me snob clerks, stupid rednecks and nazi range officers run more women away from the shooting sports than Sarah Brady could ever dream of.
That's sad, just plain sad.

[The Annoyed Man]

ROFL! Never been there, but reminds me of buying a piano for my late wife.

We had seen the piano through the showroom window on a Sunday, not the best way to shop for pianos, but what the heck.

I was feeling real flush, with $10,000+ of overtime accumulated and burning a hole in my pocket, and she needed a new piano.

On Monday, on my way back to the garage after a long day of climbing poles, I walked into the showroom, still in my grungies.

A VERY condescending salesman came over and asked, in his best Brahmin accent, "Moy Ah Help You, Sahr?" and when I told him I was shopping for a piano for my wife and I wanted to know the price of that one, he asked "She plays does she?"

Of course this just riled up the redneck in me, so I dumbed my language down a few levels and told him that we was thinkin' of gettin' her lessons now that the passel of kids was gettin' up to an age where they didn't have to be coddled and suckled all the time and we kind a liked that purty one over thar.

He gave me to understand that if I had to ask the price I couldn't afford it and ushered me out of the showroom as quickly as he could.

That night my wife's piano coach was at our house, and we mentioned the store, and the piano, and she, the coach, trold us that she knew the salesman and he was just that stuck up, and BTW, her mother also worked at that store, and she would be glad to arrange a showing for us.

So the next Saturday we all trooped in, my wife, her coach, her mentor, and one of her professors from college, our son, and myself, and met the coaches mother at the door. Mr. Snotty watched us in amazement as we ALL sat down at the instrument in question and played (of course all I could ever manage was a barroom boogie, but there was a principle at stake) and then I whipped out $10,000.00 in cash and paid $9,800.00 after tax for the piano.

As we trooped back out the door I turned to Mr. Snotty and told him, back in my redneck accent, that he'all should make better sure how he handled folks in the future or he would miss a lot more commissions like that. Up until tha moment he hadn't recognized me, but you could see dawn break just then, as he sputtered.

Instant karma can be a good thing.

I have a story like that... One of my dad's college room-mates named Randle married waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay above his station in life back in the 1950s. Didn't know until after he proposed to her that his fiance was a Boston heiress worth something like $50 million in her own right (in 1950s dollars). He found out when she insisted they fly to Boston to meet mummy and daddy before getting hitched, and they were met on the airport tarmac by a chauffeur driven Rolls Royce limousine.

They moved to San Francisco, where they still live today with all the other rich liberals, and he eventually founded a cookie company. But back in the 50s when he was still a "starving" artist with only $50 million in the bank, he wanted to buy a new car, and he literally could not decide between a Rolls and a VW bug. He liked the economy and proletarian nature of the Bug (getting rich made him into a cheapskate), but the Rolls came with a lifetime warranty with their road-side service program, etc., etc., etc. He finally decided that buying one Rolls Royce which would last him a lifetime would be cheaper than buying a series of VW Bugs for the next 50 years. So one day he walked into a Rolls dealer in SF, with $35K in cash rolled up in his pocket. Back then, you could drive away in a pretty nice Rolls for under $35K. Randle walked into the showroom wearing paint-stained chinos, a t-shirt (he was an artiste, dontcha know), and a pair of work boots. He waited and waited and waited, and nobody would talk to him. So he finally walked into the sales manager's office, interrupting a phone call, waved the cold hard cash under his nose, and said, "I came in here prepared to pay cash for a Rolls, but you folks are idiots and you need to fire your sales force. I wouldn't buy a Rolls from today forward, no matter how much you lowered the price," and he went across the street and bought the VW Bug.

I remember my dad laughing his butt off when Randle him told the story. I must have been about 7 or 8 years old at the time.

[mikeintexas]

I work close to Bachman and have bought a couple of guns from the store. I've never had any trouble. But I when I go in, my attitude changes to meet theirs. Having been in sales, I have fun when buying guns and cars!

[chabouk]

I have purchased exactly one gun from Bachman's retail store, 10 years and a couple of months ago.

I was there on a weekday, the ratio of employees to customers was either 2:1 or 1:1 the whole time I was there, they let me browse without bugging me, but were handy and willing to answer questions or pull a gun out of the case if I wanted to see it.

I spent about an hour in the store before making my choice, and they processed me quickly and got me on my way.

Like I said, this was just over 10 years ago, so it's not really relevant to anyone's recent customer experience. I just wanted to chime in, because they treated me right and gave me a good deal on the first gun I ever purchased. Yes, this: I was 37 years old, had been shooting all my life, owned a closet full of guns, but I had never actually bought one. All my guns up to that point were family guns. The paperwork was a whole new thing for me.

I still have that pistol, and the original receipt: $329, and I wouldn't take $400 for it now.

[Vic]

There is a pawn shop in this area that advertises itself as THE place to buy guns. They do have a decent selection and fairly good prices, as well as having gunsmiths on duty.

When I was shopping for my CHL carry piece, I went into that store to browse. They were helpful and knowledgeable and were willing to spend time with me. I did end up returning at a later date to purchase my Glock from them. I remembered them making a point to tell me that they had "two certified Glock armorers on staff so that any service you might need in the future can be done here". That certainly sounded reasonable at the time.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. I decided that I did not like the stock trigger. I opted to get a NY1 trigger spring installed. I ordered the NY1 from the same shop. Once it came in, I dropped off my gun and had them install it. They called me the next day (!) and it was finally done. The guy on the phone said it would be $10 total (parts and labor). When I arrived to pick up the gun, the guy at the register said $15. I didn't want to argue, so I just paid $15 and left.

Two days later, I arrived at my CHL class. The very first thing on the agenda was the range qualification. No problem, I thought, let's get started. I noticed that I was getting LOTS of failures to eject. I thought maybe my ejector had something caught in it, or maybe the magazine was improperly inserted, or something else along those lines. I was in a hurry to figure it out because we were doing the two-shots-in-two-seconds range orders with very little time in between groups of two shots. I finally figured out that the FTEs were being caused because the slide was getting locked back every few shots.

After I finished qualifying, I brought my gun up to the armorer at the CHL place (also a gun shop). It took him about 20 seconds to notice that, when the pawn shop guys were reassembling my gun after installing the NY1 trigger spring, they installed the trigger and frame pins in reverse order, therefore causing the slide release spring to have no tension on it. The slide release lever was not being held down by the spring when firing, causing the slide release to react to recoil by popping up and engaging the slide.

A CERTIFIED Glock armorer, eh? I might purchase a new firearm from that pawn shop in the future, but never a used one, and I'll certainly never have work done to any of my guns there.

[wheelgun1958]

Last I was in there was to purchase some of their $75 Norinco SKS's. Yup, It's been awhile. They were nice then. And very busy.

[MechAg94]

This is kind of funny. The clerks at AJC's store are good people, but their prices in the store are always higher than their gun show prices. Any semi-auto rifles are overpriced in general. I normally wait for a gun show if I want something new. Not a bad shop, but they are a volume seller for many things and they have their irregularities.

I've dealt with Bachman Pawn at gun shows. IMO, they are right there with AJC and others when it comes to price at the gun shows. When I am looking to buy, I normally shop all of them as sometimes they have slightly different models.

Normally, I am either browsing with few if any questions or coming to buy. I normally don't need or want to chat with a clerk.

[SwimFan85]

Please review your customer service policy with your clerks!!!! i went in there this afternoon with $1000 in hand (from my tax refund) ready to spend it all!! big guy didn't want to be bothered!!!! i guess business is booming huh? be careful..... it might blow up in your face!

Did you send this letter to the owner or did you assume he reads this forum?

[aaangel]

^^^^^^^^^^ i sent it to them. it's probably coming back as return to sender......

[ericlw]

ive bought several guns from ajc sport shop and they are great but what is the deal with their retail store not being open on the weekend?

[Mike1951]

ive bought several guns from ajc sport shop and they are great but what is the deal with their retail store not being open on the weekend?

Are you sure it's every weekend or just show weekends? Their staff and most of their inventory is required to operate at one or sometimes two gun shows.

[J Wilson]

I have shopped at,traded,and bought guns from Bachman Pawn,and have never been treated badly or rudely there.

[RECIT]

You might be a redneck if...

I have shopped at,traded,and bought guns from Bachman Pawn,and have never been treated badly or rudely there.

Just joking of course.

[aaangel]

You might be a redneck if...

I have shopped at,traded,and bought guns from Bachman Pawn,and have never been treated badly or rudely there.

Just joking of course.

recit, LOL i wasn't gonna go there, but i had a strange feeling of big boy white dude didn't want to be bothered by a small asian dude.

[J Wilson]

You might be a redneck if...

I have shopped at,traded,and bought guns from Bachman Pawn,and have never been treated badly or rudely there.

Just joking of course.

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