BassPro Nashville Gun Sale Cluster - Day Before Thanksgiving

[guyver60]

Did anyone else suffer through the disorganized cluster of a gun sale at Bass Pro Nashville on Wednesday before Thanksgiving?  BassPro had a Browning Buckmark on sale, with a $100 Browning rebate, bringing the gun down to $214 before taxes.  I thought it might be a "little" busy, and I was prepared for buying and the background check process to maybe take a couple of hours.  Well, I miscalculated!  Two trips to the store, 5.5  hours in the store, and I finally had my gun - BUT I SAVED $100!  About 2 hours into the process, I was thinking paying retail and not dealing with the crowd was looking pretty good.  However, like many there, I was sure my turn was coming soon.  I pre-payed for the gun after three hours and went home.

When I went back Saturday afternoon to finished the purchase, I showed the sales clerk where the active dates of the rebate form did not correspond with what their sale flyer advertised.  My purchase of the gun on Wednesday did not meet the requirement of the rebate.  The rebate began with purchases the day after paid for mine.  One sales clerk decided I had the wrong rebate form and I should look for another one.  A second clerk told me just to send it in, as she was sure Browning would honor it anyway. Finally, a third clerk agreed with me, but then they had to figure out how to fix it.  In the end, 7 employees were consulted on the issue.  Once a senior manager got involved, it was all of a sudden a simple refund and re-ring.

To add insult to injury, I checked my email while waiting for the background check to come back.  In my email was an ad from Rural King, and the  same gun was listed for $189 after rebate.  

While the Bass Pro employees are polite and courteous, they were totally overwhelmed on Wednesday.  There must have been 100-125 people back in the gun section, but there was not really an orderly and fair order as to how customers were being waiting on, and there was not an orderly and fair way the background checks were being done after you select a gun.  One poor patient customer who said he was one of the first to get in the door and one of the first to pick out a gun did not get called to do his background check for over two hours, and that was after he complained twice their system made no sense.

Customers were arguing with each other and arguing with the clerks as to how the process was supposed to work.  After I picked out my gun, I asked the clerk what I was supposed to do next.  He said he really didn't know, but to just go down and hang out near the background check tables.  Most of the problems could have been avoided if one of the managers working in the gun counter had made sure all of the clerks were on the same sheet of music and then stood up and informed the customers about the process.  I could go on with other stuff I saw, but I've ranted enough.  I'm sure I'll get over the experience once I sling some lead.

 

[Schadenfreude]

I was at the Sevierville bass pro black Friday - granted it was my last stop of the day so got their one hour til close not really looking for anything particular but might have bought a gun if I had the chance. Got halfway to the gun section & the lights went out, went on to the counter even though it was pretty dark when the lights came back on the announcer kept announcing the time every 5 minutes in a tone of thank you for flying total b&stard airlines now get out. It seemed to me someone killed the lights on purpose to run people out of the store. I left without purchasing anything.

 

 

[hipower]

JMO here. I've tried buying guns at Bass Pro. Never went well or smoothly. Always slow. And as you said, it seemed that the majority of the clerks needed to be taught what the buying/selling process entailed. Oh and try to get a clerk...to come off break or stop his conversation with others behind the counter.

I don't bother to go there anymore except for my winter long sleeve shirts.