Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunting Rifles Cabelas Gun Counter

I live in a Metropolitan area here in NE Kansas. We have a number of big retailers that vie for customers in the gun market. As the subject states, I took a little trip to the Cabelas gun counter, this is probably the 100th+ trip I have taken to this store since it was put in a few years back.

I am never greeted in a timely manner at this Cabelas and the gun counter jockeys never have a clue what they are talking about. It seems the only time they ever had sufficient staffing was during the grand opening weekend. I knew exactly what to expect when I went there, and I, like a dummy, keep going back because of the great deals they have on guns and the like.

Getting to the point....today at Cabelas I was greeted by a chubby fellow with a generally annoyed, uncooperative and unfriendly disposition. I was amazed when he told me they had 6 of the guns they have marked for sale in stock. Well, I asked him to bring one up from the back for me as I was interested in purchasing a gun today. He did so in an unexpected, timely manner.

These were new in the box guns that Cabelas throws in a package, so they have obviously passed by the keen eyes of these impolite gun counter gurus. I looked the gun over and was unhappy that this stainless steel rifle looked like it had been sitting on a shelf since the 19th century. It literally looked like it had been hunted by Big Stick himself for about three years in the Alaskan Bush. So I politely asked him to grab another of the six for me, and warned him nicely that I was pretty picky and particular about what I spent my money on.

Six guns down and not a single keeper. The deal was pretty smokin', so I asked him if he minded if I try to clean the gun up a bit with solvent or Rem Oil to see if any of the corrosion would come off. He annoyingly said, "No, but I'll try." He came back and the gun looked about 70% better, so I knew that I would probably get most of it off. I was there with my brother, who is also in the market for a gun and was explaining some things about the rifle, and had almost convinced myself, against my own good judgment to buy the "beat up" Brand Spankin' New gun. I told the employee that I was probably going to buy the least ugly gun of the bunch. He just so happened to have cleaned the ugliest and replied as serious as death "OK, but I'm not cleaning your gun for you." This is supposed to be a new gun so I figured the least an employee of the store could do was offer to touch it up a bit, or throw in a complimentary cleaning rag. At this point I was asked rudely if I was going to buy the gun and if so I needed to start the paperwork now. After a short exchange of words, I walked off to do some more shopping.

I spent a total of 19 dollars at a store that with the right finesse' could have swallowed about 1000 of my hard earned bucks. I think I am going to spend the extra coin at another gun shop where their employees have a clue and they value the dollar of the shopper that spends it there.

I am an avid waterfowler, fisherman, deer hunter and outdoorsman. I spend a good amount of my disposable income on my addiction. One place that has not let me down for waterfowling gear is Rogers Sporting Goods in Liberty, Mo. Also, Bass Pro here in Olathe has been pretty good to me, but Cabelas is on their way out when it comes to my money. Good for some, bad for others.

Just thought I would share an experience and rant a bit.

SS

Yes indeed. Check out the post I put on the Cabelas forum; it caused quite a stir. I got a call from someone in Sidney, NE.

http://forums.cabelas.com/showthread.php?t=7232

Agreed; absolutely a pain here in Michigan as well. Make it a point to get to the store when it opens, Sat. morning and headed straight to the gun counter to pull my ticket! Guy behind the counter basically tells me to beat it while he keeps putting out all the handguns from the safe. I told him it would make much sense for them to go ahead and do that before the GD doors open. Really turned me off.

DB

This trip seemed to utterly disgust me in every way possible. The fact that they even attempted to sell me one of these guns like there was nothing wrong with it. The service I got was not a help either. It offended pretty much every part of me that wishes to spend money.

SS

A side note is, a young guy in the waterfowling "section", I say this loosely because it is decoy line and a few calls this time of year, was very knowledgeable and helpful when it came to hunting and calls.

Still doesn't seem to be enough to stamp out this experience that will be in my mind for a while to come.

Gander Moutain in my area is just as bad or worse!! Their technical guys are about as technical as the kid slinging burgers at Burger King!!

Just a note, feel free to complain to the home office about how much you've spent and won't be going back. I did this with Bass Pro and in the end, they kept a customer by making it right.

I just wish they would take the time to be picky about, care for and maintain the guns that some of us spend a lot of money on. It seems like a kick to the groin to think I would be expected to pay money for these items with this type of service.

SS

SS_Freak:

Try Great Guns in Kearney, Mo. It's located in the strip center on the NE corner of the Mo 92 Hwy - Mo 33 Hwy intersection. Everyone behind the counter is a friendly, knowledgable shooter. Each has his or her own special expertise; none is a "know-it-all." Kathy Peisert, the owner, stands behind her merchandise.

Had similar problems at Gander Mountain in Huntsville Tx. Young employees that don't know much about guns. I really don't expect the youngsters to be up on lots of the stuff. But when asked politely where items were they just pointed and said over that direction. Their prices were too high. Didn't have the powder I wanted. The lady at the register was more help at finding what I needed. My only trip there will be my last. I needed to go to Carters Country in Pasadena anyway.

Most gun stores can be a mixed bag. Last week I was at the Cabela's in Ft. Worth Texas. It was late in the evening and I was about the only customer in the area. I was trying to look at a couple guns behind the counter but 3 or 4 of their salesman were a lot more interested in standing around and BS'ing than helping me. I finally waved one over and got pretty curt reply's and little help on the items I asked about.
Then I went into the fine gun room. They had a rifle that I was interested in and asked a couple questions about. The guy in there was excellent. He went in back and checked stock on all the extra barrels that were available for the rifle, checked with another employee to see if he had any more info on the particular rifle I was asking about.
In short the same store had lousy and excellent service within 25ft of each other.
Past a few constructive criticism's given to management I guess the best thing to do is to better appreciate the good salespeople and ignore the bad ones as much as possible..........................................DJ

Had the same problem yesterday at Sportsmans Warehouse. Jackass behind the counter tried to tell me I had to do a bunch of crap for the paperwork that I knew was bullshit and then got ignorant with me when I asked to speak to the manager of the gun department.

I just turned around and walked out the door without another word, drove across town and bought a gun at the local store without having to do any of the crap the previously mentioned salesman tried to tell me was required.

It seems all the chain stores that deal in sporting goods are quickly losing what little customer service they started with.

Firearms are best purchased at yer local Mom & Pop if at all possible.

i work in a retail sporting goods shop and am always disapionted in my lowsy attitude, poor service, and lack of knowlege. just today i sold myself a $300 scale/dispenser. i already have 1 didgital scale so i knew i didn't need another one, but i was just soooo pushy, just here ya go ya can't load w/o this contraption now jet out. what a jack ass! i think i'm gona return it tomoro, tell the manager to friggin fire me. i cant be sellin me $300 items i don't need, i got a family to support. besides that its got like 20 buttons on it so it's gonna to be to difficult for me to opperate.
sorry just makin jokes. best bet is go POLITELY (worst way to get what you want is to piss off the 1 parson who can help) tell the problem to the manager, if he don't listen go back and find another one who will. you cant fix a problem that you don't know exists. the customer though not always right is what keeps the place in business. some times it's hard to get good help. go put in an aplication the discounts can be great. makes a fun p.t. job.

For what its worth, I was in the lacey store this weekend. One guy in the camping section was great, one was lost and another was smart enough to get the great guy.

I wonder what the guys on the Cabelas forum would have said if we dropped a live round on their house and told them "it's hard to hire good soldiers" or "the cannon is hard to adjust" or "the map coordinates are hard to understand."

All of the replies to Bob's post on the Cabels forum were stupid except the last one that said the issues were being worked at the corporate HQ.

mercy...

I will never go into another Bass Pro or Cabelas store again to buy anything,both of them not once but twice,people at both were slow,dumb or had no knowledge of items in the section they worked in.Both didn't have sale items in stock and wouldn't give a rain check.Not enough people in rifle and gun section.I've seen several rifles that came from both at my gunsmith shop,where they didn't mount scopes correctly,had the wrong rings and to long of screws in them.I just don't like either of them,they both SUCKED.

I agree with alot but I don't go to the counter to learn about guns or see who knows more. The point is to get the gun you are thinking about at a price you can live with. Some of their specials can be pretty good(S&W 638 at $359). Yes I know we have all read about 'loss leaders' & the 'bait & switch') There are plenty of things in a givin day that have the potential to annoy(sp?) a guy if you let it.

I've never seen the sense in initiating a battle of wits with someone @ $6-$7/hr. That said, Cabela's in East Grand Forks, MN has two of the most knowledgeable gun guys in their company. Both in their 50's and pretty serious collectors that work there part-time. Positively the luck of the draw as they couldn't afford to "buy" that kind of experience and knowledge.

I worked at the gun counter at a Bass Pro store one summer during law school and I was one of two guys there that had any technical firearms knowledge whatsoever. The reality is that those jobs don't pay very well so they have trouble keeping knowledgeable employees around. Once in a while you'll find a retired guy in there who knows his stuff and can afford to work for $8 an hour but it's rare. Be your own "expert".

I also liked a comment another one of the guys at the counter made when trying to sell a scope to a customer. He said that if the guy bought a scope from them he would need to have it bore sighted by them in the store or the gun wouldn't shoot right.

Never had a gun bore sighted at the store and all mine shoot nicely.

SS

So if we look at this from a $ perspective.....
Are we (you, me, who) willing to foot the bill for the extra cost of hiring firearms experts by paying more for the rifles we buy?

....but if we are looking at this from an attitude perspective.....
I understand that the original post was about attitude, and I agree that anyone working there should go all out to help the customer with a good attitude. I'd rather deal with someone that had little knowledge but a great attitude than the most knowledgeable expert with a sour attitude.

At some point, I guess the store is stuck with taking who they can get, regardless of knowledge or attitude. I sure do enjoy it when I purchase a rifle from a knowledgable person that loves and knows guns.....but it can't always be that way.

JCM