Gun Safe shopping in Alaska, what a PITA. I had the epiphany a couple of days ago that I need to get it done post haste. The new house has a grassy slope that they will have to navigate to get it into the sliding glass door for the walkout basement which means it needs to be done before snow falls. Which means I have to buy something local an in stock.

So go to Bass Pro Shop, limited selection but told there's a truck coming on Monday.

"Any idea what might be on that truck?"

"No."

"Is there anyway that you or anyone else that might be able to find out?"

"No."

3 Bears is an Alaskan chain of warehouse grocery stores that also sell sporting goods, guns, safes, etc. Think of it as the Alaskan version of the ATF only a convenience store rather than a government agency; a carton of smokes, a fifth of Jack, a loaf of bread an an AR15 all in one stop. They have 4 different outfitter locations around the MatSu Valley. I called to try and save myself some driving.

"Do you have any gun safes in stock right now?"

"Yes, we have a few."

"Anyway you could give me an idea of what you might have on hand? I'm looking for a made in USA safe at least 36" in width."

"Well we have a big black one, a small white one and a medium sized tan one."

Great, I thought I was calling 3 Bears Outfitters, not Castle Adult Boutique.

Final stop today was 3 Bears in Chugiak. They have a nice Browning Silver Series that fits the bill. So I asked the clerk if there was any possibility to move off the price since it was a floor demo that had been sitting there a while, had a couple of dings in it and the door seal had a slight tear from someone trying to close the safe while the locking lugs were fully extended.

"I might have one in the warehouse. Let's get you rung up and I'll check."

"Can you check first before I pay for it so I know if I'm buying a safe that hasn't been damaged."

"If you're not going to buy it, I'm not going to check."

"The price you're asking is fair if it is new and undamaged in the box. I want to know what I'm buying before I pay for it."

"Let's get you rung up and Ill check."

"No, could you please check before I pay for it."

"I told you already, I'm not going to check if you're not going to buy it."

"This is getting ridiculous, is there a manager that I can talk with?"

"He's gone home for the day."

"And I'm doing the same."

I can't believe that I'm looking at spending around $3k and can't even get the most simple of questions answered.

Try:

Able - 206 E Northern Lights Blvd, Suite #2, Anchorage, AK 99503. 907-276-4147

or

Action - 2375 E. 63rd Avenue #2 Anchorage, Alaska 99507 907-248-3785

The last, quoted part of your post has my blood boiling. I am amazed that a solid throat punch wasn’t landed on the little shit prior to your departure.

quote:

Originally posted by a1abdj:
Action - 2375 E. 63rd Avenue #2 Anchorage, Alaska 99507 907-248-3785

I lived in Anchorage '09 to '14, and the gun safe that I had bought from Frank sustained a little damage on the dial during shipping from Texas to Alaska. Frank recommended SAVTA member Action, and they straightened and lubed everything. Very easy to work with, very professional, and most importantly it worked like a Swiss clock afterward.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
The last, quoted part of your post has my blood boiling. I am amazed that a solid throat punch wasn’t landed on the little shit prior to your departure.

One thing I do not miss about Alaska is its customer "service"

Way too many do things their own inept way and don't give a damn how normal business people do things. If the business had any tourism business then it was a night and day experience using them in tourism season (beyond inept) and the other 9 months a year.

quote:

Originally posted by Beancooker:
The last, quoted part of your post has my blood boiling. I am amazed that a solid throat punch wasn’t landed on the little shit prior to your departure.

That person needs to be FIRED, it is a disgrace to treat customer that way.

Finally bought one today from Bass Pro. Still unbelievable in their incompetence and customer service. I actually found it last night searching their inventory on their website. Something they were incapable of doing when I was in the store yesterday.

Called this morning to verify they actually had it since it was not on the sales floor. I was assured that they had 2 in stock. Asked if I could buy one over the phone and have my safe movers pick it up or if I needed to be there in person to purchase.

"You'll have to call back and ask for customer service if you want to buy it over the phone, I don't know how to transfer calls."

Really?

At this point, I decided this level of incompetence deserved a visit in person. Ordinarily I would've said piss on it and moved on to a different retailer. But this was the only thing close to the size and price in Anchorage.

Drove down and they're short staffed, ringning up retail sales at the customer service desk with lines going down the aisles since there are no cashiers. Waited at the opposite end of the desk and one of the customer service clerks asked if I was in line for a hunting or fishing license. I said no, I'd been trying to buy a gun safe for 2 days.

"Oh you need Miss Debi, I'll send her over."

Miss Debi comes over and she's a five foot nothin' grandma full of piss and vinegar. She asks why I'm there and I explain that I've been trying to buy a gun safe for 2 days.

"Those lazy bastards!"

She goes to work pulls up the safe on her computer and is on the phone trying to reach the gun counter. No one answers, she pages them overhead. The same old man who claimed he couldn't check inventory yesterday comes up to the counter. She hands him a post it note with the stock number on it and instructs him to go in the back, "Lay eyes" on it and put a hold ticket with my name on it. He responds to complete the sale and he'll go put the sales receipt on it. Miss Debi absolutely explodes,

"I do not plan on having a conversation with this gentleman again because you are too lazy to do your job! You will go back to the stockroom! You will lay eyes on it! You will put a hold tag on it with this gentleman's name! You will come back up here, tell me that you have done all of that and then I will process the sale!"

They had it, sale's complete and will be picked up and delivered by my movers on Friday.

I need to write a letter to management praising Miss Debi and berating their gun counter staff.

Mow like; send the letter to corporate with a copy to the store's manager.

Not sure if you have them up there but Tractor Supply handles the Liberty line to some extent.

The Old Fart On Campus still has it !!!

There should be a compilation of your excellent rants.
.

Don't you love it when they hire a salesman and NOT someone who knows what the hell he is selling?

That's the world we live in today....customer unservice.....about the only chain store I get service in, is Ace Hardware......

Make sure when you send that letter to corporate as well as the local store manager about the lack of service and professonalism by not helping a customer and that due praise is given to Miss Debi as to her taking the "bull by the horns" and getting the job done. .......................... drill sgt.

quote:

"I might have one in the warehouse. Let's get you rung up and I'll check."

"Can you check first before I pay for it so I know if I'm buying a safe that hasn't been damaged."

"If you're not going to buy it, I'm not going to check."

"The price you're asking is fair if it is new and undamaged in the box. I want to know what I'm buying before I pay for it."

"Let's get you rung up and Ill check."

"No, could you please check before I pay for it."

"I told you already, I'm not going to check if you're not going to buy it."

"This is getting ridiculous, is there a manager that I can talk with?"

"He's gone home for the day."

No fucking way I'm giving up until he was fired.

I'm writing to store management, regional, corporate, the White House, everyone.

That is one of the shittiest customer service stories I have ever read.

People like that deserve to be hungry and unemployed.

A lot like retail sales in Montana. FEW if any people give a damn or know what they have or whats going on. Must be a rural America thing?

I think its as bad, or maybe worse in the cities I’ve shopped in. It seems that lots of employees everywhere have figured out they aren’t going to be fired for doing a shitty job.

That's pretty bad c.s.. Seems there are many that take no pride in their work or helping the customer with simple answers.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
I think its as bad, or maybe worse in the cities I’ve shopped in. It seems that lots of employees everywhere have figured out they aren’t going to be fired for doing a shitty job.

Right, they'll just be laid off when the store closes because consumers just take to buying online.

Gotta love Miss Debi! We had our version of her in the Walmart auto service department down here. It was a shame she retired because she knew how to make things happen.

Unbelievable!

When he told you his manager was gone, I'd have asked for the store manager or next in line, as there had to be someone there with more brains than the idiot you was talking too! A store that large has to have someone with functioning brain cells. If they refuse to get someone, move to another employee and ask the same question or go see someone at customer service.