quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:
I'll say it again: Contact Ruger customer service. They reimbursed me for the FFL fee in a situation that sounds very much like yours.

I don't feel like it's Ruger's responsibility. Yeah, they shipped a defective gun, but they stood behind it and replaced it. They have no control over how the shop chooses to do business.

My FIL is an independent mechanic and owns his own shop. He purchases parts from the parts stores, and if one fails under warranty, the parts store provides anew part and pays him an installers warranty rate to replace it. This is less than his typical shop rate, so warranty jobs don't pay as well as a new install (this was the same way when he was a tech for Ford...warranty jobs paid fewer hours than regular repairs, and the mechanics actually made less money on a warranty job than they would on the same job out of warranty). He doesn't surcharge his customers to make up the difference...he eats it because he installed the part and is standing behind his work and he parts he chose to install.

IMO this one is on the shop, not on Ruger. I'm not as worried about the $20 as what it says about the character of the retailer.

How long has the store been in business? Sounds like poor customer service skills and judgement by whoever made the call.
I guess the only other option would have been to return to the store for the first warranty repair and let them send it back.
You didn't know it at the time, and your time and travel wouldn't make that practical, but that's the only other choice you had. They still could have dinged you for the transfer.

A new S/N replacement does not have to go through a dealer. It’s still warranty work. My cracked frame Beretta Cougar was replaced with a 92FS because Cougars were long out of production. A letter saying as much accompanied it.

Warranty work is warranty work. Ruger could have handled the administrative serial number swap themselves.

I understand the FFL could have opted not to charge the fee but they did. Probably a tacky choice on their part. IMO a minor aggravation for sure, but nothing that really merits the bandwidth spent. Making sure the new revolver functions as it should and letting your Son have some safe and effective plinking time with his Dad is where the focus should be.

I had a S&W pistol that was sent back to them due to a faulty part in the frame. S&W sent it to my ffl, that I bought the pistol from originally and S&W covered the transfer fee as it was a defect in their product. That is service and a company that stands behind their product-right, wrong or indifferent. Unfortunately, the original pistol had to go back twice until they finally sent the new gun and then they threw in some swag-a few ball caps, pens, shirt, patches, key chains and some stickers. I was amazed at what they did for me.

I think the manufacturer should pay the transfer cost as it is their problem. The ffl dealer did nothing wrong and sold a product that was warrantied by the manufacturer. Granted it sucks, but Ruger made the product. The ffl could have forgone the ffl transfer fee in the name of good c.s. but I don't think it was their fault at all.

I would dispute the credit card charge if paid on a card. I'm furious just reading this thread, and I'm typically pretty chill.

Let me summarize for those in the back.

You bought a pot metal, zinc alloy gun that I'm pretty sure doesn't pass all of the melting point tests. (Not your fault, they're fun to shoot).

Your dealer made a ridiculously low sum of money on it, say $30.

The gun was shit.

Ruger replaced it.

Your dealer charged you a transfer fee, even tho you are a customer and have bought what sounds like multiple guns from them, AND YOU BOUGHT THIS FUCKING GUN THAT WAS DEFECTIVE FROM THEM!

Talk to the owner, if he doesn't make it right, dispute the credit card charge.

Gunshops dont charge $50 transfer fees because there is $50 worth of labor in filing the paperwork, they charge $50 or $20 or whatever the Fuck because you boned them out of the profit on selling you a gun from their inventory.

There is no other industry like the gun industry. Imagine going to the Chevy dealership to pick up and accept delivery of your Ford.

For the folks saying to dispute it with the CC company.

He accepted the charge, likely signed a CC slip... now you want him to dispute it???

It's not like the sleazy company charged him without him knowing of the charge or without (likely) signing a slip.
He willingly paid for it at the time.

Disputing the charge doesn’t seem like the honest thing to do, here.

I think you were mistreated. If the owner doesn’t make it right, I’d post some reviews.

Had a similar situation locally. The shop agreed, in advance, to do a transfer for me. Since I had bought a lot of other things from them, he offered to do it for $10.

When I got to the store, he raised the price to $30 and began loudly ranting about the internet putting him out of business for the other customers to hear.

After politely reminding him of our agreement, which he initiated, I paid the $30 and asked him to spend it wisely, because it was the last of my money he would ever see.

I also left him a bad review on Bud’s Gun Shop where the transaction began. I never went back and he’s no longer in business. Not saying I caused it, but I like to think I helped run off a scoundrel by warning as many as I could.

^^^ Wow, asshole like that deserves to be out of business.

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.9mm:
I think you were mistreated. If the owner doesn’t make it right, I’d post some reviews.

Had a similar situation locally. The shop agreed, in advance, to do a transfer for me. Since I had bought a lot of other things from them, he offered to do it for $10.

When I got to the store, he raised the price to $30 and began loudly ranting about the internet putting him out of business for the other customers to hear.

After politely reminding him of our agreement, which he initiated, I paid the $30 and asked him to spend it wisely, because it was the last of my money he would ever see.

I also left him a bad review on Bud’s Gun Shop where the transaction began. I never went back and he’s no longer in business. Not saying I caused it, but I like to think I helped run off a scoundrel by warning as many as I could.

he was likely days from closing when you were there,,

folks like that get worried about lost revenue, but don't seem to understand what customer service is,

it's not like he lost $20 in profits on a firearm,

instead he lost a customer that may have given him much more than $20 in good word of mouth advertising, as well as lots of future business,

quote:

Originally posted by P220 Smudge:
Disputing the charge doesn’t seem like the honest thing to do, here.

Agreed, and I won't be doing that. I paid for it, and signed for it...I'm not going to claim it was a fraudulent charge, because it wasn't.

quote:

Originally posted by lyman:

quote:

Originally posted by Mr.9mm:
I think you were mistreated. If the owner doesn’t make it right, I’d post some reviews.

Had a similar situation locally. The shop agreed, in advance, to do a transfer for me. Since I had bought a lot of other things from them, he offered to do it for $10.

When I got to the store, he raised the price to $30 and began loudly ranting about the internet putting him out of business for the other customers to hear.

After politely reminding him of our agreement, which he initiated, I paid the $30 and asked him to spend it wisely, because it was the last of my money he would ever see.

I also left him a bad review on Bud’s Gun Shop where the transaction began. I never went back and he’s no longer in business. Not saying I caused it, but I like to think I helped run off a scoundrel by warning as many as I could.

he was likely days from closing when you were there,,

folks like that get worried about lost revenue, but don't seem to understand what customer service is,

it's not like he lost $20 in profits on a firearm,

instead he lost a customer that may have given him much more than $20 in good word of mouth advertising, as well as lots of future business,

He lasted a couple more years before his shop mysteriously burned down. Karma, I suppose.

quote:

I'm not going to claim it was a fraudulent charge, because it wasn't.

Disputing a charge isn't simply about fraud, it can also be done for horrible customer service. Agreed, I would never have paid this in the first place, but you can dispute charges when a service provider doesn't hold up their end of the bargain.

I once had an 800lb Browning safe moved out of my basement. The boys that put it in did a pro job. The boys that took it out beat the shit out of every wall in sight and scratched the shit out of the safe. I contacted the owner of the moving company and she told me "tough luck". I sent pictures to Visa, as well as dates and times of conversations with the owner and Visa gave me my money back. That's the nice thing about a credit card, I look at is another layer of protection for me as a consumer.

quote:

Originally posted by flesheatingvirus:
If it were my shop, I would never have charged a costumer to transfer a warranty replacement. To me, that charge was taken care of for my shop when you purchased the original firearm. That shop double-dipped. I'd shop elsewhere.

On a replacement gun, I waive the $2 background check fee, too.

No matter how many times I think about this and put myself in your situation, it always ends the same. When told about the transfer fee and how unavoidable it was, I'd have definitely said you keep the S&W, just give me my warranty bill and I'll be on my way with ya'll permanently in my rearview mirror. I'd also rip them a new one online. Actions have consequences and it'd wind up costing them a lot more than the transfer.

quote:

I'd have definitely said you keep the S&W, just give me my warranty bill and I'll be on my way with ya'll permanently in my rearview mirror.

While I get the principle of thing (and maybe it's what I should have done), if I'd done that I'd be without that sweet little Smith, which now that I've put a little work into it, I really, really like (thread on that gun here).

I've done a little research in the past couple of weeks, and I'm realizing that they had that gun priced way less than $20 below the going rate, so while I still think the transfer fee was sorta crappy, I came out ahead in the end. If I hadn't bought the Smith, I'd just be out $20 with nothing to show for it.