My saga trying to get my GSG-5 rifle

The GSG-5 is a .22 cal replica of the standard MP-5. The advantage to it being a .22 cal is that you can shoot five hundred rounds for less than 15 bucks…try shooting 500 rounds in a MP-5.

So I thought this would be a fun gun to purchase and shoot and to let others shoot (a good way to get them hooked into the shooting sports). Right now it’s a hot purchase so the demand is high. Trying to find one locally is hard…I normally purchase my firearms from the Franklin Gun Shop. A very nice gun shop with a large inventory and friendly help. About a month ago when I first started looking Franklin GS was out of the GSG-5 so they took my name down to call when the got some more in.

In the mean time I looked online at Gun Broker and found some for sale…I called a local gun shop in Winchester called Hero-Gear to see if they would do a transfer if I bought the gun online. They said they would and they seemed like friendly people and after talking to them for awhile I decided to purchase the rifle through them. That was on a Friday July 11. The gentleman I spoke to was leaving for vacation, but he said Dan would handle my order.

I had heard about Hero Gear from a cousin of mine, who had been there a few times and I was excited that we had a gun shop that was closer than Franklin. I waited to call until that next Friday July 18th (they were suppose to have the rifle ready for me two days prior to Friday) and Dan said that he had not heard from his supplier and that he should have called me…and he apologized. No harm no foul in my book, I knew the gun was in high demand. So he said by the end of the day (Friday) he would let me know something about the rifle. Friday came and went with no email or call back.

By now I am upset that I let the gun go on gunbroker.com, but I hadn’t lost all hope..at least not yet. The following Monday July 21th I get an email from Dan says he still did not know when he could get the gun but “I’ve talked to several different contacts in the industry, and the general consensus is that we should be able to get at least the rifle and collapsible stock by the end of the week. “ So he was speaking of July 25th…that Friday no word…nothing.

Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and then today still no word no updates nothing.

Today at work I get a call from the Franklin GS, they have a new inventory in and they were holding a rifle for me to pick up whenever I could get up there. I took their offer and emailed Hero Gear and said that I no longer needed the rifle from them…no response.

In my opinion a small business owner has two advantages over a big company. Number one is customer service and number two customer support. For a business as hard as a gun shop you have to say that customer service is paramount to everything, you want to trust and know you can depend on your local gun shop. It’s sad that they really let me down. Will it make a difference if I don’t take my business there? probably not, but I do know that the 3,000+ readers of this blog (monthly) mostly from middle Tennessee who may or may not visit his shop…they may make a difference. It’s such a small thing to shoot off a email to let me know he is having problems getting the rifle, or maybe even saying you know what…I can’t get it right now you might need to look somewhere else. But to just leave me hanging, that’s not customer support.

Going Friday to pick up my new toy.