Last night I posted info needed for a Baikal 46m that I bought from "STRAIGHT SHOOTERS". Withing ONE HOUR (50 MINUTES) I had info for the parts directly from the owner. THIS WAS ON A SUNDAY! Needless to say that the parts are on the way! I do not have to worry weather the right parts or OTHER merchandise I ordered will arrive in a fast manner, nor do I have to worry weather the merchandise will be correct. If I need info on the gun, I can talk to someone that has actually shot the gun. I CAN'T SAY ENOUGH FOR THIS GREAT COMPANY. No wonder they go by the name of "STRAIGHT SHOOTERS".
I 've ordered BKL mounts from StraightShooters a couple of times and they shipped them the same day. One time they were out of the 260's and estimated when they would have them in. Sure enough within a couple of days after the due date they gave me, it arrived. Then one time the dog (1yr old Lab puppy-monster) from across the street grabbed the package from the front step when noone was home and chewed the hek out of it and I could not find the mount anywhere. I told the lady across the street, and showed her the shredded package and invoice on her lawn, and she said she would pay for another one. I called them up and said I need another 260D7 asap. The guy said it 'll be on the UPS truck in 20min. Sure enough 3 days later it was at my door.
ON the contrary, P/A now has changed the date for my Phillips Pellet Holders .22-.25 (for AF guns - they sent me the wrong ones AND the wrong caliber!) I've been waiting for, 3 times!! This has been going on since Dec. 12! 2+ months later they tell me they are still Back-Ordered and keep giving me a new estimated date of arrival. Now the date has been 2/18. We 'll see what happens but I expect them to change it to 3/1 or something around there. And I never get anything from them unless a minimum of 2 weeks have passed.. only to find something wrong with the order every single time. Someone on the Yellow said that most of the people in the P/A warehouse do not speak English as their 1st language. This probably explains a lot..because if they could read the order properly, they would not pack the wrong merchandise.
I do like how they pack the pellets lately though. Top notch packing material that molds around the tins. They must 've lost a lot of $ damaging the pellets all these years with insufficient packing material and packing practices. Just got my new replacement tins - very professionally packed with custom sturdy foam and cardboard. Very nice.. (finally!).
RWS Diana 350 .22 (MIA w/Curtis)
RWS Diana 36 .177
RWS Hammerli 850 .22
Lemak custom AF Condor .25
Talon Tunes AF Condor .25
Airhog tuned AF Condor .22
Crosman custom 2300XT .22
Various other Crosman Pump & CO2 .177
Harry, do you know how many order's Pa has screwed up on me. I have now in my possession about 3 packages of mounts that were sent to me and the size was screwed up. I did not ever order Weaver mounts. (So sorry I just did not have time to get to the post office to make the return shipment) I payed a restocking fee on a default gun, and on and on and on. Just recently I ordered 3 boxes of crosman premiers. Same caliber, I thought that they would just figure it out and send me the "FOURTH BOX FREE" as advertised. I caught the mistake within 24 hrs. and notified them that they were not going to send me the fourth box. There reply was that while the 3 boxes had not been shipped, it was tough cookie as only 3 boxes will be shipped and I was out of the free 4th box and I COULD NOT CANCELL THE ORDER EVEN THOUGH IT HAD NOT BEEN SHIPPED. After A NUMBER OF IRATE phone calls one young lady did comply and include the free box with the order.
Hint: forget the fee shipping enticement on order's over $149.00, as I have bought more junk, just to get the free shipping. It has never paid off. I could really go on about more defunct orders but you get my point.
I will just deal with Kevin at Straight shooters from now on. They say that time is money. Well it really is, and I much rather deal with someone that knows guns, and has the balls to stand behind what it sells. Enough said. thanks for listening.
You presumed that P/A will figure out they needed to do something for you or ship an item you didn't ask for? After all you 've been through with them? Yeah the only way to straighten things out is to speak to a supervisor or that lady, whose voice in the greeting and Voice menu.. I forget her name but have it written down somewhere. You definitely have to order 4 tins or you miss out on the free one which is BS of course. The system should automatically send you a free tin if the 3 tins you ordered were all the same. But that would be too easy right? Why do that when they can save on the price of the free tin and say "we didn't see it in your order sir..".
I have not ordered anything >$149 from P/A in a very long time, like 1 year and 2mos. Their prices are higher on avg. than most everyone else's and when you add up stuff to get to $149, you end up paying a lot more and don't save anything with their free shipping. They jack up the prices to make up for that "free shipping" and the 4th "free tin". Only their pellets are worth it.. most of the time. I was getting Kodiaks for $5.29 elsewhere while PA was $7.99 (or $7.49 I think) and I was saving $ with other companies over PA's price with the free tins. But now most other vendors have raised the prices too, so P/A seems to have the best deal around. They have the buying power that many others don't.
RWS Diana 350 .22 (MIA w/Curtis)
RWS Diana 36 .177
RWS Hammerli 850 .22
Lemak custom AF Condor .25
Talon Tunes AF Condor .25
Airhog tuned AF Condor .22
Crosman custom 2300XT .22
Various other Crosman Pump & CO2 .177
Harry, this is a interesting topic. i found this article in the PA archives: http://www.pyramydair.com/site/articles/visit-by-tom/
I have visited many many distribution warehouse's over the years and from the pics on this article, they appear to be run like a small company. One of the big problems of PA from a consumer standpoint has been "inventory control". How many times have you placed a order only to find that it is not in stock? Considering bar code technology has evolved to such a high degree with such sophisticated software, you would think that this would not be such a problem. I think another area is one that you brought up is "trained personnel". You look at the tables set up for shipping and it appears to be a mess. The guy that told me that "I was out of $22.00 for the "free" fourth box, was obviously in a position that he should not be in. One edge that PA seems to hold over the competition is the fact that they usually carry more products than the competitors, hence, they get more orders because the consumer cannot find the one product that the competitor does not carry, so the consumer in a effort to avoid a double shipping charge will just order from PA.I also think that the "Fourth tin free" is their biggest asset in bringing customer's back to the store. Especially if you are buying a $22.00 box of CP's.
However, I have lost more money in the long run, with delayed shipments and wrong shipments that it really is not worth it for me to be a patron of PA. Straight Shooters I think could become a really "GREAT COMPANY" if they use PA as an blueprint of not growing to fast.If they (SS) can continue to use the same "honest Advertising" a knowledgeable staff, and their personal touch with the consumer, they they will really hit their mark in the Airgunning community. I also think SS could benifit with some videos on their web site. There "our take" on individual airguns is something that the consumer really appreciates. Their honest velocity test have become a Icon with their company. JMO
Dave
They've been around a few years already. Quite a few actually. They generally deal in the high end or proven models that sell well and accessories which make sense to the shooter instead of a bunch of knick knacks people collect.
They've always had a straight forward business platform. They've stuck with it since the beginning. That's why people like em when it comes to new stuff sold over the internet. You get the same service today that you got more than ten years ago.
A weak point at PA? Yes. I picked up a Diana 75 w/o sights and decided to look around for some. (It's missing the whole front assembly.) A search led me to PA which listed the base, et cetera, in their "old inventory", supposedly acquired from the previous RWS parts supplier. They had it and, according to the website, it's available! Boy, was I tickled pink! Then reality began to set in. First, the lady said I would have to talk to Joe Blow, the guy who works in that area, but he is out to lunch. Several calls and maybe two hours later (some lunch!) I contact Joe. He goes off to look, me on eternal hold. I finally call back, only to be told he was still looking and will call me when he locates it. Time goes by. Bored, I check the website again. Suddenly, it is not longer available. ??????? I call her back. Oh, Joe said he couldn't find it. They have those parts scattered around in boxes here and there and I guess it was gone. Nice of them to let poor old me, sitting around, twiddling my thumbs, know the outcome of my request. Now, instead of tickled, I'm ticked off!
PA still lists parts for the 75. I would bet dollars to doughnuts they don't have them i or can't find them.
But that is old stock. It's the new stuff that seems to be falling short. Recently, on another forum, a poster related that they had shipped him not the wrong caliber or brand of pellets, but the wrong gun. Hard to make a mistake like that.
P/A is really really bad when it comes to shipping the right items. Like Dave said they don't have their inventory and shipping down properly.
They are likely not using their software properly because there are tons of good software out there for inventory control and it even tells you where it is located in the warehouse.
In this day & age there is no excuse for P/A to always be out of hundreds of items. If you go look at 100 items right now, popular or not, you will find 5-10 of those are Out of Stock/back-ordered. I was looking at some Air Arms rifles and almost 1/2 of them were out of stock. I then go look at some Chinese big bore guns, etc. every other one was "expected delivery.. blah blah blah"
When I had a Deli from 1990 to '95, I got a PC and barcode system in 1993 that told me when I 'm close to running out of stuff and knew when to place orders. This tells me that P/A is waiting until they are down to 1-2 items and then take too long to place the order with the distributor resulting in major delays and several weeks in getting the stuff in, because a lot of it is not even made in this county and has to go through Customs, etc.
Another good point that Dave made is that their people don't seem to be trained properly. In fact I know this first hand. I ordered a hard Plano case and 8 tins (2 free) of pellets about 5-6mos ago for 1 of my Condors. Well the idiot shipping guy put all the tins in a very soft white box that said EUN JIN on it (I ordered Eun Jin pellets too). I mean this thing was not real cardboard. Very light tape on some of the tins, and then he STUCK this soft box inside the Plano Cardboard box at the top, but not inside the hard rifle case!! I would 've taped up all those tins well and stuck them in the nice soft foamy interior of the rifle case! Where they are protected and not going anywere. So imagine this soft square white box squished outside the hard case at the corner between the outside cardboard box and the hard case!! I don't even know how he fit it in there. I opened the squished white box only to find that 3 tins had opened up and pellets scattered everywhere and most of the other tins were dented! Well what a surprise. I called up P/A and told them about this and they had the nerve to ask me for pics! I also gave them the guy's initials and whatever names where on the packing slip. 3-4 days later they e-mail me back saying I 'm right and they will ship replacement pellets which took another 2 weeks. They took too long to e-mail back IMO too.
Now was this guy trained properly that through 8 tins of pellets in a 6x4" box and shoved it in between a hard rifle case and the cardboard box in 2" of space? He could not close the Plano cardboard box properly and you could see it bulging on that end of the box which of course got hammered during shipping too. It's all common sense.. I 'm convinced some of those people there have barely the IQ to not be classified "special".
RWS Diana 350 .22 (MIA w/Curtis)
RWS Diana 36 .177
RWS Hammerli 850 .22
Lemak custom AF Condor .25
Talon Tunes AF Condor .25
Airhog tuned AF Condor .22
Crosman custom 2300XT .22
Various other Crosman Pump & CO2 .177
Harry, any serious airguns I buy from now on, will be from Straight Shooter. Just curious but who do you recommend for items that they do not carry? Midway? I have heard a lot of good things about Pomona Air guns, and have been told they are a top notch company for repairs. How about Airguns of Arizona?
i had an interesting interaction with a retail clerk
February 19 2009, 7:35 PM
we have a Turners Outdoors store in Chino Hills, Cal. i needed a scope level. i walked in the store and a bunch of guys were standing in the gun department. one of the guys asked if i needed help. i said, where do you keep the scope rings. another guy, a big burley football player looking kid of about 25 or 30 sais, "what do you want". kind of abrupt. no smile. i said, i need a scope level that attaches to a scope rail. he says, we don't have those. cold icy stare. no smile. not another word just a cold stare. i turned around and walked out. he could have said, with a smile on his face. i'm really sorry we don't carry those anymore. is there anything else i can do for you? thanks for coming in. no, just cold stare. as if to say. we don't have it. get out! honest, i don't look funny. i don't look like a criminal. i have bought a few things there. i can buy those on line all day for 15.00. i would have bought it for $20 if they had it. i want to give it to a local business first. i will hesitate to go back in there again. his hostillity was palpable.
When inventory is always running short and a business waits until they absolutely have to replenish, it can indicate poor cash flow. Inventory equals a big investment and stock has to be financed. If business becomes marginal and re-inventory costs are increasing, some business owners will put off buying as long as possible. This can lead to a vicious cycle of poor cash flow, low inventory levels, lost sales, worse cash flow, et cetera. Could be PA is just poorly run, as has been tossed out.
Red.. I also think P/A does not place an order to re-stock until they have a bunch of orders in the system from people who are willing to wait, so they can assure the stuff won't be sitting on the shelves when it arrives. That is very bad business tactics. That's the only way I can explain waiting 3mos for them to restock hundred of items. It does create a vicious cycle like you said..
Dave:
I have used opticsplanet for most of my scopes. They are great and have the best prices with free-shipping. I have also used AOA a couple of times. They are pretty good too. I have not dealt with Pomona Airguns. I have also heard a lot of good things about Cobra Airguns. I don't order from them because they are in NY and I have to pay sales tax, but you can. I hear they are very knowledgeable in airguns like the StraightShooter guys and are big-time airguners themselves so you also get good advice from them. They try to advice you on stuff you need and makes sense for you to use, and won't sell you just anything, if you call them up. They do seem to have a lot of stuff that SS doesn't carry.
New RWS Diana 350 .22 (compliments of Tim & friends!) on its way..
RWS Diana 36 .177 CDT tuned
RWS Hammerli 850 .22
Lemak custom AF Condor .25
Talon Tunes AF Condor .25
Airhog tuned AF Condor .22
Crosman custom 2300XT .22
Various other Crosman Pump & CO2 .177
