BAD gun buying experience

[nissipub]

I followed this thread with interest and have to say my experience with ACADEMY has been totally different. This year I've bought at least 9 guns total (I may have lost count) shopping at three different Academy Stores in the Fort Worth area. Experience at NRH and West Fort Worth was excellent. No more than 30 minutes in and out with the people behind the counter, knowing the guns and knowing the paperwork. Yesterday I bought a pistol at the Hulen store. The guys behind the counter knew what they were doing, but the store manager (they said he was new), didn't know a gun from a basketball. The computer said they had two in stock, but a thorough search of the safe turned up nothing. I said I'd take the one on display and it took them a while to find the box. So the total in and out was more like 45 minutes instead of 30. We have lots of places to buy guns around here, but with both guns and ammo, if Academy has it, the price can't be beat. No, they dont' take trades and no, they don't special order, but they do have a good stock of popular firearms and at unbeatable prices.

My one and only purchase at Cabela's took 2 hours, even with the CHL.

[Katygunnut]

I just bought another gun at Academy on I-10 and Bunker Hill. 25 minutes from "I'll take it" to walking out the front door.

[ex_dsmr]

My experience was bad but I didnt let it go on as far as the OP did.
Burleson, TX Academy.
Went in looking for a future CCW and got to talking with a couple knowledgable guys. One presents to me a SR9C but is then called away to tend to something else. This strikes me as odd. If im about to put down $500 in your store wouldnt you think it was pertenant to stick around and answer my questions? Evidently not.

He leaves and some old grump takes his place. I ask him "any way you can take care of this trigger lock for me?" to which he barks "and just what do you need it off for?!?". Im taken back for a second then calmly reply "I just want to try out the trigger break". "Well, we dont allow that here!"

I turn to the wife who's jaw is on the floor. She never grew up around guns but even she could see the need and could not believe how rude the guy was being. "Well, ill just take my business elsewhere then"

A week later I walked into the CTD on 820, wasnt treated like a criminal, was allowed to test (dry) 2-3 pistols, and walked out in less than 20 minutes including THE phone call.

Later I read how Academy further treats its firearms customers like crooks like they did with the OP by walking them to the door like a 3 year old and being told that they are not allowed back inside.

[Katygunnut]

My experience was bad but I didnt let it go on as far as the OP did.
Burleson, TX Academy.
Went in looking for a future CCW and got to talking with a couple knowledgable guys. One presents to me a SR9C but is then called away to tend to something else. This strikes me as odd. If im about to put down $500 in your store wouldnt you think it was pertenant to stick around and answer my questions? Evidently not.

He leaves and some old grump takes his place. I ask him "any way you can take care of this trigger lock for me?" to which he barks "and just what do you need it off for?!?". Im taken back for a second then calmly reply "I just want to try out the trigger break". "Well, we dont allow that here!"

I turn to the wife who's jaw is on the floor. She never grew up around guns but even she could see the need and could not believe how rude the guy was being. "Well, ill just take my business elsewhere then"

A week later I walked into the CTD on 820, wasnt treated like a criminal, was allowed to test (dry) 2-3 pistols, and walked out in less than 20 minutes including THE phone call.

Later I read how Academy further treats its firearms customers like crooks like they did with the OP by walking them to the door like a 3 year old and being told that they are not allowed back inside.

Academy does not allow dry firing. This is company policy, and is consistent with alot of retailers, so it wasn't anything personal. Personally, I would not buy the display model at a place that did allow dry firing (good to know about CTD), but to each their own. The walk to the front of the store doesn't really bother me. I have never been told that I could not come back in with the same gun properly concealed, but this is usually not an issue since you have time to grab anything else you might need either before buying the gun, or while they are getting a manager to OK the paperwork, etc.

I have bought guns from 3 retailers, and don't find Academy's policies or procedures any more restrictive than other places. I have experienced a variety of attitudes, but that is more dependant on the individual you are working with, rather than the store. If it really bothers me, I will just go somewhere else, or come back a different day and deal with someone else.

Academy does not specialize in guns, so you will find alot of people working there who are not very knowledgable about them, and some will give you bad info. Its the same with anything else. If you want to find people who are really knowledgable about a specific product, then go to a place that specializes in that product. If you just want the lowest price, then go to the big box retailer. This is true for Golf clubs, guns, etc.

[Lonest4r]

It once took me an hour and a half to buy a full length hunting shotgun from Academy. Too bad that they cannot streamline things a little bit.

[bwdilli]

The biggest gripe I have with Academy is that they will absolutely not sell certain models of rifles to anyone under the age of 21. Why? This isn't law, it's their policy. When they are shown what the law actually says, they refuse to budge. I'm over 21 and this policy does not affect me, I just can't stand by and watch them enforce bad company policy that gives fodder to anti 2nd Amendment groups.

[soundphreak]

This definitely had to be Academy. I had a similar experience when I picked up a S&W 22A there. I had to wait a while for a manager to come and "approve" everything. If I go elsewhere it takes like 5 minutes tops to buy something.

[tboesche]

I have purchased a rifle , a 10/22 for my granddaughter from the Academy in Burleson but will probably never buy another firearm there. Took way too long and was too complicated. For the record I would not say the people they have working the counter are knowledgeable. Definitely NOT customer focused. I had to wait for 10 minutes to get pistol ammo once, while the 20 something behind the counter shot the breeze with someone else. They were not gun shopping, just standing around yakking. I buy ammo there because the Monarch brand is cheap. Won't buy a gun from them though. Their under 21 no EBR policy torques me.

[NavAir]

It amazed me how easy and fast a firearm purchase can be. I special ordered a Sig P226 from GT Distributers in Austin. Took a week to get it in. I picked it up at about 2 PM on a weekday. There were about 50 customers in the store (almost all uniformed peace officers). In spite of that, a salesperson inquired if he could help me within a minute or two. I told him I was picking up an order item. He asked my name, and was back with the gun in 2 minutes. It took me about 5 minutes to fill out the paperwork, 2 minutes for him to copy my DL/CHL/Military ID, another minute to verify the serial number on the weapon, and I was out-the-door!

Needless to say, in spite of the fact that it is an hour and a half drive for me, that is where I intend to buy all of my weapons (I have a P239 awaiting pickup there as we speak).

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Hmmm. I've had nothing but good experiences purchasing firearms from Academy.

Sometimes the clerks behind the gun counter aren't as knowledgeable as I'd like them to be, but everybody is the "new" guy sometime.

[PUCKER]

Regarding "no dry firing at Academy"...this was not my experience.

Maybe some stores have managers that are more customer-focused than others?

[puma guy]

Regarding "no dry firing at Academy"...this was not my experience.

Maybe some stores have managers that are more customer-focused than others?

All the Acacdemy stores I've visited in my area have tigger locks on the pistols. It must vary by local and management. I have purchased a couple of Brownings Buckmark pistols there because of the price. I looked them over including testing the triggers at other venues.

[PUCKER]

The Grapevine Academy has the trigger locks as well, but they've always come off for me. It's pretty hard to get an accurate feel/fit in your hand with a trigger lock, at least that's my thought.

[Lonest4r]

UPDATE: I purchased a Mossberg 100 ATR at academy this past weekend to be ready for deer season. I was expecting a long wait, but to my surprise they had simplified the paperwork and got everything moving pretty quickly. Only took 30 minutes to get out the door, but they would not let me try the trigger pull. The longest wait was for the manager to come back and look everything over.

[Katygunnut]

UPDATE: I purchased a Mossberg 100 ATR at academy this past weekend to be ready for deer season. I was expecting a long wait, but to my surprise they had simplified the paperwork and got everything moving pretty quickly. Only took 30 minutes to get out the door, but they would not let me try the trigger pull. The longest wait was for the manager to come back and look everything over.

I'm not sure this is a change. I have bought 9 guns at 4 different Academy locaations, and seven of took around 30 minutes of total time from choosing the weapon to walking out the front door. The 2 exceptions were both times that the gun counter was extremely busy and they had trouble tracking down a manager. Those were more like 45 minutes. I have not had the nightmare experiences that some are reporting.

These were all Academy locations near Houston.