Bud's gunshop bans man's account for filing BBB complaint, "loses" his $300

[Balog]

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1693557_BUDSGUNSHOP_banned_my_account_for_filing_a_complaint_with_BBB_.html&page=1

Guy has a gun on layaway with Bud's, has put $300 into it. Tries to log in to pay it off, account is banned. Gets a supervisor on the phone, is told it's because he filed a BBB complaint against Bud's, and that there is no record of his layaway payment.

Update: it appears they may have "located" his layaway money and it might be getting refunded.

[KD5NRH]

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_1_5/1693557_BUDSGUNSHOP_banned_my_account_for_filing_a_complaint_with_BBB_.html&page=1

Guy has a gun on layaway with Bud's, has put $300 into it. Tries to log in to pay it off, account is banned. Gets a supervisor on the phone, is told it's because he filed a BBB complaint against Bud's, and that there is no record of his layaway payment.

Well, if he did it with a credit/debit card, there's a record somewhere.  He should be waving that at them and demanding that they show what the charge was for.

[vaskidmark]

Do they have one of those "No Negative Comments" clauses in their TOS?

stay safe.

[AJ Dual]

Bud's should join up with CTD and Botach, and they'd be unstoppable... 

[BlueStarLizzard]

... why would you file a complaint against a store and still shop there?

Not that Bud's isn't in the wrong here, but still... why do you keep giving them your money?

[lupinus]

I'd guess once it was on layaway he couldn't stop and request a refund.

[MechAg94]

I'd guess once it was on layaway he couldn't stop and request a refund.

Maybe he should have gotten that done before complaining. 

He sounds like someone who complains but still wants the dirt cheap price so he keeps coming back.  Like people who bitch about Walmart all the time, but keep shopping there. 

[lupinus]

Bullscat. I fail to see how having something half paid for on layaway is going back for more.

[Hawkmoon]

I know Bud's has low prices and that many people seem to like them but, IMHO, they are scum.

I know a guy who owns a gun-related Internet forum. Like many such forums, his rules prohibit commercial advertising in the discussion posts. Several years ago, Bud's started posting messages that were blatant for sale ads -- in the discussion areas, not the For Sale area (which is intended for non-commercial sales by forum members). Bud's never posted anything other than sales come-ons.

So my friend banned the "member" who was posting the Bud's ads. They were back in a very short time, under a new user ID. He finally had to ban their IP to get rid of them.

They demonstrate an extreme lack of ethics. I won't do business with companies like that regardless of how low their prices are.

[dogmush]

I use Buds frequently.


Every time I'm looking for a new gun, I check Buds' price, add $25 transfer and ~10% "I don't deal with aholes" adjustment, and use that as a guide for pricing when haggling, gun show shopping, or buying from gunbroker.  They are an invaluable indicator of what a distributor is charging for something.


Actually  give them money? No way. Back in the day we had a phone conversation about a prospective purchase that turned me off forever. I don't even remember what they said,  but it left an impression. There's too many cool  gun guys (gals) with shops to support.

[charby]

I bought my last muzzleloader from Buds about 4-5 years ago.

I remember getting an personal email from one of the sales people about an hour after my purchase that I needed to send a copy of the FFL I was going to have it shipped to, took two emails later to let them know that a MZL can be shipped to any address then two days later UPS had delivered a really long box to my front door, unfortunately it was just the manufactures box with shipping labels attached to it, you could clear see the outline of a firearm on the box as I pulled into the drive. I'm happy no one stole it, I was shocked that selling agent would ship something that openly marked.

[K Frame]

I know Bud's has low prices and that many people seem to like them but, IMHO, they are scum.

I know a guy who owns a gun-related Internet forum. Like many such forums, his rules prohibit commercial advertising in the discussion posts. Several years ago, Bud's started posting messages that were blatant for sale ads -- in the discussion areas, not the For Sale area (which is intended for non-commercial sales by forum members. Bud's never posted anything other than sales come-ons.

So my friend banned the "member" who was posting the Bud's ads. They were back in a very short time, under a new user ID. He finally had to ban their IP to get rid of them.

They demonstrate an extreme lack of ethics. I won't do business with companies like that regardless of how low their prices are.

At TFL we call them shillers. Not sure if we've had anyone shilling for Bud's but we had a nasty bout with shillers for various companies a few months ago.

I had one guy shilling for a once-fired brass company out of Massachusetts. Even found his face book page, so I told him he was welcome to post a link to his company in his signature, but that if he continued to represent himself as a "happy customer" rather than the owner/principal of the company, he'd be banned.

Got back a very indignant message...

I'm not the owner! I'm a happy customer! I don't have any dealings with them other than the fact that they sold me some great product!

My response?

Look, you dumb *expletive deleted*ck, the e-mail address you used to register for membership at TFL is the exact same one that is on the company's web page AND the company's Facebook page.

Oh, and because you continued to lie? You're banned, and all your posts have been deleted.

[Jamisjockey]

At TFL we call them shillers. Not sure if we've had anyone shilling for Bud's but we had a nasty bout with shillers for various companies a few months ago.

I had one guy shilling for a once-fired brass company out of Massachusetts. Even found his face book page, so I told him he was welcome to post a link to his company in his signature, but that if he continued to represent himself as a "happy customer" rather than the owner/principal of the company, he'd be banned.

Got back a very indignant message...

I'm not the owner! I'm a happy customer! I don't have any dealings with them other than the fact that they sold me some great product!

My response?

Look, you dumb *expletive deleted*ck, the e-mail address you used to register for membership at TFL is the exact same one that is on the company's web page AND the company's Facebook page.

Oh, and because you continued to lie? You're banned, and all your posts have been deleted.

You should have salted the earth of his name as well.   

[Boomhauer]

My FFL dealer can pretty much match Buds prices with no bullshit fees.

[Monkeyleg]

My FFL dealer can pretty much match Buds prices with no bullshit fees.

I can, too. Their prices look lower than mine at first glance, but they display a cash price. Credit cards are 3% extra. So is shipping. So is insurance. Take all that into account and I'm lower in price than them on the most popular items I sell.

Still, people will link to Bud's in forum threads because they have the "lowest" price on this or that.

[lee n. field]

I use Buds frequently.


Every time I'm looking for a new gun, I check Buds' price, add $25 transfer and ~10% "I don't deal with aholes" adjustment, and use that as a guide for pricing when haggling, gun show shopping, or buying from gunbroker.  They are an invaluable indicator of what a distributor is charging for something.


Actually  give them money? No way. Back in the day we had a phone conversation about a prospective purchase that turned me off forever. I don't even remember what they said,  but it left an impression. There's too many cool  gun guys (gals) with shops to support.

Pretty much