Gander Mountain Gunsmithing. Not good.

[PurpleFloyd]

A year ago in December I bought my son a Mossberg youth semi auto 20 gauge shotgun for Christmas at Gander Mountain in Mankato. Then last month in early December, right in the middle of Pheasant season something broke in it so I took in in to have them send it in or repair it.

I hadn't heard from them at all until yesterday when I got a letter from the general manager stating that effective Feb 1st they are closing down the in house gun smithing and will go to a regional location instead.

So I called there today and one of the guys in the firearms section told me that the gunsmith came in and was told he had one week and they were letting him go and now the stores don't even know how the customers are going to get serviced. Apparently this is a corporate decision and they are leaving the stores hung out to dry and deal with pi$$ed off customers like yours truly.

I told the guy that the gun was under manufacturers warranty and asked why they didn't send it in instead of letting it sit on the shelf for 6 weeks if they didn't have time to look at it. I was told "It is company policy to look at the guns first and make repairs if possible instead of sending them in. Then of course I had to mention that they were not fixing the gun but instead letting it sit on the shelf. I can't believe that it was so busy that there wasn't an opportunity in 7 weeks to do a simple test fire to see if it was something they could do.

I was told that they will now have 2 gunsmith locations- One in Woodbury and one in Duluth but they don't have the ability to send the guns in limbo to those locations and they don't even know if they will be able to ship the guns or whether we will have to bring them to these locations ourselves.

I do believe that after I walk in and pick the gun up that I will never again spend a dime in any of their stores again.And I have spent a fair amount of money there over the years.

So if anyone has a gun at a GM or is looking for a smith, I would look somewhere else.

[zepman]

I have had the same gun...a Mossberg field and deer combo (20 Ga. youth)on order from the same store since before X-mas...they claim they cannot get the gun in the store for me to buy. I can't understand why a Mossberg dealer has such a hard time trying to move a Mossberg gun...even from store to store.

The gun is for my son...who has holiday and birthday gift cards saved up to buy it...it just seems they don't want to sell it to us.

[tracker x-2]

Thanks for the update.

sad to say, but another disappointing story coming from GM.

[Loose]

Doesnt supprise me, buddy had a free cleaning form their for buying a gun, took a month for them to call and say it was done.

Went in there the other day(have a bunch of gift cards) to buy a new carry pistol for the wife, looked at guns for 20 minutes, think anyone came over to see if we wanted to hold anything?

[creepworm]

Gander used to be one of my favorite stores. It is sad to see how it has gone downhill. Customer service is poor at best, and selection is not comparable to most other sporting goods stores.

[PurpleFloyd]

I wouldn't be surprised to see the chain fold this year. I went in there to talk to them about the gun and asked what they were going to do to get it fixed.

I was told that they could not give me a time estimate on how long it would take to fix because they had so many guns to deal with and that they didn't know what type of surge in guns the new central locations would have to sort through.

I told the guy that it was really their responsibility and not mine to determine how the gun got repaired and where but that they needed to do it. I also commented that it was strange that in 7 or so weeks that they didn't have the time to put one shell in the chamber and fire it to see what the problem was and whether they could fix it in house or send it to the factory. I was told that they had a very large number of guns there to work through and they didn't have time.

I then responded by saying if they were that backlogged and if the gun was under warranty by the manufacturer why didn't they send it out and let them fix it so my son could have it back as soon as possible instead of waiting on their schedule. I then told him that I wanted it boxed up now and sent back rather than having them sit on it for another extended time so they agreed to do that.

The question I have is this:

If they had that type of backlog of guns why in the world did they need to consolidate the smithing operations to a regional center? Any business that has a six plus backlog of work on the bench should not be having a cash flow problem if the smith is doing his job. You would also think that it is not from a lack in demand for the service.

I did note as I left the store that it really looks empty compared to any time I have ever been in it. The amount of products they are offering is lower and they have things spread farther out to make it look more full than it is.

I have spent quite a bit of money there in the past but at this point i believe that is going to come to a halt.

[Fowlmouth]

Just for future reference if I do need gun smithing serivce, is there a gun smith around the metro that anyone could recommend? Thank you.

[walleye365]

Agree 100% customer service to selectin on products is garbage.

[MJ1657]

That would make a guy really mad.

The biggest complaint I have is how unorganized the stores are. There are so many items that don't have a price on them. There have been things I have considered purchasing but without a price I won't.

[harvey lee]

I typically do not shop at the Ganders. I do know there are some nicer stores and then others that could just as well close the doors.

[tracker x-2]

Yeah I can never get over the fact that when i walk up to the gun counter to look at handguns, or just ask a question you pretty much need to wave benjamins in the air to get any attention.

Harvey 1:45 am glade to see im not the only one who has trouble sleeping.

[EJ_Mac]

Agree on their selection being not-so-good. Maybe if they weren't always trying to push their own cheaply-made stuff, they'd be able to carry a better selection of higher-quality goods from other manufacturers (guess that's just a pet peeve of mine, kind of like what the Sportsman's Guide started doing years ago with their "Guide Gear", which is total [PoorWordUsage], IMO).

Love to see a Cabela's in northern MN.

[hockeybc69]

I miss Sportsmans Warehouse.....

[Abndoc]

When I was in afghanistan in 06 my wife decided it was over, put all my stuff in the garage, including my guns. In North Carolina. All my guns were stacked up against my stuff next to the garage door...ya you can see where this is going. She apparently left the door opened only when it was raining. Long story short, I Browning BSS looked like it had spent many years on the bottom of the lake. Brought it into Gandermountian in North Carolina to get the barrels reblue'd. Came back, looked great no issues. About 6 months later, the bluing could be wiped off with your fingers and the rust was coming back. Living back in Minnesota now, brought them back to gandermountain in forest lake, gander did reblue them at no-cost, only to ship me back the wrong set of barrels. Then argued with me about the serials numbers, and told me I was wrong. Even had the in house gunsmith asking me if i wanted a lesson in taking care and cleaning my gun. Then even said you have a pair of barrels isn't that good enough, well after about 6 monts, i finally recieved my barrels back, and yes they are now rusting thorough the bluing again. nothing but quality at gander!!

[MJ1657]

I miss Sportsmans Warehouse.....

Me too

[Farley]

Maybe if they weren't always trying to push their own cheaply-made stuff, they'd be able to carry a better selection of higher-quality goods from other manufacturers

[TooTallTom]

There are some great folks working at Gander. But recently, I've found that the more time I spend there shopping, the less I want to go back. Stories like this illustrate why.

It seems like corporate Gander has things so locked down that there's almost no ability for independant decision making or exceptions to The Procedure. This is where I'll chalk one up for the small chain/ mom and pop store.

[jabug]

i guess i am in the minority but i have nothing but good things to say about gander in st cloud got lots of good info from gunsmith there who i minght say was always willing to share his knowledge and also gun counter guys are very friendly and knowledgeable fishing dept was also very helpful from what i read this is not the norm but for me anyways and my experiance in st cloud it has been all good just thought i would show there is some good out there

[Stringerless!]

I have had some work done at FLAKE Gander and been happy. Sorry to hear about your situation. I also do not understand the idea of downsizing with a 7 week backlog of work !?!?!?! From what they charge for gun work you can't tell me they are not making money. Sounds like a good time to start a gunsmith shop !

[walleye365]

REEDS! come back

[92python]

A couple years ago I waited 11 months to get my Browning BLR fixed by Gander Mountain gunsmithing services...I called and stopped my monthly and had to show them where to get the parts on-line.

They are good at selling the what they think we need, but more than often it isn't what I really need.

Bring back Burger Brothers....Ted, Bud....Holler if ya hear me...

[Double D]

Could the original poster get his gun back and put a sob story on to another authorized Mossberg dealer? You would also think the manufacturer could help out a little bit here.

Just my 2 cents.

DD

[PurpleFloyd]

I got a call yesterday from GM that gun gun was back from Mossberg. If they had just sent the gun in to Mossberg right away it looks like I could have had it back by new years instead of nearly March.

Thanks Mossberg for your quick turn around on the gun.....

[MJ1657]

I do not understand Gander Mountains thinking. I went there Monday evening to look at a gun and some turkey hunting supplies. I waited just over 20 minutes at the gun counter to look at a gun. I understand that at times people get busy but the store was nearly empty. I went to look for the Federal flight control wad shells, no price. Turkey decoys, a few had prices on them but most didn't. Blinds, some had prices some didn't.

How do they expect people to buy mrechandise if they do not know how much it will cost them?

[Duffman]

I stopped by GM last week to see if there was any clearence ice-fishing supplies that might interest me. Ended up checking out all of the departments, even with 10-20% off of a lot of stuff they sell, I left without a purchase.

The whole place just had the feeling of......I don't know how to describe it? Desperation, maybe?

Almost bought a clip at 20% off, but how many clips does a guy really need?

[jparrucci]

I see the same thing as everyone else does when it comes to prices. How do you expect me to buy something when half the store isn't even marked?

[TooTallTom]

Obviously you guys don't get it. You're supposed to just go through the store and grab a bunch of stuff, and then go to the checkout and hand over your wallet and close your eyes. They'll take what they need, give it back, and you can be on your way. Also, don't try and find anyone to ask questions about the merch. They're too busy for your interruptions.

[MJ1657]

I emailed them about my experience with the lack of pricing. I will see if they respond this time. I emailed them a few months ago about the same thing and never heard back.

I usually take my business elsewhere whenever I have an issue with a store but for some reason I keep going back hoping they will get it straightened out.

[TooTallTom]

So you're an optimist, that's not such a bad thing...

I've spent a fair amount of money at GM over the years, considering my age. I'm still basically at the beginning of my "consuming years" and I'm going to try to avoid spending much more at GM just because the experience is not good pretty much every time I go in there. I'd rather keep a mom-and-pop type shop in business, or some other place that seems to give a poorwordusage about me.

I'm actually willing to pay more for the same thing if I feel that the overall experience warrants it. I like to be able to pick the brain of someone knowledgeable, who's actually enjoying helping me. (Or, at least seems to be.) I really thing that always going with the mega-low price is eventually going to bite us all in the collective poorwordusage.

[MJ1657]

I would agree with you on all accounts TooTall. There are actually very few places close to me to get some of the merchandise they offer.