A bad experience at Epps

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As someone mentioned above, they are always super busy, make lots of money, and usually have the best prices on firearms. They dont have the best prices on accesories or reloading components at all. In fact you dont know if they have any accessories or ammo in stock as the website is antique and the store is overcrowded and not organized well at all.

I think their return policy is this case is very short sighted and obviously has cost thousands if not 10's of thousands in business already. I think with a major overhaul of the store and bringing their inventory and e commerce system into the 21st century, they can double or even triple their income.
 
Guys just to re-iterate, I want Epps to succeed and am currently of the opinion I just got the wrong sort of fellow on the phone. Having lived through hiring the wrong person and living with the consequences of that, if that is the case here, then if anything I sympathize with the store's managers.

Hopefully it just gets resolved. If Chiappa were based in North America and had service centers with stocked parts, I would be OK with sending it for a week or two to get fixed. With an Italian import though, the warranty wait times are measured in months or years - not really acceptable on a new and premium product.

Realistically, dealers should accept returns on un-used products within a reasonable timeframe (a week?) since the distributor is going to sort out the product anyhow and it could be replaced or resold.
 
As a relatively new gun owner, I rely on the advice and reviews I get on CGN to decide who to buy from.

I followed the consensus to deal with a certain West Coast dealer for my last purchase and they performed exactly as well as the community reported, which was flawlessly.

I shop from among the dealers listed at the top of the page, but I don't order until I hear consistent good reviews.

I wonder if Epps understands just how much more than one rifle this 12 page (and counting) thread is costing them.
 
Claven

This is at least the second time this has happenned at Epps, Did the person over the phone handle the other case? A ####e return policy, any business in such a small market should be ashamed at how customers were treated.
 
I agree, if the facts are as presented then this is poor customer service for sure. As a matter of policy they should inspect all items on arrival. This problem should never have been yours. I will hold my decision in abeyance to purchase anything from them until I hear of a favourable outcome.
 
To be honest, I dont blame epps for not checking the gun, or if it was checked,i can see that this may have been overlooked, can a small business really afford to pay someone just to check things when manufacturers are supposed to have QC inspectors? No. BUT , can a retail shop afford to treat their customers like $hit, when spreading word of mouth on a site which they pay to have their name on.....NO!

shame on epps for treating customers like garbage

coltseries70 said:
I agree, if the facts are as presented then this is poor customer service for sure. As a matter of policy they should inspect all items on arrival. This problem should never have been yours. I will hold my decision in abeyance to purchase anything from them until I hear of a favourable outcome.
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Claven2 said:
Epps claimed it was store policy not to exchange or refund any firearm that was defective and that it has to go back to the importer for repair, something they conceded would take months.
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Let me see if I remember this accurately, but under our federal laws a retailer is resposnible for warranty. Now it has been many years since I took Retail Marketing at university but I am sure things havent changed much and the retailer cant have a policy not to provide warranty service for an item purchased from them. They must exchenge your rifle or provide you full warranty service.

I am sure someone here can provide better advice as I have been working in the services industry for the last 20 or so years.
 
This is not a federal issue. Provinces have their own Retail Sales Act, Sale of Goods Act, etc.

While there are differences between provincial acts, they are all pretty much the same with regard to contracts: if the item is materially different than what was contracted for, the contract can be voided: that means both parties go back to their initial state: crappy rifle in Epps' inventory, fully functional money in OPs pocket.
 
Claven2 said:
Janeau, maybe you are being sarcastic - I'm not sure. The gun was NOT a $500 Rossi - it was a premium $1150 Chiappa deluxe rifle. On a Rossi, I would expect some issues to deal with, but not on a premium rifle at a premium price. In any event, I'm hoping I only got one bad employee who would not pass me on to a more understanding employee. As I mentioned, Epps has contacted me and this may yet get resolved amicably.
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Some positive news here, Epps is taking this more seriously, cautiously optimistic. I never judge a business by one employee, the boss has the last word.
 
Totally unrelated to this topic but I was at Gagnons one day in the fireams room when someone took in a rifle that was fired but clearly had a factory defect. I don't know the nature of the defect as I was shopping and eavesdropping at the same time. The employee said without hesitation, we will give you another. It was only when I read this thread that it dawned on me this is not typical of the firearms retail business. At the time, It probably never occurred to gagnons that this would be talked about on an open forum but the magnitude of a little service can go a long way. Specially in this day and age with the internet. The consumer has never been so powerful.
 
I love EPPS variety....but I'm not buying there anymore.
bad service? no
bad salesmen? no
Bad policy? yes

I bought a rifle from them around september 1st, took it to the range once and found out it was defective. Not even 20 rounds through it.
I tried to get it exchanged at Epps but no chance, so they took it and sent ot north sylva for repairs. This was on Sept 14th.
Yesterday I got a message back from Epps saying that North Sylva hadn't even tested the rifle yet.

Lesson learned, if the store has no warranty policy at all (like Marstar, CanadaAmmo and a few others have), I'm not buying from them.
 
Here's a fair question: why is it that ANYBODY - dealers like Epps, distributors like North Sylva, or consumers - will tolerate a 6 week warranty repair turnaround unless it is about parts availability?
 
so after reading this whole thread, if there is anything to be learned here so that we can move on, IMO it is this:

When you buy anything from anywhere (of significant value) - ASK what the return/refund/exchange policy is before you buy.

If you are not happy with the policy, dont buy from them, buy somewhere else.

Many stores have screwy policies related to refunds, exchanges, store credits etc. So it is always better to ask first.
 
FyreFighter said:
Here's a fair question: why is it that ANYBODY - dealers like Epps, distributors like North Sylva, or consumers - will tolerate a 6 week warranty repair turnaround unless it is about parts availability?
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Quite simply because it's a screwy industry and that's just the way it is. Like it or lump it. Everything about the firearms industry in Canada is like that. Warranty takes forever, parts take forever and a day - that's if you're lucky enough to be able to get them at all. It really blows me away as I work in the recreational vehicle industry, and it's night and day when compared to firearms. If someone drops off thier new snowmobile on a Monday even with a connecting rod hanging through the cases, we do everything we can to have that sled up and running by Friday. However we are talking apples and oranges here, I realize that and I've come to accept the shortcoming's of the firearms retail world. I would suggest that everybody else learns to live with it too, because from what I've seen and heard, it's never going to change. With the combination of our gun laws, the globally insignificant Canadian firearm's market and indifferent distributor's and manufacturer's, Canadian gun retailer's hands are often tied in matter's of warranty and parts availability. Epp's included.
 
I might be getting a similar runaround to you Claven2. I bought a S&W 617 awhile back from Epps and found that it shoots too high. The sight will not adjust downwards enough to get a center of mass hold. I emailed Epps about the problem and they quickly replied saying that they would contact the S&W distributor for me in order to get a taller front sight blade. According to Epps the S&W distributor isn't replying to their emails. I asked if I could just send the gun back. Epps ignored that part of my questions. Now they are asking me to contact North Sylva directly to get a sight. I get the feeling that they expect me to pay for the sight. Shouldn't a new gun be backed up by them?

I will keep you posted, I admit I am mildly highjacking your thread in the hopes someone at Epps will see this and get their act together.
 
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Well...I have had a personnal dealing with Claven2, and can tell you he is NOT the type to BS. The rifle, shipped to him as NEW, was clearly defective.
As the retailer, EPPS should have immediately accepted the return and offered a FULL refund. They, could have addressed the warranty work with their distributor.
It is just plain POOR business to push the burden of repair onto the buyer.
 
WASNTME said:
I might be getting a similar runaround to you Claven2. I bought a S&W 617 awhile back from Epps and found that it shoots too high. The sight will not adjust downwards enough to get a center of mass hold. I emailed Epps about the problem and they quickly replied saying that they would contact the S&W distributor for me in order to get a taller front sight blade. According to Epps the S&W distributor isn't replying to their emails. I asked if I could just send the gun back. Epps ignored that part of my questions. Now they are asking me to contact North Sylva directly to get a sight. I get the feeling that they expect me to pay for the sight. Shouldn't a new gun be backed up by them?

I will keep you posted, I admit I am mildly highjacking your thread in the hopes someone at Epps will see this and get their act together.
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Sorry to hear of this man. What I'm learning through this - if you didn't talk to "Wes" then you didn't get the definitive answer. I've never been there in person to meet these guys, but I assume he's like the gun shop manager or something.
 
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