Lebaron increased SKS prices?

My last few visits to LeBaron were okay, and I got very pleasant service from people in the fishing, camping and clothing departments. In the gun shop, I dread even having to ask them a question on account of the tone of most of their answers. It's not that they've ever been rude or treated me badly, but there's just something about their attitude that exudes a really unpleasant feeling.

Today I bought an SKS and actually managed to convince another customer to purchase one, but I felt as though the staff were really impatient with my praises of the rifle to that gentleman and anther who expressed interest. It almost felt as though they don't think you're a worthwhile customer unless you're picking up some modern plastic Browning or Benelli that costs a thousand dollars.

I was charged $185 for a laminate 1954 IZH SKS..... I'd like to think that they were rewarding me for praising their product, but am rather inclined to think that they just weren't paying attention. The stock, trigger group, magazine and reciever matched, though the two laminates I saw had regular wood handguards and electro-penciled gas tubes (though I'm not sure if they were ever otherwise numbered). For less than the cost of my nightmare Cabelas purchase (poor packaging, replacing a damaged rifle, etc) I'm happy. At least they ensure that I won't hang around long enough to make and pricey impulse purchases, lol!
 
Had another great LeBaron experience today.

Popped into the Mississauga store and wanted to buy and SKS. I showed my PAL and asked to see one. Was happy with it so asked to buy it. The conversation went something like this:

Me: This looks good, I'll take it

Pinhead: Ok, so you can buy it now and pick it up in about a week.

Me: What???

Pinhead: The CFO is taking about a week to approve the transfer of these. 99% of them.

Me: Since when?

Pinhead: They all have low serial numbers so they are taking a long time.

Me: Well, is there anyway to check?

Pinhead: Yep, you have to buy it and I call.

Me: Well I can't come back, I'm from out of town. If it doesn't get transferred today, can you ship it to me?

Pinhead: No, we don't ship.

Me: You are a mail order company with a website. What do you mean "we don't ship"?

Pinhead: We don't ship.

Me: Forget it I'll buy it from a competitor.



Seems Epps gets the concept of sales. New SKS on the way.
 
Hmmmmm

I was there today, and picked up another SKS, serial number 762, called in, transferred, and took it home, took all of 15 minutes, stood longer in line to pay for it, than to get it registered....

I guess luck was on my side.....
 
Hmmmmm

I was there today, and picked up another SKS, serial number 762, called in, transferred, and took it home, took all of 15 minutes, stood longer in line to pay for it, than to get it registered....

I guess luck was on my side.....

Well, that says something about the pinhead I dealt with right there. :D
 
Well I am back, and guess what..........

NO Purchase made.....

What they had in stock is complete crap, as far as I am concerned, rusted, spray painted gas tubes, crappy stocks,,,,,,

and lets not even talk about the staff, unfortunately, even after telling them we wanted to buy 2 of these rifles, and a crate of ammo, this did not motivate them to show us more than 4 rifles, even tho there were many more in the back.....

Well lets say, they lost about 700 bucks in sales today, and I will take my self and my buddy to some other store to make a purchase...

The only up side, is we did buy a cleaning kit, and some locks, and a sling, and it was great, it was there, needed no one to help us with the choice just grabbed the stuff, paid for it, and went home.....

I was sort of defending the store staff a wee bit, but after today's experience this will not really happen all that much any more.....

I will still get stuff from there, but only stuff I can get on my own, and with out the assistance of staff.....

Live and learn......

has any one ever ##### to the head office to see what they had to say about there customer sevice :nest:
 
Yes....and their customer service sucks, they never have anything of importance in stock...shall I continue?......:D

Then dont shop there. If the market can bear their prices why shouldn't they ask them????????? Maybe you guys would like a govt regulatory body to keep gun prices in check................ its frigging worked wonders for gas/oil prices.

For a group of guys who claim to love freedom, you sure are quit to bash free markets when they actually work unhindered by govt interference. This post isnt just for Bassmaster, its for everyone of you whinny biatches..................... If you hate the price "gouging" so much, open your own guns stores up and gives us cheap, near cost product..........
 
Well I am back, and guess what..........

NO Purchase made.....

What they had in stock is complete crap, as far as I am concerned, rusted, spray painted gas tubes, crappy stocks,,,,,,

and lets not even talk about the staff, unfortunately, even after telling them we wanted to buy 2 of these rifles, and a crate of ammo, this did not motivate them to show us more than 4 rifles, even tho there were many more in the back.....

Well lets say, they lost about 700 bucks in sales today, and I will take my self and my buddy to some other store to make a purchase...

The only up side, is we did buy a cleaning kit, and some locks, and a sling, and it was great, it was there, needed no one to help us with the choice just grabbed the stuff, paid for it, and went home.....

I was sort of defending the store staff a wee bit, but after today's experience this will not really happen all that much any more.....

I will still get stuff from there, but only stuff I can get on my own, and with out the assistance of staff.....

Live and learn......

And yet today, it was totally the opposite, they pulled out like 4 rifles, I picked the best one, a 51, low serial number, had it registered and took it home.....

how can one ##### about that......

inconsistent.....
 
You guys never fail to amaze me. First off I've never even been in a Lebaron's. But I did sleep in a parking lot next to one once..........You buy from these big box stores that dangle mixed bag SKSs in front of your noses as loss leaders,then you complain about the quality and customer service. These places know nothing about what they sell,to them they are only a way to bring the un-washed masses in to sell them other things. If you want good customer service and someone who might actually know abit about what they sell you,go to a real place that specializes in guns. Might pay more,but you`ll not be on here complaining about your buying experiences as much. You get what you pay for.
 
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I bought one form the Ottawa store. Half the staff in the gun room know nothing about guns, the old guy who works there is better - sometimes.

I got a decent one, but honestly, the idea they only show you 3 RIFLES when they actually have several dozen on hand is really annoying. Why not just keep 6 or 7 on display all the time? Very odd.

Oh well, at least I didn't have to pay shipping ;)
 
I only ever had 1 experience at LeBarons, and it was a bad one, so I haven't dealt with them since.

Ordered some ammo, but a couple of hours after the order, I cancelled (about 9PM at night, so they can't have shipped it already) as I found out I was not going to be around to accept the delivery.

They email me back a week later in reply to my cancelled order, to say that they shipped it, there was no response when tried to deliver, and due to restocking fees and return delivery fees, I would get no refund. They did not answer any of my emails after that, nor did I get any help via phone.

Since then I have only dealt with dealers whom I know offer much better customer service, such as SFRC and Epps.
 
People defend these types of places, but forget the fact that these are the realities of capitalism.

Every vendor is compared to every other vendor regardless of experience, store size, whatever. Mom and Pop places will be compared to Walmart and there is absolutely nothing unfair about it. This is the nature of competition. Yet vendors will whine and ##### they are being compared to others unfairly. Well, boo hoo - suck it up, this is life and how it works. And, yes it is not a level playing field - Walmart has more money than you so has better buying power, but you have more buying power than the general public and before Walmart came along and gave you competition, you used that power to set prices to your needs, not your customers' so #####ing about another vendor makes you a hypocrite a-hole.

If you don't like it, don't be a friggin' vendor.

In this case, LeBarons' sucks the big one, but some people will put up with it because they are looking for a better price point. Others will not. Ultimately it is up to LeBarons as to whether they want to do anything about it. Personally, if I was LeBarons I would do something about this growing negative public opinion seeing as their price point is not significantly better than anyone else and there is evidence that money is walking out the door.

And in answer to your question JB, I wrote LeBaron and related my experience to them. I was quite clear that I bought from a competitor and they lost three customers (myself and the two buddies that were with me) possibly for life because of their lack of ownership in trying to assist me in making a purchase. I'll post back if they ever respond, but I'm not holding my breath.
 
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