Update;
Betcha you guys thought I was full of crap, huh? No posts on the subject for close to a week, while I received tons (literally) of pm’s asking for the name of the gunsmith in question. Well, things have taken a sad turn. I didn’t want to say anything ‘till I'd talked to the owner face-to-face…
Please remember, this had started out kinda weird.
Recapping, I had bought a crossbow while in there to initially buy a case or two of ammo. When making the bill for the crossbow and ammo (which totaled over $1,200), he asked me if I was in the market for a handgun. I said “Yes, actually, I’m looking for a 4” .357 Mag for the girlfriend. His jaw dropped and he started to rant’n rave about how he had prohibs coming out the wazoo. He had told me, and I quote "Even if I sell them (prohibs) to you for the same ten dollars I bought them, at least I'll have the pleasure of knowing that they didn't get handed in to the SQ for destruction".
Wow! I was impressed. Here was a guy who’s ready to sell inventory (albeit inventory which he picked up for next to nothing and which he seemed to be stuck with) at cost just to promote the sport. I really was touched. So, the following day, I showed up to pick out the 4 inched 586 the owner had mentioned. Though the owner himself wasn’t there, his clerk Aldo was more than helpful, running back & forth to the safe located somewhere in the basement to bring me back all the handguns I’d chosen from their inventory list. Seeing as this was Christmas, I ended up choosing pretty well all of his S&W 65’s & 66’s (3 or 4), a Luger (which I normally couldn’t care less about), a Baby Browning, a Ruger Security Six (damn, that’s an ugly duckling…) and a Walther PPK. All in addition to the 4 inched 586 which the owner had mentioned to me initially. Aldo said he’d show the guns I’d chosen to the owner and that the owner would get back to me with a final price.
As I was leaving, the owner returned from wherever he’d been. I informed him that I’d chosen the guns I wanted and was waiting for him to make me a price. His eyes bugged when he realized how many I’d picked….
I had told him that I was not there to make money by selling the guns I’d picked. Later, I even told him that I'd be willing to clean out his entire prohib stock from his safe, providing he sold 'em to me for $50/ea, which is still a great return on the “$10”/ea (as quoted by him) he paid for them. Furthermore, I gave him my word that I wouldn’t sell any of the guns I purchased from him for more than the “$50/gun” I was gonna pay out. Again, in keeping with the idea of promoting the sport and helping out the shooting community.
Being a businessman myself, I realize that he's in business to make money, being "nice" alone won't put food on his table. Which is why after watching him back-peddle, I offered him an honourable way out. $50/gun and I'd clean out the safe of all his prohibs. He started to stammer and stutter. I don’t think he realized that I was gonna take him up on his initial offer.
Well, I went to see him mano-amano today. I confronted him about what he’d stated to me. I had to remind him at least three times of his statement "Even if I sell them (prohibs) to you for the same ten dollars I bought them, at least I'll have the pleasure of knowing that they didn't get handed in to the SQ for destruction".
I was very disheartened to watch this man back-peddle furiously, trying every salesman trick in the book to distract me. I told him (loudly enuf that his other customers heard) that I was disappointed in him. I told him bluntly that I knew he regretted what he’d said to me and was trying to back out using whatever means he could. He responded that he thought that the “amazing deal” he’d offered me ($2,600 plus tax instead of the regular price of $4000) was more than fair, and that he was doing more than his part.
So, even though I’d initially agreed to purchase his 4 inched 586 for $400 (a “freakin” deal and a half”, according to him), I bailed on him. I have to deal with liars and cheats every day at work, I refuse to deal with the same type of people during my “personal” time.
I’m very disappointed in this outfit which, by the way is Dante Sports in Montreal. Anyone looking for handguns/rifles/shotguns/crossbows etc.. is more than welcome to visit the owner Rudy’s store. But I can’t stomach handing out my hard-earned cash to someone who doesn’t stick to his word. As a businessman, I’ve made mistakes. I’ve made promises I realized afterwards would cost me a fortune to keep, and made commitments I shouldn’t have. But, ”my” word is worth more than a coupla bucks. I’ve taken it up the rear after shooting my mouth off in order to cinch a deal, but came out the smarter for it.
I will not be setting foot in Dante Sports again. Not because the prices aren’t generally ok, nor because of service issues etc.
I refuse to fork over hard-earned money over to a company owned by someone who doesn’t honour his word. Someone who has no honour is someone not to be trusted. Being a man means more than having a coupla inches of man-meat dangling between his legs. Being a real man means owning up to what you say, accepting responsibility for what you say/do and becoming a better person because of it.
Furthermore, I apologize to all those here for being as gullible as I am. My business partner says that my naiveté is almost cute. But unfortunately, it seems to be a fault in my 47 yr old character, one that I don’t believe I’ll be able to shake if I haven’t done so as of yet..
PS: Anyone have a 4 inched 357 Mag for sale, real cheap?
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