Anyone actually encountered a Happy Gun shop??

[Baxterbasics]

Guess I'm lucky-
Two gunshops I frequent on a regular basis look after not just me but anyone else really well- complete with banter and chat. One is in East Grinstead and the other is in Crawley- I'll leave you to search them out, not naming names!

A few others locally (within a 10 mile radius) who have also given good service over the years.

Surplus store? Heard lots of good things about them

[Baxterbasics]

BAR are always good (especially these days after the staff changes), Mc avoys are also very good and Henry Kranks friendly in a grumpy Yorkshire way

It's bloody hard to be nice to people all the time no matter how professional you try to be, I work in retail now after 25 years in the hospitality industry and consider myself very good at customer service. However dealing with the general public is not always condusive to putting a smile on your face.

Some of the numptys I have seen / heard lurking round gun shops,( and theres a lot of them) would require the patience of a saint to cope with.

To be honest these days as long as the shop has what I want at a good price and the staff don't actually insult me, then I'm a happy boy

The customer is always right. A whinging, moaning, expect 50% discount "cus I is well known on the forums" twat, but always right!

A friend who ran a successful retail business for 40 years always maintained that the only problem with retail was dealing with the general public

[Baxterbasics]

[QUOTE=look no hands;7171606]Well I've always had excellent service from SFS, I visited once and used to use them for loads of stuff via the post and once all my rifles where tuned by Tony but the postal costs and aggro that goes with it nowadays plus the waiting time for tuning put's me off now (plus I'm more of a collector now, so don't need anything properly tuned), I always get a happy reply and a good joke from Tony on the end of the phone even if I just call to ask what a particular rifle is like.

I would love to go in there and ask Tony, deadpan, if he could "tune my winerack for me by filling it full of grease".
Only joking Tone

[Rotherham Owl]

I use:

Idleback - Rotherham.
SDS - Sheffield
Redbeck - Wakefield

I have found all 3 great to deal with - very friendly and willing to take the time to help and answer any questions.

[Marc.RG1]

Yeah my local RFD chwestons is a great gun shop, helpful and extremely friendly, I've been going there years and have never come across a better place to be honest..

Even if I'm just in the area which is a lot lol, I just pop in just to chat and that, I get offered drinks, I take the guys doughnuts it's not always about buying stuff. But when I do I always get a good discount (should hope so to the amount of doughnuts and cakes I take them lol)

But when it comes down to it, they are also a knowledge bunch of guys too (some more then others) but they have to be being the proper RFD and gun smiths not just an airgun shop, but don't get me wrong I have seen them be not so friendly to people, they are always polite but if they get a rude or shady customer their attitude can change but that's normal to us all isn't.

Yeah surplusstore in crawley is also another good place nice big airport/airgun shop that, and friendly, it's even better if you get total to the owner Dan, get better discounts too.

Is a shame there is not more gun shops out there like that though..
ATB Marc..

[PCPShooter]

**Rant mode on**

Miserable sods

Why is it that every gun shop that I seem to frequent the staff are so sodding miserable

Ok we all have our bad days but it doesn't seem to matter which day that is

Surely I can't be alone in this

For some reason all my local RFD's just seem to have that uninterested, slapped arse look on there chevy chase

Crikey even a false smile would do

I won't mention no RFD names but within a 30 mile radius I have visited at least 9 RFD's and 8 of them I would consider to be not very friendly one of them is ok but he's still a miserable sod

Jeez one of them I've even bought multiple new guns from over the last 2 years and I was very close to not buying one of my latest purchases as the young chap on the counter was so disinterested and sodding miserable

I don't expect balloons, party hats and a round of applause when I walk in a gunshop although it would be nice just a nice open smile and a bit of banter wouldn't go amiss

Sadly it's probably a sign of the times and not exclusive to gun shops, I've been in retail and would never be so miserable when customer facing.

Do we actually have that thing called a Happy Gun Shop??

**Rant mode finished**

Father and Son team in Livens bent over backwards and stayed open just for me to buy a cheapish air rifle, and when visiting Dauntsy Guns in Wiltshire just to pick up some ammo as passing by, they were great, kept fishing out rifles to have a look at, top geezers

[Mjd7568]

When I bought my first air rifle a couple of years ago I felt really awkward on entering the shop, it was only a small premises with a few customers that seemed to be pretending to shoot imaginary birds with shot guns, what was intimidating was when entering an old fashioned bell above the door jangled loudly and everyone stopped and turned to stare they kept starring, it was like going into a pub in a village that had been cut off for hundreds of years but carried on breeding if you know what I mean.
They are better now they know me , and sometimes when I go in they even make noises that sound a bit like "yarp"

[LESS THAN FORTUITOUS KENNETH]

I've found they can vary greatly. One of the worst ones I've been in was Drapers. Does the little guy with a face like a bulldog chewing a wasp still work there? We had a big fall out ending with being asked to leave the shop, all because I took a gun back that was absolutely unfit for purpose. Didn't rate the customer service at Wighill either. I made a long trip to buy a specific gun only to be told they were shutting and to come back another day. I didn't bother. Others I didn't rate, mainly due to the atmosphere were shops in Doncaster, Castleford and Pudsey. You know who you are. Swillington used to be my shop of choice, but now don't seem to have the same level of stock for airguns, and the "newer" staff don't seem as knowledgable or have much to say.

Now the good 'uns. Redbeck are my first stop now. Nice set of lads if you have a few hours to spend listening to David's jokes! Anthony could do better if he would sell me some of the stuff in his private collection .. Are you listening Anthony? Ron Daley's is a relatively new shop and I've found them to be very good. They recently sourced me some very hard to find o rings and didn't charge for them. Nice. I shall go there again.

Now the best gunshop ever. Sadly no longer with us. Guns international. Great stock, great staff. First question was "how do you like your coffee". Carl was also a real old school gunsmith who could fix anything.

[Rapidnick]

I really can't say that I've ever had bad 'service' from a gunshop. Bad prices certainly but that is up to them. I would say that in general whilst the standard of knowledge falls very short the staff have always treated me with courtesy and have tried their best to be helpful.The market always sorts out businesses that don't give value for money at any point in the chain. I don't have to buy from them and don't. That is why certain conveniently situated gunshops never see me from one year to the next as I know their pricing policy is geared towards maximising margin rather than overall gross profit. I don't 'blame' them per se I just feel sorry for them that they just don't understand that a 100% margin on a £15 item is less than a 10% margin on £500 and yet they don't understand that a problem on a small transaction can ruin their chances of getting a bigger one. Rip me off on a tin of pellets and I won't even ask you to compete on the purchase of a rifle.
The post on here that interested me the most was the one that said he got the best service from Purdey and Holland and Holland in spite of-in his view-not looking like he was a genuine potential customer at their end of the market. After all, who is?
Anyway today's struggling person can be tomorrow's lottery winner who would certainly remember the service from the high end gunshop and deal with them.

[PaulR]

Youngmans in Great Yarmouth is good. There are two others in GY but I have not used them - so they may be just as good.

Another vote for Crawley Surplus - a 200 mile round trip for me. Bought a P38 from there which I can honestly say is the worst pistol I have ever bought (nothing to do with the shop). After a bit of meddling I posted it back for repair (I like the look of it if not the usability) and it was repaired without question (meddling accepted). I will certainly go there again.

[UrbanFox]

Blackpool Air Rifles. Only been there once, 700 mile round trip, worth the 13.5 hours driving.

Yes, these guys are OK and not as far for me.

atb

Bri

[Rickyg]

Chichester Armoury..always a friendly bunch. Same as Portsmouth Gun Centre.

[Phil Russell]

This thread seems to be concentrating on established airgun shops with many mentions on various threads. So here is a pointer to a shop that does not get the publicity but does, I believe, offer excellent service. I talk about the Country Store, Pampisford, just outside Cambridge. Over the years I have bought a few rifles and a pistol from them and have always had excellent service and a warm welcome. They may not have the extensive stock (no pun intended) of dedicated airgun emporia but will always order a gun in for you and at an excellent price that competes with and often beats the aforesaid emporia; especially when travel costs are considered as well. Very nice people too.
Other shops to mention where good service has been received include the one at Kibworth Shooting Ground. Very friendly and chatty but not to the extent of ignoring other customers; in other words, professional.
On the phone? Not so much experience, but BAR have always been helpful, as have MAG.
Cheers, Phil

[Blackrider]

Seconded Post #53, Guns International at Stairfoot, Barnsley before Carl and Pat retired and the shop finally closed !
Always looked forward to visiting, had great times (and coffee) and spent a few bob over the years !
Always enjoy vists to SFS, Swillington Shooting Supplies and my local, little but accommodating gunshop, Lock Stock and Barrel, SHEFFIELD.

[angrybear]

I think most RFD's tend to be "business like" in how they deal with people because most shooters also tend to be pretty plain spoken & business like.

Having overheard some of the halfwit conversations with dreamers/nutters walking in off the street, or legal arguments over various matters with lodged guns I'm not surprised some of them can be a bit terse at times.