I must have rang 10 shops today looking for 7.5x55Swiss brass, probably more. I don't trust them with Internet anymore. Site says one thing, but stock levels say the other. Seems to have dried up for now. But then it hit me, Clearmont! The defecto distributors of everything from s**ty tea sipping 303s to glorious Vodka pissing fire breathing Mosins. Anyway, I figured, they seem to specialise in this stuff, so maybe… Also tried Lawrence, but they were out too. Anyway, Clearmont didn’t let me down. It’s proving to be a little gem of a shop.
I also had a lot of shops respond with, well, no, but we have 6.5x55, would you like that? You dumb morons, I am not buying 3kg of apples or 4kg of apples. Facepalm was strong today.
But just before I stocked up, I rang this other shop in Melbourne and this is where it got a bit out of hand.
So, I call up, “hello, do you have any 7.5x55Swiss brass or factory ammo in stock?”.
Shop: oh this is a very uncommon calibre, nothing here. I don’t know if anyone would sell it. I think you are out of luck.
And on and on it went how uncommon it is. I just let them finish, quietly.
Me: it's not that uncommon.
I don’t know what made me engage. Just had to say it. Don’t know…
Shop: well, I’ve been doing this for a very long time and I've never heard of it!
Me: it doesn't mean it's uncommon.
Shop: I’ve been here for 30 years and we’ve never had it here.
At this stage, the tone changed and I was being spoken to like I am a 3yo (my wife is the only person who is allowed to do that)! I am thinking, f*ck it, lets play.
Me: Lots of other shops I rang today had it. I am surprised you don’t. It seems that all of them are out of stock and they are not sure when OSA is going to resupply.
Shop: ***weird uh oh um er noises*** (I feel like the penny is about to drop)
Me: You know, it’s for old Swiss army rifles, K11, K31? They are not uncommon, as far as mlisurp goes.
Shop: OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO hold on – I will call OSA and call you back.
I am thinking, WTF just happened, did you just see some coin you could take away from your competitors, so you changed your tune. Like, hey I will out smart everyone and this dude will now shop with us forever. Alright, whatever… I am thinking, hey, tone changed to being nice again, that’s nice, they are not as c*nty as I thought they were, cool, I say thank you and hang up.
…10 minutes later…
Shop: so I rang the wholesaler and they said they need to be at 10,000 rounds backorder, they don’t order below that and they are on 2,600 now.
Me: uh, alright, well thank you.
And we had some chit chat and it was all very friendly, until they decided to take initiative again, because it worked out well the last time.
Shop: so you know, people like you (what am I like, you dumb f*ck?), and I quote, “should put your mouth where your money is (am I not doing this now?), go to the store and put down payment for it”.
I am thinking, you f*cking fud of a c*nt are you kidding me? You can't possibly have negative business acumen, never mind the complete lack of customer service and communication skills. Are you expecting me to go to a shop and provide financial support for your complete lack of risk appetite and f#cked backyard logistics?
Me: so what's the ETA if I do that (now I am just baiting, I am not buying 7,400 rounds - well, not yet)?
Shop: well, could be a month, could be 6 months.
Me: why would I do that? If you don’t sock something and don't have a date, why would I pay you for something you don't have and don't know when it's going to arrive? I am sure someone else will have it, I’ll just call around.
Shop: ***silence***
Me: alright, well, thank you, bye.
And this is why I prefer to shop online. Buying from people who actually provide customer service and understand who is standing on which side of the counter and where money comes from. Like, bitch, please, I am the one doing you a favour, because there are other shops who will be glad to take my money without being a tool to me. You just happen to be on my to-call list. And this is why I think that a bunch of prehistoric gun shops that try to skin their customers rather than sell at reasonable margin or at least cheap at volume (and yes, we do buy in volume, there is buying power in AU with guns) should go out of business and let the industry fix itself through natural selection. Not all, I would gladly (and I often do) pay premium for service, but I am not seeing any service.
Alright, rant is over. I feel better now. And they lost 2 customers, told my friend about my experience, we had a laugh.
Rest of you jokers, you may now make fun of me for ranting.