I won't be transferring any firearms to Jensen Arms anymore. I've spent tens of thousands of dollars in cash at that place and everyone there knows me by name... well, save for the new owner (whom I've met) and the new girl at the front counter. I rarely need to transfer stuff that I don't buy there but when I do they've just done it for me for free in the past which is good for business since there are usually hundreds of dollars worth of additional items on the same ticket. Recently I bought three receivers and contacted them and told them I had three receivers I needed to transfer. No problem was the response and the FFL was faxed to the vendor. About a week later I see they are delivered by the tracking number while I'm headed to Fort Collins so I thought I would stop by to fill out the 4473 so that while I was running my errands they could clear me so I could pick them up when I was done hours later. Figured it would be easier for them that way too since I wouldn't be waiting around the store or adding pressure about getting me taken care of. I arrive and am promptly told that they have checked in 73 shipments in the last 24hrs and haven't even put a dent in the pile of shipments. Said they wouldn't even know where my box is. Okay, bummer. You'd think spirits would be higher with a business that successful. Whatever. I had hoped to get it taken care of but they're busy and hey.. they don't charge me so I'm willing to be patient and work with them during their busy (ie. money making) time. A couple days later I get a call and am told I can come do a background for my transfer. I head down and fill out the form and am told the lead time is 45min. No problem, I'll just wait so I don't have to leave and come back and it's not quite lunch time yet so I'm not hungry. I walk around the place for a bit and everyone chats me up since we all know each other by name which I've come to appreciate over the years. I've spent a load of money there but I like to think that we genuinely get along and I'm not just a wallet filled with 100's walking into the door... or at least that's what I thought anyway. So fast forward a couple hours and not only am I still sitting in the store but I get to hear this new girl telling person after person that the lead time is 45min when I'm obviously still sitting in the store and have been for almost 3x that quoted amount of time. The least she could do is use common sense to warn others that their wait times may be a bit longer even though it says 45min in case they have something better they could be doing. The longer-than-expected lead times aren't their fault but not applying common sense to a situation to better serve the customer is.
Fast forward another hour and a half (a total of three and a half hours if you're keeping track) and I finally get my name called. I come up to the register thinking I will just sign, get my receivers and as usual I have additional items to add to the sales ticket. At that point I'm told my total is $75 more than I guestimated for my accessories. I ask and am told in a rather snappy tone that it's $25 PER transfer for the three receivers. I'm stunned as this has never been asked of me. She takes a phone call at that moment (more great customer service as I'm standing at the register cash in hand) so I then ask Bri next to her if this is something new. She snaps at me too and says that they're on a computer system now so they can't do them for free anymore and makes it seem like I should just know. She then tells me that she will waive it this time but from now on I will have to pay a transfer fee. Fine, I understand and will consider that before I make my next purchase. She then tells her to charge me only a $25 fee for the entire transfer. Really? How is that waiving it? I ask her and she says to me that that's actually a very low transfer rate if I check around. Really? Now I'm some kind of an idiot I guess. Needless to say I paid the $25 and walked out the door. I was hungry and sick of being in that damn store. I haven't been back.
Over the years I have been a Jensen Arms apologist and always the first one to rush to their defense because they've always treated me well. They've always been helpful and friendly to the point of knowing my name, family, dogs... all sorts of things. They gave me a discount on EVERYTHING I bought save for a few firearms here and there that don't have much markup. All of this I am fine with, appreciate and have come to expect. I also have given them TONS of business over the years both from my friends and family looking for items as well as my own purchases. I felt like they were taking care of me and a quick transfer one week on the house was a drop in the bucket when I came in with $10,000 cash the next week to buy three Sako TRG's. I never had to bring any of my purchases up and was always just treated like a good customer. Not looking for preferential treatment but when it's offered to me I certainly wasn't turning it down. What I would expect is some common decency to say 'Hey, I'll transfer these for you for free today since that's what we've always done for you but starting next time we'll have to charge you $25 per transfer' Fine. I'm alright with that. It's not about the money. Really. It's about the principle. What was I supposed to do tell them 'no' and to ship the receivers back? Just not good business practice the way it was handled IMO.
So, in closing... the days of stopping by Jensen Arms to say hey and just to see what they have in that's new and great that I could waste my money on I won't be happening anymore. I'm not going in there anymore. If I need something that I absolutely can't get anywhere else (pretty rare these days) then I may stop back in but the days of just wandering to find something to blow money on are over. The days of stopping in to take a friend in and help them spend money there are over. I will no longer defend Jensen Arms whenever someone says something negative about them. It seems the new management is more worried about the nickles and dimes than the dollars and I was afraid something like this might happen w/new ownership and it has already left a bad taste in my mouth.
All good things must come to an end I guess...
I'm glad that there is now Liberty Arms on Harmony and P.M. Guns & Supplies on Carpenter and 287 in Fort Collins. Sounds like one or both may do $10 transfers so I will be happy to send transfers there, get to know them and see what they have in stock that I could possibly spend my money on. Now that we have options there's no excuse for customer service like what Jensen Arms offers.
p.s. While I was waiting I even offered to give the owner, John, a special map disc for his Tundra. He has the factory navigation which locks you out from using it while the truck is in motion. Many years ago we bought one of the new Camry Hybrids which has the same navigation and when I realized the lockout I wanted it gone. I reverse engineered the firmware on the map disc to create a hidden menu to access the service menu and created a simple user interface to access it. The bottom line is that I had a LOT of time and money (map discs back when they were expensive, hacked and bricked DVD burners also when they were expensive, etc.) and I had sold them for $99 each. I lost count of how many I sold over the years to people more than happy to pay that when OEM map discs that did NOT have the override were $300. I told him that I would bring one in with the latest map software and even install it for him. Screw that. Now that I don't have a 'friend' in the industry I have no desire to hook them up either. His immediate net loss is about $75 on that and probably thousands in the weeks to follow from lost sales. Enjoy that twenty-five bucks!
