Really good visit to a seemingly really good gun shop

[Bob Womack]

Of late, some of the gun shops in the area have taken on a sort of hard edge... an attitude that we the customers need them more than they the dealers need us. Customer service has sort of disappeared, replaced with a, "Oh yeah, you want what? We'll see," kind of attitude. Recently I've been looking at a particular pistol for self-defense, a Sig P238, (mini 1911) and have been having trouble finding examples with ambidextrous safeties. You see, I'm a lefty. The other day on a whim I called a local shop I'd never visited and discovered they had several P238s with ambi safeties. The sales people seemed both friendly and knowledgeable, were very willing to special order, and seemed eager to please.

So, my wife and I trooped down to the shop the next day. At one point in the past she had fallen in love with a used Colt Mustang Pocket Light in a shop and it got away before I got my hands on it. Ever since it came out I've wanted her to try the new version from Sig. Interestingly enough, this three-floor store had a separate, large Sig Sauer Department that they say is the largest on the East Coast of the U.S. They have an on-site range where they offer concealed-carry lessons. With the purchase of a pistol at their shop you also receive ten days at their range, expandable to an unlimited year's subscription for $25.

The manager remembered my call from the night before and showed me the pistols I was interested in. In fact he allowed me to try out all the triggers of all the ten P238s he had on display. Meanwhile he immediately latched onto my wife and made her feel comfortable. He encouraged her to try out the pistol and showed its features to her. He's also an instructor so he showed her some techniques for handling the weapon. He spent about an hour with us talking about the weapons and helping u make a choice.

Towards the end of our discussion I mentioned that I was interested in this pistol because I had heard that it felt comfortable to shoot. I knew that would mean I could spend plenty of time on the range with it and stay comfortable. He said, "Hold on a second," went over to the store's range and grabbed their range P238 pistol. He ushered us into the gunsmith's shop and the private gunsmith's range where he loaded up their range pistol and let us try it out.

I was utterly amazed. I'd never encountered that sort of helpful customer service before in a gun store. I would have purchased a pistol on the spot but a) they didn't have my first choice version in stock and b) I didn't like the trigger of the second choice when compared to the ten other examples they had in stock. So now we are looking at ordering my first choice or second choice to get a better trigger.

Well, anyway, I thought you'd like to know that good gun shops do exist and good customer service can still be had.

Bob

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