Bud's Gun Shop

[NamibianAmphibian]

I think this is important enough to share with the community since many people purchase with Bud's.

When I bought my MOE last month, Bud's wasn't the cheapest vendor but they showed the item "in stock" and they had a stellar reputation with everyone I spoke with. So, I decided to spend a bit more and order with them. Bad idea.

First, some minor annoyances. The 3% BS credit surcharge annoyed me - but what the heck I fork over the credit card, I'm going to get great customer service . Then the "in stock" item took a full 7 business days to even go to shipping status (but they did say it could take as long as 7 days to ship).

At that point, Bud's has earned about a C- as far as service IMO. But the following took them to a solid F.

Yesterday I get an email from my credit card company saying that there is fraudulent activity on my account. This morning Bud's sends an email fessing up that their security had been compromised and customer credit card info was stolen.

Failing to properly secure personal banking info, especially at a gun shop is an unacceptable failure IMO. No more Bud's for me. I hope others will take this into consideration when choosing where to order their 15-22.

 

[Incredible Me]

wow that sucks, I hope you get everything sorted and without too much money gone.

 

[Titegroups]

The web provides for an easy facade, can only imagine what goes on behind the scene.

 

[wnr700]

Not to defend Bud's...

But they do tell you the listed price is the "cash" price (ie... check, money order, cash, etc...) and that there will be 3% added for CC.

Businesses get hacked every day, but losing customer vitals is a big no-no in my book.

I wouldn't be opposed to buying from Bud's again, but long ago, I did away with credit cards.

Easy credit makes for impulse buying decisions, and compounding it is the experience you endured.

I would keep careful documentation of the incident and fradulent charges and keep that info in a safety deposit box... just my three cents.

 

[NamibianAmphibian]

But they do tell you the listed price is the "cash" price (ie... check, money order, cash, etc...) and that there will be 3% added for CC.

I decided to go with a CC payment rather than an e-check (good for cash discount and no downtime in snail mail) because of security concerns. I'd much prefer a criminal get my CC number (which has now been cancelled) than my checking account info which would have been a long, drawn out nightmare.

Apparently that was 3% well spent.

 

[Decker]

I've also bought from Bud's several times, and I wouldn't hesitate to do so again.
BUT, I have gotten away from credit card payments online more than several years ago. If I can't trust an online company enough to send them a money order, then I don't do business with them, and there is NO possible way that a money order can lead to a compromised account.
Yes, there is the added "risk" of a money order being stolen in the mail, but there are procedures in place where you can recover that money if necessary, and those procedures are less involved than trying to recover one's identity.


But back to Bud's...
They have been around long enough and have offered reasonable discounts on new guns so long that my local dealer will pretty much meet their pricing. By the time the deal is done, I end up at really close to the Bud's price, even factoring in tax, with my local dealer.
Just last week, I bought a brand new 617 that I checked with my local gun guy about handling the FFL transfer from Bud's, and he shot me a price on the same pistol that only cost me $5 more (ALL costs included including tax) than it would have cost total from Buds, and I didn't have to mess with ordering and sending a MO, etc. Plus I had it the next day when it was shipped from the distributor to my gun shop.
Additionally, my local gun guy said that most of the time when an order is placed through Bud's, the pistol comes drop-shipped from the same distributor that my local dealer uses, so in the end, I would end up with the exact same pistol no matter where I bought it from. When Bud's says "In Stock", that doesn't necessarily mean that they have it on hand, but often that it's simply shown in stock at various distributors that Bud's does business with.

Just pointing out some possibilities other than putting one's CC info online...

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

Hate to hear about credit stuff being compromised. Seems to be happening more and more these days. That said, if you gave Bud's a C- for all the stuff you knew up front before ordering, I'm guessing everyone else you were considering was a D or worse?

 

[bobkarno]

I have purchased all of my guns (5 in the past year) from Davidson's Gallery of Guns and have had excellent service. The site gives you quotes from local shops and you see all costs up front. Plus, Davidson's gives you a lifetime guarantee on all gun purchases when you register. All of my purchases have shipped next day with overnight shipping so I am picking up my weapon in 5 days max.

 

[Tunachaser]

When I order over the internet, I use a pre-loaded card, that way, they cannot steal anything.

 

[Nevadadvx]

It's surprising that your credit card company sent you an email. Ours (Citibank) will call us right away if anything is suspect. A few years ago when we moved from California to Nevada, we still had the Ca address, but bought new appliances in Nv. The cc company was suspicious since we were 200 miles from home and called our cell as we were leaving the Sears in Nv. They called us within minutes of the purchase.

 

[rakusi]

How I love living less than a mile away from Bud's retail store

And like Decker said, they don't actually have the "in stock" stuff on-hand. The only things they have on-hand (AFAIK) are the things labeled "In Lex" with the little eye before the text. Everything else is ordered from the manufacturer or a distributor, and shipping times will depend on the distributor. When I bought my Springfield XD40 a few months back, they had sold the last one at the retail store the day I went in to buy. I had them order me one, they told me 3-5 business days, and I got a call two days later saying it was in.

Honestly, I'd rate their retail store at around an A-, and the only reason it doesn't get an A+ is because they don't seem to have enough sales associates for how many customers are usually in the store.

 

[SiGfever]

I just purchased an M&P40c from them and it arrived four business days from order as promised. Bud's just put out a Fraud Alert stating several customer's had charges put on their CC (not from Bud's) after purchasing a firearm. They are looking into this now.

 

[Redmond]

I had fraudulent charges on my card a week after purchasing from Bud's two weeks ago. My son-in-law was notified by his card company yesterday that he had fraudulent charges on his, after his Bud's purchase last week.

This is really a shame. Bud's is a great place, but it looks like there may be a problem with their credit card processing vendor. I received a fraud alert from Bud's this morning. Looks like they are trying hard to plug the hole.

 

[NamibianAmphibian]

That said, if you gave Bud's a C- for all the stuff you knew up front before ordering, I'm guessing everyone else you were considering was a D or worse?

C- is a passing grade but Bud's didn't excel or impress me in any way.

For comparison, many other online vendors have similar verbiage (in stock items ship 3 - 7 days blah blah) but consistently exceed those minimum standards.

Plus, many of Bud's competitors provide outstanding service which makes Bud's look worse by comparison. I ordered a similar gun in a similar timeframe from Jet Guns and it was on a truck that same day and in my hands two days later - better prices than Bud's and no 3% credit upcharge. 44mag.com and Brownell's had my merchandise on my doorstep 2 days later. Amazon consistently ships same day. And none of these vendors let criminals get my CC info.

 

[Photog]

I dealt with Buds one time after trying another online shop that took a cashiers check from me and then informed me that they had sold the item already, actually before I even contacted them to purchase it.
Buds had what I wanted at a better price.
I really disagree with the adding of 3%, since most credit card companies forbid a business doing that. Call the issuing bank or credit card company and let them know there is a vendor out there that is charging to use a credit card. The vendors can loose the ability to deal with that card company.

 

[rojassss]

Horrible business practices

Buds may have good prices but they need to improve there service they changed my review that i left on the website from 2 starts to 5 stars and edited out most of my actual review. called customer service was told a manager would contact me never happened. just about to write a letter to BBB.

 

[Jav]

What'd you write? My experience with Bud's was very positive. I went the money order route so I could get the cash discount

 

[Sub95]

I have ordered many guns from buds but have stop, because of the wait time it takes to just get it shipped out 7-12 days and then you wait for it to get to the dealer 5-7 days, fill out the paper work and wait another 10days (CA) no Thank you.

my local dealer goes through Davidson's Gallery of Guns and can get S# so we can do the paper work rite then so the 10day wait is included with the shipping and not have to wait for it to come in then wait another 10 days. plus for $25 extra they will give you a lifetime warranty on the gun, if they cant fix it they will give you another one no questions asked.

 

[Jav]

Mine shipped perdy dang fast. Was a 2 day ups shipment

 

[ColColt]

I learned very recently it doesn't pay to procrastinate when it comes to your bank or credit card statement. I received a Fraud alert email from Bud's on 4/2/11 but didn't pay much attention to it as I had just received some supplies I needed for casting and hastened to get into that. some days later on 4/10/11(this past Sunday) I received yet another email from them basically stating that their fears were true about the fraud they discovered with those that used a credit card to purchase items from them. Still, no bell was going off in my head as I had always sent a money order.

I had gotten my credit card statement in the mail last Thursday but didn't open it until Sunday and notices no less than about 15 different charges to it. One was for an airline ticket for $732 for Air Canada, several uses to purchase iTunes, more for "fortiestoys", whatever that is, and some Microsoft games. It all totaled about $1200. I called Visa and had the card cancelled and went into my bank, which is my credit union who administered the card and showed them my find. The statement only went up through the end of last month, 3/31/11. they discovered more charges after that and some more recent ones made prior to me calling Visa Sunday were in pending status.

I don't have to tell anyone how hacked off I was. then I remembered the last pistol I bought from Bud's this past February had to be secured with a credit card even though I was buying if with a money order. They must have changed their policy regarding sales for some reason as in 2010 this didn't happen and they didn't request at the time of buying that a credit card was needed if you were sending a money order. This one time of putting my number on their website was enough for me to get my number stolen and my account compromised. Whether it was bud's fault or some third party matters not to me. The fact remained my identity was stolen, my card compromised and a lot of unnecessary paper work had to be filed at the bank as a result. Either way, Bub's will never get another nickle from me after this. Don't tell me you're getting a system upgrade, better firewall, etc. after the fact. It does no good to the no doubt, thousands who were hit by this fraudulent use of credit cards.