Gander Mountain $&%3#ed me... but fixed it

[UncaGrunny]

I have, dated 9/19/13@2:55pm, an order confirmation e-mail from [email protected], showing the 5 boxes of CCI MiniMag I ordered, part number 413582, as "In Stock" and stating that "All In-stock items will be shipped within 1 business day."

Based on that info I used up my remaining stock of MiniMags last Sunday (9/22), expecting I'd be receiving more sometime this week.

Tonight, I find an e-mail from [email protected], dated 9/23/13 at 3AM (!?!) 'regretting' to inform me that my items cannot be shipped as they are on back order, and 'estimating' delivery as January 3rd, 2014.

No apology, no explanation, just a 100+ day late delivery prediction.

Needless to say, I'm not pleased, and I will be calling the referenced phone number tomorrow to require an explanation how product represented in writing as In Stock on an order confirmation can suddenly, three full days plus days AFTER it was to have alerady shipped, be found to be 'on backorder.'

My first and quite likely last experience with these folks, unless they find a way to make good on their confirmed order within a much more reasonable period of time than, "Next year... maybe."

I'm sure others have had better experiences with these folk, and as with all vendors YMMV, but be warned - - what a company does once they have done before and will do again.

 

[Gyrene6891]

I have never dealt with Gander Mountain and because of this post I never will. When you mess with one you mess with all! Thanks for the heads up and Semper Fi brother.

 

[Doc Robin]

Sorry: Hope they make it right.

A co-worker bought a 22 pistol from them, no ammo in stock. The sales people told him to by a $75 Gander gift card, then call at 9AM on Thursday morning of that week. They would let him purchase the ammo using the gift card and would hold it until he could pick it up after work. Bought the pistol, bought the card and made the call at 9AM. They laughed at him and told him they do not hold ammo for anyone; gift card or not. The store manager told him there was nothing he could do for him.

Needless to say we Do Not Spend our money there.

Bill

 

[dentkimterry]

Gander has been doing well for me getting 22 ammo. You have to look at their website 30 times a day and late at night to find some. Then I have it shipped to my local store and pick it up. No shipping, no surcharge, just sales tax added. Fair prices too.

 

[blackpowder30]

Our local Gander Mountain provides no support for the NRA or Friends of NRA. The manager said it is company policy. What else do you need to know?

 

[SpicyTunaRoll]

during this ammo shortage, you have to take into account that they sometimes are promised X-amount of stuff to be shipped in, so they list their stock online appropriately - and then they themselves only get X amount (which is less than they were initially promised).

ms.spicytunaroll and i run a business, and i cant begin to tell you how many times my suppliers have manged to forget or neglect to include certain key elements in our delivery = which throws off any promises i made to customers.

you learned a key lesson here: unless a refill/replacement is in your hand = NEVER eat/drink/shoot/kill/toy with - what you cant replace immediately.

 

[BillyJack2012]

This was very common during the panic as web sites just couldn't keep up with inventory and demand. You would place it in your cart and if you didn't check out in seconds, the stock would be bought up by others.

I was stoked with the lots of ammo I would find, only to get a notification weeks later that it was all back ordered. Now, I don't believe anything (even with a tracking number) until I unbox it and place it in the safe.

As far as Gander, no complaints here on my local store at least. Their prices are insane when compared to "normalized" pricing so I don't shop there for ammo.

Mine has an awesome indoor range, great staff and twice a year, puts on a concealed carry expo where you get to try out all kids of firearms for free in their live fire range. They even used to hid a stash of ammo during the panic for shooters so the flippers couldn't buy it all.

 

[UncaGrunny]

during this ammo shortage, you have to take into account that they sometimes are promised X-amount of stuff to be shipped in, so they list their stock online appropriately - and then they themselves only get X amount (which is less than they were initially promised).

ms.spicytunaroll and i run a business, and i cant begin to tell you how many times my suppliers have manged to forget or neglect to include certain key elements in our delivery = which throws off any promises i made to customers.

I understand that - - it happens to my company & my wife's business as well - - but "our supplier promised delivery" is NOT the same thing as "In Stock." Pretending they are is flat dishonest.

Those two words, "In Stock," have a specific, unambiguous meaning. It means the product is in the sellers' physical possession & not yet allocated to another buyer. It doesn't mean "we are supposed to have some soon; our supplier lied to us just like we're gonna lie to you, so it's all good, right?" It also doesn't mean "we have one box that we have promised to 87 people at the same time, because our 'programmers' can't seem to make a modern computer subtract integers in real time. But they can spam-blast you with e-mails like there's no tomorrow!"

you learned a key lesson here: unless a refill/replacement is in your hand = NEVER eat/drink/shoot/kill/toy with - what you cant replace immediately.

Oh, I'm not out of ammo... I'm just out of that particular TYPE of ammo, which I and both my .22lr weapons like.

I don't intend to ever be completely out of ammo for any firearm I own, absent an ongoing firefight. Thankfully unlikely in my neighborhood.

EDIT Add: I just got off the phone with "Kelsey" at Gander; She apologized for the delay, stated that their "system got backed up" and in fact they had received "additional stock" and in fact my order was in the warehouse "right now" and being packed to ship; I should have it in 5-7 days.

I made a brief effort to try to get an understanding of how in-stock materiel that was supposed to ship within 1 business day didn't even generate notification that it hadn't until the 4th day. She essentially said their computer system gets way behind due to volume, especially on ammo sales.

I didn't ask her how such a backlogged system could generate my order confirmation within an hour of placing it, seeing as I was already getting what I wanted (ammo shipped) & she most likely would have no way of answering the question, seeing as it has no legitimate answer.

She promised that I would get e-mailed confirmation of shipping with a tracking number once the order had been packed and stacked. I didn't take the bait, deciding to quit while I was ahead.

I'll follow up as things progress.

 

[Griz Behr]

I have had this happen at Gander and Cabelas both. I wouldn't worry much. The last Gander order that it happened to was back in stock 2 days later and my backorder shipped. CCI is really pumping out the Mini Mags so I'm guessing you will have them soon. Thousands of online orders per minute has got to bog down even the best computer ordering systems is my guess. Gander had good prices, an awesome 10 box limit and no super bloated shipping like other places. I could care less who they donate money to. I'm buying ammo from them, not having a few beers with them. But here's a toast to you getting your backorder very soon!

 

[ChattanoogaPhil]

With the insane volume of orders anytime there is .22lr for sale, the product may have been in stock when you began the order but out of stock by the time you completed the order. Who knows.... Even SGammo has had difficulties, and they run a live inventory that you can see. IIRC, a lot of folks here had a similar issue ordering Win M22 from Cabella's I think.

Gander nor any large retailer wants to go through the headache of dealing with disgruntled customers. My guess is that they are doing the best they can, but aren't likely to install a Cray Supercomputer or revamp their system to satisfy frenzied rimfire shooters who might encounter a glitch now and then.

Hope you get your ammo soon.

 

[Texas40]

Dont understand why yall are online ordering it when you can find it in stores at regular cost. At least here in san antonio you can. Recently scored 330 n 550 bricks For under 25 bucks in local bass pro n academy stores. We just got first gander mt in town. They had alot of inv in stock as well. I didnt buy any when there however.

 

[Mike1161]

I had placed an order at Gander for some 22s that when I placed the order they were in-stock. A few days later I was told they were back ordered. Within the next week or so, I was informed that the item had shipped. I have purchased over 10,000 rounds of 22s from Gander over the past few months and have had no problems beyond the one delay. Gander is the first place I look for reasonable priced 22s.

 

[DelFuego]

Dont understand why yall are online ordering it when you can find it in stores at regular cost. At least here in san antonio you can. Recently scored 330 n 550 bricks For under 25 bucks in local bass pro n academy stores. We just got first gander mt in town. They had alot of inv in stock as well. I didnt buy any when there however.

Out in my neck of the woods, okay so I live in Southern California, it is just about impossible to find anything that anyone shoots. So, we resort to ordering our stuff online.

 

[Locked-N-Loaded]

I just got 4200 rounds federal bulk + 2 ammo cans shipped from Cabelas for $200 OTD

 

[UncaGrunny]

With the insane volume of orders anytime there is .22lr for sale, the product may have been in stock when you began the order but out of stock by the time you completed the order. Who knows.... Even SGammo has had difficulties, and they run a live inventory that you can see. IIRC, a lot of folks here had a similar issue ordering Win M22 from Cabella's I think.

All quite possible - but if that was the case, they should not have sent the order confirmation showing the goods as in-stock and shipping within 24 hours.

That's really all I'm saying:
1) Don't confirm an order if you can't fulfill the order.
2) Don't state you'll ship within one business day, unless you actually can - and will.
3) Don't wait three days to inform a customer that you didn't fulfill your one business day shipping promise.

Gander nor any large retailer wants to go through the headache of dealing with disgruntled customers. My guess is that they are doing the best they can, but aren't likely to install a Cray Supercomputer or revamp their system to satisfy frenzied rimfire shooters who might encounter a glitch now and then.

Very true. But as customers, we have a responsibility to let them know when their glitches are unacceptable, and to let others we know about issues they may face in dealing with a given company.

We customers also have a responsibility to give them an opportunity to correct their problems - and to spread word of the correction at least as widely as we did news of their problem.

Simple informed fair dealing, both ways, is what makes a free market possible.

Hope you get your ammo soon.

Me, too. I'd like to be able to give these people an attaboy for fixing their issue.

Hopefully, they'll make that possible. If/when they do, I'll post it and update the thread title.

 

[bemisgt]

Dont understand why yall are online ordering it when you can find it in stores at regular cost. At least here in san antonio you can. Recently scored 330 n 550 bricks For under 25 bucks in local bass pro n academy stores. We just got first gander mt in town. They had alot of inv in stock as well. I didnt buy any when there however.

Not that way here. There has been virtually no .22 ammo in stock for the past several months, with the exception of one place that is charging 4X what is should go for. If it hadn't been for online sales, and picking some up when in OKC and Ohio, I wouldn't have been able to get any of the stuff.

 

[UncaGrunny]

I haven't been able to find any 22lr on an actual shelf anywhere for the better part of a year. Nor 9mm, either.

I was able to pick some 9mm up at CROTW's show in Orange County in the spring. Moderate price. Hour wait in line. Should have bought more. I didn't know I'd now be hungry for 22lr at the time.

Both the local outlets say the only way to get common calibers is to be waiting outside in the line before they open on delivery day (at 10am, so only unemployed people get ammo I guess) & hope they don't run out before your turn comes up. Even with their per-customer restrictions, their ammo's pretty much always gone before the line ends.

The local WalMart counterguy told me he has a handful of customers that come in early every day when they have a delivery & buy up every round of 9mm & 22lr on hand. Been doing it for months. Same guys, apparently.

The range I went to last weekend (Prado) had 22lr on hand (Blazers, I think) but would only sell a single 50-rd box per trip to the counter, to help spread it around. For about $10 a box.

 

[ken158]

My local GM is the biggest ammo price gougers in the area - that is after the employees buy all they want... I cut up my GM credit card at the register in front of the clerk and told her it was because of price gouging and to give the remains to the manager. Sent corporate an email and got no reply.

 

[Smitty357]

This why IF i need it, i still rely on ole wal-mart to keep me happy. A trip here and a trip there. Plenty of .22lr to hold me off for awhile.

 

[JoeM19]

One More Time!

I have never dealt with Gander Mountain and because of this post I never will. When you mess with one you mess with all! Thanks for the heads up and Semper Fi brother.

Nor I - Semper Fi - 'ole joe