Issues with freestate

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  • jmike1487

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 27, 2013
    1,010
    Baltimore County
    I'd like to start by saying I had a good experience while I was in the shop but dealing with staff over the phone I've had nothing but issues.

    I came into freestate on June 2nd and spoke with Zach about getting a few items cerakoted and having my upper built. When speaking to him in the store that day he told me that it would be around two weeks from start to finish. I called Aero while I was in the store to get the exact color match since it wasn't one that was in the store. After two weeks I emailed Zach twice and failed to respond both times. I then called and had messages left but those went un returned as well. I finally spoke to him on the phone a week after that and was told he would have my upper finished that weekend. He gave me the excuse that he was busy selling guns and that took time away from his other work. After that wonderful excuse that I was being pushed aside for sales I waited eagerly to get a phone call from him that my upper was completed. I was again disappointed with failure. I called again to get in touch with him again but just missed him. The person who I spoke to on the phone said they would leave a message to call me. Again no call. So the one month mark so I figured I would call again. When I called everyone was in a meeting so I said I would call back. I called around 245 and got him on the phone finally. I asked if it was finished and he said it was not due to him not having the correct cerakote color and it just had arrived at the shop the day before. I asked why did he tell me a two week turn around knowing that he didn't have that color in the shop. I did ask if he could take some money off of the build ($139) to smooth this over due to negligence of poor communication, and lack of progress. I was told all he could do was toss in a box of ammo which I declined. I told him that I would like him to complete the cerakote job but do not build the upper. He said that would be ok.

    When I went and picked up my parts Zach was very apologetic about what happened and still offered me the box of ammo once again but I again declined it. I would have been ok with him taking some money off on what I owed for the cerakote job for the run around that he gave me for a month would have sufficed and made me be ok with the situation.


    My question is why is the Cerakoting manager not focused on his job of completing builds but rather up front selling guns?

    Isn't that the cerakote managers job to know what inventory is on hand and what needs to be ordered?



    I sent this as a email to the store manager( Randy) and he called me within a day of sending this email to him. He said that Zach was Counseled and apologized to me for the bad experience that j had. He offered to send me a Gift certificate to smooth things over about the whole ordeal. I told Randy that would be fine and gave him my address. After making this post I still have yet to receive my gift certificate in the mail and it's been 2 weeks.



    I did send Randy another email on Monday at 6pm to follow up and see if he sent out the gift certificate and failed to get a response
     

    Merlin593

    Active Member
    Mar 29, 2013
    353
    Towson, MD
    I am a Freestate member and have been for a couple of years now. Zach has completed three cerakote projects for me during this time and the quality/detail has been outstanding for what I believe was a fair price.
    That being said, none were completed during the timeframe that was initially quoted and I feel your frustration. That being said, I have learned to become more patient as I grow older ;) I had similar experiences as you with leaving messages, etc. Hell, one hold up I experienced was waiting for the machine that makes the stencils to get fixed. Shit happens.
    The cerakote business was an add on for them and I don't think it was ever meant to become so big that they needed a full time employee to run it. Guns, memberships and training classes are where they make their $. Guys come in all day looking for malfunctioning solutions, put this on my gun, can you help answer an optics question....It all takes time and unfortunately Zach would get pulled away from cerakoting to help some of the floor guys when they got busy AND he only cerakoted one or two days/week.
    Another comment I'll make is from the customer service perspective. I've been a sales manager for various products/services for over 15 yrs and I understand the importance of providing the customer with a good experience, being responsive, building trust and following through with what you've promised in any sales situation. Now, when you walk into a gun shop, you want to talk to guys who know guns, have used them and have intimate industry knowledge as well right? All of those things will make you feel more confident about your purchase and if you need future product support, you've built a relationship with that guy and know who to go back to for advice/help. BUT, most of the guys that have all of that experience and knowledge are ex LEO, ex military, etc. and getting thrown into a customer service setting creates learning curves for some...They just don't realize some of the basic skill sets that are required to meet or exceed customer expectations. I don't think its on purpose at all - just a lack of experience which usually improves over time. TBH, I'd much rather be talking to someone who has been in the field about a gun I'm wanting to purchase and deal with some customer service short comings rather than get recommendations from someone who doesn't know shit and I regret the purchase down the road or get wrong information.

    BTW, I haven't walked into too many gun shops where the customer service has overwhelmed me :) Its the nature of the beast...

    I was in there yesterday and they are actually discontinuing the cerakoting business (which is too bad) because of OSHA issues.

    Randy is a straight shooter - I'd go back in and talk to him. He'll get you your gift certificate. I'm not sure if you knew this or not but their store was broken into the night of the big Dallas rallies (or close) so he's been dealing with that which may have put him off his game a bit with promptly mailing it out.
    Overall, I think they're a bunch of good guys that try hard and over time as the business matures/employees become longer term, the customer experience will become better too.
    Best,
    Jim
     

    Bikebreath

    R.I.P.
    MDS Supporter
    Jun 30, 2009
    14,836
    in the bowels of Baltimore
    If they were never busy you would get better service.

    If they were never busy they would go out of business.

    If you aren't intimately familiar with retail and juggling many balls, (phone calls, emails, counter sales, complaints, etc) you might think you were being ignored.

    You made your complaint, now stop before you make yourself look silly.
     

    jmike1487

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 27, 2013
    1,010
    Baltimore County
    I Randy is a straight shooter - I'd go back in and talk to him. He'll get you your gift certificate. I'm not sure if you knew this or not but their store was broken into the night of the big Dallas rallies (or close) so he's been dealing with that which may have put him off his game a bit with promptly mailing it out.
    Overall, I think they're a bunch of good guys that try hard and over time as the business matures/employees become longer term, the customer experience will become better too.
    Best,
    Jim


    Now I fell slights shitty for posting this on here.
     

    eachurch1972

    Banned
    BANNED!!!
    Nov 27, 2015
    53
    Communist Republic
    It seems that so many businesses in general are utterly incompetent and wouldn't know customer service if it bit them on their sad little noses...When poor service is received, make sure people know about it - that is the only way to try to get things corrected. From what I have heard, I would not deal with that FreeState bunch. . . . . Also, don't deal with Grab A Gun nor Classic FireArms...bunch of idiots and all they care about is getting your $$ and that is it period.
     

    iH8DemLibz

    When All Else Fails.
    Apr 1, 2013
    25,396
    Libtardistan
    Maybe if all of us mercilessly bash the holy hell out of every brick and mortar store in Maryland, we can convince the entire shooting population to buy on-line and seek services out of state.

    Thereby shutting down an entire industry due to a few bad experiences.

    Social media. It sucks.
     

    Hawkeye

    The Leatherstocking
    Jan 29, 2009
    3,971
    From what I have heard, I would not deal with that FreeState bunch. . . . .

    Frankly, and I know I'm going to come across as a fanboy here, you don't know what you're talking about. Randy and Mark, the owners of Free State, are both totally standup guys. In this case, an employee of theirs over promised and under delivered, and when Randy was made aware of it, he both corrected that employee and offered a future discount (a gift certificate) to the affected customer. How is that bad?

    (Yes, the timing of the gift certificate is off, but as has been mentioned they had a break-in at the store and Randy will likely have been dealing with that lately.)

    Free State made their mark by being the gun store you go to when you don't want to deal with "gun store" employees and "gun store" crap. Every single time I'm in there, there is a new shooter getting coaching from their staff, or their staff giving advice on an AR build, or things like that, and it is NEVER the mall ninja tacticool only Sigs are good enough for clearing rooms type of BS advice. They're a great shop, and while they are not perfect, they do regularly go out of their way to make sure that the customer is taken care of.
     

    Orthogonal

    Active Member
    Jul 23, 2013
    275
    Bel Air
    In my experience Freestate is as good as it gets in retail in general and for gunstores in particular. It costs a fortune to run a small business in this country and in this state - in particular.

    I have seen a bunch of their Cerakote work, and some are works of art. Do you really want to 'rush' art ?

    It is disappointing to learn that they intend to discontinue that service. I'm sure that it is OSHA red-tape overhead, and not actually any safety issue.
     

    jmike1487

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 27, 2013
    1,010
    Baltimore County
    I have seen a bunch of their Cerakote work, and some are works of art. Do you really want to 'rush' art ? It is disappointing to learn that they intend to discontinue that service.


    In my particular case this wasn't a work of art. It was taking a gas block,YHM handguard, locking ring and end cap from black to titanium. And maybe you didn't see the part about me calling Aero in the store and getting the correct color so they would know what to order. Even coming from Washington state doesn't take 4 weeks. And answering emails and telling me it would be done on a specific weekend and then not completing the job is complete BS.
     

    jmike1487

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 27, 2013
    1,010
    Baltimore County
    just wondering if this is your first experience with freestate



    It's not. I've shot over there a bunch of time, purchased my first glock from them last year. This is the first time I've used them to do work for me. I live in Columbia so I don't make it over there to shoot as much as I like.
     

    erwos

    The Hebrew Hammer
    MDS Supporter
    Mar 25, 2009
    13,866
    Rockville, MD
    The following rant is not about Freestate, whom I've had generally good experiences with. Randy will probably make it right when you talk to him. But some people on MDS seem to have zero standards for gun stores, and then bash anyone who has the temerity to complain about poor customer service.

    Maybe if all of us mercilessly bash the holy hell out of every brick and mortar store in Maryland, we can convince the entire shooting population to buy on-line and seek services out of state.

    Thereby shutting down an entire industry due to a few bad experiences.

    Social media. It sucks.
    Yep, we should totally ignore any and all problems in the B&M gun industry. If you were a real gun enthusiast, you'd just bend over and smile while accepting your "customer servicing" without lube. G-d forbid that stores that don't actually satisfy their customers go out of business.

    In reality, B&M gun stores have a massive marketplace advantage compared to other B&M businesses due to the FFL system already. The chances that complaining about poor service - and, yes, not patronizing shops that provide poor service - would 100% annihilate the MD B&M gun industry is 0%. This isn't even remotely the same situation as smaller booksellers being crushed by Amazon. At the end of the day, the big Internet gun mongers can't deliver a gun to your door... ever.

    If we want more people to become gun owners, we need to hold FFLs to a high standard when it comes to customer service. I don't want a female patronized, or a black man ignored, or an OFWG having a shotgun delivery miss the date by three weeks because the owner forgot to the paper work. I want everyone to have a pleasant experience where their reasonable expectations are satisfied. To hear some people tell it, you're a hater for expecting a gun store to deliver on what they promise you when they promise it. I don't buy that for a second. I can count three shops right off the top of my head that have generally done right by me in terms of CS, and made it up to me when they didn't.
     

    jmike1487

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 27, 2013
    1,010
    Baltimore County
    Once again freestate failed to make contact again. I posted a review on their Facebook page to make them aware of this issue. 20 mins after posting my review they replied asking for me to send them my cell phone number so they could talk to my about it. I sent my number later on that day and still haven't gotten a reply. Tomorrow it will be a week without a response. I messaged the freestate Facebook last night saying there was no follow up. The message was opened up and viewed by someone who ha access to the page and did not reply.

    How do you run business and have terrible customer service?
     

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