How do you really feel about Continental Arms in Timonium?

[Indiana Jones]

disregard my previous posts. i was in there last week and had a VERY pleasant experience. the staff was helpful and courteous. everyone has off days. S*#t happens. range was very clean, and they have a very reasonable rate for range time. glad i went back.

 

[honda53s]

disregard my previous posts. i was in there last week and had a VERY pleasant experience. the staff was helpful and courteous. everyone has off days. S*#t happens. range was very clean, and they have a very reasonable rate for range time. glad i went back.

That guy ziggy who everyone has problems with. I think he is probably one of the coolest guys that work there. Another guy who works there, also teaches lessons over at loch raven skeet and trap. I forget his name but he is a nice guy as well.

 

[Indiana Jones]

That guy ziggy who everyone has problems with. I think he is probably one of the coolest guys that work there. Another guy who works there, also teaches lessons over at loch raven skeet and trap. I forget his name but he is a nice guy as well.

agreed. he and andy were very very helpful.

 

[rico903]

done

 

[tzoid]

Hurray!!...The Poll closes Monday and I think some things have been exposed and hopefully something learned.

Word of mouth can cost a company Big Time and don't always believe what you read on the internet. People have the right to choose where they spend their money and 1st impressions mean everything.

Thanks for everyones participation in this Poll.

 

[rico903]

Newbie to the forum here, just popped in to comment on this thread after reading the whole thing.

I'm a white male, early twenties, new shooter. I shot for my first time at Continental in early february and have purchased two handguns in the past two months and shoot there at least once a week. I joined right away and most of the staff doesn't recognize me/makes no effort to. I regularly try to ask questions about guns in the shop, try to coax some customer service out of them--always to no avail. I practically stand there begging them to take my money and no one does. I don't know if it is because I'm a new shooter or because I'm young. Either way, they don't take me even slightly seriously and it's painfully obvious. I'm certain that I'm going to buy 2 more guns within the next year, one of them is rather expensive. I'd be fine with supporting my gun range and buying it there, maybe even paying a little more if it means helping a local business. Seriously, I am blown away by the overall lack of enthusiasm on the part of the staff there. I know I haven't been coming for a long time. But everyone there has seen my face 10-15+ times in the past couple of months. I stare longingly at the case every time I walk past the revolvers. No one asks me if I need help or tries to engage me in the slightest bit of salesmanship. It is mind boggling.

I go to CA because it is by far the most convenient gun range to me geographically. I understand that they have a hazardous working environment and lots of dangerous, idiotic people walk through their door daily. But, seriously, do they hate making money? I just bought a 600$ handgun I could have easily bought from them and was more than ready to but no one showed the slightest interest in selling it to me so I dropped it. I didn't want to be a bother. I've gotten this at other gun stores but there a few that don't do it. I show up after work and I'm usually in at least semi-professional clothes. I shoot frequently and take it very seriously. In my head I'm an ideal customer but I feel so put out by the place that I doubt I'll renew my membership next year.

So in the end, I guess I'm number four. I'm spending money there to shoot, but my purchases are going elsewhere. I'll find someone who wants to sell me a gun and buy it from them.

old

 

[tzoid]

Well put. I'm in my 50s and get the same treatment. Only shoot there because it is convenient. Glad to hear of a new range, can't wait to try it out. Competition should be even more reason for for CA to clean up it's act. They could all take a lesson from Jaimie at White Marsh on how to deliver customer service.

Jamie is the Son of the Owners.... I had a conversation with him 2 weeks ago about this thread- Poll.

They are aware of the opinions posted in this thread so if you're still being treated like shit I would be surprised. I'm not trying to minimize anyone's bad experience but if something negative happened in the past but keeps getting brought up over and over again doesn't mean it's still happening.

Samsung electronics used to be about as shitty as you could get back in the late 80's 90's... Now they are as good as you can get.

Things change...... Maybe the problems are in the past...maybe not.

 

[adodson]

I have the same physical issues and while they offer a stool it would be nice if they also offered a chair or cart to set my equipment on as balance is a problem getting up and down to the floor to pick things up.

We have chairs and a cart. Ask and you shall receive. I doubt anybody there would say, "Tough crap, dude... deal with it," if you asked for it due to physical issues. We also take the time and hang targets for folks who are unable to. Just let us know.

And everybody know, as I stated before, that I am not defending any of my co-workers. I have witnessed some of the behavior that folks have talked about, and there is some of it that I cannot believe would happen. I cannot speak to either, though, because having not been a party to the situations, I have nothing to offer other than, "That sounds annoying." So I hope if people do decide to come in, they will not have annoying experiences.

 

[Beefcube]

Wow, ten pages and still banging along.

 

[surplusfan]

Yesterday I stopped by continental while out running errands. I gotta say I have never had a bad experience there. Everyone that has worked there has always treated me well. I haven't used the range in 3 years.....but the retail end has always been solid. Maybe a little pricey but still. I certainly don't discount anyones bad experience. I've just never had one there.

 

[Mr H]

Was at On Target this morning, and a gentleman came in with his wife (I'll assume), mentioning Continental, and asking about annual membership at OT.

I gathered that he has shot at both places, but has choden OT for his "home".

I wasn't about to go prying as to the "why"... but the tone of his voice came across as diappointed at the folks up north.

It likely means nothing in the grand scheme of things... I just thought it interesting.

 

[damifinowfish]

So things have changed in the last 5 weeks after my posting of there incompetence and the bad service I had.

Hmmm

I bought a T/C in the Rem Max caliber. Now I'm ready for a different powder. Where do I go for it? Do I go back to where they treated me like sh*t or do I go where they gave me good service?

I'll be making a trip to GC this week. I went there based on what I heard about them on the inter net.

Oh and by the way in the last 5 weeks I've spent over $1200 on reloading and a new gun. Funny how I started my shopping spree in CA.

 

[Name Taken]

I think him commenting on how much he spent is very relavent. It shows they are actually losing money and not customers who just want to use their range or browse their (over priced) merchandise.

If I was an employee or owner seeing the money figure spent would be more of an eye opener then saying "I went somewhere else".

And I'm not sure why you think he thinks you started this thread just for him. There were about 3-4 CA dismay threads in about a week of you starting this one.

 

[tzoid]

My post was too much for the Mods...so whatever.

He called and asked if they had powder in stock....A woman said yes so he drove there to pick it up and they evidently didn't have the powder. The employee that waited on him did not apologize adequately and they didn't offer to order the powder for him.

He went to Gun connection and got the Powder and was treated great....

Now he has to repeat hismself every chance he gets and bash Continental Arms.

If I'm missing any facts please correct me.....

 

[FFMike]

When will this thread close????????????????????????????????????????????????????

 

[virtus]

They are aware of the opinions posted in this thread so if you're still being treated like shit I would be surprised. I'm not trying to minimize anyone's bad experience but if something negative happened in the past but keeps getting brought up over and over again doesn't mean it's still happening.

For the record, I chose option #3 in the poll. No personal experiences here.

I don't take what I read on the internet as gospel, but when I see the same thing popping up several times it makes me think hey, this many people can't be wrong. Especially when a number of people are pointing out the same problems(frequently with the same employee). I love to let my money do my talking. I don't get worked up about stuff, it's not worth it when I can just support a rival business and make sure I try to convince others to do the same. I don't give another chance until I see a sign that says under new management, so I can understand why people feel that way.

People are a lot more likely to raise hell when they have a bad experience than to go out of their way to talk about a good one (in general). The attitude of "this guy can go kick rocks, I don't need his business" probably gets to be a problem sooner rather than later. When one customer gets treated badly it takes them a matter of minutes to get on the internet and make it known to others. At work, I make sure every customer I encounter feels welcome and I go out of my way to provide the best service I can without being annoying or overbearing. I expect the same when I am the customer.

That being said, your post really got me thinking. I think I'll pop into CA soon to see things for myself. I'm glad this thread got started because I got to hear plenty of good along with the bad. Hopefully things have changed if there were issues. I suppose I should have checked it out for myself in the first place. This has got me thinking about the way I look at businesses in general.

If I have a good experience I'll be sure to share it with people. If I don't, you better believe I'll tell everyone to avoid that place at all costs

 

[tzoid]

Good Post... I pretty much feel the same way.

 

[D2nds]

I have never been there but called one time with intent on purchasing an item. The person i was speaking with seemed like they could care less so I bought the item somewhere else.

 

[rico903]

old

 

[PapiBarcelona]

I'm going to digress a bit here but I am mystified by the business practices of gun shops in general. I a weeks time, at 3 different shops I asked about ordering a cleaning rod at one and at 2 others asked them to look into the availability and price on a couple of rifles. They all took my name and # and said they would look into it and get back to me. None of them did. I ordered 4 rifles on line and had another shop do the transfers(they couldn't order them). I would have been more than happy to buy locally.

Everyone has been through the hoops, that's why there is more than 1 shop.

I had one shop laugh, tell me good luck that my item I inquired about "was out of stock for a while." Got a bad taste in my mouth and left.

Went somewhere else close by and got what I wanted no problem.