Just learned the hard way, buyer beware...

[BigKahuna]

I'm laughing at the irony of you titling your thread "BUYER BEWARE" and then going on to post how you are going to trade your shotgun in (that you know isn't functioning correctly) for another one

Does that even register with you ?

 

[noshow7]

Nice to find out that once you buy a gun from the retailer that they are ok with washing their hands of any assistance for you after the sale.

Short story, bought a Tristar semi-auto 12g shotgun around Christmas from Walmart. Yes those of you are going to say why didn't I buy a Remington 1100/1187 instead, well cost. This one was $300 and the same in a Remington was $800+. Took the shotgun out last month, ran almost 200 shells thru it and it wont cycle correctly, shell hangs up in the ejection port. You have to manually cycle it at that point to clear the shell.

I took the gun apart, cleaned every piece of it that could be touched and lubed and assembled it. Did a function test and made sure hand cycled correctly. Took it back out the next day, tried to put another 300 shells thru it with the same issue.

Next step, call Tristar as it has a 5yr warranty. They say send it and we will fix it. This is where I get frustrated. UPS will only ship it next day air, in a unmarked box with signature required and only from the hub, that cost is $100. FedEx uses the same requirements and is close to the same cost.

Call Walmart, they pretty much tell me to pound sand with any type of assistance. We didn't want to return the gun, only to have them handle the shipping process since they are the FFL. Nope, they will not do anything to assist at all.

Then try to call a few local gunsmith's, get told they don't work on Tristar guns. So seems I threw $300 out the window at this point, I guess next step is to pawn it and get what I can out of it and find a Remington 1100/1187.

Walmart has horrible customer service when it comes to issues regarding guns bought from there.

 

[Werewolf]

IME, big boxes wash their hands of firearms as soon as you walk out the door.

So do the little guys - well - at least H&H anyway. I bought a Bushmaster XM15E2S new in box from 'em in 2005. Had a bad ejector pin and the barrel nut was over torqued. I knew squat about AR's back then (other than what the army taught me about them) and had no clue how easy a fix that would have been. Took it back to H&H after 3 days and around 50 rounds out of it. Explained the situation and the response I got was it wasn't their problem. After a bit of wheelin' and dealin' they finally agreed to ship it back to BM and receive it back from BM after repair. They didn't even ship the thing for almost a month. That incident ended up with me not returning to H&H until OAS went south and Shooters Supply and Outdoor Outfitters went teats up. They aren't a lot better today but they do have the best selection in town so...

 

[dennishoddy]

I've never shipped a gun.

Do ship a few machined metal parts though.

 

[TJay74]

Guys I have already called Tristar twice now, they do not and will not issue a call tag for the weapon. Only way to have their smith look at it is to get the gun shipped into them. Even then all they will do is give the gun a once over and if something is broken they will fix it and send it back, they will not run shells thru it to make sure it cycles correctly.

I have ran Remington, Winchester and Federal 12g shells thru it. I have shot low recoil loads and regular loads with the same issues. Now I am smart enough to not run 300 rounds at once, I was running about 50-75 thru the gun then letting it cool down and field cleaning it. Issue persisted no matter what.

Seems lying as to what is in the box to send it off is the only way to send it, hate to have something happen to the gun in shipping. I am sure it would be a way for any shipped to deny a claim if I lie about what is in the box even if I do insure it for the correct amount. Then I have to live with the fact of I shipped a gun and that lost/stolen in transit.

And I still say it is buyer beware, I have dealt with H&H on a Remington 870 that had bad powder coating from the factory and ran into some problems with the gun. H&H offered to send the gun in for me since I bought it from them. In this day and age it is easier to pass the consumer off from the retailer side of the equation.

 

[Werewolf]

Guys I have already called Tristar twice now, they do not and will not issue a call tag for the weapon. Only way to have their smith look at it is to get the gun shipped into them. Even then all they will do is give the gun a once over and if something is broken they will fix it and send it back, they will not run shells thru it to make sure it cycles correctly.

Lesson learned. There is much truth in the old saying that, "you get what you pay for".

That is especially true when it comes to firearms.

 

[ronny]

TJay, I just don't understand why you can't ship this gun with UPS at a reasonable rate. You must not be holding your mouth right.

Go here https://www.ups.com/content/us/en/r...es/firearms.html?srch_pos=1&srch_phr=firearms for their regs. Included in this website page is the following:

Special Procedures for Shipping Firearms

Use These UPS Services for Your Firearm Shipment
UPS accepts packages containing firearms (as defined by Title 18, Chapter 44, and Title 26, Chapter 53 of the United States Code) for transportation only (a) between licensed importers, licensed manufacturers, licensed dealers, and licensed collectors (as defined in Title 18, Chapter 44 of the United States Code), and government agencies and (b) where not otherwise prohibited by federal, state or local law (i) from an individual to a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector; and (ii) from a licensed importer, licensed manufacturer, licensed dealer, or licensed collector to an individual. The shipper must comply with and must ensure that each shipment complies with all federal, state and local laws applicable to the shipper, recipient, and package.

You should be able to take it here:

• UPS Customer Center
UPS LETTER/OKC HUB
901 S PORTLAND
OKLAHOMA CITY,OK,73108
800-742-5877

 

[expertzx]

I guess there is truth to the saying in that the cheap man pays twice.