Here is my response to a series of emails I exchanged with an individual who is very angry with a gun company. This person sent me piles of documentation, including their emails to and from the company, scans of packing slips etc. The story is bizarre, sad and hilarious at the same time culminating in the demand that the company gives them $100 million in compensation.

The really strange thing is, everything the person sent me only made them look bad and made me sympathize with the gun company. I have intentionally said nothing that would identify the customer nor the gun company in question.

 I side with the company on this. I believe they acted in good faith when they upgraded the trigger on your old gun (which you say was worth $200). You strike me as the kind of person who, when they told you that the gun was perfectly safe and did not need a trigger replacement, would have harassed them until they took it in to be “fixed”. 

They retrofitted your gun with a new trigger, which was good of them. The fact that it does not cosmetically look great .. well bad luck. You insisted it was installed, despite their advice it was not required. I think it is 100% safe if the company’s own gunsmith say it is. I believe you are only claiming it is unsafe because you are trying to screw the company out of more money or products. 

When they offered you a replacement gun of your choice, you went through their catalog and figured out what the most expensive gun was, and selected that. It did not occur to you that this might be seen as exceptionally greedy … or that that particular gun is a niche product and they would not have it in stock. The gun you chose was NOT a replacement for your gun, it was a completely different type of gun. That they agreed to it if they could find one at the warehouse, was very generous of them.

You then astoundingly tried to switch from that ONE gun to TWO semi-automatic rifles worth about the same as the most expensive single gun they sell. 

I have no doubt you wanted the semi-automatic rifles from the start, but because it was not the most expensive gun you schemed how you could get two of them by first asking for a gun worth twice as much. 

You then unbelievably asked for ammo and scopes in addition to two guns. I am speechless …. what were you thinking? This is like asking a scope company to provide ammo and guns along with a replacement scope! 

You then demanded they install custom aftermarket triggers into the semi-automatic rifles from a third party that they do not and have never sold … SERIOUSLY What the were you thinking? Do you honestly believe they should have upgraded TWO free guns for you because someone told you that their factory triggers were not great.

And then, to top it all off, when they got tired of your endless demands, they offered you a final choice, an EXCELLENT replacement for your gun, worth about 10x as much as you said your gun was worth but you instead demanded $100 MILLION from them in compensation. 

That was your biggest mistake, because from then on customer service had no interest in dealing with you and passed you to their lawyer. That you later told them you did not actually want $100 million, is irrelevant, you made the threat and demand.

Then to claim that the company uses special “self deleting emails” which backs up your story, is absolutely crazy. No such thing exists. Let me be 100% clear, if your computer deleted emails, you were probably to blame. I realize you will not believe me, but I suggest you do not tell people about these so called self deleting emails, because any competent person who reads that will immediately dismiss your case out of hand.

You then went on to demand that the lawyer gave you a court date. This was a silly thing to do since the court decide court dates, not the lawyer of a gun company… and you would have first had to sue them in any case.

You should consider it lucky they still have offered you $500 for the return of your gun after all this. You should have taken that offer. But by this time I gather, from some comments you made to me, that you have since listed this gun for sale online and may have already sold it (despite you telling me the company “STOLE” your gun). I can’t help but suspect the REAL reason you refuse to send the gun back is because you do not actually have the gun anymore! Maybe I am wrong…

I am not sure what you hoped to accomplish by sending me, a journalist, evidence of what appears to be greed… especially after the BBB and the Attorney General both dismissed your outlandish claims. 

What’s more, I can assure you that company will never offer anyone a free replacement gun EVER again to any legitimate customer thanks to your actions. 

So thank you for ruining it for the rest of us. 

Sincerely,

Steve Johnson

I have no doubt that customer service staff in the industry have to deal with people like this every day.

Nathan S wrote an amusing post last year entitled Top 10 Annoying Customers Gun Companies Dislike Dealing With. If you missed it then, go check it out.