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 Bud's Gun Shop (online) 
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I don't recall the last time that I have written a negative review about a 2A company, but a recent revelation while shopping at Bud's Gun Shop online has opened my eyes to the possibility of an otherwise good organization having such a crappy policy that it kills enthusiasm for doing business with them.

I've read and heard general gripes about Bud's Gun Shop many times over the years, but I personally have not had bad experiences... Until the latest purchase.
The other bad reviews that I have seen have seemed like they might possibly have been "sour grapes" type of reviews. I generally assume that negative reviews should be taken with a grain of salt (and many glowing reviews too!), unless I know the person who has had the negative experience, or the description and accounting of the experience is laid out in a careful and thoughtful manner.
I have done around $10k business with Bud's since I first ordered from them... So I hope that this is clearly not a "sour grapes" review.
Bud's is not the cheapest and they do make some effort in supplying customer service... Good automated emails with updates on order progress are appreciated.
They don't ship particularly fast (unless you pay some $ to be a "Team Buds!" member. I don't generally buy that kind of membership, and I don't mind waiting a few extra days for my new Tools of Freedom.) I'm not griping about their prices nor about their not-particularly-speedy shipping. There are slower shippers out there too.

Bud's has the common "cash price" discount on their products... It is 3% less than what they list as their "retail price."
The 3% higher price makes sense for those transactions that cost Bud's 3% in transaction fees... Makes perfect sense.

But to charge customers a 3% higher price when they are paying with Bud's Gun Shop Credits?
This was the first time that I have used their own store credits (purchased at a VERY hefty premium through their egunner that is already around 30% higher than cash price) so it caught me by surprise. I usually ask my dear wife to complete online purchases for me... It may seem quirky, but I like her to be aware of every purchase and expense that I run up on the family tab. She completed the financial part of the purchase on this latest Tool of Freedom acquisition.
A couple of hours later (might have been the next day even) I received an email stating that Bud's had a question regarding my order, and asking if could I give them a call.
Sure thing. I opened the account page and clicked on this order so that I could have all information ready and make it easy for their CS rep.
Well criminy. That's weird. It says in bold letters "NO Cash Discount" and there's an added $70+ fee added to what I had expected to be paying.

I got a CS rep on the phone and asked a simple question and received a sweet but malarkey answer. I pressed the question and asked for a modicum of common sense, and that's when it hit me... Bud's KNEW about this bullshit, and they were going to play word games to justify charging a 3% higher price for using their own store's credits.

I went from mild to rage in a few seconds as I realized that this was intentional. I do not say this as an excuse, but I had been on a really strained sleep budget recently. It's not an excuse. I went from reasonable to dropping the F-bomb in about 3 sentences, and that escalated me to the 2nd level of CS. He was a nice guy, but I had already gone into a rage at the realization of what Bud's was doing, and intentionally.
This CS rep must have had his supervisor listening in, because in a few seconds I was talking to a calm but supremely dickish fellow (I don't really blame him too much... I started out as a giant cock to him, and he played it back at me.)
Please remember that I started out calm, received some BS in response, realized that this was already KNOWN by Bud's and they were playing word games. It was NOT about the extra $70+ charge... It was about a deceptive and unnecessary extra charge (may I say gougy? Milking their "captive" customers for more $ based on a word game?) that doesn't require a college degree in business administration focusing on accounting to notice and say WTH about. I happen to have that college degree, which I brought up later in the conversation with the fellow who I blazed on. No one cares about my blogging, my writing, or my education, or what I (used to) make in income (to prove that it's not about the $)... Yes, I was a gigantic cock by this point in the conversation. I was livid at the realization of what they were intentionally doing.

Let's also get an unpleasant admission right out front. Starting out with anger towards a new customer service rep is honestly a foolish thing to do.
Telling any business that an accounting practice that they employ, no matter how odious and obviously flawed, is dishonest and deceptive etc - You back them into a corner. They canNOT agree with you at that point. There is no room for them to back down off their obviously greed based milking policy.

So in the 2nd call (he said he would call me back after talking it over at the office) I apologized for how I spewed my rage. I unfortunately tempered my apology with blatant truths, which are not conducive to helping a company stop employing a dishonest accounting policy.
The senior CS fellow was really a gigantic cock too... so I do not feel too badly for telling him that he was caught in his BS. I wasn't talking to a sweet honest person who had made an accounting error. I was talking to (not so much with) someone who already knew that his company's policy was BS and milking the customers but had to keep the lie up for continuity's sake. I will be sending him a link to this thread and inviting him to tear me and my review a new one. I'm okay with that.
Ah, so in the 2nd call he said that he had talked it over with another uppity up and they believe that they made their policy clear, but as a show of good faith, they generously offered to "split the difference" (his words) and give me a $40 credit to my next purchase.
That may seem nice, and it may seem foolish to turn it down. Genuinely, this was not about the $ to me. It was about a deceptive and unnecessary charge that Bud's sticks to all customers who use their own company's credits to purchase Tools of Freedom.

In case there is confusion, Bud's is charging a 3% fee (they call it "Retail Price" on their website) to customers who use Buds Gun Shop Credits.
I can't think of any other company in any other industry who does this. If there are others, my quick read is that those companies are milking their customers too.
Avoid word games about "Cash Price" meaning paper money. Their page explaining the difference between "Cash Price" and "Retail Price" clearly implies that the extra fee (higher price) is set up exactly as other retailers' Credit Card fee surcharge.
Once you have purchased Bud's Gun Shop Credits (at an already ~30% premium if done through their egunner auction website) you're stuck. They're going to milk you for those extra 3% dollars, and if you point it out, the best that they'll respond with is to split the difference with you.
That's bullshit, and Bud's has earned my ire for their dishonesty and milking.

That's coming from a guy who has spent ~$10k in the last few years there.


Wed May 08, 2019 12:11 am
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Wow...I'm sorry you had to go through that Brother. That is a very deceptive practice and they do that to their own Credit holders? I have 4 transactions with them totaling about 2600.00. (I just checked) and i was considering ordering my Son a new O/U Shotgun for Trap from them.
My last O/U came from them, as well as my DW Commander. I am reconsidering after hearing your Story, I hope the Bud's Rep reads this thread.

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Wed May 08, 2019 12:47 am
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I've had a bad taste in my mouth from Bud's a number of years ago. The Big Black Friday debacle. Had firearms in my cart multiple times, but their servers couldn't handle the load. Despite being in my cart, they still "sold out" before I could complete the purchase. Their handling of the debacle on social media was pretty abysmal as I recall, which was even more frustrating. Fast forward a few years to a few weeks ago when I decided to let bygons be bygons and give them a chance again. I was going to purchase a firearm using their "Qualified Professional" program, which had a good price. I didn't discover all their "extra fees" until after I put in my payment info. That stuff should be right up front. Needless to say, my couple experiences with Bud's will keep me from every giving them a penny again.

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Wed May 08, 2019 3:47 am
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It says a lot about a company who seems to have the nickle and diming as a policy that they play word games around... and in one of the emails I got this response "If you do not like the way we do things, perhaps we are not the website for you."

Well, I am going to use up the credits that I have, then I will take my business elsewhere.
I do not wish for Bud's to fail. I wish for them to change their dishonest accounting practices.

Bud's, stop trying to milk your customers for nickles and dimes! Come straight!

usrifle wrote:
Wow...I'm sorry you had to go through that Brother. That is a very deceptive practice and they do that to their own Credit holders? I have 4 transactions with them totaling about 2600.00. (I just checked) and i was considering ordering my Son a new O/U Shotgun for Trap from them.
My last O/U came from them, as well as my DW Commander. I am reconsidering after hearing your Story, I hope the Bud's Rep reads this thread.


I never noticed it because I have paid for my purchases through a "cash price" method, except for one time when the Missus was out of town... I was in a hurry and paid by credit card for a bolt action rifle with a threaded barrel that I just had to have right away. :bigsmile: I'm not usually impatient.
I usually look for a way to pay the cash price on all big purchases... And it's not to be a tightwad. I do it because I think that CC companies don't earn 3%, and many seem to espouse anti-2A positions too.
Bud's is janking their customers, not just me. It's a wonder that they've been able to keep doing it as a policy and playing word games to "cover" it.

A person can get in a habit of ordering from the same company, but since this popped up I have been doing some looking around and will use up my captive credits then do my business elsewhere. When/IF Bud's start doing business honestly, I'll have no problem buying from them again.
I mentioned it in the leggy post : Bud's is not the cheapest and definitely not the fastest at shipping, so they had to keep my business by being solid in other ways. All it took for me was the realization that they knew what they were doing and then dancing around the deception with word games.

LGS is first choice... Online buying had become kind of a habit for me due to rarely getting into the big cities. Retirement for me has been an improvement to my life mostly because I get to avoid driving into cities and towns much. :thumbsup2: I'm reconsidering my farmer lifestyle for LGS purchases.


Wed May 08, 2019 7:04 am
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PMB wrote:
I don't recall the last time that I have written a negative review about a 2A company


Are they really a 2A company?

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Wed May 08, 2019 9:12 am
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dreadi wrote:
PMB wrote:
I don't recall the last time that I have written a negative review about a 2A company


Are they really a 2A company?


Spoiler: show
No

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Wed May 08, 2019 9:13 am
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I ordered an upgraded trigger assembly for my AR556 last week. It arrived today. A day late, the that's UPS, not Bud's. The price wasn't bad. Now, if my fingers would just quit hurting now that the new trigger assembly is installed. Not anywhere as easy as installing the upgraded trigger assembly in my 10/22.

No dealer is perfect. I had ordered this trigger assembly from Brownells a while back and it was out of stock, so put on back order. I waited a couple months (other things to worry about) and when I checked on their website there was no record of the order, or any indication that it was even available from them. That was frustrating. So I ordered it from Bud's and got it in just over a week. I've spent plenty of money with Brownells over the years, along with others. I'll buy from them again, but this was annoying.

BTW, that new trigger from Ruger is sweet. Trigger pull, once it was installed, ran from 4 pounds to 4.9 pounds, with an average of 4.7 pounds. I'm looking forward to a trip to the range to play with it.


Fri Jul 12, 2019 4:59 pm
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I'm not familiar with buds shop credits. Are they like gift cards that you purchase?


Fri Jul 12, 2019 5:14 pm
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in my experience, Bud's is a no-go. That is my sample size of one.

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Sat Jul 13, 2019 11:15 am
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I bought my first gun at Bud's back when they were a shitty little hole in the wall and I lived in Lexington

They overcharged me for the transfer. I was 18 and didn't know any better

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Sat Jul 13, 2019 12:10 pm
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In my mind, I just cannot associate Mike and “gigantic cock”.


Sat Jul 13, 2019 8:19 pm
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