Friday, September 16, 2022

Dodged a Bullet on that One.

 William will be hunting for the first time this year. Tim had wanted him to use the .222 that HE had bought as a boy, to learn the craft, but unfortunately, .222 ammunition is no longer made. So, Tim found a rifle for him, a gun that allowed it to 'grow' with the child, with stock additions that made the gun longer as William's arms grew. It also had a scope, which was a new thing for him. He has only used his bb gun and the .22, which had open sights. 

Tim really studied the situation, agonized over what gun would be best. He really wants William to be a hunter. 

So Tim bought that gun, a .350 Remington Legend but was disappointed to discover that it was not everything it was cracked up to be. It kicked despite advertising that it didn't. He fretted about that as he sighted it in, and then in the end, decided that he needed to find another gun for William. 

Me? I think he just wanted another gun. 

Anyways, he came out where I was cleaning up after supper. He had found the gun for William. He was sure of it. He had placed an order on line. 

I was a little shocked, because to be perfectly honest, that strikes me as wrong. How does the company know who they're dealing with? What about background checks? I didn't even know you COULD buy guns that way. Let me be clear. Tim is a hunter, and he owns many guns, and if I ever stopped to count them, I'd probably be upset. BUT...we do not belong to the NRA, which we believe has a tight hold on the testicles of way too many politicians. We believe strongly that not all people should have guns. We also believe that if you want to own assault weapons, you can just go ahead and join the military. There is no earthly reason that any person in this country needs a gun that fires multiple rounds per second. No valid reason for it. NONE. ZIPPO. NADA. Tim also understands one thing: the gun laws that are changed affect him not at all. Neither does it affect any sportsmen we know. 

(So...please don't waste your time arguing with me in the comments. I won't respond.)

Anyways, the next morning Tim comes to me and says, "I need you to set this up for me." The place he had placed the order, Mossberg Gun Store, had sent an e-mail saying he needed to set up a Zelle account and transfer the money to them. 

I said, "I'm NOT setting this up for you. I'm not sure that I'm comfortable putting all our bank information out there for another payment method. Zelle has some significant issues. I think we need to talk to our bank." 

He agreed to go talk to the bank in the morning, but he said, "Tell them that we will send a cashier's check, just to see what they say." So I sent an e-mail. 

The next morning, we were quite surprised to find a curt e-mail from the company saying that our order had been canceled. If we decided to go ahead with the Zelle payment, they'd be glad to place the order again. My BS detectors were on high alert at that point, so I went back and did some research on the company. They have a BBB accreditation of 'F'. There is page after page after page of complaints. They take the money, send no gun  and their customer service doesn't reply.  Zelle does not offer any sort of protection to the buyer, which is why it is the payment choice of scammers. 

I typed my response to their e-mail. 'After reading about your company, we no longer wish to do business with you.'

Forewarned is forearmed as they say. The company is Mossberg Gun Store. And if any online group is demanding payment through Zelle, and accepting no other payment, go back and check on the company itself. Reputable people will accept multiple methods of payment. 


28 comments:

  1. Given the issue with previously purchased guns I would have assumed Tim would be a buy-in-person type-person anyhow. V said when he was that age and his stepfather wanted to take him hunting, he had to do a gun safety course (in California - would have been the 1970s) which doesn't sound like the worst thing. Jeanie (who cannot be bothered going through the whole tell Google who I am every time)

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    1. William will have a Hunter's safety course as well. (Ps I knew you were Jeanie as soon as I saw 'V') I think he was researching on line and this popped up and it lookedeasy enough and....

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  2. I looked up that website and the reviews, not good. Good thing you have Tim's back.

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  3. If this company is so complained about, why are the regulators so slow to act?

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    1. Btw, ours so often are too.

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    2. I have to tell you, I do not understand that. I thought that the Better Business Bureau was supposed to. Evidently not.

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    3. BBB isn't regulatory in any way. They publish ratings and complaints about businesses, and may attempt to resolve disputes through arbitration, but that's it.

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    4. Thank you for that Lynn. Who do you report to?

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  4. Buying guns on line does seem rather odd. I would have assumed you would have to try them like a bra. Not one size fits all.

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    1. I would think that you'd want to at least hold it and look at it.

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  5. Wow! I'd heard of Zelle, but don't use such things. Thanks for the story. Interesting how it's a poopy company with bad reviews. Just a few bad reviews has kept me from buying some items from Amazon or eBay. Have Tim take a kitty and go to the local gun store. Linda in Kansas

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    1. Tim needs to look at the company he is doing business with before he does business with them. We had a talk. He knows how close he came to getting scammed.

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  6. Thank you for the warning, Debby. I do, of course, agree with you about guns and background checks, etc. There are too many unstable people ending up with guns unchecked.

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    1. Absolutely. A man recently went on at great length about buying $10,000 worth of weapons and ammo for the upcoming civil war. This is scary stuff and for all his noise about his second amendment rights, he is exactly the sort of person I would like to keep guns from.

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  7. The whole thing about guns and being able to buy them online just scares the doo-dahs out of me!

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    1. Reading up on it, it was reassuring to me to discover that it is heavily regulated (as it should be) and that the guns are never delivered to your home. They go to a federally licensed dealer. The background checks get done there.

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  8. Having never done it, I don’t understand the allure of hunting, but I do appreciate your attitudes to guns in general.

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    1. We eat mainly venison, so it is for the meat. I am not a hunter myself, so I understand what you are saying.

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  9. I'd want to see and feel a gun in real life, not order one online. Besides.... you want to know who you're dealing with.

    I don't know your rules and regulations up there, but has Tim considered having him hunt with a shotgun instead of a rifle? Are any of his hunting spots set up for close shooting? A deer can easily be taken with a 20 gauge.

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    1. You cannot use a shotgun for deer hunting here, as far as I know. All of his blinds are for close range. He studies their routes and sets up so that they actually come to him. The blinds and stands are already set.

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  10. I have a number of guns as well (two bought and others inherited) and I am always amazed at how easy it is to purchase a firearm. I am okay with it taking a lot longer and a more thorough check being done because I have nothing to hide. Yet our town hosts a gun show a couple times a year where one can walk in and purchase a firearm and walk out with it minutes later without any sort of check. It boggles my mind.

    I use Zelle and like using it but like you said, it doesn't offer protections so I don't purchase anything from venders. I only use it to send money to people I know personally as reimbursement for something they gave or bought for me already. I would be hesitant to purchase something online using it. For that I would just use my credit card which can be cancelled or a stop payment put on it.

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    1. What got me suspicious was that no other method of payment was offered. We have one credit card with a low limit that is specifically for online purchases. It is also tied to the PayPal account. We don't want our banking info tied to anything connected to online. That is what scared me about the zelle thing.

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  11. Wow! Good for you for checking them out. Sounds like you averted disaster.

    I must say, I am perplexed about why it's so important to Tim that he hand this pastime down to William. But then again, I am neither a hunter nor a parent/grandparent!

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    1. It is a way of life, I suppose. I cannot understand it completely myself. Tim learned it from a beloved uncle and his father, so I imagine it bring happy memories to mind that he wishes to share with a boy he loves too.

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    2. Yeah, I can understand that, I guess.

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  12. I've never heard of Zelle so they may not operate in the UK. I've learned a thing or two anyway. Years ago I was a member of several gun clubs because I thought I might take it up as a sport. I wasn't really good enough to be successful competitively soI abandoned it.

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    1. Two of the companies involved are Bank of America and Wells Fargo, both of whom have been fined for their unfair practices. You may be right. I can shoot but I don't have any real interest in it.

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