Cabela's — Local services in Gainesville

In short: I just wasted a Sunday afternoon waiting for someone to help at the guns section. The gun section "outfitters" are few, and the only few are too cool to care about essentially anything: you, guns, or the Cabela's store. Elaboration: On a Sunday afternoon I walked into this Cabela's store with some Gift Cards I received in hand, hoping to buy a 380 auto pocket handgun. This was not my first time coming to this store, but it was the first time trying to buy a gun. I took a number (B50) which is supposed to be the order in which the staff (called “outfitters") serves. I stayed at the counter looking at guns on display for about half an hour, the number counter stuck at 45. There was only one outfitter helping a couple of customers finalizing their gun purchase, which was fine. We know paperwork takes a while. I went to check out the ammo section, which is next to the gun counters. I came back to see the number still stuck at 45. It was about 30-35 minutes after I took a number. I kind of thought it was ridiculously slow, so I took picture No.1 shown here. I realized the gun section was now empty: no outfitters are left helping. Only several (definitely not many, at least compared to the opening weekends) customers leaning at the glass display eager to get helped. So at that time I took picture 2 shown here: no one was helping. I wandered further away (about five aisles) to take a look at recurve bows, came back to see the gun section still empty, with zero outfitters helping customers, who were still leaning against glass and eager to get helped. This was picture 3 shown here, about 10-15 minutes apart from picture 2, zero outfitters visible. So at that time I walked into the "Gun Library" right at one end of the gun counter to see the guns displayed there, and when I came back 5 minutes later, voila, the counter turned 52. I got upset and asked one outfitter helping customer 52, why he did not call 50. Apparently annoyed of my interruption, he replied with an angry face, "I called every number, you were not here, you take a new one now," as if it was my fault. So let's break it down here. Apparently he expected me to stay at the gun counter, which had been empty for a better part of half an hour, stuck at 45 for an hour, for his unpredictable return. Once he returned, he "called" number at a volume that one could not hear at one end of the gun section (I NEVER LEFT THE GUN SECTION). There was no bench to wait on, there was no amplified announcement. In retrospect, the outfitter probably didn't even make any attempt to call (remember, I was there at one end of the gun section when he supposedly called: I was not away from gun section then). He just whispered 46 through 51 real quick and noticed customer 52 leaning against the glass. He did not care that anyone could have been waiting, standing, for an entire effing hour on a Sunday afternoon. So I stepped out, having lost all appetite to buy a gun here. Moral for you: if you really want to buy a gun here, take your number, and stay at the counter, standing, for the auspicious return of his majesty outfitter who will bestow upon you pleb the kind assistance of selecting a gun, some time in the future. Because it's never them helping you, it's you begging them...

DO NOT GO TO CABELA'S GAINESVILLE, VA, READ NOT JUST THIS BUT OTHER REVIEWS TOO. THIS STORE IS GOING DOWN!

Extremely poor service from the Services department! I bought a Pontoon boat from them, yes, a brand-new boat! In less than 2 months the starter battery was dead. I took it to the closest "Advanced Auto Parts" store, and they checked, then even charged it for FREE. After their turbo charge, they show me the battery is just dead, can't even hold the charges (Great service).

My boat is kept at a Marina, more than 1 hour drive from the Cabela, Gainesville, VA where I bought the boat from. So, I took just the battery to that store, and the service person recognized that I had bought a boat from them. As soon as I told him about the battery being dead, without asking anything, he offered to sell me another battery and he has it stocked. I told him it should have a warranty, it's less than 2 months old. So, his face changed right away from a service person to a debtor, now he has to find the manager, keep calling him. After 15/20 minutes later, service manager "Travis or Tristan" comes and tells me "It might have some warranty left" - yes after buying a boat in less than 2 minutes, he "thinks" the battery might have some warranty left. I have the battery and all the paperwork with me, but he didn't want to see anything. He kept saying, I will have to make an appointment to have the battery checked, but he doesn't know when someone will be available - they will call me. More messed up he said I will have to bring the boat with me to check the battery. Yes, keywords are 1) I will have to haul the boat for more than an hour so they can check the battery and 2) They don't even know when someone will be available, and 3) He thinks there might be some kind of warranty left (I have the paperwork with me).

This CLEARLY shows how they are trying to just get rid of me and cheat on the warranty work. I walked out eventually and bought a new battery from Walmart and the boat is working fine. They knew I would not be hauling the boat for more than 1 hour each way to have the battery checked, even though they couldn't give me an appointment to check the battery. So, it is a super way to cheat. Yes, they lost me as a customer for good. Not just boats, me and my friends and family have spent 10s thousands of $$$ for hunting and fishing gear / guns / ammo etc. It ALL STOPPED now. They have lost a bunch of customers to have $100 on the battery in the wrong way.

I even emailed the sales manager, Kimberly Barker for the store manager's contacts, but she never responded.

DO NOT GO THERE, READ NOT JUST THIS BUT OTHER REVIEWS TOO. THIS STORE...

The wait at the firearms counter is absurdly long. It took two hours to get through checkout , and I actually ordered and paid online...I only wanted to complete the forms and pick the item up.

Initially, I took a number and waited at the counter, where they were ten numbers behind, with zero staff in sight, and a few dispirited looking customers wandering nearby. After around 20 minutes, during which time no staff appeared behind the counter...and several non-firearms counter staff came through, but didn't help anyone...I wandered over to another area where three staff were helping customers complete the necessary forms for their purchases. The support staff are friendly, but apparently don't have the necessary tools or management to do their job.

After a half-hour wait for customers ahead of me to complete their purchases, a staff person was finally able to look for my item, which he could not find, which led to more searching. Then the checkout computer malfunctioned and they could not get it working again, then the staff person was clearly overwhelmed and took several tries in processing the paperwork, and when I asked him to assemble the item I was buying (just a few simple parts, to ensure that everything was working before I left the store) he struggled with it for ten minutes as though he had never handled a gun before. It was one annoyance after another that could have been helped by hiring one or two more strictly firearms counter staff associates to help people with questions, and by giving them reliable tools with which to do their jobs. Meanwhile, during the two hours that this went on, no one was at the main counter assisting other customers.

There are tons of staff wandering around, but apparently only a select few can work at the firearms counter...makes sense that they require more training, but it's also a position requiring a ton more staff to customer face time than your average joe who can show you where the restroom is or where to find the shoe section.

And I've seen this in other comments, but their "take a number" system is crummy. The wait between numbers can be hours. But forget about exploring the rest of the huge store while you wait, because when they do start calling them, you'd better pray that you're within twelve feet of the counter, because they use an ordinary conversational tone and they call them out fast, with maybe a second between numbers.

Although the staff is friendly enough, they are not efficient or well-managed and Cabela's processes stink. I don't plan on ever buying a firearm from Cabela's again, and will instead try Bass Pro Shops or...