Bass Pro Shops — Local services in Kalispell

3/31/2016 Thursday, Approximately 1700 hours

So I am generally not a fan of Cabelas, I've already had a couple of bad experiences in customer service at the firearms department. I am a combat veteran and former military law enforcement, and I currently do armed security work around the valley. I was on my way to work and wanted to pick up some .45acp Hornady Critical Duty rounds for my work weapon. I carry concealed and open, I love living in Montana, and I have never had a problem anywhere. So I go into Cabelas, find exactly what I'm looking for, no problem. I decide to check out holsters for the 1911 I'm wearing because the Springfield holster leaves the weapon to exposed. I found a pretty sweet Eclipse rig made by Bladetech. Naturally I wanted to see how it fit my weapon. I walked over to the gun counter, set the bullets down that I was planning on buying, took the magazine out of my weapon and side stepped to the right so it was all out of my reach. I had been carrying in condition three, magazine in the weapon, no round chambered. I carefully pulled my weapon, kept it pointed down and ensured it was cleared, pulled the slide to the rear and locked it. Weapon cleared and harmeless. I put my 1911 in the slick new holster to make sure it fit better then some Blackhawk piece of trash, and I was very happy with the product. So here I am, kid in a candy store, totally content minding my own business. Here comes a clerk from behind the counter, some where off to my left, wanting to know how I got a gun out of their locked cabinet. It was obvious what I was doing. I said relax, this is my weapon and I'm just checking the fit of this holster on it. Then he wanted to know if it was cleared, I told him of course it was. He told me I wasn't allowed to have my weapon out in their store and that I was brandishing a weapon and needed to leave. At this point, I'm totally blown away. I've done this exact same thing at Sportsman and Snappys several times. So I tell him you know what, I'm not interested in shopping at your store anyways, I go to grab my magazine and put it back in my weapon and he tells me I can't do that. UNREAL, the nerve of this guy. I did it anyways, holstered my weapon and proceeded to leave the store. I found a manager waiting for me and he explained the stores policies. Since researching those policies, I've found some horror stories about damage to weapons caused by Cabelas policies. I definitely will not be going back...

I have been trying to order a specific Weatherby Orion Sporting Over/Under 12 Gauge Shotgun for a little while. Retail for this gun is anywhere form $799 to $850 from competitors. I knew it would probably take a little time to find one but for them to be downright dismissive was highly unexpected.

When I first went in I spoke with multiple people who didn't even know what gun I was looking for or care to even do a quick google search. I was very frustrated until I found Michael who had been extremely helpful in my search. He is by far the most knowledgeable at the store on both the firearms themselves and the process of obtaining one. However, he is not in charge of the gun vault so I was passed off to Dawn. While he did give the college try in his search he gave me a number for a store in Reading Pennsylvania to purchase an Orion and have it transferred to Kalispell once purchased.

I called the store and found out it was actually the trap version of the gun and marketed at $1300, well above competitors prices at Scheels who have it listed at $950 for that model. Never the less it was the wrong model altogether. I declined purchasing this firearm due to the confusion. When I called back to explain the incident to Dawn he didn't seem too conscientious of the mistake, and simply told me, "Well I guess you will have to look for one yourself and transfer it here." Not even acknowledging the mistake. Up until this point I had been very understanding of the difficulty of the task. I had found the firearm at other locations but preferred to go through Cabela's due to my club card.

I am a club silver member and run majority of my expenses through the club card. I will be hanging this card up for a while and letting it lapse. No longer will I shop through Cabela's. After buying two firearms from the so called "Experts" at the gun counter in the past two years I can tell you this, they can't even tell you the difference between MRAD and MOA and you can find whatever your looking for at Sportsman's or Snappy's for much cheaper. Don't let these people...

By far the WORST Cabela's I have ever been in! Visiting my parents from out of state, ran in to grab my son a fishing rod and my daughter a spare knife. We got completely ignored in the shoe dept. As well as the gun counter. Four employees standing there gabbing at gun counter while I searched for a knife.... no one would even make eye contact let alone offer help.

The worst part was at check out... my parents went to pay for their stuff, my dad showed his driver's license that has "veteran" printed on it, and cashier wouldn't give him his veteran's discount (on 4th of July weekend). We tried to explain to her that every Cabelas accepts this, and it is a valid proof of service since you have to provide your DD214 in order for the DMV to put it on there. She argued with us demanding "uummm... that one card they give you when you get out ... or something." Couldn't tell us what she wanted, only that whatever my dad had wasn't good enough. I stepped in and demanded a manager, she refused to call a manager and only then said " well.. I guess this one time... but it's still wrong." My mom being frustrated, went over to customer service to ask about this "policy" and was told by the one nice employee that the cashier was 100% wrong and there was no problem with accepting my dad's I.D. When my mom went back to the cashier who by then was ringing up my daughter, she tried to let the cashier know that she was mistaken and could accept the ID as proof... the cashier called my mom a liar!! I was over at customer service getting my purchase fixed because the same (and only) cashier rang my fishing rod up wrong and refused to correct the price to the PRINTED price on the tag... the whole experience was just unbelievable! I never thought I would experience anything like that from a company like Cabelas/Bass Pro. I have been in a lot of Cabelas and have never seen anything quite like it... at this point, I would call it a...