Whipped Cream Difficulties

Thanks to a tip from FotB pigpen51, we have learned that J&G Sales also has CZ 82 pistols for $199.95. Or about four cents cheaper than PSA before they raised the price in my cart. For an extra $30 (or about $10 more than PSA’s increased price) J&G will “hand select” one with a nicer finish for you.

Comes with a package of one 12rd magazine, a leather mag pouch, and a holster (may be belt or shoulder style).

And it looks like they allow you to provide your own C&R license at checkout, too.

It’s too late for me, though they also have spare magazines (and I plan to order a couple) but if you’re interested in a CZ-82, I’d recommend shopping J&G.

I can be very stubborn sometimes. Especially when someone is trying to frustrate me.

So even though I said, “Don’t do business with Palmetto State Armory” (and I stand by that, for reasons that I’ll get into below) I continued pursuing the CZ82.

I resubmitted my C&R FFL…and finally got an answer back, asking me what SKU I wanted to purchase. I provided all the information and PSA got back to me saying it was approved for C&R purchase. In order to do that, though, I had to:

• place the order
• select a FFL from their list when I placed the order
• once I placed the order, I had to email PSA back with my order number, and then they would replace the FFL I had selected with my C&R FFL

This seems to me like a convoluted and stupid way of doing things. When I ordered a C&R gun from Collector’s Firearms in Houston, I specified in the order notes that I had a C&R FFL: Collector’s contacted me in a day or two, gave me the email address I could send the FFL to, and shipped the gun with no problems. Even ordering non-C&R guns from GunBroker is smoother than this.

But, anyway, I did the dance. And, by the way, PSA raised the price of the gun in my cart by $20 since I had started the process. PSA sent me an order confirmation with the number, I provided the order number to the appropriate people at PSA, they subbed in my C&R FFL, and sent me an order confirmation with a tracking number.

Shortly after I got the tracking number, I got another email from PSA’s “Compliance Department”:

In an ongoing effort to protect our customers and our business, we systematically evaluate every order that is placed. Your order has been flagged our internal assessment system. This is a comprehensive process that covers multiple data points so we are contacting you to confirm you placed order (#########) on (##/##/####).

I replied to the email. Never got any acknowledgment. Called PSA customer service again the next day (and, I’m pretty sure, talked to the same person I talked to last time). She said the order had been approved and shipped and I didn’t need to worry about the compliance department…

…and the final punchline to this is that the gun did arrive yesterday. It looks pretty nice: I think “very good”. PSA threw in what looks like a cheap generic nylon holster, but I only got one magazine. I need to get a couple more CZ82 mags. And some 9×18 ammo: none of my local gun stores seem to have any.

Would I go through this again? No. I’m sorry, but PSA seems disorganized, and I resent they jacked up the price of the gun in my cart $20. After all this frustration, I can’t see dealing with them again, no matter how attractive the offer is.

I have been trying since Friday to order one of these from PSA:

Screenshot

First of all, when I try to log into the PSA website with my account, it makes me complete a CAPTCHA. Which wouldn’t be so bad, except that there seems to be something broken with PSA’s CAPTCHA process. Sometimes it will go through the first or second attempt, sometimes it takes a dozen or more “click on all the squares that contain X” attempts before it finally goes through. Then, since I have two factor authentication enabled, once I get the PIN, I have to go through the entire CAPTCHA process again.

Once I am finally logged in, and go through the checkout process, when it asks me to select a FFL, I do not get any option to upload a copy of my C&R license. Yes, I do have one, and (as you can see in the screen shot above) PSA claims this is C&R eligible.

I’ve used the online help system three times. The first two times, the online help team told me they would escalate this internally to the “discount code” team, and that I should hear from that team directly. That was Friday, and they said I wouldn’t have to wait until today. I’ve heard nothing. The third chat agent I used today just kept going around in circles telling me to call their customer service number. They did tell me to try a different browser, or try incognito mode: when I told them I’d tried four different browsers on two different computers, it was back to the endless cycle of “call our customer service number”.

I called the customer service number. The person who answered the phone was singularly unhelpful, telling me I needed to upload my FFL to the “compliance department”. The link for that is difficult to find, but I did manage to find it and uploaded it on Friday, before I spoke to customer service. When I told the customer service rep I had already uploaded it, she told me a) I have to wait for them to “process” it, and II) I had to specify, when I uploaded it, what items I wanted to purchase. Curiously, that’s not stated on the upload form. I asked how long it takes to process it, and the customer service rep refused to answer that question. If that person is to be believed, PSA won’t let you upload a copy of your C&R FFL to have on file in your account. When I asked about the supposed escalation to the “discount code” team, I got no reply that addressed that claim.

This is a real shame. My Makarov owning friend tells me, at that price, PSA is virtually giving them away. But that price becomes much less attractive if I have to pay FFL transfer fees on top of PSA’s shipping, shipping protection, and tax. At this point, I’m tired and I’m fed up with chasing after Palmetto State Armory to give them my money.

This is the second time I’ve tried to order something from PSA. The first time, I tried to order some 5.7 ammo they had on sale: that order was cancelled for no apparent reason.

I don’t plan to try to do business with Palmetto State Armory again. I also don’t feel like I can encourage any of my readers to do business with Palmetto State Armory.

I haven’t been treated with this much contempt since Cheaper than Dirt had a retail store in Round Rock.