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.
Recently PSA sent me an older outdated model of a shotgun, it was clearly the wrong firearm based on the description they had. They offered me a $30 refund, refused to accept a return and basically said “too bad, buyer beware”. I will never purchase from them again.
I’m sorry, David. That makes me think even more that PSA is a bunch of jerks. Too bad, because in terms of design, plans, etc. they could be a very good company: I have heard, for example, that their AK clones are not too bad for the price, and I’ve seen reports that they have some interesting stuff in the pipeline.
But if they’re going to act like jerks, to heck with them.