Update: Specialty Shooting Sports bullied to stop cross US/Canada border sales

[Booger]

We still love ya Booger.
Any new developments?

I will shut up now. 

LOL

[Sfttailrdr46]

We still love ya Booger.
Any new developments?

Jesse is keeping it zipped for the first time since he joined AMAZING

[Booger]

We still love ya Booger.
Any new developments?

Jesse is keeping it zipped for the first time since he joined AMAZING

I like that "AMAZING" thing.

[MikieG]

I for one happen to enjoy his posts.

[Sfttailrdr46]

We still love ya Booger.
Any new developments?

Jesse is keeping it zipped for the first time since he joined   AMAZING 

I like that "AMAZING" thing.[/move]

even your silence is amusing 

[56S]

I sure can feel the hate in this thread.  We airgunners have a limited number of places to purchase our airguns and associated supplies.  Shooting Skud Missiles at any one of the vendors in the business is not good for the hobby as a whole.  It reduces competition and gives us a bad name. 
I learned early on here at GTA that politics plays a part in how will you fit into the click.  I shall leave it at that.

[Sfttailrdr46]

I sure can feel the hate in this thread.  We airgunners have a limited number of places to purchase our airguns and associated supplies.  Shooting Skud Missiles at any one of the vendors in the business is not good for the hobby as a whole.  It reduces competition and gives us a bad name. 
I learned early on here at GTA that politics plays a part in how will you fit into the click.  I shall leave it at that.

I do not beleive it is hate it is disappointment in one of the few vendors that serves several roles (1) wholesaler (2) brick and mortar retailer & (3) an internet vendor. They are not a mom and pop operation and to expect to recieve fair and courtious treatment and not receive it after spending a not insignificant amount of hard earned money will generate a less than positive responce from the buyer. When you are in a successful business the customer and their perception of you is paramount. A negitive experiance will garner a negitive responce from the buyer. I work as a service manager at a small HVAC company and one unhappy customer will tell anybody that will listen why they are not happy so many will hear why you should not choose to buy goods or services from them. The happy customer will tell many less people about that great experiance unless asked who did the great job. If you look in the Buyers and Sellers gate you will see many threads about vendors and privite sellers that go above and beyond to insure a positive sale or return.

If a vendor gets negitive press and does a better job going forward all will benifit JMO

[TOM aka critter99]

I sure can feel the hate in this thread.  We airgunners have a limited number of places to purchase our airguns and associated supplies.  Shooting Skud Missiles at any one of the vendors in the business is not good for the hobby as a whole.  It reduces competition and gives us a bad name. 
I learned early on here at GTA that politics plays a part in how will you fit into the click.  I shall leave it at that.

  Do you understand this thread is about one vendor stopping you from having another choice to buy from via a back door method?   Its not about them keeping you as customer via good service or pricing.  Its about eliminating competitors and controlling the market via unfair means

Feel free to PM me and I will fill you in on specifics and if you hear the story you will be jumping right in

[ancient1one]

I sure can feel the hate in this thread.  We airgunners have a limited number of places to purchase our airguns and associated supplies.  Shooting Skud Missiles at any one of the vendors in the business is not good for the hobby as a whole.  It reduces competition and gives us a bad name. 
I learned early on here at GTA that politics plays a part in how will you fit into the click.  I shall leave it at that.

I was not going to comment in this thread for the same reason. The more air gun vendors competing the better for all. That being said this past June I bought a Brocock from ssso, before buying I spoke with with Ronda and Mike 3 or 4 times about the tariff, shipping, converting the dollar to Canadian. They were pleasant, friendly and could not have be more helpful.

This past Friday I called to ask if they had any 177 hi powered Concepts, magazines for the .22's and orings in stock.. They could not have been more helpful or easier to deal with. The end of the conversation Mike says "all the info you asked about will be emailed shortly talk with you soon". I couldnt help but ask him what happened between ssso and Weihrauch.

He was cautious "how do you know about that?" I told him from the GTA forum guys are not happy your not allowed to sell Weihrauch across the border any more. He replied "It is a shame but the boss in Germany wants it this way". I asked what brought that on? Mike replied " Not 100% sure but for a little over a year now AoA has been sending emails to ssso asking to stop all US Weihrauch sales". "Right before Weihrauch called then sent a letter to ssso informing us we are no longer allowed sell to US customers AoA sent us a nasty email threatening to do something if we did not stop on our own".

AoA has the means to take most if not all the US Weihrauch sales from ssso with pricing and service. Back door politics is bad for everyone especially the end user(you and I). If AoA is willing to take out a small company in this method what will they do to their real competition like PA, AGD and Midway? Talk about reducing vendors? Friendly competition is good for all but back door politics to remove competition is just slimy.

[hutnicks]

Yet still after all the hubbub no one seems to know what the actual distribution agreements with Weihrauch state. Until that becomes clear I really cannot side with either AoA or SSS on this one. Just far too little factual information on the issue.

[Nathan]

Yet still after all the hubbub no one seems to know what the actual distribution agreements with Weihrauch state. Until that becomes clear I really cannot side with either AoA or SSS on this one. Just far too little factual information on the issue.

X2

Nathan

[TOM aka critter99]

SSSO has sold cross border for 16 plus years agreement NEVER stated "Canada Only" that is until they got back doored by a US based Vendor

here is a thread that got deleted on another forum spelling errors and all

Weihrauch deal with Specialty shooting sports info found out!November 7 2014 at 5:21 PM   
Mike Ellingsworth / 4888blues (Login 4888blues)
YF12
I just received a returned call from Mike, from specialty shooting sports.

So here it is!


I asked and he said they were always aloud to sell to the U S market, no contracts stating other wise period!

It was only about a year or so now that they been having troubles receiving""nasty emails and "nasty complaints" "Nasty threats".

Mike did not say the vendors name, but my conversation hit the nail on the head with out him having to say their name.

I told Mike that Hans weihrauch emailed me back and said he would be looking into the matter, and Mike told me he has also been in contact with Hanns Weihrauch and said he is working on a solution also.

Mike said

The Germans are not arrogant they have a different way of speaking then the U S people do, they are good people and mean well,and we left it at that.

ON a different Note.


As far as I am concern I am not buying nothing from AOA I dont care whats on sale, I am done, I dont care if its a 1/2 off special sale keep your stuff I dont want it!

We all can play the game now cant we.

By the way
specialty shooting sports are some fine people and absolutely excellent to deal with.

Mike



This message has been edited by 4888blues on Nov 7, 2014 5:28 PM

I have gathered background on this and placed it at:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/754392/

I suggest you also write HW and express your dislike of being cut off from a great dealer this way.  I for one will buy no HW again EVER unless this is reversed.....and ya know that new Walther underlever will be a great substitute for a HW97 check it out

https://www.pyramydair.com/product/walther-lgu-air-rifle?m=3548

Vid review LGU

[hutnicks]

I have an email into Weihrauch, and am awaiting a response. It was not threatening in any manner as I prefer not to make radical decisions based soley on forum information, or lack there of.

I have also corresponded with Andreas at FX and he has shed far more light on the distribution scenario than anyone else so far. I found it to be quite informative.

As for calling for a boycott of any given manufacturer or distributor. I would caution against radical actions made on partial information. You just never know who's hands you may be playing into.

[TOM aka critter99]

I have an email into Weihrauch, and am awaiting a response. It was not threatening in any manner as I prefer not to make radical decisions based soley on forum information, or lack there of.

I have also corresponded with Andreas at FX and he has shed far more light on the distribution scenario than anyone else so far. I found it to be quite informative.

As for calling for a boycott of any given manufacturer or distributor. I would caution against radical actions made on partial information. You just never know who's hands you may be playing into.

I also know about the FX reply sounds like a circular firing squad started....just have not figured how that fits with the SSSO scenario.

By the way that note from FX is NOT CONFIDENTIAL

" Hi again!
I spoke to Fredrik and he said that it’s not confidential material.
Regards
Andreas Gustafsson"

Its an entirely new topic   

 The subject dealer has other issues in dealing with customers that is what drove me to seek a fair dealer like SSSO to begin with.  I will not buy from them and now I will not buy HW anywhere till this is reversed 

I am sure of only one thing the only honorable actor is SSSO so far

[hutnicks]

I still think it's far too early on to start picking heroes and villains in this one. When that sort of thing happens the reaction chain gets out of hand and you find that responses directly from the major players dry up as they are put in a no win situation no matter what their response(s) may be.

You have to start thinking as to why there are so few manufacturers and distributors who maintain any sort of constant presence on the forums.

I am most likely a little more tolerant in that having had to deal with the reverse of the SSS scenario for years I do not see it as a huge issue. I have a shared box in the States and when a vendor tells me they cannot ship to Canada I have it sent there. Inconvenient yes, but a necessity at times.

[TOM aka critter99]

I am waiting on the HW replies.....

SSSO represents the brand much better

[ptpalpha]

I can't see that there is any "grey area" in this topic.  What AoA did is threaten SSSO for over a year to stop selling HW products to US buyers.  SSSO was under no such obligation by contract with HW, and rightfully ignored AoA's threats.  AoA then went directly to HW with their complaints (and here one has to imagine what sort of conversation that was) and consequently HW directed SSSO to stop selling to US customers, a source of revenue the small business had been enjoying for over 16 years.
Again, I don't think there's any mystery here.  Unless you're waiting for HW to send you copies of their contracts with both AoA and SSSO, all the information is already out there.
The only thing I'm waiting for is to see if HW reverses the decision.  That will determine whether or not I will continue to buy Weihrauch products. 
As for personal opinions, the only thing I'll add is that (1) I'm disappointed that HW made such a decision in the first place, and (2) I'm disappointed that they seem to be dragging their feet in addressing it.  You can tell me about how "complicated contractual issues take time" all you like, but in the meantime they have a loyal customer base that can't buy rifles unless they use AoA, and can't get parts at all because AoA chooses not to stock parts. 
-Paul

[56S]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-29/tesla-fight-erupts-in-georgia-as-dealers-seek-sales-ban.html

I've been following this battle between Tesla and the good old boy car dealers association.  This dicussion reminds me of that.

[ptpalpha]

I heard that story on the news the other day and I thought exactly the same thing.

[hutnicks]

I don't see how you can compare violating State Law  with private company distribution agreements at all.