Sooooo Bummed !!!

[singleshot]

I bought a rifle through Rock Island Auction Feb. 11. It was listed as condition NB, which stands for: NB = EXCELLENT – near new condition 95% - 98%, used but little, no noticeable marring of wood or metal, bluing near perfect (some wear at muzzle or sharp edges can be expected).

I finally took delivery of it today and found my 4 digit No. 1 in .270 to have a fair amount of cracking in the stock, which some had been filled to hide, a finish wiped on and one spot where the cracking had continued after the filling. The front sling swivel has been messed with as some point and the wood is chipped there and there is a piece missing on the forend where it butts up against the receiver.

The quarter rib has a raised area where when the rings where installed improperly, is pulled up slightly. This will make it impossible to put on rings without filing down the high spot.

I've got a call out to them right now to see what is their procedure when their "condition code" does not match the actual condition of the rifle. I expected used and could probably deal with the quarter rib issue, but the cracking stock has me wanting to send it back.

I'll update this later when I get my return call on what they want to do with this issue.

 

[golferboy426]

I'd be sending that back at their expense If you paid by CC I'd be disputing that charge but first see their response

 

[gewehrfreund]

If this is the one that was sold with the old single shot 22, I almost did some bidding on that myself.
Those condition issues seem too obvious to me to call it 95-98% condition. You should talk to them and see what they are willing to do for you.
Checking in older walnut is not that uncommon, especially in figured wood, but it seems strange on this stock. Also, it's obvious to me that some ham-handed individual tightened down the fore end swivel stud one turn too many. Too bad. Good luck with the resolution.

 

[singleshot]

Gewehrfreund, that's the auction....

I've got a call out to them about the issue, but I think it's too late over there, so I probably won't get a call back until tomorrow.

They've got a pretty big write up on their site for absentee bidders... It basically states that it's a done deal. But it also state that they "try" to mirror the NRA's rating system, which in this case was not near accurate.

I'm hoping they make things right in this case. Rating something as high as they did had me feeling pretty secure about bidding on it. And beings as this is my first non-prefix rifle, I really wanted a treasure to hold onto.

They appear to be a stand up company, so I'm hoping they will understand my surprise to the actual condition vs. their rating of it and make it right.

singleshot

 

[singleshot]

Thought I'd update this;

Talked with them this morning. My first transfer was directly to Judy (the VP), which surprise me. She was pleasant and to the point about their stated "as-is" stance on internet sales, which is well written on their site and one I didn't question to begin with. My question was directly towards their rating system and what this rifle was rated verses what it actually is.

After some discussion, she offered me my buyer’s premium back, which amounted to $165.00. This would have made the two rifle purchase just under $1200 and beings as the other rifle was an incomplete .22 and one that I didn't want anyways, this was declined.

I don't want to say reluctantly, but she did have a desire to rectify this without taking the guns back. The costs associated with shipping/transfers all eat into the bottom line and I understand that. She finally offered to take the guns back and give me a full refund and she wants the guns sent back with “attention” to her put on the box so she can make sure the interns grading the guns will see what I’m seeing.

I was fully anticipating eating the premium and associated fees if they took them back, but it appears that I'll be getting my full purchase price back.

So to close this...Rock Island Auctions came through for me and I could never say how much I appreciate that. I do know, I learned a valuable lesson about “inspection periods” for any future internet purchases. I’d rather be out shipping/transfer fees than over a grand that I could never in good faith recover.

 

[gewehrfreund]

Good to hear they were willing to take the guns back. I wonder what will happen to that #1 now?

 

[singleshot]

probably regraded and put back on their next Regional auction.

If I had early wood to replace the stuff that's on it, I would have probably kept it. The metal (minus the quarter rib) is in exceptional condition.

 

[picketpin]

Well, hopefully it's sho up again , graded slightly lower. This time around I might be interested. ;-)

I have other non prefix #1s so another, fairly rare, would fit fine. The slind stud damage would be an easy fix and "I" would just leave the dings. It is after all a 40+ year old "used" rifle. I'd just replace the rib, rather than doing any filing etc.

Glad this worked out for you.

Ross