Blythe's Griffith

[Snapdragon]

I drove to Blythe's Griffith yesterday. I've never been there before; I usually just to to the Valpo Blythe's because they have a range and Griffith doesn't.

I walked in and a guy asked what I wanted. I told him I wanted a youth 20 ga or a small bolt-action rifle, new or used, to plink around with at Winamac. Told him that I would prefer to spend around $300 and that the only gun outside the $300 that I might be interested in was a Rossi Circuit Judge. He said they didn't have a Circuit Judge. Out of the hundreds of long guns they had, he could only seem to find me two guns, and one of them was well over my price limit. Then he walked over to the case and started pulling out revolvers and SA pistols even though I said I had three and didn't want any more. When I wasn't interested in the handguns, he simply walked away and started talking to the other employees. I wandered around the store looking at long guns while he chatted with his co-workers. I found a Rossi Circuit Judge and tried to show it to him, but by then he was deep into his phone conversation. He finally saw me holding it and said "I didn't know we had that" and then went back to talking on the phone.

How does this store even stay open? Apparently they are paying employees to talk to each other instead of helping customers. Several people I've talked to have had the same experience of being ignored, even when the store is empty.

 

[Raitekk]

I have had nothing but terrible experiences at this store.
They are absolutely horrible, and I too wonder how they stay in business.
Hands down the worst gun shop I have ever been to.
I could go on for days with negatives experiences of this shop.

On the other hand, Blythes Valpo is a great shop.

 

[Bill B]

To clarify:
Blythe's in Valpo is a totally different entity than Blythe's in Griffith. They are not the same store with two locations, they are entirely separate.

 

[Snapdragon]

Thanks for clarifying that, Bill. I have no beef whatsoever with Blythe's Valpo.

 

[chef larry]

Thanks for clarifying that, Bill. I have no beef whatsoever with Blythe's Valpo.

That's because you haven't been Sadclowned yet.

 

[Raitekk]

That's because you haven't been Sadclowned yet.

 

[melensdad]

To clarify:
Blythe's in Valpo is a totally different entity than Blythe's in Griffith. They are not the same store with two locations, they are entirely separate.

Different owners but the same name!

Blythes in Valparaiso is AWESOME, easily one of the BEST gun shops in the state
Blythes in Griffith is HORRIBLE

Blythes in Valparaiso has knowledgable and honest gun salesmen
Blythes in Griffith has lying sacks of crap that work the gun counter, they will LIE to your face while the owner stands next to them and backs up the clerks

Blythes in Valparaiso will take time to educate customers, even women!
Blythes in Griffith totally ignores women customers and is too lazy to help men with questions.

Blythes in Valparaiso has good prices, sometimes GREAT prices
Blythes in Griffith has HORRIBLE prices and is a known price gouger

In short, if Blythes in Valparaiso were to burn down I'd start a petition to have the date declared a national day of mourning while at the same time I'd start a collection to help the owner (whom I've never met) rebuild his store because that is how well I've been treated by that store.

But if Blythes in Griffith were to burn and I was standing in front with a fire hose I'd turn the hose to the street and wash dirt off the roadway before I'd douse the fire.​

.

 

[Raitekk]

Different owners but the same name!

Blythes in Valparaiso is AWESOME, easily one of the BEST gun shops in the state
Blythes in Griffith is HORRIBLE

Blythes in Valparaiso has knowledgable and honest gun salesmen
Blythes in Griffith has lying sacks of crap that work the gun counter, they will LIE to your face while the owner stands next to them and backs up the clerks

Blythes in Valparaiso will take time to educate customers, even women!
Blythes in Griffith totally ignores women customers and is too lazy to help men with questions.

Blythes in Valparaiso has good prices, sometimes GREAT prices
Blythes in Griffith has HORRIBLE prices and is a known price gouger

In short, if Blythes in Valparaiso were to burn down I'd start a petition to have the date declared a national day of mourning while at the same time I'd start a collection to help the owner (whom I've never met) rebuild his store because that is how well I've been treated by that store.

But if Blythes in Griffith were to burn and I was standing in front with a fire hose I'd turn the hose to the street and wash dirt off the roadway before I'd douse the fire.​

.

 

[Raitekk]

double post.

 

[Dawall]

Maybe you are nearer to Chicago...

 

[tv1217]

The only positive thing I can say about the Griffith Blythe's is that they had decent prices on the Dirty Bird and Shoot'N'C targets last time I was there.


P.S. Don't eat Putin's cookies, they probably have polonium in them.

 

[Wild Deuce]

*

 

[Raitekk]

However, I hope I have been careful enough to describe my experiences within the framework of what has happened personally ... to me ... and not used a broad brush.

This is a good point.
For the record, yes, my statements are based off of over a dozen personal experiences, and nothing else.

 

[melensdad]

Vitriol?

Definition of Vitriol is "cruel or bitter criticism." That would imply that the critic is in error and/or the criticism is unfair.​

So I'll give you just ONE of my bad experiences with Blythe's Griffith store. When the father owned it I was a very happy customer. With Roger(?) as the owner I am totally dissatisfied. I won't relay what my daughter experienced. I won't relay some of the other bad experiences. I won't relay other relatives who have had bad experiences. I have MORE bad experiences there in addition to the following story!


Name calling?

Let's recap. I called them LIARS. If telling the truth is "name calling" then I'm guilty of this so-called name calling. But the guy outright lied to me. That deserves to be stated in any review. He outright told me that the more expensive a gun costs, the more paperwork they have to go through to process the transfer. That is a LIE. Roger, the owner of the store was not 5 feet away from me when his clerk LIED to me. I looked at him and said: Is he serious? Roger said YES. He went on to say that if a gun costs $1000 or more then there is more paperwork and a higher cost to process it into "the book" that gun shops keep. Again, a LIE. So he backed up a LIAR, one that he apparently happily employs because that clerk is still there based on a recent conversation I had with someone who was in that store this past weekend.

Now if I was not familiar with the backroom paperwork required by a gunshop then maybe he could have convinced me that he was telling me the truth, but I knew for fact that he was lying to me. And his boss, the owner of the store, backed him up.​

So am I name calling or am I telling the truth?

And since I am telling the truth then how can it be implied I am being vitriolic?



Now I'm not looking for a reply, we don't need to take this thread off topic. I know you are not personally insulting me. But honestly my early experiences with Blythe's under the father's ownership were all very positive and the store has taken a DRAMATIC TURN FOR THE WORSE under the current stewardship by the son.

Your milage may vary.

 

[manygunsmike]

I have bought more guns from Griffith Blythes then ALL of you combined and I never had a problem ??? HUH..???


manygunsmike

 

[Snapdragon]

I have bought more guns from Griffith Blythes then ALL of you combined and I never had a problem ??? HUH..???


manygunsmike

That's good to know, Mike. If my experience was a fluke and it goes differently another time, I'll be happy to post it.

 

[melensdad]

I have bought more guns from Griffith Blythes then ALL of you combined and I never had a problem ??? HUH..???


manygunsmike

Not sure, but I'd guess that I've bought no less than 10 to 12 guns from Blythes in Griffith. Wouldn't surprise me if the number was higher. Some were new handguns and some used handguns, some used rifles, several new rifles and new shotguns. A couple high grade trap and sporting clays guns. Despite that, I'm a very unhappy customer.

Correct that, I'm an ex-customer.

 

[jedi]

 

[melensdad]

Correct my prior post, thought about it for a few minutes, I've bought WELL OVER A DOZEN guns from Blythes Griffith. Probably closer to 20+

Never again!

They lost me as a customer.

 

[t_star]

I've had one good experience at Griffith Blythe's, and that was over ten years ago, when I bought my father a gift card for them. Now that I've moved on to buying my own guns, the times I have been in there I have not been impressed. I am usually ignored completely, or quite literally talked over, to a man(whom accompanied me to the store) that was standing behind me. That was even after it was made clear I was the one looking to purchase. Admittedly, I did end up buying that day, but only because I was overly excited about my very first gun purchase and I had money burning a hole in my pocket.

Every other time we have walked into that store, it was to see what kind of ridiculous prices they had on their guns. If we do interact with any of tue employees there, it's back to talking to the man, and completely ignoring me. That's no way to treat a potential customer.

Despite my negative experiences, I am glad others have had positive experiences. It is true, people have bad/off days, I understand that completely. But, when more often then not, my personal experiences are negative, it makes me not want to patronize a business.



Edit to add: I won't call them names, nor wish ill to their business, I've no reason. However, I will not spend any of my money there again.