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Pizza Bob

TTC Disappointment

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I know that TTC has been given glowing accolades on this board, as evidenced by the separate long thread on here that sings its praises. Had my experience there been the same, I wouldn’t be writing this.

First, the back story: Back in May or June I read a post on another firearms site, from a young man from Denmark. He was planning a vacation to the US for August and the purpose of his post was that, while here, he wished to experience shooting a .50 BMG rifle. It just so happens that one of our board members (Golf Battery – sorry for outing you Ed) has a Barrett in .50 BMG. I contacted him and he was amenable to letting our Danish friend shoot a couple rounds.

It is problematic to find a range that allows the use of a .50 BMG rifle, but I recalled that TTC touted that very fact on their website…

…and is one of the very few N.J. firearms ranges that can accommodate a 50 caliber BMG!

So I replied to the post that we could grant his desire. We kept in touch in the intervening months. He arrived as expected and we decided on last night (8/23) as the time. The three of us (plus his hosts, who had to chauffeur him around) arranged to meet at TTC.

The day before I decided that someone walking in with a .50 Cal Barrett probably wasn’t an everyday occurrence, so as a courtesy, I e-mailed them to insure that what we intended met with their approval. I asked that I be contacted ASAP if there was a problem. No response was forthcoming. Independently, Ed had the same thoughts and called them. He got an answer in the affirmative. Our Danish guest, Nick, also called and was not told that this was disallowed..

It wasn’t until it our guest was actually on the way to the facility, that Ed got a phone call telling him that .50 BMG was verboten on their range. Too late to stop Nick, so Ed and I went to the range to meet Nick and hopefully, talk TTC into allowing us to just put a couple rounds down range.

As has been oft repeated in the other TTC thread, it is an impressive facility – not my taste, but facilities like this are needed to bring more people to the sport. The staff was very accommodating, until they found out why we were there. While they weren’t impolite or rude, the atmosphere did turn decidedly chilly. There was no acquiescence on their part and Nick left disappointed.

Their range, their rules, but what I found particularly abhorrent about the whole situation, was TTC touting their ability to handle .50 BMG as a selling point for the range, being contacted several times in advance with no negative feedback on our intentions – until it was too late, – and then a refusal to even consider it. Not to mention how it made us look to our guest, and I’m not talking personally, I mean as the US shooting community. Coming from a country with laws even more draconian than NJ, I guess Nick’s expectations were pretty low on this ever happening, but he was visibly disappointed.

I contacted TTC and requested that they remove the passage about .50 BMG from their site, or, at the very least specify that while the backstop could handle it, actually shooting a .50 BMG at their range was prohibited.

A black eye for us all the way around.

Adios,

Pizza Bob

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I remember reading that on the website when they were opening and doubting it.  I kinda figured they were thinking 50 cal handgun and didn't have a clear idea of what 50 bmg even looked like.  Were you able to find another range that was able to accommodate?  I'm sure plenty of us on here could help your friend out.

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Wow - pretty disappointing.  I'm a member there and I enjoy shooting at their range.  It's definitely too small to do anything but plink and have fun with a rifle, but the fact that they bragged about 50bmg and then wont let anyone is false advertising.  I've recommended the range to a few people and told them that very story, that they can accommodate a 50 if they wanted to. 

I do get the sense they have some growing pains there and are a bit disorganized or disinterested in people for anything beyond their money.   

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PB, I remember when Phil was building the Brick Armory facility in Lakewood. He wanted to shoot .50BMG in his range. He always said it was rated as such.

Call down to GSSC and see if they will allow it:

Garden State Shooting Center

1955 Swarthmore Ave.

Lakewood, NJ 08701

732-987-6990

 

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Cherry Ridge Range has a few time slots during the week for 50 bmg. I'm not a member though so I can't guest you in. Each member can guest in 2 people at $25 person, so you'd need 2 members to guest you guys in. 

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And they still have it listed on their website:

http://www.tacticaltrainingcenternj.com/about-tactical-training-new-jersey/

Our firearms range is a full 40-yards long (60% longer than most standard ranges!) and is one of the very few N.J. firearms ranges that can accommodate a 50 caliber BMG!

 

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Bob, sorry to hear about this incident.

OBR&PC is rated for .50 BMG at the outdoor range.  I've shot 82A-1's there every-so-often (a coupla friends of mine have them---and one guy has THICK static steel targets he routinely engages with his Barrett).  I can guest-in up to 3 people at once, NOT an entire entourage, but it has to be done during the DAY, not at night.  If I can be of any help in the future, keep me in mind :) 

Rosey

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I'm sorry to hear of Bob's experience but not totally surprised.  I live not too far from them (TTC).  I was very excited when they opened.  Way before they or I joined this forum I went there on a Saturday morning.  There were 2 or 3 other customers there, all wanting to shoot.  The only employees I saw were two blond haired women.  It was very dark and eerily quiet.  All of the customers were quietly on line at the ammo window being served by the person there.  I made the other person walking the floor aware I was in need of help, When she found I was there to shoot she handed me a paper and pointed in a general direction to watch an ongoing continuous running video while I filled out my paper.  On the surface this doesn't sound too bad.  But the entire atmosphere was, as Bob put it best,  not impolite or rude, but the atmosphere was rather chilly.  I walked out with my paperwork and never went back.  

I don't need to be hugged or coddled.  But I do work hard for my money. When I'm going to give up $30.00/hr to a business I do expect some level of respect and gratitude deserved as a customer.  Not made to feel as though I'm in the way or interrupting, doing them a favor or someone's coffee break.  

I've remained silent all this year because of the rave reviews fellow forum members have given this new range and felt maybe it was an off day for all of us involved - just an isolated incident.  But hearing more word of mouth and reading more in this forum, I now feel it's important to share.  $30.00/hr may be average fees and such treatment may be par for our state but our sport needs as much boosting as possible.  Not a condescending treatment in a dark atmosphere.

 

Am I a snob?  Maybe, but as I said I work hard for my money and I feel I'm entitled to be picky about where and how its spent.  

         

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6 hours ago, BobA said:

Not a condescending treatment in a dark atmosphere.

I have been a member there for over a year and this has never been my experience, and in fact I just renewed my membership for another year. Everyone from the owner, range officers, professional, and clerical staff have always been very friendly and helpful.

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4 hours ago, tomk62 said:

I have been a member there for over a year and this has never been my experience, and in fact I just renewed my membership for another year. Everyone from the owner, range officers, professional, and clerical staff have always been very friendly and helpful.

I'm with you, when I talked with Melisa @Mrs. Peel for the hand gun meet up  she was very friendly.

sounds like bad coms

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I think it was good that Pizza Bob wrote this up. I do wonder if some of this (as Avalanche mentioned) isn't just the growing pains of a business that is still relatively young? As I recall, it even took them awhile to figure out the right membership rates, etc.

My recent visit there was really positive - and the customer service was great. BobA (who I'm guessing was there much earlier) didn't have a good experience. That also makes me think they are working out the bugs but hopefully steadily moving in the right direction. 

Interestingly, when I mentioned to TTCs owner something that was NOT on the website, he readily admitted that they didn't really keep up with the website .. because they had pretty much moved over to using their Facebook page as their primary communication vehicle. I see this ALL THE TIME with small businesses --- a webpage that's either "under construction" and never fully launched... or one that's launched but then never checked, updated, etc. What they probably need to do is go through their entire webpage, fact check everything, make corrections, and maybe even distill it down to a simpler page and add a link to drive users to their Facebook page for "current events", etc.

Now, it doesn't sound like the poor website copy fully explains the disconnect that Pizza Bob described, but it does seem to be one root cause that got things off on the wrong foot. They need to fix that - otherwise, it does look like false advertising (whether or not it was intended that way). And that's too bad --- because my impression is that they are really trying to provide excellent service. But, you just can't have big gaffes like that --- customers will remember the one time you screwed up (and tell everyone they know about it), but they'll forget the ninety-nine times you provided service flawlessly! That's just the way it is! 

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39 minutes ago, Mrs. Peel said:

My recent visit there was really positive - and the customer service was great. BobA (who I'm guessing was there much earlier) didn't have a good experience. That also makes me think they are working out the bugs but hopefully steadily moving in the right direction. 

I'll admit they were new.  A few months old.  The only advertisement I saw at the time was a billboard on 202/31 and small signs stuck in the ground about the county.  

 

Still left a bad taste.  I'll practice more on letting go.  

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39 minutes ago, Mrs. Peel said:

--- customers will remember the one time you screwed up (and tell everyone they know about it), but they'll forget the ninety-nine times you provided service flawlessly! That's just the way it is! 

Very true, but I didn't have the previous 99 times to compare.  I'm in the people pleasing business and people are the worst! 

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i went in there only once maybe a week after Maks wrote his glowing review of the place.  Figured I'd check out the merch and rent a port for an hour maybe rent a gun.  I was walking about inside for about 20mins look at accessories no one asked if i needed any help there was only me and one other customer in the store.  I stood in the middle of the store and then over at the counter looked around shrugged my shoulders and left, fuck it i'll spend my money elsewhere.  Not sure if i was wearing the wrong color tie to get service that day but I won't bother returning plenty other outstanding gun stores in this state.

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5 minutes ago, cabalrayz said:

i went in there only once maybe a week after Maks wrote his glowing review of the place.  Figured I'd check out the merch and rent a port for an hour maybe rent a gun.  I was walking about inside for about 20mins look at accessories no one asked if i needed any help there was only me and one other customer in the store.  I stood in the middle of the store and then over at the counter looked around shrugged my shoulders and left, fuck it i'll spend my money elsewhere.  Not sure if i was wearing the wrong color tie to get service that day but I won't bother returning plenty other outstanding gun stores in this state.

Joni loves Chachi and you love @remixer

 

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Meh I have my opinions of the place, it's an OKAY range. I would rather go there then Heritage any day. Hell i might hit TTC tomorrow.

 

 

 

Their website needs to be changed, that's some buuuuulllllssshhheeett

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

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2 minutes ago, Purple Patrick said:

Meh I have my opinions of the place, it's an OKAY range. I would rather go there then Heritage any day. Hell i might hit TTC tomorrow.

Their website needs to be changed, that's some buuuuulllllssshhheeett

 

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

 

 

 

I'd rather a colonoscopy than to spend my money at Heritage guild, i need to hit the range again soon wasting my cjrpc membership have only gone once or twice all summer

 

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