The worst Airsofter Ive ever Met
 

The guy who runs (and owns i believe) the Laser Trek in Calgary. (The big really fat dude, more like a chairsofter now i guess)

[Start Rant]
OMGoodness!! That guy is a complete asshole. He sells all black airsoft guns at ridiculous prices that even people at this forum would laugh at. And he misleads people regarding airsoft. I was just there today to play and i noticed some guns on the wall. So i go up have a look. I asked about some prices and they were ridiculous. He was selling a L96 (stock) for $600!! Thats $300 more than its actual value here in Canada. The i asked about a Tec9 and he gave me a price that was $650 more than its actual value in Canada!! Absolutely ridiculous. Then i asked about a Marushin Uzi and he said it was $900. I just couldnt believe my ears.
Then a guy comes up and starts asking for info about airsoft cuz hes new. The guy feeds him bullshit that its a dying sport and people are getting arrested and cops are going around to peoples houses and confiscating guns etc. I walked upto the guy and said goto airsoft canada, talk to gish and get age verified. The store owner interjects and says "Chances of getting verified on Airsoft Canada now, very low. Chances of getting verified in 2010, Zero". What a Liar!! I couldnt believe it!!!Like he doesnt want people to join the airsoft community. The poor guy was shocked when i told him about what was really going on.
That reminded me of the first time when i went there when i was a newbie. The guy who was working there there fed me bullshit about airsoft but luckily i joined this website as a last resort cuz i randomly found it and lo behold!! I was surprised by how much alive the sport was and how much guns were in circulation and how friendly the community was!!
Anyone who dealt with these guys, tell me your experiences (especially if you were new to the sport) with Laser Trek. Seems like these guys have a twisted agenda of their own.
[End Rant]

Word of advice, Dont deal with them. They dont deserve it.

Sorry for the rant but this had to be said. I just couldnt be quiet and let them do this to other people.

ive gotta say, he doesnt deserve the title of charisofter and that he sounds like a complete douche if that is what he is telling new people.

Wow, I'm amazed that guy could talk to you, seeing as how far his head is up his ass.

I'm not sure what to make about the ASC and AV comments. About the guns on the wall, he's got a business to run and he's trying to make money. It wasn't that long ago that those were the prices you had to pay for those kinds of guns. Remember when an ICS M4 was $800 new? A new TM was $500 from a retailer. I'm glad prices have somewhat gone down in Canada.

I've been to Trek many times and aside from the terrible lighting (understandable as it's a laser tag arena but it'd be nice to get some other lights in there), my experience with the people has been good. I certainly hope they are not misleading new players because I'd like to see the airsoft scene grow (especially here in Calgary).

Sounds like a guy on here trying to sell 20+ year old army gear.. 82 pattern web gear for $200. We get the full set plus extra pouches for $30.00.. Go figure.

Either he is doing so horribly in deep shit that he's trying to bail himself out by marking up things like that, or he's just that ignorant...
Or you could be right in that he's just a complete prick.

im pretty sure that ive never seen them that high lol, but i do remember prices being high.

Wait awhile - the 'Airsoft Economy' will turn again and you'll be able to experience it again.

True enough, but let's not forget how incredibly difficult it is to find non-chinasoft guns as retail items these days.

O.o TMs still run for that or more....

Really.......?

ehh it sounds like guys who have shifted business focus and are trying to convince themself they are right by telling others that airsoft is dying. One of our local sporting stores here in town used to carry a decent little airsoft supply of Krakens and several fairly decent pistols. Then when things got a little tougher to import they dumped airsoft and now stock camo lingerie in that location. They said that airsoft was on the outs as well but in that following year we had over 10 local players buying Krakens and similar starter guns. Our fields average attendance has doubled and the local scene is hotter than ever for players.

So the guys at the sports store better be selling lots of crotchless camo panties for it to be paying off better than airsoft...

He's "lost" our booking more times than I can count, and on more than one occasion, the "$20/night" till 11 turns into "whenever he wants to leave" which is, more often than not, 10 ish. Then it turned into "$20/hr" at which point we stopped going.

His prices are also ridiculous for the guns... accessories are about par for retail, $70 for hicaps, $50 for low and gas mags... and he's a big advocate of the mesh masks...

rentals are usually a joke, too, the charger he has for the batteries is killing them slowly (or maybe quickly, who knows?)... only problem is that's the only indoor location in calgary. can you say monopoly?

ouch- mesh masks in CQB is rough. We allow them at our field as it is outdoors CQB but we dont recommend them as the metal distorts and fatigues over time with every hit until it is possible for a BB to pop right through. We actually have a mesh visor showing how the metal twists on display in our loading area (it is right where our sunglasses with the 6mm hole in the lens used to sit lol)

No surprise, Larry is morbidly fat.. he isn't an airsofter and he is a roach looking to grease every dollar he can find. He generally sells to underagers as he wants to continue to have a place that under agers can play. Most of the experienced player base in Calgary doesn't frequent Laser Trek (LT) in the season. Some will play during the winter to keep sharp. But LT pretty much is the place that kids go to play, kids see the guns there and pay those prices because they have no other place to find guns. I have sold 2 guns on the walls of LT as I know Larry will score me a good price for the gun. And yes if you had more time into the game you would know that one time many people paid these prices for these guns.

Eh, I still remember ICS M4s being 750-800, and ICS AKs $690... Not to mention VFCs for 1200... which are now going for 700.

lol...

I remember back in 2001 when I bought a TM M4 from my local surplus store that came with a 8.4v 600mah battery and crap charger for $800 and tax, I cringe everytime I think about that. But then again, the year before that I bought an Academy L85 from a hobby store for $400.

Look guys. I know that you may defend his prices by saying that thats what you used to pay, but the guy needs to come down to earth. His prices are absolutely ridiculous and overdated now. That Uzi and Tec9 have been sitting there since last year when i went there first and probably way before that. If he wants to make money, he will have to change his attitude towards the sport. He doesnt want people going to Airsoft Canada and finding out that his prices are a supreme rip-off. Plus i just find his Bullshitting attitude towards new players just sickening. Reminds me of my own experience with him. If Calgary had another airsoft arena, i'd never even go there even if i had to take a royal dump and his place was the only one open around.

Airsoft is all about supply and demand marketing. When supply is bad and demand is high like in years past anything goes. These days supply is better and so prices are more competitive as each retailer tries to get a better share of the market.

So this guy having crappy prices just means he wont sell his stock. eventually he wont carry airsoft which sounds good as you have mentioned that he doesnt do airsoft much of a service when he talks about it. A good businessman would of course lower his prices to be more in line with current trends as sitting on stock is never a good idea in retail. From what people say this guy isnt a good businessman in many many ways. So technically he doesnt need to lower his prices... he'll just drop off the airsoft scene lol.

Allow me to quote "Band of Brothers":

"Lt. Dike's got his head so far up his ass that the lump in his throat's his god damn nose."

-Bill Guarnere,
E Company, 2nd Battalion,
506th Infantry Regiment (United States),
101st Airborne Division

"Band of Brothers" series,
Episode 8,
"The Breaking Point"

Now that quote is perfact for this guy, except for the name part.

I don't think they are defending his prices as they are more reminiscing about how it used to be. Of course we all think his prices are ridiculous, it's just that players that have recently come to the scene are spoiled like we weren't. :)

That would be Larry. Ill just say some of the nicer things that guy has done for and to the group I play with. Myself and about 15 other guys used to go there every thursday for airsoft back when we all got into it and it was great, $20 a night was awsome for a bunch of us. Now we get $20 an hour, plus bogus charges he tried to hit us up with every time we show up.

Buddy of mine did his birthday there and Larry had the balls to try and charge us $400 on top of the $20/hr. When asked about it all he said was "It was an event.", but seriously he should be doing that for a group comming in. More then once he has "lost" emails about pre booking days though we have the emails printed. He wont even help us out, he just says pay more or leave. Hell the other week he tried to charge me $50 for a can of green gas, I then took a breath and just walked away from him then my buddy goes to get one and was only was charged $30. I really have little respect for that man, and I use that term loosly because any one who repeatedly lies, cheats and practices fraudulent business arrangments is not a man in any sence of the word so far as I see it.

So like I said this is just some of the nicer things he has done for our group. Im just glad I ran into Gish at a swap meet back then and learned of ASC.

Unfortuately there are some slimey people out there, and for some reason paintball and airsoft brings out the worst kinds. I have never had dealings with this specific individual, but people like him. I was helping a friend with his paintball business back home. One of the other local operators (store and field), was very loose and fast. He had no business or work ethic. He felt like the community owed him, that we should be grateful that he was running a shop/field.

It just shows that competition is the best thing to keep a retailer honest.

Michael

Show me two retailers where you can buy NEW IN BOX Tokyo Marui AEGs.

No kidding. I'd be hard pressed to find 1 retailer with more than 5 of anything non-clear, and I've been around a bit.

3 years ago, I could find 10+ with more than 50 guns each (if their stock was low).

If you have the money and time, you can get pretty much anything you want.

I know of three, one is on vacation, one is ok and the last multiplies the HK sticker price by 3-4

And if I had time and money, I could bring in a fully automatic M82A1 sniper rifle (yes, I said fully automatic), any number of other prohibited items along with 2005 JDM SkyLines, etc etc etc.

Still didn't answer though... show me two retailers that BRING IN Tokyo Marui class guns. Not "oh, I can" but "DO".

cbcsteve, dragwindsor

Neither stock anything.

You expect a real business (cause private retailers don't have that kind of capital to keep a bunch of items in stock that aren't necessarily going to sell) to regularly stock and sell items that can land them in jail?

Riiiiight......

And that's different from ordering them in and then selling them?

I don't think so. :rolleyes:

Lot's of real businesses existed 3 years ago, some of them are still around, just not in the capacity we were used to then.

Yes, if they pre-sell them.

Exactly, but times change and businesses are afraid of what happened to SpecArms happening to them.

Pre-ordering or selling an in-stock gun are absolutely no different in the eyes of the law.

Private individuals are jail-worthy just the same as a business owner.

In this climate, any non-clear gun is an instant seller.

That's not what I meant. Businesses are much more visible to the public, and so have much more risk.

id rather retailers get w.e i want when i want it, then stock a whole bunch of crap that i dont want.

I don't know, I've been waiting for a certain restricted part from a retailer for 6 months.

Time and money my ass. Money I got, time I don't.

Nobody knows what they want. Everybody cries "OMG!! I want ________ (insert gun )!!"

But a different story when it comes time to buy, or the bitching about the mark-up, etc. I don't see alot of people complaining about the 8 models of clear currently available, they buy it anyway. If all that was available was 1 M4 and 1 MP5 and 1 AK model, that's 90%+++ of all your sales right there anyways.

Guys, please take it to another thread. The whole non-clear discussion is for another thread. You can dicuss slimeballs like Larry from your area over here, cuz Larry is most likely not the only Asshole who run an airsoft arena or field.

i dunno, all the guys i have heard of around here are pretty accommodating. the guys at Sgt. Splatters i heard can be a bit of a pain, but other places like Defcon are supposedly great! i personally play predominately at wasaga, and they are the best bar none!

RE Larry's prices: yes, they're high. He was charging $30 a can for green gas: I later found it in a local hobby store for $13 for the same size. OTOH, his prices seem around average for what things were selling for when I first joined this community. It sounds like he has not kept up with the shift in price point.
A note on the Uzi: I'ts a collector's piece only, in my opinion. A GBB shell-ejecting full size Uzi, it's beautiful to hold and shoot but completely un-skirmishable due to the shell ejecting bit. It may (or may not) be worth what is being asked for it.
As to the other business practices, I cannot speak to them one way or the other. I will agree that the place is so dark that I find it very frustrating to play there, but then my night vision really sucks. Some people seem to enjoy it a lot, others seem to share my frustration.
Just my opinions: YMMV

Would you mind telling where this shop is located? I prefer green gas to propane and I thought LT was the only place in town I could find it, it would be great to get two cans for what I was originally paying for one.

Thanks!

On another note I've been playing at Trek since the fall of 2005 and I used to pay $10/night for a great environment to play indoor CQB style airsoft. He used to carry guns back then but prices weren't nearly as bad as they are now.

Back then he seemed more keen to welcome new players and he was very accomodating. But, over time he raised prices. First $15/night then litterally 3 months later $20/night. I think he's realized that he provides the only venue for Calgary and area airsofters to play indoors. And now he's exploiting that position. I wouldn't mind if the price bumps reflected some kind of enhancements to the field but there are little that are of any benefit to us.

Plain and simple he's sucking the new and misinformed players dry. And its not the first time I've heard of him sharing misinformation and lies. Its too bad that its been run down to how it is, if I honestly had the capital to start up a new indoor field and run it for airsofters, I would.

has anyone actually called the asshole on his business practices?

Bleh, he can sell his guns over priced. Noone's stupid enought to buy them. His guns, his prices.
But giving others wrong information about airsoft is pretty stupid. Do something about it, talk to the damn guy.

People under 18 funded by mommy and daddy will happily buy them up

indeed you'd be surprised how easy it is to buy a kids happiness

Theres another airsoft arena (With poor Laser Tag lightning ofcourse) in Calgary. Its near Marlbrough mall. If your walking, you would have to go up the hill and it comes after the old rail tracks and warehouses. As for Larry, perhaps a boycott? If no airsofter is gonna come there (Few go there anyways), less money for him. But someone has to talk to him first. Maybe pretend to be new so he can feed you bullshit and then catch him in the act? Though the spineless and shameless creature that he is, he probably wont give a damn.

it's impossible actually, your just handing out a sense of power to the kid. Ever seen that quebec govn't cartoon, it portrays quebec as a kid wanting his own room, then the government says that none of his brothers or sisters have their own rooms, the kid then begins to yell, the adult gives in to shut him up, then the kid resumes asking for an apartment.

hidden camera+youtube?

Hey sounds like a complete "Cocksucker"

That other place you talk about is an indoor paintball field.. made for speedball.
But be my guest, and play there if you wish.
Note that JOC doesnt go there for a reason.

Although I myself only frequent LT once a year, I cant really blame larry.
Like someone mentioned earlier, he is just running a business... and is in it for the money (what little it brings in). Remeber his main focus is laser tag, and not airsoft.
You should actually thank the guy for even letting us use the facility. If it wasn't for LT, there wouldn't be an indoor facility to play in at all.
Sure his prices may be high and he may overcharge for some of his goods.. but then again, he is in a business to make money.

Its quite simple... if you dont like his business practises, or his prices, then dont go.

As for the boycott movement... a boycott might be more effective if the local community (ie JOC) is involved. Its pretty useless if someone in Edmonton, Toronto, Vancouver, etc boycotts a facility in Calgary.

Being a business doesn't justify lies and bullshit. There's a difference between promoting your products and bullshitting everything...

Bernard Madoff ran a business. To get money. Does that justify him stealing bilions of dollars? Hell not!
Sure, the scale is not the same. But the act of bulshitting and lying stays the same.

Speaking from a new person to this sports point of view.

If I would have walked into a place like that, seen a Fat guy behind the counter *honestly... there is really no reason to be that big, put down the fork, go out side... don't feed me a line about theoyroids. YOUR FAT AND LAZY! end of story.*

neways if I woulda seen that cow behind the counter, and the pricing of the guns... and the snobby *this sport is dieing* attitude towards it... I would have never even bothered getting into it.

I was even cringing when I was looking at a clear G&G for 450ish+tax with battery.

Thank god I stumbled on AK and than found ASC... this website alone has saved me HUNDREDS of $ *even though I could have hundreds more if I didn't play... but lets not think about that*. Also this site has given me some very valuable info.

I can personaly imagine what is going through alot of the newbies heads when they hear *800 for a gun? what its dieing?... well ... maybe paintball will be around longer.... lets go play that instead.

In closing, you should get some ASC cards or something printed up. Next time you go there talk to people that look like they would be responsible valuable members to the community and hand out the cards. Or just get some dog poop, put it in a bag... light it on fire, ring the door bell... and chuck it right in his face.

sorry of my ramblings make no sence, Nightshift +ASC + not sleeping yet= posts that are ... rambly

When I started playing that was not a bad place to go. Remember, he was getting guaranteed revenue every wednesday night for the entire winter season. A couple of years later, he raised prices by $5 or $10 per night and people stopped going. Three years running and the play field still looked exactly the same with no improvements. A number of people pitched in to do some work on the arena for free, and he raised prices again. It's not surprising to see the drop in airsoft attendance.

When a business fucks with you like he has, you tend to stop supporting them.

(My timeline might be a little out of sorts. been a while since I've thought about that rotten place)

i started playing there when it was $10 a night
a few weks later, he raised it to $15 a night
as of last year he raised it to $20 a night
and thats the price now.. $20 a night

so over a three period, he raised his prices from $10 to $20
it was also last year (after the increase to $20, that several people made structural improvements to the place)

lets put this into perspective....
how much does it cost to go watch a movie at a theatre now-a-days?
and a movie lasts.. what two hours?

as im out west, i have no idea what the field fee is for other indoor facilities... anyone care to enlighten me on those? it might provide a little more perspective on this matter.

for now, although i agree it can get expensive... its not that bad, considering....

and like it was said before.. if you dont like it, then dont go.
i dont like, so i dont go... its that simple really


as for guaranteed revenue one night a week.... yup... guarantee of about 20 players (back then... now its more like 10), at $20 a head... only works out to be $400 a night.
now if he made $400 a night.. different story.. but $400 for one night a week....thats about $1600 a month from airsoft alone.... sorry, but i dont think thats a whole lot of revenue.

Local CQB field charged $18/45 minutes if you've got all your own gear.

Splatters in TO ranged from 25-30 for about 8-midnight depending on the number of people.

our CQB field is $15 for a 6 hour day (all money goes to rent, building structures, and providing bottled water)

Thank god for the atlantic fields being free.... $5 field fee that goes toward paying for our website :p

Place I'm talking about is an actual dedicated airsoft buisness that's out to make money... Little different than some guy's paintball field that he'll fill in the slow hours with airsofters.

If you don't like his prices, don't shop there?

Being a rec ball player and reading this is way cheaper then ball. ill do the math.
10$ field fee, 20$ for paintballs (ur forced to use theres) rentals and all that good stuff.

i spent about 80+$ there and my trigger finger was itching. If i itched that finger it would end up about 100$ for one game.

12-5

so comparing those field fee's it isn't that bad. Hell im willing to spend 20$ to go play airsoft for the day that day comming in 2 years XD.

Correct me if iam wrong but if its 20$ and hour i mine as well save up for the basics

That's one of the reasons we like airsoft and not paintball, operating costs are WAY lower

He is. Period.

Obviously i meant Calgary Players.

I dont. Im talking about new airsofters getting ripped off. If the price wouldnt dissuade them from the sport, his attitude most certainly would.

EDIT: The second facility that i mentioned earlier is owned by the same people (I just found out). That facility is for paintball whereas Larry's facility is for Laser Tag and Airsoft. So maybe we could go to the other facility and ask who owns that business and see if we can file a complaint with the owner. I would HATE to find out that the owner is Larry.

thanks for clearing this up.

but if some fat guy gives me bad advice i would end up correcting him. I think you guys in calgary should all aproach him and discuss field costs let say a membership and get him down to 15$-10$ a game. You can also discuss prices on AEG's and also set up a deal where (members) get good prices. I say you guys are lucky for having an indoor cqb where you live :)

but, once a fat man gets spoon feed $ all hes going to say is "more!"

Been done before, he has no interest in it whatsoever.

As a long time Admin for the Calgary clubs I do agree that Lasertrek/Larrys advice has always been lackluster/incorrect. However he does provide the only indoor facility in Calgary that we can play at.
For the most part we are running self sufficiently without him. When we run the nights we run the nights. We arrive, pay him and do our own thing.

While his buisness practices sometimes are a little odd, don't anyone kid themselves if they owned there own facility, your in it to make a buck. We've tried to talk to him about it before but it's fallen on deaf ears.

And yes Boot, the second facility is also owned by the same group Larry @ Harry of CTF (Last I heard) Before Lasertrek (Pre 2001) we used to play indoor airsoft on the dirt paintball field.

Local paintball field where we play during winter raised their price from 10$ to 25$ over a few years, honestly I don't have a problem with that.

If we ever got the same attitude as described in the thread however...

sounds good- but who pays for all the wood and lumber to make the buildings? dont get me wrong we have plenty of 'free' fields too, great for bush battles and such, but a CQB field has to be more than dirt mounds and pallets in my books ;) We have ruins, shacks, towers and bunkers and those aint cheap :D

That paintball field hasnt ever been cleaned since it opened. There's dried paint and paintballs there that look like they came out of jesus's paintball marker. Theres more paint and paintballs in the dirt than soil. And that ungodly mixture sticks to anything that touches it. I would never play airsoft there, though ive played paintball there a few times. That place is filthy but the staff attitude is a little better than Larry's.

Actually all but 2 fields in NB are owned by our players, and the ones not owned by our players are not PB fields either.

wow sounds like an a-hole for sure.

...I woulda lept over the counter at that guy.
hehe, can't hurt the airsoft community if its just plain old assault!

Laser Trek had a stolen cab with 3 drunks plow through the front window, talk about karma!

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/ca...613/story.html

lol we pay 25 bucks to do "on field" chairsofting and play in greasy sand... but it's fun!:p

QFT that is. Other then us getting screwed with no where to play for a little bit I think he deserved it.

Haha. So there IS a god. :D

Not quite, because any damages or insurance premium costs...he will pass onto airsofters!!!

Meh, bad for him to have even more costs. I know of a hall that could be booked for indoor games but it will need alot of people to sign up to be economical.

sucks i play there and recently a taxi drove through the building.....GTA

Hey Larry
 

Come to Ontario so we can show you some manners. I have read this thread and that fat slob needs to be taken out for a beer or something........or something.

One more thing guys, I think Larry is a lurker on this forum. Can someone confirm that? Someone who maybe ageverified him? Though i wouldnt be surprised if he isnt.

well normally when I go there is an average of 20 or more people and thats 3 nights a week. so more like 4800$ a month. i would say he makes some good money plus the newbies who pay 55$ for rentals wich is normally half the people that go.

discharing of air guns within city limits is prohibited by city by-law.
the operators of your hall would require licensing from the city as well as insurance.
your right... it will require ALOT of people to sign up to be economical.

i know trek has an account on JOC, so it shouldnt be a surprise if trek has an account on ASC as well.

$55 for a rental? wtf

the last time I went there it was $15 for a rental....then there was admission so another 20 then a bag of bb's which is 20...there's your 55

yeah 15$ for a gun 20$ to play 20 for bbs so 55 if its a new player

Interesting read that's very relevant to this thread...

http://www.airsoftcanada.com/showthread.php?t=83857

Do I smell some calls to the Calgary Police Department being made?

I'm wondering wtf that guy does if he has $1000 for airsoft at the age of 15... Unless he saves up hardcore for this hobby only...

Or has a copy of mommy and daddies credit card/bank card/etc....

Please do call them, somebody. Or go talk to them, in person. This guy needs to be dealt with.

I don't know... He seems to have at least read the stickies, which is more than can be said for many people over the age of 18.

Oh no I don't mean about the kid. I mean about the guy selling to minors

Lawl, yeah that guy needs to get nuked. Put someone who actually cares about customers in there, instead of someone who tries to make a quick buck. After the "invisible hand of the market economy" prooves itself to be true numerous times, people still refuse to abide by it.

*shakes fist at monopolies*

Ohh. Greasy Larry strikes again this time raiding the pocket of a 14 year old. He looks so much like a pedophile too. Can someone do us all a favour and post a pic of him so we can all see what a pedophile he really is. http://www.airsoftcanada.com/images/...cornsmiley.gif

Put his picture and a heading.. THIS man is the reason why ur kids cant buy airsoft anymore. :D

at least that kidiot got ripped off for the M4 he bought, gotta see the bright side of everything in life :)

Haha, is this what he looks like?

http://www.progets.com/simpsons/pics...0pondering.gif

believe it or not...that photo is soooo close to accurate!!!!

and ya, having delt with larry for the better part of two years now he is a tool. he knows nothing about the guns he sells. relies on others to do the work for him, and if you ask to look at something will let anyone behind the counter cause he is too lazy to get there himself.

my experiance comes from his ignorance to his own rules. he says no gun may shoot over 320 fps but he does nothing to check or verify that that is what the guns are shooting. he also says he cleans the arena on thursdays. having broke a deal with him to play thursday nights...and agreeing to clean up after for the privilage i can say with certainty that this arena has NEVER been cleaned to a respectable grade other then by me and the people i was playing with.

When did you deal with him for thursdays? Just curious.

Except for the pony tail and beard. He has wisps of hair and he wears glasses. Someone should get a surprise pic of him and post it, lol.

lol ok mabey next time i go there.... But it wont be open for like a month because of that taxi.

It'll be worth the wait :D