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Steps to take?

I would like to know from the folks that know what steps to take to get my stuff back. I sent all parts including reamer and go no go gauge to have a build done and it has been 16 months now and the fella keeps telling me next week next week. I just want my stuff back and pay the guy for what he has done and just get my local Smith to finish it.What can a man do maybe call the local sheriffs department or local bully I just don’t know what to do and don’t want to be a ass about it,just feel he has had plenty of time thanks?
 
Hmmmm. Have you actually told him that you want your rifle and components back right now? He might keep procrastinating, but you need to make it perfectly clear to him that you are finished waiting and he needs to send everything back immediately, no questions asked and no other options. If he does not do so, then I would look into contacting the local sheriff's department in HIS area.

I have had to do this with a couple taxidermists in the past where I was waiting over 2.5 years for mounts to be completed. Totally sucks. When i was out of options and down to my last resort, I had no issues with the local sheriff's department in the individual's area assigning a detective to the case and paying the individual a visit. The Sherriffs departments have always been extremely helpful and got me my stuff back. Getting any money back is a lot harder if the guy is broke. Unfortunately, I never got any of my down payments on taxidermy back, but at least I got my antlers and capes eventually. On the last incident, the sheriff actually acquired and delivered the items to me personally because he knew if I met face to face with the guy to get the stuff back by myself, teeth were gonna fly! Lol.
 
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Contact the Attorney General for the state it occured in.

No. Thats putting the cart WAY in front of the horse. A detective would have to investigate and elevate the case to the attorney general if and when required. Generally a case will not go to the attorney general unless it exceeds "$x,xxx" in losses and multiple victims are involved. One of my taxidermy cases was elevated to the state attorney general because there was over 30 people who were ripped off for a very large amount of money. If you go to the attorney general first, they'll ask if you have contacted the local authorities so they can launch an investigation. There is NO case for the attorney general to even consider without a proper investigation behind it.

But the first step is to tell the guy he wants his stuff back right now, no questions asked. Otherwise the Sherriffs will ask him if he has actually made it clear to the individual that he wants his property returned before they take action.
 
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Call him and follow up with a certified letter. That should put your ducks in row if you need go any further.
 
Send him a Certified Letter stating "Time has Expired & To return All your property" and that If this is not met Law Enforcement will be contacted. - Police / Sheriffs Dept. & ATF. - The Last thing he wants is a visit from the ATF being a FFL Holder.
 
The legal system will be reluctant to help. They will view it as a civil matter as you hired a person to preform a task. You can help this by sending him a Certified letter stating when you dropped or sent him the items, state the time frame he quoted you, how far past the due date he is, request the items back immediately and advise him you will pay for all work done to date. Also request he email you with a response or send a letter to reply. That way you have proof the agreed or is choosing to keep the items. In Texas it is only considered theft if you are wrongly kept from enjoying the ownership of the property. A reasonable person will be the standard as to how long this time frame would be. Meaning if you send the letter Monday you can not presume theft of the property on Tuesday. If you get no response contact the Law Enforcement in the area where the theft occurred. You can file where the smiths shop is, or from where you shipped it from.
 
BP1 I do understand the gut wrenching heartache of the situation. I had a similar experience with a well checked out smith in 2004 -2010. The first two custom builds seemed great and were timely ... found out later that he had not provided the specified barrel and had loosened the barrel to time a Holland break which caused an intermittent miss fire head space problem. Sent custom 3 and 4 back for ridiculous stock work which he did fix ... took another six months. Meanwhile he had moved to another state and taken a full time position with a barrel company. From there things went down hill fast ... quit responding to emails and years passed waiting on the next custom and two re-barrels. The final straw was when he sent the third custom and the limbsaver butt pad was loose on the stock, he had put only on screw in part way and after further inspection discovered he had again not supplied the specified barrel on the new build and had not cryo treated any of the barrels after charging for it. I had to then go through the process of demanding my guns and parts back ... got no money back and had to pay for the shipping, and lost the stock and barrel that he knew from the beginning was for a display in my trophy room, as I had take over two hundred whitetails with it. Buyer Beware !! The only silver lining in the whole story is that I then found John Whidden of Whidden Gunworks and have never had another problem. He's a first class gentleman and a pretty good shot too!! He took all the problems and made them in to a piece of ART. He also built me an amazing F Class gun on top of it.

Demand your parts in writing (send certified) then follow up with a call or email and make sure he knows to expect a visit from the Sheriff if not complied with immediately.

Best of Luck getting it resolved !!
 
Thanks for the information,I just figured everything up and it’s right at $2200.00 worth of stuff.
 
Thanks for the information,I just figured everything up and it’s right at $2200.00 worth of stuff.

Ought to qualify as GRAND if you decide to take it to the pertinent Authorities. Good Luck!

The only silver lining in the whole story is that I then found John Whidden of Whidden Gunworks and have never had another problem. He's a first class gentleman and a pretty good shot too!!

John's tops in my book too. None better!
 
Why not just go ahead and identify the gentleman on this blog, so that others may not fall into his web?? o_O

Dan
I may just have to do that,but I want to get the letter to him first and give him a chance to respond. I also don’t want everyone saying he’s a good guy and this and that I am not questioning or saying anything bad about him personally,but as a business man he is lacking in every department there is.
 
I may just have to do that,but I want to get the letter to him first and give him a chance to respond. I also don’t want everyone saying he’s a good guy and this and that I am not questioning or saying anything bad about him personally,but as a business man he is lacking in every department there is.
Why would you post here and start the slander process before you have contacted him in a legal manner ? I understand you are frustrated,but do you honestly think this is the right approach ?
 
You’ve been given good advice with the certified letter and involving the Sheriff if needs be. I would include as much detail as possible in your letter. That should get him motivated to send your property back.

It’s a shame when things like this go bad. I had a project go down a similar road and endured to the end. By the time I recieved the rifle back I was so fired up that every time I handled it it brought back the frustration of the build process. Part of the fun of a new build is the aniticipation of it all, when things go south it can be disappointing to say the least. I sold it shortly after getting back, bad mojo.

I would give him fair notice. If it becomes apparent that dishonesty is involved or that he has bad intentions I don’t see anything wrong with sharing with others the facts of the situation. I wouldn’t bad mouth him per say but I would share the facts, the history of the experience with others so they can factor that into their own decision when looking for a good avenue for a build. That’s part of being in business, negative reviews are helpful IMO if they are warranted. Like wise, it’s nice to share positive reviews when we have had good experiences with builds.

Good luck, I hope it goes smoothly and your back on track in short order.
 
Why would you post here and start the slander process before you have contacted him in a legal manner ? I understand you are frustrated,but do you honestly think this is the right approach ?

Well because I have asked this fella several times to please let’s stop where we are at on this and please let me know what I owe you and no hard feelings on my part just want my stuff back so I can get a local smith to finish it, and keep being told next week gets pretty damned old. I have never been in this position in my life with anything and just don’t know what to do, but when you are told several times it will be there and it’s not well you tell me What would you do?
 
I have never been in this position in my life with anything and just don’t know what to do, but when you are told several times it will be there and it’s not well you tell me What would you do?

At some point you need to 'draw a line in the sand'. A letter delivered by Certified Mail may be enough, or you may have to retain an attorney to get more leverage.

If that doesn't bring a positive result within a reasonable time frame then you have grounds to take it to the next level.

If there's a serialized action involved you have more on your side than if it's just a collection of stuff....
 

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