I am a career Soldier who has recently returned from Iraq. While I was in Iraq, I ordered two custom airguns from Joe Bontrager. Joe Bontrager had a good reputation within the airgun community and had previously delivered a high quality product to others, but not to me or at least 25 other victims. Timeline: During my deployment to Iraq, I contacted Joe Bontrager in early '08 to purchase one of his 20 gauge air shotguns and a BSM. 50 caliber air rifle. I paid in full $1,750 which included the upgraded stock on the BSM. Bontrager told me that it would take about a year to get done and we are well past that time, this being some 19 months ago.
During this time I have sent occasional/periodic emails to Bontrager in order to check the progress of my two custom guns. He never gave me any true progress report, simply saying that guns from him take "about a year". Well, I waited over a year before I started getting worried. What really pushed my cheat-barometer to the top was when he last replied to me in December (just saying basically "be patient"), then just fell off the face of the planet (quit posting to his own website, stopped answering emails, so on). I went to his own forum http://www.bontragerair. Citymax.com/page/page/4923608.htm (since closed) and read some disturbing news (read the links at: http://www.network54.com/Forum/406412/search? Searchterm=bontrager&sort=date) there about other customers who hadn't heard anything in a long time. Some of these had not only paid money to him, but also sent him guns they already owned for him to customize. According to the threads mentioned previously, Joe Bontrager was accessing his MySpace page while ignoring his email from his customers and his own forums; thereby leaving his customers in an information vacuum, but still having time to go to a "play" site to do nothing that was related to work. Another airgunner actually went to Bontrager's house, but was just effectively run off because Bontrager had "something to do" and couldn't talk to him. After that visit, Bontrager finally posted back that he had family problems that he was helping dealing with (ill family member). This isn't about the pity party for poor Joe Bontrager. This is about his faithful customers who have paid for work never completed, for guns never received.
I know all about patience, about family troubles, about not jumping to conclusions. I posted to his own forum and have learned that a number of people have exactly the same issue that I do, some since 2007 and still no product. My belief is that he has taken our money and spent it on the normal "stuff" that people do, clothes, food, water, so on, without purchasing the necessary raw materials to actually make our guns.
He doesn't respond to any of our emails; provides no firmer timeline, and only issues empty platitudes when it comes to his earlier emails prior to 2009.
Here is the bottom line: I paid Joe Bontrager $1,750 (and have the banking paperwork to prove it) to produce two custom guns for me in a year's span and have received nothing at all. He isn't communicating with his customers at ALL, and I strongly recommend that NO ONE do business with this man. I know that he has treated others fairly in his earlier dealings, but THAT Joe Bontrager no longer exists. The new one ignores his customers and just takes their money.
I have a number of others whom he has cheated working with me in tandem to attempt to get resolution of this issue and either get our guns as ordered, or get a full refund.
Should there be someone out there who would like to advocate on my/our behalf, I would enjoy hearing from you.
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