Problem with Gunsmith

If you have a letter stating what you contracted for, then this is really a mute point. Just have your lawyer send him a letter. it's a contractual thing. You paid him to do a certain job which he did not do as per the agreement. I don't think it's a big deal. As far as "other people go", it's none of their business.
Just keep it between you and him, or he will sue you for damaging his business or reputation or more. It's just a simple case of not getting what you paid for. It happens everyday. It sounds like he thinks he knows what is best for you and decided to go that route. Or perhaps he could not get that part as easily as another and felt it would not make a big difference to you, "but he still should have let you know".
If you are not ready to persue this past the letter writing stage then you will probablly waste your time.
Although you could post the entire incident online, and let others read an unbiased report of what truelly happened. This will do more damage than anything else, also I found in situations with large ego's, the local Better Business Bureau, works wonders. I had 2 occasions to use them, onece with a plumber who refused to come back to instal a 10 cent part,,after 5 thousand in plumbing, and another time with a large chain store. In both cases It was resolved immediatlly once they stepped in. The plumber showed up within a week to apologize and fix the pipe, and the store gave me a new flatscreen tv.
Todays internet based consumer, checks out who they are about to do a transaction with more than you think, it hurt the plumber so bad that his Buddy "who did my cabinets" said he was almost in tears" . I had no intention of doing that but the guy took my 5 grand and told me to go f myself. He said it was rediculous for him to have to come back to fix something that would only take 5 or ten minutes, I even offered to do it myself if he would loan me the wrench, " made especially for this German sink" Once someone crosses the line, then you need to show them that there are consequenses to pay. The BBB puts up a list of people who there have been complaints about, and what was done to resolve them. If the person does nothing they go on the list as somone that you may not want to do business with. The plumber laughed when I told him I had contacted the BBB, he stopped laughing very fast. Just make sure you tell the truth, don't exagerate just the facts and dates of what transpired, and any conversation you had with him.
PS: you may want to tell him that you plan on doing this prior to doing it, once you start something then it's on. Just a note that you feel cheeted and are about to start to take steps to regain what you feel you were cheated out of, including contacting the BBB in his town or city. Don't expect a kind response if any. If he threatens you then he's worried, also check to see if there are any complaints lodged against him, you can look them up on the BB site in his area, and there are other sites you can google that have similar consumer complaints on.

If you have a letter stating what you contracted for, then this is really a mute point. Just have your lawyer send him a letter. it's a contractual thing. You paid him to do a certain job which he did not do as per the agreement. I don't think it's a big deal. As far as "other people go", it's none of their business.
Just keep it between you and him, or he will sue you for damaging his business or reputation or more. It's just a simple case of not getting what you paid for. It happens everyday. It sounds like he thinks he knows what is best for you and decided to go that route. Or perhaps he could not get that part as easily as another and felt it would not make a big difference to you, "but he still should have let you know".

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eh, there are limits to that.....if you state that you wanted X work done by X gunsmith, and instead got Y work done......thats not really defamation.......

...however, if you called him a fool who will take your guns and sell them to fuel his drug habit........then its defamation.

as far as im concerned, if he isnt willing to make his customers happy by reasonable means.....then hes doing more to damage his image than anything OP could post.

if this gunsmith is really willing to screw people over, ide say the people should be informed, that way people can choose whether or not they want to do business with him based on experiences from both side of the spectrum........its really no different that leaving feedback on ebay........you do good, youll get good feedback....you do bad, you get bad feedback.

The best defense against defamation, slander, or libel, is the truth. If things are accurate and truthful, you have nothing to fear. Keep opinion and character out of it and go with evidence and facts.
If things did go awry, I reckon some of us here would like to know, and perhaps save ourselves the same headaches you are experiencing. I for one would. I'd prefer it were just the facts of the matter though, without editorial comment.

Don't even waste your money on a lawyer letter. You entered in a contract. You say he didn't fulfil it. He already knows it you aren't happy with his work. No need to blow money having a lawyer remind him of that. You only true recourse to get financial satisfaction if he refuses to compensate you is to take him to small claims court, which will likely cost you more than you will recoup due to the distance between you.

M-Cameron is correct. You can't be sued of defamation for telling the truth.

Well you can be sued. The courts might choose not to hear it, or you may win the suit or settle it. I am not sure many lawyers would take the case though.

True...You can be sued for anything...My bad wording.

Personally I'd like to know who it is that tried to pass off substandard and downright wrong work and is refusing to remedy the situation. I spend a fair amount of money on gunsmithing, and I'd like to know so that I don't send a gun and money to someone who's going to basically do what they want rather than what he's paid to do.

If he's too far away for a small claims case then there's not much you can do except to relate your experience with him here and on other firearm discussion forums. Don't trash him personally, refer to him as "conceited", etc., just explain it as:

I asked for him to do A, B, and C. He estimated the cost for the work would be $XXX.

I got X, Y, and Z, he charged me $YYY, and he refused to explain the substantial increase in price, why he didn't perform the work I asked for, and why he did work/provided a product I neither wanted or needed.

How did you pay for the work? Credit card? If so call him tell him to make it right, do the work you requested or you will dispute the charge.

If he gives you any push back simply say OK and then hang up call your CC company and dispute the charge. If you have the written estimate or agreement site that in your conversation with the CC company. Charge back the amounts for any of the work or the parts you did not agree to. Charge back any difference between the quoted cost and the final cost.

They will reverse the charge. That will get his attention and he will either loose all the $$$ he put into the gun or he will comply with your request.

I would give him the opportunity to make it right before you out him but if you have to dispute the charge I suggest posting a negative feedback here in the feedback section.

Please describe the rifle.

Food for thought - I'd want to know who to avoid.

Realistically, you got hosed. I wouldn't send anything back to him. I got hosed by a gunsmith once too. It put me out a couple hundred and I was a student at the time... It stinks when this happens, but it does. The truth is that you'll pay more to rectify the situation than if you just let it go. You can always post info about them on the Internet, along with your experience. You'd be surprised how effective that is. You're not alone in having a crappy experience, know that much.

I'm just going to raise some questions for clarification regarding your experience so please don't take any offense. Plus if you pursue anything legal you should know the answers.

1. How did you place your order? Online, email, phone? Is there written proof of the sights model number you wanted?

2. If the final price was higher than the original quote, did he explain why or did you ask? Did you try to negotiate with him? What form of communication was this?

3. When you asked for a partial refund, what was his response exactly?

I would give the guy a call instead of emailing him. Email is a valid form of communication but it's not as direct as phone call and speaking to the guy.

BTW...Sorry you had a bad experience. The two things you don't want people messing with, your guns and money.

I think everyone wants to know who to avoid but rember that alot of people are "sue happy" these days. In a case like this you have nothing to gain by posting his info online. You may just be opening yourself up to risk. I hope you get a refund or atleast the work is done right on his dime.

Matt

Let all of use know who the smithy is so know one here gets used buy him.

Again how did you pay for the work. You do not have to sue him to get your money back.

trickshot said:

I paid for the work with a postal money order.

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Sorry to hear that. Realistically, there is very little you can do that wouldn't cost more than the few hundred dollars you spent. This will happen from time to time in life. Though quite annoying, it really just is a minor annoycane it life.

It has happened to all of us in some way shape or form.

That stinks. There is very little recourse with a MO.

I would still like to know who it was.

Most lawyers will write a letter for you at little to no cost. I would pursue that avenue. Most of the time all it takes is a letter to get things straightened out.

I will contact the BBB and tell them my story, as that seems to be my only other option.

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Is a member of the BBB? I doubt it....The BBB is not a government agency like people think. It is basically a "club". The business owner pays his dues, gets to put a sticker on his door, and gets to use the BBB as a mediation source for customer complaints.

(IT IS "MOOT" not "MUTE") and my local gun store

My local dealer knows guns and -smithing and has a good line of new and used implements. Recently I asked him about his FFL transfers via mail. That was O.K. Then I mentioned that I was buying a particular T/C Encore S&W .460 action to build it up. That's when he lost ALL of my FFL transfers, forever. He says, "I'd have to charge you double my regular fee, because I could have gotten that action for you, myself." I still buy stuff from him, because he's the most savvy dealer in the county. But no more transfers.

I had a similar experience with a well known gunsmith from the mid west. I sent him a 1911 slide to be refinished and Trijicons installed. When the slide came back the finish looked nice but scratched very easily. The sights looked like old junk sights. Not like the new ones that I had sent him. The front sight did not glow at all. It did before I sent it to him. His answer was that they were fine when he sent them back to me. I should send them to Trijicon.
I contacted a nice rep. at Trijicon and they installed a new set for free. What a class company! What a no class gunsmith.