Beware Of Great American Gunstock

[gspspinone]

Had an absolutely horrible experience with this firm, wondering if others had as well?

I ordered a stock and foreend for an Ithaca NID 16GA, the gentleman at GAGS told me I didn't have to send him my gun or its stock just give him the serial number and he could make one, which I did. I asked him tosendf it to me at 90 % as I was going to have my gunsmith do the final fitting as I was also having the metal redone. I also ordered tung oil, a recoil pad and a grip cap. When I recieved the package three weeks later I noticed that the forend was not correct and there was no tung oil or grip cap---although I was charged for them. I called and spoke to a man named Henry who stated that he was "65 years old" and that "these things happen." He did offer to remake a forend if I sent him the original (which I wanted to do in the first place) and he would also send the oil and grip cap. I agreed. 4 weeks later the package returned, the forend was correct but no Tung oil or grip cap again. I called back and spoke to Henry who stated that "I am 65 years old you know,I get forgetful." Henry stated that it would be easiest to just refund my money for theoil and cap, I agreed as I believed it would be easier as well. Prior to takingthe stock and gun to my gunsmith he asked me to whittle down the stock some and offered to reduce the price a bit for this laber. I did rough out the basic shape I wanted and then I took the stock and my gun to him. As we removed the original stock we noticed that the cut outs for the new GAGS were not even close to the original stock. I was really pissed as I had already been delayed by 4 weeks due to the forend and also the 1 week I put into the stock. I also never had my card credited for the amount of the Tung Oil and Grip Cap. When I called Henry back he stated that he would like me to send him the original stock so he could make another (this was in September). I reminded Henry that I offered to do this initially toavoid these problems but that he had assured me all he needed was the serial number, heonce again responded that "I'm 65 and these stocks can be tricky." I wexplained that at this point all I wanted was my money back and that I would send the Stock and Forend back for a refund as GAGS have a 100% Guarantee for customer satisfaction. I also reminded him of the oil and grip cap that he never refunded me. He agreed. Three weeks later I noticed a credit of $96.00 on my card, I called Henry and asked where the other $270 was, Henry stated that the stock was "mutilated" and could not be used for another shotgun so he would not credit the whole amount. I replied that A) I didn't mutilate the stock, it was rather well formed and B) the stock didn't fit an Ithaca NID anyway so that he had mutilated it in the first place. Henry then hung up on me. I was pissed! I called back and was putonhold for 10 minutes before Henry cameback to the line and recieved some choice words from me. He responded again that "I'm 65 years old." I suggested that he may have to retire. As to my inquiry about his 100% satisfaction Guarantee and his sense of morals Henry had nothing to say. After going back and forth with this guy for 15 minutes or so he stated that he would "think about it" and get back to me. He also admitted that he had lost all of my paperwork previously and that's why it took so long to credit me the $96.00. I assuredHenry that I was a very loyal customer who, if treated well, made every effort to send business to people but that the inverse was also true. Ithas been 4 weeks since I last heard from Henry, I've not recieved anymore refund and have left him 2 messages without a call back.

I'm unsure if this is typical of GREAT AMERICAN GUNSTOCKS or not, but I strongly caution anyone from doing business with someone with principles more closely rooted to larceny than craftsmanship.

[Tim Burke]

Contact your credit card company; they may refund your money.

[gordo b.]

Geez, I know stock makers who are almost 80 and wouldn't cop such a plea! I'm over 60 and a businessman, the guy ought to throw away the geriatric rap and take some vitamins or go fishing!

[esheato]

To be fair to the company...Great American Gunstocks is down the street from me. I've been in their facility many times perusing the aisles of beautiful blanks and have nothing but great things to say about their store and/or their professionalism.

It's surprising to hear such a story about what I thought was a great company.

Ed

[ColdZero]

Hi all:
I ordered a stock from Great American Gunstock Co. about 2 1/2 months ago based on some high praise I read from a couple of custom rifle builders - before the fire. After placing my order and seeing my credit card hit for almost $650, I came across a lot of negative experiences including some on ripoff dot com or some such. I had this sinking feeling that I had just wasted a lot of money I could ill afford to waste and pledged that if I did get short-changed, I'd be relentless in spreading the word, but if I was happy, I would expend at least some of that same energy telling people. I got the stock yesterday and couldn't have been happier. I ordered the second highest grade English walnut and asked for straight grain through the wrist and got that and more - something that I think is going to turn out close to exhibition quality. Not only was I relived that I hadn't wasted my money, but delighted that I should have a drop-dead gorgeous stock when I'm done with my part.
Cheers,
Mark

[vytoland]

this sounds like a total scam. contact your credit card immediately.

you are a victim of a classic rip off.

[ColdZero]

Yeah, don't you hate it when you get higher quality than you expected!!?
Cheers,
Mark

[rhillen]

I have had nothing but good experiences with them. Henry seems to me to be a pretty good guy and real easy to deal with, and I've been using great American for over ten years and never had any problems. Maybe you got treated badly and maybe you have stretched the truth a bit. But someone shouldn't join this board just to smear a company, kinda makes you seem sorta like a whiner.

[ColdZero]

Rhillen,

The irony is, if you take the time to read it, my first post was complimentary of the quality of the wood and I was taking the time to counter some of the negative things I'd read about Henry and Great American Gunstocks. The comment I made about just hating it when something is better than expected should have clued you in.

The double irony is now I'm compelled to reverse the nice things I said because when I went to inlet the action I found that the action screw holes were far enough off center that there was no way I could inlet the action and not have an unacceptable gap on one side and have the barrel slant across the barrel channel. The only two ways to fix the problem were drill out the incorrect holes and plug them or bore the holes out and install pillars. I just finished the pillars today. The stock was a custom order and with all the work I put into shaping and sanding it I had not intention of trying to return it. I told Henry that I wanted a partial refund for the extra work of having to pillar bed the action because the action screw holes were misplaced. He told me any problems I might encounter with the stock were already anticipated in the "asking price" and I should be happy I only had to pay $600 for such an nice stock.

I'm glad you've had great experiences with Henry - I wish I had been so fortunate. There are a number of people who have had bad experiences with Great American Gunstock Co. - check out Ripoffreport.com or just do a search. I just don't want someone else to get blindsided.

As for signing up just to write negative comments and being a whiner: I signed up long before my post about Henry and my first post about Henry was complimentary.

Cheers
CZ

[fisherman66]

Sorry to hear about that. I've had a few conversations with Henry and was impressed with his knowledge. I didn't end up doing business with him.

[Jeff Mulliken]

The original post in this thread was put up in 2006 by a guy that has not posted here since. He put this same thread on a large number of BBS's. He did his best to hurt this company.

It may be that GAG deserved a beating but it but it is now years later and current experiences should count more than the old post that someone dredged up.

Jeff

[gspspinone]

I'm still around and yes I did spread the word about Henry Pohl. Every bit of it the truth as well. He's the worst business man I've dealt with about anything. I've seen quite a lot of posts similar to mine as well. When I last spoke with Henry I explained to him that my only recourse to his renegging on his guarantee, with he being in Cali and me in CT, was to spread word of mouth, honestly (which I did), about my experience with his company. Henry told me he didn't care what I did. I also reported him to the Cali AG's office and filed a local complaint via fax with the Sheriff's office.

If you search around you'll find a much higher ratio of negative posts regarding Henry (and all similar experiences....huh!) that other stock makers.

You've been warned!

[wfrdwt]

i ordered a ithaca NID shotgun stock from them. it was horrible. my original stock was broken and missing parts but Henry said no problem they had a pattern they could use. i rec'd a new stock with all the broken parts missing. sent it back and with much discussion and pictures of what the new stock should look like and was asured replacemet would be correct. not so. rec'd new stock with all parts missing again. they duplicated the same broken stock again. no luck on any settlement. i was stuck with a bad oar..

[Scorch]

I guess I'm going to be swimming against the current again. I have bought wood blanks and semi-finished stocks from Great American Gunstock for a long time, about 10 years, and prior to that from Roberts' Fine Woods back in the 80s and 90s. I have never had the sort of problem being described, but then I do very few shotgun stocks. I did direct a customer to their site a few months ago for a Martini stock, and he recently brought in the stock (absolutely beautiful BTW) and a big block of wood that was supposed to be the forend wood (he wants a beavertail forend on the rifle). I mean just a block of wood, 3"X3"X18" long, no barrel channel. But that is not unusual. If a stockmaker does not have a pattern, often they will shape the butt but not the receiver end of the wood. In the case of the forend mentioned, since the owner had no barrel dimensions, I did not know what to expect to see, so I was not disappointed. Long story short, GAGS is probably no better or worse than a lot of other manufacturers who have no concept of customer service.

And yes, if you report the incorrect charge to your credit card company, you will likely get a credit.