Jim at Apache Gun Works???

[65creed]

Hey guys, sorry if this is the wrong section to post this. Man I'm thinking it's been 6 yrs now that I ordered a barrel from Jim. I prepaid for the barrel too. So that is why I am asking again. I have talked to him about it pretty much yearly. He keeps saying he has been swamped, has health issues and just can't keep up to the demand. If that is the case and have no reason to doubt. I haven't pushed it. I totally understand the hiccups in life. I last talked to Jim about 5 months ago. And now again I can't seem to get a reply of any sort from him. When I do get ahold of him. It was a couple emails a day back and forth. I have messaged through ebay but I don't see him there anymore. If I could just get my barrel I'd leave the subject at that. Or even my money back. If anybody has any contact info for Jim or could pass it along I'd greatly appreciate it. I just don't know what to do and it is a decent chunk of money I paid him.

Adam

[Blue Avenger]

have not seen or chatted with him in a long time. even if he was very busy i would think in 5 years you would have reached the top many times.

[Dave Hoback]

You paid for a barrel and still don’t have it?? WOW! That’s just sleezy for someone to do that.

[Mthomas90]

I've been waiting for one since early 2018... if you have an email or phone number I'd greatly appreciate it. Next step for me is contacting law enforcement. It seems silly over the ammout of a barrel, but I'd like to get money back.
Michael

Sent from my SM-G970U using Tapatalk

[Dave Hoback]

I came across this number for him, but don’t if it still good. Can’t hurt to try it. 318-201-0197 They are listed for a James Skinner who is the agent for Apache (Jim). That name was attached to the address 55 Philadelphia ave, in La., where Jim’s LLC is addressed to. That number is 318-448-1484

He has done this many times over the years. Many got a product from him…eventually. Like you, there are many others I believe still waiting. He is like so many contractors out there. They start the job and work some until the check clears. Then they go MIA.

How did you pay? You may be able to go through your Bank or CC. I’ve done that before for the same thing. I paid online with my Debit card. After a few weeks I was told it was out of stock but was coming. More weeks went by and then I was told they didn’t when, or even IF it would be coming. I put in a complaint with my bank & they investigated; ultimately doing a charge back.

When someone is in business & takes a persons money, they have an obligation to provide the product or service agreed upon. Worst case, you can do small claims.

[Robinhood]

Those who know Jim from the old days (more than 13 years ago)know what a good guy he is. He had a great product for way below the cost of his asked. Somewhere along the line he tried to do everything for to little profit and poor help. he quickly gained a solid reputation and his name was on the time of every budget minded shooter who had dreams of and affordable competitive option. People tried to help but the organization was already failing. all in all it cost him his reputation and probably his health. I have many of his products. Some never used. Everything I have tried that he worked on was above expectations.

I am truly sorry for everyone who has been burned. Jim was always good to me and my friends. It is kind of like survivors remorse. If there was anything I could do to help him I would....

Like David says, there is an obligation on the business to make things up financially if they cannot provide the service.

[PhilC]

After 6yrs and no barrel your money is gone and, with the state of things today, highly doubt law enforcement will do anything.

Bizapedia lists the business as "inactive" by Louisiana Secretary of State - https://www.bizapedia.com/la/apache-gun-works-llc.html

BBB - https://www.bbb.org/us/la/libuse/pro...-1015-90074515

Sad to say, but if you do a search here you'll find many similar complaints.

[Dave Hoback]

I looked more into it. Those two numbers I posted ARE the two numbers listed for the property Jim operates Apache out of. The numbers 318-201-0197 & 318-448-1484 I would call the numbers incessantly! And from different phones if you can. What Robin says is true… I knew of many who had great work done by him. He is a highly skilled Gunsmith. And though I’ve never met him, I’m sure he’s a nice guy. But none of that matters when money has been stolen! And yes, he did it to many people! Seems now like he’s trying to cut & run. It’s just wrong, period! I bet he’s on this forum.. I’m sure he is. Hey James Skinner, if you see this, why don’t you make right cheating people the way you have?

[J.Baker]

This kind of thing is exactly why I told Jim I couldn't let him renew his banner ad with us here on the site several years back. He did great work and offered a quality product for a very reasonable price (probably too reasonable), but as I told him back then - you can have the best product in the world at the greatest price, but if you don't have fundamental tools needed to run a business you'll never be successful. Even back then he was known for "losing" orders and it wasn't uncommon for people to come on here complaining about not having received their barrel a year or more after placing an ordering and paying for it. A lot of that (IMO) was because he tried to grow too fast by trying to sell both here and on Ebay before he'd established a good business management plan.

A big part of running a successful business is making the hard decisions and knowing when to say "no" to potential clients or customers. For example, I could have easily kept taking his advertising money and ignored the fact that his follow-thru on orders left something to be desired. For me though it all boiled down to "How well is he servicing our members here?" and "How much of a headache is this advertiser causing me via negative posts from unhappy customers that I have to deal with on my forum?" One also has to know what their limitations are - both financially and physically in terms or how much of their product they're capable of producing.

Unfortunately James isn't the first to venture down this road with similar results as we've had a number of them come and go here over the years. One that really sticks out in my mind was Devin Sinner (Sin-Arms). He was another one who decided he was going to try to cash in on the pre-fit barrel market. For Devin it was a part-time gig in his spare time, but he never really conveyed that to his customers and when he'd get busy with his day job he often wouldn't respond to emails or fill orders for months at a time (IIRC he worked in the oil/gas industry up there in S.D.). Anyway, long story short he's another one that got in over his head and then handled the aftermath miserably.

This is an all too common issue when people try to turn their hobby or passion into a business. They have the ambition and motivation, but they don't have the skill set to run and manage a business successfully. The "I'll figure it out as I go" mentality isn't a good business model, and unfortunately it's almost always the customer who gets left holding the empty bag in the end.


All that said, I'm going to lock this thread down as the OP's question has been answered and I don't want it turning into another pile-on post of negativity. As for Jim Skinner, yes he used to frequent the site quite often, but he hasn't posted regularly in close to 10 years and hasn't logged into the site at all since 2019 so this isn't exactly the best place to try and reach out to him at this point.