Big John's Mountoursville

[DesertEagle]

This guy mostly sells out of his place by appointment, but does a lot of shows. I have a pretty low opionion of a dealer that puts a price on a gun and then says it's extra money on top of that price if you want it the way it sits.Kind of like buying a car and paying extra for the tires that are on it. The term would be bait and switch. Was told he was bad, but sometimes you just have to find out for yourself.

[yldwill]

My son just dealt with him and he was a fair guy. Gave my son a great deal and worked with him to get approval for sale when their was a glitch in the system.

[wellcraft]

[QUOTE=DesertEagle;1087978]. I have a pretty low opionion of a dealer that puts a price on a gun and then says it's extra money on top of that price if you want it the way it sits.QUOTE]

what does this mean?? i'd appreciate a little more detail.

[PennsyPlinker]

[quote=wellcraft;1087999]

. I have a pretty low opionion of a dealer that puts a price on a gun and then says it's extra money on top of that price if you want it the way it sits.QUOTE]

what does this mean?? i'd appreciate a little more detail.

I'll give you an example from my own personal experience. I was at the Eagle Arms show right after Christmas. I saw a Kel Tec PLR 22 for sale on Big John's table. There were two of them actually. One was a basic bare bones PLR with no accessories whatsoever. The other one had a forestock, a cheesy red dot, and an even cheesier laser mounted on it. The pistol with all the accessories was tagged at $309 or something like that, while the bare bones one had no tag on it at all.

I walked on by, went home, and while eating my lunch, read up on the PLR. I decided I wanted it, so I returned to the show. I told Big John himself that I wanted to buy the one with all the accessories on it. I figured that at least the forestock would be worth keeping. Big John informed me that the price tag was for the bare bones example, even though that was not the one tagged. He then rattled off the prices of all the accessories. The forestock itself was another $35.00!

In most cases I would have walked away at that point, but I wanted the gun, so I bit my tongue and followed through with the purchase, even though I thought he was being disingenuous. While I was filling out the paperwork, one of Big John's employees came up to ask about stock on another gun on the table for a prospective customer. Big John replied that he was down to that last one, and it would cost another $25.00 or something like that more than what it was tagged, since he had added another accessory to it.

Big John has every right to charge whatever he wants for his merchandise.

Big John has every right to accessorize his guns with whatever accessories he wants, and charge accordingly.

Big John is a dishonest bait and switcher as far as I am concerned. Why can't he tag merchandise with the price it is going to be sold for? It is simple. He wants to draw people in and get them to commit to buying, and then sock them with extras, just like a car dealer selling new cars throws all sorts of extras on that weren't included in the original tagged price.

I also know I had every right to turn and walk away from my purchase. I decided that owning that particular gun was worth more to me than Big John's dishonesty. But I would not buy another from him regardless of what he offered me in the way of a deal. Oh yeah. He offered me a box of Winchester 333 bulk load ammo for $15.00, five dollars off his "regular price", since I was buying the gun. I told him that since I had purchased three boxes of it just a few days ago for $9.97 at Walmart, I would pass.

[DesertEagle]

[QUOTE=wellcraft;1087999]

. I have a pretty low opionion of a dealer that puts a price on a gun and then says it's extra money on top of that price if you want it the way it sits.QUOTE]

what does this mean?? i'd appreciate a little more detail.

PennsyPlinker gives a good desciption for you. He tried about the same thing with me. Had 459 tagged on the gun with the folding stock then when I showed interest told me that was the base price and the stock was 85 bucks more to that price. I just bought a Jeep a couple weeks ago and they didn't add to the price for the tires it was sitting on.

[Yukondon]

I have heard similar stories. I myself have purchased two guns from Big John. On both occasions I received a fair and straight deal. I go to the gun shows with a price in mind and rarely look at the tags as any more than a suggestion. I will never pay what is on the tag. John will negotiate, you just have to know your price and be willing to walk away. This goes for a lot of the dealers at the various shows.

[Noah_Zark]

Is this the same "Big John" who only sets up at shows and is always wearing colorful flowered Hawaiian shirts?

The one I'm thinking of is from the Reading-Wromelsdorf area, but these descriptions fit my "Big John" to a "T". What a dick.

Noah

[wellcraft]

[QUOTE=PennsyPlinker;1088056]

I'll give you an example from my own personal experience. I was at the Eagle Arms show right after Christmas. I saw a Kel Tec PLR 22 for sale on Big John's table. There were two of them actually. One was a basic bare bones PLR with no accessories whatsoever. The other one had a forestock, a cheesy red dot, and an even cheesier laser mounted on it. The pistol with all the accessories was tagged at $309 or something like that, while the bare bones one had no tag on it at all.

I walked on by, went home, and while eating my lunch, read up on the PLR. I decided I wanted it, so I returned to the show. I told Big John himself that I wanted to buy the one with all the accessories on it. I figured that at least the forestock would be worth keeping. Big John informed me that the price tag was for the bare bones example, even though that was not the one tagged. He then rattled off the prices of all the accessories. The forestock itself was another $35.00!

In most cases I would have walked away at that point, but I wanted the gun, so I bit my tongue and followed through with the purchase, even though I thought he was being disingenuous. While I was filling out the paperwork, one of Big John's employees came up to ask about stock on another gun on the table for a prospective customer. Big John replied that he was down to that last one, and it would cost another $25.00 or something like that more than what it was tagged, since he had added another accessory to it.

Big John has every right to charge whatever he wants for his merchandise.

Big John has every right to accessorize his guns with whatever accessories he wants, and charge accordingly.

Big John is a dishonest bait and switcher as far as I am concerned. Why can't he tag merchandise with the price it is going to be sold for? It is simple. He wants to draw people in and get them to commit to buying, and then sock them with extras, just like a car dealer selling new cars throws all sorts of extras on that weren't included in the original tagged price.

I also know I had every right to turn and walk away from my purchase. I decided that owning that particular gun was worth more to me than Big John's dishonesty. But I would not buy another from him regardless of what he offered me in the way of a deal. Oh yeah. He offered me a box of Winchester 333 bulk load ammo for $15.00, five dollars off his "regular price", since I was buying the gun. I told him that since I had purchased three boxes of it just a few days ago for $9.97 at Walmart, I would pass.

i appreciate the detailed explanation and agree 100% that this is someone NOT to do business with. if a product is priced at $309 then $309 should be the price the item sells for not $309 plus accessories. i've never seen anything like that in all my years of gun collecting, visiting gunshows and different gunshops. i've seen plenty of guns with bipods, scopes, slings, etc and the price on the ticket was always for the entire package. i sure won't ever be buying a damn thing from him.

[CPratt]

Is this the same "Big John" who only sets up at shows and is always wearing colorful flowered Hawaiian shirts?

The one I'm thinking of is from the Reading-Wromelsdorf area, but these descriptions fit my "Big John" to a "T". What a dick.

Noah

No, Ive meet that Big John also and they are 2 different people.

[Noah_Zark]

Thanks.

They may be two different people, but IMO and experience the two Big Johns are cut from the same cloth.

"Hawaiian Shirt" Big John is a piece of work.

Noah