Ciener Conversions Raided by Police.

Status
Not open for further replies.
S

scottl

New member
First reported on BrevardTimes.com, the Brevard County Sheriff's Office raided a Cape Canaveral business located at 8700 Commerce Street at around 6:00 p.m. today.

Public records show that the business located at this address is that of Jonathan Arthur Ciener, Inc., a company that advertises gun conversion kits on www.22lrconversions.com.

On the Web, there appear to be several consumer complaints about www.22lrconversions.com.

Jonathan Arthur Ciener was arrested and charged with schemes to defraud less than $20,000, which is a third degree felony.

http://news.brevardtimes.com/2011/11/brevard-county-sheriffs-office-raids.html
 
That's unbelievable. He's only been doing this business for what... like 30 years or more? He used to make the conversion kits that were re-branded for Kimber and Wilson Combat. He's kind of like a pioneer in the industry with regards for rimfire conversion kits for center fire handguns.

This is nuts.
 
Well that won't get my money back on a .22 conversion that broke under warranty, but at least he can now be inconvenienced for the inconvenience he caused for a lot of his customers.
 
From what I have heard I would attribute it to absolutely, totally. the worst of the worst customer service. When I was looking locally for a 22 conversion kit I had 2 shops refuse to order his kits for me which spoke volumes about him and his business. Finally all the folks that got screwed over by his business practices get so justice.
 
I'm sure he brought it on himself. I have one of his conversions, for a 1911. When I bought it, I had already heard enough about his legendary lack of customer service that I paid about $75 MORE to buy it from Brownells just to ensure that I'd get help if I had a problem. (I didn't -- it's been flawless.)

Not long after I bought mine, Brownells stopped carrying Ceiner's product. Now I understand Midway has also dropped him. When the two biggest names in the industry won't buy from you, you've GOT to be doing something wrong. I've read complaints on some of the 1911-oriented forums of people who ordered directly from JAC and didn't receive any product ... and months later they still didn't have their product, nor did they ever get any response from JAC. Taking people's money without shipping the product typically qualifies as fraud, so that would be my guess.
 
Taking people's money without shipping the product typically qualifies as fraud, so that would be my guess.
Click to expand...
That could very well be what is going on here.

Yet another reason to have good customer service, when the cops raid you you'll be able to lean on your customers for support during the rough times.
 
That is interesting because I bought a .22 conversion from him years ago. It did not work with my Colt Officer which was a series 80 nor did he ever say it was for a 70 series only. Anyway, I returned it right away and after 6 months of calling I still never received my money back. I finally wrote to the Florida district attorney and BBB and a year later I got my money back.
He should be locked up as far as I am concerned.
 
This is very interesting. Usually when somebody in the gun community who is involved in making a product gets crosswise with the law, there are usually people clamoring all over one another to proclaim the guy's innocence, how he is being wronged, etc. I have been seeing threads like this one here and on several other forums and this is NOT the case with Ciener. About the closest nice thing anyone is saying is that they have a conversion unit that works.

Given what the norm is and the gun community's reaction to Ciener's bust, I am guessing that there won't be anybody setting up a legal defense fund for Ciener either, LOL.
 
I have heard about Ciener's lack of cistomer service. I bought my 2 units at gun shows, quality is excellent, so is reliability.
 
This is interesting. Just recently I had been thinking about contacting Ceiner
about buying a threaded barrel and a suppressor for my 1911 conversion kit.
I might think about looking elsewhere now, but I don't know if anyone else would make a drop-in barrel for a Ceiner kit.

Oh, well. Back to the drawing board.:rolleyes:

Walter
 
Even if Ciener beats the wrap with a plea bargin,
Click to expand...
I know a aquaintance that beat the rap of burning down his business but the USPS had him convicted of mail fraud WHEN HE CASHED the insurance check. Hopefully if Ciener pleds out the USPS will get him.
 
I really like my Ceiner kit, but I had no illusions of ever obtaining warranty service from JAC if anything went wrong, even before this came up. I'd just head straight to CMMG or Black Dog for a new one.

There's no real need to do business with him going forward, and hasn't been since his patent expired. Hence the number of AR rimfire insert clones available from reputable companies over the past 5 or so years...
 
Thanks for posting the warrant Doublenaught. Hopefully people get refunds now that he's being charged. Although I do wonder what made him think these practices wouldn't get him in trouble.
 
Although I do wonder what made him think these practices wouldn't get him in trouble.
Click to expand...

Unscrupulous and big brass ones:eek: As they say karma is a wonderful thing and what goes around comes around:D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top