I was horribly mistreated by Banjo Ben Clark's General Store in July of
2024.
Jake Stogdill manages Ben's music store in Exeter, Missouri.
I had read online at their store, from an advertisement that they emailed me, about an upcoming Banjo Camp in Bigfork, Montana, in August 15, 16 and 17 of 2024. I really wanted to attend the event, but it was only 6 weeks away.
So, on July 6th, 2024, I kindly contacted Ben Clark's General Store to inquire if there were any openings left. Also, since the $899 to attend the Banjo Camp had a deadline of August 1st to receive a refund, I offered to reimburse someone if they couldn't go, and pay an additional $899 to attend. So, it would have cost me $1,798. I'm not wealthy, but I am good at saving money and really wanted to go to the event. I have never been to Montana and really wanted to get away.
So, Amy at Ben Clark's Store replied on July 6th to my inquiry. All she sent me was a signup website, which showed that there were still openings. I was so happy and excited, not only that there was still an opening, but I would only have to pay the $899. So, I did and received a confirmation email showing that I had purchased my spot to attend the Banjo Camp. I had made it very clear to Amy that I would be bringing my Deering Goodtime Special banjo with me to the Banjo Camp.
I do not like to put off until tomorrow what I can do today. I don't procrastinate. So I used Priceline on July 6th to purchase my reservations. I had planned to stay in Kalispell and drive 35 minutes down to Bigfork for the Banjo Camp. The entire travel package cost me $2,077.25 total. Great, I thought, I'm all set.
To my horror, Amy emailed me 2 days later on Monday, August 8th, to let me know that all of the banjo spots were already filled. I immediately contacted her to let her know that I had already purchased my spot, and had a confirmation number that they billed my credit card for $899. She said that I had signed up for guitar lessons, not banjo. I was sickened and disgusted, because I have no interest in guitar lessons. I had plainly told Amy that I am bringing my Deering banjo and want to attend the Banjo Camp. I'd like to make some factual observations:
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Amy foolishly ass-u-med that I understood how their website works, but I sincerely didn't.
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Amy never mentioned in her first email to me that the banjo spots were all gone, which is her fault.
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Their website defaults for guitar lessons, which is insane when everything about Ben's name is associated with the banjo. How the hell was I supposed to know that I was signing up for guitar lessons?
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Why in the world would Amy send me a sign-up page for the guitar, when I had plainly said that I wanted to come to their “Banjo Camp” in Montana, with my Deering Goodtime Special “banjo”? Amy is 100% to blame!
Ben Clark's incompetent employees created a hellish nightmare for me in the weeks to follow. I called Priceline on July 8th (36 hours after making my reservations) to cancel my travel reservations. I was able to obtain a full refund from United and American Airline, and the Travelodge by Wyndham hotel. But Alamo car rental were greedy thieves who refused to refund a single penny of my $619.20 that they stole from me. When you cause somebody to lose money (especially a substantial amount as I did), and you refuse to make things right, you are a dirty thief!!! How greedy can they be at Ben Clark's store? I have already filed complaints at Consumer Affairs against both Priceline and Alamo, but neither company cares. They haven't even responded. They are ungodly.
After all was said and done on July 28th, I sent the following e-mail to Amy and Jake at the Ben Clark General Store, but they have completely ignored me. They are greedy bastards, no better than Alamo or Priceline...
To whom it may concern,
Kindly said, I lost $619.22, which Alamo car rental refuses to refund, because I was not provided clear information by Amy at your store regarding the upcoming Banjo Camp in Montana on August 15, 16 and 17. You guys didn't lose any money, I did. I am kindly asking that you guys please deduct $619.22 from $899 for one of your future Banjo Camps (which would make my cost $279.78 to attend a Banjo Camp), which I think is only reasonable and fair, and the Christian thing to do.
Alamo didn't send me a statement showing that they screwed me, but I'll be glad to send you my credit card statement if you want to see what they charged and later refunded to me. I have filed complaints with Consumer Affairs online against both Alamo and Priceline, but they have totally ignored me (no surprise there). Priceline originally charged me $2,077.25 on my VISA credit card. Here is what my credit card statement shows has been refunded total...
$443.98 - refund from American Airlines
$424.63 - refund from United Airlines
$573.44 - refund from Priceline for hotel
$15.98 - miscellaneous refund from Priceline
I am out $619.22 (I will send you a .pdf of my most recent VISA statement if you'd like to see it).
I am kindly asking that you guys make this up to me.
Please let me know. END
They have totally ignored me, because they couldn't care less; they didn't lose a penny, I did, and it's all because of their incompetence. Amy isn't all that bright. She messed up and I paid for it, and she's too much of a spoiled little brat to make it right, and Jake is a coward. Ben Clark is not a good man, he's a crook! Amy and Jake are greedy ungodly jerks! God hears my cry for justice. You cannot hurt, screw and defraud others and get away with it. Ben Clark and company superficially profess to be Christians, but they are no better than the greedy heathens at Alamo car rental, sharks who prey upon consumers. Go read the (literally) hundreds of negative reviews at Consumer Affairs against Alamo. They've been stealing money from their customers for decades! Judgment Day is coming for this ungodly world. Isaiah 13:11, “And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.”
They abuse their customers at Banjo Ben Clark's Store. I had contacted Jake in June of 2024 about buying a professional banjo with growl. He coldly brushed me off and said I'd have to play different banjos for myself to choose. But he didn't even offer me some ideas of what I might be looking for, or what high end banjos he had in stock. Jake didn't care! I specially mentioned that a Christian man (a travelling Bluegrass Gospel group who performs at our church every year at our revival), claimed to be a good friend of Ben Clark. He told me that I should contact Ben Clark, and mention that he referred me, so Ben could help me buy a professional banjo. But Jake made lame excuses, brushing me off again, saying that Ben lives 10 hours away from the store, and that he only sees Ben 3 or 4 times a year. There was no way to contact Ben Clark. Jake essentially said to me, “Screw you and go away!” I was heartbroken.
So, Ben Clark's worthless team didn't give a crap to help me and I still don't have a professional banjo. I told Jake that I had $5,000 and was ready to but a banjo, but the best he would do (after I emailed him multiple times in frustration), was to suggest that I buy a cheap crappy Chinese import banjo, the OB3 Twanger. Would Ben Clark show up at his Taylor Swift gig with a Chinese OB3 Twanger? Hell no! He'd bring a Gibson, Huber, Deering or something high end. The bottom line is that they only care about making a living (filthy lucre) at the Ben Clark General Store, but individual people like me don't mean anything to them. Jake and Amy might as well have pulled down their pants and taken a crap on me, because that's how they mistreated me. And now I'm out $619.20 and those greedy thieves at Ben Clark's business won't even allow me to attend a future Banjo Camp at a discount. What ungodly parasites!
Please RUN from this place! Please do NOT do business with Ben Clark or his wicked minions. I am so disappointed in Ben Clark and his store family. Shame on Amy! What a spoiled brat! She never did apologize for costing me $619.20 loss. I didn't do anything wrong as a customer. When Amy sent me the store's webpage to sign-up, I gladly did. In hindsight, I cannot believe that they wouldn't even make room for just one more student at the upcoming Montana Banjo Camp event. I mean, would one more person had been so difficult? Something is spiritually wrong with the folks at Ben Clark's General Store, when they have no fear of God nor regard for their fellow man. I speak that to their utter shame!
As far as I am humbly concerned, Ben Clark is not a good man since he elevates money over people. Amy is a brat. Jake doesn't care. He sure doesn't care about selling banjos. I shouldn't have had to beg for their help to buy a professional banjo. Those mean people make me sick! When you mistreat people, this is what happens. I wouldn't be writing and publishing these articles (just one of dozens I've already published online to warn others about Ben and gang), if anyone had simply let me attend one of the future Banjo Camps at a discount to offset my $619.20 lost money because of them. But they love money more than doing the right thing. Was it really going to break their bank to let me attend a future Banjo Camp for $279, so that I could recoup the money I lost because Amy didn't explain anything to me?
Clearly, they are not very good Christians, if they're saved at all. They do not regard The Golden Rule (Matthew 7:12). They would be upset too, if someone defrauded them the way they did me. They had an opportunity to make things right, but they chose to be arrogant, sinfully proud and do nothing. Shame on Ben Clark and his employees. The way that we treat other people matters, it really does. God will judge between me and Ben Clark and his cronies (1st Samuel 20:42). I just wanted to be treated fairly, something that doesn't interest the folks at Ben Clark's General Store. We are living in a greedy generation of spoiled brats today in the United States, thin-skinned Americans who selfishly only care about themselves and their bank account. Ben Clark's profession of Christianity is hypocrisy.
The old adage is very true: You can tell a man's character by the way he treats people who can do nothing for him.
