Statement from LP Custom Cues

Lee Peppers stole $987.50 from me. He is a thief and a liar.
Promised to build a cue, took my money, then disappeared.
If he's still alive, he's the perfect example of a 100 percent asshole.

the chicken said:

Lee Peppers stole $987.50 from me. He is a thief and a liar.
Promised to build a cue, took my money, then disappeared.
If he's still alive, he's the perfect example of a 100 percent asshole.

Click to expand...

Sorry to hear that Chicken. I am in the same boat.

And as long as people continue to pay up front for a cue made in a one-man shop in a garage or cellar this will happen over and over and over again. If anything happens to the cuemaker, his real full time job, or hundreds of other things that get in the way of life, people are going to get screwed. Johnnyt

So whatever happened to Lee Peppers? Anyone...?
I think I remember reading that his health was declining but as far as I know there was never any resolution, or at least not one made public.
Isn't there a post in here from someone that purchased all of his stuff including partially made cues? After this thread started did anyone get their cue or money back? Has he made an apperance on any other fourms? Does any one know him personally or know what became of him?

Johnnyt said:

And as long as people continue to pay up front for a cue made in a one-man shop in a garage or cellar this will happen over and over and over again. If anything happens to the cuemaker, his real full time job, or hundreds of other things that get in the way of life, people are going to get screwed. Johnnyt

Click to expand...

Very true, except I never considered Lee Pepper a cuemaker, he was just an assembler and a conversion guy.
Lee Pepper's attitude typically sucked, his dedication to the stupid raffle deal was suspicious, and I am very surprised that so many people sent the jerk so much money.
It doesn't make any sense to me, what were people thinking, especially with all of the good guys out there who are actual cuemakers.

Lee Pepper is a con artist who should be in jail, if he is sick who cares I'm sick too with zero income, and I would never think of conning people out of their hard earned money.

Yes Lee sold his shop and most everything in it. I purchased it all including unfinished cues.Most of the unfinished cues have been matched up to the customers they belonged to. I have finished a couple of the cues already and working on others. Slow go because I have my regular cues to do. Contact me with description and I will see if I have it. There were some cue I did not get. He was suppose to credit back customers deposits but I don't think he did. There was a thread about a year ago explaining all of this.Thanks Doug

Disregard....I made a mistake on a cue from Lee.

digdug said:

Yes Lee sold his shop and most everything in it. I purchased it all including unfinished cues.Most of the unfinished cues have been matched up to the customers they belonged to. I have finished a couple of the cues already and working on others. Slow go because I have my regular cues to do. Contact me with description and I will see if I have it. There were some cue I did not get. He was suppose to credit back customers deposits but I don't think he did. There was a thread about a year ago explaining all of this.Thanks Doug

Click to expand...

Doug - I sent you a PM that includes my pool cue description from Lee Peppers, before he disappeared with my money. Please let me know if you found a match between my cue order and an unfinished cue that was in his shop.
Thanks.
John

digdug said:

Yes Lee sold his shop and most everything in it. I purchased it all including unfinished cues.Most of the unfinished cues have been matched up to the customers they belonged to. I have finished a couple of the cues already and working on others. Slow go because I have my regular cues to do. Contact me with description and I will see if I have it. There were some cue I did not get. He was suppose to credit back customers deposits but I don't think he did. There was a thread about a year ago explaining all of this.Thanks Doug

Click to expand...

I also got in touch with you Doug. You found my cue and we emailed a couple times and then I haven't heard from you in a bit. Any chance mine is getting worked on? No time crunch, just a question. Thanks.

I bought one of Lee's unfinished cues. Not a raffle but just before he started doing it.

You know, partially finished cue, your choice of wrap, and a couple of other things.

I got the cue and was exited about opening the tube. Well, it was full of runs from the butt to the joint. Whatever finish was on it, you could tell was soft as you could press a finger nail into it and it was close to being pliable. Almost rubberized. Probably an Epoxy finish.

I sent it back. Lee refused to pay for return shipping as he said it must have happened in transit, being too warm or something. So there was another $32 from Canada. I guess if it was Epoxy and hadn't cured properly, it could have been messed up if it had gotten too hot. But I doubt it, as runs don't happen like that.

I got the cue back. The turn around time was so quick, I didn't believe that it was enuff time to have done a proper refinish. Probably sanded the runs out and gave it a polish.

I could be wrong on that one tho.

It did arrive quickly but I refused pick up so it was sent back to him. I didn't want to take the chance of it being a quicky repair job and having to send it back again.

I had already paid enuff for the cue, shipping and Customs Duty. When it arrived again, Lee didn't do the proper paper work and If I had accepted it, would have had to pay Duty on it again.

Lee did sell it and send me the money quickly tho. I really didn't expect it that quick as it was long over due from the promise date in the first place.

I will give him that much.

It was what I wanted, pretty Blue Veneers in it so I hated to give it back but don't like hassling back and forth for anything.

Maybe someone out there did end up with a nice cue with Blue veneers and a decent finish. I hope so.

My only dealing with Lee other than a BBC and a Tru Balance that were very decent.

Probably before he got desperate. Ya know, desperate men will take desperate measures but its no excuse to turn into a liar and a thief.

There is always a better way.

One cannot lose the fact that others have to work damn hard for their money and sometimes people have to make a lot of other sacrifices in order to buy themselves a treat once in a while.

Its sad when this sort of thing happens but Lee wasn't the first and unfortunately, won't be the last.

digdug said:

Yes Lee sold his shop and most everything in it. I purchased it all including unfinished cues.Most of the unfinished cues have been matched up to the customers they belonged to. I have finished a couple of the cues already and working on others. Slow go because I have my regular cues to do. Contact me with description and I will see if I have it. There were some cue I did not get. He was suppose to credit back customers deposits but I don't think he did. There was a thread about a year ago explaining all of this.Thanks Doug

Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear that unfinished cues are getting reconnected with owners. I bought a cue in progress from a raffle winner before all this went down. And soon as I get back to a computer instead of my phone, I'll be reaching out to you via PM. Fingers crossed...

from what i am hearing is that turd didn't even make his own forearms. just ordered them from prather pre-assembled. when i cancelled my ordered and threatened legal action he gave me a full refund, he *****ed and moaned how he would never be able to sell that forearm because no one would want it. months later he posts what would have been my forearm and 3 others in the WTS section. the forearm that would have been mine sold in 24 hours...conning clueless creep = Sketchy Peppers...

How many have received refunds? I am still out 925 dollars.

capnstabn said:

How many have received refunds? I am still out 925 dollars.

Click to expand...

Sorry for your loss, but that ship sailed long ago..... I don't think you'll see anyone coming on here stating they received refunds.:deadhorse:

Just another case of cue maker gone bad.

This thread is a sad reminder of how customers can be ignored, lied to and cheated.

At 70 years of age, I also have had health issues to deal with but I contacted my customers and refunded their deposit. Some would not take a refund, simply told me to build the cue when I recovered or felt better. I did recover and finished cues for those who waited.

I keep a list of customer name, address, and deposit amount. If I am called to the big shop in the sky, my wife will take the list and return monies. I think a majority of the cuemakers have some such arrangement and are not interested in hosing someone; rather, taking pleasure in the sound of the voice and the look on the face of a happy customer.

Digdug,

I actually had a large order from Lee several years ago, and was just curious to check in on this thread. Are you still responding with unfinished cues? I had a 1000 dollar deposit placed on the cue he was making for me, however he hasn't responded to me in years.

I was stupid. I admit it. I made a mistake. Sent that POS Peppers $980.00 and then he drops off the face of the earth, only to be replaced by another thief and a liar.

Now, I will only purchase a production line cue. No hassle and you know what you're getting.

Shoot Safe.

John

Re:lp

Sorry to bump an old thread. I ordered (2) from Lee, one was a Dufferin Blank for finishing and one was a custom design. I like cues that hits like a hammer. The Dufferin is great and strong, but the custom one he built sounds like an aluminum baseball bat hitting on the sweet spot! It's damn strong! I never took it out of the storage case until yesterday.
Signed 2010. It is my favorite cue!

Lee Pepper is a cue assembling con artist, far from a cuemaker.
Lee Pepper assembled some cues and the next thing you know people are sending him tons of money.

Beware of cue assemblers that are unknown outside of the internet.
There are virtually hundreds of guys out there buying cue parts, assembling them, and calling themselves cuemakers.
Just beware of joker's like Lee Pepper.

LPCUSTOMCUES said:

D
Due to the stress of dealing with (some) customers and other issues I just don't have the heart to keep building cues. (Nasty phone calls, emails, etc.)
I had wanted to build cues for 15 years and still enjoy building them but I feel the stress is making my illness worse.

Click to expand...

Old Thread. never mind.