The official Brute Force Fab "My money was taken" thread

Billy is still in business and making bumpers as badass as ever!

Too bad he couldn't deal with his past personal issues better, just doesn't have any office or fab help. One man show.

Sounds like he's back to making people happy again though.

 

Glad to here this, I planning on pulling the trigger in a couple months.

 

Man this is a relief. I've spoken with him on the phone a few times and he is always a helpful guy.

 

Just put down a deposit for a very custom HC rear with dual swingouts. I'm figuring it'll be ready by the end of March, beginning of April.

My only two gripes with Billy is 1) he likes to talk. A lot. No such thing as a 10-minute phone call. And 2) he does everything over the phone, so very difficult to create a paper trail (all written communication is one-way, as in from me to him. He then calls to discuss).

He told me about a recent PayPal/Fastenal experience, as his reason for no longer taking PayPal. Long story short, he shipped a completed bumper, Fastenal provided signed proof of delivery (both written and verbal), but recipient filed PayPal dispute that bumper never arrived. Despite Fastenal providing PayPal with requested documents, PayPal sided with recipient, and Billy was out hundreds of dollars. Apparently PayPal doesn't like that Fastenal doesn't provide tracking information, and doesn't care if there is a signature on a hard-copy delivery receipt.
(I'm not jumping into the fray here, just relaying what I was told about why Billy won't deal with PayPal any more).

 

Cant he use con way instead of fastenal? And if its not PayPal then do we have to do money orders?

 

Interesting...

I would hope you could at least use a credit card. Otherwise you wont have any recourse if need be.

 

Well the way I paid for the second installment on my bumper was through another online pay service, which did provide a receipt. Just didn't have a lot of the buyer protection that PayPal has. I was fine with it after hearing that he was back up on his feet and running again. Received my bumper about a week or so ago, couldn't be happier now.

 

Credit card over the phone. www link to receipt sent to phone via text.

 

Seems like its too much work and a bit risky for me. I want the hybrid bumper so bad but I think I'm gonna have to go with the pelfreybilt they have a discount going on right now and PayPal which would be a lot easier for me

 

I was over at Billy's shop yesterday getting my bumper installed by the man himself.







As I expected, my experience with Billy in person was simply an extension of the great experience I had with him over the phone. He's a great guy. I don't expect anyone to take my word for it, but it is what it is. That's just my personal experience. As stated already in this thread, he knows he royally fucked up and will never win a few people back and he's come to terms with it.

The main thing is, I'm happy. Yes, Billy didn't make good on the date he 1st committed to, but that's ok. I can empathize with the personal problems he went through, and I know it could have been handled better and I will admit being pissed as well. Some will call me crazy, but this won't be the last time I do business with Billy. In fact, I almost put a deposit down yesterday and come back to get some of his sliders burned on at a later date----then realized I havent done my taxes yet. *sigh*

So yes, MY MONEY WAS TAKEN!!!!!!!!! .....but the product was finally delivered, and again, I am happy.

 

Got ahold of Billy a month ago about the products that he shorted me on my original order and the products that came in damaged. He said he'd ship them out to me. Still waiting, another month later... same shit different day.

 

X2

 

What are you waiting on Jonek?

Its officially been over a year since I placed my order and still waiting on parts of it.

 

Wow, that is crazy. I was told i should get his bumpers. So glad i found this. He cant keep up with an order from over a year ago he surly cant take on new orders.

Almost looks like steal from Peter to pay Paul. Have any of yall just said the hell with it. I want a refund?

 

You'll get the bumpers eventually, and you won't regret going with brute force. That's how it was for me

 

THIS.

Top notch craftsmanship, just took a year for me.

 

I've never once bitched about his craftsmanship. But damn, how many businesses do you deal with on a regular basis that take your money and say, "I'll get it to you eventually."? I'm going to guess none.

It's been extremely clear that he has filled orders for the people waiting, and taken on new orders without addressing all the customers that he still owes money/products to.

 

At this point, anyone who buys should know this

 

Yeah well for some of us, that problem didn't exist when we placed our orders, and we're still being fucked over.

 

It's really difficult to have a high expectation of a quick turnaround time on a one man show operated business. He is literally at the mercy of how fast his own two hands could work. There is only so many hours in the day.

I bought my bumper from Billy I want to say about a year or two ago. One of the most quality products I have purchased from a fabricator, but needless to say I was at the mercy of his turn around time, and lack of communication. It gets hard to be patient when there isn't a quick update or quick communication between yourself and the fabber. So all I could really say is just be patient. He makes some quality built stuff.