Ch. 7 Bankruptcy Filed 9/6/18

And that’s all I want out of a company I am doing business with. Honesty. If something is not available, I can’t purchase it. Oh well. One day I will be able to. I can wait. Or purchase something that is available.

You can only do what you can do. I do not think poorly of any company that says orders are on hold until they can catch up.

 

I'm sure he is going thru and deleting all those posts.

 

He just deletes it as you post it. Been down that road before.

 

You are in this business and I am not so by no means am I trying to tell you how to run it. And by the way, I have several of your products and one is on order. So I am willing to play the game...since its the only game.

However, unless you can't find the skill, a lack of manpower may be due to the inability to hire more skilled workers. This inability can be due to lack of capital.

I can't tell you how many times I have had funds to purchase a product right away but have been put off by lead times. I would bet many ready to pay customers are lost to lead times.

Again I'm not at all suggesting that you or any other vendor here on TW is in this situation. But if you look at most other fabrication shops in other Industries the hundred percent upfront payment and months of lead time is not the norm.

 

@T4RFTMFW Can you update the first post to direct everyone with outstanding orders / pre orders etc to contact their CC / Paypal / Bank to dispute charges. Regardless of Bankruptcy proceedings they need to do that immediately as a part of the terms of their agreement with those entities they (customers) are protected.

For all those who paid by cash, check and ACH, recommend contacting their banks and the courts to see next steps.


Main point is people not to automatically think they are out thousands of dollars.

 

Honestly, I’ve been sued by former employers for less. No matter what the circumstances regarding the case, he’d be smart to keep quiet. Which is unfortunate for the rest of us who want details.

Confirmed that they took a payment as late as 8/28/2018.

That is stand up customer service, right there!

But the thing is, everyone promoted them. Everyone had the wool pulled over their eyes. It’s no single consumer’s fault. It’s not the fault of the consumers at all.

 

there is an amount of time “we fucked up let’s try and fix this is believeable” however taking orders while trying to find investors while you damn well knew what the situation was is well beyond that time and frankly if it looks like shit it probably is shit.

 

On top of that, those who were successful in getting a refund can still make a complaint to the FTC

 

This. Don't look like a child tossing I told you so's around. It's not about being right . It's about the TW community and the members who have money in this navigating this situation together and attempt to set themselves up for the best possible out coming by relaying real information.

 

Like that diamond Pelfreybilt threw on top of the icing on the cake?

 

It's kind of amusing, I've noticed all the "close personal friends" of those two dirtbags remain almost completely silent since this all happened. The same people that were on every post on Facebook, Instagram, and here telling people not to worry and telling off people asking for refunds attempting to make them look like selfish assholes because they wanted their money. Where all of you at now huh? What was this insider information that you all had that you couldn't share?

 

Please curtail your ceaseless and pointless bitching and calling out of other vendors in this thread.

 

I used to take a $300 deposit on all orders which doesn't even come close to covering cost on a bumper.
The problem for a small business building custom parts is when a cancellation happens your out that money until someone orders the exact part. As of now I take full payment on smaller orders and at least 50% on larger orders. I also charge a 50% cancellation fee. One thing I do make absolutely sure of however is before I get paid or spend the money all materials are here in the shop ready to go!
I have been screwed by way to many cancellations that my policy had to change unfortunately. I also do most transactions via PayPal and note these policies clearly. That being said if my lead times are longer than the normal 8-12 weeks I resort back to a small deposit.
As for the teriffs, most of us are pricing our products with very small margins to start! I can absorb about a 15% fluctuation. My current steel price has gone up about 50% in the last several months and 65% and rising on aluminum. All vendor prices will have to reflect these increases soon unfortunately.
That being said, I would Never take more full paid orders than I can handle in the time frame I give my customers!
I would say a good practice for placing an order is call, talk to the vendor first, get a feel for their current situation, how many outstanding orders do they have, how many fabricators, etc. if I were to call a vendor prior to order and find out they have 5-10 employees with a 600 plus backlog I would think twice about paying upfront.

 

Like I said earlier.. I’m slowly building a list of members to avoid. These people, whatever their personal beliefs, have no morales or integrity. It’s a good list to avoid.

 

Yes. Just woke up, gimme a few.

 

That is our current issue. We are at an all time low unemployment rate in this country. There aren't a lot of people to choose from.

It also creates more risk because you are increasing your overhead with no guarantee the orders will keep coming.

Yea, we know. Mo money, mo problems. We are trying to expand, but trying to do it responsibly.

 

I agree. Most newcomers just need to start it out as a hobby making some money and saving it. Then truly come up with a business plan and marketing strategy and all the good business strategies. Instead you have people that create a product and it's a hit then start using new money coming in for previous customer's products.

 

Yep I'm the same way I filter my Amazon searches with Prime. I will look elsewhere if I can't have it soon. If I can't have the product soon I'll just find somewhere else to spend my money even if it's on a different product all together.

 

thanks and good morning! There is alot of information going around and I know I got hit up by a few people who have Chase and worried they couldn't dispute. With all the back and forth here, I want to make sure those of us affected make the right moves.