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

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Edit: Missed the "keep BS out" Really just subbed hoping for Billy to come through and get back on track. I'd like to have one of his or Pelfreybilt's standard replacement bumpers on my new truck

 

instead of a popcorns i would like a mini troll

 

762 thanks for starting this, as it was getting kind of old going through the long pages of the other post.

If there are any other members who put down money for there bumpers and haven't received them, let us know. The past couple of days have been spent trying all of Billy's different numbers and Facebook trying to get a hold of him. No luck

Just out of curiosity, What does a mini troll have to do with getting ripped off by a vendor?

 

Thanks for starting this thread. You can edit my dollar amount to $300.00 as the deposit for my standard rear bumper.

 

Updated, thanks!

 

726- Thanks for starting the thread.

Big Hoss- Thanks you for heading this up. Let me know if you need anything.

 

Just watching here , hoping Billy gets his shit together, I have front , rear swing out , and sliders from him. Great work and a great guy .... This is very strange to let a business as good as this one go off track ?
Destroying a hard earned reputation is not so easy to rebuild a second time and is totally insane .... But I'm not in his shoes ....
Hope the best for all involved

 

Nice..still hoping he does the right thing and gets us our gear soon..fingers crossed

 

Thank you guys, and I hope the same too.

I have nothing bad to say about Billy as a person, he was a very honest and level headed person on the phone.

...as a person conducting BUSINESS, however, his rapidly dwindling reputation hangs on by half a thread. If by some miracle he makes good on our orders I will say nothing more, install my part, and move on.

I will not be one to endorse or recommend him to anyone who asks just because he has handled his business like absolute SHIT. I would not want anyone else to go through what we are going through right now. It's downright unacceptable.

HUGE THANKS to Big Hoss for quarterbacking this for us. It's really appreciated on my end.

 

Does anyone know if he's actually okay?

Hoping he didn't get sick and pass away...either way, money is due back but perhaps find out the circumstances first? Unless I missed part of the story?

 

I hate seeing crap like this. From what we know the guy is losing his dad, I'd for sure not make this even a close priority. Totally understand you guys are bummed out but do you really think he's NEVER coming back? I'd be spending every minute I could with my pops.
Again, I totally understand WHY you guys are upset, but Billy's a good dude, ANYONE can tell you that thats spoken with him. Would you really want to be bothered 'heaven forbid' if you were at your pops' bedside saying goodbye?

 

Well thank you for telling part of the story that I missed. So glad that he's still around but sorry he is 'not' due to the circumstance. I appreciate that.

That being said, perhaps this thread is a tad premature?

 

That is the problem.. No one can get in touch or get an answer from him.. The last contact someone had was in Aug. For me personally my last contact was in June.

That's the rumor. But until we can get a word from him we have know idea.

I totally agree. I would never want or have to go through what Billy is supposedly going through (Don't know if it's true because of the contact issue). But we all have been waiting extremely patient for our orders. In this day in age, it only take 5 min to send a quick message that his time is need somewhere else. People would be a little more forgiving.

I have spoken with Billy. He built my front bumper 2 years ago. I was extremely happy with his craftsmanship and constant updates on the progress of my build. He seemed like good guy. Hence why I wanted him to build my rear bumper.

It's a bad situation for everyone involved. I really do hope he pulls through and everyone can witness/own a piece of his craftsmanship. At this point it's nothing personal, but we have to protect ourselves.

 

Look, 4 years ago my mother was on her deathbed for 2 months until she passed. I am a business owner WITH 5 steady employees that rely on me day in and day out to quarterback daily objectives as well as handling payroll.

I am in an industry that is product driven, and I can't afford to lose communication with my distributors(my "customers") for more than a few days or else they move onto the next supplier with no guarantee they'll be calling me back for more business(product). When this happens, it's money I dont make. It is/was not hard at all to fire off an email informing them about my mother's situation, and that I would be unreachable for an unknown amount of time until things change or there is closure. COMMUNICATION, however little it may be, goes a long way. My distributors completely understood, and as customers of Brute Force, I'm sure we all do as well. A little update would be nice is all.

Billy has our emails. Something like "I'm going through serious family troubles, will not be working on anything until further notice." as a mass email would not be hard. It certainly was not hard for me to do as a business owner going through a hard family situation myself. A few mins, and hit the SEND button and back to my mother's bedside.

No one is disputing Billy as a good guy. I certainly am not. The matter at hand is money that has already been sent and not a word of communication back. We are talking THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS which have yet to see any sort of update from---- not even as much as a quick 1 sentence email. Business is business regardless of anything----so what about the customers who DON'T frequent TW or don't even have TW accounts??? are they supposed to automatically know or assume Billy "is coming back" just because he is a good guy??? It doesn't work that way.

I understand family losses and hardships are unpredictable[we all go through them!], but that does not mean you can completely neglect all communication as a business owner with customers who have already paid and are waiting. They already have upheld their end on sending money and understanding the WAIT TIME for the product, the business owner has to uphold their end with communication at the very LEAST.

 

^^ Well said

 

He may be a good dude, and I would agree with you on that point. The bottom line, though, is that he has thousands of dollars of people's money and hasn't communicated with some of them in MONTHS. Billy's dad being sick is very unfortunate, and I don't wish that on anyone. However, this situation that that situation has caused is not emotional, it's not personal, it's business.

Some people haven't heard from Billy since June/July. Some people were able to place orders in late July. I heard from him in September, yet some others he didn't respond to since the summer. That's not right, and I don't think it's premature at all.

Still Will, I couldn't have put it better myself.

I too am self employed with 6 employees, and my pops passed away this spring from a fast moving cancer. My stepmom was overwhelmed and my siblings weren't around here, so I had to step up and advocate for him and manage finances and all the bs that goes along with that. I also had to balance my business, manage employees, distributors and customers.

Bottom line is that business is business, and not being able to take 2 seconds to get back to customers is unacceptable, and sick family is really not an excuse to use. We aren't looking for individual letters of apology, just some sort of acknowledgement that he still exists.

 

Still Will, well said. I have a good friend whos mother just got diagnosed with stage 4 cancer but he is at work 5-7 days a week for 12 hours a day sometimes, handling BUSINESS. Business is business. I'm out $900 on a bumper with no explanation from the guy who has my money. We as paying customers deserve at least a bulk email or a phone call that says "Hey man, haven't forgot about you. I'll have it out in a couple months. " *click*.

 

7six2FAN - 2 sets of LED fogs lights $150

RFDGUY - Rotopax/mount $125

bighoss454 - front and rear bumpers $1,500

Yota4Whelz - front and rear bumpers $625

BurntOrange817 - front bumper $1,005

jjmartinson - front and rear bumpers $650

Lateralus - rear bumper $525

StillWill - rear bumper $300

Ricks2013 - front bumper $350

CAD41985- front hybrid $350, rigid d2's/sr10 $727.71

Glad someone started this, been waiting on my order since March.

 

You know, you're not wrong about that. I've dealt with Billy for years and after my purchase we stayed pretty close friends, confidants even, so seeing this just sucks is all, and I took it personally on his behalf. I shouldnt gave done that so I'm sorry if I offended him. I just know if whatevers going down is bad enough for him to go off radar like this, its pretty damn bad. Sucks. I know I don't have any reason to provide input to you guys but please, please try to sort this out as civilly as possible with him. Not that you havent so far, just ddon't want to see this turn into a bash-fest is all.