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

**UPDATE**

In an attempt to recover funds sent to Billy. My brother's CC company assured that if they can get a written statement from Radlfo specifically stating that they have not received funds from Billy for purchased items, that they will give my brothers money back.

Also the owner of Radflo is going to personally call my brother tomorrow morning to help rectify the situation. Apparently Billy has put in 3 orders for Radlfos....NONE OF WHICH HAVE BEEN PAID FOR!!!

 

Why would you buy a set of coilovers from a stand alone metal fabricator?

Gotta pay to play. Ive never had issues with billy or brute force. Hell I called him yesterday randomly to ask about my jerry can mounts. Picked up first ring and answered all my questions.

 

I'm curious as to those jerry can mounts. Pic? Description? Did Billy describe them to you?

 

why would anyone order coilovers from billy? Same reason you order from any authorized vendor( not sure what you were getting at).Seeing that we have done business with Billy in the past no one would have thought otherwise.

I don't understand what being able to talk to him over the phone has to do with his business practices. Billy himself admitted YESTERDAY that he is having some financial difficulties(over the phone...coincidence?).

Furthermore the owner of Radlfo as he explains it, said Billy used my brothers money to fill order for parts that he didn't even order.

Say what you want I'm very disappointed that he would even pull this crap. He does good work and when talking to him he seems very genuine. But seriously things have obviously gotten out of hand. Thankfully I/we are local.

Noah from Colorado...IIRC you are the guy with the 1st gen tundra that came to Fresno?

 

I'll get a couple pics later today. I'm at work. They are just a side by side jerry can mount on my rear bumper

 

I would have thought otherwise. Strictly bumpers from a fabricator. I'm not gonna call a guy and have him make me two highly customized bumpers, then expect him to deliver on a set of custom coilovers. Just stupid. Call DSMS and they are a specialized vendor for shocks. Just like I'm not gonna call Billy and expect him to deal lights like Rigid.

I have talked to Billy on the phone many times. He has talked about how hard it is to run a full blown fabrication shop single handedly. It's hard to build bumpers all day with no help, then have to deal with customers that don't understand that. Honestly, Billy has done a pretty damn good job IMO. But he does desperately need someone in the office.

Look at Tyler and Pelfreybilt. Satin is unbelievable, and a big reason that they have been so successful.
This is why the forum is here. Do some research and choose some other vendor if you don't wanna deal with potentially longer lead times and nobody in the office.

And no. You don't remember correctly. I drive a 2nd gen.

 

Same reason I purchased lights from him. He built a bumper with cut outs for lights... And I chose to further support his business by purchasing the lights to go in his bumper. It's super fucking rude to call someone stupid for ordering products from a vendor that 'doesn't specialize' in that, like it gets him off the hook for taking his money.

And Billy isn't a fabricator-only shop if he tell his customers that he is selling other products. If he is offering to sell the products, then yes, I would expect him to fucking deliver them. It's amazing how you have transferred blame to the buyers, like it's somehow our fault for 'ordering the wrong products' from him, so it's ok that he's fucked us over. It's disgusting.

 

Yup I absolutely agree with you, that's why I went with DMZ for my Kings and Total Chaos setup and BAmuffler for my exhaust on my 2nd Gen Tundra.

As explained earlier I/we have dealt with Billy in the past so regardless whether or not he fabricates bumpers, cabinets, lamps, etc...he is an authorized VENDOR(not sure if you know the actual definition of what a vendor is) for Radflo. He's not piecing them together or fabricating them in his shop. Given the past transactions we've had with Billy we didn't feel that he'd take the funds and run.

Again say all you want at the end of the day his business practices as of late are sketchy to say the least.

Funny how you did not address anything that was admitted by Billy himself or Glenn from Radlfo. Those are facts not accusations. Obviously I have struck a chord with you and Billy.

Yes that's why we have a forum to do research and read about fellow vendors....guess what it says about Brute Force Fab. If Billy is overwhelmed with work why take on more work? seems very counter productive.

Again I'm local and I'm sure I'll get the funds back.

 

I have no experience on anything but his fabrication but I thought I would give an update on my experience.

I got a message yesterday from him saying that my bumper is done and ready to ship as soon as I pay off my balance along with some pictures of it. I paid it off and fastenal picked it up today. He got it done 2 weeks earlier than he originally said.

Once again this is only a fabrication service. I have no idea what the experience would have been like if I ordered anything else and from the looks of this thread, it wouldn't have been as great. I hope that everybody else gets what they ordered. To me it appears that people should only order fab products from him based on his record.

Just wanted to throw a positive experience in. I know that does not justify taking anybody's money for products they ordered and not shipping them! I can only hope it is some kind of misunderstanding and that it gets worked out. Good luck guys!

Here is the picture he sent me. I know it is mine because it has my custom light cutout. So he isn't just messing with me! haha

 

Nothing but good things to say about my transactions with Billy either. Always treated me right, picked me up in Vegas and drove me to Moab and explained this situation to me recently. Someone wrote him a bad check that screwed his account up. a 4k deficit that screwed up the allotment of funds that were supposed to be distributed differently than what they were. That whole daisy chain effect that happens where one things pays for the next, all without you being aware of what's happening. Lame deal, sorry your brother got caught up in it. Sounds like it's being taken care of though.

 

That is horrible. I will say that I hope in the future he keeps like 5K in reserves or doesn't accept checks. I wouldn't accept anything that isn't cash, card, or money order.

It sucks that somebody can throw off a whole business like that.

 

Keeping 5k in reserves is easier said than done, thats for sure. I think this is where people get confused about how much money a one man fabrication show actually has. He's not getting rich folks, but he is getting by and supporting his family doing something he enjoys, and working very hard at it. The guy hardly sleeps and threads like this are taken really seriously by him, and personally mind you. All I can say is, without a shadow of doubt every single person in here will be taken care of. Your best bet? Call the guy. Talk to him, explain your situation.

 

I agree. He is really easy to talk to. I just meant that the reserve thing would be a good idea to attempt to do. I know that is much easier said than done.

It's even harder because he keeps his stuff really affordable. I originally chose to get my bumper from him because it was one of the cheaper ones and after seeing his work on other trucks, I was sold. Then seeing this thread worried me but he pulled through and I talked to him about once a week since ordering.

 

For sure, i know what you mean. I still talk to Billy at least weekly, which is why these threads are so difficult for me to wrap my brain around. It's just simply not true, haha, most of the stuff in this thread is misunderstanding of the truth and secondhand knowledge. If you want the firsthand info, give Billy a call 559-900-6564

 

AGAIN JUST BECAUSE YOU TALK TO HIM DAILY DOES NOT EXCUSE HIS BUSINESS PRACTICES. There is no second-hand knowledge when it comes from the horses mouth.

I'm sure it is difficult understand when your not the one getting fucked over for 3k+ dollars. I'm sure your all smiles when you get what you want.


I know he's a good guy, very good guy in fact. Just be truthful with everything.

 

So are we lying Ben? What isn't true here? Are our complaints false?

 

I don't think that people are lying in this thread to give billy a bad name. I just think they are frustrated that they haven't received their gear. I think that he should reach out to people and tell them the issues he's having lately so that people are more understanding. I feel like most would totally accept the fact that their bumper would be late if something like that happened.

Shit happens. Most people are understanding and nobody likes the ones who aren't. I think this all could have been worked out better with better communication on everybody's end. Not pointing fingers at anybody. I'd be frustrated too if I didn't get an explanation.

I don't think anybody is saying Billy is a bad guy. I think most people realize he's a super great guy but is just having some issues and that can get irritating.

Best of luck to everybody i this thread!

 

Some of you are, yes. Or you're misrepresenting the truth to sway your argument. Saying Billy is taking peoples money and mishandling it is untrue. Someone wrote Billy a bad check and funds were reallocated without his knowledge. My bank doesn't call me if a customer's check bounced, I find out about it when my accountant goes through my books. But to say he's taking people's money and not taking steps to get people squared away while getting screwed over by someone writing bad checks is untrue. Maybe Billy should make a thread about people not paying on time, or cutting people breaks when they go through hard times, or staying into the early morning hours because a customer has an unrealistic expectation of timeliness. All I'm saying is you guys are pretty one sided about this.

BTW I'm a rigid dealer and have access to covers so if it's covers you need, I can have them in the mail tomorrow, would be happy to help a fellow member and alleviate some stress from Billy's life.

 

My rear bumper took a lot longer than planned to get to me but Billy made up for it by giving me a pair of sliders at no charge. My bumper is now installed and kicks ass - I yanked a stump out of my yard with it on Saturday.

Billy is a good guy and will make things right for folks if there are problems.

 

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Explain to me how have we misconstrued the truth when the words are coming DIRECTLY FROM HIMSELF and the vendor in question RADFLO? I'm aware of the situation of the customer writing him a bad check(or so he says) so why take anymore orders from new customers? Because he needs the funds to fund other customer projects while putting others on the back burner.

Benbacher said it correctly one person(s) money pays for the next.

Oh he seems to be handling money just fine over at Table Mountain Casino...Fresno is a small place and I have personally ran into Billy at the Casino! Seems like and odd place to be if money is an issue. I'm LOCAL remember? I'm not in AK, CO, or wherever! LOCAL where I have personally ran into him!

The only people being one sided are the ones who haven't been burned(SHOCKING). Yet how do you know for fact that all of those things happened? Are you doing his books? Do you work in his office? Or are you simply going by what he's telling you?

I AM STATING FACTS! NOT ACCUSATIONS! He's had 4 months to make due. Constant run around about Radflo being behind on orders, only to find out an order was NEVER placed. Furthermore after recent findings from RADFLO themselves(whom I'm guessing your saying is "lying" too) that my brothers funds were not even used to purchase my brothers set-up!

People can go on and on about his craftsmanship and how they talk to him daily, etc..Point is he was given money to provide a service, when asked about that service he lied, got backed into the corner and now the truth comes out.

Everyone has shit going on, that's life. Perhaps he should've handled things better. But in the end he took my brothers money and DID NOT use said money for what it was intended for. [/COLOR]