Thread: May need a helper in Columbus, OH

I am working a deal with a so called "company". Pretty much he calls him self a business, he has a web site, but has no tax number, does not take PayPal and wants payment in full for the service at hand. Pretty much he is a small timer like myself who does things on the side as a hobby.

I sent him a box, and it sat in limbo for a week at UPS because he moved, and did not tell me. I sent UPS the change of address, and he now has received my box. he is staying in good email contact though so thats a plus.

First time doing business with him, and the whole payment in full thing change of plans has me a little nervous. Because we settled on him showing me the completed work, then payment in full would be made. I counter offered his demand, and said I would pay 1/2 down and the other half upon completion and gave him the reasons why, I am awaiting to hear back on that.

I may need a local who could do me a favor if this turns into a deal gone bad, to pay him a little visit if need be to get my stuff back, and money back. Worse case, with how much is at hand...I would not have a problem jumping on a plane and doing it myself. I would just like a little reassurance up there that I have a back up plan because he seems flaky to me.

I might just pull the plug and have him ship everything back to be and I will go with company #2 for more money, but they seam very reliable. I would only be out $100.00 some odd dollars in shipping there and back if thats what I did.

I guess if your willing and able, let me know either here or in a PM and I will keep the thread updated with what I decide. if I need your services, you will be compensated for your trouble and effort.

Hopefully he does not do anything hasty...cause he doesn't know how members of our car club hates thieves and how we have connections in about every state in the USA to get end results if need be.

Thanks for your time, and if it works out with him...he will be getting more business from many others including myself, he will just have to change his business practices a little IMO.

~F~

I sent a few more emails, and again my phone number, and that was at like 12NOON today. He calls me just a few minutes ago at 3:30pm with the number showing up on caller ID as restricted.

We talked, and hes just very bitter with PayPal and how after he sends a part out he would do, the buyer would file a claim and say it was not as advertised and hes out the money cause they always win, so he doesn't do PayPal anymore. As I thought, hes not an official business, so there is the no credit card acceptance there...

I told him I would email him back Monday and let him know what were going to do. On the phone I told him I have 4 business/people who can do the work for me like I am wanting, your one only two who actually followed up on emails and phone calls, thats why I am giving you the opportunity to show me what you got, cause I am going to support the little guy if I can.

He just sounds like a teenager to me, but hes got skill, just no good business practices that make me feel comfortable going any further. My gut instinct is telling me no, don't do it, and I think I am going to follow that.

I'm going to await a return call from another company who's interested in taking on the job, so if thats a go, then I will have him ship my box back, and I can start over with the next guy I know can do the work correctly.

Just a teaser of what were talking about doing here....

This is a part done by the next guy I am going to go with, so you can understand why I want it done right, the first time, and at an affordable price. Those that have the hydrographic "dipped" carbon fiber dashes haven't seen anything yet. They are going to feel real bad for how much they spent on one of those vs. what a real overlaid dash costs.

~F~

Oh, but don't worry, I am not going to do my entire dash like the one pictured above...sun glare much? Yikes!

~F~

Thank you for joining our forum, pleasure to have you here.

I have been kind in the posting I have made here. I just don't feel comfortable with how this is going, so I am making the call as to not do further business with you at this time. Perhaps as you get more set up, and have a better safer way for others to send you payment, we can do business in the future. As I said you have some good skill in what you do, thats why I am out sourcing this work, cause I don't, plain and simple. Its not an easy task to do carbon fiber or fiber glass layups.

As I said in the email I have sent you just a minute ago UPS will be coming to your house to pick up the box I have sent you, so there is no need for you to do all the extra driving to drop it off. I just need your phone number for UPS so they can call you the day of pick up and let you know when they will be there. It will probably be tomorrow or Monday, so please get back with me on that today.

~F~

I've made many a transaction through paypal...never any problems, infact one transaction began to go sour, paypal contacted the other party and they made good quite rapidly, not that i was worried as paypal would have covered my loss if there was no response within 45 days...in fact I don't think there is a more safer way to conduct business in the internet age....

Im going to take the opportunity to post here as I can kinda see the train coming down the tunnel on this one though I sincerely hope I am wrong.

Fibercation.com, GR8racingfool has an excellent and long standing reputation in our community, not just in character but also in the work he does. He does not post such things as this without reason. We are an extremely close knit community. We are perhaps not as large as other automotive comminities but we do help one another out.

Im sure you are aware that most people buying stuff on line or anywhere else for that matter like to have some assurance that if something goes wrong or something is not as advertised that we like to have some recourse in which to resolve that matter. Methods such as credit cards and PayPal offer those venues.

I can tell you straight up that I dont buy without such safety nets in place unless I know the person personally. Heck I take PayPal in my business. Yeah, it costs a little in fees but it gives the customer the assurance they have means to take action and that they have an advocate if something should go wrong. Heck, most of us are accustomed to having those fees added to the price of our purchases. So please understand that GR8racingfool is just trying to protect himself. Checks and Money Orders dont offer any buffer should it be needed.

I truly hope this situation turns out for the best. Perhaps you could post up some of your work, there might be some interested in starting with some small stuff. If you would like to sell here by all means contact one of the Admins here and we can certainly talk with you in what all is required.

I for one would be interested in seeing some of your work. I know that it would go a long way in perhaps generating some interest here in our community. Since you are new perhaps you could post up some of the feed back you have received about your work or any references. Anything that would reassure everyone that you have a well estabilished reputation. We welcome you here, just understand that were are extremely protective of one another. I have been a part of other automotive forums for different cars in which there was no sense of any type of bond between the members and I much prefer being a part of this community and knowing that if for some reason I needed help that there would be no shortage of members willing to help out in anyway they could.

The vendors we have here have spent a LONG time building and establishing solid reputations in all sorts of areas dealing with our vehicles and it is my hope that this situation works out and that you too start down that same path of building a quality and solid reputation. We have such high quality vendors with such stellar reputations that I often think they have spoiled us in that we are a little skittish of anything less. They treat us in the community well and we do all we can to show our appreciation and I hope that you want to be a part of that but also observe the same standards.

would like to see the finished product! Farns, that is one heck of a thought! I am partial to the clearcoated carbon fiber....love the shine.....

Fibercation, I just sent you a PM. You are set to receive email notices for your PM's and posts so please read that PM carefully so that you are able to login.

i live in ohio proly an hour from columbus, let us know how it turns out if its bad i let the local boards kno if they dont already. good luck

FWIW, the small company that I work for, when we agree to make products for people do not expect money until the work is complete. Most businesses are that way. I know very, very few businesses/companies that expect 100% of the payment up front.

My father-in-law is a contractor. He sets up a payment plan the people he is building the house for. He has to meet local inspections for footer, foundation, structure, wiring, plumbing, etc. After the work is done and those inspections are complete, the person is required to pay a certain amount.

But again, hardly never does anyone require 100% up front before anything is even started.

My parts arrived back to me today, all of them, and intact surprisingly. I appreciate how you took special care to make sure they all got back in the box, and you were nice enough to return my original packing...just not ON the items for protection. Everything was pretty much loose in the box, and the packing just tossed back in. Though nothing was broken or missing so no harm done.

How ever, now that this is a done deal I felt that I should owe it to you, and others as to why I chose not to do business with you. I have many reasons, and by me posing these in no way is telling you off, or suggesting that you do crappy work based on your email replies that I found very rude and uncalled for not to forget very unprofessional. I cannot say my self that you do bad work, but these things lead me to call it, and request my parts back.

Been talking with you since (abouts) May of 2007 about this work through email. The hold up was on my end, finishing up the main dash surround. One thing that is never good is replying to ones emails, and not quoting anything, so your short one lined answers are too short if one cannot recall what the last email said. So, in the future, you might start quoting what the last person said in every email to avoid confusion. Anyway, we have a quote for the work to be done which I agree on, payment methods to be made once completed all set, so all thats left is me to mail.

When it came time to ship, I request the mailing address which I get, parts get sent...nearly a week or so later, I still hear nothing from you about getting it so I track it, and UPS says on their web site, that the receiver has moved and they are trying to locate you. So, you move, and don't tell me, or give me a change of address. I have to contact UPS and give them the change of address, and that adds another $10.00 to my account. No big deal at this point.

We email back and forth and instead of writing an essay, I just tell you to call me and we will chat.

Later in the day I get a call, from a restricted number, never good from somebody your trusting your parts and money with business wise. So we talk, and I hear how you don't accept credit cards, paypal, you only take cash, check or money orders, and how everything now must be made up front. Yes I agree you don't work for free, neither do I, but I have to see what I am getting before payment is made, thats how pretty much EVERYBODY does it on line, that is trust worthy. One thing that I have learned over the years is how to spot a dishonest person upfront. You did not strike me as one.

I agree to make a 1/2 down and another 1/2 when completed during the call. I told you I would email you back with my decision. You finally agreed to that 1/2 down payment via money order sent snail mail.

The big whopper here...during the phone call, you sounded like you did not trust me, such as following through on my end of the deal, having you do all this work and get stuck with parts you know nothing about and cannot sale. I tell you why would I send you something I modified, spending months on, only to stiff you on payment. You go on to tell me how others have filed paypal disputes about what they received and how your out time, money, supplies, and they get to keep the part anyway. (I can back this up later in this post as to why they probably did this)

I have the funds in full for the job now, before it even began, where as when I do business with others, they may not have the money yet, but I still go through with the work, and by the time I am done, they have the funds to pay for the work. I personally never take on a project I cannot resell to get my money back in case of a no-payer. In the 11 years I have been doing business on line, I have never been taken advantage of, or had my honestly questioned by anyone before till now. By you questioning me, that was a red flag there, even though I said to myself, "well, hes just protecting himself".

So, I suggested that if your in doubt of who I am, and what I stand for as far as honestly on line, go ahead and google my name. There you will see everything you can about me, nothing to hide. Which I see you had done, cause thats what brings you here, and joining my you tube account as well.

After we got off the phone, I thought I would take my advice, and google your name to see who you are, and what you are about.

All I have to say is wow man...

You preach to me, about me not knowing what kind of work you do, honestly, your right, I do not know what kind of work you do personally, cause I chose to pull the plug and not even give you the chance to show me.

I felt it best that I do not try you out, and pay you for your "quality standards" of work and then have to pay somebody again later to do the job right and try to cover up, or worse case replace what you messed up if it was that bad, we may never know.

What I read about you, on line, for various other forums says enough right there about who and what you are as far as a great person to deal with on line and a good source for this type of work.

I kept holding my tongue in the emails about you ripping me telling me you don't even know, you don't even trust...well your right...I don't, and I still don't know do I ever want to know.

You have no reason to be conducting business like this on the internet with out first addressing some of these things. What you advertise what you can do, and show all the pictures you want, vs. what you ship the actual person varies big time. Your communication skills are better than most with how quick you reply to emails, so thats a good skill you have, but the way you conduct yourself on line, and the feed back I have seen and read on line needs to improve big time my friend.

Sure anybody can stick carbon fiber to a part and call it an overlay...I applaud you for doing the work as its not easy. I have tried myself, and I can do it...but it takes skill to make it look good cause thats the main objective here. I have no skill in that straight up. Thats why I called upon a seasoned expert in the field for the work I wanted done, which turns out, I don't think your ready to call yourself an expert quite yet. I know you never did call yourself one, but don't play the part until your ready is all I am saying.

If in doubt...google your own name in your case "Fibercation" and see what I am talking about. That was the icing on the cake that called the deal for me to come to an end.

I'm done with you, your done with me, lets move on and just pretend it never happened other than the many emails I have to clean out of my in box now, and the rather steel shipping charges I spend to and from you as a big mistake on my part.

Lesson learned I guess, That lesson is when in doubt or not 100% knowledgeable about the person your about to do business with online for the first time, do some extensive research on them to make sure this is who you want for the job.

Good day to you sir, and hope by me telling you this only betters you as a person and the way you conduct yourself on line, and through your business.

Why did I post this in a public forum vs. keeping it private in an email? Well, I have to look out for everyones well being I call a friend. If I kept it to myself, and somebody would up dealing with you and the outcome was not great...then I would feel responsible personally.

Good day and good luck with you and your business.

~F~

and I thought Scotty's posts were long......