Re: AMG SLK STYLE Side Skirts for the crossfire
Where do I start with this….. Let’s start from the beginning Mayman came up with this wonderful idea for sideskirts in the form of a Photoshop. A company approached the forum once we had thought about doing a group buy. We researched this company found some other forums have had problems with him and his products. (I am not going to say the companies name in good faith, if you were around the original thread for these skirts you know who I am talking about.) We continued to look for alternatives Including Duraflex and a local company here in MN. We where a little hesitant going with Duraflex because they had seemed to conduct most of there business over seas. The company here in MN was a great fit but there prices were three times as much about $650 a set not including 5k in mold cost… This just was not going to work. Duraflex is a pretty reputable company who does tons of work for all applications most people knows them as Extreme Dimensions. JR Industries was very up front with what we were doing and we continued with the mindset of we are not here to make a killing we are here to supply and make quality products for fellow car enthusiasts. This is how all of our group buys have been run anything after the fact we found to be fair for putting in the time and effort.
Once the name Duraflex came up I was pm'ed by the member CWSRT6 (Dan) the pm went something like hi I am Cliff, I have already been in contact with this company they are close to my house, I have been thinking of doing this very same thing I would love to be a test fitter. GREAT the clouds had aligned there was no use for me to have to ship my vehicle down there and worry about it all winter long, this was perfect. Dan and I had a few more exchanges (posing as Cliff) before we decided to give this the go ahead. We came to you the forum let you know what was on the table and we went from there. We started figuring out cost and collecting money, etc. Where do I send the check? At first Cliff wanted me to send the check to him; we are all smart enough to know this was not ever going to happen. He gave me all of his information on where to send the check and how to do this. At this time I researched the hell out of everything he sent me. Did numerous searches of his email, address, po box ect. NOTHING came up that showed a red flag at all yet I was still hesitant. I called him back told him I am not going to send him the money he said no problem send a cashier’s check made out to Extreme Dimensions to this address with Cliff on the envelope. I said what is your last name I can’t just put Cliff on it you are going to need to sign for this. His exact words were wait….. ohh well we will be fine I know the mail man really well. Still no warning signs all I'm thinking at this time is we are covered no problem what a nice guy.
Not soon after I got a call from Cliff letting me know that all is well they are working on the prototyping as we speak. He then explained how these were essentially ours and he really didn’t want much to do with the forum. I didn’t find this odd, it is not the first time people have approached us with ideas, we do whatever it takes to follow through put our name on it and all is well. A few more weeks passed and Cliff had let me know he had rented a rental car and that the drive was not nearly as close as he made it out to be the first time through. I had the impression it was right around the block not 200 miles away. Warning signs were yet to fire I figured this old man is dedicated and is doing what ever it takes awesome.
Once prototyping was done we OK'd the pictures we were sent from Extreme Dimensions and Cliff let us know what it was going to cost as an estimate. He told us Extreme Dimensions could hit the $350 mark we had been shooting for right on the dot. Once again great this is how we work the forum invests and we deliver. Mind you at no time through this entire process I was not thinking dollar signs all we had was an estimate that Cliff was given from the company that later turned into an exact amount 350 a set. WE AT JR INDUSTRIES WOULD MAKE NOTHING. This is not new for us those who know us know this process. Cliff told us he would cover the remainder of the cost because he wanted this to get shipped ASAP, didn’t have time to wait for another check or payment. Warning signs started to come up I let Rudy who had been on the same page the whole time know that Cliff paid the remainder (half we assume) to get this out of the U.S. right away. After thinking it over really no big deal it was probably $2000 which we will have no problem refunding him hell, the guy has gone above and beyond as a test fitter.
A few more weeks pasts and I got an email from Cliff letting me know his wife or wife’s sitter…. Someone in the family had cancer, they would be taking a vacation and he needed to clear up the 2k he had put on his credit card if it wasn’t a problem. Cliff came at it like if we could great if not no problem. Of coarse we could this guy has done nothing but go out of his way to make this work and sadly no he is dealing with these life issues. Sent the 2k, I told him he would have to eat some of the cost because I was only going to send it secure through PayPal. Still no problems.
Well as you all know weeks turned to months still no product still no word, deadlines got past we started taking some of the heat knowing all was well just be patient guys.
One day about two months ago Rudy decided he was going to order a set of eyebrows off of eBay. I told him they were junk and it was that *** hammer SRT6DAN who was selling that crap. Rudy figured why not just call him see what they are made out of and go from there. Typed the number in his phone sure enough came up as CLIFF. Rudy asked for Dan, Cliff said he had the wrong number and hung up. Rudy called back asked for Cliff and said hey Dan… The gig was up.
We immediately went into damage mode, how could this snake, this Judas deceive us and blow everything on our name. Believe it or not we have worked very hard on doing the right thing and it has been quality. For example the last double din center console we did for a customer we had painted 4 times. The last time we were still not satisfied because it was not perfect but we could not extend anymore of our resources and offered a refund the customer neglected said it looked perfect to him and couldn’t be more happier with it. Ask any member who has dealt with us we have always done the right thing. WE ALL KNOW THIS IS NOT DANS CASE. The guy is a scam artist and sells flat out JUNK. People who buy his crap don’t know his reputation he is a thief.
Rudy and I came to the conclusion that it is after the fact, we still have the other half of the money let’s wait it out for him to deliver. I sent Dan some emails letting him have it he sent some nasty ones back and then ceased all communication and decided to only deal with Rudy. His exact words were what does that immature kid know about running a business I am no longer going to deal with him. So be it, again wait for him to deliver he wasn’t getting another cent.
Well the day came the sideskirts arrived, I got on the phone with Duraflex to talk with the manager about sending payment and wanting to explain what was going on. I told him the sideskirts for the crossfire, no sooner had he told me he can not give me any details on these skirts nor could they be bought or sold from him. WTF does that mean…. CLICK. Hung up. What this means IS GOOD OLD FRAUDULANT DAN WENT BEHIND EVERYONES BACK TO BUY SOLE RIGHTS OF THE MOLD. WHERE DO YOU GET SUCH MONEY TO BUY SOLE RIGHTS OF THE MOLD? U STEAL IT OUT FROM UNDER UNSPECTING FORUM MEMBERS. You make it look like a favor in actuality you hide the real cost of the skirts mark them up and then use what ever is left for profit and to buy the rights. By owning the rights to the mold NO ONE AND I MEAN NO ONE but DAN CAN SELL THESE SKIRTS. This makes JR industries A ****!NG middle man and DAN THE
****** BAG running the show.
What do we do now???? We can no longer send a payment to Duraflex, they won’t take it, and the payment has to be made to Dan before he will even send a skirt. We are at a stale mate with no outs. Tell you guys Dan screwed us out of 5k or get the skirts that we have seen pictures of that are supposedly perfect, from a very reputable company let Dan play his games get on with our lives and never sell another set. The rest of the story you know. They arrived and you guessed it in good old Dan fashion they need work.
What I am asking of you, I am out of town right now on business, we have set up an appointment with SRT6DAVE back in Minnesota for Thurs/Fri to install these. After seeing Rudy’s attempt and Dan’s pictures I 100% will not be driving sheet metal screws into a customers car nor make some mickeymouse brackets to hold them in place. Bottom line the skirt is junk DAN HIMSELF put a sheet metal screw to hold these on in the door jam. Listen this isn’t my first time dealing with a kit, I have dealt with them numerous times every kit needs some work to make it work.
Everyone who knows anything knows this. When you read or hear direct replacement they are just that, replacements. This does not leave out minor sanding some tweaking a gap here, a fix there, fill here ect. THIS does not mean can I make these work. With that being said, there are ways around what you see above. A different fender wall bracket can probably be made, some industrial strength weather tape or Velcro can be used, but it shouldn’t have to.
Would I personally do this? It is a toss up, I will be home thurs night and will devote most of my weekend to this. Mind you I have been gone for a little over 2 months traveling for work through ND, SD, MT, WY, NE, IL, WI I need to see my girl friend LOL (bad timing with the skirts).
I will do what I can to make a set work on my car, let you know what we did, build multiple alternative brackets (not sheet metal screws screwed into our cars) if I have to. I will think with the mind set of everything I do will have to be undone and be just like it was before.
If it is even possible, and all is well you will be the first to know. If I think you need to have a shop install these you can make the decisions for yourself. I know you guys want these ASAP but I would hate to send them, watch you blow $600 or more to have them fitted and painted and then be still unhappy after the fact. Really Its up to you.
My vote is going towards money back from this A$$ clown I don’t want him to make a red cent nore do I want to see people have to deal with his crap. MIND YOU for this to happen I am sure he will have to send all of the skirts back to extreme demsions. By all of the skirts back, I don’t mean just the 30 we have. What is means is probably more like 60. I am sure this loser and coward DAN got 60 sets out of the deal with your money for his Junk of a website and ebay store.
Above all I think we need another voting bullet that says: sue Dan for mail fraud, identity fraud, and whatever else we can make stick, receive a full refund and watch him never get to do this again. He has been the demise of himself no one pushed him into this position (the douch% could have been just that… a test fitter). If he would have been clean with this, he would not be having these problems. Really Dan himself knew this was going to happen. He knows first hand he wouldn’t have been involved if it were up to anyone so he created a fake persona using his middle name. I would love more than anything to watch him get what he deserves. I got news for you DAN 10k is no longer a civil suit it is a felony. FOR THOSE WHO THINK I AM KIDDING, I AM DEAD SERIOUS if I have to pay out of pocket to watch this loser get what has been coming I will extend all my resources to make sure it happens.
Julian and FP we have talked with you about this before there should be no problem airing all of the dirty laundry. If there is a problem with what you may think are accusations I would be more then happy to send proof everything has been well documented incase of a court case. I AM BEGGING PLEASE DO NOT CLOSE THIS THREAD. If you want to clean up some of my language or comments fine but do not close this.