Yep.

Yes poor poor Fred, he took peoples money, doesn't return calls or e mails to folks he owes...and I'm the bad guy?

No matter what he is going through thats no excuse for not following up or refunding. I think all you Fred lovers should guarantee the deals, put your money where your mouth is.

I find it interesting that he can't email or call his customers
but when some one on EBay left him negative feedback he
responded right away (on a Sunday night).

I cancelled my order, asked for refund and have gotten Amex
involved. Smells allot like credit card fraud to me.

:violent-smiley-045:

Too vaclempt to deal with customers but well enough to shovel stock out the back door on EBay !!!

So some of you guys want all these issues to be kept quiet so others can go thru a charade as well ??? Nice.. :rolleyes:

I feel bad for all he has gone and wish him MEGA better luck in future endeavors as well as life, but continued bad biz practice by a advertiser on the site needs to be known as well irregardless of who they are and what they have gone thru. It's simply buisness, and maybe this biz isn't his calling. It happens..

I've been around here a while too, and met Fred in Miami a few years back in Miami. He seemed like a pretty nice guy. I've never had any business dealings with him.

After reading multiple threads about his endeavors into the boat parts world, I will have to agree with the above post; business is business. It deals you all kinds of ups and downs.
These boats are personal toys. If I were in the business of maintaining or modifying these toys for you folks, and I had tried Trick as a vendor to do that for you, it certainly appears from what I've read it would have been necessary for me to have found another source ASAP in order to keep you happy.

I've been up this road before in a personal toy of a different sort. Although maintaining $30 million jets for private individuals is a little different, expectations are not. Those expectations are to have it done in a reasonable (or sometimes unreasonable, like yesterday:rolleyes:) amount of time, and if I can't perform that simple request due to a vendor's lack of performance, sorry, but I'm getting a new vendor in a hurry. I realize a lot of these orders are for your own personal use as do-it-yourselfers, but aren't the expectations in vendor performance the same?
Jim

No dog in this fight but ...

To the guys who are attacking Fred on a personal level, stick to the facts. You ordered something you didn't get. You have a totally legitimate gripe. No business, no matter how beloved by the members of this forum, should be immune to customer service issues.

To the guys who have tried to defend Fred by bringing his personal life into the argument, bad idea. In business, no one cares. That's the hard truth. Best to defend him on the basis of the great, consistent customer service you've received. That's a legitimate defense.

Jim, I agree with you.
And in what I say next, I may be taken as contradicting myself from earlier statements - but I'll say it anyway.
My JOB is "procurement of consumable supplies for a manufacturing facility".
What that means is I'm responsible for spending about 1.4M a year on all the supplies and materials needed to make a product.
That also means if we don't have one of those hundred supplies, we don't produce anything, and 150 people on the production floor go home because they have nothing to work with. I'm dealing with budgets, stock levels, shelf lives, and International transport of HAZ/MAT goods, and getting supplies through customs.
Yes, if I have a vendor that isn't performing, I'm going to someone else immediately. I have to - for productions sake. Sometimes there is only one vendor for a specific product - I need to plan accordingly.
But, if vendor #1 has a better price/quality, I let them know their service is lacking. Get their service up, and I'll be back.
Sometimes I go with a vendor that I know will have a long lead-time, or are a PITA to deal with, but the quality and price are favorable.
IE - I have one vendor that requires a faxed PO for every order. If there is a price change that I was not notified of for as little as $0.10, I must revise my PO to reflect that. This is on an order for several thousand dollars. PITA, but I get good product, although it takes awhile.
I guess my point is, you do business with those you like doing business with.
If they are having a hard time delivering, you let them know (discreetly - so as not to hurt the rest of their business and start a smear campaign), and let them work out their internal issues.
I just think it's good business ethics.
In the past, I have also had a customer tell me they are not happy with my service. I asked the details, and told them use someone else for 30 days - give me time to work out the issues, and then come back and try me again. As a customer they will respect that.

I have ordered a couple of things from Trick and had no problems. I really do like to support vendors from this site and fred's prices are great but there have been a number of similar threads to this one lately and I am nervous about placing another order with them.

VERY GOOD POINT made here. I had a number of conversations with Fred and came away feeling he would be a great guy to hang out with.......I just can't count on his organization to fulfill it's obligations (or even do what they tell me they are going to do)

Not sticking up for him but I ordered a couple of items from him in August and recieved them without any trouble. I highly agree that there isnt any excuse of not talking with his customers no matter what the situation is. Even if he said they are out of luck. You would sure think he is reading this.