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Nemesis Project Bikes

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sokoloka

Monkey
Sep 14, 2005
160
1
San Diego / London
See this other link in the Bad Seller forum for more information: http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229526

While posting what can be considered a private issue on a public forum is the last thing I wanted to do, I feel as if I've run out of other options.

Disclaimer: If you want to get a long story short version, I'll stick a brief abstract at the bottom.

Until about 3 months ago, Brad and I have maintained what I considered a pretty good friendship over about the past year and a half; corresponding through emails and over the phone at least once every two weeks if not more.

Our "business" relationship initiated in late November of last year when I purchased a tuned z.1 from Brad. We arranged all the details over the phone, and I sent Brad the money immediately through PayPal after we finished our conversation. Brad mentioned that he was experiencing a bit of a time crunch with his Christmas orders, and I told him I had no problem as long as I got my fork before I had to return to school at the end of Christmas break. When I'm at school, I don't have have easy access to specialized bike tools so getting the fork later than that really wouldn't work too well. To Brad's credit and even with all the delays, I did end up receiving the fork the day before I returned to school for the spring semester.

So I did get the fork when all was said and done, and while the timeline did leave a little to be desired, I had no complaints as I was up and riding for the majority of the semester. Fast forward to what I believe was mid-March, when I placed another order with Brad for a set of his raw proto 22.2 Folsom Prison bars. Like before, I sent Brad the money through PayPal, and even though I really didn't give Brad a timeframe on the bars - I didn't see them until about the middle of May, right about 2 months after I ordered them.

I didn't really think too much of it at the time, especially since they were just an impulse buy, but in retrospect I guess it was clear sign of things to come.

Finally, fastforward to early July this summer - I called Brad up and after about an hour's worth of chatting we came up with the plan for a Raw, Guideless, Secret Agent with a Euro BB and a Pressfit headtube, kitted out with profile cranks/hubs, with a 6spd rear and a non-disc 20mil front.

I sent Brad a $400 downpayment on the frame/component combo sometime in the next two days following the conversation, with the promise and delivery of more money in the near future. Taking into account my past experiences with Brad's usual delays, I placed what I considered to be a relatively simple order with a deadline over a month away, on August 15th. I chose August the 15th for the same reasons that I chose the deadline for my previous fork order - I was driving back to school on the 16th and would no longer have access to the necessary tools to put the bike together leaving me with a pile of parts that I couldn't ride.

I left for Poland on July the 12th. While I was in Poland I emailed Brad two or three times to ask how things were going, which he replied that the frame was underway; and I also asked for some progress pictures, which he promised - yet I never received. As soon as I returned to the states 17 days later on the 29th, I gave Brad a phonecall and sent him the next installment of $600. During that phonecall we worked out the details of the Profile order, which to his credit he did place; as well as him telling me that he had completed the front triangle of my frame and was waiting on some chainstays to be bent if I remember correctly. Once again I asked for some progress pics, which were promised, yet never received.

Around the time my Profile order arrived, I sent Brad another payment bringing the total money recieved in the range of $1100 total. This is also around the time I began asking him when he expected my frame to be done, which he replied that he'd need about a week more to get the frame to be clearcoated, and then it'd be out in the mail.

That week passed and I didn't hear anything from Brad so I called him again. He said there had been a delay so things were going to take a little longer than expected.

I called Brad again on either August 14th or the 15th, which was the DEADLINE. I asked him what the delay was this time, his response was that "he was waiting to weld on the cable guides before he could send it to clear" - a little fishy considering we had agreed that there would be no cable guides on the frame that I ordered.

It is at this point in time that I simply gave up, waiting for him to contact me when he actually had the frame done. To this day, I have YET to see any proof that he's actually made me a frame, much less one anywhere near to being within the month+ deadline that we set for the entire deal to go down. It was about a week and a half after I returned to school that I began having to deal with some relatively serious personal/family issues, so I brushed the fact that I was out $500+ in return for NO product to the side to take care of what really is and still was important.

While I have been waiting to hear from Brad that he's finally finished my frame - instead I've received three "threatening" voicemails in the time since then and now.

As of right now, I've sent Brad $1100+ dollars and he returned the favor by giving me excuses for why he couldn't meet an already generous deadline, and then leaving threatening voicemails shortly thereafter. When I didn't respond to that sort of childish un-businesslike behavior, he dropped down to calling me a drug user both on public forums and over the phone; kind of ironic considering the reputation that Brad has established for himself over the years. Keep in mind that until this day, today, January 1st, 2008, almost 6 months since I initially placed my order and sent my first payment, I still haven't seen a picture of the frame the frame I ordered or anything close to it.

This entire situation is slightly ironic, looking back at my rather short RideMonkey posting history, as a good number of my posts on here have been supporting Brad, but apparently I was the one who was misguided at the time.

Brad has all together stopped returning any correspondence - instead I've been writing back and forth with another mutual friend, Garson Fields, in an effort to get this situation sorted out. Garson has on several occasions asked Brad to get back to me, or to sort this situation out, but to no avail as of yet.



Abstract/Long Story Short:
I'm out $500 on a frame that to the best of my knowledge was never built, and Brad has shown no intention of returning one cent of the money he's essentially stolen from me.



What's the next step I can take to get this situation resolved?

I've tried contacting him directly for several months now, but clearly he has no intention of simply returning the money he's taken for a product he never delivered. I screwed up by giving him the benefit of the doubt and not filing a PayPal claim within their short deadline - but I did manage to save a record of everything in relation to this transaction, so when it comes to the burden of proof I feel as if I have more than enough in my favor.

What's the next step?

Plain and simple, I just want my money back. This is absolutely ridiculous behavior from someone who claims to run a reputable business - and I know that I'm not the only one who's ever had an issue with Brad's business "practices"


Be a man Brad, admit that you didn't deliver and give me my money back.

Cross posted in the Bad Seller/Scammer forum under this link:
http://www.ridemonkey.com/forums/showthread.php?p=2781948#post2781948
 

Evil4bc

Turbo Monkey
Jun 17, 2005
1,080
1
Nor-Cal
It seems there has been some confusion about production photos of a custom frame built for Eric S. posted on the RideMonkey webfourm earlier this week , First off after the confusion of referring to the wrong frame it's a little hard to go back and say .. Oops it's the one to the left.
First off please let me apologies for not being able to give the thread on ridemoneky all the attention it deserved this week , I have just signed the Lease to our first true production facility and dealing with Landlords , Contractors and electricians all week has taken up all of my available time, some of you might understand tenant improvements can be a real PITA.

I was however was able this morning to drive to my Storage Locker , where the Frame in question has been in Storage for the past 5+ months since it's completion.
There has been some confusion in a He said She said sort of manor on the Net forums , I personally am not going to go through each of Eric's blatant lie's and try to defend myself. I will let a mutual friend and impartial voice of reason Garson Fields post his current time line of event's and let the reader and end Nemesis Project customer make their own educated decision .
During this entire process / sale to Eric I knew something was up , so after learning from prior mistakes I CC'd all correspondence to a mutual friend of both Eric's and mine Garson Fields some of you may remember him as Garson413 when he was actively posting in the Urban/DJ bike forums . I asked Garson to review these Emails and make is honest judgment on his feeling . He will be posting these on RideMonkey shortly.

I will take a few lines to comment on the direct claims dealing with the public matter of this sale , as it refers to our company policy here at Nemesis Project cycles .
This was and has been clearly discussed and explained to Eric many times .
We do not send out product before it is 100% paid in full, nor do we once accepting a deposit for a custom frame refund said deposit once said frame has been completed and is ready for delivery.
If the customer does not choose to take deliver of said product it is shelved and the customer receives a open invoice for the product until it is paid off, this is done as a courtesy to the customer so they can take the time to finish paying for their product.
We in turn eat the time , cost of labor and materials until this invoice is paid off.

In Eric's case I had been in direct contact with him up until his sisters wedding , were he stated he would be transferring final payment out for his discounted custom frame.
Shortly after this is when we lost contact with Eric , His frame had been ready for delivery for several weeks prior.
I personally had left several very sincere messages for Eric , both letting him know his frame was ready for delivery , and also with our concern for his person well being as he had basically dropped off the face of the planet for the 2+ months prior to this point.
A few weeks before this I made a point to inform mutual friend of both Eric and I Garson Fields of all interaction with Eric and started CC'ing Garson ALL correspondence as record for a situation just like this.

During this unfortunate situation i have tried to contact Eric personally many times , with no response .
I have also Emailed him 4 very generous offers in getting his $500 deposit refunded , at this point he replied with blatant threats toward me and my company's good name. Since Eric is not willing to accept both our company policy and our offers of peaceful resolution we take this as a matter of principle and as company owner of Nemesis Project I choose to stand my ground . People have attacked Nemesis Project as being a shady business but I say please let my current list of clients I am building custom bikes speak for it self.
Kid-Robot
Disney Block-28
Mark Arcnel , Fat Lace owner and NIKE Global brand manager

Eric's custom RAW Secret Agent frame , press fit headset , euro BB no cable guides as ordered is pictured below , outside my storage locker were it has sat for the past 5+ months , please refer to current issues of Sacramento BEE and USA Today for date . Eric's frame has been ready for delivery since the date requested by Eric , and at anytime when he is ready to complete payment for the remaining balance on invoice his frame is ready to ship .

Thank you
Brad Hodges
Owner / Frame builder
Nemesis Project cycles

http://www.hcor.net/gallery/NemesisProject/AUT_5619.sized.jpg

 
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