ATTN Spool
- Thread starter Jeph
- Start date
- :
- 99 LX
it gives the forum a black eye. This was an "Authorized Vendor." That title means s***.
Beleive me, i am not a happy camper, but yelling and cussing and threatning won't do anything to help. Actually Terry contacted me via PM last night with promises to come by Friday, so we will see. I have a funny feeling that the check I DID receive will indeed bounce.
1st MP3 in NH said:
Well not just that, but Spool was a reputable company in our community. I think it just means that customer service will suck when you're going out of business
(Actually, I do not know if SPOOL provided good customer service or not in the past)
skilletrx said:
- OFF SO WAY OFF TOPIC -
Yes it is do-able, but when you think about it having a Master's and only making 50k is kinda a slap in the face. I guess I just look at it as in buying a house to live in. Even the rent in Fairfax can be ridiculous! You can live further away and all and then it is not as bad...but then you have traffic. I am in no way saying that where I am is better or anything of the sort!!! It's just the 50k up there is about the equivalent of $30k here (this is figuring in cost of living and housing!). All I was trying to state is that 50k in some places is a lot better than others, and that there it is not that much especially if you are moving from another place that is cheaper and not making that much money! I mean you have to look at it like this....a lot of cops work over 50 hours a week...so 50k / 52 weeks = 961.54 and divide that by 50 hours = 19.23 per hour. Now for some one with a Bachelor's starting out no experience...yeah that is great money, but someone with experience and a Master's....it is not that great.
I am not saying a person can't live in NOVA and make 50k and live the life. I am just stating that 50k in NOVA isn't some ground breaking salary!
Terry was nice enough to let me weld at his shop (see my sig). He gave most of our members a discount and was very open to us having our meet there as well. Although I do in fact think that he is a great guy, his buisness practice seems a bit off lately. It may be that he just has alot going on and not enough time on his hands to deal with "certain issues". But if he has customers that need refunds or need their parts, then that should be his main priority. I understand he has other vendors he may owe and he may not know what's going to happen tomorrow, but he should know what he's going to do for them today. It's not about flaming someone's character, that's not the issue. The point is getting responses back, producing their refunds or getting the parts shipped out asap. People get nervous especially when someone's buisness folds. No one wants to see that happen but no one is more nervous than the customer that gave the money to the company before that happened. I also know that he is not responding to this until he feels it's the right time to. But today, tomorrow, a week from now, it's still the same. Where are the parts or the money? I think it's resonable for a customer to wait several days, 2-3 weeks even, but not months for something to happen. No matter where the buisness is going, there is never a good enough excuse to hold out a product, replacement or refund. No excuse as to why, just do it and you can always talk about the who, what, when and why's later. We will understand and I wish him the best no matter what happens. But saying, hey he's trying and not producing is another matter. These people deserve more than an excuse or more delays, let's just get them taken care of. Thanks!
I have just finished reading this whole thread today, and I would like to thank the protege community for all the support that they have given me and Spool in the past and present.
As of now Bill (Gotzoom) needs a refund of a payment that he backed out of on a microtech purchase some weeks ago because the microtech computer was taking too long.....which is very understandable. I have communicated with Bill stating that a check would be cut to him before this friday. Also there are 4 orders outstanding that have some back ordered parts that I am waiting for. After this Spool is free in the clear.
Now since I have gotten this out of the way I will explain what happned with me and Spool, to put a rest to all the rumors.
Intially we were based out of Miami out of a small facility and could not keep up with our intial demand. So we resorted to farming out many of our products. This was a very bad move for us since many of these companies were making our products poorly and incorrectly.
The only way that I saw us move in a better direction was to upsize the operation and make everything in house. The bags were packed and everything moved to Va.
As soon as we moved sales exploded and growth was excellent. Since day one sales have been steadly increasing. However as odd as this sounds we were digging our own grave. The cost of R&D and devoliping products is astronomical for a little company like ours to handle. On top of that we were feverishly producing parts for the mazdaspeed and other cars and this was adding greatly to overhead. Also even though sales were high they were not high enough to cover simple and fixed over head. The business of manufacturing is a costly one and especially custome manufacturing like ours. It is not mass production but very specialized labor intensive work. We were spending more than we were making. This is very sad since I really loved what we were doing and enjoyed working with the community. Paul was an excellent welder, Chris was an awesome installer and tech, and I was good at sales and tuning. Together we made an awesome team and built some really cool stuff. But in reality our profit margins were not hifg enough for such specialized work. Unlike FM or Hiboost we made everything by hand out of really expensive materials and this was our demise. Now fast foward I found an investor that was willing to buy out the company and continue the saga of building turbo's and kits. I was financialy drained and did not get paid for over 3 months. Well after the company was bought out the new owners will no longer offer any parts to the protege community or make production kits. I have been spending the last 2 weeks trying to convince him otherwise but it all comes down to the dollar in the end. So what will become of Spool? Basically your average run of the mill performance shop with installs and swaps. They will no longer offer any protege products or support.
Its kinda sad, like one of teh guys said here at the shop.....its like saying bye to a close friend.
Once again I thank everybody for there help and support.
To Gotzoom, you will get your check in the mail.....oh the microtechs came in yesterday by the way and they are shipping out tommorow
Thanks everyone I love you all
As of now Bill (Gotzoom) needs a refund of a payment that he backed out of on a microtech purchase some weeks ago because the microtech computer was taking too long.....which is very understandable. I have communicated with Bill stating that a check would be cut to him before this friday. Also there are 4 orders outstanding that have some back ordered parts that I am waiting for. After this Spool is free in the clear.
Now since I have gotten this out of the way I will explain what happned with me and Spool, to put a rest to all the rumors.
Intially we were based out of Miami out of a small facility and could not keep up with our intial demand. So we resorted to farming out many of our products. This was a very bad move for us since many of these companies were making our products poorly and incorrectly.
The only way that I saw us move in a better direction was to upsize the operation and make everything in house. The bags were packed and everything moved to Va.
As soon as we moved sales exploded and growth was excellent. Since day one sales have been steadly increasing. However as odd as this sounds we were digging our own grave. The cost of R&D and devoliping products is astronomical for a little company like ours to handle. On top of that we were feverishly producing parts for the mazdaspeed and other cars and this was adding greatly to overhead. Also even though sales were high they were not high enough to cover simple and fixed over head. The business of manufacturing is a costly one and especially custome manufacturing like ours. It is not mass production but very specialized labor intensive work. We were spending more than we were making. This is very sad since I really loved what we were doing and enjoyed working with the community. Paul was an excellent welder, Chris was an awesome installer and tech, and I was good at sales and tuning. Together we made an awesome team and built some really cool stuff. But in reality our profit margins were not hifg enough for such specialized work. Unlike FM or Hiboost we made everything by hand out of really expensive materials and this was our demise. Now fast foward I found an investor that was willing to buy out the company and continue the saga of building turbo's and kits. I was financialy drained and did not get paid for over 3 months. Well after the company was bought out the new owners will no longer offer any parts to the protege community or make production kits. I have been spending the last 2 weeks trying to convince him otherwise but it all comes down to the dollar in the end. So what will become of Spool? Basically your average run of the mill performance shop with installs and swaps. They will no longer offer any protege products or support.
Its kinda sad, like one of teh guys said here at the shop.....its like saying bye to a close friend.
Once again I thank everybody for there help and support.
To Gotzoom, you will get your check in the mail.....oh the microtechs came in yesterday by the way and they are shipping out tommorow
Thanks everyone I love you all
As I have mentioned before.....you were solely the reason I crossed over into the darkside.
your commitment to this club...and the knowledge that you brought was trully instrumental to the protege platform. Many of the new people will not know how it was over a year ago...in this forum.
My advise.....stick around the forum for a little bit...then go take a "vacation" from this board..and clear your head...
BUT.....come back...as your knowledge is so very important.
Thanks and appreciation,
your commitment to this club...and the knowledge that you brought was trully instrumental to the protege platform. Many of the new people will not know how it was over a year ago...in this forum.
My advise.....stick around the forum for a little bit...then go take a "vacation" from this board..and clear your head...
BUT.....come back...as your knowledge is so very important.
Thanks and appreciation,
Last edited:
spacemonkey
Member
- :
- Mazdaslow
Good to hear the truth. I totally understand since I just finished my managerial accounting class. I was thinking about starting a spool fund to help out but it seems like spool's financial obligations were too much and our donations would be too little to help out. Its a sad day but atleast you are alright.
Best wishes
Best wishes
Thanks
I really plan on taking your advice. I will take a break from this forum a bit but will come back and hang out in F/I.......like back in the old days
Now that I will not be working 16 hours a day at Spool I can actually get online and have a real life
I really plan on taking your advice. I will take a break from this forum a bit but will come back and hang out in F/I.......like back in the old days
Now that I will not be working 16 hours a day at Spool I can actually get online and have a real life
Thanks,
That is really cool
By the way I will no longer be selling any products whatsoever. I may in the future sell emanages but that will not be for a bit.
Also rumors:
I will not become a cop, I hated that job.
I will not work for an engineering firm.
I am not moving back to Miami.
Also rumors:
I will not become a cop, I hated that job.
I will not work for an engineering firm.
I am not moving back to Miami.
(sad2) I my self know how hard it is to run a business. A couple years back I worked with a couple people that had there own shop. The overhead was so intenses they had to shut their doors. It is definally a shocker. Once you have it in your hands and then it disapears like.....poof.
I always hear people talking about how they want to open a shop. I try and tell them doing R&D and just have a import performance shop is just NOT that easy. I have seen 3 shops come and go in the past. Yes.. this market is booming but, hard to become very successfull. I remember when we were just doing it for fun (weekends at the track)!
When I first came to this board Spool was the kit to have that's why I bought one. Well...I sold it to buy an STi. I was planning on moving to your Subaru section of your web site. I'm sorry I can't now.
Spool is still my favorite kit for the FS-DE!!!
Good Luck!
