He’ll use that profit to buy oakfoils a beer next time they get together while oakfoils checks on how Gary is hanging.
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Is this normal?
- Thread starter Goodfish
- Start date
I just checked all my PayPal payments again. So just to be clear, I paid a total of AU$1319. This breaks down as $969 for the board, $290 for the shipping, and $60 for the customs fees.
The total I have been refunded is AU$885 (after PayPal took their own $40). The invoice Gary sent me showed the claim being $679 which he gets in the form of credit. He said, "once I receive this I can forward you this amount plus the freight". So that left me with a total refund of AU$885 which is $434 short of my total payments.
EDIT: I just checked my earlier posts. I guess the discrepancy in the math is that when Gary said he would "plus the freight", I took that to mean the $290 I paid. If I deduct the claim ($679) from the amount I get back, that means the freight was $206 not the $290 I paid. I guess the difference was the cost of boxes and packaging? Anyway, it's all very confusing...
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I have a couple nightmare stories myself. I was pissed off, repaired the boards, then sold immediately at a lost. I didnt need the bad Karma. I wanted to call out the shapers but just let it go. Dave Parmenter once told me, " what do you expect the surf industry is filled with a bunch of flakes" So I reflected on that, shook my head, gritted my teeth and moved on. After shaping and bunch of boards and ordering more than I can stupidly afford, I found a couple shapers I like and they go the extra mile to help me out. I guess its like finding a good mechanic, dentist , or doctor.
I’m in Bali looking at my custom made in Bali Chilli and it is a fine board made very well . Glassing and sanding top notch. Eight weeks of surfing it and only a very very few extremely minor heel dents on deck. Chilli Bali uses South Coast blanks imported from Oz plus quality glass and resins etc. the whole deal of ordering etc was a pleasure and finished in just four weeks!
In contrast a Balinese guy was showing me his board from Redz, one of the bigger Bali makers - a Hypto copy - and after just a month the deck was surface of the moon dented and delam starting to show along shrunken foam either side of stringer. Cheap foam etc. His board was about $aus 300 cheaper than the Chilli but false economy.
In contrast a Balinese guy was showing me his board from Redz, one of the bigger Bali makers - a Hypto copy - and after just a month the deck was surface of the moon dented and delam starting to show along shrunken foam either side of stringer. Cheap foam etc. His board was about $aus 300 cheaper than the Chilli but false economy.
Yeah, I was gonna let it go a few pages back, but the erbb convinced me to fight the good fight. Just seems too easy to let them get away with it.
Goodfish sorry for all that drama. But thanks for posting this incident. Good to know which shapers and shipping companies are total kooks.
One of the online business that I run is completely black hat and anonymous. I provide a service and random people buy it from me via Paypal. Occasionally I'll mess up and not deliver everything or my VA in India will incorrectly deliver. People charge back on me in those instances. I don't fight it. Customer didn't get what they paid for. It's part of doing business. Surfboard industry should be different cause we're all bros and the shipping company messed up? Nah. Bullshit.
No worries. I started the thread because it seemed strange that I would have no control over the claim, so I wanted to check if that was standard. I had no issue with Gary at that point.
When the details of the claim were finalised, I would have taken it if Gary had just offered me something to cover some part of the $400 hit (future board order discount, etc.). Instead, he just absolved himself from any responsibility. Even to the point where he wouldn't send me the compensation until he had physically received it himself. He had the invoice confirming the amount allocated for the claim, but he just left me hanging for nearly 2 weeks until I chased him up about transferring the cash. In the end, I had to email the company involved directly, with him and his broker in cc, to get it. I'd probably still be waiting if I hadn't done that.
I'm sure some people are getting a bit annoyed with this thread, but I'll keep everyone updated until I hear the final outcome. PayPal emailed me yesterday to notify me that Gary had responded, so I guess we'll find out soon enough. Not holding out much hope, but we'll see...
Was the credit actually issued? If so that makes it about as bad as a vendor can be to a customer.
I can’t really comment because I arrived late for this party. Someone suggested on page one that the shaper will be reimbursed or credited as he arranged the shipping. Did this actually happen?
I have had 5/6 customs shaped in CA and shipped to me in the Bahamas. Thankfully all arrived in perfect condition. The last 4 came with fedex and on each occasion the shaper asked me to organise the freight online and he dropped them to a FedEx depot. The shipment was in my name. This happened with two different shapers.
I’m bummed for Goodfish as this must be real downer for him or her. The shipping company probably only insure for the value of the goods and not the actual shipping. I have had similar issues shipping other things to the Bahamas. Customs duty was also not covered which is a big chunk there, often 45-60% of the value of the item(s).
It's my understanding that Gary was reimbursed the amount detailed in the claim invoice and the freight fees as a credit to his account. After some follow-ups, he transferred this amount into my PayPal account. As I explained in my last post, the total I got back is about AU$434 short of what I paid him initially for the board and shipping.
The way you've done it with FedEx is a much better method. I got 2 boards from Ryan Burch recently, and they did it in a similar way: I paid directly to the shipping company with my name on the receipt. Thankfully, I had no issues with those boards - even the one with glass-on keel fins...
I had a few bad experiences with shapers before. One made a thruster when I ordered a quad and one made a board 3 5/8" thick when I ordered 3 1/8". The first guy said to take him to court if I didn't like it. Second guy I didn't even bother and just surfed the board. It pretty much turned me off from buying customs and I went the off the rack/craigslist route for the next ten years.
Sorry this happened to you. I'd be pissed. The surfboard industry seems to be full of people who have no problem doing things like this.
Sorry this happened to you. I'd be pissed. The surfboard industry seems to be full of people who have no problem doing things like this.
Unfortunately, and it doesn't excuse what happend to you, but some surfboard makers are usually really good at one thing.
That's making surfboards.
Every other aspect of the trade usually involves subs. Whether it be glassing, sanding, airbrushing, finning, SHIPPING, packing boxes, marketing, internet managing, Instagramming, paying bills!! etc. There's a sub for that, which costs money, which need experience to do, which challenge final surfboard prices, especially shipped ones.
I found it was really hard to be really good at all of those parts, still get sleep, still make any sort of money, still get to surf, still have any sort of life outside of that, etc.
Seems like by the time one makes a board, gets paid, ships it, they are so busy with their business that they are done with that customer unless they want another board, especially a long distance customer that needs a lot of attention. Again, its no excuse for what happened to you Goodfish, just probably reality. I bet Gary never realized it would go this way and is probably in the hole on it no matter what.
That's making surfboards.
Every other aspect of the trade usually involves subs. Whether it be glassing, sanding, airbrushing, finning, SHIPPING, packing boxes, marketing, internet managing, Instagramming, paying bills!! etc. There's a sub for that, which costs money, which need experience to do, which challenge final surfboard prices, especially shipped ones.
I found it was really hard to be really good at all of those parts, still get sleep, still make any sort of money, still get to surf, still have any sort of life outside of that, etc.
Seems like by the time one makes a board, gets paid, ships it, they are so busy with their business that they are done with that customer unless they want another board, especially a long distance customer that needs a lot of attention. Again, its no excuse for what happened to you Goodfish, just probably reality. I bet Gary never realized it would go this way and is probably in the hole on it no matter what.
Yeah, I understand that. However, this is his business. We all work, and we all have to take responsibility when something goes wrong. He ships boards all over the world, so as Racer said he should understand that sometimes this comes with complications. Not a very ethical way to do business if you just absolve yourself of responsibility and let your customer take the hit. As I said, he coulda just given me a percentage off the next board as a token gesture, but he didn't even offer me that.
Sorry to hear, that's infuriating. I've always been curious about his boards, but I'll never give them a thought now.
Two shaper's I've gotten boards from. One got the color wrong (fade from nose to tail instead of nose to half) and offered me if I wanted to have the board remade. I kept it as is. Another pointed out to me (I had not seen it) an imperfection in the glass and offered to remake or a discount. Had it remade and there was no drama. Unless otherwise stated at the beginning of the transaction, I don't think the customer should absorb any loss.
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I've had similar experience with XTR. One time I got a board with a loose fin box (the fin would wiggle a bit when it was in there), I told them about it and they immediately gave me a discount on my next order. Another time there was a glassing imperfection, and I got another discount. The also packed the boxes really well with off-cuts of foam to pad it out. I've had about 6 boards from now, and I'll keep going back.
I had one shaper make my board 2 inches more narrow then what I wanted. It rode like absolute sh!t.
one shaper I asked for 6 6 S glass and he said he did and charged me for it. Very clearly wasnt
list goes on.
I found one who is really good now. He’s expensive but good. He just shapes the board and you take it to a Glasser yourself which I find to be way better
one shaper I asked for 6 6 S glass and he said he did and charged me for it. Very clearly wasnt
list goes on.
I found one who is really good now. He’s expensive but good. He just shapes the board and you take it to a Glasser yourself which I find to be way better
Yeah. When im even suspicious it’s not the materials you discussed I’m over it.
It’s ridiculous too. Cause I would refer people to him and got him a lot of business then he does me dirty like that. Smh
I don’t think it’s he’s a bad guy. I think he’s just scatter brained and can’t keep track of what’s going on enough.
one of those times when expanding and getting lots of orders starts to damage business