Custom Order Deposits: Refund Seeking

trifish

Gerry Lopez status
Sep 23, 2009
1,337
3,791
113
Shred City
Anybody order recently from Akila Aipa?

I had a really great experience chatting with him a few times when ordering his contemporary fish in the middle of last year. Than things got crazy, family issues, increase on orders, and communication died out along the way.

Took a while to finally get my board, but it was totally worth it. Possibly my all time favorite as it just clicked so well for me. Would be great to try more customs from him after seeing how well this board worked for me but wondering if things ever smoothed out for him lately.
 

ckupczynski1

OTF status
Oct 14, 2009
277
110
43
you guys need new shapers. I emailed my shaper when I got out of the water this morning with some more feedback and he responded in 5 minutes. His name rhymes with Stamps.
I‘m still waiting on a board and ordered end of May. Got the run around and said screw it and placed an with stamps for a spark box. Which one of you bastards got the 5”11 he posted on Insta?
 
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santacruzin

Kelly Slater status
Oct 17, 2007
8,832
9,764
113
valley purgatory
I would call. emails easily get lost and are sometimes handled by someone other than the shaper.
This just happened to me with Roberts the other day. Used his online email form, didn't hear back for a couple days so I called the factory.
Robert answered and after 10 minutes of talk i had a pic of my order form for confirmation and he had my deposit.
Super nice guy and really easy to talk with btw. He told me the guy who handles his online side has been really busy and might have missed my email. I've had a handful of his boards in the past but this is my first custom from him.
Rad dude, great boards and a complete frother
 
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enframed

Tom Curren status
Apr 11, 2006
11,642
6,431
113
Del Boca Vista, Phase III
Stretch

With Stretch I worked with Tommy (1st board) then Dylan (all subsequent boards) on dims but could have had access to Stretch, I went to the factory to order. Those guys all know where I surfed and my style (Tommy I would see in the water often) so they were great helps in getting me dialed in. I would trade vodka (for Stretch) and wine (for Sandy) for color work. Really nice people to deal with, always killer boards.

Other good experiences:

Doug Haut
Steve Brom
Michel Junod
Ward Coffey
Carl Ekstrom

The only bad experience I had was with Mandala back in 2005 or so when he was shaping in Santa Cruz at Almar Glassing, or whatever that spot is that Michel has. He had become super popular and his boards were really beautiful. I learned after multiple check-ins ("not done yet, another few weeks") that "rush money" kept pushing my board back. So I asked for a refund. He said you'll have in two weeks. He delivered in two weeks after that convo, but it never sat right with me and I sold it.
 

casa_mugrienta

Duke status
Apr 13, 2008
43,209
17,637
113
Petak Island
Went to pick up a new custom the other day.

Employee brought it out, I gave the board a look over - fin boxes looked like someone had splashed pipi over each individual one and also dribbled some on the board. I pointed this out, the employee looked dumbfounded. I think I made it pretty obvious I wasn't walking out with the thing. Was told my money would be refunded no problem. I said don't worry about the refund, just do another one. Got an email about 30 minutes later a new order was in the works...
 

cjs2002

Nep status
Jan 24, 2008
854
914
93
Went to pick up a new custom the other day.

Employee brought it out, I gave the board a look over - fin boxes looked like someone had splashed pipi over each individual one and also dribbled some on the board. I pointed this out, the employee looked dumbfounded. I think I made it pretty obvious I wasn't walking out with the thing. Was told my money would be refunded no problem. I said don't worry about the refund, just do another one. Got an email about 30 minutes later a new order was in the works...
hopefully you didnt have to drive too far for nothing...i recently drove about 1.5 hrs to pick up a custom that was pretty dirty for whatever reason. every other board in there was spotless. but mine was visibly dirty. I took it home, and its great but just weird how these things happen sometimes
 

rowjimmytour

Tom Curren status
Feb 7, 2009
11,534
5,832
113
54
hopefully you didnt have to drive too far for nothing...i recently drove about 1.5 hrs to pick up a custom that was pretty dirty for whatever reason. every other board in there was spotless. but mine was visibly dirty. I took it home, and its great but just weird how these things happen sometimes
Should've charged shaper for pro pad installation and wax job which would come out to be $75 dollars:cheers:
 
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Bob Dobbalina

Miki Dora status
Feb 23, 2016
4,261
4,654
113
Stretch

With Stretch I worked with Tommy (1st board) then Dylan (all subsequent boards) on dims but could have had access to Stretch, I went to the factory to order. Those guys all know where I surfed and my style (Tommy I would see in the water often) so they were great helps in getting me dialed in. I would trade vodka (for Stretch) and wine (for Sandy) for color work. Really nice people to deal with, always killer boards.

Other good experiences:

Doug Haut
Steve Brom
Michel Junod
Ward Coffey
Carl Ekstrom

The only bad experience I had was with Mandala back in 2005 or so when he was shaping in Santa Cruz at Almar Glassing, or whatever that spot is that Michel has. He had become super popular and his boards were really beautiful. I learned after multiple check-ins ("not done yet, another few weeks") that "rush money" kept pushing my board back. So I asked for a refund. He said you'll have in two weeks. He delivered in two weeks after that convo, but it never sat right with me and I sold it.

Does Carl still shape at all?
 

casa_mugrienta

Duke status
Apr 13, 2008
43,209
17,637
113
Petak Island
About a year ago I ordered a board from a shaper.

A journeyman glasser left the board too close to a heater.

It produced some subtle but noticeable discoloration on the rail and the glasser said he was pretty sure it compromised the strength but was surprised it still felt solid.

Regardless, the shaper and glasser decided the board should be free.

Today I get a phone call from the shaper - hey I'm throwing out some old paperwork - just so you know you still have that deposit to use if you wanna order something.

:shrug:
 

casa_mugrienta

Duke status
Apr 13, 2008
43,209
17,637
113
Petak Island
they kept your deposit the whole time? so not a free board, just an interest free loan from the piggy bank of caca the wee man
The shaper didn't "keep" my deposit, he was on a trip at the time, called me, told me to take the board if I wanted it and I could come get the deposit when he came back.

The board was fine, so I never bothered to pick it up.

Stick to stuff you actually know - stuff like "going bareback" in Mexico.