Howler Coyote F/R Badges - PLEASE READ 1st PAGE FOR INSTRUCTIONS & FAQ!

[Horsey]

How do we find out if we are on the list or not? I wrote down late last week that I was seeking 2 badges on here? Will we be contacted?

Same here. No contact or update anywhere either. Looks like they bit more than they can chew.

Put me down for a pair of black with red fill also. What's the price anyway?

$25 per badge

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[OySmallFry@SCS]

Hey guys, my apologies for not weighing in sooner. I've been fighting the fight behind the scenes.

You're all pretty much spot on, funny how the internet works. I've had a few conversations over email and PM about these, but let me publicly apologize to everyone here. Especially [MENTION=13194]Blk2015GT[/MENTION], [MENTION=18814]USMC 005[/MENTION], [MENTION=17073]mustanggt8587[/MENTION], and [MENTION=18786]LETHAL[/MENTION] -(hope you got the new tracking number).

The quality issues were NOT solved. I think that's pretty evident by now. The average quality is completely and totally unacceptable. I am very sorry any of those poor quality badges got in the mail to you guys. I don't even know how to describe my disappointment/panic/frustration.. I enjoy doing this, I've always been interested in starting something cool, especially for this community. But the prospect of disappointing 100s of you guys has definitely taken a few years off my life, and may lead to premature male pattern baldness (ha).. tearing my hair out.

I had looked at the badges when they arrived, but to be completely honest I trusted my vendor's siren song about "disney" level quality and didn't take a magnifying glass to them. It wasn't until a few guys posted early about the blemishes that I began the process of reviewing every single one of the 592 badges in detail. I finished that up Sunday night around 4am. This is exactly what I did not want to do and was hoping to avoid from the last batch. I am not quality control - it's completely absurd I (and you) have to perform that role.

I have the numbers at home on specific color combos, but basically, out of 592 total badges (Howler, Cyclone, and Howler Fender badges), right around 290 of them I rejected. My criteria was "would I be pissed to get these in the mail?" and "would I put these on my car?". More specifically - is anything fubared from a 2 foot view? Ok, are the enamel paint, the design itself, and the physical badge quality free of serious defects? Are there less than 3 very minor defects? (this includes debris in the paint, of which most had some unfortunately). I would prefer perfection, but I didn't want to reject every one..

That's right at a 50% scrap rate. Fucking absurd. :frusty: ...

I was livid when I ran the final numbers. Took about 45 pictures of the most glaringly shit quality badges and shot off a "we need to talk, this is completely unacceptable" email to my vendor.

We spoke yesterday afternoon finally. He must've been frantically trying to come up with a solution because he didn't return my call until ~4pm. He apologized no less than a dozen times himself over the course of the call, where I channeled all the fury from you guys as well as plenty of my own and made it absolutely clear how unacceptable this was. I was not shy about my displeasure, the waste of time and energy, and the problems this has a caused with paying customers. While his customer service is fantastic and personally a very nice guy, I have zero faith in their manufacturing facilities. He is no longer my vendor.

The explanation he offered is that the "disney factory" must have outsourced the order to a separate facility entirely. One without any workmanship standards obviously..

To be clear, I have no problems using an American manufacturer. In fact, my vendor is based in Utah. I was not looking for a Chinese company at all when I looked for badge makers. It was never made clear that the actual factories are based in China until the shipping delays earlier this year were attributed to "extensive holidays" aka the Chinese new year, and I put 2 and 2 together.

Going forward, I'm going back to the list of possible suppliers that Nathan and I put together when we started this. Preorders are over. We won't take anyone's money until we have product, and good product at that.

I'll figure out how many more orders can be filled from the good quality badges and send those out. Unfortunately, (this is where you guys are not going to like me) I will have to refund a good number of orders. If you're in the bottom ~100 and you haven't gotten yours, you'll definitely be getting a refund.

Anyone that already has received badges, if for ANY reason at all you are not satisfied, just email/PM me. No questions asked. Full refund.

[MENTION=15102]Nathanbrummer@SCS[/MENTION] sorry for going AWOL.. it was a lot to deal with / come to terms with.

P.S. I do sincerely appreciate all the support you guys have offered. This forum is like no other community I've ever been a part of. You people are awesome. I will do my best to uphold my end of the bargain and get everyone taken care of.

P.P.S. To clear any misunderstanding, [MENTION=14380]phrenetiK[/MENTION] is an in-real-life friend here in Houston. He was at my house (he's been here before). He paid for badges. They happened to be strewn all over my floor. He is as OCD as I am sometimes and looked through a bunch to find the best ones to his liking. There's no conspiracy to present perfect badges or something.

P.P.P.S. The best way to be directly notified when badges, straps, etc are ready is to put your email in on the new website (spacecityspy.com). Promise no spam. Of course, things will also be posted here.

Thanks, and again I am truly sorry for the long waits and disappointments. It was not easy to come to terms with, but we have a path going forward and I still want to make this happen.

TLDR: 50% of badges were unacceptable and scrapped. Fired vendor. Refunds incoming. My sincere apologies to you all :(. Still need to do my taxes..

 

[Xantom]

Hey guys, my apologies for not weighing in sooner. I've been fighting the fight behind the scenes.

...

I wish it would have went better, but thank you for all your work on this.

 

[TXSean]

How much for one of the reject badges?

 

[RVA5.0Mike]

Hey guys, my apologies for not weighing in sooner. I've been fighting the fight behind the scenes.

You're all pretty much spot on, funny how the internet works. I've had a few conversations over email and PM about these, but let me publicly apologize to everyone here. Especially [MENTION=13194]Blk2015GT[/MENTION], [MENTION=18814]USMC 005[/MENTION], [MENTION=17073]mustanggt8587[/MENTION], and [MENTION=18786]LETHAL[/MENTION] -(hope you got the new tracking number).

The quality issues were NOT solved. I think that's pretty evident by now. The average quality is completely and totally unacceptable. I am very sorry any of those poor quality badges got in the mail to you guys. I don't even know how to describe my disappointment/panic/frustration.. I enjoy doing this, I've always been interested in starting something cool, especially for this community. But the prospect of disappointing 100s of you guys has definitely taken a few years off my life, and may lead to premature male pattern baldness (ha).. tearing my hair out.

I had looked at the badges when they arrived, but to be completely honest I trusted my vendor's siren song about "disney" level quality and didn't take a magnifying glass to them. It wasn't until a few guys posted early about the blemishes that I began the process of reviewing every single one of the 592 badges in detail. I finished that up Sunday night around 4am. This is exactly what I did not want to do and was hoping to avoid from the last batch. I am not quality control - it's completely absurd I (and you) have to perform that role.

I have the numbers at home on specific color combos, but basically, out of 592 total badges (Howler, Cyclone, and Howler Fender badges), right around 290 of them I rejected. My criteria was "would I be pissed to get these in the mail?" and "would I put these on my car?". More specifically - is anything fubared from a 2 foot view? Ok, are the enamel paint, the design itself, and the physical badge quality free of serious defects? Are there less than 3 very minor defects? (this includes debris in the paint, of which most had some unfortunately). I would prefer perfection, but I didn't want to reject every one..

That's right at a 50% scrap rate. Fucking absurd. :frusty: ...

I was livid when I ran the final numbers. Took about 45 pictures of the most glaringly shit quality badges and shot off a "we need to talk, this is completely unacceptable" email to my vendor.

We spoke yesterday afternoon finally. He must've been frantically trying to come up with a solution because he didn't return my call until ~4pm. He apologized no less than a dozen times himself over the course of the call, where I channeled all the fury from you guys as well as plenty of my own and made it absolutely clear how unacceptable this was. I was not shy about my displeasure, the waste of time and energy, and the problems this has a caused with paying customers. While his customer service is fantastic and personally a very nice guy, I have zero faith in their manufacturing facilities. He is no longer my vendor.

The explanation he offered is that the "disney factory" must have outsourced the order to a separate facility entirely. One without any workmanship standards obviously..

To be clear, I have no problems using an American manufacturer. In fact, my vendor is based in Utah. I was not looking for a Chinese company at all when I looked for badge makers. It was never made clear that the actual factories are based in China until the shipping delays earlier this year were attributed to "extensive holidays" aka the Chinese new year, and I put 2 and 2 together.

Going forward, I'm going back to the list of possible suppliers that Nathan and I put together when we started this. Preorders are over. We won't take anyone's money until we have product, and good product at that.

I'll figure out how many more orders can be filled from the good quality badges and send those out. Unfortunately, (this is where you guys are not going to like me) I will have to refund a good number of orders. If you're in the bottom ~100 and you haven't gotten yours, you'll definitely be getting a refund.

Anyone that already has received badges, if for ANY reason at all you are not satisfied, just email/PM me. No questions asked. Full refund.

[MENTION=15102]Nathanbrummer@SCS[/MENTION] sorry for going AWOL.. it was a lot to deal with / come to terms with.

P.S. I do sincerely appreciate all the support you guys have offered. This forum is like no other community I've ever been a part of. You people are awesome. I will do my best to uphold my end of the bargain and get everyone taken care of.

P.P.S. To clear any misunderstanding, [MENTION=14380]phrenetiK[/MENTION] is an in-real-life friend here in Houston. He was at my house (he's been here before). He paid for badges. They happened to be strewn all over my floor. He is as OCD as I am sometimes and looked through a bunch to find the best ones to his liking. There's no conspiracy to present perfect badges or something.

P.P.P.S. The best way to be directly notified when badges, straps, etc are ready is to put your email in on the new website (spacecityspy.com). Promise no spam. Of course, things will also be posted here.

Thanks, and again I am truly sorry for the long waits and disappointments. It was not easy to come to terms with, but we have a path going forward and I still want to make this happen.

TLDR: 50% of badges were unacceptable and scrapped. Fired vendor. Refunds incoming. My sincere apologies to you all :(. Still need to do my taxes..

Stand up class act you are. Very in depth explanation and I havent even ordered my badges from you yet since I just posted on this page on the 8th or the 9th.

I hope it works out. If you have any black nickel/red howler badges and nobody claims them or you rejected them, I will happily pay you for 2 badges.

Thank you.

 

[steven]

yeah if you any black and nickel extras or rejects lemme know...im in houston by the way so id be glad to pick up....

 

[Strokerswild]

If you're in the bottom ~100 and you haven't gotten yours, you'll definitely be getting a refund.

So, you're saying is at #101 there's a chance?

Hope so, since this is a replacement for a first round defect and I really, really, really need it.

 

[LETHAL]

Oy,

Thank you, and please know, I never took issue with you or your efforts. We all know it is the production side that caused the delays and the issues with product.

That said, I got a new tracking number out of the blue. I greatly appreciate the customer service. This is no surprise though.

The only way to bring new product and innovation to the market is pretty much trial and error. For the record, you guys have done great with factors that are pretty much out of your control until it is too late..

Thank you again.

 

[DIB2016]

put me down for 2 nickel and black or red reject badges if available for sale.

 

[Steeeliskt]

Thanks for letting us know [MENTION=17025]OySmallFry@SCS[/MENTION]. I think it would help a lot of people if you updated the first page with the list and if refunds or badges are being mailed out next to every person. I am #56 and I am still not clear on what to expect.

 

[highvoltage]

Wow sad this happened. I want my AS with white fill regardless. I have a buddy that can powedercoat them for me. I will also take an extra reject of whatever color. Ill throw some funds your way for it. I know your frustrated and i appreciate yal at SCS working hard to put out this product. Thanks for fighting for us auto enthusiasts [MENTION=17025]OySmallFry@SCS[/MENTION]
Order #4594899

 

[phrenetiK]

So I have to be part of a team, totally understand now.

I'm not even part of the team yet, and may never be. I am partially responsible for some parts of the ideas he has taken and run with, but that's about it. I wanted to hand pickup my badge as well as get some photos out for you all that were waiting on shipping.

I only looked through the black and red because that's the ones I was getting. I looked through rougly 30 fender sets and 50~ badges to find one with the least amount of dust particles, whatever, to try to find a near perfect one. At the same time I was also helping Oy sift through over 500 badges, and look for ones that needed to be pulled and marked as rejects. In the 50~ badges I looked through i found only 3 real rejects(granted a lot had some form of dust in the paint, or a slight run somewhere, random little things that wouldn't be noticed from even 1ft away). i set those aside for him and found the ones I wanted, then installed and took pictures. since I only looked at a small sample size and not at all the other colors or even 1/4 of the total black and red, I thought everything was gravy. Oy sent me a pic of the defective badges and explained how sad he was and that he was damn near a 50% reject rate. That was shocking news and I'm sure it sucked so much for him to have to tell you guys that, and now the fact that he has to find a new manufacturer.

We are friends, not business partners, I just love his product and am happy to endorse it, as well as help him test future ideas etc. We in houston have a close knit community of s550 owners, and it just so happens that we were friends even well before he made his first products like the push start button covers. Sorry not sorry about hand picking my badges lol.

 

[redline727]

I'm not even part of the team yet, and may never be. I am partially responsible for some parts of the ideas he has taken and run with, but that's about it. I wanted to hand pickup my badge as well as get some photos out for you all that were waiting on shipping.

I only looked through the black and red because that's the ones I was getting. I looked through rougly 30 fender sets and 50~ badges to find one with the least amount of dust particles, whatever, to try to find a near perfect one. At the same time I was also helping Oy sift through over 500 badges, and look for ones that needed to be pulled and marked as rejects. In the 50~ badges I looked through i found only 3 real rejects(granted a lot had some form of dust in the paint, or a slight run somewhere, random little things that wouldn't be noticed from even 1ft away). i set those aside for him and found the ones I wanted, then installed and took pictures. since I only looked at a small sample size and not at all the other colors or even 1/4 of the total black and red, I thought everything was gravy. Oy sent me a pic of the defective badges and explained how sad he was and that he was damn near a 50% reject rate. That was shocking news and I'm sure it sucked so much for him to have to tell you guys that, and now the fact that he has to find a new manufacturer.

We are friends, not business partners, I just love his product and am happy to endorse it, as well as help him test future ideas etc. We in houston have a close knit community of s550 owners, and it just so happens that we were friends even well before he made his first products like the push start button covers. Sorry not sorry about hand picking my badges lol.

Don't think you did any different than either of us would do if we lived close by and was his friend. Things like this will never all be created equal. I do it with damn near everything I buy. (Mainly bc of my OCD) when I buy my son a toy I look for the best looking one, even the box, even though I know the box goes in the trash lol. It's a sickness I know. Point is I always find little defects amongst them. And most of his toys cost more and probably came from the same place lol. We will never have perfection at this quantity and price. I won't even blame the whole China thing either. Our cars are made here and cost more than 10000x as much and have worse paint and line defects haha. But that said there would be a limit to the amount I would want to see on something is size. Paint lines should be clean and even and should not looked like it was dropped. Probably going to have to accept a spec or so in the paint.

 

[Horsey]

How much for one of the reject badges?

This. I think i saw you guys do this with the defected fender badges. Any plans to give away the defects if we cover shipping?
[MENTION=17025]OySmallFry@SCS[/MENTION]

 

[Shadow5oh]

All I Know is I'm before #100 and haven't received any tracking... would really like a badge after waiting this long.... even a defective one / refund and I pay shipping

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