BLUEIVYS550
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2015
- Threads
- 27
- Messages
- 177
- Reaction score
- 21
- Location
- Baton Rouge,LA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2015 Ford mustang GT performance deep impact blue
Can I be added for badges as well
Sponsored
Got mine. The last set were good too absent the USPS damage.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..
Me too! Can't wait to get them installedJust got the email mine have shipped!!! Cant wait!!!!! Thanks Oy!!!
Finally got my blank decklid and installed the howler badge. I love it
good luck, paid three weeks ago, badges are in and I still don't know when or even if one is coming to me :tsk:Trying to get a red and black howler