Atomwerk Engineering Inc. Charles Adams [email protected]

[ORL7699]

My experience with this company start on November 23, 2014, 12 weeks (5 weeks ETA) to get the products. They ship same side bushing plates so I wait more than 4 weeks to get it. When tried to installed something was wrong with bushing plates, guess what, wrong bushing plates that he told me by phone will get 5 weeks to get done. After more than five weeks and couple attempts to contact him by email, he told me that they had problem with his CNC machine and the correct bushing plates wasn't done. In resume, I do not tell my friends to make business with this company.

[ELRobertson]

OK, so I got in touch with Charles on Monday of this week, apparently he has things done - or so he says, but they wont be able to ship until next week. Well are things done or will they be done next week?

Obviously this like trying to stick a thumbtack in a cloud.

What I really want is one of two things - either get all of my components here and all working together as they should, or
Get my money back - right now I don't care which.

I do find it interesting that I was told by Charles on the 23 of May - "Absolutely Edwin, I DO NOT HAVE EVERYTHING completed - just enough to satisfy what you have paid me. " so the question poses itself - then why haven't you shipped all that stuff?

Anyway - I was told on Monday that he will call me next week when it is ready to ship. Lets see ...... I for one will not hold my breath, this will be just one more piece in the documentation of this case.

Lets see here a $2791.00 order which I have paid $1500.00 on so far. There has been one shipment through the post office that was for $66 and change, so it is going to be interesting.

[ELRobertson]

Ok, so today I received some more parts of the initial order that I placed in Oct of last year. Imagine my surprise when I find boxes, and shrink wrap cards that say 'Made In China' after I have been told that Charles is manufacturing the components. I have the pictures of the boxes and the shrink wrap cards in case anyone wants them.

I called, spoke with Jennifer, basically demanded my money back before I filed cases with the FBI for internet fraud and my credit card company for both unauthorized charges and mis-represented products.

Charles called me back and basically told me to "stop harassing his employees, and go EXPLETIVE myself". He also told me I would NOT get any customer support - yeah like I was really getting any to start with.

OK, so here is the bottom line, I am starting the formal complaint process for internet fraud with the FBI and initiating an investigation of the charges through my credit card company.

[[email protected]]

I have to start by saying that this is a very unfortunate case and I am saddened that it had to go down this road. Our primary concern is having satisfied customers and we will do almost anything to keep it that way.

Edwin Robertson placed a custom order with us for a suspension for his extremely unique build; a three wheeled vehicle that utilizes a VW style front end, a custom rack and pinion kit, disc brakes, and a motorcycle rear end. We were to provide everything except the motorcycle rear end, and he was to assemble it when he received it. Some of this process would include him building special mounting brackets. When he placed his order he was made aware that this was a build-to-order project and 75% of it was to be custom made by us. We told him that there would not be a set date to expect the order and that the best that we could give him would be an estimation, which he could not hold us to. The reason for such an agreement is because of the time, materials, and engineering that goes specifically into his project. This is also why we only require half down to start the order as this cost covers the investment that we must make into his complete project. Mr. Robertson agreed and paid half down to start the build. The agreement is that once we delivered half of his order, he would need to pay the remaining half before we would ship out his final products. It was also agreed verbally that the actual shipping costs would be factored at the time of final payment. His suspension is similar to the one pictured here:

Initially we shipped his beam out to him. We then continued manufacturing and putting together the rest of his order. But in the midst of doing this Edwin filed a dispute with PayPal, claiming that he did not receive his order. The dispute was immediately dismissed by PayPal. I informed Mr. Robertson that we were still working on his order and I advised that he should try to work with us instead of objectifying us as his enemy. He said ok and that he would wait, but shortly thereafter he made a claim with the Department of Justice. We stayed in communication with them, informing them that we were just about to complete the first half of his order, and the second half of his order would follow shortly thereafter. This is about the time frame that Edwin made his first posting on thesamba.com buyer and seller feedback thread. We made good on shipping his first half of his order that he prepaid for and continued finishing up the last half of his order. More recently his order came near completion. At that time, Thursday, August 6th, 2015, I contacted Mr. Robertson and let him know that we were nearing completion. We had most parts ready to ship at that moment and were putting the final touches on his rack and pinion kit, which should be shipped out the following day on Friday. I told him that we should have all parts ready to ship out and that we were ready to process his credit card for the final stage of his order. I also made explicitly clear that he would have to pay for shipping at the time of shipment. He asked me how much the shipping would cost and I said, "I do not know and cannot tell you that until after the parts are shipped". Now normally there is a shipping fee, which is the actual cost of the shipping, and then there is a handling fee, which is the charge for our company time and materials. I told him that I would waive the handling fee for him especially and I told him that we would charge his card only for the actual cost of shipment when it came time for shipping. Mr. Robertson agreed to this verbally and proceeded to give me his credit card number. We charged the card for the remainder of the order minus the shipment charge. Unfortunately on Friday as I was completing one of his tie rod ends the tool used to make the left hand threads snapped. This was unexpected of course and this custom tool was critical to completing his order. He was called immediately to ask if we should ship out the remainder of his order or if he wanted to wait until we got the tool that I had snapped. His response was, "I am no good right now. I am tired and am going to take a muscle relaxer and go to bed. I will talk to you later about it." So on Monday we shipped out the rest of his entire order minus the rack and pinion steering kit, which would wait until we received the tool to complete the job. Mr. Robertson also called in on that day and was informed of the situation and agreed that he would wait for us to complete it.

Now the time has come, the tool has arrived and his rack and pinion kit is completed here and awaiting shipment. However, now that Edwin is saying that we cannot charge his card and that our shipping charges are unauthorized and fraudulent I am unable to ship him the rest of his products. Frankly we are afraid to proceed any further with him because we are afraid of the repercussions that he may try to bring to us just so that we can complete his order. This is where I am at a loss and don't know what to do. We are going to hold his order until he authorizes us in writing that we can ship his order unless I can receive some advice otherwise. So far he is declaring my business as internet fraud and he is violating our contract.

The bottom line is that Mr. Robertson and Atomwerk Engineering are in a contract for a custom suspension that was not on our shelves and was made specifically for him. Many of the parts in his order have NEVER been advertised for sale on our website or anywhere for that matter such as his custom rack and pinion steering kit but was especially requested by him. I want to work with him until his front end is completely assembled and be there to give him technical support to the end. If he continues to be combative with us then I am not sure how this can be accomplished. He has repetitively stated that he just wants to get his parts that we made for him so if there is any way that this can be accomplish amicably I would like to find this resolution ASAP. It is my hope that we can work this out and Mr. Robertson will allow us to complete the order as we initially agreed to. Thank you.

Awaiting now to send the final component that is pictured here:

[skills@eurocarsplus]

what a dick...100% custom and pissed that it wasn't done yesterday.

I say let him file what he wants to. you seem to have all the documentation. you will prevail as long as you have email/documentation/verbal authorization.

when I went for my DMV inspection for the shop, the inspector said (and pretty much stated that it was over the top, but was to cover your ass) to document verbal conversations by date, time, and who you spoke with.

if you have all of this, 99.9% of the time, you will win.

good luck!
_________________

[Bruce]

[Mrs Atomwerk]

Thanks for the support! Charles works very hard to make high quality parts for the VW crowd. It's disheartening when someone tries so hard to work against a small company. It also takes him away from his focus, ENGINEERING AND MANUFACTURING to fight an unnecessary battle. All we want is to make great parts and enjoy VWs. He will, meaning Atomwerk will always deliver!!

[skills@eurocarsplus]

[[email protected]]

Update to Mr. Edwin Robertson's situation:

We sent him all items as advised by the Department of Justice on our dollar - not his. He did not pay for the shipping because he had said that the charges were unauthorized so we ate the charge. In addition, as mentioned before, he was never charged for the handling fees. Now all items are in his hands, however he has filed another dispute with the company that we ran his card for on the second part of his order. Now we are out of a major portion of money and Mr. Robertson has put a HUGE hurt on our company.

This kind of thing makes us wonder if it is even worth it anymore.

[[email protected]]

[Ace]

Why don't you just quote a ridiculously late date that you will positively ship by. That way, you will always be praised for beating your deadlines instead of this stuff happening.

[skills@eurocarsplus]

sorry for the aggravation....

small companies can't afford to take a hit...1K is a lot to anyone, let alone a small business running on tight margins.

sadly being mail order, you are in a situation no one wants to be in. people suck...there are very few that you will find that make you want to go above and beyond for.

I just had a local guy piss and moan that "rancho ruined his season because there was a 8-10 week wait for his transmission" really? he knew he needed one in October!!!!

I have given up on people, and tell them I don't do well with expectations, real or imagined
_________________

[Bruce]

[[email protected]]

[Ace]

Any contract worth a shit will have a deliver by date. You actually think the blind trust is the way to run a business?

[fly. GTI.]

I'm generally a benefit of the doubt person...and I treaded lightly by ordering the "off the shelf" spring plates hoping I wouldn't run in to issues like this...however...at the 4 week mark for off the shelf parts is worrisome to say the least.

[[email protected]]

Status update on Edwin's (Rob Roberston's) order from us:

He has received all parts minus two shocks, our credit card processor refunded him his dispute for one of the shipments he received plus shipping (totaling $1486.34) and we ate one of the shipping charges for about $100. At this time Edwin has successfully stolen our parts. We are going to write this off and learn from this experience.

In the meantime this has caused unfortunate delays for everyone else who is patiently waiting for their parts as we had to switch our credit card processing companies and put all funds on hold for 3+ weeks. Shipping for all of our other customers resumes on Monday.

This could have turned out better for both parties if communication was involved and said customer did not resort to battling us with our credit card processors and/or their banks. This should hopefully serve as an example as why customers and companies need to communicate to come to mutual solutions. We are changing our official policies and any advance orders over $500 will have to be met with a signed contract or work cannot begin.

Enjoy our free parts, Mr. Robertson...

[skills@eurocarsplus]

CC companies are evil...

let me give you some advice that my local machine shop gave me.

when it comes to custom stuff, they would work on a deposit, progress and final payment system.

they would take cash/check/CC for the whole deal...till they had 30k stuffed up their ass. what happened was they built and dyno'ed a 1200 horse engine for a dragster. guy paid with a CC all the way thru. at the end, he got the engine all was well for a few days....long story short he did a chargeback and got about 28k back.

moral of my story is the shop is 100% cash only for custom work. very long contract/purchase order is now required. sad, but the only thing they take checks/CC for is stupid stuff...milling heads/flywheels etc

in the end, they sued and won, but what a hassle...

I would take this shitbag to the cleaners if I were you
_________________

[ELRobertson]

You know it is funny how some things come around in life. This situation with Charles Adams actually makes me almost feel sorry for the guy and his business.

Yeah OK so I was essentially charged double for everything that you could get somewhere else, I probably would have gotten it a lot faster, get the same quality, and probably get it with a lot less headache.

The charge through AMEX for the balance of the order and the shipping charge has been released. That leaves one shipping charge for the last two boxes that came to $35.80 (not quite $100.00) that I haven’t paid. I’ll send Charles a check for that amount.

What that also leaves Charles is a pair of shocks $299.99 that he will either need to refund or ship, let’s see what he does – anyone care to take any bets how this comes out.

Yes Charles was correct, this probably could have all been avoided, had my order been filled and shipped in less than 11 months – but then most people would expect their 10-12 week order to come in within that timeframe.

Communication works two ways – maybe you can learn from this – I know have.

I for one am moving beyond this little episode. Have a great day

[Bruce]