If you've had dealings with Carbon One, please read.

[benji4]

The side air vents from Alan just arrived today (they sat in customs for awhile), and they look flawless! Alan, congratulations on getting these out and I hope everything else is proceeding well! Now I just have to figure out how to get these on the car, and will get some pics up of course once that is done.

 

[Big Top GT]

Thanks for the update, John. I can't tell you how pleased we are that you're pleased.

I don't know why I thought there were more exterior air vents back-logged. I've got a set ready to go, plus another set in the mold. *duh* (the spares are not for sale.)

In other news; we exepct have our first set of door sills out of the mold later in the week. I thought it'd have happened sooner, but it looks like we're back on track after a holiday slow-down. In looking at the list, it appears we have 7 sets outstanding, not including Smorgasbord. (he received his set, but the passenger side has a defect.)

As always, feel free to drop me a line directly if you have any questions.

Happy New Year,
Alan

 

[Sparrow]

Any more news?

 

[Big Top GT]

Hi Sparrow,

I apologize for the delay, as I really thought we'd be able to knock this out more quickly, but the door sills are really kicking our butts. I'm not sure if it's the humidity or what, but we went back and had to make a new mold for the door sills AGAIN.

Look how wavy they were when we made the last set:

So, those got stepped on out of frustration and we have another set in the shop curing as you're reading this.

As an aside, and I have to go look at the list to be sure who gets first dibbs, but since we have this extra set of air vents lying around, for those not wanting to wait for something on their list, I can trade someone the completed air vents in exchange for removing something else off the list.

So, if you had, say, a set of tail light bezels you're waiting on but would rather have these air vents right now instead of waiting, you can simply trade waiting for one part on your list for immediate delivery of the other.

It's not much compared to what some of you are waiting on, but the air vents can be made quickly, so I'll make that offer to anyone interested.

Lastly, ,we stopped by our local Tesla dealer last week to get a look underneath a car. Brian, the Regional Service a manager for Tesla south east was kind enough to let us under a clients car. (no, we didn't touch anything.

Here are a few of their beauties:

 

[dpeilow]

Nice work on the Vette door sills

Group Buy - G3 Composites Carbon Door Sills - Corvette Forum

 

[Big Top GT]

Thanks, but I thought the Yellow ones were nicer.

 

[bonnie]

Thanks for the update, John. I can't tell you how pleased we are that you're pleased.

I don't know why I thought there were more exterior air vents back-logged. I've got a set ready to go, plus another set in the mold. *duh* (the spares are not for sale.)

In other news; we exepct have our first set of door sills out of the mold later in the week. I thought it'd have happened sooner, but it looks like we're back on track after a holiday slow-down. In looking at the list, it appears we have 7 sets outstanding, not including Smorgasbord. (he received his set, but the passenger side has a defect.)

As always, feel free to drop me a line directly if you have any questions.

Happy New Year,
Alan

I also received a defective set (scratched, missing resin, discolored resin), and have bought elsewhere. Am I still on the list to receive new ones? I'm happy to send back what I have, they've been sitting wrapped up in the garage.

 

[Big Top GT]

Hi Bonnie.

Are you talking about the air vents? If so, I have a set we can drop in the mail asap. I just emailed John Benjamin my address, so once you receive the replacements (assuming we're talking about the air vents), simply drop your defectives back in the mail.

I'd like to see just what went wrong with them. (though, depending on when you received them, working in "too-cold" conditions would be my first guess.

If you're talking about door sills, then you're definitely on the list for replacement.

Thanks,
Alan

 

[Jaff]

Those Vette sills look very nice Alan...it'd be cool if you could use an accent colour and script to emblazon "Roadster" or "Tesla Roadster" on the sills...differentiation rocks! :smile::wink:

 

[bonnie]

Hi Bonnie.

Are you talking about the air vents? If so, I have a set we can drop in the mail asap. I just emailed John Benjamin my address, so once you receive the replacements (assuming we're talking about the air vents), simply drop your defectives back in the mail.

I'd like to see just what went wrong with them. (though, depending on when you received them, working in "too-cold" conditions would be my first guess.

If you're talking about door sills, then you're definitely on the list for replacement.

Thanks,
Alan

No to the air vents. My car has the exterior CF options.

I just wanted to confirm that I was on the list for sills (which you have now confirmed). I also paid for door pulls and tail lights (which is what I want most of all).

Thanks!

 

[Big Top GT]

Guys, I'm pretty much at the end of my patience here.

Let me make something CRYSTAL clear here: I have more personally invested in John Perez and in getting this both right and functioning properly than any of you who are owed parts.

Once again, Doug has decided to cross over to the Lotus forum, once again, taking a shot at turning more people against me, personally, which jeopardizes the entire operation.

Here's his post from Lotus Talk.

The Tesla community has more updates here: If you've had dealings with Carbon One, please read.

Briefly: Looks like John moved to Florida to work with Allen and form G3 Composites. One Tesla guy managed to get some air intakes. As far as I know, no other Tesla owner owed parts has received any since Allen got involved. However, G3 Composites has been selling Corvette and Camaro parts on the respective car forums.

I'm pretty much done here, guys. The next time someone tries to take a shot at pointing people at me to suggest nothing is getting done, and thereby jeopardizing my personal capital investment in this whole project, I'm pulling out.

I'm closing the doors and I'm going to go back to sitting on my sofa playing XBox.

If you just want to stir the pot and be a disagreeable and miserable children, then I suggest you all try to work out getting your parts individually.

Lastly, I now realize that my honesty and desire to make your problems my own were a mistake. I should have quietly worked with John and not disclosed my partnership with him and no one would have been the wiser. Moving forward, I will no longer be updating this thread. If you are owned parts, please contact me directly at [email protected] should you want a status report.

The only updates you'll be getting are from members who have received their parts or those who communicate with me directly. I'm officially done with trying to be 100% open and honest about my personal business.

If you find this to be displeasing, please send a PM to Doug to thank him.

Also, the new molds are complete for the door sills. We will ship our first set to Jaff this upcoming Friday. All additional orders will work from the list starting at the top.

 

[doug]

???
I am really perplexed by the angry defensiveness displayed by Alan whenever anyone asks what I consider reasonable questions or presents simple facts. Someone on the Lotus forum, to which I'm subscribed, asked if there were any updates. I pointed them to this thread and gave a brief summary. Is there anything inaccurate in what I said?

 

[AnOutsider]

???
I am really perplexed by the angry defensiveness displayed by Alan whenever anyone asks what I consider reasonable questions or presents simple facts. Someone on the Lotus forum, to which I'm subscribed, asked if there were any updates. I pointed them to this thread and gave a brief summary. Is there anything inaccurate in what I said?

I'm a bit baffled too. The post seemed to be factual and not heavily slanted in either direction. The outburst reply seems to be more damning than anything in the quoted post. Doug, I guess you're his scapegoat.

 

[dpeilow]

Reading what Doug posted above on LotusTalk, I can't see what the problem is. Everything he says seems to be pretty matter of fact. If that is causing an issue then perhaps he's touched a raw nerve.

It was actually brought to our attention that over on Group Buy - G3 Composites Carbon Door Sills - Corvette Forum there was a pally conversation with a member called Mongosmash who was singing the praises of the parts ("That looks awesome!"). Turns out Mongosmash is John Perez. Despite reading that thread, I didn't spot it until I was pointed to a post on a different forum (by another member here) where he is named - Group Purchase: G3 Composites Carbon Fiber Radiator Cover - Camaro5 Chevy Camaro Forum / Camaro ZL1, SS and V6 Forums - Camaro5.com

We thought we'd let sleeping dogs lie, but given that you'd previously said you were handling the comms, I find it a bit disingenuous that John is over there pushing the product without proper introduction.

 

[Doug_G]

We thought we'd let sleeping dogs lie, but given that you'd previously said you were handling the comms, I find it a bit disingenuous that John is over there pushing the product without proper introduction.

Whoa - astroturf! All credibility just went through the floor.

 

[bonnie]

I think if Alan were in our places, he'd be understandably suspicious also. Assuming he is credible, I can understand some of his frustration at our consistent assumption that we need to check/question everything.

But (saying directly to Alan here) you took on John Perez as part of your business ... and you have to understand that none of us can understand WHY you'd take on someone who had such a long track record of lies and non-delivery. I personally just don't get it. Assuming honesty on your part - While I understand you have to build a business while taking care of John's mistakes, don't apologize for it. And don't get angry when people note it. Discourage John from showing up under a new name hyping product (because that hurts credibility).

We have every right to be suspicious. John has a long history with us and people on other forums. When you took him on as a business partner, you also took on the ruined rep of Carbon One, which placed you at the bottom of a fairly deep, smelly hole from Day One. I hope he's worth it. But don't blame us for not jumping on the kumbayah wagon. I personally am just not there.

 

[qwk]

I don't see any problem with posting facts like Doug did. This kind of thing is what happens when you become business partners with a known criminal. Why would anyone expect anything different?

 

[ipdamages]

on the one hand, i agree that doug's message was technically accurate (one customer has gotten ducts). on the other hand i think that it doesn't in its brief but accurate form tell the whole story (e.g., alan indicated that the sills mold has been finished, there is another set of ducts also completed, and alan has described several unexpected twists and turns that have slowed things). that said, while the abbreviated version may not be as favorable as the whole story, that whole story is available to anyone who clicks through the link in doug's email.

did alan overreact? in my opinion, yes. have i ever reacted similarly when i felt attacked? yep. this has surely been more challenging than alan expected, and i understand his frustration. i suspect it was a bit like when we invaded iraq and many expected we would be high fived by every iraqi citizen, but instead people were skeptical. same here. first off, this carbon business is harder than was anticipated. more labor intensive, more prone to fatal error, less tolerance for imperfection, etc. not surprisingly, the early messages from optimistic tesla-ites have been eclipsed by more skeptical messages as time has dragged on and things haven't happened as quickly as hoped.

i'm sure alan thought he would get much love from us and others for whom alan was planning to be an unexpected savior, providing a storybook ending, which would then lead to much goodwill and a profitable outcome with his new venture. but instead it has been more complicated, fraught with challenges, and generally more difficult/expensive than anticipated. and that has meant that he hasn't been able to realize that better-case scenario as quickly as hoped (as he has said). from his posting, it seems like he's at wit's end - probably for reasons beyond doug's posting.

i remain optimistic that the final chapter has not yet been written. for example, if they have the door sill molds ready, that means they will be next delivering the parts with the most waiting tesla customers, as alan said, starting with jaff's sills this week. delivering sills to people should go a long way toward that happy scenario for which many have hoped, albeit on a more protracted time schedule.

and while alan may have said that he is done with posting and communicating, if and when we get to the day that the back orders are delivered, i betcha there will be plenty of people interested in doing business with G3 on the terms that have been discussed (no paying for parts that haven't been made, the parts are of high quality, prices are right, etc.), and it would make little sense for alan to refuse to engage with the tesla community at that point.

until then, G3 has their work cut out for them and for updates it looks like people can reach out to alan directly at his email and cell phone, which he has previously posted.

 

[dpeilow]

if and when we get to the day that the back orders are delivered

They can start on the Lotus/Lexus/Honda/etc guys we found who were also left wanting?

 

[benji4]

I share the exact sentiments with ipdamages and also Bonnie. It's of course true that from the backlog only one set of side air intakes has been shipped so far, but if the sills start moving soon as it appears, we are about to see some real progress at last. Alan has admitted that this has been much harder that he thought this was going to be. As previously discussed, the first part Alan wants to take care of from the backlog are the door sills which represent about half of all the outstanding orders to members of this forum. Numerous things have gone wrong here causing the delay -- the original set of molds they planned to use turned out to be cracked. Supplies to create new ones were late coming in. The next set they produced also had problems and had to be re-done yet again; and finally once they started producing the sills with yet another new set of molds, the sills themselves did not turn out the way they had planned... Note that Alan is not making excuses about any of this, most of it he does not even put up on the forum as I'm sure it would just be seen as an excuse by many people here.

It does seem now that the bottlecks have finally been solved and sills will start shipping very soon. Certainly this is not happening as fast as anyone would have hoped, but other than taking more time that originally indicated, there does not seem to be a problem with the way Alan is running things.

By the way, on the subject of my side air intakes, Tesla told me at first that the battery would have to be removed from the car in order to get them installed which would have been very costly. They investigated this further and found that actually it could be done by just removing the wheels. My one year check up is coming up in exactly one month from today, so I will have them put on then since I need new rear tires anyway. Anyway, the side air intakes are gorgeous, not even a single flaw that I can find. They definately look better than even Tesla's original version. Had Alan not stepped in who knows if even this part would have ever arrived. If this is any indication of what the sills are going to be like, we definately have something to look forward to. Let's hope it's sooner than later!