I don't really know anything about that.. It seems he got his car back idk.. Sounds like a totally different scenario to me, but @RichWVU is a little cryptic in his response, so I don't know how to make sense of what he said. It sounds like he's trying to defend Jim and that's fine... I'm not making a case against Jim personally, but you can't defend the way he's conducted business regardless of the excuse.
I didn't intend for this thread to turn into some kind of p** match between me and anyone else. It was simply to help me decide if it was an issue that I could rely on waiting for a response out of Jim or whether it needed to be elevated to my bank. For those worried about defending Jim's honor, I think it's pretty easy to tell that I've worded my posts with respect, so as not to trash Jim. I respect his contributions here, but he's not immune to making poor decisions that he should be held accountable for.
As I mentioned before, I really don't have anything left to say about the issue. However, I'd appreciate not being slammed as some kind of whiner or click-baiter because, now, this has turned into drama.
You wont hear from him. I thought your original title was accurate. I'm the guy who almost lost out on $20K for a stroker motor and I relied on this board and his overall rep on the forums when deciding to go with him. Huge mistake. And I wish I had known about these issues beforehand. It's not that he's too busy or has email issues or whatever the f*ck. I would consider what he did to me fraud.
I means I had to file claims through my bank to recover the money I advanced him to buy parts which he never did. I was dragged along for 10 months with false representations by Jim. I was lucky that I had made the payments through my credit card and have a very good relationship with the bank so they were willing to do something and were successful because he had no case.
I have known Jim probably longer than most of the people on this forum. He was a good friend of mine, he is a good person.
With that being said. He is a great engineer to find solutions, but as a business owner I have told him many many times to stop focusing on doing work that is free or no profit ~ for the sake of r&d because it will ruin your cash flow and it will put you behind the 8 ball with your schedule, and more importantly with your bank account.
The issue is. It becomes a snowball effect where you are robbing Peter to pay Paul, lying to customers to buy time for other customers, etc. I have been in the same boat before but I learned from this and since then have corrected my mistakes. I hope Jim does also. This is a small community, I know of all the people with issues as if they don't call Jim they call me or the reverse of that. There are significantly more people than the few that posted on here but most people dislike conflict so they do not share the information merely they contact me and get the issue resolved and chalk it up as a loss.
Me personally, Jim owes me almost $20,000 from when he started his business and the business deal we made. I know he doesn't have the money, he keeps up with me on communications and I recently told him not to ever worry about it again because I know the struggles that someone can have when they are in the early stages of their business and are trying to be everyone's friend and help too many people even if it is for no money or little money.
I have told this to Jim before and I will say it again. Stop working for low dollar jobs, don't give free stuff to anyone. Not many people who are your customers are your friends they just want a product or service you are offering. Focus on the paying jobs even if they are not bright and shiny - they pay the bills and give you the money to buy the parts you need for stroker builds or bearing orders. Working for free on r&d projects is the reason Jim is in the position. He has a good heart but is not the best at running a business. He will get through this. One way or the other.
I am an engineer and can relate to what you are saying. I have also run a business and can relate to what you are saying. I have read many of Jim's posts and he is smart, like Tesla smart for this platform. It seems like Tesla who forgave all if the debt that Westinghouse owed him Jim is not a business guy. The thread should stay as a warning but let's let it die. The world need's Jim and we need him even more. I hope he can work things out, starting a business is rough. Not everyone gets to lose billions like Amazon and stay in business. When the time comes I will give Jim more money and would never ask for free services.
I didnt ask for free services. I asked him to build a stroker motor. He was very good about getting me to believe in him in the beginning but after that first $13.5K payment went in for him to place the order for crank, rods, pistons, the communications started to diminish. Then when he told me that the crank and other parts were ready, and that it was time for installment #2 for $6.8K, I paid him that. Then there was no communication. I got so concerned that I called the vendors on his proposal and check on the status of parts and they told me that nothing, NOTHING, had been ordered. It had been 9 months at that point. So you tell me. Why shouldnt Colley be in jail for theft and fraud.
Robbing peter to pay Paul... this is exactly what I expected to be the case, but it's not some unfortunate thing that happens to a good person. You have to make a willful choice to take the $20k someone just gave you and use it to pay your bills or whatever rather than providing the service your customer has paid you for. So, the willful misuse of customers' money as well as the willful neglect of communication with the customer is borderline fraud, if it isn't outright.
Jim's customers aren't vc investors, they're not shareholders, and they're not banking institutions. It's irresponsible and wrong to handle their money as if they are. Starting and keeping a business running without it imploding can be very difficult if you don't have all the right elements at the right time. But the difficulty in making it work doesn't give you a pass to lie and mishandle customers' money. The responsible thing to do is to shut it down rather than play the cheating and stealing game. Shut it down and work on getting your ducks in a row and relaunch. And don't make promises you know you can't keep just so you can win a bid or get work from a customer.. your good intentions don't matter in business. Preserve your reputation because when you lose that in the business world.. good luck. No suppliers will give you a line of credit with them and you'll be paying cash for components or raw materials and customers you had previously will simply write you off even when you are able to provide.
I was being politically correct with my message. And I would say I agree with you 100% in the message you shared. The problem is. When the previous work flow funds are spent. It is difficult to suspend any further incoming sales in order to get cash flow to pay for the old outstanding work orders. I think we all can read between the lines of what you and I are both saying. The only thing that is worrisome is the fact that there has been no response from Jim which concerns me due to the fact that he typically posts very long responses and I would have thought he would nip this in the butt the day it was posted.
Issue is _ something as simple as $1000 rod bearing sale can open up what I believe is north of a $60,000 can of worms worth of issues if you figure the other two outstanding stroker builds that were paid for years ago and those people have shared their information with me as well as David did who is the third guy of the 3 strokers. This figure is aside from the money I am owed it you add them all up it is six figures.
I was being politically correct with my message. And I would say I agree with you 100% in the message you shared. The problem is. When the previous work flow funds are spent. It is difficult to suspend any further incoming sales in order to get cash flow to pay for the old outstanding work orders. I think we all can read between the lines of what you and I are both saying. The only thing that is worrisome is the fact that there has been no response from Jim which concerns me due to the fact that he typically posts very long responses and I would have thought he would nip this in the butt the day it was posted.
Issue is _ something as simple as $1000 rod bearing sale can open up what I believe is north of a $60,000 can of worms worth of issues if you figure the other two outstanding stroker builds that were paid for years ago and those people have shared their information with me as well as David did who is the third guy of the 3 strokers. This figure is aside from the money I am owed it you add them all up it is six figures.
This - I've bought a bunch of stuff from both of you guys over the years and have always received prompt responses over email and what not, especially when dealing with delays etc, or just logistic of shipping bulky sh!t (I think you sold me the red back seats?) The radio silence is telling, far more than anything else.
From the replies I've received from him it looks like he was at sea with no reception. I've just bought the tune, and will let you guys know it and when I receive it.
Chatted a bit with him, and he seems like a stand up guy. Curious to see how this turns out.
I received a message from Jim today. He's processed a refund for my order and I'll hopefully see those funds return within a couple days. I appreciate his honesty with me. At this point, I can't necessarily recommend for or against purchasing from Fast Attack Motor Sports. I can only recommend that, whatever you do, you establish and maintain a clear and reliable line of communication up front before making your purchase and I hope that Jim will, likewise, make that a bigger priority as well.
I received a message from Jim today. He's processed a refund for my order and I'll hopefully see those funds return within a couple days. I appreciate his honesty with me. At this point, I can't necessarily recommend for or against purchasing from Fast Attack Motor Sports. I can only recommend that, whatever you do, you establish and maintain a clear and reliable line of communication up front before making your purchase and I hope that Jim will, likewise, make that a bigger priority as well.
My 20K advance was a big reason why people were able to get parts during that time. That's obvious from the threads but just to be clear, you can thank me.
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