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ENGEL USA Paul Kabalin Scamer, Thief , Liar, Fraudster DO NOT SELL to this company Jupiter Florida
Scamers, Fraudsters, DO NOT SELL anything to this company , especially if they insist on putting the purchase on the company American Express!
We are a Supplier /Manufacture for the marine industry. We have been doing business with Engel for just over a year now. Paul Kabalin is the Owner/director. Looking back, his scam is rather textbook. Since he is in the busines of manufacturing himself he has distribution at the big bos level so his pitch is rather beliveable.
We were approached by Paul the principal at Engel USA to manufacture A Stand Up Paddleboard to diversify his existing buseness (coolers/Ice chest) . We produced a few private label samples with the Engel Logo and shipped them to his Fl opperation headquarters. After approval of the samples he negociated the terms for a large order.
We received the deposit for a partial order with an American Express card. Of course he wanted the terms for the large order he promised but wanted to order a smaller number and back that order up with the larger order. After the initial order was paid for (Via Amex) shipped and received we started to receive some feed back about how the product could be altered for his desired market. With still the big box order in play we continued to ship get paid (via Amex) and Engel started to become a nice little account for us. UNTIL A FEW WEEKS AGO!
Aparently Paul Kabalin is an expert at knowing the loop holes that American Express offers its card holders. A few weeks ago we started to receive the string of chargebacks to our merchant account. Never were there any email phone calls or any hint that Paul was unhappy with our products or that there ws some sort of issue regarding anything regarding our company. Paul is smart and clever. He waited until this year to do the bulk of his seasons business with us. Aparently if you are an American Express card holder you have 150 days to dispute a charge. Furthermore Amex Always sides with the cardholder. It's really a shame that this guy has to practice business this way. Allegedly we are not the first company to get the treatment.
At the end of the day Engel has Tens of thousands of $$$ and our merchandise. After 3 weeks of trying to get to a resolution he continues to leverage his position , No return calls for days, He even returned (one) paddleboard back to us, so not to look like a total thief. He has tried to re-negociate terms and still has not released any funds that are in dispute. From our standpoint this is a pretty clever way to steal. This guy should have his card holder priveleges revoked.. What a DIRT BAG!
It just goes to show you, that even though you can have a decent business relationship with some one you never know what their angle might be.
Engel USA, will be attending the ICAST show in the upcoming days. ICAST is one of the largest fishing shows there is. I hope this report finds it way to any of the unsuspecting potential persons, who might want to think twice about doing business with this company...
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Private Label SUP Mfg.
lake havasu city,Arizona,
Small Victory For SUP Products
#7Author of original report
Wed, July 30, 2014
Thanks to Hugh Jeffreys and his copious notes, American Express has awarded and reversed the decesion for A $3800 dispute that Engel USA had filed with the creddit card company. Engel's claim after Amex's further review of Mr. Jeffreys E-mails , Phone/text records with Paul Kabilin regarding this baseless claim decided to side with SUP Products.
Although Mike Dixon and Paul Kabilin alike want to continue to attack Mr. Jeffreys on his past, (over 10 years ago) I would like to share with you that there could not be a person more safe to do business with as I am certain he lives life above reproach and will forever have to live with his past much like Martha Stewart does. Hugh Jeffreys is an innovater and a pioneer and we here at SUP Products are privileged to know and work with him.
In light of this rather small victory, we will not persue any further legal action.
Stay tuned however, as we have some information regarding Engels attempt of replication of one of our products.
If and when we receive real information regarding this new development, we will appropriately respond .
Mike Dixon
Jupiter,Florida,
Mr. Klein
#7UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 28, 2014
Private Label SUP Mfg.
lake havasu city,Arizona,
Good Morning Mike Dixon
#7Author of original report
Mon, July 21, 2014
Mike,
It is clear that we have never been introduced. In fact we were unaware of your existence at Engel until we did a Google search.
Although Mr. Jeffreys has been credited with founding the company, there are several of us whom make up the business. I am truly sorry you have found doing business with us exhaustive.
As a part of our business, yes we do run into the occasional warranty/ manufacturing deffect issues , we pride ourselves in handling them to our customers satisfaction. However in this case it looks like you and your company have decided to take a different approach.
We had a clean merchant record until a few weeks ago when you decided to charge back $3800 that we were intitled to. We made and shipped your product(s) and you sold those products to your down line and or displayed them at trade shows. There was never any indication of warranty / manufacturing issues at the point of acceptance of your order.
As a result of your charge back and blemish on our merchant account, we were asked by our merchant provider to add some nomenclature to help limit any issues of this nature in the future. Our terms and conditions have always been available on our site. We continue to stand behind our product(s) as not any system is perfect. The hundreds of accounts that we continue to do good business with, know that they can count on us for our customer service.
As you may have learned from an e-mail from Mr. Jeffreys a few days back, we are ready to start the litigation process regarding the matter at hand.
If, in good faith you want to keep your companys reputation from becoming further blemished, may I suggest that you have Mr. Kabalin write a check for $3800.00 (as we will not accept his AMEX) and send it to us express mail no later than tomorrow to avoid any further action regarding the oustanding invoice.
Thank You
Mike Dixon
Jupiter,Florida,
Good Morning, James Klein
#7UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 21, 2014
Good Morning, Mr. Klein-
It is a pleasure to meet you, as this is the first I've known of your existence. In our extensive log of (attempted + minimally successful) communication (text, phone, email) to SUP Products over the last 4+ months, I don't recall ever your involvement, regrettably.
Mr. Hugh Jeffreys has consistently represented himself as principal of SUP Products. There has been an EXHAUSTIVE record of attempted communication with him. I'd be happy to give that information to you, as it seems you are unaware.
Perhaps dialog should now shift in our good-faith attempt to resolve the ongoing warrantly/manufacturing issues that have lingered.
BUT...it seems SUP Products has recently altered the well-concealed Terms & Conditions statement on your website to now clearly state that warrantly does now not exist in any manner. This, obviously, makes us quite curious as to the meaning of the SUP PRODUCTS WARRANTY STICKER affixed the the defective boards I now sit and stare at. Perhaps we should first clear up that point prior to moving forward?
I'll not stoop to the level of personal attacks or childish name-calling as SUP Products has, and will once again offer to discuss this matter with you directly at your earliest convenience.
Or I can use this forum to definitively refute each and every falsehood you've placed in writing here. One by one. I'm not very well-versed in this sticks-and-finger-pointing manner of 2nd-grade-schoolyard resolution of business disagreements, so I very much hope you don't choose the latter.
Thank you.
Private Label SUP Mfg.
lake havasu city,Alabama,
TYPICAL RESPONSE FROM ENGEL USA
#7Author of original report
Mon, July 14, 2014
I would like to set the record straight on who the author of this complaint is from.
My Name is James Klein a stake holder and COO of SUP Products for nearly four years. I have been in the marine industry for over 30 years, and never have I ran across a more shady character than that of Mr. Paul Kabalin. Mr. Kabalin is of South African decent and I am wondering if they have different business practices there. I have nothing against the country of South Africa.
I decided to launch this complaint based on the salient facts and my supervision of Mr. Hugh Jeffreys, account representative of Engel USA.
First I would like to mention that Engel is a company that has been around for many years based in Australia. Mr. kabilin purchased the rights to the Engel name recently and is now branded as ENGEL USA. Keeping to the issue at hand , there was never any communication with regard to any issues , indicating delays, phone calls not being returned and at the very least, questions regarding quality and or workmanship.
In all of my years of business it would seem logical that at the first case of any of the above, there would be some communication regarding the aforementioned. The only communication we have received outside of normal business i.e. purchase orders etc, was recently and only after we confronted Mr. Kabalin about his charge back to American Express. It is clear that the string of emails is an attempt to cover his tracks.
To compound our relationship with Engel and Mr. Kabalin, we were made aware that nearly two months ago he had inquired about making the product we provide him at a competitors factory. (possible trade mark issues) We knew it was only a matter of time that he would find someone in Florida to try and knock off our product.
Our product fits a product that Engel manufactures that of a 13qt cooler. We also sell that same product to another account. It is not an Engel exclusive. Since the breakdown in communication we have learned from one of his factories in Thailand that they would be happy to make the 13 qt cooler for us as they also get the run around on getting paid from Engel as well.
The bottom line here is that we are the largest supplier of HMC manufactured boards in the world and supply to some of the largest names in the industry. We have never been involved in any litigation and we pay our bills. Furthermore we host a staff of individuals that manage over 350 accounts world wide that order from us year after year and our products speak for themselves. We pride ourselves with top notch personal customer service.
Due to the fact that our product(s) are so unique we are constantly having companies and individuals alike trying to reverse engineer our product(s).
So my question is , how can we be the largest manufacture of this product in the U.S. and beyond and opperate as Engel and Mr. Kabalin alleges?
It's just not possible...
Perhaps someday Paul kabilin and Engel USA will do the right thing and either return our products or our money.
James Klein
Mike Dixon
Jupiter,Florida,
Good Morning, Hugh Jeffreys
#7UPDATE Employee
Mon, July 14, 2014
Good morning.
I'd like to clear up a few points of fact in the ficticious account recently posted here by Mr. Hugh Jeffreys.
In the last 12 months since ordering a board from SUP Products, Engel USA has received less than 20 total boards. Over the last 6 months, we worked with SUP Products to develop an innovative recess near the bow, and had many customers eager to receive these new boards.
A few facts are very clear, and thanks to the wonders of modern day communication technology, and irrefutable by Mr. Jeffreys no matter his historical track record of distorting the truth.
I could go on, but let's focus on the core issues at hand.
You say "Never were there any email phone calls or any hint that Paul was unhappy with our products..."
This is absolutely false. You completely ignored all attempts at communication.
This is also a pattern with you. Our repeated requests for credit references were rebuffed. Our phone calls to other companies you purport as customers were met with either 1) claims that they've never heard of you, or 2) claims that they had endured a poor relationship and were either considering or already engaged in litigation against SUP Products.
Engel has - and is - returning defective product to SUP Products. Your repeated lack of response was the only trigger for contacting American Express for remedy. There was a tireless effort to work with SUP Products to fix all issues, and deliver the high-quality product to our customers as promised.
Engel USA has now had to shift our efforts to a competing facotry to ensure our customers aren't left with a leaking, defective, de-laminating paddle board after not even a season of use.
Furthermore, your personal attacks here are childish and unnecessary.
As a brand with a 50+ year heritage of high quality and customer service, we look forward to a successful ICAST show this week. Perhaps companies like Earthboard Sports USA might have had a similar reputation should their leadership have been different.