Complaint Review: Spray-lining Franchises

I entered the last report as owner. That was an error. I'm not the owner of any business. I do lawns and garden work on the side. Its just for extra cash. Thats how Mr. Sharsh got my cash and my equipment. He borrowed everything and joked about having no insurance if some catastraphy happened he'd be broke. Now I've met many innocent people from Honolulu that gave Sharsh all kinds of pricy things. To fix, to sell, to trade, etc. I wouldn't say he's smart as much as we were dumb. But then again he was a very nice, honest "sounding" guy.

Lava Lining was owned by David Kaina Sharsh. David was a great guy before his building burned with my bicycles, mowers and tools inside. Mr. Sharsh abused so many local businesses and customers in Honolulu. He knew a lot of us and we trusted him with items he stored that had value. He might have sold it all by now. His excuse was that it all burned! Other people I know said that "David said" all his cash was burned so he couldn't give them the money he owed them for items he bought from them. Nobody knows where he went but transmission and driveline parts from repair places, motorcycle parts, my buddy's Hodaka Combat Wombat that David never fixed, helmets that he traded cash for that weren't paid for, new skateboards that were leftovers from 2 stores, fishing gear he owed cash on, according to the surfboard stores he owen on many surfboards, like over 30. He'll probably be found but for now he's dissapeared. I'm from California but I'm in Hawaii each winter. if anyone who reads this locates David Sharsh please contact the Honolulu police because they know us all who he did this to.

You know though, there are plenty of honest happy people who do not assume that a company representing a product would do things like install oversized equipment and provide too much inventory just to keep the franchisee in a state of debt.  This is NOT normal behavior, nor does it fall into fair business. THis is underhanded and a contract many time does not detail the specifics.   That is where an investor is really exposed.  That's also where past performance over trust must exist.  This gives someone the ability to search thoroughly for that scenario you don't want to be exposed to regardless of how good of a deal it sounds, or how much trust you have gained because of big promises, interpersonal skills of a salesman, and other factors....

Yeah, I think we have bigger problems in this world, then worrying about people who can't handle contract management.  The whole point of business is doing business.  This begins with understanding contracts.  If you do not, you use resources to make sure you don't get screwed.  The next important part is being able to make good business decisions.  This is only possible through research and that means, reviewing the performance of any franchise BEFORE signing a contract.  I mean, equipment, accessories, consumables, products, reviews, etc....  So, again, though it is unfortunate that people get hoodwinked, it's just a bi-product of poor business choices....

These coating companies are very similar.  Ultimately, they are just trying to make a living.  Now, you want to talk about scams?  What about monsanto or citibank or swiss banks, or iraq!!!  These are topics worth discussing...  These are issues worth voicing an opinion.  But, what do we get?? Our society worried about low level issues like, the homeless being allowed to sleep in a park, versus being kicked out to go sleep in the bushes somewhere.  That's a scam by our city officials to falsely inflate the value of an area in order to increase the tax base.  That's inhumane and wrong on many levels.

It's obvious that any contract with fine print is like saying (DON"T READ ME CAUSE I ACTUALLY CONTAIN ALL THE VERBAGE THAT YOU WILL GET YOU SCREWED).  If you do not read this and/or have it reviewd by legal consult then don't you deserve it?  I dunno, it just seems like everyone wants to talk about scams.  Let's talk about common sense. 

What's really interesting is how the profiles of these companies stay so clean.  It's very hard to find complaints from previous dealers of Line-X / Rhino.  I have spoken with a few business that used to be dealers, and they were very specific about the idea that they are NOT allowed to say anything negative per their contract with Line-X.  Now, I just heard this from a few small disgruntled businesses, so maybe they were just being vindictive.  But, I don't really know one way or the other.

These companies all follow very similar models once you get away from marketing and advertising.  Having dealt with different coating vendors it has become apparent that many coatings are similar in function, but companies have rights to certain formulations that work under certain application criteria.  They do this to give them something unique that they can market and leverage the consumer with.  My opinion is that none of these companies deserve to be on rip off report, but indeed the tactics can be questioned.  It really comes down to the consumer/business paying attention to order limits and contract terms.  If everyone did this (just like with any other business opportunity), I guess we would be alright.

It is very interesting that "Mike Olsen" posted a comment about meeting Jeff Powell with Spray-Lining, since both Mike Olsen and Jeff Powell are not real people.  Mike Olsen is a fake Facebook person created by Spray-Lining owner Julius Lupowitz so "Mike" can make comments online, and Jeff Powell is the fake person Julius Lupowitz uses to SCAM potential dealers out of thousands of money for their "dealership".

I find it funny that Mr. Lupowitz and his web designer Brian C are both posting Ripoff Report articles on here when they are already on Ripoff Report in another section.  Go to http://www.texliner.info for the real story of Spray-Lining.com and Julius Lupowitz. 

Beware if a guy calling himself Jeff Powell tries to sell you a dealership in his company. Oh, yeah he says he is just a salesman and that his father owns 10% of the company (another lie). He owns the entire company.

  My name is Mike Olson. I am president and CEO at Stagecoach 24/7 Inc. I met the real Jeff Powell at Western Watersports, my previous position where he provided Job quote on a safe insulation coating. This job was several thousands of square feet of flooring, walls, cieling and parts to be protected from heat, moisture and salt corrosion. I went to Line-X for this job quote at first.  They advised Line-X Xtra which is a Polyurea to coat as insulation. Later I learned that polyurea has heath hazards if inhaliled. A similar form of lying was produced by Hawaii Spray Lining who is a website but actual company is called Two Guys or Good Guys but actually a store called Hawaii Good Will is there at 2045 Lauwiliwili St #705, Kapolei, Hi. These are crooks who use that address, call themselves, "Spray-Lining" but actually sell Armadillo Liners; polyureas!

  Spray-Lining, WWW.SPRAY-LINING.COM has "imposters" to an alternative to Polyurea which was safe to spray outside near customers and employees.  Polyurea if sprayed outside of an enclosed facility can cause cancer. Powell informed me of fake products, imposter names and the misrepresentation of safety in isocyanates which in a necessary ingrediant in Armadillo Liners or Line-X. Armadillo is located at 6309 Skyline Drive, Ste. B, Houston, Texas, 77057. Their dealer is called Hawaii Spray Lining, WWW.HAWAIISPRAYLINING.COM ... Used the name Powell, Dalburo, Leroy, even Lupowitz as last or first names to rob money from my company. The Real company who applied the correct formula is called Spray-Lining Hawaii, WWW.SPRAY-LININGHAWAII.COM, owned and run by Diane Crislog. This is person with real Spray-Lining applicators who are certified under S-L #26-B5 to apply most S-L formulas including insulative coating. My advice to businesses getting jobs quoted using Spray-Lining follows:

1- Verify certification # of the applicator or Spray-Lining dealer,

2- Verify at least 2 references that you can visit who bought an SL-22, 38, 41 or similar product for their job,

3- Verify the refund policy or Warrantee BEFORE you pay anything,

4- Get every promice documented in writing,

5- Measure coating thickness of any powders or combined liquids during and after the job,

6- Test the dried coating after it cures as best as possible,

7- Since Spray-Lining rep names or dealer names may be faked, ask for photo ID of your rep and applicator.

Powell stated they advise this to prevent Spray-Lining imposters and fake, hazardous products.

These Spray-Lining scams haven't even touched on the biggest industry issue I have seen so far.  This is the issue of spray lining fires from polyurethane foams.  These are found in furniture, vehicles and pretty much anywhere the we have seats, padding or insulation.  Spray lining surfaces like truck bed liners, floors or tanks with inferior products may not be a concern of Line-X or Rhino; Shafting a spray bedliner dealer by not providing support may not be that big of a deal to some; but having a child's skin melt off their body because of faulty wiring that ignites some spray liner on the inside of a vehicle is a much bigger issue with much bigger consequences. 

This topic is taken very seriously and I guarantee that DOT, Auto Safety Commission and others have their antennas up in this area of safety because it would be a detrimental to the auto industry to have some travesty of this nature happen all because of negligence and profit maximization.

So, we probably won't see the same massive issues in the automotive industry as you see in home building and furniture manufacturing.  I am talking about huge problems, like toxic smoke that will keep a person from exiting a building safely.  I am also talking about flash points in excess of 1000 degress occurring in less than 5 minutes of the ignition of the fire source that is sprayed with polyurethane.  Regardless, of the product stating that it's fire retardent, it is not fire proof and once it ignites, all bets are off.  These materials stable to a certain point, when they do combust become violent and deadly to anyone trapped inside the same space with them.

If you are in the bed liner industry like green tech or have complaints about being able to get certain types of jobs than maybe you shouldn't have your own business.  In many cases in business whether it's spray-lining or spray coating or powder coating or anything related to auto there is always a conversion ratio.  What I mean is the jobs that you cvonvert to a paid invoice versus just a quote.  That's the deal.  Now, sometimes it may be because of the inability to meet  a customers price point, but in some cases you don't have the ability to do what's being requested.  Customers may have complaints, but in my opinion, you should always try to quote something and perform the work if a customer is standing in front of you looking to pay it. 

Within reason of course.  In the case described here, I think that the company quoting placed too much faith in the vendor.  This will always cause complaints.  But, you're letting yourself down.  Look, we're all just trying to survive and sometime stuff doesn't work out.  It's not the end of the world.  We like to do what's called a postmortom.  This allows my team to discuss how we could succeed next time at something we failed at initially.  Like my cohorts say, "There is no failure as long as you learn something valuable from the experience".

So, next time, instead of complaining, try getting something positive out of the experience and move on, do it again and succeed.

Line-X is not in on this spray-lining scam which I think was already stated in the original thread. Line-X is a reputable company with good consumer/dealer feedback and satisfaction.

Scorpion does not have a cartridge system, so they cannot be in on this, either.

As far as the companies that offer cartridge systems and participate in not informing the consumer/dealer of the health risks; it would be hard to determine the overall damage done. The reason for this is the most pissed off consumers do not take to the internet and share their stories and many do not even know they are at risk or have been taken for a ride.

The truth is that most consumers/dealers will never find out that these systems pose health risks, therefore, they will never complain. It was good to see this thread, since the risks associated with using these products should be well known and documented, so that consumers/ dealers have access to honest information.