Complaint Review: ENGEL USA - Jupiter Florida

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,

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

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.

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.

1. We endured repeated delays in receiving product.  With no communication.
2. We were unable to EVER reach an actual human being by calling the 800 number provided.  We've subsequently been told by former customers/employees that there simply isn't anyone answering phones.  Ever.
3. MANY phone calls and text messages were made pleading for contact.  Nearly hundreds. Mr. Jeffreys only responded to text message (occasionally) in 2014.
4. Nearly EACH AND EVERY BOARD received in 2014 had significant structural and/or aesthetic flaws.
   1. For the boards where the fin box was poorly affixed and the boards ended up taking on water while in use and creating a very dangerous situation - Mr. Jeffreys indicated he'd fired that employee and the issue would not re-occur.  It did...
   2. Most shipments came without the appropriate snorkel and fin.  Customers were forced to wait to even be able to attempt to use the boards.
5. Nearly EACH AND EVERY BOARD received in 2014 had a different appearance.  Graphics, colors, logos, cords, tie-downs...  Engel and it's retailers never knew what they might get.
6. As boards were being refused (as new - poor workmanship/defects) new, and returned after only days/weeks of use because of leakage and/or delamination of the deck...Mr. Jeffreys continually refused to respond to contact requests, or honor any semblence of factory warranty.  All attempts at dialog were IGNORED.

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.