Hey DAKITES,

No plans on moving to Cali just yet (I still like my beaches uncrowded and 100% public accessible), but thank you nevertheless, for your ulteriorly motivated, yet brilliantly worded apology.

And because of that, I FORGIVE YOU!!!!!

Double thumbs up for DAKITEZ

HEAR YE! HEAR YE! DAKITEZ AND I ARE NOW FRIENDS......NAY.......BROTHERS ONCE AGAIN!!!!!!

Oh and next time I'm visiting Cali, I need to find your shop. I'll just walk in and say "Hi! I'm Bucky! I just wanted you to know that everything is OK between us now!........................Appparently you guys owe me lunch."


Hey Eli,

Hope you're feeling better. If you're in town anytime soon, drop by Girtle's to say "Hi."

I miss you, man :sniff:

Oh and just in case you're interested, did you know that just east of Woodland, near Chelatchie Prairie, is the site of Bungee Masters own bungee jumping bridge - the highest bridge bungee jump in North America! Over a 200 ft freefall!! I thought an adrenalin junkie like you might find that interesting.

Maybe if your bored one day........ :wee:

WOW! That trip was one hell of a lot of driving, David is dog tired but still on his feet.
Ok, so it seems while we were gone everyone has been busy bashing us all over the place so I guess I should make a last statement and get the heck out of dodge.
First of all: Bucky........you really should tell the readers that you've left out a rather LARGE part of this.....that being, that you didn't show the Police any receipts that proved you owned anything in our store either. As far as I can tell from the Police report and from talking to the officer involved, there was nothing that verified that what you had purchased in the store was actually those parts or any others. And your parts didn't simply "go home with you after a converstaion with the cops" they were impounded by the Seaside Police Dept until a week later, when they had tracked down Eli and found out from him that "yes, those really are Bucky's parts."
So now that everyone out there hates us for not letting you walk out with parts we had no idea WHOM they belonged to, I think its only fair that you fess up to truth. Or, if anyone out there would like a copy of the Police Report just ask me and I'll send you one. We are not in the habit of just pissing people off because we want to. If one of you reading this had walked in a month later and said, "hey man, where are those parts I ordered, I saw them here last month and I need to pay for them and take them home?" What would we be saying to you now, "duh, we don't know, you better ask Bucky because he claimed them as his." Then you'd be bashing us for NOT making Bucky show PROOF those were his and not yours.
Now.....that being the case, my employee (she is NOT a manger) DOES have an attitude problem from time to time. You are not the only person to say so.....and what we see is that one day she's fine, the next she's a MAJOR GROUCH. Maybe PMS I don't know. I DO APOLOGIZE for her attitude. We've had this conversation with her before in hopes of seeing her bounce back with a smile. She should have just dialed my office, handed you the phone and said "here, yak at Keli and lets get this straightened out". (She knows that now, so its our own fault for not making that clear with her BEFORE an incident like this takes place.) Instead she took it on herself to start a war. NOT GOOD! No she's not fired. She is however only suposed to be in that store as "relief" for days off for the new crew members, so she won't be there on a day to day basis for very much longer.
Bucky, I'm saying it again............"however this thing got out of control, I'm sorry". This is NOT what any of us want, nor is it the way Dave & I run the business. Dave is a kiter, and has been in kiting for over 20 years as a lover of kites, a manufacturer and a retailer. He doesn't believe in "screwing" someone out of parts they ordered just because he can.
If the fact that I'm not here to chit chat pisses you all off, I'm sorry. I said in the beginning, I don't do chat stuff on the computer as when my day working on the company is done, its DONE. I'm OFF and looking for something OTHER than a computer to talk to.
Again, I wish you all much success, and fun with your buggies and kites. I won't be here to chat, I'm done with this issue and hope Bucky can move on too.
May the wind always safely fill your sails and your buggies glide ever so gently over the sand.

Welcome back. I hope you are both well.

I understand you don't like to chat online about your shop but with 2,000 + hits it is clear we do.

I mentioned before that I am interested in knowing that your shop will have qualified people that I can go to for advice when I visit town each year.

This isn't ALL about Bucky's situation !!!!!!

It's about the fact a Brick and Morter shop will be posing as a qualified power kite shop. Hurting our image to newcomers and disrespecting the others.

I suppose the coming months and the locals will tell us if things have changed or not.

I don't know, but that apology actually sounded like the first sincere post made from what I called "Above you all kites". Maybe this is over then.

now can we fly some KITES?????!!!!!:wee:

This sounds like a messed up deal for sure, sorry to hear about it. I dont have much to add either, except for my opinion on the shop in question. I dont want to start baggin on them bu any means but they did put a sour taste in my mouth about the kite scene the first week I was here. When I first moved here to Oregon, I was so stoked to have a kite shop in town. After asking around a little before coming here, I of course was told to look up Eli. So one day on my lunch hour, I swing in there, go straight to the power kite to take a look around. Finally after a few min.s of lookin around, a young girl asks if I need help. I politely asked if Eli was around and got a prompt "HE NO LONGER WORKS HERE". Not overly rude, but also far from polite. I thought to myself hmmmmm well, that wasnt very nice since I hadnt even met the guy at that time. Long story short, thats cool they support the local event and all financially, but they should also strive to support the local scene in other ways.

Back in the coastal snow storm, I had all my kites but just a broken pump. So I head into Cleanline, explain my story and they were all stoked on my potential snow sesh and wanted to hear beta back on how it went, possibly even head out with me. Minutes later I had a loaner pump and was on my way to the only snowkiting session I got in this year.

I am glad this issue is coming to an end for both partys. Above It All Kites had an employee issue and I bet this will never happen again and it was the first time I have heard of problems. The Sunset Oregon Buggy Bash has been supported by Above It All Kites with lots of free stuff for drawings, a dinner, supplied a large tent and tables for the buggy camp, and gave food for every evening pot luck, just to mention a few things they do for SOBB.
Bucky sounds like everything that could go wrong did, but I bet if you had called Eli, he could have straightened it up very quickly for you. That being said Eli is not always by his phone. LOL
I will continue to support the local Seaside Above It All Kites shop.
Jon Ellis

I went in and checked it out. Definately different but not as bad as I would of thought. I didn't find an expert there though. Looking at the Ozone, DP, and another brand made by prokitesurf was nice. No sign of a woman working there. I did see a guy in his 50's who was nice and helpful but didn't know his products very well. I met a guy who bought an imp 3.5 quattro there and they told him not to fly it that day but of course he did and blew out 5 cells. They are sending it back to Ozone for him. So at least people are getting some warning and service. Definatly not the same level of info and service as before. Still have some nice products.

Cleanline surf shop has some water kites, boards, harnesses and ATB's here too.

BTW I am jealous of all you guys who get to play around Seaside all the time.

Hello aboveitallkites:

Hello, and welcome back! Before I say what I came here to say, I would like to clarify a few things:

First; I you are mistaken in your notion that I provided no documentation to your employee or the police. I showed them my Paypal receipts for that EXACT type of buggy, dated photos of that exact buggy, WITH those EXACT modifications, the EXACT missing pieces to make it a complete buggy, some of the identical modified parts that I had previously removed, etc, etc, etc.... The problem wasn't that I failed to provide adequate proof to your employee. No. The problem was that your employee refused to consider any proof that I did provide, and refused me even the simple courtesy of providing a phone number to help resolve the situation. I have not deceived anyone, and there is nothing I need to "fess up" about. In fact to prove it, I'll take photos of everything, and post it later today, lest anyone think I was being less than truthful. That way, we can be done with speculation and "he said" "she said" nonsense.

Second; The fact that they were placed in police custody temporarily (a few days) is simply a formality, to give any opposing party the opportunity to provide evidence to contradict my claim, nothing more It in no way, diminishes the legitimacy of my claim, or the overwhelming evidence that I provided. It says something when the police arrive at a "robbery in progress", find the person responsible, shake his hand, say "come and pickup the parts in a couple of days." No handcuffs.... No arrest.... No detainment.... If there was even the slightest doubt in their minds...

And just for clarity, I respond on this site because I find it interesting, informative, and amusing... I'm at home alone during the day... the weather's crappy... I'm bored.... and I don't have cable. It occupies only a small portion of my thoughts. Ranking somewhere between "planning next summers garage sale" and "eventually changing the air filter in the furnace." It however, is NOT because I JUST CAN"T SEEM TO GET OVER THIS THING!!!........................... I'm a little more mentally stable that that........ a little. :wink:

And YES Jon, you are correct. It would have been much less hassle if I had just contacted Eli. Unfortunately, don't have his number. My method for contacting him, had always been through the kite shop! Who's employee, as you might have read earlier, was not exactly eager to provide me with ANY information as to his whereabouts. I did what I did only because the "obvious" and "hassle free" option was made exceedingly difficult for me.



That being said... I want to thank ABOVE IT ALL KITES for having the intergity and moxy to admit that they made some mistakes. I agree with "BeemerBob": That apology sounded sincere and heartfelt.

This kind of response definately sheds new light on ABOVE IT ALL KITES for me..... Because frankly, I didn't expect it.... I don't mean that in a negative way, though... What I'm trying to say is that there was quite a bit of negativity and anger expressed by me and others on this forum towards them.... To come on here after all that, and essentially say "WE ADMIT WE WERE WRONG and WERE SORRY"....Well, that takes guts. I honestly don't know many business owners that would actually do that. "Deny" or "Say Nothing" tends to be the order of the day. Like I said before, "Instant respect."

I'm sorry to hear that your employee has been so problematic for you. She seem to have caused quite a bit of hard feelings amongst your customers. It's one thing to have little or no knowledge of the products you sell (particularly ones that can cause serious harm if used improperly), but to be caustic and rude to those customers as well.... I certainly hope that she can get with the program before she causes even more damage. In her short time here, her attitude has unfortunately garnered her (and by proxy, Above It All Kites) a bit of a soured reputation in Seaside (i.e. "Loop's" comment above).

In fact, as a gesture of goodwill, I would be more than happy to have her meet me at the turnaround a few times on nice flying days this spring or summer, let her try it out a few kites, give her a few pointers.... Who knows, maybe she'll become an avid powerkiter? At the very least, she'll get some information, some first hand knowledge of the sport, a better understanding of the excitement and dangers involved, all of which will make her a better salesperson. As a bonus, its a great mood enhancer (I know I always feel pretty happy after a session), which can't hurt...........And YES, I am serious.... I don't hold grudges.

Next time I'm out on Broadway, I'll drop by (if thats OK), and we can chat, do lunch at Sam's (Order whatever you want. Its OK, "DAKITEZ" is buying ) or whatever. Put the past behind us

And YES IT"S OVER YAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

p.s. Friday is supposed to be 17 to 23 knts west wind AND only 20% chance of rain (for you non-Oregonians, thats practically a drought,) So "Loop", "Sunset Jim", Eli, Jon, Dave from Above It All Kites, "Bladerunner", "Scudley", "vwbrian", and anyone else who can make it: Sunset Beach!!!!!! I be there most of the morning and afternoon. I've got some new kites to try and I'm sooooooo ready for winter to be over!

Ahhh, I love it when things come together.

Now if Mother Nature would be so kind, we can all go out and have a group fly!

Figures! Off for 4 days in a row and it's a typical Oregon spring. Now Friday comes along and wouldn't you know it! I have to work 8 out of the next 9 days.

Have fun Friday!

I will probably be there a little after 6 or so. Damn work!! Gotta pay for my habits. Would be cool if anyones still around by then.

Hi everyone!!

I was just set to be all smiles and happiness, wishing Above It All Kites best wishes and so on. But then.............

I received a disturbing message from a friend of mine who works at the Seaside Police Dept. Seems that someone from a certain kite shop has been inquiring lately about the possibility of still having ME charged with a CRIME!!!! What crime?!?!? You ask (in shocked disbelief!!!!!) Well................ Get ready................ They want to charge me with SLANDER!!!!!!!!!! Thats right..... For what I've said ON THIS FORUM!!!!!!!!! Yes folks, you read that correctly. Apparently having a legitimate complaint against them, and expressing it in public, is a now a CRIME!!

Well let me calmly try to clarify a few things (deep breaths.......deep breaths.....)

First: According to encarta online legal dictonary:

SLANDER - A false defamation (expressed in spoken words, signs, or gestures) which injures the character or reputation of the person defamed.

Please note the word "FALSE" in this sentence. It in fact, is central to the definition of "slander"!! FALSE FALSE FALSE FALSE Is it sinking in yet????? If you took that word out of this definition.... well then you might have something. But fortunately, it's there......A FALSE DEFAMATION

Just because you don't like what I said, doesn't make wrong to say.

Now I'm going to stop there..... Its late..... I just finished playing (I'm still at work and its 3:25 am)..... I'm going to call around tomorrow..... I want to check this story to make sure I'm 100% correct about this. Honestly, I hope I'm not. I would really like things to be good. And this B.S. to be over with. If it's not true, then everything is GREAT!

If it is true however.............. then............... Well.........., This will go from annoying and mildly amusing, to ABSOLUTELY SERIOUS!! Your notion that I'm just a little fly that you can simply swat, is grievously mistaken. Just see the level of publicity and support I can manage to drum up about my situation when it actually DOES become a "BIG ISSUE" in my life!!!! Please remember that, just like you, I'm a public presence on Broadway as well. Just ask all the people you work next to on Broadway, even the people at Windam Worldmart. You know.... The one's you rent from? Go into there front office and ask if they know "Bucky". Yes, I'm a presence as well. But there are a few differences:

1. I tend to be overwhelmingly liked in my community.

&

2. I've been a part of Seaside about twice as long as you!!

OK OK OK I'm stopping. I'm tired and ranting

More tomorrow

You've got to be kidding!! After all the apologizing, admissions of wrong doings, etc., how can anyone expect a complaint like this to hold up?? C'mon Bucky, just show the police this thread and be done with it all. Winds here right now are 30 gusting to 50mph! Small kite, big stones, and I'll still get tossed around! More fun than lisnin to a "wronged" kite shop complain!(I might consider buying there online for a sweet deal on a 5m Flow with free shipping!lol:Ange09:B.

I was really hoping that this issue had been put to bed. Bucky I don't know you, but from the amount of support that has been shown to you here you seem like a stand up type of person. I really don't believe that you will see anything come of this. I hope that the powers that be at AIAK will see the better side of judgment and just let this thing go. If it goes for to much longer the shop, and the retailers overall reputation could be irreversibly damaged.

Now with that said...........
I don't know the shop owners either. So I can not speak for their character. Being small business owners I hope that they are also stand up people.

I am wondering if this person doing the inquiring is the business owner or a miffed employee.
I'm hoping it's not the owner.
Nuff said, let's get back to kiting.

Well I made a few calls, and.......yes. One of the owners was inquiring about trying to charge me with some form of slander because of what I've written in this forum. I am however, unsure as to the timing of it all. Was it before the recent apology or after it? Kinda fuzzy there. Anyhow, I was told that the police reviewed the forum site, saw all of my entries, as well everyone else's, and informed them that their accusations were pretty much groundless.

Nevertheless, I contacted an attorney friend of my family's , explained the situation, asked her to look at this thread on the forum, and let me know what she thought. She read it, and informed me that "There is absolutely NO grounds for any kind of criminal or civil suit for slander, or "libel", or anything else for that matter." And that I basically didn't have anything to worry about. That's good news!

So where does everything stand right now?.................. Not really sure.............I received the apology I wanted...........It sounded sincere...........But what was their motivation?.............Don't really know.......

Best case scenario...
"After one last poorly thought out lashing back in anger, they reviewed everything, came to their senses, and issued a heartfelt and truely sincere apology."

Not so good scenario...
"They found out that they couldn't have me charged with anything, so they decided to apologize to stop all the negative comments."

Bad scenario...
"Issue an apology to try to shut me up and stop the bad press, while at the same time, trying to find a way to get back at me."

Really bad scenario...
"Some kind of "Sible" Multiple Personality Disorder going on here! Thy're all criminally insane! And I should be fearing for my life and seeking protective custody! ..........(DISCLAIMER) (If their attorneys are reading this..... lest they didn't catch on to the witty sarcasm.....That last one was a "JOKE"!!! No I don't really think that they are psychotic, nor am I trying to imply that they might be, in order to start a malicious rumor that could possibly hurt their business, and\or damage their reputations........Thank you......We now return you to our regularly scheduled progam)

I'd really like to hear from them, but as you all have probably figured out....They're not really available comment all that often.......Maybe in a month?.......Who knows?

So here is what I'll do..... I'm going to give them a call at the shop today and see if they are willing to talk. Then.....we'll see.

slander is spoken and libel is written... just to clarify

AVOID 'THEM'. Kent is much more of a 'business man' and 'friend' not too mention he offers service that can't be beat. He offers everything under the sun, and has a Yakuza GT for a Demo.

If you're heading to the coast, call or email me, OR order your stuff from AWOC before you come to the coast that way you won't need to go in 'THERE'.

Bucky, lets go ride, we have much more to do, and if you ever need a witness, I'm on your side, as I've been burned by them too!

Quote:

Originally posted by USA_Eli_A AVOID 'THEM'. Kent is much more of a 'business man' and 'friend' not too mention he offers service that can't be beat. He offers everything under the sun, and has a Yakuza GT for a Demo. If you're heading to the coast, call or email me, OR order your stuff from AWOC before you come to the coast that way you won't need to go in 'THERE'. Bucky, lets go ride, we have much more to do, and if you ever need a witness, I'm on your side, as I've been burned by them too!

I would like to make a complaint about AWOC. After Kent hooked me up big time and me ordering my MTB. I still havent been able to ride it!!!! Its all his fault

Just kiddin Kent haha

As for the OP. Im sorry bud. I havent been up here in a long time and to come on here and see how much things have changed for the worse is pretty saddening to say the least.

I hope this all gets resolved.

dont feed into their negativity--just let it go and NEVER EVER use their shop again under any circumstances.....now go out and fly some power kites and forget about them.life is too short to bother with petty crap like this.........

Quote:

Originally posted by _____ Quote: Originally posted by USA_Eli_A AVOID 'THEM'. Kent is much more of a 'business man' and 'friend' not too mention he offers service that can't be beat. He offers everything under the sun, and has a Yakuza GT for a Demo. If you're heading to the coast, call or email me, OR order your stuff from AWOC before you come to the coast that way you won't need to go in 'THERE'. Bucky, lets go ride, we have much more to do, and if you ever need a witness, I'm on your side, as I've been burned by them too! I would like to make a complaint about AWOC. After Kent hooked me up big time and me ordering my MTB. I still havent been able to ride it!!!! Its all his fault Just kiddin Kent haha As for the OP. Im sorry bud. I havent been up here in a long time and to come on here and see how much things have changed for the worse is pretty saddening to say the least. I hope this all gets resolved.

Wow, had me worried there for a minute! hahaha

Thanks for the kind words Eli, it was great to see you again at NABX. We definitely need to hook up and ride more often than just once a year! Already looking forward to NABX '10

:bigok:

I would let it go for happiness sake! Life is short, don't let others rent space in your head....or...as said back in the day, don't let 'em harsh your mellow....

Well said, johnnylaing. Time to put this to bed. "Rightous Indignation" can only be maintained for so long, after that, it starts wearing you out. Yes, its disappointing not to get any real resolution, but that's life.

On the bright side..... I got my buggy back. - I've got no legal worries. - I've still got plenty of other places to shop for gear locally. - The weather's getting better, and I'm itchin to do some flying. - I'm still working. - I'm still healthy. - I still have my days free. - I still live at the beach. - Life's still pretty damned good!

Oh, and now I've got yet another reason to attend the SOBB! And I'll make sure to bring that buggy! (OK, so that was still a little confrontational, I'll admit it.....So sue me.............Wait!.......Bad choice of words!) :wink2:

Bucky,
I hope you have an alibi. There is a kite shop in Long Beach Wa associated with the aforementioned store that burned Friday.
DS

Oh no. Were there any of "our kind" of kites there? That hurts to think about. Seriously, I hope no one was hurt.

I just saw the pictures of the burn on the website. so sad, to see someone go through this.

I don't think anyone was hurt , sounds like the fire started small but there was some panic and then it got out of control .they are already getting things together to reopen at a different location.we should band together and give some support .everyone buy a single line kite and then find a youngster who would enjoy it and pass it on to them .AOXOMOXOA p.s. the broken spine of mine is well on its way to mending and i can now take a few steps but the wife/doc. has said no kiting for at least 4 monthsand it has been only 3 so far .i want to kite my wheel chair with my new 4m kite :tumble:

Great to hear that you are healing nicely my friend.

And just in time for SOBB too....;-)

see you on the beach with the wind in your hair Jim