So here's the story.

Several months back, I was looking to sell one of my modified Flexi kitebuggies. A friend at the local kite shop said to bring it in to the shop because maybe a friend of his might buy it. I only had the frame (with the modifications I added) (see my "Flexi mods" post on this site) so I left it with him to see if his friend was interested.

Later, he called, and said the person backed out of the deal. No problem, I said. If he changes his mind, or someone else wants it GREAT! Otherwise, I'll come in and pick it up sometime. No hurry, he'd been there for years, and practically every buggier in town knew that buggy, and who it belonged to.

So about a month ago, I heard that my friend was no longer working there. I thought "I'd better go get my buggy" since new people were now managing the store.

I came in and explained the situation, described the parts and the modifications to them.

The manager (who was new in town) said "Ya we have them, they're in the back corner. But you can't have them!"

Why not?

"Because I don't know if they're yours!"

Fine enough. "Please have the owner give me a call, and we'll straighten this out!"

3 weeks later - no phone call

I come in again "No one called!

The manager says "You can't have them until you get written statement from (my friend) saying that these are your parts!!

I heard he left town. Do you know where he is?

"NO!!"

Do you have a number?

"NO!" (Apparently some bad blood)

(seeing that this was going nowhere) O.K. can I have a number for the OWNER of the kite shop?

NO!! (apparently REALLY bad blood!)

This was ridiculous! I needed to track down someone with no phone number, no address, not even a city or state- and get him to sign a paper stating that those buggy parts were mine!! (Apparantly photos and receipts aren't good enough)

So after a few other times sending emails and calling the shop with no success, I came in day before yesterday with Receipts, photos, the missing pieces. (all of which I showed the manager before) and demanded my buggy parts back.

She AGAIN refused! Seeing no other option, I calmly walked to the back of the store, picked up my buggy parts myself and started to walk out!

The manager started yelling WHAT ARE YOU DOING!!

I calmly said "I'm just leaving with my buggy parts."

IF YOU WALK OUT OF THAT DOOR, I'M CALLING THE POLICE!!!

"Thats fine, I'll be waiting outside, with my buggy, photos, receipts, and all the compatible parts. And you can show them??????"

The police showed up. I showed all my paperwork. They agreed that it was MORE than adequate proof of ownership. They asked the manager if she had any contradictory paperwork such as a sales receipt, or if I owed any money to the shop? She admitted that she had none, and that she no documentation WHATSOEVER that those pieces should have even been in there at all!!

Needless to say, I got my buggy parts back. But I do have one less place that I will EVER bring my business to again!!!!

(And to the kite shop owners, if you're reading this

Now I don't know if you were just really pissed at (my friend), or you were trying to use me to find him, or you were just trying to score some free buggy parts?!? Regardless, that's a pretty piss-poor way to run a business, and (for the manager) a pretty stupid way of introducing yourself to a community!! Going out your way to alienate and piss off the local kiters!! WAY TO GO!!! You just converted yet another former customer to online shopping!!

By the way. In case you don't know me, I'm the one, during the summer, thats always flying my powerkites (the ones I used to buy from you) right by the "turnaround" in front of ALL the tourists, and USED TO RECOMMEND YOUR STORE to interested folks, as a good place to get set up with starter kite! But you know what?? I have a whole NEW STORY to tell them NOW!!! (hint... your reading it)

I even got a new t-shirt that a shop in town made me for FREE!! (Guess I'm not the only one you've managed to piss off) I'm wearing it EVERY NIGHT at work! (Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you) I play music at the big dance club just down the street.

Now I haven't named names, but I live in SEASIDE, OREGON and they're the only kite shop in town! I'll leave it to you to figure out who this is!!

p.s. By the way, I need some new MBS hubs for my board. What's a cheap place online? I was going to buy them at the local kite shop, but....... .......No really!!! I do them.

Wow... thats crazy. I've been to the store you are talking about, about 6 months ago. Really good people there, or so it seemed. Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Guess I will not be going back to that store next time I am in Seaside...

nasty scene and strange.
your " highly modded Flexi(s)" are beefed for jumps? got pics? you got one RTF intersted to sell/ship.
Paul

I come up with 2 kite shops in seaside. How would we know which one?

So whats on the shirt?

It's crazy you would have to be put through all that trouble just to get back what belongs to you. I hate to imagine how much business they'll lose because of being stubborn and ignorant to a faithful customer. But then again, they brought it on themselves...

Is the shop owner, manager or clerk a member here?

Yuk man that is a horrible story. I went through the same kind of thing with about $8k worth of SCUBA gear that I'll never see again, so I know how you feel. I am very leery of selling anything on consignment for this very reason.

call the cops and all. cool you scored your old stuff back

what gain was there in keeping them? oh i know ...a police report , community relations

There's two kite shops listed, but unfortunately, only kite shop still in business. It's on 100 block of Broadway

As for the shirt - It references the the kite shop - A big circle and slash through it. on the the back it says "MAKING LOCALS FEEL UNWELCOME SINCE 2009" I plan on wearing it every night I'm playing (Thurs- Sun), and probably every chance I get on the beach!

It got lots of laughs, and more importantly, lots of questions last Saturday. Always happy to tell the story!

I'm not normally a vindictive person, but I'm not a big fan of someone @#*#@ with me, just because they think they can.

I think it's the LEAST you could "do" for them given what they put you through. I know where I won't be stopping by when I hit Seaside to see (a friend of mine).

Last time I checked there were over 3000 members here....that's a solid chunk of potential business to lose. If only they knew.......

Oh and if you want to see the mods. Search on this forum (from the beginning) under Flexi Mods or Bucky. I made it for soft sand dune riding with big kites (takes lots of pull, really hard to flip, and holds you in comfortably). These are the exact photos I showed the manager. From the pics, its pretty obvious that its not a stock Flexi Sport. (parts of the "rollcage" were still on the pieces left in the shop)

Oh, and I don't know if either the manager or the owners of the shop are members of this forum. I hope so, because I would LOVE to hear from them, and have them try to rationalize their motives. But since they haven't answered any of the emails that I'v sent to their website prior to this, I very much doubt that they will speak up, even if they ARE members.

bucky
FYI did a search and only found three listings re: this current thread.
no biggie, i'm interested in a 'jumping' buggy.

In the search section, where it says "from" choose "the beginning" , then put in "Flexi Mods". It should come up then.

Ok, so now I have to see the shirt. I bought a kite there over a year or two ago (from a nice guy), but have only bought a line winder there since and I actually got some lip in asking for just a winder... too bad they didn't have any in stock in cannon beach.

Man, I feel so lucky having such a great relationship with the owner of the local shop here (Newport). I have never seen him even think about treating a customer or a "I'm just looking" like the manager you described.

I went to SOBB in 2007 and I met a few people who claimed to be employees/owners ( I cant remember) at a local kite shop and they were supercool and nice. one of them was Eli (usa_eli), who is a great Kiter and a very nice guy, he let me try his 12 m manta.
that is a crappy story sorry to hear about it, I think the owner needs to address this problem immediately. Someone should call the shop and leave a message for the owner.

I've been to the one in Newport before. Nice place. Really nice people. You're lucky.

That's what we used to have here as well. New people bought it about a year and a half ago. They also own one in Longbeach, Washington. At first, it wasn't bad. Still a lot of familiar faces. then a few months ago, this new manager comes in (who incidentally, lives in Washington, and knows none of the local kiters) - everyone else either quits or is fired - and well.... it starts sucking!

A friend of mine yesterday related a story to me. He had gone into the shop about a month ago looking for a new bar to convert his 4 line handle setup to a "x crossover" bar setup (easier on his wrists). He asked the manager about which particular bar would be good for that.

She looks at him and snydly says "Well if don't already know, I guess you have no business buying one. !?!?!?!?

Needless to say, he left and vowed never to return.

He also told me several other recent equally shocking stories about some of his friend's recent experiences with the shop (I won't quote them - third hand information's too vague - But apparently, I'm not alone in my recent problems) In fact, of everyone I've talked to around town and in the shops on Broadway (kiters and non kiters) has described her as "caustic", "arrogant", "rude"

I'm not sure if her behavior in condoned by the owners (I can't imagine why it would be) Maybe she's related to the owners? Maybe they've got some other agenda? Maybe she's just really pissed that her bosses sent her to work in Seaside? Who knows?!? Regardless - she seems to have very little people-skills, zero regard our kiting community, and little if any kiting knowledge beyond stunts and single liners (what their Longbeach shop almost exclusively sells.)

Luckily, Cleanline Surfshop in town sells mountainboards and parts for them. A VERY cool shop, and some of most helpful, nice people you'll ever meet! I prefer to buy local, so I'll get my hubs and board parts from them. Jon Ellis is also a great local supplier for buggies, parts, and kites! Super helpful, friendly, knowledgable, and respectful (even despite the fact that I don't own a Libre....yet, and only have 2 older Jojo's....so far) So you see, life is still good in Seaside for kiters.

I know Ellis is a member here, so.... to you! And I'm sure at least one of the guys at Cleanline comes on here too, so.... to you guys as well!

"OBLIVIOUS TO IT ALL KITES" or how about "ABOVE THE LAW KITES" (I'm not which I like better - still thinking... any suggestions? I'll put it on a T shirt and post it!) Well anyway :moon: :P

I'm sorry to hear all this. Thank goodness cleanline is and Jon are still there to serve a great community of kiters.

From what I saw the bread and butter of that other shop was the unsuspecting tourist due to it's ideal location.

I think that wearing your T-shirt and informing tourists that the shops habits is the business they will be sorry to lose.

I suspect they don't care about the power kite community anyway. I wonder if they can survive on the tourists alone ?

Maybe Cleanline should stock some stunt + single line kites so tourists have a better option?

Hi All, Bucky is very correct. The SSPD called this a.m. to confirm Bucky's story! "I concur"

I mentioned to Bucky that the deal fell through. Bucky is very trusting and consigned his parts for in store credit, at the place or employment where I was the general manager until Nov. 2009.

The new management is aware those buggy parts are Bucky's! I still communicate with the new management to see how things are going. And she is a very nice lady, she is just doing what she is trained to do.

I hope all is well, and that no hard feelings resume!

Good to hear from you! How's things? No hard feelings with you.

I understand the situation, but truth be told, that woman was openly hostile to me from the start! I'm not sure where she got off treating me that way?

at least you guys have kite shops, we really have nothing up here in Canada and with the US exchange so out of wack won't be buying anything for awhile...bummer

OK so I've calmed down now.....

Lets back up a bit here. I'm going to say something now thats a bit weird....


I WAS WRONG!!!! :shocked2:


Hold on.

Not wrong about the story -
(that's 100 percent true)

Not wrong about the fact that they were COMPLETELY out of line in their treatment of me -
(I still pretty pissed about that)

Not even wrong in my belief that the new manager is not a very friendly person -
(She was very rude to me every single time I spoke with her, so I wasn't like she was just having a "bad hair day" or something)

No - I was wrong because I got really MEAN SPIRITED about the whole thing. Yep that's it.

So here's the deal. All I'd really like is an apology from owners\manager. You know, a call saying "hey sorry about the misunderstanding" - "sorry we didn't get back to you" - "sorry we let this situation get out of control" - "what ever can we do to make it up to you. What if we give you a brand new MBS Mountainboard?" (OK, the last one was just wishful thinking) But, you know... SOME kind of apology!

Then, we hug... we kiss... we all shed tears of joy... all is well... all is forgiven... no hard feelings...and everyone can get back to their laid-back, it-all-good, let's-go-get-a-latte, gee-ain't-it-great-we-live-at-the-beach - lives. The End. (I'm getting all teary just writting this.)

So I'll take the high road and not say anymore bad about ABOVE IT ALL KITES, and patiently wait for those apologies and mountainboards to come rolling in..... A much better alternative me being spiteful, vindictive and mean-spirited (very tiring). and so much better for everybody's "shakra" (yep, right now I'm now naked in the "lotus" position in front of my computer, chanting as I type) (creepy - I know, but very liberating)

So I'll just wait..................................................................

Talk to ya later, Peace - Love - Harmony :wee:

Quote:

Originally posted by USA_Eli_A The new management is aware those buggy parts are Bucky's! I still communicate with the new management to see how things are going.

I do not understand. They knew it was his but refused to give it back? It's hard to believe they did that on purpose so they can sell the part and make a few $ out of it???

Hey Sailor,
Way to rise above it all, Bucky.
Seriously, you are an example of the attitude we should all be able to realize in situations not to our liking.

My hat's off to you, man.

Like I've always said: "If we want to live in that world... We have to be that person."

Thanks, Bucky, for being that person.


Safen Up! Buggy On!

"Often wrong... Never in doubt"

the coreylama

....now how do we get naked-Bucky-on-a-new-ATB-in-the-Lotus-position out of our heads?

I used a drill.

A few adult beverages helps too. Thinking of someone you find more appealing when naked (no offense Bucky:P) helps as well.

Um, what is wrong with the lotus position?

Steve

Dave and I would like to thank whichever member it was who called and left a msg for us to check this forum out. We had no idea all this hubub was going on over someone's used parts.
:eekdrull:
We apologie for whatever happened that let this incident become such a HUGE EVENT in Bucky's life.
We have financially supported the local buggie event for three years now and will continue to do so in hopes of promoting this type of kiting for everyone to enjoy.