Another MBW thread closed

[LZH]

http://www.mbworld.org/forums/clk63-...te-health.html

Today, 06:28 AM #1
MACHC5
Super Member
Garage is empty, add now



Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Central New Jersey
Posts: 801
Drives: CLK63 Black, C55, 600E, Supercharged Denali & EVO MR
What is the latest on Evosport's, state of health.?
What is the latest update on the Evosport, state of health saga..?
I don't have a dog in this arena, just a long time forum member.
Curious minds want to know...

The threads I was following have faded away, because MB-Bob locked them..!

Jim

Today, 07:00 AM #2
mellowyellow
Junior Member
Garage is empty, add now



Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 73
Drives: 2008 CLK63 Black Series
Would be nice to know the real deal. I have some Evosport mods on mine, but not waiting on anything to be delivered. I feel for those waiting. However, I don't agree with paying for items and having it billed prior to shipment - especially when that shipment is months late. If you are having extensive work done, a down-payment is certainly warranted.

Today, 11:16 AM #3
GRahal09
Junior Member
Garage is empty, add now

Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 17
Drives: CLK 63 Black Series
I paid 6 months ago, and am still waiting. Dont know what to do.

Today, 12:07 PM #4
MB-BOB
Administrator
2001 Mercedes-Benz C320




Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Flower Mound, TX
Posts: 7,959
Drives: TaylorMade R5 Dual
Let's review the "state of health" of all the sponsors, shall we? Just to be fair, right?

On second thought, no. If you have a beef with any sponsor -- and I mean any sponsor here -- take it up with that sponsor in the appropriate manner. No need to resurrect discussions beaten to a pulp in previous threads that ran their course.

Further, I don't appreciate these threads in general, because they place the moderator team in an awkward position... a perception of bias toward a sponsor... We don't like being put into this position for ANY sponsor, especially for Evosport. These forums are owned by Internet Brands, now, since mid 2007. Staff is not beholden to any sponsor.

In short, one discussion thread is more than enough. If you want to (continue) bashing any of the sponsors here, go over to Benzbunk, where they love their unnatural obsession with it.

This thread is CLOSED.

__________________________________________________ ___________________________

Just to be fair....LOL!!!! And he has the nerve to bring up fairness ???? And on top of it all he doesn't like it because it puts him "in an awkward position" ??!?!?!?!? NO SH!T, you are Brad's FATHER!!!!!!! LOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!! Hey Bob....quit closing threads you dipsh!t.....CLEARLY the membership over on MBW wants to know what is going on with one of the boards sponsors. Well, I guess they will have to come over here to get the truth. Just when I thought the state of affairs on MBW couldn't get any worse....good ol' dad goes and impresses me once again. Well played, Bob....way to exhibit your fair and impartial moderating and once again prove that everything that is being said about Evosport and MBW is true. UNREAL

[Sticky]

I don't know why the name MACHC5 seems so familiar.

We don't like being put into this position for ANY sponsor, especially for Evosport. These forums are owned by Internet Brands, now, since mid 2007. Staff is not beholden to any sponsor.

You are involved with Evosport and in control of administration? No conflict of interest there.

IB may own MBworld but fact is Evosport has retained administrative powers for themselves... if you don't want to be put into this position deliver parts and maybe not abuse your power by locking threads?

No need to resurrect discussions beaten to a pulp in previous threads that ran their course.

It never ran its course!

[LZH]

I don't know why the name MACHC5 seems so familiar.



You are involved with Evosport and in control of administration? No conflict of interest there.

IB may own MBworld but fact is Evosport has retained administrative powers for themselves... if you don't want to be put into this position deliver parts and maybe not abuse your power by locking threads?



It never ran its course!

The conflict of interest is MASSIVE and the way they choose to deflect the issues, lock threads and not address the underlying issues is deplorable. To everyone involved over at MBW, you should be ashamed of yourselves for not sticking up for what you know is RIGHT and HONEST.

[930chas]

That is incredible. Truly $#@!in incredible.

[oldgixxer]

Grown ass men acting like damn babies again...I wonder if I would get disciplinary action/put on probation/get an infraction for asking MB-Bob if it's true he is in fact brads father in the next evosport thread that goes sour when he butts in to stick up for his lil boy...I can almost guarantee I would. Hmm,I'll put that on my to-do list

[JRCART]

I really can't believe all the censorship. When truths are being censored its a very very big issue.

[LZH]

And whatismore...MB-Bob is such a dumbass, he doesn't even realize that by locking the threads in an effort to protect Evosport from scrutiny...all he is doing is making the problem more apparent. It really does stink and speaks volumes about what the people running that site think of their members AND the members level of intelligence. Do they really think that we are all as stupid as them ???? Guess that's what happens when someone reaches their mental ceiling.

[Sticky]

And whatismore...MB-Bob is such a dumbass, he doesn't even realize that by locking the threads in an effort to protect Evosport from scrutiny...all he is doing is making the problem more apparent. It really does stink and speaks volumes about what the people running that site think of their members AND the members level of intelligence. Do they really think that we are all as stupid as them ???? Guess that's what happens when someone reaches their mental ceiling.

I can't disagree with this.

What exactly does he mean especially when it concerns Evosport? Shouldn't all vendors be treated equally? Why is he especially concerned about Evosport issues?

[LZH]

Because he is ESPECIALLY conflicted and his misguided use of his powers have RUINED that site.

[Sticky]

Because he is ESPECIALLY conflicted and his misguided use of his powers have RUINED that site.

If it is any consolation, you are not the only one who has noticed.

[JBond]

I think this fiasco has done and continues to do an excellent job of highlighting all the issues Evosport has been trying to keep under the rug at MBW. My personal belief is that the lower ranking staffers at IB that handle site complaints--Adrian Harris/IB Adrian and Snookie Stoddard) have no interest in protecting members from legitimate business threats and are simply yes men.

Whoever posted it earlier said it correctly, we need to get the email addresses of the higher ups at IB and clue them in on what's happening with one of their businesses and what the potential ramifications are if they don't act to reclaim their site. Father Bob is further making a mockery of it by acting like a tyrant.

There are lots of good guys on that site, I don't understand why they don't all mass migrate over here. It's the members that make a site, just change the web address and speak your mind.

[Sticky]

There are lots of good guys on that site, I don't understand why they don't all mass migrate over here.

Those that know this site exists have. Also, habits are hard to break. Plus, it remains true this site is a building process that will evolve whereas MBworld is established (and in decline).

[dynomite05]

Looks like Bob is doing a lot of this lately

[_PTE_]

They Just closed another tread !! I saw were Moedy was asking about a Group buy on Long tube headers for C-55s & CLK 55s. That was yesterday , Gone today!!
Cheers _PTEngineering

[Lenin]

I think this fiasco has done and continues to do an excellent job of highlighting all the issues Evosport has been trying to keep under the rug at MBW. My personal belief is that the lower ranking staffers at IB that handle site complaints--Adrian Harris/IB Adrian and Snookie Stoddard) have no interest in protecting members from legitimate business threats and are simply yes men.

Whoever posted it earlier said it correctly, we need to get the email addresses of the higher ups at IB and clue them in on what's happening with one of their businesses and what the potential ramifications are if they don't act to reclaim their site. Father Bob is further making a mockery of it by acting like a tyrant.

There are lots of good guys on that site, I don't understand why they don't all mass migrate over here. It's the members that make a site, just change the web address and speak your mind.

If you are looking for a way to communicate with the IB CEO, here is a link to his blog. Comments are welcomed (or are they?). http://www.bbrisco.com/ I'm sure that Twitter messages will work too. They got to be using tools like Radian6 to monitor what people say about them on the internet using social software.

[c32AMG-DTM]

You know, it's funny, but I'd crafted a rather lengthy multi-quote post for the first thread on MBW... unfortunately, as luck would have it, MB BOB locked the thread about 8 minutes after I started but 2 minutes before I finished. The highlights were as follows:

1. MB BOB's claim that the thread never disappeared is false. In fact, a different admin told me via PM that the thread had been "quieted" after being locked. Apparently, it's a process where the mods/admins can take down a thread so it's no longer available for public consumption. Technically, it is not deleted - it can be reinstated by the mods/admins whenever they see fit. But, while it's "quieted," as far as the regular membership is concerned, it's gone. My guess is that MB BOB's admin level access allowed him to continue to see the thread, even after us regular folks could not. When he reopened it (for a day), it appears it took off the "quiet" cloak of secrecy at that time. But, for awhile, it was unavailable to even read, for the public - I am 100% certain. I had read the thread up until it was locked, then looked later and it was not where it should've been, chronologically, on the C63 subforum. So, I pulled up the history of the thread and tried to refresh, only to receive a vBulletin error that the link was unavailable. Not sure what else to say here.

2. MB Forever's post (along with numerous others on the similar topic) was spot on. The issue isn't really delays or extended wait times, in my opinion. The penultimate issue here is charging clients in advance for hardware that is backordered or, at least, not in stock and ready for shipment. While not completely uncommon, it's decidedly neither client-centric, nor consumer-friendly, in any industry. If I order regularly-produced hardware, automotive or otherwise, my expectation is for my CC information to be taken, but not charged until the day the hardware ships from the vendor/supplier. If it's custom, then IMHO a deposit is warranted and generally SOP for businesses. Still, though, it's typically not really necessary to collect 100% payment in advance.

3. Brad mentions that some folks have requested refunds and evosport's been in contact with them throughout, and they will be taken care of. "Will be" being the phrase folks should pay attention to. If you order something, pay 100% in advance, and then cancel your order due to delays on the part of the vendor (whether that be a week or a year), you should be able to request a refund and have it processed on the part of the vendor within one business day. Period. Any delays in refunding you for a cancelled order should set off warning bells in one's mind that the business in question is experiencing severe liquidity and/or cashflow issues. The proverbial "robbing from Peter to pay Paul" scenario would seem to be occurring... otherwise, why can't the refund be processed? I mean, if the payment is billed 100% in advance, but otherwise just sits in the corporate checking account until the product ships - it should be readily available to refund to the customer. Again, that would (in my mind) be a best-practices approach, when billing in advance. Here, it sounds like customers are being billed in advance for backordered products, then their payments are being used by the company, before their hardware even is procured, to fund other corporate activity. A pretty dicey way to do business, and can certainly bite a company in the ass if things don't go exactly just-so.

4. I sincerely wish evosport the best and hope they can resolve these issues to their customers' satisfaction. That said, given what's come out, I wouldn't even consider ordering anything from them until all of these issues are resolved (and confirmed by customers via public forum postings), and better corporate policies and procedures are in place.

From what I remember, I think that was about it.

[LostMarine]

"Join Date: Nov 2001
Location: Flower Mound, TX
Posts: 7,959
Drives: TaylorMade R5 Dual
Let's review the "state of health" of all the sponsors, shall we? Just to be fair, right?

On second thought, no. If you have a beef with any sponsor -- and I mean any sponsor here -- take it up with that sponsor in the appropriate manner. No need to resurrect discussions beaten to a pulp in previous threads that ran their course.

Further, I don't appreciate these threads in general, because they place the moderator team in an awkward position... a perception of bias toward a sponsor... We don't like being put into this position for ANY sponsor, especially for Evosport. These forums are owned by Internet Brands, now, since mid 2007. Staff is not beholden to any sponsor.

In short, one discussion thread is more than enough. If you want to (continue) bashing any of the sponsors here, go over to Benzbunk, where they love their unnatural obsession with it.

This thread is CLOSED.
"


wow, what an assclown- yes, lets see all the rest...

Oh god I have never wanted a Monday to come soo soon in my life!

[930chas]

You know, it's funny, but I'd crafted a rather lengthy multi-quote post for the first thread on MBW... unfortunately, as luck would have it, MB BOB locked the thread about 8 minutes after I started but 2 minutes before I finished. The highlights were as follows:

1. MB BOB's claim that the thread never disappeared is false. In fact, a different admin told me via PM that the thread had been "quieted" after being locked. Apparently, it's a process where the mods/admins can take down a thread so it's no longer available for public consumption. Technically, it is not deleted - it can be reinstated by the mods/admins whenever they see fit. But, while it's "quieted," as far as the regular membership is concerned, it's gone. My guess is that MB BOB's admin level access allowed him to continue to see the thread, even after us regular folks could not. When he reopened it (for a day), it appears it took off the "quiet" cloak of secrecy at that time. But, for awhile, it was unavailable to even read, for the public - I am 100% certain. I had read the thread up until it was locked, then looked later and it was not where it should've been, chronologically, on the C63 subforum. So, I pulled up the history of the thread and tried to refresh, only to receive a vBulletin error that the link was unavailable. Not sure what else to say here.

2. MB Forever's post (along with numerous others on the similar topic) was spot on. The issue isn't really delays or extended wait times, in my opinion. The penultimate issue here is charging clients in advance for hardware that is backordered or, at least, not in stock and ready for shipment. While not completely uncommon, it's decidedly neither client-centric, nor consumer-friendly, in any industry. If I order regularly-produced hardware, automotive or otherwise, my expectation is for my CC information to be taken, but not charged until the day the hardware ships from the vendor/supplier. If it's custom, then IMHO a deposit is warranted and generally SOP for businesses. Still, though, it's typically not really necessary to collect 100% payment in advance.

3. Brad mentions that some folks have requested refunds and evosport's been in contact with them throughout, and they will be taken care of. "Will be" being the phrase folks should pay attention to. If you order something, pay 100% in advance, and then cancel your order due to delays on the part of the vendor (whether that be a week or a year), you should be able to request a refund and have it processed on the part of the vendor within one business day. Period. Any delays in refunding you for a cancelled order should set off warning bells in one's mind that the business in question is experiencing severe liquidity and/or cashflow issues. The proverbial "robbing from Peter to pay Paul" scenario would seem to be occurring... otherwise, why can't the refund be processed? I mean, if the payment is billed 100% in advance, but otherwise just sits in the corporate checking account until the product ships - it should be readily available to refund to the customer. Again, that would (in my mind) be a best-practices approach, when billing in advance. Here, it sounds like customers are being billed in advance for backordered products, then their payments are being used by the company, before their hardware even is procured, to fund other corporate activity. A pretty dicey way to do business, and can certainly bite a company in the ass if things don't go exactly just-so.

4. I sincerely wish evosport the best and hope they can resolve these issues to their customers' satisfaction. That said, given what's come out, I wouldn't even consider ordering anything from them until all of these issues are resolved (and confirmed by customers via public forum postings), and better corporate policies and procedures are in place.

From what I remember, I think that was about it.

Excellent post! A shame that you weren't able to post it over there.

[Mort]

It would seem to be time for Evosport to post information on their situation to clear the air! Not knowing is leading to a lot of assumptions on the part of customers and interested parties and probably suppliers as well. Assuming the worst is only natural given the lack of substancial information to the opposite.

My guess is that they are not in a position to honestly do so from a financial standpoint and will not do so for fear of the fallout from the enthusiast community making the situation worse. Their current lack of comment leaves us very little room except to expect the worse.

[dynomite05]

It would seem to be time for Evosport to post information on their situation to clear the air! Not knowing is leading to a lot of assumptions on the part of customers and interested parties and probably suppliers as well. Assuming the worst is only natural given the lack of substancial information to the opposite.

My guess is that they are not in a position to honestly do so from a financial standpoint and will not do so for fear of the fallout from the enthusiast community making the situation worse. Their current lack of comment leaves us very little room except to expect the worse.

Well said!

[Mort]

c32AMG-DTM

That is the way I see it as well and thanks for for fleshing out some of the details. It is a shame that you did not get to post it because MB BOB seems to be trying to the camouflage the truth and leaving out damaging details from us less knowledgeable on the inner workings of forum manipulation.

Thanks

[Sticky]

2. MB Forever's post (along with numerous others on the similar topic) was spot on. The issue isn't really delays or extended wait times, in my opinion. The penultimate issue here is charging clients in advance for hardware that is backordered or, at least, not in stock and ready for shipment. While not completely uncommon, it's decidedly neither client-centric, nor consumer-friendly, in any industry. If I order regularly-produced hardware, automotive or otherwise, my expectation is for my CC information to be taken, but not charged until the day the hardware ships from the vendor/supplier. If it's custom, then IMHO a deposit is warranted and generally SOP for businesses. Still, though, it's typically not really necessary to collect 100% payment in advance.

Could not have said it is any better, this is spot on. If one is taking money and not delivering parts it makes it seem like they are using customers money for other things, does it not?

[Sticky]

It would seem to be time for Evosport to post information on their situation to clear the air! Not knowing is leading to a lot of assumptions on the part of customers and interested parties and probably suppliers as well. Assuming the worst is only natural given the lack of substancial information to the opposite.

Oh we got you covered and will be clearing the air, watch the frontpage early tomorrow morning

[Sticky]

3. Brad mentions that some folks have requested refunds and evosport's been in contact with them throughout, and they will be taken care of. "Will be" being the phrase folks should pay attention to. If you order something, pay 100% in advance, and then cancel your order due to delays on the part of the vendor (whether that be a week or a year), you should be able to request a refund and have it processed on the part of the vendor within one business day. Period. Any delays in refunding you for a cancelled order should set off warning bells in one's mind that the business in question is experiencing severe liquidity and/or cashflow issues. The proverbial "robbing from Peter to pay Paul" scenario would seem to be occurring... otherwise, why can't the refund be processed? I mean, if the payment is billed 100% in advance, but otherwise just sits in the corporate checking account until the product ships - it should be readily available to refund to the customer. Again, that would (in my mind) be a best-practices approach, when billing in advance. Here, it sounds like customers are being billed in advance for backordered products, then their payments are being used by the company, before their hardware even is procured, to fund other corporate activity. A pretty dicey way to do business, and can certainly bite a company in the ass if things don't go exactly just-so.

You are so spot on it isn't even funny. You will have exactly details on the amount of backorders and the total debt with numbers as up to date as possible. I must say, I'm impressed with the way you correctly surmised everything.