CENSORED THREAD- Blitz Throttle Controllers
#1
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Boulder Creek, CA, USA
Posts: 3,288
CENSORED THREAD- Blitz Throttle Controllers
Until late last week, this thread was up, and then it vanished and the OP was listed in the Member's List as--- "banned". If you were subscribed to that thread, or were one of the 13 people who participated in the group buy by sending money, here is what happened:
New member blitzusa posted an offer to test fit one of the new Blitz throttle controllers on anyone's Fit in the area (SoCal). Member doctordoom volunteered. The test results on doc's Fit were so good, and doctordoom's write up about the tests was so good, that a lot of people asked for a Group Buy on the device and signed up. Over a period of a few days, 13 people paid for a device to be shipped within 3 weeks. I was on the list, so was doctordoom, vafit, Illusive (one of our site Administrators), and a bunch of other guys whose names I don't remember. Kelsodeez was also on the list of paid members, but he missed the comment in the thread that warned that these devices are NOT being sold for use on FI vehicles. I warned Kelsey about that fact, and he canceled his order and got a refund.
The thread is now gone, and blitzusa is unfairly banned, due to the efforts of someone we'll call "IB Adrian". Adrian is one of the Internet Brands "Secret Police", who mistakenly thought that this thread was a scam, and mistakenly thought that blitzusa was trying to cheat IB out of a vendor's fee. No one contacted blitzusa to discuss the issue, the thread was removed, and blitzusa was now prevented from contacting any of the buyers to let them know that their purchase was legitimate, and unable to contact anyone from IB to find out what happened and why he was banned.
So here is the truth behind the misunderstandings and misconceptions. Blitzusa's real name is Mike. He never intended to sell ANYTHING on fitfreak.net, and did not WANT to be a vendor. Blitz, the manufacturer ,does not sell retail AT ALL, only through distributors and dealers. Mike saw the high interest, after the test fit and doctordoom's report post on it, as an opportunity to create future sales for Blitz and their dealers, so he asked for participants for a group buy. The 13 of us did not make up enough to interest Blitz, the company. So Mike, as a Blitz employee, used his employee discount to buy the 13 units for those of us on the list. He made NO PROFIT, and had no intention of ever being a fitfreak vendor, and felt that under those conditions, paying fees to be a vendor would not be required.
For the rest of the buyers, the group buy is legitimate. You will receive your throttle controller within a few days. But if you want a refund, just call Mike and ask for it. His cell phone number is 562-787-2425.
IMO, banning Mike with absolutely no explanation, and obliterating the thread, was unwise and unfair to everyone concerned. It cut Mike off from all contact with the forums, and cut the fitfreak members involved with the thread off from contact as well. For those who didn't make a record of Mike's phone number or email address, contacting him was now almost impossible. Finding that he was banned made all of the buyers feel that we had been scammed. When Internet Brands employees take such drastic action, they should post some kind of explanation. If you prevent us from being victimized by a REAL SCAM, that would justify your job and we would be grateful.
But in this case, an honest, nice guy tried to do a good thing but didn't do it quite the right way according to IB politics. By trashing the entire thread without a word to anybody, you caused harm to everyone concerned.
New member blitzusa posted an offer to test fit one of the new Blitz throttle controllers on anyone's Fit in the area (SoCal). Member doctordoom volunteered. The test results on doc's Fit were so good, and doctordoom's write up about the tests was so good, that a lot of people asked for a Group Buy on the device and signed up. Over a period of a few days, 13 people paid for a device to be shipped within 3 weeks. I was on the list, so was doctordoom, vafit, Illusive (one of our site Administrators), and a bunch of other guys whose names I don't remember. Kelsodeez was also on the list of paid members, but he missed the comment in the thread that warned that these devices are NOT being sold for use on FI vehicles. I warned Kelsey about that fact, and he canceled his order and got a refund.
The thread is now gone, and blitzusa is unfairly banned, due to the efforts of someone we'll call "IB Adrian". Adrian is one of the Internet Brands "Secret Police", who mistakenly thought that this thread was a scam, and mistakenly thought that blitzusa was trying to cheat IB out of a vendor's fee. No one contacted blitzusa to discuss the issue, the thread was removed, and blitzusa was now prevented from contacting any of the buyers to let them know that their purchase was legitimate, and unable to contact anyone from IB to find out what happened and why he was banned.
So here is the truth behind the misunderstandings and misconceptions. Blitzusa's real name is Mike. He never intended to sell ANYTHING on fitfreak.net, and did not WANT to be a vendor. Blitz, the manufacturer ,does not sell retail AT ALL, only through distributors and dealers. Mike saw the high interest, after the test fit and doctordoom's report post on it, as an opportunity to create future sales for Blitz and their dealers, so he asked for participants for a group buy. The 13 of us did not make up enough to interest Blitz, the company. So Mike, as a Blitz employee, used his employee discount to buy the 13 units for those of us on the list. He made NO PROFIT, and had no intention of ever being a fitfreak vendor, and felt that under those conditions, paying fees to be a vendor would not be required.
For the rest of the buyers, the group buy is legitimate. You will receive your throttle controller within a few days. But if you want a refund, just call Mike and ask for it. His cell phone number is 562-787-2425.
IMO, banning Mike with absolutely no explanation, and obliterating the thread, was unwise and unfair to everyone concerned. It cut Mike off from all contact with the forums, and cut the fitfreak members involved with the thread off from contact as well. For those who didn't make a record of Mike's phone number or email address, contacting him was now almost impossible. Finding that he was banned made all of the buyers feel that we had been scammed. When Internet Brands employees take such drastic action, they should post some kind of explanation. If you prevent us from being victimized by a REAL SCAM, that would justify your job and we would be grateful.
But in this case, an honest, nice guy tried to do a good thing but didn't do it quite the right way according to IB politics. By trashing the entire thread without a word to anybody, you caused harm to everyone concerned.
Last edited by manxman; 07-20-2008 at 03:53 PM.
#5
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Boulder Creek, CA, USA
Posts: 3,288
He will call you back- if not, PM me and I will make sure that he does.
#6
i can vouch for these guys. i wrote mike an email and told him about my situation and he refunded my money the next day. too bad the throttle controller wont work on my car. i would have been happy to do business with these guys. im glad its all sorted out.
#7
glad its all sorted out, boo to the ib employee who started this problem....didnt think their involvement with the site would be an issue. hopefully it isnt ever again and they give us an explanation when they do...if i was apart of this GB i would be extremely pissed at IB...glad its all resolved ;]
#8
Im glad to find out what happened but now i know i cant use the darn thing. So ill have to back out. I feel this was an abuse of power by the forum security-rent-a-cop dude! Things should be talked about before pulling the trigger. Thanks Mike for all the hard work.
#10
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Boulder Creek, CA, USA
Posts: 3,288
glad its all sorted out, boo to the ib employee who started this problem....didnt think their involvement with the site would be an issue. hopefully it isnt ever again and they give us an explanation when they do...if i was apart of this GB i would be extremely pissed at IB...glad its all resolved ;]
If I suddenly disappear, it will most likely be because "IB Adrian" banned me for screwing up his work. I asked Illusive to find out what happened with the original thread and why blitzusa was banned, and asked for help from JDMchris.com. Chris got the original thread put back on the forums because he agreed that "IB Adrian's" actions were wrong and unfair to the forums. I also PM'd every person on the GB list to keep them informed so they would not feel as if this was a giant swindle.
I hope that Adrian is REALLY pissed, because he will think twice before trying this kind of thing again. If I get banned for it, gee, too bad. I'll live.
#12
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Boulder Creek, CA, USA
Posts: 3,288
$20.00 each from 25,000 members is only $ .5 Million. That barely buys a small house in a nice neighborhood.
#13
#16
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Boulder Creek, CA, USA
Posts: 3,288
Great. So this is more likely to get worse, rather than better.
#19
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Boulder Creek, CA, USA
Posts: 3,288
#20
500g will buy you a 3 story house with 4 or 5 car garage now