Gravity Colors...anybody bought from them lately?

[mikemodeler]

3 minutes ago, Twokidsnosleep said:

They SHOULD have stopped orders in January, caught up on past orders, re-aligned the staffing needs and then started up fresh. Now he has pissed off a bunch of people

And ruined whatever reputation he had earned in the past as a good guy. Sorry, but if you are struggling, let people know and stop taking orders until you get it worked out, unless your goal is to take money with no intention of fulfilling orders.

 

[martinfan5]

2 hours ago, Twokidsnosleep said:

They SHOULD have stopped orders in January, caught up on past orders, re-aligned the staffing needs and then started up fresh. Now he has pissed off a bunch of people

 

2 hours ago, mikemodeler said:

And ruined whatever reputation he had earned in the past as a good guy. Sorry, but if you are struggling, let people know and stop taking orders until you get it worked out, unless your goal is to take money with no intention of fulfilling orders.

 

This and this

I dont know why this is seldom ever done in the hobby,  too much pride and ego and other things

Edited March 26, 2018 by martinfan5

[martinfan5]

7 hours ago, peter31a said:

As I understand it from comments made by him on a YouTube video, Gravity website sales will be put on hold April 1st so they can catch up on orders. I think this has turned into something much bigger than he expected. Hopefully he can get this sorted because as I understand it he has a great product that I would certainly like to try it some day.

While that is good, its a little bit too late I think , sure , he might be able to recover, but its going to take a long time,  he has gone down the road Scalefinishes has and lets not talk about that one right now.   But it shows you how much of a demand there is for color match paints that him/SF/Zero paints offer,  and they fill a gap that would be very big if they all went away.

 

[Twokidsnosleep]

This always happens to me....I keep quiet until something sends me over the edge and I flip out. Twice now with Gravity Colours

So I contacted Paypal and did a complaint vs Gravity this morning as per a post on here suggested.

This afternoon, I have a notice about a package being shipped to me from....wait for it...Gravity paints

Apparently the threat of loosing $ from a third party is the way to go if you have been hosed on an order. I wont count my chickens before they hatch, but....

I do hope the owner can get the business end of things together, I am sure he is feeling pretty overwhelmed...So stop taking new orders, fill the existing customers and live up to your word!!!!

 

[crazyjim]

If being overwhelmed with orders is true, and I doubt it, why not just hire additional people to correct the issue?

[mikemodeler]

6 minutes ago, crazyjim said:

If being overwhelmed with orders is true, and I doubt it, why not just hire additional people to correct the issue?

Sounds simple enough, but maybe the profit margin isn't there to allow for it.

I think where many of these suppliers make a mistake is in promising fast turnaround time. The Modelhaus had a policy of about 6 weeks from order to delivery and in many cases it was less than that but they always stated "allow 6 weeks for delivery" and "orders are filled in the order they are received".

Don't remember Don and Carol having the issues or complaints because you knew UPFRONT the lead time and Carol was good about letting you know if there was a problem.

Something most small businesses overlook is the customer service aspect of the transaction. Good customer service is not hard but bad customer service is easier.

[crazyjim]

I'd rather my profits were less to make my customers happy.  Mate's profit is going to go down because people won't order from him.

My money has been going to Tru-Color for some really wonderful paint.

[T-bone]

@peter31a

  Do you have a link to this Youtube video of Mate's explanation. I've searched for it and nothing comes up.

 

[davembsl]

I personally haven’t ordered from him yet since I been using spray cans and haven’t really had the tools or skills for spray painting. But I have started getting paints from splash paints. 

[peter31a]

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-2oZcVToYA&t=1s Gravity Colors responses are in the comments.

 

[crazyjim]

Couldn't take more than a couple of minutes of that guy talking. Did he ever actually say anything worth listening to?

Edited March 28, 2018 by crazyjim

[Twokidsnosleep]

I am following along my order with a USPS e mail update as I got sent a tracking # this time. SO far it says it is at origin transport airport in Florida.....that is farther than any of the other two made it

Getting my hopes up.

I see the owner doing comments in the video, so he has not just bailed out.

I actually am rooting for him to turn things around and get the order and delivery end of Gravity going. We need small companies like this to succeed. So I do wish him well on the shutdown and re-tool.

Edited March 28, 2018 by Twokidsnosleep

[Quick GMC]

6 hours ago, crazyjim said:

Couldn't take more than a couple of minutes of that guy talking. Did he ever actually say anything worth listening to?

I get that some people are just slow talkers, but good god that was painful. 

[Quick GMC]

This whole situation sucks. It could have been handles much better than it was, but at the same time, owning my own ecommerce business, I completely empathize with being buried and not having competent help. 

When he gets caught up and gets a better system going, I will absolutely continue buying Gravity Colors. 

[martinfan5]

Scalefinishes isnt doing any better right now , and I am about ready to end our partnership, he just wont return my emails asking about my order I paid for on the 9th, but he responded to a friends email asking about his order placed at the same within the hour, I am done,  I must of really peepee'd in Jamestons cheerios to deserve this.

This is what I now from the email my friend got,  he had something happen with his computer and lost his entire paint database.

I realize this thread is about Gravity paints and not about SF

My only issue is with Gravity is Mate doenst do on demand mixing like SF and Zero will do, he only sells colors that he gets premixed .

I think Tru-color can mix on demand, I will see them next month , but the sample paints they gave us were pure BLAH_BLAH_BLAH_BLAH so not sure about them.

[crazyjim]

I loved the Tru-Color samples so much that I ordered about 25 more bottles from them.  Wonderful paint and service.

[Mike Chernecki]

18 minutes ago, martinfan5 said:

My only issue is with Gravity is Mate doenst do on demand mixing like SF and Zero will do, he only sells colors that he gets premixed .

Not true, I have ordered custom colors several times with fantastic results. A couple were mixed to samples I sent him and another was an obscure color for the 300SL gullwing. 

[Twokidsnosleep]

34 minutes ago, Quick GMC said:

This whole situation sucks. It could have been handles much better than it was, but at the same time, owning my own ecommerce business, I completely empathize with being buried and not having competent help. 

When he gets caught up and gets a better system going, I will absolutely continue buying Gravity Colors. 

I agree getting too big too fast is a problem all across the business world.

But he should STOP TAKING ORDERS RFN!!!

Funny the website has been "down" for communication for months, but can still takes new orders no problem.....hmmm

Make your current customers that have sent you money months ago happy first, then re-organize staffing etc and restart.

We want your business to survive Buddy, just not run like this.

[martinfan5]

Just now, Mike Chernecki said:

Not true, I have ordered custom colors several times with fantastic results. A couple were mixed to samples I sent him and another was an obscure color for the 300SL gullwing. 

Ok, things must of changed then, at time I dont think he did, or it was something like it would take it as a suggestion, but that is good know, thanks Mike.

[martinfan5]

17 minutes ago, crazyjim said:

I loved the Tru-Color samples so much that I ordered about 25 more bottles from them.  Wonderful paint and service.

That is great Jim

Edited March 28, 2018 by martinfan5

[martinfan5]

1 minute ago, Twokidsnosleep said:

I agree getting too big too fast is a problem all across the business world.

But he should STOP TAKING ORDERS RFN!!!

Funny the website has been "down" for communication for months, but can still takes new orders no problem.....hmmm

Make your current customers that have sent you money months ago happy first, then re-organize staffing etc and restart.

We want your business to survive Buddy, just not run like this.

This,  but so many in the hobby dont understand that its better in the long to run for them, they only see the current, and not looking towards the future.

[DEL]

I don't know. I've had excellent fast service and I've had slow terrible excuse filled 'service'.  The latter had no problem about taking my money right up front though.  And I'm tired of the trope "I do this for fun and for the hobby so don't crowd me" or something similar.  I've even had some get snippy when I dared to ask when might I receive my item MONTHS after order.

I was told long ago when you take money for something or get paid to do a thing that makes you a professional or a business at the very least.  If you do that you should behave as one.  So, be responsive.  Acknowledge receipt of cash and give an estimate of the turnaround.  Life and stuff happen to everyone but chronic excuses of 'my grandma died' or you had a terrible case of the creeping blorch or the giant yang yangs staged a home invasion gets OLD. There is an internet now (used to just be a phone) and buyers TALK to one another.  The obfuscations of old do not work as well in such closely connected environments of today. 

[martinfan5]

6 minutes ago, DEL said:

I don't know. I've had excellent fast service and I've had slow terrible excuse filled 'service'.  The latter had no problem about taking my money right up front though.  And I'm tired of the trope "I do this for fun and for the hobby so don't crowd me" or something similar.  I've even had some get snippy when I dared to ask when might I receive my item MONTHS after order.

I was told long ago when you take money for something or get paid to do a thing that makes you a professional or a business at the very least.  If you do that you should behave as one.  So, be responsive.  Acknowledge receipt of cash and give an estimate of the turnaround.  Life and stuff happen to everyone but chronic excuses of 'my grandma died' or you had a terrible case of the creeping blorch or the giant yang yangs staged a home invasion gets OLD. There is an internet now (used to just be a phone) and buyers TALK to one another.  The obfuscations of old do not work as well in such closely connected environments of today. 

You pretty much nailed it Dwayne, well said sir.

[Twokidsnosleep]

38 minutes ago, DEL said:

I don't know. I've had excellent fast service and I've had slow terrible excuse filled 'service'.  The latter had no problem about taking my money right up front though.  And I'm tired of the trope "I do this for fun and for the hobby so don't crowd me" or something similar.  I've even had some get snippy when I dared to ask when might I receive my item MONTHS after order.

I was told long ago when you take money for something or get paid to do a thing that makes you a professional or a business at the very least.  If you do that you should behave as one.  So, be responsive.  Acknowledge receipt of cash and give an estimate of the turnaround.  Life and stuff happen to everyone but chronic excuses of 'my grandma died' or you had a terrible case of the creeping blorch or the giant yang yangs staged a home invasion gets OLD. There is an internet now (used to just be a phone) and buyers TALK to one another.  The obfuscations of old do not work as well in such closely connected environments of today. 

Well written Dwayne...100% bang on in fact

[crazyjim]

Be nice to get the word over to Mate.  Maybe it would help him remove his head from where the sun don't shine.