If he owes you money, talk to an attorney. The LLC protects him somewhat, but if you can prove that he knowingly sold you something he knew he wasn't going to deliver, you can probably sue him (Sam, the individual).

I would be surprised if people don't go after him. There are quite a few pissed people out there who know where he lives/works.
Edit: Not like, physically attack him. Calm down christ.

Thanks everyone for you input. I have actually read each and every single post in this thread. This is very sad. When I launched this forum in 2008, this is NOT how thought I would ever have to deal with GTM. GTM was one of the biggest turning shop for Z platform. They were huge. In the beginning forum years, it was very hard for me to get sponsor. I remember I used to go to tuning shops contact page and email them if they were interested in being a sponsor. Used to keep my fingers crossed hoping I'd get another sponsor. Yes, this forum came a long way and so are some of the sponsors.


When Sam began his sponsorship here, he was very active. He replied pms right away, I had zero complaints etc. But he couldn't continue his good work. I think after that group buy, his performance fell rapidly and significantly beyond acceptable measure. But I couldn't just slam the door on him and say goodbye. That doesn't really solve anything for the guys who had their money invested into GTM. All I'm doing is closing the door on him and then what? He should just walk away with the money? No, I didn't want that. In the back of my mind, I was still hoping that I can get the parts or money back to the members. I gave him chance. I wanted to get a response from him stat. I have sent him 4-5 paragraph long pms (multiple times) explaining to him he is playing with hard working money of my members. I asked him very clearly he needs to take car of this first thing. I clearly told him DO NOT take any orders until you get this taken care of first. After a bit wait, he gave me a reply. I really thought he would end up taking care of the customers with the parts. But this is beyond acceptable. I had a lot of patience with GTM for the sake of my members. I wanted them to get the parts or refund but I think my patience has finally ran out. I'm officially removing GTM as a sponsor from my forum. I didn't want to do it but I have to do this. I still want him to fulfil all my group buy members orders whether it's a part or refund. If 100% of the group buy members are fully satisfied with the resolution, I may reconsider bringing Sam back but that's not my priority right now(and I highly doubt that'll happen). I just really want you guys to get your stuff.

I want to thank Trips for all the threads and posts he read though spending hours and hours of his busy time that he could have been spending with the family. Thank you. You were very patient and did a great job :tiphat:. Frost also put a lot of time in with the posts. Thank you frost if you're still here :(.

Cosmo, huge misunderstanding. I do not own a gtr (and I'm telling you today there is no way in earth I will ever be able to own one). I have a 2009 370Z that's bone stock with HKS exhaust. It's got 89,000 miles and still on stock clutch. I have two jobs that feeds my family and pays the bills. I sometimes work 21 hours straight bc in this economy, work is work. With the unemployment rate shooting through the sky in NJ, I'm thankful for my job. That GT-R you mention is Matt's. He is the co-owner of GTRlife.com (formarly known as NAGTROC). He is a very good friend of mine and he was the very 2nd moderator of THE370Z. I gave him that position in 2008 out of respect..he never asked me for it.

In conclusion I want to say, I am sorry. To those that feels that I didn't do a good job, I apologize. I really thought Sam would pull though and deliver what he promised. It wasn't a easy situation to deal with. Me, Trips, Frost we all lost sleep, we all spent countless hours dealing with it where those hours could have been used doing something fun or amusing with the family or watch a show on tv. We were on the forum reading though GTM thread posts. Yes the forum will lose a vendor and a (permanant) source of income but it is what it is. This has been overdue and the lack of communication is unacceptable. I'm just hoping and praying all my members get their part or money back. Thank you for your time.

AK

Don't waste your breath. The BBB is not a government agency. It is a for-profit ratings scam (much like Zagat for restauraunts). I wish more people understood this.

Here's what happens if you file a BBB complaint:
-The BBB will take your complaint to the business and ask them if they'd like to respond.
-The business either responds or doesn't
-The BBB asks the complainant whether or not they are satisfied with the outcome
-BBB posts the results on their website
-Under certain conditions, the BBB will remove your complaint (if the business pays for "premium support" or whatever)

That's all. It's like yelp's great grandaddy.
If you want maximum visibility for your complaint posted on a non-profit site that will never remove your complaint under any circumstances, use http://www.ripoffreport.com/.

I'm gonna go ahead and remove the GTM badging from my car :(

Great job AK, it's about time..

Ak370 you rock! Man and as per my previous post about putting my money where my big mouth is.........

From last month on the BBB website. Is this a member on here? :eek:

Props to AK for kicking them to the curb but honestly, would the forums have seen another dime from them anyway? Pretty sure forum sponsorships would be on the list of bills not getting paid during/after the bankruptcy.

If that guy had my car for even two months I would have flown to California and beat him to death with whatever large heavy object I could find

EDIT::: this is a hypothetical statement. I'm saying IF that happened to me I would have daydreamed about physically harming him to the point of coma/death.

Heh, I'm not sure I would post something that could be construed as a threat on a public message board considering the circumstances.

I appreciate it but it begins with "if" so hopefully I won't get into trouble but I appreciate your concern. This is a genuine statement. I know sometimes its hard to tell tone from text but I'm not being sarcastic in any way.I'll will take your advice and edit! Thanks mark.

I've stickied this thread so anyone can be pointed to it.

Thanks for the kind words AK :tiphat: Hopefully WE can move on from this bad experience

Albeit for those still needing to fight for whats owed to them? I again sincerely hope you get something in the end.

This was a horrible experience with whom no one would've thought this would happen to, But we need to keep vigilante on protecting others now.

This makes me so happy I'm so proud of our administrators!! I know there were two sides to this coin in some ways but I'm glad you guys stood up for us. Just makes me proud of you guys and makes me feel that much better about calling this forum family like.

STILLEN has been in the high performance automotive business for nearly 30 years and it is not new to us when these sorts of situations arise.

I am not going to make any comment on GTM or the struggles they may or may not be going through.

I would however like to reach out to the employees of GTM. I have seen a few employee names pop up over the years. One name in particular is Mike, and I believe there is or was also a Pablo? Each time I see these names come up I see comments about excellent Customer Service and great attitudes. This sounds like the type of person and/or people that would fit well here at STILLEN.

If the situation is not what it appears to be and GTM is doing well and will continue in business then we wish you all the best. However, if that is not the case, we all need jobs and I would like to extend the opportunity for us to sit down and discuss our futures. If any GTM employee is interested in speaking with us please send me an email with your resume at kmillen@stillen.com.

edited to update Pablo's name. My apologize for not getting it right.

You know, when I first saw your post I automatically assumed that you were just here to plug your product (seeing as you sell the only other Z34 SC kit out there) and I was all ready to start yelling but never mind. Mike is a good dude. He was/is(?) generally sympathetic and helped make things right when I bought a kit from them.

Glad you're using this opportunity to "do good" rather than treating it like a sales opportunity. For what it's worth, I would have gone with the Stillen kit if it put up the numbers the GTM kit does in a heartbeat. You can throw a lot of tune shops into the "risky" category but a company founded by Steve Millen is probably a safe bet.