Let's address a few concerns here, shall we?
When I started this group buy - which, by the way, I sorely regret now - it was my way of giving something back to this community which has provided me with a lot of help and support over the last 7 years or thereabouts. I didn't anticipate that it would end up so badly delayed, which is simply bad planning on my part. And for that, I apologise.
There's been a lot of talk about how I'm quite difficult to get hold of. This is simply explained by the fact that there's only me involved in this business, which means I have to do all the work and deal with all the admin side of things as well. So, if my phone starts ringing and I'm up to my eyes in a seat or something, it'll probably get ignored because people understandably want their work finishing and returning to them. I hardly ever come on this forum now because it's pretty much dying a death and there are more worthwhile ways to spend my time. Working, for example...
One thing I'm NOT about to do, however, is screw anybody over! All this rubbish that's being discussed about me keeping Celica parts for year is just that - rubbish. I did some work for a Celica owner around 8 years ago and the parts were never collected from me. So I've been storing them all that time. The owner has since sold his project up and, without asking me what his parts were like after all that time, he sold them to another owner. That's not me stealing or refusing to return anything, so let's clarify that nonsense right away.
So far, three people in this group buy have had their jobs completed. Lee Young has his order back and presumably back in his car. Tom Morris has his back (bar a pair of armrests) and he actually has a nice shiny award to show for his wait! And, most recently, Paul Benson took delivery of his completed interior a couple of weeks ago. I currently have Stuart's (Scoobydoo's) full interior in my workshop and Richie K's entire car. Stuart's is in progress as we speak, as he's already confirmed, so there's 5 that are either finished or in progress.
What Stuart hasn't mentioned here, however, is that he's actually PLEASED about the delay as it's enabled him to change his spec to one that he'll be happier with! That doesn't justify the delay, not by any means, but it does show that not everybody is looking to tear my head off over it!
I can't understand why Simon Parsons is attempting to grind his axe here. I retrimmed a wheel for him a few years ago and I asked him at the time if he wanted the rim thickening up or not. He had a look at the wheel in my car and decided that he really didn't like the loss of definition on the spokes at all. So he messaged me recently-ish wanting front and rear pictures of a fattened wheel to see what he thought, even though he'd already seen and felt one. The only was I could've provided those pictures would be to take my own wheel off the car and photograph it, which simply wasn't going to happen. Now, he's also at least slightly aware of things that have been going on in my personal life over the last 16 months or so, but he still seemed to be of the mind that his photo request should trump everything else and, when it didn't and I stopped replying to him, he brings himself in here and begins sharpening his axe. He says he doesn't know what's happened to me but a quick glance at my personal Facebook page will tell him EXACTLY what's happened to me. For those of you who aren't privy to that, I'll elaborate here.
Last year, I was shipped off to the hospital for a chest X-ray as the GP suspected I might have lung cancer. Not much of a stretch, really - I've smoked for 30 years now. It turns out that I don't have lung cancer, but even just being hit with the possibility can knock you off your feet a little.
For the last 3 months now, I've been in and out of the GP's and the hospital while they try and work out if I have cancer and, if I do, where it is. They've ruled out testicular cancer, they've ruled out prostate cancer, they've ruled out kidney disease (although I do have a stone in my left kidney) and they've ruled out cancer of the bladder. They haven't ruled out penile cancer yet though. That said, I had a congenital health issue that I'm not about to go into here and I had years of surgery for that when I was very young. It looks as if that surgery has now started to fail, which means I'll probably have to go through it all again at some point. That won't be fun.
I went into hospital nearly 2 weeks ago for a supposed day procedure, but they kept me in overnight as my blood pressure kept climbing when I was in recovery. At its highest that evening, it was 188 / 139. Which is classed as a hypertensive emergency. They were all set to send me home the following day, until I collapsed outside the hospital and was unable to feel my hands, feet or lower jaw. My blood pressure at that point was 198 / 148. There were concerns that I'd had either a heart attack or a stroke. Luckily, it seems that neither of those happened at that point. They eventually sent me home on the third day, with blood pressure of 141 / 111, and ordered me to rest. But work needs to be done because people don't like to be disappointed so I was back at work Tuesday just gone.
Since being back at work, James Vernon's seats have been finished (he seems very happy with them from the photos he's seen) and I'm back on with Stuart's interior. Because, perhaps surprisingly, I want to get everyone's orders done so that, despite delays and health issues, the people involved can have the orders they placed and I can get away from this mindset of people thinking I've fled the country with their money and/or parts!
I've learned a lot the last couple of months. I've learned that some people I thought of as friends actually aren't. But the main thing I've learned is that, as only one man, I can't make everything happen when I want it to. The delays for this group buy fall squarely on my shoulder and, to all those affected, I apologise. All the work will get done and it'll get done just as fast as I can manage it. But that brings me to another point.
A few months ago now, I posted on here that my hard drive with all the details of this group buy had died a death and so I needed everyone to forward me whatever they had regarding it. To this day, only Richie K, Winnoze and Scoobydoo have done so! I can't really be held responsible for IT failures, which is why I made that request. So, if anyone else involved would like to furnish me with whatever they have regarding this group buy, that'd be a big help...
Jonce - either email me at enquiries@hidenseat.co.uk or ring me during business hours on 07860679243 and we'll have a discussion.
So there we have it. This is me holding my hands up and both apologising and explaining to a degree. Has everyone involved been incredibly patient? Yes, they most certainly have. Has it actually worked in some participants' favours? Yes, it most certainly has! Is it an acceptable way to do business? No, it definitely isn't. Am I about to rip everyone off and be yet another rogue trader in the very sad Z32 scene here in the UK? No... no, I most certainly am not!
If anyone would like to continue this, my contact details are above. It'd be nice if we could keep the vitriol to people who are actively involved in this group buy but, knowing how the Internet loves a good row, I fully expect to be dealing with all comers at some point...
