Fulcrum is a scam.

They stole our money. They don't respond to our enquiries. They don't cancel or refund our orders.

The website is still live and taking orders, and that is fraud.

And the scumbag timed us out on clawing back our money through paypal or credit card by stringing us along until it was too late.

 

Do NOT order from this company.

 

Kirk

 

@kirkf, Fulcrum is NOT a scam. The business has ceased trading. No items are available for sale. I cannot comment on existing orders. If you paid by credit card or PayPal claim your money back from them.

 

There has been no response from this company in over 5 months. No one has gotten a delivery in this time. Fulcrum is not responding to communications. Refunds are not being processed by Fulcrum.

Many of us paid for our goods through Paypal, and the timeout for refund from Paypal is 180 days. We cannot get out money back.

So unless you are planning to send me my $848.47 CDN back, I suggest you stop insisting that we haven't had our money stolen from us by a scam outfit.

At this point I'm sure many of us are questioning your involvement in this situation, as you have openly stated you know the owner of the company, and for whatever reason you continue to defend them. 

Since you are on such friendly terms perhaps you could walk on over there and get me a refund on order #3106.

 

Kirk

 

 

@kirkf, I am on friendly terms with the owner but I’m not responsible for the company. I suggest you put a claim in to PayPal. Have you actually tried?

I paid for the throttle quadrant in April via credit card and when it became obvious I wouldn’t receive it in October I claimed my payment back from my credit card company. I received the full amount. Insist with PayPal. Make a fuss. I spelt out in full why I asked for the refund and it was accepted.

I never once accused Fulcrum of being a scam company. The pandemic and subsequent shortage of critical components were responsible for the company being unable to produce yokes.

I can attest it's not a scam, because I ordered one before all this went down, received it, and it's fantastic. A scam company wouldn't have bothered to design and manufacture something this good.

That said, if they're having trouble fulfilling orders, they should certainly stop taking new ones. But "bad at business" is not the same thing as "intentionally ripping people off."

7 hours ago, jhku said:

being unable to produce, SHOULDN'T BE UNABLE TO TALK

Yes, while it seems Fulcrum was an unfortunate victim of world circumstances, the failure to communicate with the customer base was a critical mistake that has just exacerbated the situation, and will make any potential future recovery more difficult IMO. Sad all around.

Al

Edited December 4, 20232 yr by ark

you can understand all the problems that the company has, etc... but the lack of a CLEAR AND AT LEAST ONE POSITION FROM THE OWNER'S PART is unacceptable... this is simply not how you do business

As Ray said above, Fulcum is not a scam company. I pre-ordered the yoke and received it. It is one if not the best yoke in the market. I also pre-ordered the throttle, which I hope I'll receive it once Fulcrum is up and running.

With the above being said, I agree that the lack of communication from Chris has been extremely disappointing. Taking other people's money and not updating on stock status is completely unacceptable.

However, now that Chris has told us what had happened, the best thing IMHO is to give him a chance to redeem himself. 

Nico

After reading some of the posts here over the last few months I was very glad to see a new email from Chris.

As one of the early pre orders with my my first yoke had a failed plastic gear and after Chris resolving what the issue was I had a replacement. About 4 months later I contacted Chris about my yoke coming lose because the yoke mounting part was spreading apart and I put a hose clamp around it and prevent that. Some time later Chris had a replacement yoke mount that was much stronger and he then sent me a replacement yoke which is the one I use today.

With my history with Chris I will take him at his word and hope he can resolve any remaining issues over the coming months.

50 minutes ago, SparkerInVR said:

After reading some of the posts here over the last few months I was very glad to see a new email from Chris.

As one of the early pre orders with my my first yoke had a failed plastic gear and after Chris resolving what the issue was I had a replacement. About 4 months later I contacted Chris about my yoke coming lose because the yoke mounting part was spreading apart and I put a hose clamp around it and prevent that. Some time later Chris had a replacement yoke mount that was much stronger and he then sent me a replacement yoke which is the one I use today.

With my history with Chris I will take him at his word and hope he can resolve any remaining issues over the coming months.

I wholeheartedly agree.

Having received the email from Chris this morning my opinion remains the the same, a decent man who made a great product.

Things have gone wrong for many people since 2020, and my finger is firmly pointed at a small elf like man in America for that, although we can’t go into that here.

I empathise with those who have lost money and for whom the lack of communication must have been extremely frustrating.It shouldn’t have happened this way, but at the heart of it was a decent man struggling as his world fell apart not a giant corporate like thrustmaster.

My Yoke has been faultless for the last 3 years and I remain of the opinion it is one of the best yokes available, and at its original price, way too cheap in comparison to others, an absolute bargain.

I wish Chris all the best for restarting things and I hope others can finally get to experience the fulcrum.

I have hidden a post that contains the email from Chris at Fulcrum. Not for any sinister reasons I assure you.

Chris will be posting it himself shortly on this forum. It’s only fair he is under control of all communications from Fulcrum.

I bought the yoke when it first came out and have been very satisfied with both it and the service from Chris before it came to the current situation.

I've also never considered this was a scam, just an unfortunate serious of events conspiring to being things down.  I've spoken to Chris at Cosford in the past and was convinced of his character from then on.  Lesser individuals would not write the email I've received or even attempt to fulfill the historic orders.  Props to Chris for all that.  

He still has a family to support and that's got to be the first priority.  I wish him all the success with what he's aiming to do now.  And yes, I'll happily buy a throttle when there's one on the shelf waiting for me 👍

Good luck Chris!

 

Got the same email. I tend to be a cynical old coot, but in this case I'm really pulling for Chris' success. He deserves it, and it would be of benefit to the flight sim scene as well. 

I, too, will buy a throttle when he's back up to speed.

I too have received Chris's email and whilst many, including myself, know it was very late in coming, I certainly was right to imagine there was a lot going on that Chris didn't feel able to share (of course, I won't go into that as it's up to Chris when he shares that on this forum). I've had the worst 12 months of my life and I'm still waiting to some light at the end of the tunnel too, so I can sympathise, just as I can sympathise with those who are currently out of pocket.

 

Hopefully it will all work out in the end for everybody if Chris can reshape things the way he has outlined.🤞