Status of Fulcrum and Orders

[orchestra_nl 958]

I only had a few conversations via E-mail with Chris but his customer support was exemplary and he seemed an honest guy, an engineer first and a businessman much further down the ladder.

His lack of communication makes me worry for him. I do hope he is neither ill nor broke under the strain of his business. We can only guess at the reasons for his absence but I do hope he gets this sorted.
I do agree he should have communicated sooner but if he is anything like me, he might have been trying to solve the issues rather than communicate about them.

 

[109Sqn 1,589]

1 hour ago, orchestra_nl said:

His lack of communication makes me worry for him. I do hope he is neither ill nor broke under the strain of his business. We can only guess at the reasons for his absence but I do hope he gets this sorted.
I do agree he should have communicated sooner but if he is anything like me, he might have been trying to solve the issues rather than communicate about them.

I've been thinking along the same lines myself. It's easy for us to say all he needs to do is communicate (and that is undeniable in the basic sense), but pressure affects us in different ways. It's easy for me to say since I got my yoke ages ago and had no problems plus good feedback on here from Chris, and I could ill afford to be in the position of those people who have paid money for no return as yet. But if I were struggling with either the business and possibly personally too, then maybe I would be turtling and hoping I could get things back on track before saying anything. And the longer you do that for, the harder it is to stop doing it.

 

Of course, that's all conjecture until we hear from Chris. And I hope that is soon, just as I hope all those who are awaiting their orders or refunds get them soon. Fingers crossed all round.🤞

[Donka 654]

I think we all want to support the business and as the saying goes, a problem shared is a problem halved. I hope all is well with Chris first and foremost and if there are problems on his side he is struggling with, I'm sure we would all be understanding and support him through this which would hopefully alleviate any stress.

[Ivor 0]

I purchased my yoke early on excellent pice of kit , and fab coms from Chris,  paid for my pre order throttle in November 22 , one email replied to , after that no response,  paid via pay pal , don't really want the money want the throttle! Not sure what the next move is ! Like every one a bit of reassurance would go a long way . Let's hope for the best ! 

[Stuwy 2]

I’ve had a PayPal dispute open for awhile now and PayPal have just called me to say they still haven’t had any response from the seller. 
 

that’s incredibly poor service no matter how you look at it. I have the yoke already I bought it on preorder when it first was available. It’s brilliant so did the same for the throttles and even set aside the trim wheel cost ready to go once that was ready.

paypal won’t mess about as I have previously stated. His account will have a strike and maybe even frozen until he resolves the claims raised against him. 

[Donka 654]

I spoke to PayPal  on this issue but because it is > 180 days they will not process a claim. My other options are to go via my bank or take Fulcrum to the small claims court here in the UK - not something I obviously want to do but the lack of transparency here is the biggest issue here for me. Disappointed in what is happening here so far.

[Stuwy 2]

On 8/2/2023 at 1:11 PM, Donka said:

I spoke to PayPal  on this issue but because it is > 180 days they will not process a claim. My other options are to go via my bank or take Fulcrum to the small claims court here in the UK - not something I obviously want to do but the lack of transparency here is the biggest issue here for me. Disappointed in what is happening here so far.

Unfortunately Donka, I have been bitten before for a lot more money. A flightschool changed hands and with it almost £2k in cash of mine that I blocked on lessons and paid upfront. 
 

always check your buyer protections and in this situation I had a marker reminder in my calendar. End of July was my marker. 

my concern though is his site is still up and therefore still potentially taking payments from unsuspecting customers.

I do hope he starts shipping out his orders but PayPal on my case have not had a single response from him yet ( he has an hour to left to respond ) which will potentially mean PayPal start a legal claim for the money that they will reimburse me. 

[billium01 11]

My bank, as part of my credit card dispute, contacted Fulcrum's bank and not even they could get a response from Fulcrum. Pretty strange. 

Edited August 3, 2023 by billium01
Punctuation

[Stuwy 2]

Refund received from PayPal.

 

good luck everyone, I would share my actual thoughts on this whole situation but I’m pretty sure there’s others who are more angered than myself

Edited August 3, 2023 by Stuwy

[Ron Attwood 3,503]

It wouldn't be wise for this to descend into painting Chris as some kind of conman. My guess is that he feels far worse than you can imagine. Businesses go under for for whatever reason and I feel for him. If he comes springing back with a 'tada!' I'll give a cheer.

[c150student 8]

I was one of the lucky ones who managed to actually get hold of a yoke. I had some problems with mine initially and Chris was an absolute gent, managing to get a replacement unit out to me in short order. His customer service was excellent and he clearly stood by his product. However, regarding time scales, he has always overpromised and underdelivered. Every since the pre-orders of the yokes, there was always another batch of XYZ just 4 weeks away, and after those 4 weeks passed, that batch would now be just 3 weeks away.

When the throttle quadrant was announced I eagerly set aside money for it, but I held off pre-ordering because I guessed from Fulcrum's track record that their promise of delivering the TQ by February was unlikely, and unfortunately I was right.

I uploaded a review video to YouTube two years ago comparing the Fulcrum One to the Honeycomb Alpha, it ended up with over 8000 views. I've been keeping an eye on this forum over the last few months and recently made the decision to remove that video as I just can't stand by the yoke currently. The hardware is good, but I'd hate for someone to lose money on a bad purchase influenced by me. If that is the case for anyone reading then I apologise. I hope you all get your money back quickly.

My main concerns at the moment are twofold. Firstly, people should be aware of the current status of Fulcrum and receive any money back if due. The website should prevent new orders from going through. Secondly, I'm also concerned for the welfare of Chris. From my dealings with him I found him to be an honest and well meaning man. I can't see him trying to deliberately con anybody, and I think it much more likely that he was just out of his depth. I'd love to see Fulcrum back selling quality hardware, but in the absence of that I hope that Chris is alright. This isn't a faceless mega-corp, it's a pretty much one man band driven by a desire to do something great, and watching that disappear has got to be difficult.

[kevinfirth 1,418]

13 hours ago, c150student said:

I'm also concerned for the welfare of Chris.

Money is money, health is wealth. I hope Chris is ok, I know only too personally how critical health issues can just blindside you and knock everything out of kilter. 

[Warthog64 7]

Well, I may have spoken too soon in regards to my refund from PayPal for my cancelled Fulcrum Yoke order. Originally they told me I'd be getting a refund in 3 - 5 business days back onto my credit card. That was last Saturday, 7/29/23. I checked with PayPal yesterday and received a reply today on the status of the refund. This is what I was told directly from PayPal:

I reviewed this for you and I see that refund was issued for the payment however the seller issued the refund as eCheck. And the eCheck was declined by their bank. Not to worry I have escalated this to our concerned team. They will reverse the funds from their end by taking it from the seller's PayPal account. Our team will get back to you via email within 35-42 hours regarding the same.

I also received this from PayPal a short time ago:

The seller's account is marked for further investigation on their selling practices and necessary actions including permanent deactivation of the account will be taken on finding any unethical practices.

It seems PayPal is not happy with Fulcrum Sim. Is it just me or does this sound like a bad omen?

[mrcultureshock 75]

I also got the yoke and it's the best yoke on the market in my opinion. I also ran into an issue and Chris solved it quickly. Like others, I'm worried about Chirs and his well-being. 

[Ray Proudfoot 9,044]

I’ve heard from Chris and he’s doing his best in a difficult situation. He’s doesn’t know I’ve posted this and I’m not going say much more than this.

If you can afford to wait for your order then please do. Requesting a refund doesn’t help the company. I’m in the same boat as many others as I’ve paid for the quadrant.

This is a fledging company created just before the pandemic. The design of both the yoke and throttle quadrant is first class. I think we can all agree on that.

It just requires the parts to be supplied so they can be assembled and shipped out. The more money Fulcrum can hang on to the better the chances of you getting your order.

I’ve told Chris I’m happy to wait as long as it takes. Chris will post an update when he feels the time is right.