Here is the email I got.

This is the second letter I’ve written concerning our optional Halibrand replica wheels. In the history of our company, I’ve never had the difficulty with a part that I have had with these wheels this past year. I wanted to take another moment to update you on where we are with your important order and it goes without saying that I and everyone at Factory Five are humiliated and are deeply sorry for this problem.

Bottom line is that you will have your wheels on February 12-18. Right now I have a documented, guaranteed commitment (less an act of Gd, which at this point I cannot rule out!) of this delivery date. Your wheels have been made, machined, coated, finished, QC’d and are en route to final assembly with the knock-offs and packaging in Texas.

Back in June of last year I explained that we were having 6 month delays on Halibrand-style replica wheels. If anyone had told me then that it would be a year in total, I would have stopped selling these wheels all-together. With each passing month another deadline passed and another problem arose. What began with a large lot of wheels that were rejected for quality issues resulted in us pulling our tooling from the casting foundry and finding a new supplier for the castings. I thought the delay was well in hand at this point and I even doubled the order to move us up in line. Some months later the casting foundry experienced a massive explosion and that set in motion the actions that have gotten us to today.

In order to finally get these wheels completed where they should have been a year ago when our initial order was rejected, I built all-new tooling, and increased our order to a massive 1200 wheels (400 sets). After yet another delay, I pulled our tools and contracted with one of the best suppliers in the industry (an existing Tier 1 wheel supplier to GM and Ford). Your order is one of 130 wheel orders awaiting shipment.

Please know that at any time I am happy to refund your order as I understand the delay has been inexcusable. We don’t have any interest in keeping your money without delivering your product. The worst part of this is that our guys have been relaying the best and most accurate information we’ve received from the foundry and over these months we’ve made promises each time to find we’ve been delayed again. I believe that on February 18th this long terrible delay will be over.

Sincerely,



David Smith, President