Factory Five and The Forum from Dave

[Dave Smith]

Guys,

I got an email today from Rick K. from Canada talking about the forum being biased. Anyone who knows me and knows that I've been running this company for 6 days a week, 52 weeks a year, for 23 years, knows that I love this company and am personally committed to doing business with the highest standards. I don't get on the forums much although I was painfully aware of the recent back-order post and also the "False advertising post" Allow me to address this.

I asked Dave Hodgkins to lock out (not delete) the "false advertising" post. I am too busy running Factory Five and I never, nor does anyone at FFR edit or delete posts. That daily work is the moderators. I called Hodgkins yesterday because the False Advertising post was made by a guy who had just reported me to the better business bureau and was doing everything he could to slam the company. He had all of TWO posts on this forum and he had never taken the time to call me before venting in the extreme and going on his path to do as much damage to the company as possible. His complaint was handled by me personally and I had my guys make him hand made carbon parts to make him happy. We went above and beyond to make him happy and whole despite my dislike for the manner in which he went about doing this. If you never contribute to the forum and then use it for the first time to blackmail a company with facts that cannot be disputed by our company, I will definitely call a moderator and have that deleted. Remember, the guy has never contributed to this forum in any way other than to bash me and accuse the company of False Advertising

The back-orders.. tough problem. Always has been and likely it always will be, but we've gotten really good over the years as we have in almost every part of the company. I am spending just over $200k in 2019 on a new MRP/Ops system as Amazon has trained everyone that same day shipping is the default. Truth is that these parts are hand made, custom fabricated, sourced from small cottage industry suppliers, on small margins, in an industry that lacks the network and professional associations of industries like the pharmaceutical industry where I came from. We are by definition a niche business and the downside/challenges are the reality I face every day for 23 years in getting parts to customers that are well-engineered, safe, perform great, value engineered, on time, complete and perfect in every way (and when they aren't, they are usually reported to the forums). Tough challenge. We've shipped over 12,000 vehicle kits, and each one of those has been built as though we were building it for a friend. I am building a kit with my son right now and we are waiting on some parts. We also got a notice that our harness had to be returned to Ron Francis. We build 10 cars a week, that means we handle and ship maybe 35,000 to 40,000 parts a week! We are not perfect and yet strive to be better every single day.

I love this company and the people who work here. Myself and every single person here wants you to have the best car and the best parts. NO-one here is happy when things go south and we are doing everything possible to do a great job. Truth is that we hurt worse than you when something goes wrong.

Is the forum a biased, edited, and slanted forum that is a propaganda arm of the company?! Ha. Hardly. It is barely ever managed beyond the basics and, like our community, it is a product 100 percent of you guys. I am so so proud of this company, but that pride makes our failures even more painful. To any of you waiting on parts or struggling with something we did that wasn't to your satisfaction, I offer my deepest apology and my promise that I will personally address your issue myself until it is resolved. You can call me here at FFR or write me an email.

I am one of the luckiest guys in the world, this community is one of the most remarkable places filled with exceptional people. I've got a pretty good track record and plan on continuing it. The best way to do that is to remember that we all here at this company only exist because of our customers who have bought our product and trust us with their dreams. I will try to keep that even more in mind and am ever grateful for the chance to work for you all. Have a very Merry Christmas.

Dave Smith
President
FFR001