born2topgun

Hi I was wondering if anyone else has any experience with KELEO EXHAUST? I have a yellow aircraft p40 with a zdz 80 and the plane has been ready to fly for a month and I have been waiting for the custom header pipe. so I built a wooden model as I was told and sent it to him. I have already paid him up front and been waiting for the muffler. I get a call the other day that I build my wooden model incorrect (even though I didnt get any instructions) and I am told that this will not work. So then we talk and I take pictures of the inside of the plane and send them to him. it has been over a week now since I sent those pictures. I just got off the phone with him and this is EXACTLY how the conversation went:


kelvin: hello?
me: Hi this is alex, i sent you some photos of my p-40 for the exhaust
kelvin: did you get my letter?
me: no i didnt
kelvin: well you've got one coming.


And he hangs up the phone. after this I made several attempts to call him but everytime I dont get an answer. I could really used some guidance here because right now I dont see many options.

thanks

Alex

HarryJ

My Feedback: (98)

I have used his exhaust systems on several planes and never had a problem like this. Kelvin has always built anything that I had asked for, usually radial or twin systems. Sometimes it might take a week or so to build complex system.

born2topgun

i wish he treated me the same. he has refused to work on it and wont refund the money.

TLH101

My Feedback: (90)

He is "SLOW", at best, with custom systems. A friend had a scale ZERO exhaust for a G-62 made, and custome set-up for a ZDZ 80 twin, in a Comp ARF mustang. Both times held up the build for several months.

casinovegas

My Feedback: (1)

Allways had a good experence with Kelvin . He"s done several planes for me the last one was a yellow P40, P51 never had a problem with reaching him on phone or email, his work is outstanding . Kelvin has allways been up front with me on the time fame of his work. after you see this finished product and hear the sound of that exhaust, the outstanding custom work was well waiting for. Modelers will have to find someone else to complain about. If you noticed his web site states he is no longer making custom exhaust just his current product line. {Sorry to hear}

SMUGator

Read about my unhappy result here - http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6505805

Jump back to page 35 in the thread if you want the whole story. He did refund my money, and part of the system is usable, but it cost me the whole summer.

Tom

born2topgun

its not the time for me anymore, he is just refusing to work on it. i need to find someone else who can make a header pipe for this plane, if yall have any ideas let me know

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

I had made a simple humble request for a 73" P40 from CMP . Personally I admire the Yellow P40 but I am not reday for that step yet in warbirds . I was taken back by his rude responce that they plane was not worth it , trust me it was not misunderstood to mean "the muffler will cost more then the plane " it was simply a very rude responce in tone and implacations . Considering the engine , the Sierra retracts are all worth more then the plane I did not feel that was the professional responce .
How about "sorry I dont see enought demand over all to do the tooling

WycheG

My Feedback: (4)

Kelvin's been great for me. Made me a couple of sets of custom exhaust for my N1K2 "George" fighter from Jerry Bates plans.

Perhaps there is some background here which you have neglected to include along with the neat transcript of your last conversation? Perhaps your interaction with Kelvin is not as simple as you have presented here?

Kelvin probably can't pay his mortgage and car note with what he makes off these exhausts so I would assume he has a "real" job too somewhere. That means custom exhausts are just a side job which he does in his spare time, so you can expect to receive your custom exhausts on a timeline which fits such an assumption. That means he probably has to "feel" excited about some aspect of your custom project before he commits his extra time/energy to it (which probably explains his lack of excitement for someone's 60-size custom exhaust -- don't get all emotional because he didn't sugar coat his opinion -- we're all grown men here). If you didn't plan ahead on your build and order your custom retracts, custom exhaust, etc. well in advance of their need then whose fault is that? And if that failure to plan ahead lead to some tense earlier conversations (for which we have no transcript) then whose fault is that?

Kelvin's basically an artist. If you want a painting and the particular artist you want to paint it for you doesn't want to do it then you probably can't force him by publishing an online rant. I hear artists can be tempramental ... but I hear some of them do fabulous work ...

It's nearly Christmas -- how 'bout we all go fly or build something and try to be happy.

Merry Christmas.

Greg

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

lol emotional I handle over 200 million in sales on a monthly basis , and if you call me on a $20 dollar opportunity I will handle you with the proper discretion of a professional .
Personally I dont care if he wont make an exaust for my cheapy 120 size arf ,
I simply asked in a very detailed format with total respect for his time and demand for his business .
Check out the skyshark post and how questions were answered by the owner when a few people said the gear pods were way off scale . Same non professional responce , and now that plane sells on ebay for less then $300 if you bid correctly .
Keleo is a fine product for those who have purchased and the need fit , others have issues , I guess the one great thing about small businesses is that you really dont need to care lol . Check out a good publication on "why to go into business for yourself " # 5 reason in the Harvard business review is "not to be your own boss" yes the customer big and small is the boss .
Have a great day and remember were all men so lets not get too emotional [:-]

WycheG

My Feedback: (4)

Evil_Merlin

My Feedback: (13)

Gee for a bunch of folks who don't complain when an ARF looks like total crap but are more than willing to defend it...

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

lol, lets see himm I wonder if VQ comes to mind , I thought you spent every waking monent bashing them yourself in two other post and on another rc site , so lets see this one makes three hijack post about VQ .

Alex , I want to personally aplogize for signing on and venting , its not helping your cause , I wish you the best of luck and if you get zero responce and no money bacl simply file a resport with the BBB and post your results on RCU .
Good luck and happy holidays

Evil_Merlin

My Feedback: (13)

Tea in China?

jeff naul

My Feedback: (16)

i've also had custom exhaust built with nothing but good luck. i'm also on the list for the p-40 exhaust which i knew going into it that it was going to be a long wait. he told me to be patient that he will be making a run of them when he gets caught up. if you read his website he states that the money up-front is not refundable and that he is 8-12 weeks behind. also buying someone elses exhaust who is on the list doesn't move that person up in line. with his reputation on the line i don't think he will intentionally be doing someone wrong. my 2 cent's. jeff

LDM

My Feedback: (15)

Jeff excellant post and it certainly adds clarity to the original issue .

SMUGator

My only follow-on comment is not to make plans around the expected lead time. I was quoted 8 weeks on May 15th and the package arrived on October 7. If you want a keleo exhaust, it's cool. Juat plan on placing the order and then working on something else for a while. It will get there when Kelvin gets around to it.

Tom

SCALECRAFT

My Feedback: (13)

Lack of, or avoiding communication is a step away from finding a solution

A quote from here years ago went like this,, " It takes a life time to build a reputation and a second to lose it.

DaddySam

My Feedback: (9)

I've had nothing but great experience with Kelvin. He's made two exhausts for me and is working on a third. I generally place my order with him many, many months in advance, and have sent him mockups of the fuselage from the firewall forward (or even from the former behind the firewall), and included the engine I am going to use. He's always been quick to call or return a call, or email. I'm sorry your experience has not been as positive. I've got some crash damage on one exhaust and he's very willing to fix it for me, and has always been willing to work with me on different aspects of a project. The only time I've heard of Kelvin being frustrated is when a customer insiists on an exhaust being built a specific way, which, in his experience, simply won't work. I wish you luck in your search for the header - you might try JTec Radiowave or a search for custom exhaust systems. Maybe it would be possible to take a commercially available exhaust and adapat it.
Sam

prophead

My Feedback: (25)

Alex bought that plane from someone else and the exhaust came unfinished with it. I was asked in advance if I would honor my work on this in the transfer of ownership and agreed. After taking ownership Alex emailed me asking for directions on what to do at this point. I answered with an email asking him to call or email me with a phone number and I would call him. He did not do this. A month later I get an email saying he was done with the mock-up and that it was in the mail. I sent an email back stating that I didn’t think that the mock-up would be correctly made without having the conversation about how he was supposed to make it. When I opened the box I found that it was not made in a way that I could use it. And I called Alex and we talked about this, at the end of the call we agreed he would send me pictures of which I was very specific about how many I wanted and how they where to be taken. I want three pictures and got six, the first one was so dark that I couldn’t make it out. This was disappointing to me as this makes the second time Alex didn’t follow directions, and I figured if he wasn’t following these simple directions then how could I explain to him how I needed the mockup to be built. I sent him a letter explaining why I was refunding him and enclosed a check. He did not get a full refund as he has the better part of the exhaust. Alex not only didn’t follow directions but he also got pushy. He also send me a threatening email of which I took very serious, serious enough that I filled a police report in the state and city that he lives in.

All of this causes stress on me and I don’t need this. Here is why I don’t need it; I started out this summer of this year passing out in my shop. I ended up in the hospital and have been there five times total. I have spent time making trips to the doctors for follow up visits and for blood work. I see the doctors or talk to them on a weekly basis. I take 15 pills on a daily basis; I have never had to do that before in life. This has all contributed to my getting behind in my work. Because of this I lost my drivers license, which made it harder to run my business and harder to get to the doctors. And I lost my pilots license. Not to mention that orders where increasing. So Smugator you think your summer was bad waiting for your exhaust, try going through what I’ve been going through. You got your exhaust and a full refund and your still complaining, unbelievable. Not to mention that a month of that time period your complaining about the ball was in your court and it was me waiting for you. Get over it! I’m still trying to recoup.

So here is the deal, I will no longer be building custom exhaust partly because of people like Alex and Smugator and partly because my workload has become too heavy. From now on when you order from me it will be a part that is in stock. And it will be a part that I believe will be a good seller and that I can produce from jigs. I’m having a new website being built that will be setup to not sell you anything if that item is out of stock.

It is unbelievable to me that people come here to snivel because I wont make an exhaust for their particular plane. I don’t get it, I’m dammed if I do and dammed if I don’t.

I really hope that this will help clear up some things.

Kelvin

lbrande

My Feedback: (16)

Kelvin,

Sorry to hear that you have been ill, and losing your licenses. It explains why you hadn't answered my e-mail regarding the Skyshark P-40. If you do plan on fabricating exhausts for these vehicles. I hope that I can be placed in line (queue) to purchase one.

All the best,
LewB

SMUGator

Sorry to hear about your health. Hope things get better for you soon. The details you posted about our dealings are not correct. You had a full mock-up in your mailbox 8 days after you sent me an unfinished exhaust ring. So the ball was in my court for roughly a week. I think the decision to forego custom work for standard exhausts for popular ARFs and kits is a great move. It should improve your profit and drive down rework considerably.

6/21 - Recieved the stock ring - http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6019102
6/25 - Completed the prototype and sent it back via Priority Mail - http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/fb.asp?m=6035259

Tom

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

kelvin, i know alex and fly with him. i have helped him do some building as well. i have only known him to be a polite 16 year old that does not seem to be of an agressive nature at all. i would realy like to see a pic of the police report as i just cant believe it, and in this case seeing for me is believing. he is a fairly new modelor, who may have problems giving you a great wood mock up, maybe his pics werent the best, maybe at 16 he isnt so patient, were any of us at 16? but i just dont believe he threatened you and it will take some evidence to sway me. these are tough accusations and almost slanderous remarks, so i patiently await the evidence. barry

born2topgun

I would like to formally apologize for my behavior. I said things I shouldnt have and wish I could take them back. I also should have paid more attention to the requirements for the header pipe mock-up so all of this wouldnt have happened. once again, I apologize for my actions.

Alex

u2fast

My Feedback: (37)

the last reply is the alex i know. he is my flying bud, and alex, i hope you have learned a life lesson from this. [>:]things may take longer than you wish etc, but you have to take the high road, no good comes from shooting off at the hip. kelvin he isnt that bad of a kid, but he better not let me see the email. i will put water in his fuel next time we go flying. barry