Wits End Order Issues / Joey Romero (5 Viewers)

[Francis K]

Not trying to say the guy screwed up, I'm making the point that if people were actually allowed to speak instead of being shot down by the fan boys it never would have happened to the guy.

I was one of the last to get ripped off on an EMS "exhaust" and it was widely known by then what was going on, it was the same situation as this. At least EMS shipped something out, even if it was pretty much scrap metal more than an exhaust system...

 

[PDXDave67]

Ya know, in many conversations with Joey, I never doubted that I'd get my kit eventually.
His "transparency" at the time and his ability to come across as genuine, relatable and a bit self deprecating made it amazingly easy to accept his bull****.
It wasn't until he went radio silent on me that I began to think there was a problem.
Hell, I still believe that he really did start out with the best of intentions and that it wasn't until the wheels came completely off that he decided to hide from us, instead of dealing with it.
I'm not going to go as far as calling him a fraud or a thief, that's a stone for others to throw.
I just think it was an unfortunate series of events that led to it getting out of hand, and his own personality flaw that led him to hide, rather than deal with the issue.

 

[bloc]

At what point does someone’s vendor tag on this forum get removed?

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Well screw this guy. I machined parts you guys are buying and got left holding parts. I've tried to contact him for damn near 2 years and crickets.

I've seen and heard enough.

I'll be releasing the parts at a fraction of his list prices to get my cost back.

Hell I might just start making some of this stuff since he's had over 100k orders.

I've noticed a few mud vendors aren't on his website anymore as well. Guess they had enough too.

Cheers

 

[ChargedSHOTaco]

Well screw this guy. I machined parts you guys are buying and got left holding parts. I've tried to contact him for damn near 2 years and crickets.

I've seen and heard enough.

I'll be releasing the parts at a fraction of his list prices to get my cost back.

Hell I might just start making some of this stuff since he's had over 100k orders.

I've noticed a few mud vendors aren't on his website anymore as well. Guess they had enough too.

Cheers

I have my card ready.

 

[PIP]

Well screw this guy. I machined parts you guys are buying and got left holding parts. I've tried to contact him for damn near 2 years and crickets.

I've seen and heard enough.

I'll be releasing the parts at a fraction of his list prices to get my cost back.

Hell I might just start making some of this stuff since he's had over 100k orders.

I've noticed a few mud vendors aren't on his website anymore as well. Guess they had enough too.

Cheers

You put all these details together and it paints a dark picture of his situation.

I don't think anyone would hold it against you if you were selling the parts he never paid for.

Can you market the parts under a new brand, maybe Wits Ended?

 

[Jamieson22]

Wits Ended

I'd prefer they have the TT on them.

 

[Francis K]

Ya know, in many conversations with Joey, I never doubted that I'd get my kit eventually.
His "transparency" at the time and his ability to come across as genuine, relatable and a bit self deprecating made it amazingly easy to accept his bulls***.
It wasn't until he went radio silent on me that I began to think there was a problem.
Hell, I still believe that he really did start out with the best of intentions and that it wasn't until the wheels came completely off that he decided to hide from us, instead of dealing with it.
I'm not going to go as far as calling him a fraud or a thief, that's a stone for others to throw.
I just think it was an unfortunate series of events that led to it getting out of hand, and his own personality flaw that led him to hide, rather than deal with the issue.

Not gonna lie kinda shocked you're making excuses for him at this point. Because from what it looks like the guy was raking it in and just decided to run with the cash.

 

[Squeegee]

Well screw this guy. I machined parts you guys are buying and got left holding parts. I've tried to contact him for damn near 2 years and crickets.

I've seen and heard enough.

I'll be releasing the parts at a fraction of his list prices to get my cost back.

Hell I might just start making some of this stuff since he's had over 100k orders.

I've noticed a few mud vendors aren't on his website anymore as well. Guess they had enough too.

Cheers

Thank you in advance. You’ll have my business

 

[PDXDave67]

Not gonna lie kinda shocked you're making excuses for him at this point. Because from what it looks like the guy was raking it in and just decided to run with the cash.

I'm not making excuses, just an observation...
I don't think his intent was to ever "run with the cash", I think he got in way over his head, that he's a s*** poor money manager and that it's all come to a head and we're paying for it.

 

[PIP]

I'm not making excuses, just an observation...
I don't think his intent was to ever "run with the cash", I think he got in way over his head, that he's a s*** poor money manager and that it's all come to a head and we're paying for it.

It looks that way to me as well.

It doesn't excuse his actions. It means he doesn't know how to get out of this mess and will likely continue digging a deeper hole.

 

[Dparo]

He last posted on IG May 17.
He last posted here Feb 22. His "last seen" is not public???

 

[Francis K]

I'm not making excuses, just an observation...
I don't think his intent was to ever "run with the cash", I think he got in way over his head, that he's a s*** poor money manager and that it's all come to a head and we're paying for it.

Got over his head how exactly? It doesn't cost you anything to actually answer your customers and he was purposely taking money for things he didn't have, beyond the turbo kits he was doing that with everything and he was doing these things from the beginning.

You're a better person than I am to be saying this wasn't intentional....

 

[Francis K]

Well screw this guy. I machined parts you guys are buying and got left holding parts. I've tried to contact him for damn near 2 years and crickets.

I've seen and heard enough.

I'll be releasing the parts at a fraction of his list prices to get my cost back.

Hell I might just start making some of this stuff since he's had over 100k orders.

I've noticed a few mud vendors aren't on his website anymore as well. Guess they had enough too.

Cheers

That's the crazy part isn't it? If half his BS ended up being true he could show his 3 years of 1099's and P&L's, put a value on his inventory and he would have no problem getting 5x net if not more. Ecommerce businesses especially ones like his with high barriers of entry are in huge demand. Mind you his business is all based off his site which is incredibly rare and very ideal, he doesn't even use third party venues which would increase sales exponentially and god forbid he if actually had customer service....

But it's all bull**** "too busy to answer customers" and a "one man show" but then bragging about all the money he makes....so hire half an employee you idiot, a monkey could respond to customers and package orders. He's either the dumbest business man on the planet or just a liar.....I'm taking the latter, actually no probably both.

 

[PIP]

Got over his head how exactly? It doesn't cost you anything to actually answer your customers and he was purposely taking money for things he didn't have, beyond the turbo kits he was doing that with everything and he was doing these things from the beginning.

You're a better person than I am to be saying this wasn't intentional....

You can take money for stuff you don't have with the intent to deliver and actually deliver for awhile. You can run a half-assed business that way for awhile, but it will catch up at some point.

It reads to me like he trained a following to accept these "pay before its made" campaigns without realizing just how badly it can come off the rails. He was probably robbing Peter to pay Paul early on as a standard business practice. Then, armed with the confidence of getting away with that practice for a few years he tried the same tactics with a higher value turbo kit.

Turbo money got used to make other parts, pay for chargebacks and put a down on a bigger shop space instead of turbo kits.

He probably cant figure out how he got here. If he could we'd be hearing about him reaching out to customers taking responsibility and offering options that don't include Ponzi-esque tactics.

 

[lazy]

He probably cant figure out how he got here. If he could we'd be hearing about him reaching out to customers taking responsibility and offering options that don't include Ponzi-esque tactics.

I doubt he would be reaching out. One of his last posts on social media was about his QPM, which he ends by saying something like, "if you ask for an order update, your order will end up at the bottom of the pile."

Classy.

I think it is safe to say the ship has sunk. Although, he's still trying to grab cash for batch 6 of the QPM. When he started stocking toyota parts, I had a feeling this is where we would end up.

 

[nodor]

You don’t just “accidentally” end up in the situation Joey is in. There were many intentional and poor decisions over the years that led to this.

Just the fact that he hasn’t responded to this thread or reached out to anyone with turbo orders since this thread was created tells us everything you need to know about the guy and his “situation”.

 

[sleepycruiser]

You don’t just “accidentally” end up in the situation Joey is in. There were many intentional and poor decisions over the years that led to this.

Just the fact that he hasn’t responded to this post or reached out to anyone with turbo orders since this thread was created tells us everything you need to know about the guy and his “situation”.

100%

 

[fjbj40]

IMOP, family or personal situation should have zero bearing on your business.

If he’s as great as he says he is he would have an employee deal with the business side and keep his personal life exactly that, personal and private.

Family situation is a private affair, stop using it as an excuse. Just like Donald Trump, does nothing but complain about his personal challenges and not everyday problems that effect the ordinary citizen.

Said person wanted the job/position/glory/prestige/recognition …..now do your ****ing job!

 

[sdcruisin]

Unfortunately, you can add me to list of folks Mr. Romero has scammed. I put over $6K down for a pre-order turbo in March of 2022. Joey was very communicative when I was trying to understand timing of potential delivery of the turbo and payment method. Once I hit click on the payment, nothing from Mr. Romero thereafter. I've emailed him, DM'd him, called him, and have received absolutely no response. I've asked for my money back (numerous times), and again, no response. Now I'm trying to work through my credit card/Venmo to get my money back. If any of you get the below email, I would walk, take that back, run the other way. Glad to see vendors like Trail Tailor step up and speak out.

Good evening! We just had 2 pre-order spots open up on the Wits’ End 1FZ turbo kits list. Just a reminder, kits are going out as fast as they can, but due to the supply shortages and year two of the pandemic, they are not going out at the speed we wish they were. If you’re still interested in getting a guaranteed spot for a turbo, please reach out to us as soon as possible as this email is being sent to 3 people on the waitlist, and the first to respond and subsequently send in the payment for the preorder will be guaranteed the spot. If we don’t receive a response by end of day on Thursday, 2/3/2022, we will open the spot up to the next group of people on the waitlist.
Please be aware that you will be assuming the spot of the person that is giving their turbo kit preorder spot up (your deposit goes to replace theirs). If you’ve been following our journey on iH8mud.com / Instagram / Facebook then you know these kits are elaborate and many components have held up delivery at various times. We need to make sure you are well aware that your payment is guaranteeing you a turbo spot, but we cannot guarantee if delivery will come in 4 months or maybe this time next year, but it is definitely worth the wait. We can give you suggested maintenance and pre-planning projects to do while you wait for your turbo kit to get the best results possible with your turbo kit installation.
In the past, we asked customers to exchange funds directly to exchange places, but several were not comfortable with that method, so we have gone back to handling all sides of the transactions. Unfortunately, handling the same transaction multiple times results in extra fees we simply can’t absorb in addition to the increased costs for many of the components that make up the 100+ piece kits that we have already absorbed without a price adjustment.
To secure your spot, the amount due now is $6,150 to be paid via PayPal (turbo kit + 2.5% fees).
Alternatively, these payment options are also available:
· $6,000 to be paid via PayPal as a friends & family payment. Please note this option does not include PayPal’s protection feature; or
· $6,000 to be paid via VenMo.
If now isn’t a great time (because life doesn’t always work around our plans), but you want to stay on the wait list for when another turbo preorder spot opens up, please let us know and we’ll be happy to carry your name forward to the next chance.
The following items can also be added to your turbo kit order, or you can place a separate order online for them to add additional protection against the heat that will be generated:
Downpipe Blanket for the Wits' End 1FZ Turbo - https://absolute-wits-end.com/downpipe-blanket-for-the-wits-end-1fz-turbo/
Wits End Turbo Downpipe Blanket- Banana Hammock - https://absolute-wits-end.com/wits-end-turbo-downpipe-blanket-banana-hammock/
Please note that an additional amount for shipping and optional insurance will be calculated and due when your kit is ready to ship. We will contact you to coordinate shipping when your turbo kit is ready to be sure that you are tracking your order and will be available to receive the packages.
-Jessi (helping Joey catch up on emails/projects)

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Joey Romero
CEO Wits' End
4025 Crater Lake Highway
Medford, OR 97504
USA
cell: 213-304-9901