Not one person in this thread nor the recently-prior two threads has even hinted that Swantak has willfully perpetrated a scam.

That said, "personal crises beyond . . . control" must never take priority when a person has accepted pre-payment of customer's monies. And, I'd add that the person continues to solicit new business (his still-operating - last time I looked - website).

If guys don't like seeing his business mentioned negatively on the internet (his chosen place of conducting his decal business) then those same guys might consider grouping together and supporting a Save Mike's Reputation Defense Fund for returning all customer's monies for which decals haven't been delivered as promised.

Noah, will you take the lead for my $60? Who will step up for Rabid Koala's? Deltron's?
alf

I am very sad about this. I have zero information on Mike's situation. I made my comments completely from a personal perspective... my 10 year-old daughter was diagnosed with Leukemia this past spring. She is doing well, but it has changed a lot in our lives, including my capacity to produce work. I meant no disrespect to anyone, nor did I intend to minimize your individual situations.

I can add that I had Zero problems this May when I bought a decal set from Mike. Turnaround time was less than a month from start to finish & I have no complaints. Don

I echo Noah's comments. I've been a member of other forums on other topics where some of the members were also doing business a business related to forum. This has its pluses and minuses. They have great insights to bring to the community by virtue of doing the work, and they are often motivated by great passion for the topic, instead of, primarily, by money. (Perhaps this is a genesis of some of the problems you see as well.)

My heart goes out to the people who lost money. I would be especially angry and frustrated in this situation. It hurts to think that a kindred spirit would not deal fairly with you.

This causes a conflict for everybody, since both Mike and Dr. Deltron have been wonderful citizens of this forum. And I don't want Mike to disappear. At the same time, I wouldn't want him to continue to hang around without resolving the issues he has created. Then, every time he posts, there will be someone, who feels burned and angry every time he sees a new post, and is tempted to bring up what has happened.

The whole thing makes me feel sad. I always tell people that I am a member of an "online community" here (both here and at bentrideronline.com). The exemplary way that people treat each other here is something special. We share parts, knowledge, experiences, our lives. (If you don't believe me, just check out the macho d!ckhead pissing contests over a SS/FG or Alt Bike.)

It hurts to have to say, and it's easy for me to say since I'm not in Mike's shoes, but I feel that Mike is responsible to us all over this. The onus is on him first and foremost to communicate with his customers and to set right his dealings. And I really hope he does.

Eric

Just a thought, but Mike ought to offer an option to only produce the artwork and let the customer get it printed a what ever local printing or sign shop that might be available.

Re my comment earlier about McDave ordering and getting his _since_ the day that Swantak cashed my check and said he'd send it off to the printer that same day, looks like ollo ollo also was moved up in the queue ahead of earlier paid orders.

Not o-o's fault or problem, but it does tend to add more bitter to the flavor.

Let's keep hearing more good testimonials like o-o's.
alf

I would if I could, but I can't!!! :mad:

Mike HAS supplied some great decals.
BUT, who seems to be lucky enough to get some is the point of contension!!
In the last year, some have gotten their decals as promised. Others have NEVER heard form the guy. Still others have PAID and still have not heard the status of their order.

Hence my comment in the first post;
Mike has gone from "Flake" to "Rip-Off"!

He used to be flaky, which is tolerable, but now folks are just getting taken.
So "good testimonials" from here on out will only be refering to PAST experiences!And YES!
His decals are wonderful! IF you can get them.

And I've been trying to get him to send me the usable art files, so I can get them printed.
(he doesn't have the money to PAY the printer)
But he won't even DO THAT! :mad:
And I've pre-paid for 10 decal sets!
So if this makes you upset, ...I'm 10 X that!:rolleyes:

THAT'S why I started this thread!
I'm not trying to "flame" Mike (and hope I haven't too much), I just don't think anyone should send him money based on several recent experiences. YOUR money will likely be used to pay for MY decals. Or PastorBob's or "Lord knows" who else's.

AGAIN, this is just a WARNING! NOT a flame fest!

I feel aweful "ratting out" a fellow C&Ver, but he kind of left me no choice.
Basically his LACK of CONTACT at all!

"A reasonable request, that he's chosen to ignore, GOOooOOoD dammit!"

~Brad to Dr. Frank N. Furter; Rocky Horror Picture Show

Just to clarify: I don't think I was "moved up in the que" as I bought an existing set of decals from stock Mike had on hand. Didn't require any new art or printing. Don

Wow! It saddens me to hear this. When I bought some Raleigh decals from Mike (some time ago), I thought both his product and service were first-rate. I was looking forward to another project and opportunity to do business with him again. I hope whatever he's going through passes and that he's able to make things right with folks again. The impression that I got from him was that he was a good guy....

I've had good service from Mike.Mike only does the Art work---he's at the mercy of printers.It took me a long time to get the last set I ordered---printers just dropped his orders.Seems the printers want larger orders and a lot more money than we're willing to pay---sam(sure wish Mike had a $7000 printer to do his own work!)

It is an issue of lack of communication if he is having problems. Not having the decals won't stop me from riding my Paramount. MY issue is the guy took $60 from me and has has not ever responded to me regarding the staus of my order. I am very familar with the hurdles he faces with small orders etc. I just feel that I was deleiberately misled at this point. He will not respond to anyone (that I am aware of) as to what HIS story is. This is a situation that is easily resolved by communicating with customers and potential customers and he refuses to do so. He will not respond AFTER taking payment and promising decals etc. It makes me think that he is scamming people. :mad:

I also am another one that "PRE-PAID" Mike for decals back in February. I actually emailed and phoned him several times, actually, speaking with him. Each time, he assured me that my decals would be done in a couple weeks. Told me he had problems with his printer being "behind". I have tried to be patient, however over the last 2 months, he refuses to answer calls or respond to my emails... just like the rest of you. I wish someone lived close enough to this guy to see how the heck he can tolerate himself knowing he is doing this to so many. - It sickens me.

I had some Raleigh decals done a year ago. I was a bit long in getting them but he said that he was switching printers. Ok, no problem, I wasn't in a huge rush. But I did get them, took about 2 months.

I emailed him last week to get another set of decals done for a friend of mine and asked for a quote. I haven't heard from him. So I went on BF trying to find out if he was still in business. I'm a little saddened that he has so many unhappy customers.

The decals were great and at great price $30 US.

I hope he sees this thread and responds. Where are ya Mike? We're worried about you!

Digger, I think that it's YOU that is worried about him. :p

The rest of us have moved on. JRrestore here on BF's is the new guy, and he makes decals every bit as nice as Mike's. Actually a bit better in my humble opinion.

But Digger, I'll help you out here...Mike's printer is AeroGraphix. The guys name is Bryan and you can still get decals from him. He specializes in model airplane decals, but can print whatever you want.

Website; www.aerographix.biz
Phone; (573) 467-0111

As for Mike, leave him OUT of the equation and you should be alright. Afterall, he lives in the slums of East Oakland known as San Leandro. His apartment complex looks like the Panamanian prison in Prison Break. And if he took your money, I doubt you'll ever see it, or decals, in this lifetime.

To actually GET decals, PM JRrestore here on BF's. (He's out of So. Cal.)
Or contact AeroGraphix, as they may have Mike's artwork ready to print, just waiting for payment. :rolleyes:
And although I have not seen or used decals from him, I hear nothing but good things about eBay seller CycloMondo, out of New Zealand.

So forget Mike, he's dug his own grave. There are better sources than him anyway.

Been there, done that, never again! :D

Dr. D

The French Reynolds decals I sent you for the Peugeot are from Cyclomondo. Please let us know what you think of them.

I have to agree with every thing you said, about Mike, that apartment complex and San Leandro.

And while we're at it, West Covina.

A little non-sequitur there.

-Kurt

Try Cycleart in California.

Too bad about Mike. I purchased a set of decals from him about 3 years ago and he delivered promptly.

Cycleart won't provide decals unless they paint the bike.

I don't know what you mean by that. Mike lives in San Leandro. I grew up in West Covina.

I'll say I've sent Mike a couple parts in the past (I think, everything is hazy), sent him decal photos a couple times for projects, and dealt with him on the boards, but never ordered decals, as I'm a patina kinda guy. I've always enjoyed his comments and he's one of a small group of posters original to this board that helped set the tone here (USAZorro, Lotek, Luker, T-Mar, and theotherguy were some of the others in my mind). As we know, this is a board noted for its' civility and knowledge and general good tone. Mike is/was part of that, so he's okay in my mind. Slams on his neighborhood mean nothing to me, BTW. Pointless.

I've got two comments here: one, you don't know the guy's current situation (and neither do I).
two, he's dealing with print shops. My own experience with printers and their ilk are not good and frustrating to say the least. I've seen them screw up jobs in black in white, and then try to turn around and blame the artist-- all while expecting to be paid. I can't speak for the printer he is using or anything else.

I'm not certain of the situation here, so I will comment no further.

Unless the guy is dead, in jail, or in a hospital there's really no excuse. Even if I were in jail or the hospital, I'd make sure somebody took care of all this for me if I were in his shoes. The thread is 3 months old and he has failed to communicate with several people for even longer. You can't blame that on the printer or mail service.

He was robbing Peter (some of us) to pay Paul (the printer bill and fixing up his own bike projects). It all came tumbling down when he couldn't fulfill several orders for Dr.D and many others here. DrD confronted him in person. Mike would not even give DrD the artwork for the projects he had already taken money for. Back when this thread started Mike was still here and was posting in the Schwinn forums. He may still be, I haven't looked. He ignored all that tried to make contact with him. Do I really need to go on? I too wanted to believe he had problems out of his control, and in a way he does, just not the type kemmer describes.

folks I think we've just about said all that there is to say about
the entire situation with Mike and Velographics.
all we're doing here is recounting our stories and maybe adding a new one
or two.

On that note, I'm going to lock this thread.
If anyone has any further contact with Mike, or has an update on their
(or anyone else's) situation other than "I still haven't gotten my decals" please
start a new thread.

thanks,
Marty