I wanted some repro decals so I emailed Velocals, sending them a couple of photos. They made a reasonable copy and I ordered a set for $20. But my attempt to apply them ended in disaster. In retrospect, I think they were some sort of stickers rather than water-base decals - but the enclosed instructions, which I followed carefully, were for water-base decals.

Anyway, no problem, I thought - their web site says satisfaction guaranteed, period. They'll send me some new ones, with the right instructions, and it'll be ok. Right?

Now the fun part. I send 2 emails, wait a total of 10 days, and get absolutely no response.

Before I pursue this further - does anyone know anything about this company, or who "JR" is, or why they don't respond to complaints?

If i'm not wrong, there was a thread recently saying that they can be a bit slow to respond but do eventually respond. The proprietor actually even posted in the thread stating as much. At least i think that was velocals....

Give them some time. From personal experience, you will get a response:

Ordered a set of Mondia Super decals on Ebay from VeloCals and received a week later. Rave feedback left. Three weeks later, received an envelope from VeloCals which included two World Championship band seat tube decals and the correct, slightly larger 'Mondia' decals for the seat tube with a nice note explaining they were replacements for the incorrect ones in the first shipment.

Now, the interesting part: I hadn't noticed that the originals supplied in the first shipment were not correct - in other words, the fix was initiated and completed by VeloCals with not one complaint or request from my end. They simply realized (I suppose from the auction photos) that they originally sent the wrong decals and sent me the right ones when they discovered the error.

Now that's a class act.

He sent you instructions for waterslide decals? That's strange, he doesn't sell them.

I wouldn't fret, most people seem happy with Velo-cals. This topic appears 5 times a year or so.

He does them on special order. I got some great ones.

The instructions were for applying water-based decals using a soap-and-water wetting solution. They were detailed and included photos. There was not a word about alternatives. The things I received were apparently not water-based, and did not slide off the carrier, and could not be repositioned. Which I found out the hard way - a total loss.

I found another old post here from a guy who ordered and didn't receive anything for a month. Eventually, he did get what he ordered.

It really annoys me when a guy wants to sell over the web, takes orders on a web site, but doesn't do email. My usual strategy with an unknown web retailer is to start by sending a dumb-sounding question by email. If I don't get a prompt response, I don't deal with them. In this case I got a reasonably quick response to the original inquiry, and the order was shipped promptly. And now no response at all for 10 days.

I guess I'll just keep waiting.

Are you sure you weren't looking at the instructions for wet application of adhesive backed vinyl decals? The surface is first wetted with a soap and water spray. Even if you followed instructions for waterslide decals and soaked them, it wouldn't hurt them. the decals are plastic and the adhesive is waterproof.

I don't know what they were. I used a soap and water spray as directed and pulled off the backing paper. The clear 'carrier' on top was much too stiff to wrap around a frame tube and lay down - it just sprang back up and remained flat - and the decals, or whatever they were, wouldn't come off the carrier - so I had to peel them off by hand, which was very tricky, and try to lay them down on the frame. The frame tube was wetted but when the 'decal' landed, it stuck right there and couldn't be moved.

It's possible I misunderstood the instructions and I said as much in my emails to JR. If he ever responds I'll let you know.

I cannot comment on the response time, but I too have a feeling there is application error, not much soap is used to the soapy water solution, detergent is not soap. Not saying this is the issue, but I have seen others goof it up once with the a bit more is better error, and the other thinking detergent is equal to soap, different stuff.

I used 2 drops of Ivory liquid in a quart of water, applied with a spray bottle, as per the enclosed directions.

I appreciate the pointers, but note that I'm not posting here trying to figure out what went wrong because it's too late. I'm just looking for a response from Velocals.

I use a drop or two of liquid hand soap added to about 8 ounces of water in my sprayer. The surface has to be very wet to keep the decals from sticking. It doesn't hurt to wet the adhesive side of the decals, too. The decals do tend to stick to the carrier and I use a fingernail to help separate them. It's especially challenging when doing individual letters like on this downtube.

These downtube decals are Velocal white on clear vinyl that I applied dry (as the instructions indicate, it can be done wet too). As JR says in his instructions, the downside of appying them dry is you only have one chance to get it right. I took my time, and they turned out great. I've got no complaints with either the service or the quality of the products I've bought from JR. My $.02.

Make it easy on yourself and apply them wet. Trust me.

Warm them with a blow dryer after you squeegee to dry them and set the adhesive.

Welcome to unsoliCited & adVice.

awhile back I ordered a set of decals for a refurbishing project. they were excellent, but the decal was a vinyl material and definitely was on the thicker side. not a problem, just one of those things that bugs me due to my OCD nature.

would waterslide decals be much thinner? I have another project in the pipeline and I'd like thinner decals (as close to the original decals as possible). would this be the way to go?

JR was a great help to me when I had difficulties with my decals recently, but he does responds slowly at times.

He has been responsive to me in talking about decals for my Fuji Tiara. However, I have yet to get him a couple of crucial measurements. I hope he's not mad at me!

Vinyl, waterslide, thick, thin, peel off or transfer, apply wet or dry - all I needed to know was what sort of material I received and which way to go. When you get one chance, and you have to guess, and you guess wrong, and you lose $20, it's not so nice. All I can say is, I mixed a wetting solution as directed, sprayed everything thoroughly and repeatedly, and those "decals" would not budge, either off of the carrier, or on the frame once they made contact. They might as well have been fly paper.

All you guys who seem to be communicating with JR on a regular basis - could one of you please ask him to check his email? Thanks. :-)

I installed a set of decals from JR on a Cannondale I repainted a couple of years ago. As I recall the application process, in addition to the spraying the adhesive side of the decal with a soapy water, I used a credit card to burnish the decal onto the top tube of my frame. Once burnished, I lifted the clear "carrier" plastic off leaving the decal perfectly in place.

a pensive cannondale.

While his decals aren't "waterslide" he does send instructions about wetting the frame before application to allow a little movement before squeezing the water out and permanently setting the stickers. I used the method he recommended and had good results.

JR seems to appear whenever a thread is started questioning how he runs his business.

I contacted him a dozen times about getting decals for my old Miyata 916 and did not get timely responses (or any responses). I eventually gave up and found the experience extremely frustrating.

Did you read the entire thread?