Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General ::: ATTN: ALL KAOTIC POTENTIAL/CURRENT BUYERS ::::

*MODERATOR PLEASE STICK THIS ON TOP*

CEG:

It's been 15 months to the day that my car was taken by Chris Croft at Kaotic Innovations. 15 months of tolerance and hard work to create something for our beloved cars - a car that the tuner industry would not touch. Brace yourself... but my car to this day is not finished...

October 31st: This was the day Chris told me and my dad that my SVT was ready and was going to be in the paint shop.

November 15th: The paint shop picked up my car

November 15th - Late December: Chris said there were slight problems with the paint and some things had to be worked over on the car.

December 18th: I went to NYC for vacation so I couldn't pick up the car till I got back.

December 24th: Chris supposedly tried to contact me to come pick up the car

December 25th - January 1st: Obviously it's the holiday so I couldn't pick up my car.

January 5th: went to go pick up my car - I didn't call or give lead time...

My friend and I get to the shop and knock on the door, with some time Chris comes out of the shop and I ask him to take me to the paint shop so I can pick up my baby. Chris drives to the paint shop with me. We get there and they're closed. There's a small hole in the bay door of paint shop that I can look inside of. Chris tells me that the car is behind two cars and points out the general direction.

So we try calling the shop owners to no avail. We decide to have lunch. We talked about why they weren't there. Chris tells me that the owners were in Canada, that they work all year long and then they all go out with their buddies to Canada on a fishing trip and won't be back till the 8th. I ask him about the paint job, to describe it to me. He tells me that they did 3 coats of the candy red paint and 3 coats of clear. They did a tribal graphic on the drivers side of the door - he described the graphic he put on and the colors used.

So it all sounds good and my friend and I go home waiting for word on the 8th.

January 8th comes and passes - no word from Chris and like everybody else I can't reach him at the shop.

January 12: My friend and I are hanging out and start talking about last Monday's trip to Kaotic. We both started getting the feeling something was strange... I never doubted Chris before - I mean, he's my friend.... so I thought....

January 13: We decided to pay a visit to the paint shop in the morning without telling Chris or calling the shop, my brother and friend with me. We get to the paint shop that day and it's still closed. I had my extra set of keys and remote and tried to push the panic button to see if it was in there. No sucess and we didn't feel like breaking in to property. So we went to Kaotic next.

We get there and see a black celica outside which is normally not there. I remembered that Chris told me they would be working on one so I knew someone had to be there. We heard shuffling inside the garage area. knocked on the door a couple times and my brother decided to knock on the garage door. The loud banging got some attention. Tony, Chris' partner comes out the garage side door on the phone. He's on the phone and hands it to me and says - "here's the guy you want to talk to"

I get on the phone and ask him where the hell my car is - Chris says they had a break in for some dumb reason and that car is inside. I can't remember what I did with the phone but I remember walking inside and seeing my car on jack stands NOT FINISHED. The car was in primer with the front bumper removed. The front two wheels off on jack stands. There was no hood on the car and the widebody panels on both bumpers not finished - the back bumper didn't even have the moulding for the widebody.

The car was in a disgusting state I couldn't speak - this is the first time I've seen the car since early October. It looked pretty much the same to me except that the molding of the sideskirt to the widebody was finished. I walked around the car atleast two or three times looking over everything. I was silently furious but for anybody that knows me - I have a hard time getting or staying mad... go figure, i'm the dumbass who left my car there for 15 months trusting Chris.

After maybe walking around the car 3 times I tell Tony I'm towing her back home. From there i'm so confused I WAS LIED TO BY SOMEONE I CONSIDERED A GOOD FRIEND WHO I STOOD UP FOR THROUGHOUT THIS VENTURE.

Time passes and I start talking to Tony, i'm not mad at Tony nor do I have any kind of negative feelings towards him - the SVT was not his project. I tell Tony what Chris told me and he can't believe that I was lied to like that.

We took pictures at the shop and I will post them for you all very soon - they are on my friends picture phone so we are posting them soon.

I asked Tony what else needed to be done - Tony tells me and I ask him if HE CAN FINISH IT for me and that I don't want Chris to be any part of this. I was debating whether to leave my car there or not but the tow truck was already on its way. Within the two hours it took for the tow truck Tony and I talked and made an agreement that I would take the car back and he would come down to my town and work on it in a garage of my choosing and he would also get it painted by the shop.

$250 later (towing expense) - CHRIS IF YOU'RE READING THIS YOU OWE ME.

I'M OFFICIALLY SCREWED UNLESS TONY COMES THROUGH. I don't have the money to fix my baby up to spec nor the money to get it painted. The car is now sitting in my garage - I never ever expected this to happen.

Yesterday my friends came over to help with the clean up process - we managed to get the engine clean and much of the leather restored. There is a lot of work needed to be done... A LOT.

If Tony does not come through I need to take out a loan to finish my car. It is a sad state of affairs. I'm not mad that it's not done - I'm more mad that I was lied to by someone whom I trusted so much and someone who I considered to be a friend. I value trust over anything else - betrayed by anybody I will turn my back on them and never give them another chance.

I no longer support nor endorse Kaotic Innovations nor will I ever trust Chris Croft again. Guys - I don't know what to do - I don't want to give the car back to Kaotic due to the situation.

I will be on the boards and looking at this post often for your advice....

well, this could be the straw that broke the camels back for me.

DAMN NIRISH! Thsi fuggin SUX! I feel really bad for you! You of all people are getting screwed the worse and have devoted the most time and effort!

Now I definitely believe they have a law suit coming their way! I'm a broke college student that has all my money tied up in this kit and I have no legal experience, nor have I ever talked to a lawyer so can someone more experience step up and help us out!

Man did I have abad feeling this was gonna happen

Man I can't understand how you aren't completely pissed off dude. Much respect on being able to control yourself because I probably would have beat the hell out of someone if I saw my car like that after so long. That is so screwed especially considering it was a friend that pulled this on you. I'm not in the GB for the kits but I posted it once and someone else did as well but I think SOMEONE in that GB needs to get names of everyone who was in it and take it to a lawyer for a class action suit against kaotic...and do it SOON before they try to disappear. The longer you guys wait the harder it's going to be to get your money back.

P.S. I have an old buddy back in Cali that is a lawyer. Granted he mostly does immigration type stuff but he now has several law firms and could probably tell me what you guys need to do to get this resolved. If no one in the GB wants to contact a lawyer then someone could maybe PM me all the pertinent info as far as how many are involved and how much money and other details etc and I could maybe get ahold of him and A. Get some advice on what your course is and B. Maybe one of his firms could handle it for you guys. Someone in the GB should really get with a local lawyer but if not let me know and I'll see what I can find out.

yeah definitely take lots of pictures. and get better quality ones than with a camera phone....

Sucks man, sorry to hear about all this crap. Hopefully Tony comes though, but you SERIOUSLY need to consider a lawyer, especially if you have to take a loan.


BTW, change your signature.

Hey everyone, this is Nyceboi's brother. If you read his post you know that I went with him on an adventure to Kaotic Innovations 2 days ago on the 13th. I had just gotten back from LA the day prior and we spoke in the morning. He had a funny feeling inside of him telling him that something was wrong with his car. We both came to the conclusion that maybe they had broken something on the car and were waiting on a part. I decided to go along with him and our friend on a trip to the boondocks to "bust some heads" as I told our mother when we left home.



We get to Oroville (where kaotic is located) and head to the paint shop where the car is supposedly getting painted. Well hot damn, the sumbitch is open and we don't see the car inside. Off to Kaotic.



We get to Kaotic and I knock on the office door, no one answers. I keep knocking, still nothing. So I decide to bang on the steel garage door. Out comes someone I've never seen before, Tony. Tony is on the phone with Chris and hands the phone to my brother, he wants to know where the care is and blah blah. I ask Tony if the car is inside, he says yes, and I ask can we see it. He lifts open the huge garage door and there she is...



...Exactly the way I saw it at the beginning of 2003 minus the lambo doors. WHAT THE [censored] IS THIS [censored], I say in my head, and then proceed to say it out loud. The car is on 2 jack stands with the front wheels off. The passenger side door shock is ALL [censored]. The front bumper isn't FINISHED. The rear wide body fenders ARENT DONT YET EITHER. The interior is [censored]. WHERE THE [censored] IS THE SPOILER?! The engine is all [censored]. The brakes are all [censored]. THE CAR IS ALL [censored]. THIS IS [censored], I thought the car was finished in October.

AND THE [censored] HOOD SCOOP IS GONE REPLACED BY THE ORIGINAL HOOD! WHAT THE [censored]!??

We all kept hearing 2 weeks, 2 weeks, 2 [censored] WEEKS. Of what you ask? Well isn't it obvious? 2 [censored] WEEKS OF LIES LIES LIES. Actually 15 months of [censored] LIES.

None of this is geared towards Tony. This wasn't Tony's car, Tony didn't know what was going on with the car, THIS WAS CHRIS' [censored] PROJECT. The reason I'm PISSED OFF is because we had plans to fix up our other Contour that was supposed to be for me, BUT I GUESS NOT ANY [censored] MORE HUH CHRIS?!

I'm not so much pissed that the car isn't done either, it's the fact that we were lied to throughout the entire ordeal. That in my opinion, and much of yours I presume, is not good business.

We will have this car show ready in 2 [censored] WEEKS.

MUSTANGS RULE!!!

I am speechless...

After about 5 minutes of pondering this...

I have no solution. Not a non-violent one anyway.

I will say this, "even though I was not part of this Group Buy, I feel betrayed". So I cannot even begin to imagine how everyone else feels. And to everyone else that has paid money to Kaotic, I can only feel sorry for you guys. I wish there was more I could do.

I can only hope that a justifiable end can come to this mess.

Nyceboi, I know that everyone will appreciate you posting this update on the situation. You have always been a dependable person to deal with and I personally don't think this will have much affect on you. You did what you thought was best for our cars and gave your car for that purpose. There is nothing more that anyone could ask. If I could make it there, I would personally come and help complete your car back to spec.

Againg, I am sorry to everyone.