Five flags is a rip off-stay away!!!!!

fasteddy said:
Are you still waiting for Tin Smiths chain?

Steve.
Click to expand...

LMAC, but not ROTF...that is exactly what I was thinking about reading the reply what about the chain?.... but something about the first post seems like something is stinking in Denmark. (Denmark fans, nothing about you, it's a old expression)
 
Some thing didn't ring right for me either so I thought I'd go looking to see what else was said about Five Flag Motorbikes and it was interesting.

They sound like a corner car lot on the wrong end of town. You older guys will remember them I'm sure. An old trailer about as small as it could be and not take up car sale area but still hold 3 people since hubby would bring his wife to see the new family car and approve the purchase.

Bare lights in a string around the perimeter and big flashy signs saying that any car on the lot was only $250 with $50 down and the salesman had a plaid vest and a smoke hanging out of the corner of his mouth.

Your 16 and holding the hard earned $50 and when the saleman tells you that since your only 16 you can't sign the papers BUT wait if you don't tell anyone he can have his mechanic sign as your guardian and your good to go.

Of course that unravels when you get home and Mom and Dad find out. Dad has you and the car down the Easy Ed's new and used cars and the salesman tells Dad it's too late. It's in the hands of the finance company and it will ruin your credit since it's your under age son who signed.
That may have worked most of the time but I know a Dad {God bless him} who placed a car salesman like that on the outside of a trailer office and didn't open the office door to do it. He then placed the salesman behind the his desk and told him to count out $50 and hand over the contract.

The kid learned a valuable lesson that day.

I looked up rippedoff.com and wowzer seems there were two complaints just like the OP and there was the same name calling, they tried to rip off innocent Five Flag Motors and we almost have proof that we have supplied here by typing it in our own words. Of course there was a "I bought a >>>>> from Five Flag Motors and they were great and there was never a thing wrong with it" post.

On the other forum in 2008 someone did their homework about what they wanted and the Five Flags Motors was involved and tried to flood him with a sunami of s**t but he was ahead of them and didn't bite. Another member did buy from them and found out that it was a substandard product but was able to make it into what he wanted.

There were two guest posts on the other forum of course. One said the company was great and only sold quality and the second said that they got their sorta, almost like a Whizzer, bike and it was upside down with the oil running out of it but every thing damaged was replaced by Five Flag motors after they paid to send the damaged parts back as is in thier return policy.
I would have thought the shipping company would have taken it back after the owner refused delivery and Five Flags would never have been involved,
That would be the first time I ever heard of a motor being shipped from China with oil in it so I question that story myself but I'm sure Frank will correct me if I'm wrong.

There is what I found and it's up to you of course to make your own decision.

Steve.
 
In my humble opinion...

I am not taking either side of the story.... BUT, seeing how five flags openly gave out sacred customer information, and openly called him a liar, and said he tried to rip off the credit card company, I will stay away, far far away
 
Fasteddy do you have any personal experience with Five flags? If not why are you ripping a vendor you know nothing about personally? Your post speaks volumes abour your character and ethics.
 
bandito,

Interesting post. What do you know about my character or ethics??? Seems that if jumping to conclusions was an Olympic Sport you would be a Gold Medal winner.

I looked up and found many complaints about this company. Some on another motorbike site.

I spent 58 of my 68 years selling. Starting with a paper route and over those years I have seen so many rip off artists to out right gun in hand crooks that I have developed a deep rooted hatred for the breed.

Your other post I found equally interesting. You say this company owner is just trying to feed his family. Very true except for the fact that he is doing it, it would seem, by cheating other people who are working equally hard to feed theirs.

As for my ethics they are strong as you will find anywhere and my morals are even stronger. I would much prefer to take something back knowing that I was being robbed by a customer than give them a reason to say I cheated them and have done many times over the years.

In the end Sir I could care less what you think having seen an example of your thought processes. I am merely doing you the courtesy of an answer to your question.

Steve.
 
Fasteddy,

I for one appreciate the time you took investigating the company as you did.

That information, combined with the way they conducted themselves here, only lends to blame themselves for losing or not having business.
 
Five Flags opened in 1995 (17 years ago) at the same address and phone number. We are near completion on our new facility. We certainly don't make a living by cheating people. Complaint resolution is just part of doing business and it's impossible to please everyone all of the time. The problem with this type of claim is that any disgruntled customer that doesn't like the outcome can post completely false accusations about a company and suddenly it's the gospel truth. The real truth here is that we always attempted to deal in good faith with Alan. We willfully provided Alan with a RMA (Return Merchandise Authorization) to begin the warranty process. Upon receipt of the engine (in another vendor's box), our examination of the engine's production dates and EPA stickers revealed that it was not our engine. When confronted with this information, Alan claimed to have changed the outer shroud and that was why the markings were different. Aside from the fact that he admittedly had altered the engine, there was absolutely no way that we could validate his claim that the engine that we received back was our engine. All the evidence we had proved otherwise. We have to assess the situation with the evidence that we were presented with. When he was informed that we would not be able to warranty the engine, he said that he would let his credit card company handle it. He then initiated a credit card chargeback and provided the card issuer the UPS Tracking number for the returned the engine only. We asked for the return of the rest of the engine kit, he replied that he had already provided tracking for the returned merchandise. We even offered to refund half the kit price if he wanted to keep the balance of the kit. He declined. In our rebuttal to the credit card company, we provided evidence (including pictures) of the discrepancies between the returned engine and ours. We further provided UPS & FedEx shipping documentation that proved that we sent him 38 pounds of merchandise and that he returned only 12 pounds (and that 12 pounds that wasn't even our merchandise). Although the merchant is always at a disadvantage in a credit card dispute, the credit card company actually sided with Five Flags! With this, Alan said that he would slam us on the internet. The results of his threats are what you have here. Alan initiated this (not us) by naming names and falsely claiming claims. We would have never exposed him as a liar & a cheat if we had not been required to defend ourselves from his unfounded accusations. And thats the real truth. Five Flags has good feed back on the internet also (which is much harder get). Some great feedback is from our competitors at Bicycle Engines, Motorized Bicycles, Bicycle Motors, Motored Bikes: 2-Stroke & 4-Stroke Kits!. As with this incident, it is very easy for anyone with a personal vendetta against a merchant to fabricate bad publicity to hurt a merchants reputation and revenues. Anyone that doubts the truth of this matter can contact our office via phone or email and we will gladly provide undisputable proof that we handled this matter in an "ethical" manner. Unfortunately, there will alway be those who want to believe the worst. Sincerely, Frank of Five Flags Motorbikes
 
One thing I haven't gathered from this is did Five Flags send the motor back? Part 2 of this does the OP still have the parts he took off the motor? Can it be restored to where the dealer will take it? I know this much; no dealer in the world will take back an altered part, period. No matter what the company. Even if they are willing to send the part back the buyer has to pay the shipping because it was his actions that caused this to happen.

It comes under the heading of responsibility. Not "I messed up my motor now I want my money back!!" Good luck with that.


Then again, the dealer would gain a lot of credibility if they could say where Tin Smith's chain is.....;)
 
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No then again both sides stated their cases and their words attest to their honesty and motives. When you start to detect BS it usually follows the smell.
 
Why are there a trail of complaints leading up to this campany and they all follow along the same path? If someone wants to look up the B.B.B. site where the company is located and the Florida small claims court that may make this a lot more interesting.

Seems like Bandito and the company owner follow the same pattern. The company is innocent and if you say anything about it there is an immediate and vile character assassination of you and your morals. Are they one and the same?

The people that posted in ripped off.com were treated to the same thing with a long expanation about how the company was actually the victim.

Deal with this company at your peril seems to be the rule.

As to why didn't the OP send every thing back, why would he? He was just sending a motor back for repair under warantee. After being told that you weren't getting your motor back would you have sent every thing else back and wound up with nothing but a credit card bill? Not me.

Bandito I did follow the smell and at the source was Five Flags Motors and I believe you were holding the door open.

Steve.
 
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