Would you trust these brakes??? - Phat Boy Big Brake Kits
07-15-2010, 09:34 PM
#41
I dont own Alliance Brakes but from being a member on the Forum and having a degree in Corporate Communications and Advertising, its common sense to understand there are other companies selling the same thing, you pay more for brand, brand recognition and service/sales staff.
On the PhatBoy site the prices are in pounds or euros, i forget which sign means which (which is bad because i lived in London for a year) so after the exchange rate, and crazy taxes, id rather buy from Mike for a competitive price, a solid etching, and great support especially towards us Z and G drivers...
On the PhatBoy site the prices are in pounds or euros, i forget which sign means which (which is bad because i lived in London for a year) so after the exchange rate, and crazy taxes, id rather buy from Mike for a competitive price, a solid etching, and great support especially towards us Z and G drivers...
07-16-2010, 12:49 AM
#42
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As far as I know, every Alliance customer is happy with what they are paying for, and like I said in my long reply, they are more happy with their Alliance purchase than their 'big name' purchases; we had a guy buy a Project Mu setup for his G37. sell it after one month of ownership, take a 1500 dollar hit on the kit, and he is still happy he made the switch. Getting what you pay for is all relative, and I'm happy to report every customer (with the exception of one customer at most, and his displeasure is not with product but with service for whatever reason) is happy. So yes, you are right that you get what you pay for.
As stated these people are getting American Express Black Card hotline support.
Thank you sir
As stated these people are getting American Express Black Card hotline support.
I dont own Alliance Brakes but from being a member on the Forum and having a degree in Corporate Communications and Advertising, its common sense to understand there are other companies selling the same thing, you pay more for brand, brand recognition and service/sales staff.
On the PhatBoy site the prices are in pounds or euros, i forget which sign means which (which is bad because i lived in London for a year) so after the exchange rate, and crazy taxes, id rather buy from Mike for a competitive price, a solid etching, and great support especially towards us Z and G drivers...
On the PhatBoy site the prices are in pounds or euros, i forget which sign means which (which is bad because i lived in London for a year) so after the exchange rate, and crazy taxes, id rather buy from Mike for a competitive price, a solid etching, and great support especially towards us Z and G drivers...
Thank you sir
07-17-2010, 12:44 AM
#44
Rockin em too. **** phatboi!!!! It doesn't bother me at all that his slimy *** can temporarily buy the blanks. He's too lazy to even brand em either that or he realizes how stupid his companies name is. If your worried about something worry about whether they perform up to par. I could have gone Project Mu, in fact I think they would have looked better, and in the future I may switch just for experience. But Mike kicked *** in customer service and to me that means a TON! If anyone wants details PM me.
If these brakes don't stop me well enough on the track Ill switch, but I doubt thats gonna be a problem these things are solid so far. Haters will hate but you cant deny it my car STOPS over and over and over consistently soooo much better than stock. I beat the hell out of them as much as I could and I cant imagine Project Mu's doing much better. I could be wrong though.
07-17-2010, 04:55 AM
#45
Going based on what Mike said, PhatBoy is misrepresenting the actual price of a typical customer to lure them in: import fees, taxes, shipping. This is a similar technique that other vendors on eBay use. The product costs $1 but marked up shipping charges make up the difference. One may say that if you live in Taiwan, that's the actual price but the company is pushing kits in US so I'd say it's reasonable to conclude that the price is inaccurate. I imagine there's fine print somewhere that states this. So, following this logic further, the point about the price advantage is mute. There isn't one.
As far as name etching on the calipers, a lot of new companies do not do this because they know how customers think. If you find someone that is willing to take a chance on your product, that someone will probably not want xyz racing plastered on the caliper because it will reveal that they do not have highly desirable Uber Racing brakes. This alone will help with sales. It has nothing to do with laziness or stupidity of the vendor. In fact, it actually suggests the opposite: the seller is aware of this and is intelligently branding his product to his clientele. If the company succeeds and develops a name, then the name goes on the caliper to indicate the brand.
Personally, when it comes to brakes, I'd rather not be the quality assurance tester for the startup. Risk/reward ratio just isn't good enough. The story about same factory, same product, no middle man can be a fictitious one, for all we know. Can anyone actually confirm this? I would not trust visual inspection to determine this. There's a scamer born every day and people do blatantly lie. Now, if PhatBoy wanted to prove the worthiness of the kit, he should offer several free kits to lucky chosen ones for testing. Obviously, the tester would be under contractual agreement to take the kit and perform real tests on the product, reward being the free kit. The process should be well documented. That's what I'd do if I was trying to break into the market. Call it initial brand investment.
As far as name etching on the calipers, a lot of new companies do not do this because they know how customers think. If you find someone that is willing to take a chance on your product, that someone will probably not want xyz racing plastered on the caliper because it will reveal that they do not have highly desirable Uber Racing brakes. This alone will help with sales. It has nothing to do with laziness or stupidity of the vendor. In fact, it actually suggests the opposite: the seller is aware of this and is intelligently branding his product to his clientele. If the company succeeds and develops a name, then the name goes on the caliper to indicate the brand.
Personally, when it comes to brakes, I'd rather not be the quality assurance tester for the startup. Risk/reward ratio just isn't good enough. The story about same factory, same product, no middle man can be a fictitious one, for all we know. Can anyone actually confirm this? I would not trust visual inspection to determine this. There's a scamer born every day and people do blatantly lie. Now, if PhatBoy wanted to prove the worthiness of the kit, he should offer several free kits to lucky chosen ones for testing. Obviously, the tester would be under contractual agreement to take the kit and perform real tests on the product, reward being the free kit. The process should be well documented. That's what I'd do if I was trying to break into the market. Call it initial brand investment.
Last edited by Ziggyrama; 07-17-2010 at 05:03 AM.
07-18-2010, 10:39 PM
#46
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Hi everyone,
This is Dan from Phatboy brakes. This will be the one and only reply I'll be making on this thread. I've read through this thread and some good points have been made, however one or two posts are way off the mark......
1. I'm not sure why everyone is saying that there are all these hidden charges involved. I advertise my kits honestly and fairly and am not trying to hide anything from anyone. The prices on my website include postage to the USA, and as I have stated customers will be liable to import tax and VAT (a total of about 20% in UK, not sure about individual states in USA). However, my customers never pay more than GBP60 on tax once the kit has arrived in their country (please e-mail for details). That is all you need to pay, I've never heard of broker fees for delivery companies, so I don't know where that comment has come from.
2. In regards to the caliper designs, nobody can copywrite our brake designs apart from the factory that produces them, they own the designs, so rest assured nobody has stolen anybody elses designs and that Phatboy brakes will continue to sell these brake kits long into the future. I would also like to say that Phatboy brake kits were 100% developed by the factory that makes them.
3. The name.... PHATBOY BRAKES.... As somebody already commented I decided not to put our logo on the calipers as we are a fairly new brand on the market, and if it was me going to buy a pair of sneakers, I would rather have the plain ones than a pair with a brand I'd never heard of on. That was the thinking behind the lack of logos and thus far has seemed to have worked well. I know the name is silly, and not a lot of people like it, that is why I chose it, it's rememberable and a bit of a talking point on forums like this. Now that we have sold a few kits and a few people have heard about what we are doing we will be changing the name in the very near future too something a bit more mature and sensible, and etching the logo into the calipers, so watch this space.
4. Customer service and reviews..... As you probably know I am local to the factory and make a visit a couple of times a week, this gives me access to the production line, I get to see our brakes being made first hand from start to finish. Unlike other companies I don't order them to be produced on the other side of the world and hope for the best once I receive the shipment. I pick up orders personally ensuring personal involvement in the whole process and of course costs are cut to a minimum. An advantage I have is that I speak fluent Chinese and am able to communicate with the manufacturers well ensuring I get exactly what I want. Due to my location and good relationship and I have with the manufacturers, I am able to get replacement parts sent out in rapid time and offer first class customer suport "straight from the horse's mouth" as it were.
5. Reviews.... Our brakes have not been on the market for long and I don't tend to concentrate on the forum crowd for sales so as you can imagine reviews are slow in comming... There are one or two out there though, here is a very honest and impartial review by a customer in Singapore who recently bought a full kit for a 2008 Impreza WRX:
http://www.sg3gwrx.com/index.php?topic=10714.0
If I'm totally honest there were a couple of problems with this kit, ie. the rear brackets were the wrong size (new model issues) and one of the rotors had been slighly overcast in one of the vents. I was assured by the factory that the overcast vent would not effect performance and the rotors were still perfectly balanced, even so I sent the customer a new rotor free of charge that he received within the week and also let him keep the old one. Rear kits are tricky as vehicle manufacturers often change the measurements to stop people like me selling aftermarket parts. We did however sort out the problem asap and this is not usual practice for us, 99% of the time our kits are perfect, and for that 1% of the time where something is wrong we will sort it out quickly.
As I have said this is going to be the one and only post here so if you would like anymore details please drop me an e-mail at: contact@phatboybrakes.com
Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you soon.
Cheers
Dan Newton - Phatboy Brakes
This is Dan from Phatboy brakes. This will be the one and only reply I'll be making on this thread. I've read through this thread and some good points have been made, however one or two posts are way off the mark......
1. I'm not sure why everyone is saying that there are all these hidden charges involved. I advertise my kits honestly and fairly and am not trying to hide anything from anyone. The prices on my website include postage to the USA, and as I have stated customers will be liable to import tax and VAT (a total of about 20% in UK, not sure about individual states in USA). However, my customers never pay more than GBP60 on tax once the kit has arrived in their country (please e-mail for details). That is all you need to pay, I've never heard of broker fees for delivery companies, so I don't know where that comment has come from.
2. In regards to the caliper designs, nobody can copywrite our brake designs apart from the factory that produces them, they own the designs, so rest assured nobody has stolen anybody elses designs and that Phatboy brakes will continue to sell these brake kits long into the future. I would also like to say that Phatboy brake kits were 100% developed by the factory that makes them.
3. The name.... PHATBOY BRAKES.... As somebody already commented I decided not to put our logo on the calipers as we are a fairly new brand on the market, and if it was me going to buy a pair of sneakers, I would rather have the plain ones than a pair with a brand I'd never heard of on. That was the thinking behind the lack of logos and thus far has seemed to have worked well. I know the name is silly, and not a lot of people like it, that is why I chose it, it's rememberable and a bit of a talking point on forums like this. Now that we have sold a few kits and a few people have heard about what we are doing we will be changing the name in the very near future too something a bit more mature and sensible, and etching the logo into the calipers, so watch this space.
4. Customer service and reviews..... As you probably know I am local to the factory and make a visit a couple of times a week, this gives me access to the production line, I get to see our brakes being made first hand from start to finish. Unlike other companies I don't order them to be produced on the other side of the world and hope for the best once I receive the shipment. I pick up orders personally ensuring personal involvement in the whole process and of course costs are cut to a minimum. An advantage I have is that I speak fluent Chinese and am able to communicate with the manufacturers well ensuring I get exactly what I want. Due to my location and good relationship and I have with the manufacturers, I am able to get replacement parts sent out in rapid time and offer first class customer suport "straight from the horse's mouth" as it were.
5. Reviews.... Our brakes have not been on the market for long and I don't tend to concentrate on the forum crowd for sales so as you can imagine reviews are slow in comming... There are one or two out there though, here is a very honest and impartial review by a customer in Singapore who recently bought a full kit for a 2008 Impreza WRX:
http://www.sg3gwrx.com/index.php?topic=10714.0
If I'm totally honest there were a couple of problems with this kit, ie. the rear brackets were the wrong size (new model issues) and one of the rotors had been slighly overcast in one of the vents. I was assured by the factory that the overcast vent would not effect performance and the rotors were still perfectly balanced, even so I sent the customer a new rotor free of charge that he received within the week and also let him keep the old one. Rear kits are tricky as vehicle manufacturers often change the measurements to stop people like me selling aftermarket parts. We did however sort out the problem asap and this is not usual practice for us, 99% of the time our kits are perfect, and for that 1% of the time where something is wrong we will sort it out quickly.
As I have said this is going to be the one and only post here so if you would like anymore details please drop me an e-mail at: contact@phatboybrakes.com
Thanks for reading and I hope to hear from you soon.
Cheers
Dan Newton - Phatboy Brakes
07-19-2010, 01:44 AM
#47
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Hi again,
I know I said my last post was to be the one and only, however I missed out a few key points, so this one really will be my last.
I'm actually not trying to push these brakes in the US market, if anything I'm concentrating more the UK, that is where I'm from and that is where I want to make progress. Believe it or not I'm not posting here to try to poach business away from Mike. The only reason I have posted here is because when people google "phatboy brakes" to find out more info the first things that come up are threads like these where people have a lot of things to say about my products. I'm all for feedback on my kits, I wish there was more of it, however I'd prefer it if it was from people who had tested my brakes and had some hard evidence to back it up. If you follow that thread I linked on my last post, you will get a good indication of the quality of our products once my customer has given the brake a good thrashing around a track. Hopefully there will be more reviews comming soon.
I would also like to say that if you are living in the US and are looking for 350Z brakes then you should go to Mike, he's an expert on 350Z's, I'm not (although I did almost buy a 350Z once but settled for a Honda S2000 in the end), and obviously he will be able to give you more in-depth advice on 350Z brake set-ups. If you're just on here looking for some more info on Phatboy Brakes then I hope this has helped. Once again, if you have anymore questions you can contact me on: contact@phatboybrakes.com
Thanks
Dan
I know I said my last post was to be the one and only, however I missed out a few key points, so this one really will be my last.
I'm actually not trying to push these brakes in the US market, if anything I'm concentrating more the UK, that is where I'm from and that is where I want to make progress. Believe it or not I'm not posting here to try to poach business away from Mike. The only reason I have posted here is because when people google "phatboy brakes" to find out more info the first things that come up are threads like these where people have a lot of things to say about my products. I'm all for feedback on my kits, I wish there was more of it, however I'd prefer it if it was from people who had tested my brakes and had some hard evidence to back it up. If you follow that thread I linked on my last post, you will get a good indication of the quality of our products once my customer has given the brake a good thrashing around a track. Hopefully there will be more reviews comming soon.
I would also like to say that if you are living in the US and are looking for 350Z brakes then you should go to Mike, he's an expert on 350Z's, I'm not (although I did almost buy a 350Z once but settled for a Honda S2000 in the end), and obviously he will be able to give you more in-depth advice on 350Z brake set-ups. If you're just on here looking for some more info on Phatboy Brakes then I hope this has helped. Once again, if you have anymore questions you can contact me on: contact@phatboybrakes.com
Thanks
Dan
07-19-2010, 08:19 AM
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Think about it, would you spend $1000 on something on ebay in China, or go to the local shop and spend $1200? On the face of it you are spending $200 for nothing right? Meanwhile that China part will probably cost $1500 by the time you have it to your door, cleared, taxed, etc.
Now I am not sure this Alliance kit vs Phatty's kit works out the same after it all, but you can't just look at the retail price and be done with it, especially when one is in the country with free shipping and no brokerage, and the other is on the other side of the world.
Now I am not sure this Alliance kit vs Phatty's kit works out the same after it all, but you can't just look at the retail price and be done with it, especially when one is in the country with free shipping and no brokerage, and the other is on the other side of the world.
07-19-2010, 09:33 AM
#49
Think about it, would you spend $1000 on something on ebay in China, or go to the local shop and spend $1200? On the face of it you are spending $200 for nothing right? Meanwhile that China part will probably cost $1500 by the time you have it to your door, cleared, taxed, etc.
Now I am not sure this Alliance kit vs Phatty's kit works out the same after it all, but you can't just look at the retail price and be done with it, especially when one is in the country with free shipping and no brokerage, and the other is on the other side of the world.
Now I am not sure this Alliance kit vs Phatty's kit works out the same after it all, but you can't just look at the retail price and be done with it, especially when one is in the country with free shipping and no brokerage, and the other is on the other side of the world.
Read his post above, homie.
07-19-2010, 10:47 PM
#51
Think about it, would you spend $1000 on something on ebay in China, or go to the local shop and spend $1200? On the face of it you are spending $200 for nothing right? Meanwhile that China part will probably cost $1500 by the time you have it to your door, cleared, taxed, etc.
Now I am not sure this Alliance kit vs Phatty's kit works out the same after it all, but you can't just look at the retail price and be done with it, especially when one is in the country with free shipping and no brokerage, and the other is on the other side of the world.
Now I am not sure this Alliance kit vs Phatty's kit works out the same after it all, but you can't just look at the retail price and be done with it, especially when one is in the country with free shipping and no brokerage, and the other is on the other side of the world.
07-19-2010, 11:40 PM
#52
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Think about it, would you spend $1000 on something on ebay in China, or go to the local shop and spend $1200? On the face of it you are spending $200 for nothing right? Meanwhile that China part will probably cost $1500 by the time you have it to your door, cleared, taxed, etc.
Now I am not sure this Alliance kit vs Phatty's kit works out the same after it all, but you can't just look at the retail price and be done with it, especially when one is in the country with free shipping and no brokerage, and the other is on the other side of the world.
Now I am not sure this Alliance kit vs Phatty's kit works out the same after it all, but you can't just look at the retail price and be done with it, especially when one is in the country with free shipping and no brokerage, and the other is on the other side of the world.
I'm glad the owner of Phat Boy brakes chimed in, very stand up and honest. He admits that if you do want to buy from him then he will sell you what he believes is a very good quality BBK, and I'm sure it is the same thing as the Alliance bbk (maybe some tiny things changed to make them their own). But he himself says that he isn't in the market for the US and that we should go to Mike. Alliance mark up seems a bit ridiculous though in my opinion. Yes I know you have to make money for R&D and new development, but does that mean price gouging? Many other BBK's on the market offer great quality as any others on the market. In the end you are playing the name game, and for some people that means more to them.
07-20-2010, 04:07 AM
#53
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This is off-topic...but a guy in my English class last semester said that his brother (in Charlotte) owns a company that makes BBK's....I'm assuming I found the company? lol..
07-20-2010, 08:36 AM
#54
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Alliance FTW! Mike's customer service is on point. If I had to do it over again and choose between Alliance and Phatboi BBK, I would definitely go with Alliance and pay what I paid.
2 main reasons why I would do that:
- Great customer service
- Payment Plan
Without Mike's generosity and offering a payment plan I would never be able to have this kit on my Z.
2 main reasons why I would do that:
- Great customer service
- Payment Plan
Without Mike's generosity and offering a payment plan I would never be able to have this kit on my Z.
07-26-2010, 09:17 AM
#56
my guess if you bought them direct from Taiwan you would not have needed a payment plan. LOL
None of this is surprising. Its the same in every industry. Just like the guy that found the $50 'GTM' radiator overflow from another vendor for $19.95
It all boils down to how much customer service is worth to you.Phatboy has 1 year warranty which seems reasonable. As long as the consumables (pads/rotors) are readily available, I dont think that much follow up is needed. But to each his own.
None of this is surprising. Its the same in every industry. Just like the guy that found the $50 'GTM' radiator overflow from another vendor for $19.95
It all boils down to how much customer service is worth to you.Phatboy has 1 year warranty which seems reasonable. As long as the consumables (pads/rotors) are readily available, I dont think that much follow up is needed. But to each his own.
Last edited by str8dum1; 07-26-2010 at 09:19 AM.
07-26-2010, 09:58 AM
#57
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am i the only one that thinks phatboy seems pretty honest? i mean, he's not bashing anyone elses product or saying his is better. He is not even on here advertising. im usually right in the middle of the angry mob, but i dont see why he did anything wrong. hell, i would even consider buying his product if i saw more reviews and it was considered comparable to alliance if that info ever came up... i also would be a little scared sending a few grand overseas as well tho. i want to be able to show up and get my money back one way or another, you know what i mean.
OT, that alliance etching sure is sexy though. almost makes it worth the extra $$
OT, that alliance etching sure is sexy though. almost makes it worth the extra $$
07-26-2010, 05:10 PM
#58
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Yeah he is honest no one is saying he is lying or throwing dirt around. there are no hurt feelings or anything here between anyone involved.
Just fyi we offer a lifetime warranty on the calipers
but if anyone has any questions about the topics and points raised in this thread, feel free to PM me!
sorry for any errors in this post its on my phone and i cant go back and edit anything after ive typed
Just fyi we offer a lifetime warranty on the calipers
but if anyone has any questions about the topics and points raised in this thread, feel free to PM me!
sorry for any errors in this post its on my phone and i cant go back and edit anything after ive typed
07-27-2010, 01:09 PM
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am i the only one that thinks phatboy seems pretty honest? i mean, he's not bashing anyone elses product or saying his is better. He is not even on here advertising. im usually right in the middle of the angry mob, but i dont see why he did anything wrong. hell, i would even consider buying his product if i saw more reviews and it was considered comparable to alliance if that info ever came up... i also would be a little scared sending a few grand overseas as well tho. i want to be able to show up and get my money back one way or another, you know what i mean.
OT, that alliance etching sure is sexy though. almost makes it worth the extra $$
OT, that alliance etching sure is sexy though. almost makes it worth the extra $$
09-03-2010, 08:04 AM
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Is it possible, Mike, to NOT have the alliance name on the rotors if we buy from you? I ask cause I'm one of those OCD people that remove tags off everything and purposely don't buy polo cause it has a horse on all the shirts.
My car is getting fully shaved as I type this.
Just to give an example for the type of wierd guy I am. I'm not a big fan of peoples names on my product. Ed Hardy ruined alot of cool shirts cause his damn name all over the thing.
My car is getting fully shaved as I type this.
Just to give an example for the type of wierd guy I am. I'm not a big fan of peoples names on my product. Ed Hardy ruined alot of cool shirts cause his damn name all over the thing.