Major update
Dear Fellow Bounty Hunters,
I like to apologize for the lack of updates. I now I sound like a broken record, but I really mean it. I have finally had some progess on the situation, but not everything is on the up and up. As of right now the project is canceled. I have asked for a refund back from my contact, but as of today I have not seen a dime. Don't worry. I plan to refund everybodies money in two weeks. I've told some who requested refunds earlier that I would have it to them by April 2nd. I don't know if I can have those refunds delivered by then, becuase I was waiting on that check from my contact. That never appeared though. I will have those who requested a refund out by April 2nd. It just don't think I can have it delivered by the 2nd at this point.
As for the rest who have paid I am borrowing the necessary funds to have every body refunded in two weeks. I am sorry you have to wait longer, but this is the best I can do. My contact hasn't delivered my refund check, but I can't depend on that right now since I don't want to loose everybody's faith in me and jack up my customer relations.
As for any future possibility of the project getting ressurected it looks better then before, but is still bleak. It will take me a while to dig myself out of this whole since I have to borrow the fund to return everybody's money. This is the situation though. I have asked for my molds/lasts to make the shoe back since I technically own them. They were sent back from the original factory that made the shoe. There was a point where I thought I could locate the original facotry, because they agreed to send me my molds/lasts back. This was a dead end. They only agreed to send me my lasts back and not disclose the location of the facotry to me. It was a whole trickle down communication thing that I hated. I dealt with a contact who dealth with a vendor who had a falling out with the orginal factory that made the shoe.
I got the molds/lasts back today finally. I asked that my refund check be sent seperately thinking that it might get lost in the package with the lasts. The lasts were sent UPS ground because it was 111 pounds. Ground takes a week and I couldn't wait that long to get my check back so I could get refund to everybody, but as you all know I opted to have it sent seperately thinking I would get the check sooner then my lasts back. Should of asked that the both be delivered at the same time, but I can't cry over spilled milk.
Having the lasts gives me the option to out source a factory directly which I plan to do. Weather or not if it will happen is up in the air. I have two possible leads. One in Italy and one here locally to me. I'm going to see what the local factory can do for me. I would like to have it local so I can monitor progress and quality. I plan to post pictures of the lasts Wednesday night. Just for those of you who are interested. I plan to refund everybody's money first before I ressurect the porject if possible and have the product physically in hand before I start making these available again. This will mean that the boots may not be available for another 6 months to a year. It all depends how fast I can pay back the loan I'm taking out to pay everybody, save up with my on funds to get the new factory to make the shoe.
I'm very sorry for not letting everybody know this sooner. There wasn't much to report until I saw results. I wasn't really getting any. It was all coming out like mollases. This so far is all I had to report.
If you have any questions please e-mail me. Don't worry about pestering me. It's not a problem. I will be very busy, but I will do my best to reply to everybody's concerns and questions.
Thanks,
Mark Cheng
cheng2@cox.net
Thanks BF for the note. Probably my voice amplifier is messing up. :wacko
