wggs18

I am shocked and still in disbelief to be sharing this story with this forum. I am not one to criticize or complain but at this point I need to share my story. Before you rush to judgement on the fact that I do not have very many comments or posts, please keep in mind I have every email and text message documented. So here we go.

I ordered my 17 Grand Sport from Mike Furman in August. Mike was great and advised me to wait to order the Carbon Fiber Side Skirts and Front splitter until after I received my Vette in October. I took Mikes advise and ordered without the parts. For Months I researched Vendors to find the best possible quality and with a requirement that the Products be produced domestically. I found a company called Caravaggio Corvettes on several forums and there quality seemed top notch, almost too good to be true. I reached out to John for about a Month before I finally placed the order in the middle of March. John was ultra responsive to emails and phone calls. We discussed a time frame of about 5 weeks which I was happy about. We even discussed producing parts for my Dealer in an exclusive agreement since we do a substantial amount of customization. I am the Director for the largest Lexus dealer in the world and I wanted him to come up with some ideas for the new LC500. What happens next truly has me and everyone I speak to scratching their heads since we always had great rapport and were discussing additional business dealings.

About 4 weeks after I placed the order, I called John to check the status, I was so excited to hear that the products are just going through clear coat. I was told at that point they should ship by end of week or beginning of the following. We are talking around April 9th here. This is where the turn for the worse happens. It is now the 28th of May and I still do not have my parts. That is not the most shocking part however as if I was told they would take 8-10 weeks when I ordered how could I complain?

John goes out of his way to avoid my calls/emails keeps lying to me and says they are going through customs, they have shipped, I will give you the tracking number tomorrow etc etc. I even see where he has read my texts on iMessage but doesn't respond. I have been told for over a month now repeatedly when I actually receive a text or email that they will ship next week. I truly can't believe this. There is no way this Man/company have been successful doing business this way. I am really summarizing the experience. My head cannot stop shaking!! At this point the only thing I can do is call my CC company and dispute the charge and hope that this doesn't happen to any other customer.

My only theory is, he does not make his parts domestically and is still waiting for an international shipment. All I want is some honesty and transparency and it just appears that I am dealing with a compulsive Liar.

I have every single text and email!!!

Thanks for Reading.

gpuglisi

Sorry to hear this. I've read this story of significant delays and unresponsiveness after the sale more than once as it relates to this vendor. Sadly, not the only one to operate like this.

wggs18

!!I just read an issue in the Transaction feedback page and I want to throw up

JerryU

Hmm, sorry for your problems. I am very happy with my purchase of the GM carbon fiber (mine are painted carbon flash) Stage 2 areo package and glad I paid the extra and got it. Was thinking I would install aftermarket as I had with my C7 but wanted to add Stage 3 Winglets and for all the carbon flash paint to match the other on the car.

Watched the dealers C7 tech install the side skirts, not as easy as the LG Motorsports side skirts I had installed on my C7 Z51. Over 26 rivets as I recall and at an odd angle. He did a great job. Did not see the spliter install as I arrived after it was completed.

Sounds like your vendor is buying from overseas. Could be held up in customs or it's a language problem with his vendor.

Reminds me of our German company, I was on the Board and often had a hard time getting what I thought was a straight answers! Recall telling my stud welder product manager where we got those power sources he needed to understand German to get the right answer! When they say "It's been shipped" you have to translate to "We're starting production!"

Hope it works out and you get a quality product.

GR Jay

If one of your requirements was that they were domestically produced why did you buy from them? If they are held up in customs obviously they are coming from another country.

Rooster OG

^^ Caravaggio is in Canada. I hope this works out for you op, the work I've seen posted here by him looks really good.

Foosh

Canada and the U.S. have had a bilateral free trade agreement since 1994, Mexico was rolled in via NAFTA later. With a certificate of origin, imports from Canada to the US flow freely through customs, and it's the same with exports.

NSC5

I wasn't looking for carbon fiber skirts for my Z06 so I went with ACS which is also a Canadian company (Quebec). I had mine shipped directly from ACS to the NCM for installation prior to delivery and it was a very fast and drama free transaction with fast and honest communications along the way complete with shipping notification, tracking update, and a followup call confirming they had arrived in Bowling Green in perfect shape.

In many cases today blaming customs has become the same generic excuse as "its the computer's fault" in days of old. Neither rings true.

JerryU

Wish that were completely true! Still have bureaucrats employed who can stop any shipment regardless of a properly filled out NAFTA Certificate. Have a distributor in Canada and from time to time there is a customs delay!

Recall a big issue some years ago when I was still working full time, we shipped a spare part to Mexico and since there was no way we were going to have engineering and purchasing define where the thousands of spare parts were made, I just said, pay the duty on all of them as the margins are high! Sounds simple but Mexico customs picked up this ~$10 part and the box said "Made in Mexico" and stopped the shipment!

The bureaucrats did not go away!

Recently a Caterpillar Tractor order came back from Mexico because it did not go through the "correct" customs location (the CAT purchasing agents fault with the wrong export agent info.) Not only the large box but the small ones inside with hundreds of small brass parts were opened and not packed back correctly. However none were missing! Had to repackage and CAT paid the FedEx bill twice!

Although the German language analogy I raised is not right, as the Canadians do use British English and there are only are a few issues like Zed, Eh!
However like the issue with our Germany plant, "It Shipped" could still mean we're "Starting Production!"

wggs18

I understand the customs issues. However after receiving several pm from people on this forum this vendor uses the same excuses and lies for everyone. I apologize to those that have received the opposite from this vendor as opposed to my experience but I hate to tell you all isn100% truthful. It's a shame I didn't see this almost three months ago as I would have just used someone else.

wggs18

I have a tracking # I will let you all know the outcome

bullettrain

Anything yet?

wggs18

Well everyone, I finally received my parts last Friday! Immediately upon unwrapping the bubble wrap I noticed it had left an impression in the clear coat on each piece!! I took some compound to it and realized I wanted a professional to correct. It appears that he had wrapped the pieces much too soon after clear coat. Crazy disappointing I text him pictures and expressed my disappointment "No Reaction" other then just an "OK" from him. I found out the cost to have my detail guy come and correct the pieces. I told John it would be $100 . I could have asked for more but wanted to be honest as I didn't want to go through this any longer. John agreed but has still not fulfilled the agreement even though I have my CC company call. Anyway, my CC is holding his money until he completes his obligations. The crazy thing is since I started these posts, I have received several PM's from people have similar issues with one of them having his parts held hostage by John. It is still unbelievable that a business like this exists. I only hope that more people read this post before they ever consider doing business with him,. As it is almost comical.

wggs18

The plot thickens I have a clear coat failure on these parts that John is not acknowledging. Parts appear to be melting, separating and you can see the texture of the weave through the clear coat. Really amazing!!

JerryU

Sorry for your problems.

FWIW, I bought my carbon fiber side skirts from LG Motorsports (a forum vender) for my 2014 C7. Finish looked great and the same 3 years after the install, when I recently sold it. The OEM carbon fiber roof was the same-looked new. Definatly helped the selling price along with the CF splitter, hood vent and real CF cover for the grill bar.

No reason for your problems.

User Omega

I am interested in the outcome of this. Please keep us up to date.

Connman

Status? Pics??
Was also looking for some CF parts and very interested in the resolution...
Thanks

JerryU

Boy, after reading all these posts would think you's be looking at C7 Carbon (where i bought my CF splitter) that they make from fiberglass covered with CF cloth.

Cheaper than my LG Motorsports all CF side skirts but would buy from them again as not only a Forum Vendor, great service. Loved those skirts and so did the buyer of my 2014 C7! All the CF helped get a good price on resale.

vettebuyer6369

As the only recent posts are now uninvolved third parties suggesting other vendors, I will close this thread.

If the OP or the vendor has additional information or resolution, please contact me by PM and I will add it to the thread.