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HEADS UP KEISLER TRANSMISSION files for bankruptcy
Pay attention if ya ordered one...posted on the chevelle site...I have no idea how they found it
http://business-bankruptcies.com/cas...ngineering-inc |
They've been robbing Peter to pay Paul a long time.
I hate it for the employees but not for the namesake......... |
No surprise. But it could also be a good opportunity for Autogear or McCleod since they never came through with their 5 speed trans.:rolleyes:
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If this is true (and it appears to be), they are liquidating and not reorganizing. Sad to see, especially for anyone owned money or product.
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I'm not that familiar with their transmissions but what are people with those transmissions to do about replacement parts? Sad all the way around.
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A TKO is a TKO. :)
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I don't know anything about the parties or the BK, but I have looked at the product and was thinking of getting one.
I wouldn't be surprised if some larger company didn't step in and buy the assets for pennies on the dollar and start building them under a re-marketed name. All of the design and development work is done, a company would have far less of an investment rebooting this program than starting from scratch. The product with it's number of gears, spacing, tq capacity and direct fit profile probably has a broad niche. JMHO, Stan |
I posted several months ago when David Jones was going through h3ll trying to get his trans....my main concern was that such a shaky company would go bankrupt, leaving trans owners out in the cold regarding warranty, parts, and service. That alone was reason enough not to risk a purchase. And, it has come to pass. A great idea and product, but under-funded and produced by 'car guys' and not businessmen. A sad situation, indeed.
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I believe Transporter is right. There will be parts and service somewhere. It may take a while to firm up. I can't believe Keisler's in house products were completely proprietary. They modified my TKO but that was limited to shaving on the case to ease install. The offset shifter I believe was in house too?
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They'll most likely bounce back.
Crane Cams went bankrupt in 2009, Barry Grant went bankrupt in 2009, Holley went bankrupt in 2008, and MSD Ignitions in 2013. They all came back. |
If so, how many innocent folk get screwed in the process? I wonder how many orders they took knowing they'd never fill them?
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That, is a good question? I am not defending them, (have no idea who "them" is) but to be honest, going BK might not of been their choice, it may have come down to a bank closing the door even thought the company may have been climbing out of the hole. They may have had every intention of filling every order, but got overruled by whom ever they owed money to, it happens. |
Curious for data: Did a Keisler Stick Transmission make it down the 1/4 mile going 10's or quicker?
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up to $10 mill in the hole...
i would imagine there will be lawsuits etc after the fact, because today, you can order a trans, and they will take your money.. im sure their intellectual property is for sale..or will be, i cant see the courts letting them keep that.. from day one, ive heard nothing but bad stuff..then it got a little better..poor business practices for sure... |
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Well, almost.
Creditors Abundant Manufacturing, Inc. ADAM CAVALIER ADAMS GARAGE ADVANCE AUTO PARTS AL DECKARD AL GRECO AL RITTER ALAIN GAGNE 2 ALBERT JONES ALBERT MELCHIOR show 586 more creditors… Alcoa Tenn FCU Alcoa Tenn Federal Credit Union ALL TRANSMISSION PARTS ALLOWAY CORP ALLSTATE CONTAINERS, INC AMERICAN CLASSICS AMERICAN OVERDRIVES AMERICAN SPEED CENTER AMERICAN SPEEDSHOP AMOS PRESS, INC. ANDERS PERSSON ANDREW JEWELL ANDY HIXSON ANTHONY GRACE ANTHONY GUILLEBEAU ANTHONY MARCHIO ANTHONY SILVA ARG STAFFING ART MCADAMS ART PAAPE AUTO DOCTOR OF WARMINSTER Auto Trader Publishing B & E PERFORMANCE BARRIE CARSON BART IMMINGS BART PINSON BB& T BERTELKAMP AUTOMATION, INC. BEST OF SHOW AUTOMOTIVE BIG 3 PERFORMANCE Bill Baer BILL BOYNETT BILL CASEY BILL KUSHNICK BILL LEVKNECHT BILLET BADGES INC BLACK BOX NETWORK SERVICES Blake & Pendleton Blount County Clerk Blount County Trustee BLUE SKY CLASSIC CARS BOB BEAUREGARD BOB DEPALMA BOB HAZEL BOB MARTELLA BOB PETROKAS Bob Schulli BOB STAGG BOB'S HOT ROD SHOP BOERNE STAGE BODY SHOP BOISE MUFFLER SHOP Boxing Cat Automotive BRAD ERICKSON BRAD HANSON BRAD RANDALL BRADLEY WAITKUS BRADY HESS BRAND MOFFATT BRANDON IURATO BRAU HOLDINGS LLC BRET WHITE BRETT WARNER BRIAN BELL BRIAN HOPE BRIAN JULIEN BRIAN KERNS BRIAN LANGFORD BRIAN SCHMID BRIAN WILLIAMS 4 Bristol Motor Speedway BRYAN DODDS BRYAN ERICSON BRYAN RAINES BRYCE GOODMAN BUZZY BONDURANT CABIN CREEK SPECIALTIES CALEB MEEKHOF CALVIN NABORS AUTOMOTIVE CAM AUTO CREATIONS CARL AGURCIA CARL FISHER CARL WELLS CARL YORK CARLO BETTINELLI CAROLINA CUSTOM RIDES CASEY LING CASSIDY'S ROD & CUSTOM CCR 9 PRODUCTIONS, LLC CENTURY SPRING, CORP. CERTIFIED TRANSMISSION CHAD MONTHAN CHARLES FATSEAS CHARLES MEADOWS Charley Trotter CHARLIE KLERNER CHET VARNER CHRIS CERVELLI CHRIS CORRIDON CHRIS FOLEY CHRIS RODGERS CHRIS SAVIO CHRIS STUMPF CHUCK JENNE CHUCK ZITO City of Maryville Electric CLARK BOWDRY CLASSIC & PERFORMANCE CARS LTD CLIF HENRY CLYDE STEWART COLIN SCHISCHKA COLT JOHNSON COLTON HOFFMAN CONRAD RICKS CONSOLIDATED TRANSMISSIONS CONTEMPORARY CLASSICS Copper Conferencing Cor-Tenn Company CORVETTE CENTER OF HI CORVETTE CENTRAL INDUSTRIES CORVETTE CONVERSION CENTRE CORVETTE MALBURG CORVETTE MIKE 2 CORVETTE RESTORATIONS CORVETTE SCHWEIZER & US CARS COVERALL OF EASTERN TENNESSEE CRAIG CLARKE CUSTOM CARS UNLIMITED CUSTOM CLASSICS, SA D&P CLASSIC CHEVY DAISY AUTO CARE DALE HODSON DALE LATIMER DAN COVERT DAN EUSTACE DAN WAGNER DANIEL SWAIN DANNY STEININGER DARIN MYERS DARK HORSE CUSTOMS DARREN HANCOCK DAVE AGUIAR DAVE BISHOP DAVE BOREY DAVE BOURQUEIN DAVE GARBER DAVE GOTTA DAVE HARMER DAVE HILL DAVE HOCANSON DAVE MCWILLIAMS Dave Odehnal DAVID ALDRIDGE DAVID AUSMAN DAVID BERRY 2 DAVID BRYANT DAVID GONZALES 3 DAVID GROSS DAVID INGRAM DAVID MCCULLOUGH DAVID SANDAGER DAVID YOUNGBERG DEAN DAVIS DEAN HEIDEMAN DEAN HUSTLER Delta Research Corp. Deltacom Department of the Treasury DEREK MELHORN DEUCES WILD HOTRODS AND CUSTOMS INC DEVLIN ROD AND CUSTOMS Diamond Systems, LLC DON HUTTON DON'S EAST COAST RESTORATIONS DONALD DICKINSON DONALD POWELL Donna B. Walker, CPA DONS EAST COAST RESTORATIONS DOOLEY AND SONS DOUG SORRELL DOUG TUMBLESON DOYLE BAYER DUNTOV MOTOR COMPANY DUSTIN JONES EDDIE HIXSON EDWARD KIM EMPLOYERS PREFERRED INSURANCE COMPANY ENGINE FACTORY ERIC COOKE ERIK MARTINSEN ERISA SERVICES EXPRESS PACKAGING FALCO FAST FREDDIE'S FERGUSON DRIVE SHAFT FIRMAN AMBERG First Tennessee FLOYD FURR FRANCISCO SAA FRANK CERRATO FRANK DANKERT FRANK MAROTTA FRANK VERNOLA FRED FOSTER FRED ZWIGER FREDRIK BENGZON FRITZ KESSLER FROG SPECIALTIES GABE LORETI GALEN VASCONCELLOS GARY FIFER Gary Stewart 2 GATEWAY CLASSIC MUSTANG GENE DEL BELLO GENE KEETON GENERAL LEE TRADING GEORGE MONTANARO GEORGE RAMUSACK GERARD MOURIES GERRY MARUMOTO GILLES GUZZO GLENN PUTEK GRAEME WILSON GRAHAM MCDONALD GRANT RIMBACK 1 GREENVILLE MOTOR SPORTS Greg Brittingham GREG JOHNSON 4 GREG MACE GREG NICKERSON GREGORY BERGAMASCHI GROUND UP GULDSTRAND CORVETTE HAMLIN AUTO HAROLD HIEBERT Harris Publications, Inc. HENRY VEENSTRA HH AUTO PARTS OF ELYRIA HIROYUKI ARAI HIS PLACE HOFFMAN AUTOMOTIVE 2 HOLLEY SMITH HOLSTON GASES HOWIE JEFFRIES HP Performance, LLC IMAGE MATTERS IMT YORK INNOVATIVE CUSTOM ENGINEERING Internal Revenue Service JAMES GUERRIERO JAMES MOODY III JAMES NEWTON James R. Keisler III (Trey) JAMES THOMPSON 3 JAMIE WILLIAMS JANO MIKAJ JASON CARLSON JASON EDWARDS2 JASON NOSKO JASON PARSONS JC RODRIGUEZ JEAN LATIMER JEFF CAIN JEFF DAUBERT JEFF LINDEN JEFF NEUFELD JEFF POLLARD 2 JEFF PURCELL JERE CLARKE Jeremy Parker JET-FAB INC. JIANGLING MOTORS IMP. & EXP. CO., JMIE JIM BROWN 3 JIM CAIN JIM CONDON JIM FORD JIM GLASS JIM JARRETT JIM MAYS JIM THOMPSON1 JK MOTORSPORTS JODY HALL JOE ALEXANDER JOE COTTNER JOE MIKEL JOE MOSIER 2 JOE STOPSKI JOEY TOCCI JOHN BOURGEOIS JOHN GRINDER JOHN LANDRY JOHN MCCARTHY 2 JOHN PARTHEMORE JOHN RUSH 2 JOHN STANNERS JOHN STRATTON JOHN TOMASSETTI JOHN YDE JOSEPH MEDLIN KEITH DIXON KEITH ROMAN KEITH'S ROD & CUSTOM KEN ALDEN KEN COOK 3 KEN HUTTEMA KEN PRATT KEN REIMER KEN SAUCIER Ken Schliessman KENNETH SNOW KENNETH TERRY 2 KEVIN CELLEY KEVIN EAKLE KEVIN FLEET KEVIN FRYER KEVIN LEWIS2 KEVIN NELSON KEVINS AUTO RESTORATION AND REPAIR King-Thompson, Inc. Knox Chapman Utility District KNOXVILLE RUBBER & GASKET KOEHLKE COMPONENTS, INC. KURT ANDERSON 2 LANCE CUNNINGHAM FORD LARRY B. FURR LARRY JONES2 LASER PRECISE, INC Lawrence Cyburt LE CLAIRE MANUFACTURING CO. LEE COMSTOCK Legend Gear & Transmission AR LEWIS GARRETT LIGHTNIN RODS LKQ Automotive Core Services LKQ- ALCOA #142 LOGAN WALKER LOUIE HUNTER LOVETT MACHINE PRODUCTS, INC. LSC PERFORMANCE Luedeka, Neely & Graham P.C. LUKE LAPRAD LYNN OLSEN M DETAIL/BC CLASSIC AND PERFORMANCE MAC MCMILLAN MAGNA CLASSICS MARK GEIGER Mark Jendrek, P.C. MARK W. SHERMAN MARK WILKINSON MARTIN HOERATH MARYLAND MUSCLECAR MATT HAUCK MATT HENSLEY MATTHEW PAYTON MCACN, LLC. MEL VOGELZANG METRO MOLDED PARTS, INC MICHAEL DeSOCIO MICHAEL DIEHL MICHAEL RIHA MICHAEL RIVES MICHAEL SPINO MICHAEL TIMANUS MIDLAND INDUSTRIES MIKE FERRARRO MIKE GEBHART MIKE LANDALS MIKE MACKEY MIKE MAIBACH MIKE MCBAIN MIKE MILLER 3 MIKE MONDLOCH MIKE NELSON2 MIKE PATRICK MIKE PATTON MIKE QUINLAN MIKE SCOTT 2 MIKE YERKAN MINGE'S UNIVERSAL SERVICE MISTER TRANSMISSION Misumi USA, Inc. Mopar Collector's Guide MOPAR SHOP GERMANY Motion Industries MOTOR STATE (PARTS) MOTOR STATE DISTRIBUTING(Trans) MSC Muncie Casting Corp MUSCLECAR ADDICTION MUSCLECAR FACTORY MYRON LUCE NEAL HARE NICHOLAS COOPER NORMAN ABBOTT NuCycle Toner & Ink OFFICE DEPOT PAT O'LINN PATRICK GODIN PATRICK WOODCOCK PAUL CHAIT PAUL GUILLAUME PAUL ROWLING PAUL SAUNDERS FORMERLY STERLING CUSTOMS PAUL TOWER PAUL WARNER PAUL WASEMILLER PAUL YOUNG 2 PEDER MANSSON PERFORMANCE SOLUTIONS INC. Peter Brooks(vendor) PETER ISAACSON PETTERI ULJAS PHIL OBRIEN PHIL SOUCY PHILLIP HEBERT Pitney Bowes Global Financial Svc, LLC Pitney Bowes Postage Machine PITNEY BOWES PURCHASE POWER PORT MURRAY AUTO CRC RESTORATION POSIES INC POWERTRAIN CONTROL SOLUTIONS, LLC PRECISION ENTERPRISES, INC. Precision Millwrights & Consultants, Inc PRECISION ROD & CUSTOMs PRECISION ROD & CUSTOM Prestolite Wire Corp PRI PROFORMS PROMOTION PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS PROTECH USA Quality Tool & Gear, Inc. R NEWTON RABCO PRODUCTS CORP. Radical Restorations RAM CLUTCHES RANDY WELCH RAY BARTON RACING ENGINES Ray Cavignac RAY JARMUSZ RAYMOND VIRGILE RED DEER SPEED AND CUSTOM REINER SCHMIDT RESTORATION STATION RESTORATIONS BY JULIUS RICH IRELAND RICH ROSETTI RICHARD ARREDONDO RICHARD ASH RICHARD BORDELON RICHARD ESQUEDA RICHARD HILL RICHARD MORLEY RICHARD SOUTHWICK RICHARD SPENCER RICHARD STEVENSON RICK CHOATE RICK DAPELO RICK KERSCHNER RICK MANTHEI RICK MARTIN RICK PLATH RIGHT STUFF INC. ROBERT DIPPEL ROBERT DUTRA ROBERT ESTABROOK ROBERT FRITZ ROBERT GARCIA ROBERT HITCH ROBERT SHAPIRO 2 ROBERT WEBER ROBERTO GUTIERREZ ROD HOMEN ROGER DENGEL RON MALINE RON SMITH RON SNYDER RONALD HANSEN RONALD K MCVAY RORY HOSTETER ROSS DIEHL ROYAL BRASS, INC RUSSELL AUTO INC. RUSSELL JONES RYAN PRICE RYAN THORSON SAIA Motor Freight Line, Inc. SAL GARCIA SAM BURNETT SAM RAMIREZ SCHMIT PROTOTYPES SCHOOL OF AUTOMOTIVE MACHINISTS SCHULDT AUTO BODY SCOTT HARGROVE SCOTT MCCLURE Scott Russell (emp) SEAN CALVERT SEIVERLING SERVICE INC. Selective Insurance Company of America SEMA SHOW SHANE BOYLE SHAUN CARTER 2 SHAUN VEST SHEAN KELLEY SHERMAN & ASSOCIATES,INC. SMITHFIELD MANUFACTURING, INC. SMITHS PAINT AND BODY SHOP SOUTH GEORGIA CORVETTE Southern Impact Research Center SPECIALITY METALS SPECTRA SPEED SHOP BOEHI AG SPOILED ROTTEN AUTO STAN SMITH STEVE DENAPLE STEVE PUTZSTUCK STEVE SALE STEVEN ARMELIN STEVEN RADOS STINGRAY AUTO TECH STINGRAYS VINTAGE CORVETTE PARTS STONE MOUNTAIN AUTOMOTIVE TAKANOBU WATANABE TED HAYES TED HRNCIREK Tennessee Department of Revenue Tennessee Department of Revenue Sales T TEPPO INKINEN TERRY HOLDER TERRY LECLERE Thomas Frysinger THOMAS HART THOMAS MCGAHAN THOMAS PORTNER TIM CARON TIM DONOVAN TIM FLINN TIM GARDNER TIM TYNER TMJ AUTO TN CLASSIC AUTO TODD DISHON TODD MORIYA TOM AEVERMANN TOM LANYON 2 TOM OKEEFE TOMMY BENSBURG TONY FUSCO TONY HOLMAN 2 TR TRADING INC TradeMark Designs, Inc. TROY HULL TROY MEEK TROY'S TOY SHOP TYLER FRANCO TYSON EARNEST U-line United States Treasury UNLIMITED LINEHAUL LLC V. Alexander & Co., Inc. VALTEK PRECISION INC VAN HOLST AUTO LTD. VAUDIE LADD Verizon Wireless VICTOR BEAUDRY VICTOR WILLIAMS VINCENT GIBSON VINCENT TUFARIELLO VIRGINIA LASER CORPORATION VOLUNTEER VETTE PRODUCTS, INC. WADE PETERS WAGNER PRECISION ROTARY INSTRUMENTS, LLC WALLY DREZDOFF WALTER KILLIAN WALTER OHR Washing Equipment of Tennessee WAYNE LAMERE Wesley Chang WILBUR JONES Wildwood Properties Wildwood Properties, LLC WILHITE AUTO SERVICE WILLIAM HICKMAN WILLIAM ROUSH Wright Tool, Inc. XV MOTORSPORTS ZACHARY CRIVELLI ZF Services North America, LLC |
holey moley.....look at all the normal peoples names...what a shame
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I bet that guy Internal Revenue Service gets his first!
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Well I guess I can kiss my drive shaft goodbye!
What was Kauffman business relationship to keisler? |
If you paid with a credit card there's still hope
Call NOW and dispute the charges. You may get your money back.
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Crazy, that list! Wow! I recall a few guys here saying they were going to get on that list after plenty of people warning against it. :eek:
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If they were in fact taking orders they knew would never be filled, they are pure scum!
I suspect at least one name on that list won't care about a bankruptcy and will take matters into their own hands. |
If they owe that many they will not be coming back.
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Those folks floated Shafi's lifestyle. Sucks. Truly sucks.
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From what I gathered up is Keisler was a dealer and not a manufacture of the product although they did modify some parts for the trans, for the most part they purchased everything and did assembly at their location. Look at these two web sites for more info and everything still for sale and nothing to do with Keisler as a company.
http://www.legendgt.com www.sprakerracing.com Gregg |
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You didn't say which "leg" either you are height challenged or I am jealous. |
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Be interesting to know how much is owed to legend. Hopefully they don't get sucked down the drain with Shafi or should I say Shafti. |
Call your credit card company to dispute the charges
Don't waste time with the seller. They're done.
The credit card issuer is the one you need to file a dispute with. Good luck! |
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Yeah you're right. The list is out, papers already filed. That phone isn't going to be answered unless a creditor security guard happens to pick it up. |
I think if they knew and still took $ then thats willful Fraud punishable by law and maybe the bankruptcy could be stopped by the judge.
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There are some long waiting customers with partial down payments have stated on other online forums that Keisler called them last week asking for authorization to run the remainder of their order payment on their credit cards. At that point its hard to deny that the owner and at least some management at Keisler was full aware that they were about to file for bankruptcy.
On 1/15, a day before Keisler filed for bankruptcy, they posted a picture on their Facebook page "Check out our products at PRC" like business was usual. I posted a comment yesterday asking what will happen to their products now that they filed Chapter 7 and they deleted the comment along with disabling comments on everything they have posted. There is a pretty nasty review from a "David Gross" stating that Keisler has all his money for a year but have never shipped any product. Unfortunately he is on the list of creditors. |
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As above, if you can't get your credit card company involved, there's about a 99.9% chance you're screwed, blued and tattooed. :( |
No personal knowledge of their products.....so what is/was their flagship product?
Their own Tremec overdrives, a Tremec distributor or did they custom mfg complete systems off Tremec tranny platform? What were they (actually) manufacturing? |
seems probable that 90% of those listed above are...YELLOW BULLET MEMBERS.
huh. |
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It seems the pyramid hath collapsed....... |
Quote from a Legend Gear employee on a Buick forum:
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I see reference in some threads to a (owner) lady and her lifestyle.....what's the back story on her? |
This is why you run your card as credit and not debit, debit your screwed, credit can dispute.
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This was posted on a similar thread over on Moparts.
An Important Message from Shafi Keisler, Founder of Keisler Engineering. Dear Customers, Friends and Associates of KEISLER Engineering; On January 16 2014, I halted operations of Keisler Engineering Inc by filing it into Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. The motivation to place KE into Ch7 was a very recent decision, spurred by a run of order cancellations and refunds by concerned customers. Many of these concerned customers had spoken to our competitors that have been pouring on the negativity and rumors of KE shutting down since 2008. These are primarily two (2) competitors - one located in Cookeville TN and the other in Sacramento CA. The order cancellations created a cash flow problem for KE, and placed new customer orders at risk. I took the initiative to refund all new order deposits going back to Thursday January 9 2014 once I realized the company was at risk of closure. KE had a bright start to 2013, filling nearly 400 SS700 orders, along with RS, TREMEC and A41. Sales numbers overall were strong for the first half of 2013. KE's second half of 2013 was marred by supply and pricing problems at Legend Gear & Transmission and its gear manufacturing partner Abundant Manufacturing Inc in Statesville NC. AMI's own business problems stifled production of the components needed to build the LGT700 base unit. This was worsened by KE's inability to pay its 2011/2012 past due to AMI of nearly $300K, along with Legend's own inability to pay its 2013 past due to KE of nearly $100K. Then Legend implemented a tremendous price increase to KE of $900 per unit in the 3rd quarter, and changed their selling terms to require a $1000 down payment 12 weeks in advance of shipping the non-customized LGT700 base unit. And every shipment of LGT700 units or components KE received had quality problems requiring weeks of delays while LGT had to replace parts. And no Legend assembled LGT700 ever met quality standard, which required KE to disassemble and rework, causing a major slide in delivery. Every one of these factors impacted KE's financial strength and the ability to fill these sold SS700 orders. I was seeking to replace Legend/Abundant Mfg with a better supplier for 2014. The Rallye Sport program was well on its way to becoming a brand new transmission, and completely independent of Legend. At the time of KE's closure a majority of the orders were in-process to be completed. The TREMEC program including the TKO and T56 was the foundation of the Keisler 5-speed so widely known since I developed these kits and the market as a whole starting in the late 90s. By 2005, KE was generating close to $1 Million dollars in NET profit, which is why the competitors referenced above were so keen to do whatever it takes to grab business away from KE. By 2008, my former sales manager GF and supposed friend RH who I gifted an entire business to him to begin his new career, unknowingly began selling the CA competitor's product under my name and customers called us complaining. I confronted them and learned they were not my trusted friends. In fact they used everything I taught them in sales, marketing to get their piece of the market pie at my expense. The new status quo with them and the CA competitor was to insult KE, and this became their method of operation ever since. The greed factor with GF/RH escalated to a new level in 2010 when they hired one of our longtime salesman to slander us publically in the forums and ultimately take more than 1.4 Million in sales from us, according to his deposition in Knox Chancery Court where he was deposed during the 2012 trial Keisler Engineering vs. Gene Charsha. During this trial, which the transcripts were written, GF took the stand and attempted to convince the judge that their business was substantially different than KE and that they were not a competitor. The judge did not agree with GF and ruled in our favor. But KE was saddled with over $30K in legal costs to fight this battle. Additionally a number of vendor relationships were further compromised as GF solicited some of KE's vendors to make the same product for his business, including propriety bellhousings and driveshafts components to name a few. Returning from the 2011 PRI trade show in Orlando FL, I had to go to one of my vendor's foundry and physically remove the Keisler owned Mopar big block bellhousing tooling that GF had them run parts for him. I recorded the conversation with this unscrupulous vendor and was just shocked to see how low some people will go. Indeed, KE's pockets were ripe to be picked by our competitors. In 2010, KE was blindsided by TREMEC Corp (a Mexico corporation with offices in Detroit area) when they suddenly terminated our Elite Distributorship Jan 17 2010 with no warning and no cure period. We less than six (6) weeks to purchase product to fill remaining orders only, could not purchase any additional inventory, and the termination was non-negotiable. In fact, this was illegal practice in Tennessee law, but in Michigan law where my Distributorship Agreement was in place, it was acceptable practice. This action was taken by Lee Davis, the Director of US Sales operations at the time. In a recorded phone call between Lee Davis and my business manager Bruce Skolfield, Davis disclosed that he was fulfilling his intentions to terminate KE - his largest distributor in the Aftermarket and one that sold more than Ford Motorsports - because of his dislike of me and that my former sales people-turned-competitors would eventually fill the loss of KE to the market. The Mexican top management in Mexico City did not really care about the Aftermarket branch because the volume was small compared to the OEM volume and they let Lee Davis and his people do whatever they wanted with the Aftermarket as long as the OEM was taken care of. Years earlier, Lee Davis, over dinner at SEMA Las Vegas in 2005 November in the presence of four others including the current Manager for Tremec Aftermarket Sales, said very clearly that he was "going to knocks the legs out from under Keisler Engineering if KE did not do business his way." This was a total shock, and for the ensuing hour I was lambasted over multiple issues ranging from Davis not liking the Keisler 5-speed name being better known than Tremec name in the classic car aftermarket. Other unfounded grievances were the Tremec logo I used on every web page representing his product should have been bigger, or higher up on the page, that he didn't like the dark background color of the my web-site. It was at that dinner that I decided to pursue the diversification of KE and to not have all of my eggs in one basket. In the May of 2006, I purchased General Motor's MUNCIE Transmission manufacturing line at a cost of 3.89 Million Dollars ($3,890,000.00) under a new company - American Gear & Transmission - and moved these assets to Tennessee to start-up a new company This move to start a new American transmission company in the wake of GM Muncie's closure sealed KE's fate of Davis' threats. When the termination of KE's Elite Distributorship when down March 1 2010, within a few days the manager of Tremec Aftermarket Sales issued a letter to all 150+ distributors of Tremec mandating them not to sell to KE at any price - even full retail - or their distributorship would be TERMINATED. A second letter was sent out to the same effect and I have both of these letters. I sought legal advise about this, and learned what Tremec Aftermarket Sales was doing appeared to be "Boycotting" which is a Federal Trade law violation carrying very stiff penalties and triple damages to the offended party. But I would have to file suit in Federal Court in Michigan and the case would be expensive and lengthy because of the way Federal lawsuits are processed. At that point in time, I decided to focus on survival of KE and not pursue the lawsuit at that time. Within a couple months, I led formation of Legend Gear & Transmission with the owners of Abundant Mfg. and brought them the transmission design and marketing which is now known as the LGT700 and the Legend Gear & Transmission company. KE found a work-around for the Tremec's boycotting, and product continued to flow from several several distributors that were wise to Federal trade laws. Even though Tremec implemented a "secret shopper" scheme in 2010/2011 in efforts to stop this American Entrepreur's small business, I continued to press on. I kept all of this under my hat, all the while my competitors were bragging to our customers that Tremec did this. I have tried to take "the high road" through the years and always do what is right for the customer, the employees vendors ahead of my personal needs. Accordingly, in the months before closure of KE, I had not drawn a salary or income from the company. My wife and I downsized in a major way, putting the home and farm we built for sale and moving to a small rental home. The process of building KE from a garage operations in 1991 to a company that has sold more than $65 Million Dollars of product to over 16,000 customers has not been an easy one, but it has been a rewarding one. It is my hope and expectation that buyers for the remaining assets of KE will purchase these and put the assets back to work in new companies. In fact, I sold the Keisler PerfectFit kit & manufacturing assets for Tremec TKO & T56 to Liberty Gears - a Tremec Elite Distributor in Taylor Michigan. Liberty Gears - a family run business - has been around since the 1960s and has tremendous capabilities that complement what KE was doing for the market. By adding the highly engineered Keisler TKO and T56 kits to Liberty's existing capabilities for internal upgrades, the resulting product line further places Liberty in a class of their own. I plan to support Liberty Gears in their pursuits to offer the very best Tremec TKO & T56 kits to the market. In my efforts going forward, I intend to work with the Trustee of Keisler Engineering for the benefit of every creditor of Keisler Engineering - both its customers and vendors - that had open balances. This process will take time and patience on everyone's behalf. I ask for your support and patience while the Trustee and I work thru the Chapter 7 process. I understand the frustration that those of you with standing orders or supplier accounts with KE will have, and I am sorry that you must endure this. But please work with us and brighter days will be ahead. Sincerely, Shafi Keisler, Founder, President & CEO thru Jan 15 2014 Keisler Engineering, Inc. |
a lot of tap dancing there....for customers, i hope they are taken care of...
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If you are blaming order cancellations on your inability to fulfill the current orders that you still have, that's a house of cards that deserves to collapse (I believe we call that a pyramid scheme). You're essentially saying that taking people's money to fulfill other people's orders is required to do business, but that only works when you continue to have more orders coming in (aka suckers who have the potential to be left in the cold).
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Mostly, he's full of ****. He ACTED like he was a Tremec Elite dist. He acted like he was a lot of stuff. It caught him. Blame it on order cancellations. Well, duh.
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Kinda Ironic ....
Read the " Latest News " from their website .....
@ http://www.keislerauto.com/recent-news/ I guess #4 did not work out so well ..... :oogle: Jim |
Maybe it was #6's fault.
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http://proparanoid.files.wordpress.c.../08/bernie.jpg |
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