My opinion is that you shouldn't do that. If he's done right by her, then telling him that won't help him. If he has done the wrong thing, that will just alert him that it's about to hit the fan. I think you should just let her read what we've collected and go after him. If she's wrong, she won't be able to get very far. If she's right, he's committed fraud, and very likely mail fraud, or what is it, fraud by wire, so the FBI should be called. Don't give him a heads up!

Unfortunately in this industry there are a lot of these guys. That's why it can be so difficult for good honest installers to make it, when a lot of builders and consumers in general have heard horror stories.

Good idea. Anyway to check bankruptcy and obits online? I'm not living in TX.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR REPLY

Mmmm. yes, well the same can be said for Dr.s, Attorneys, Car Mechanics, Plumbers, Electricians, Roofers, Painters, Drywallers, Realtors, Mortgage Brokers, Tile Guys, Cabinet Guys --- you get the idea.


That's why it can be so difficult for good honest installers to make it, when a lot of builders and consumers in general have heard horror stories.

I've been screwed over by more than a few builders in my time! Sorry to rant.

Hi all,

Sorry for the confusion. I guess I would be confused too, now that I'm rereading the post.
Rebecca is Brent's wife. That's the address I wired money too.

The Control4 site is in Shanghai where I live. The product was being shipped to NYC where I was to pick it up and bring it back to China to avoid shipping costs.


Yes, that article is me. Yes I'm an MIT grad.
The residence where Control4 was to be installed is a GREEN RESIDENTIAL SHOWCASE. The first of its kind in Shanghai (maybe China).
By the way, I'm also having lots of problems with the automatic light sensors we installed. Can anyone recommend a good brand? Some are not turning off at all, some are not turning on fast enough (probably a positioning thing).

THANKS TO ALL for replying to this thread.
I'm horrified that this happened.

A side effect is that I'm hearing a lot of negative things about Control4 which is unfortunate. We didn't want to go the Crestron route because it's too high end for what we need to accomplish. There are also maybe one+ competent dealers here in Shanghai, whereas Control4 seemed like it could be tweaked remotely. And I like Zigbee.

If anyone cares, you can look up what we are doing to accelerate Smart Grid in China at our website www.juccce.com. I mention this only because at some point it will relate to home automation.

Thanks again to all,
Peggy

Thats funny. C4 is built in China, but has to be picked up in NYC to be transported back to China to use in a special project home.

I would get in touch with C4. They possibly would be interested in the project, and knowing about your current situation (dealer).

Dont forget about its stop in Texas :).

Was Brent going to go to Shanghai? What an idiot to miss out on that!

I sent her our reps email. He is also Brents (who is on C4's forum as I type this, not posting as usual, lurking) rep as well. We have had our share of hard times in 11 years in business. If something happened, be honest. Dont hide. We all know the economy sucks right now. I have builders with invoices over 90 days now.

IMO...

Brent selling parasound over the internet and this whole buy it from texas then ship it to NYC then smuggle it to China smells like price shopping and lessons about to be learned. (you get what you pay for)

I doubt Brent was ever headed to China. The "seemed like it could be tweaked remotely" comment sounds like someone assumed/promised that all the configuration & programming could be done remotely. We all know thats a joke.

Whether its URC, RTI, C4, AMX, Crestron or a Denon AV Receiver... someone who knows what they are doing has to have their hands on it at some point if you ever want it to work correctly.

YES
In fact, I'm still looking for someone to help terminate all my cables and test.
Still need all my switches and equipment to be setup.
And control4 to be programmed (too late- picked it- have product in walls).

Would anyone like to spend a few days in Shanghai?
I can provide economy air, lodging, food if you will swap me labor and product discounts :)
For anyone who is wondering why I need to import labor, China doesn't have any AV skilled labor. The couple that are here really don't perform the same services. It's hard even to find office IT professionals to lay out wiring.

Peggy

I sent you an e-mail Peggy.

After encountered problems after problems. And Peggy still not learned the expensive lesson .... 'problems'. Please give up the ideas on being a cheapo.

Hi all,

Thanks for your posts.
Some more info in reply.
I have wired him money before and he did very diligently ship the Control4 equipment to me. It's the second shipment that he did not send.
I wired the money, not a check.
He has already been to Shanghai once before.

I was worried that maybe he was dead, but it seems like he is trolling the blogs. Good news, bad news.

I would really just like to get my product at this point.
Then I still need to find someone to terminate and test my cables (new build) and program Control4.

Ugh.

The sad thing is that we are using this as an environmental residence showcase for the non-profit I work for, JUCCCE. We're trying really hard to accelerate the greening of China. We have a 20 page supplement in a leading Chinese design magazine that we were going to showcase this in.

We're also working closely with chinese utilities to stir up interest in the first major smart grid deployment in China. Of course this relates to home automation.

There are almost no A/V professionals in mainland China, so I was working with Brent remotely to install this entire system.

Brent, if you are out there, please get in touch with me. At least have the courtesy of shipping the product to me.

Peggy,

Yuet Yu or Pinyin?