50 Shades of UFOBAITCO

[A7T3C]

I want to tell you a story...about a young'ish man, who aspired to own a UFO Mothership.

I've never owned a Ship, have had plenty of chances to buy one (as we all do from SU/SBU, corner of 9th Street, etc) but figured hey let's reach out to the maker themselves. Let me show them some small business support, instead of buying it second-hand. I do own several 6" Wakes, they catch, they're cool and fun, they do well on my home lakes.

I reached out to @ufobaitco (yes I'm tagging you, you blocked me, so deal with my publicized story. luvyoubae) back in March of this year to see if I could get lucky with info on any upcoming Ship drops or maybeeee a fresh pre-order. I was told he'd actually be making some Ships soon as he's received some recent requests, and that I could join in on the pre-order party! #winning - but was I really? Money sent, queue wifey death stares. Let's go boys, we're locked in.

I've attached some screenshots, they tell the story for me, though there's conversation for days and days in between. I realize sh*t happens, that's life, we're all busy, bait makers probably busier than most. But all I and many others are looking for when pre-ordering baits is to not be led on with false promises. I would of been more than happy to wait for my Ship or any other bait, had I just been told from the go it could be 3-6 months or varying timeframe. What prompted me to make the post? Open and honest feedback, and to let others be informed before money is sent out as an interest free loan.

Brother your baits catch, straight up - you'll continue to sell many more too and I'm happy for your success. But you lost a genuine supporter with how this was handled. I know a few personally that have had similar experiences. USPS is not that complicated, and I'll never believe that the 'Acceptance Status' (pending for days) is anything more than a label being added to a bulk order, with the bait never really being sent out. Accusations sure, yes, but I stand by my opinion. One of the last goal dates you gave me, you even offered it to be free had you not met that deadline. But when I ask you about honoring the offer, you get Spicy McChicken on me - why? I'm just going by your words.

I've done lots of deals with people here and SBU, I stand by being an easy to work with and understanding dude.

So we're clear, I'm fine with the end-result of this story. My money was ultimately refunded, as he so offered me many times before. I never seen a picture of my completed ship, but a nice 6" pic was provided to hold me over.

All I wanted was my bait, the 6 month novela wasn't needed.

My Sunday rant/dialogue is over, ty for coming to my Ted talk.

[JacksonF]

[JacksonF]

Almost identical experience here. I’m sure most people were aware of how big of a supporter I was for ufo baits, but after getting similar treatment from him and hearing this happen to many other people, I can’t and won’t support him. I have 0 UFOs now, I had 31 at one point. I’ve never heard of someone having sooooooo many baits “lost” in the mail, most that were never even scanned in by the post office as being received. His baits catch fish, no doubt about that, but his customer service is horrible these days. I’d rather fish baits from the guys that care about their customers

[LipRipper707]

Last time I said something similar that happened to me and a local buddy of mine he posted screenshots of him saying he was going to hook it up and everyone gave him props….. he never made it right lol couldn’t pay me to fish a ufo. Dude has the worst luck with baits never being scanned in by post office and supposably lost by them lol

[Whammy]

That’s a shame to hear man, even worse that it’s not the first nor the second time I’ve heard very similar stories, as well as experiencing the banhammer first hand with an IG block of my own. Worse still, I couldn’t tell you why I was blocked other than I sold all of my baits after finally being frustrated enough to do so. I am sure it related to “flipping”, and if so that’s fine. I had explicit amounts of money invested in other baits of his, including $400 I paid for a bait that got delivered to his mailbox but somehow still turned up missing, and $350 for another one to replace it while I waited for him to have some free time to build me another. 
 

I was a huge supporter (or so I thought), always tried to tag him In posts if I caught some good fish, and waxed romantically about his baits, the Mini specifically. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well trying to get a replacement bait for the lost one, and along with a few other things, I didn’t really care to support him anymore. The coups de grace was watching him sell $50k worth of preordered baits before delivering a bait I had paid for in full 2 months prior. 
 

The lost packages thing is baffling to me. I work logistics for a small business and we ship thousands of packages a year via usps and very rarely does one get lost. 
 

im sorry for your inconvenience @A7T3C and @JacksonF as well. He was the one that got me hooked on UFO baits to start with. They are indeed great baits and I caught quite a few fish on them, but I’ll never own another again. Mostly because I’m blocked on IG and can’t see when drops are anyways. 

[Rharttulane]

@A7T3C so your telling me you've got some wakes you're about to hate sell ? 

[californiafishin]

I had an interesting, toxic experience as well.  Bought a bait, got an instant refund. Reached out and asked what was up. I was blamed for someone elses posts under a name on here calling the brand out. Not sure why I was associated but whatever.  Im not sure if I was deemed a flipper or what but thats not the case lol. Funny story, a flipper I know was getting loads of them...after he found out who he was, blocked him, then forgot who it was i guess because he kept getting baits. He even got a mini and wasn't at the event and flipped two of them.  All these stories that I hear are all the same. Call out whats up, get the runaround, tries to make you sound like the bad guy, then blocks you and puts your messages on his story. Remember when all of the clickbait painted ones got lost lol. USPS must be picking who's baits the lose these days. Sorry you got scammed, that sucks but it seems to familiar to alot of people on here

[bassfiend72]

Bait makers EGO Disease. All of us feed this disease. Some more than others. It’s hit an all time high these days. 

[dqb]

Ha yea same experience a few years ago. His word is worth about as much as a grain of sand. Traded them all away - no room for that ugliness on my boat.

[bassbass]

46 minutes ago, Whammy said:

That’s a shame to hear man, even worse that it’s not the first nor the second time I’ve heard very similar stories, as well as experiencing the banhammer first hand with an IG block of my own. Worse still, I couldn’t tell you why I was blocked other than I sold all of my baits after finally being frustrated enough to do so. I am sure it related to “flipping”, and if so that’s fine. I had explicit amounts of money invested in other baits of his, including $400 I paid for a bait that got delivered to his mailbox but somehow still turned up missing, and $350 for another one to replace it while I waited for him to have some free time to build me another. 
 

I was a huge supporter (or so I thought), always tried to tag him In posts if I caught some good fish, and waxed romantically about his baits, the Mini specifically. Unfortunately, things didn’t go so well trying to get a replacement bait for the lost one, and along with a few other things, I didn’t really care to support him anymore. The coups de grace was watching him sell $50k worth of preordered baits before delivering a bait I had paid for in full 2 months prior. 
 

The lost packages thing is baffling to me. I work logistics for a small business and we ship thousands of packages a year via usps and very rarely does one get lost. 
 

im sorry for your inconvenience @A7T3C and @JacksonF as well. He was the one that got me hooked on UFO baits to start with. They are indeed great baits and I caught quite a few fish on them, but I’ll never own another again. Mostly because I’m blocked on IG and can’t see when drops are anyways. 

You my friend wins the internet with.....

waxed romantically about his baits

[Whammy]

5 minutes ago, bassbass said:

You my friend wins the internet with.....

waxed romantically about his baits

I suppose waxed poetically would be proper haha

[GavinDH]

Unfortunately like many others the same happened to my wife and I. On the last preorder batch, my wife and I both ordered one bait each. A week went by and she had been refunded, multiple emails and ig DMs sent with no response. Within the same hour that the refund had finished pending through PayPal my order was then refunded. Again many emails and DMs to no avail. In total the two of us have sent almost 20 messages without ever receiving a response. I had even commented on a recent post they had made and the comment was removed. I was never nasty and never accused them of anything, I just wanted to know why My wife and I had been refunded. @JacksonF kept my spirits up that it wasn’t something I had done, and this was just the way it’s been for awhile now. It’s very sad to see this type of customer service. Thank you for making your post @A7T3C. 

[5-20]

At least you got your money back. Try waiting almost two years. I am still waiting for my baits or a refund from Fish Everything. I’ve asked repeatedly for a refund and I’ve gotten nothing but promises and lies. He has to be the biggest scammer the swimbait world has ever known. 

[Shaddaddy1979]

That dude love too BULL$hit people!!!! He must be related tooAndrew hinkle!!! 

[PNW bass]

Been saying it for years. 
This dude’s a POS. 
He used the “lost” in the mail, as well as, “a box with 25 blanks stolen” years ago. 
Sorry I didn’t scream it louder for all to hear.