Dimitri weg bij Eclipse

[Idefixe]

het staat al vermeld onder nieuws op de startpagina maar ik vind het dan toch wel een eigen discussie topic waard: Dimitri ( één van de oprichters) is per direct vertrokken bij Eclipse!
Naar verluid is hij behoorlijk pissed over de manier waarop Eclipse is omgegaan met zaken als service en aftersales.........
citaat:

Dimitri leaving Eclipse Kites

Dear all,

It is with a heavy heart that I write this letter to you. When I started Eclipse Kites it was a dream come true. After so many years working for other kite companies I had an opportunity to create my own brand and I was determined to build the finest kites anyone has ever flown. With the help of designer Momi and a solid group of friends and supporters like you who believed in our company’s goals, we achieved a lot in a few short years.

Recently, there has been a lot of talk on the internet about a lack of service from Eclipse Kites. This is something that has been frustrating for me too because, like you, I have been rendered powerless to solve customer issues and dealer delivery problems. As a co-founder , but not co-owner of the business , there has been little I have been able to do to help resolve your problems , which has become unacceptable to me. I believe that the survival and prosperity of a company depends on one’s chose of business partner. Therefore, I feel that I have no alternative but to resign from Eclipse Kites with immediate effect.

I know you have many questions and I will answer them all. Please write to me at dimitrimara@earthlink.net and let me know how I can help you.

Don’t worry, I am staying in the industry and in the words of Arnie; “I’ll be back”. Watch this space…

Sincerely,

wordt vervolgd zullen we dan maar zeggen

[Morres]

kan toch discussieren in het nieuwsitem...? zoveel mensen caren toch niet om dit nieuws

[Reflex]

Jammer dat het zo moet lopen maar het leek mij al onoverkomelijk. Kites die zo lang duuren om te leveren en dan geen tot weinig aftersales kan deze tijden niet meer.

[Ozzie Wright fan]

jammer zeg!!!   

[Michiel.]

Eerlijk gezegd waarom heeft het nog zolang geduurd voordat hij is opgestapt?

Zo zie je maar als je de touwtjes uit handen geeft van je eigen kindje, hoe het kan lopen. Erg jammer, daar ik de Eclipse van 2008 een erg lekkere kite vond. Ook al heb ik er maar even onder kunnen hangen.

[Morres]

overigens is Shinn ook weg bij nobile, past ook wel beetje in dit straatje..

[Michiel.]

overigens is Shinn ook weg bij nobile, past ook wel beetje in dit straatje..

Nee, dat past totaal niet in dit straatje.
Shinn is bij Nobile gevraagd. En heeft in 5 jaar het merk in de markt gezet en mee geholpen de producten te ontwikkelen. Ze zijn uit elkaar in goed overleg.

Dimitri heeft Eclipse mede opgericht. Helaas hebben financiers de macht teveel in handen gekregen, met alle bekende gevolgen van dien.

Shinn heeft nu zijn eigen boardmerk opgericht. Wanneer hij daar boos gaat weglopen is nog niet bekend 

[Morres]

gheheh, maar toch is het redelijk vergelijkbaar, beide personen zijn voor gebruikers eigenlijk het merk

[Reflex]

Ja maar Shinn stapt op om heel andere redenen dan Dimitri

[Michiel.]

gheheh, maar toch is het redelijk vergelijkbaar, beide personen zijn voor gebruikers eigenlijk het merk

Dat zeker, maar beide met een andere insteek en motivatie.
Zover ik weet was het ook zo de afspraak dat Shinn dat een tijdje zou doen, en daarna weer wat anders ging doen.

Voor Dimitri was het een soort van kindje. Is meer te vergelijken met Shannon Best en Robby Naish.

[Morres]

ja, maar die zijn weer eigenaars...bij mijn weten terwijl dimitri alleen co-founder is..
Kan best zijn dat hij zich publiekelijk distansieert en ondertussen een submerk opzet met zo'n beetje dezelfde designs e.d. en daar zelf probeerd te launchen.. "b-merkjes" komen en gaan, heb ik geleerd in 6jaar kiten

[El Rudo]

ja jongens, mocht je ooit zakelijke aspiraties hebben, wees super voorzichtig met wie je in het bootje stapt. Er lopen veel wannabe entrepreneurs rond met een hit and run mentaliteit, en gasten die veel geld hebben verdiend door een tijdje mee te rijden in een grote corporate trein en geen zak verstand hebben van small business. Die wil je er bij een innovatieve start-up NIET bij hebben!
Been there, done that, got the T shirt.

[Reflex]

Eindelijk laat Chris " eigenaar van Eclipse" iets van zich horen.
Speciaal voor El Rudo 
Info: http://www.kiteforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2361207&start=20
Hi Guys:

I'm going on  here to discuss some of these rumors and allegations and so on. While I appreciate kite forum and feel its a good way to get the word out about  something, its also very similar to the telephone game you play in  elementary school- word goes around and in the end the story is so confused from when it started it is hard to distinguish fact from fiction.  I  have avoided this forum for the past month, not even taking time to read  these posts despite phone calls from friends urging me to write something on  here. It's depressing, insulting and aggravating to read these posts by individuals that do not know the situation or maybe only a small part of it.

This is a long post, take the time to read it if you want to know the facts.

My company's  success, problems and products have always been very public - more so then other brands. I will share the real story of  eclipse - past, present and future. What went well for us, what went wrong  and what I learned from this experience. Perception is reality, and its time to shed some light on the current perception.


I will address these problems mentioned throughout this thread and others. The main issues: Several posters have said they are missing products,  eclipse lied, eclipse cheated them in some way or another. To put this to rest the following dealers paid either partially or in full and are missing or waiting  for products: I will not list dealers info directly but by area. I do not  feel the forum is an appropriate place to post peoples personal info unless they do so directly.

Cyprus
Lithuania
Russia
Mexico
Aruba

All these dealers we are in touch with and everyone of them will receive either 2010  product or refund. It's not a nice situation to be without kites. You have to make it right and that’s all there is to it.  After these dealers, there is no one that I know of that is missing any paid  product. Some others have ordered kites on terms - meaning they pay 30-60  days after receipt of product - sorry but when a business has cash flow  issues we cannot afford to offer terms especially for 60 days or more with  30-40% off wholesale - like some dealers request. Now my European distributor  might owe some dealers something I am not sure as I don't have any control  over his operation - you will need to take that up with him or contact me and  I will try my best to get you what you need.

So you know the total of these products listed above is less then 25 kites, some are only missing bars. I write this so you know the problem is not huge as some make it out to be.  Now let me ask a question?? Would it make sense that Eclipse would purposely not deliver products to dealers that support the company because we are looking to make a few grand and run? Would I ruin my reputation over this?? Certainly not!!! I have been kiting since 2000 and I have many great friends I met from this sport and its a big part of my life for almost 10 years now.  It cost me a fortune and a lot of sacrifices to get eclipse going and that was without me taking salary or bonuses- but rather paying for expensive team riders,  designers, and putting up huge amounts of money to finance production and  propel the company forward. I did this with my personal finances. My  plan for eclipse worked and in less then 2 years eclipse was a very  recognized brand on the market with a bright future.  Dealers are our  strongest asset  and  I would not put them or anyone in a bad position  intentionally.

Yes for sure,  eclipse had its fair share of issues in 2009. The brand grew quickly in 2008... too quickly for me alone to keep up with the investment required for  its growth. I had two options - either slow down eclipse or push forward and  hope cash flow from increased sales would cover our increased expenses. Of course an investor was an option, but its important to find the right one and that is a full time job in itself. The  sales forecast was good so I made the decision to push forward. We  essentially doubled our expenses but our sales stayed flat. Then the economy  crashed and our main supplier got nervous and cut our credit line. I  depended on our credit line to maintain positive cash flow - dealers had to pre-pay for orders and it was not working. We made thousands of kites, dealers could not afford them since we couldn't offer them terms, kites were sitting in China for months before they started to ship in April/May.... Before we knew it the season was over and we are working on 2010 and forced to close out 2009 kites at hefty discounts. Eclipse lost millions in sales because of this, that hurt. We do not own the factory and we have very little control over how they operate. They are in business to make money and I understand that. We  rely on information from the factory directly to inform dealers and we plan  marketing efforts accordingly. When that info changes we cant go back and erase the promises and marketing that was done.... Lack of product creates allot of problems for everyone and Im sorry we put our dealers and friends in that situation.

What About  Dimitri?

Dimitri did not have any ownership of eclipse but he was very involved at least in the public eye, his name was  infused with the brand since day one. Dimitri had all of the benefits of owning a kite company without any of the risk involved.  Dimitri did not understand the above issues and he did not like the way things were going. Most important he did not want his name to be injured from the problems. It was stressful, difficult and money was tight. Its hard to run a start up company, its even harder to turn a start up company around. It takes a lot of work, money, ingenuity, sacrifice and more effort then it takes to start a company.  As Dimitri had no financial ties to Eclipse it was very easy to walk.  I don’t have that luxury nor do my employees and dealers. We have to work hard and stick it out and make the company work--- that is our only option. Dimiti had an opportunity to wash his hands of eclipse and do his own thing and he took that road. I don’t hold anything against Dimitri. He did what was best for himself, which is his right and obligation to his family.  I hope that he does well with Epic.

Bullet  Proof Warranty:
 
Many have asked is the warranty over?? NO its not but we are simply using another vendor for the services. If we continued with  airtime we could not afford to offer the warranty program anymore. It was costing us a fortune. This was a simple economic move, which was  blown out of proportion by mis-information. Many kites have been fixed already by our new repair center and no one has lost their  warranty.  If you want confirmation of this please contact:

Pro Kitesurf www.fixmykite.com <http://www.fixmykite.com>     

What about Felix / Hansen and the future??

Felix and Bill Hansen are with Eclipse. They are working quietly on 2010 products and we will not be making any hype until they are finished and in production. Feel free to email Bill or Felix to ask what they are working on and they will be happy to share some basic info with  you. We will not be posting it on the forums or making hype until kites are ready to ship. I feel confident about the future of Eclipse and the  potential for this brand to continue our progress and success. We make kites for a purpose, by the riders for the riders. Everyone in eclipse is a passionate kiter, we love this sport and do this job out of passion. We now have a dedicated R&D process headed up by one of the  most experienced and reputable designers in the sport. I did not start  Eclipse to make average kites or simply modified versions of other brands kites. I created Eclipse to make the highest performance original kites on the market. You will see a unique and very different product line from Eclipse for 2010. Products which can only be developed with extensive  R&D and proper testing which takes time. For example, the surge was a 9 month project to reach the results we wanted, if the kite does not improve your riding or offer something innovative to the market I will not make it.

In conclusion Eclipse is not going anyplace but up. Eclipse is not bankrupt or going out of business. We have been making extensive efforts to reorganizing the way we do business, R&D, production and so on. It is a lot of work! You will learn more info on these efforts at a later date and we will be pleased to offer our customers better support and better product. We will prove this with action - not just words and hype.

To clear up  another misconception- the 2009 Thruster was a unique design it was NOT just  a 2008 with new logos, I can post pictures and fully explain the differences.

Concerning  the first post in this thread:

This was an actual true case and this  customer does have a trashed kite and a right to be upset. This customer purchased a kite online from an unauthorized dealer, normally these kites are never covered under the warranty. This customer enquired about the Bullet Proof Warranty, which was not in existence in Europe prior to 2009 kites and did not cover 2008 models sold in europe. I  told the customer they should send the kite in for inspection, we would determine what could be done. After I got pictures I sent this to the factory and they rejected his claim. I felt bad so I said just pay me $250 and I will send you a new 2009 thruster 10m which I think is very fair.  At that time I did not have that kite in stock so I would send it when the shipment arrives. The shipment arrived several weeks later and by that point he was sick of waiting and upset about the whole process.  He asked paypal to refund him his money which was then drafted from my account, end of story. $250 just almost covers the cost  involved of shipping a kite to the USA and then sending it off to Europe, my  incentive was only to make this customer happy.


If you have more questions please to PM me and I will answer you. I hope this post answered some of your questions and concerns.

Good winds,


Chris Cousins
Owner- eclipse kites
www.eclipsekites.com

[Reflex]

Bovenstaande is quote van Mini-Me.

[Idefixe]

Ik denk dat ze bij Eclipse nu wel met een super product , distributie en aftersale's op de markt moeten komen om alle modder van zich af te poetsen.
Ik zou er in ieder geen aandelen van kopen 

[Reflex]

Dat is inderdaad iets wat je moeilijk nog te boven komt lijkt mij. Ik zie het dan ook niet verdergaan eerlijk gezegd. Maar je weet het nooit.

[(HJ) MINI-ME]

En zoals ze altijd zeggen: "de waarheid ligt ergens in het midden"

[El Rudo]

ha maar waarom speciaal voor mij? Ik heb niks mee of tegen Chris, ik ken hem niet en het enige wat ik "weet" is KF bullocks, zoals je zegt ligt de waarheid vast ergens in het midden. Maar als je op KF kijkt zie je dat Chris en Eclipse helemaal de grond in is getrapt.
Mijn opmerking uit de andere thread is ironisch bedoeld, en als je het bovenstaande doorleest was die ironie op z'n plaats.

[Geronimo79]

Heb wel veel gesproken met Chris de laatste dagen.

En met de rest van de staff en developers. Bill en Felix.
Ze zijn druk bezig.

wat de waarheid is.. geen idee..
Wat ik wel weet is dat er veel bashers zitten op KF, die het heel erg opgeblazen hebben. En daar tussen een paar echte serieuze klachten.

In ieder geval met een shapers als Bill Hansen die ze helpt.. hebben ze een redelijke kans er toch doorheen te komen en weer beginnen met opbouwen.

Maar zoals idefix zegd... ze moeten een hoop goed maken.

we zullen zien..

[(HJ) MINI-ME]

ha maar waarom speciaal voor mij? Ik heb niks mee of tegen Chris, ik ken hem niet en het enige wat ik "weet" is KF bullocks, zoals je zegt ligt de waarheid vast ergens in het midden. Maar als je op KF kijkt zie je dat Chris en Eclipse helemaal de grond in is getrapt.
Mijn opmerking uit de andere thread is ironisch bedoeld, en als je het bovenstaande doorleest was die ironie op z'n plaats.

Dit was als reactie gepost op jou reactie in het topic "Epic kites"
Dit was was jouw reactie:

Die overgebleven man is inmiddels zo door de stront getrokken dat 'ie niet veel meer gaat verkopen in de kite markt.
Mooie springplank voor Dimitri.
Je gaf daarmee aan dat Eclipse dood zou zijn.

De mods hebben uiteindelijk mijn verhaal, en terecht, naar dit topic verhuisd

[Morres]

weetje, wie kan het eigenlijk schelen, er is een nieuw merk bij, misschien is het wat, misschien niet.

[(HJ) MINI-ME]

weetje, wie kan het eigenlijk schelen, er is een nieuw merk bij, misschien is het wat, misschien niet.

Mij kan het wel wat schelen.... Ik had namelijk, samen met een hoop andere kiters en dealers, even het vermoeden dat Dimitri en Chris moedwillig Eclipse hadden laten vallen zodat ze van hun claims af zouden zijn en dan vervolgens onder een nieuwe naam een ander bedrijf op te kunnen zetten.

Maar, zonder in details te willen treden, kan ik je vertellen dat dit NIET het geval is !!! Dus inderdaad een nieuw merk erbij en Eclipse blijft bestaan

[Michiel.]

De nabije toekomst zal het leren hoe dit verder gaat.

De 2008 Thruster was echt een van de lekkerste SLE's die ik ooit in mijn handen heb gehad. Over de 2009 niets dan lof in diverse testen in de duitse bladen. Eclipse heeft wat mij betreft daarom bestaansrecht. En met Felix en Bill Hansen best een "dreamteam" in huis zo lijkt me.

Ook ben ik erg benieuwd naar Epic, daar Dimitri een dikke vinger in de pap van het ontwikkelen van de thruster heeft gehad. Dat deed hij toen met kitedesigner Momi, en nu werkt hij weer met hem voor Epic.

Ik ben erg benieuwd naar de verdere ontwikkelingen