Andrew.E
Plastic
- Joined
- Dec 22, 2011
- Location
- Independence, OR, USA
This is an update to this thread. I figured I'd start a new one so as not to resurrect such an old thread.
TL/DR: There's a company out of California called Parts Plus that will cold call you and ask you to pay money to bid on government work. Are they a scam? Well, read on.
About this time in 2011, we were contacted by Parts Plus, specifically by Jim, the owner. He claimed to have a plating and finishing shop, and he told us that he acts as a middle man for government contract work. He will hold our hand and get us all set up to do government bidding for a fee. Sounds like a scam to me! But, after a little more research, including verifying his corporate charter with the State of California, verifying his business license with the city, checking up on his BBB file, and calling a dozen of his supplied references, I was satisfied enough to proceed and see how far it went.
Fast forward to August 2012. We've been quoting a seemingly endless stream of government jobs. We get about 3-5 jobs a week to cherry pick through and quote on. So far nothing has materialized. Suddenly we hear back from Parts Plus that we've had an accepted bid from General Dynamics for an order of 1,100 parts to the tune of $45- each. Great! Let's go!
Suddenly, we're being asked to pay another $2500. Okay, now this is starting to sound suspicious. Why the extra money? Why all of the sudden? Well, in order to get the job we must be ITAR certified. All of this is without a purchase order in hand. It doesn't make me feel very warm and fuzzy on the inside. Additionally, Jim (the owner) won't let me see any communication between him and General Dynamics. According to him, this is to protect his sources because he doesn't want any of his customers to bypass him and go straight to the source. Makes sense, it just seems odd that almost exactly a year later he comes knocking with a job that requires another $2500 payment before we can see a PO or have any contact with the end customer.
I'll keep everyone who's interested posted on the progress of this. As of this morning I've asked him to print out the email exchange with his contact at GD which shows that "they've accepted the bid and it's ready to go! All we need is to get you ITAR certified" (that's a direct quote from one of his emails) and redact the email address, since he insists on being so secretive, and fax me a copy.
We'll see if he delivers.
TL/DR: There's a company out of California called Parts Plus that will cold call you and ask you to pay money to bid on government work. Are they a scam? Well, read on.
About this time in 2011, we were contacted by Parts Plus, specifically by Jim, the owner. He claimed to have a plating and finishing shop, and he told us that he acts as a middle man for government contract work. He will hold our hand and get us all set up to do government bidding for a fee. Sounds like a scam to me! But, after a little more research, including verifying his corporate charter with the State of California, verifying his business license with the city, checking up on his BBB file, and calling a dozen of his supplied references, I was satisfied enough to proceed and see how far it went.
Fast forward to August 2012. We've been quoting a seemingly endless stream of government jobs. We get about 3-5 jobs a week to cherry pick through and quote on. So far nothing has materialized. Suddenly we hear back from Parts Plus that we've had an accepted bid from General Dynamics for an order of 1,100 parts to the tune of $45- each. Great! Let's go!
Suddenly, we're being asked to pay another $2500. Okay, now this is starting to sound suspicious. Why the extra money? Why all of the sudden? Well, in order to get the job we must be ITAR certified. All of this is without a purchase order in hand. It doesn't make me feel very warm and fuzzy on the inside. Additionally, Jim (the owner) won't let me see any communication between him and General Dynamics. According to him, this is to protect his sources because he doesn't want any of his customers to bypass him and go straight to the source. Makes sense, it just seems odd that almost exactly a year later he comes knocking with a job that requires another $2500 payment before we can see a PO or have any contact with the end customer.
I'll keep everyone who's interested posted on the progress of this. As of this morning I've asked him to print out the email exchange with his contact at GD which shows that "they've accepted the bid and it's ready to go! All we need is to get you ITAR certified" (that's a direct quote from one of his emails) and redact the email address, since he insists on being so secretive, and fax me a copy.
We'll see if he delivers.
