Calibrated Wakesurfing at World Wakesurfing Championship 2007

[ragboy]

No, Friday was practice, he tagged everything on Friday night. Saturday was qualifying. I spoke to him late saturday afternoon, he said he would remove it that night at the hotel. I woke up late Sunday morning with the stickers still there, and a new one where I had mostly removed one. She didn't win til later on Sunday. Also, it wasn't the Calibrated Wakesurfing guys, Mike said that he did it.

[sagmanaur]

At this point, it would be wise for him to close down Calibrated and open under a different name.... It sounds like he did not have a good marketing strategy....

[da.bell]

was this after that girl won the worlds on a calibrated board?mabe the calibrated guys just got excited and over reacted...i think you guys should give em a break..i'd be willin to bet they never do it again.cant we all just get along?hahaha

NOT!!!!!

[Razzman]

As i said over on WW, anybody that does that is is a stupid a$$ plain and simple. You don't touch other peoples stuff outta respect. I witnessed some dumb sob a few years back stickin' stuff on harleys (mine included) at a bike run. It seems i wasn't the only one that saw him and shortly thereafter he wasn't capable of sticking anything anywhere for quite awhile i'm sure. And it all started with just a little sticker, a flyer and havin' some fun.

For the record i was seriously considering a Calibrated board after having a Calibrated loaner from a buddy for a month to use. Not now though, not after hearing Rags story and the total lack of respect. Some people say "it was all in fun, give 'em a break", jesus you'd think as the owner he'd have a bit responsibilty about him, guess not. Sounds like he needs to grow up a bit.

[Ks]

That's just wrong, very unprofessional, I will count them out of the running when I finally get a board. I used to race nitro RC cars and one of the teams did a similar thing with stickers on vehicles, not a single one of their cars made it to the finals. It was kind of dumb for them to do it before the finals. The last race with one of their cars in it was like a demolition derby since it was their most talented racer, but he still suffered. He tried to contest it, but since they tagged the head officials cars too, they gave them the big no go. Hopefully Calibrated will make it right.

What team and what race?

[ragboy]

Yes, and one more thing for the record. I didn't post all of this to GET EVEN. I did it because I run a business, and I HATE IT when another business treats me as a customer, like crap, and gives me the attitude of, "What can you do?, I can do without your business." That is where the internet comes in, and gives the guy who gets the shaft the voice. And more companies need to realize, treat your customers, and potential customers with RESPECT. I also made a strong effort to post the story in detail, even though long. I didn't just want to sound like I was bitching. They deserve to lose customers over this. That second sticker, behind my back while I slept, was a low, immature, weasel like thing to do, and had no excuse.

[dtown]

I would hereby like to nominate ascboards to the list of morons!!!

Seriously- Mr. acboards, all of your posts on this forum thus far have been very sales pitchy. Your first post of not selling your boards, you are defending a completly moronic act. Tell me your address... when I finally land the 360 I'll come key your car in celebration! You and Calibrated must have fallen from the same tree... One of those huge redwoods!

Wow!!!

[Ks]

I am surprised no one from that company has responded on WW. Maybe they have not seen the thread yet.....there out defacing someone's neighborhood oops I mean advertising

Just one more reason to add a Inland Surfer to my list of wants...

[ragboy]

He knows about it. And at 12:30pm my wife sent him (via email) a $50 dollar invoice for my time removing the stickers and goo, and a request for him to make restitution to others. I have yet to hear from him.

[chpthril]

[QUOTE=ragboy;89849]

I wake up in the morning. We are leaving, our kids only competed on Saturday, and everyone else is already at the lake, we slept in. I walk out to my boat. Not only are the stickers and goo still there, but there is a NEW Calibrated Wakesurfing sticker right on top of the goo where one of the stickers was. When I saw that, it pissed me off.

QUOTE]

was this after that girl won the worlds on a calibrated board?mabe the calibrated guys just got excited and over reacted...i think you guys should give em a break..i'd be willin to bet they never do it again.cant we all just get along?hahaha

Mr Ascboards, I am by your reply!

Looks like he got "a break" (because Ragboy could have stomped his @$$)and chose not to remove the stickers, but instead placed another on the boat.

[Surfdad]

I attenpted to broker a deal with Mike and the Garcia's and I believe that Mike will eventually make good with the Garcia's, he can't negotiate with the other folks affected, but from a biz standpoint...Calibrated hasn't had this much "ink" EVER. The target market that Mike sells to...does this sort of thing, they sticker folks cars, etc...I would bet that there are teenagers all over that are eating this up and unwittingly Robert, you are do the advertising for Mike, not hurting him as you'd like.

Remember back when you were a teen? Everything was instant gratification, long-term was 2 days and you never thought about what the consequences were. Those are the folks that Mike sells to and you know what else? We all, back then, HATED authority. Being able to live it vicariously through this drama is probably like heaven and I'd also guess the folks that truly are his potential market are checking out his website. All you have to do is look at the graphics on the Lovett pro model - animated naked women...sounds like teenage boys to me.

The fix is easy enough for Mike, he's not stupid contrary to what folks would like to believe. My guess is that his sales will increase substantially because of this. Once the hoopla dies down...he'll make good with the Garcia's.

My 2 cents and I'm unconfortable with the fact that all of this is working for the benefit of Calibrated.

[dogbert]

Remember back when you were a teen? Everything was instant gratification, long-term was 2 days and you never thought about what the consequences were. Those are the folks that Mike sells to and you know what else? We all, back then, HATED authority. Being able to live it vicariously through this drama is probably like heaven and I'd also guess the folks that truly are his potential market are checking out his website. All you have to do is look at the graphics on the Lovett pro model - animated naked women...sounds like teenage boys to me.

Sorry dude, maybe I'm from a different time, but you never messed with someone's ride unless you wanted your a$$ kicked or were just an a$$hole. The kind of prices they charge for these boards generally require some $$ from mom or dad. If you want to do it right, you find folks who represent well. When I meet most people involved with the various watersports, I'm impressed with the maturity level of the young riders they sponsor as well as the professionals. As a parent, I worry about who my kids role models will be and I won't fund anything or anyone who I think will be a bad influence. What Calibrated did and then didn't do is total

I told my kids about this stuff and while they think stickers are cool for putting on boards, helmuts and their own stuff, they thought it was very uncool to sticker someone's stuff without permission. They thought ragboy should have kicked some serious butt after the second time. I commend ragboy for keeping his cool in front of his kids and setting a good example. Kids see violence everywhere they look and I'm constantly on my kids to take the high road.

Surfdad, as an organizer of these events, you have a vested interest in making sure it never happens again because if it happened to me and nothing was done, I wouldn't be back and I'd be telling everyone I know how much your events sucked. No one should have to deal with that and there's no excuse for it. If no one goes to the events, then fewer people will be exposed and be motivated to ride. After a while, your business will suffer. I know you are trying to promote the sport, so these kinds of things need to be dealt with by you and your sponsors. IMHO

BTW, for what it's worth, my kids think stickers are cool. All the Calibrated guys had to do was give them away free and they'd find them all over the place with everyone happy.

[Razzman]

Well said DOG!

Surfdad, i can agree to a point with the "teen" statement. The problem is Mike is not a teen and he was the one doing the stickering! Obviously he condones this kind of mentality and encourages the younger set to follow suit. That's a great example he's setting for them.

[G-MONEY]

The problem with all of this is Calibrated has now gotten more press then they could ever dream of. It might be negative but everyone on this site and ww now knows who they are. There is a saying that no press is bad press. Once they make this right most will unfortunately forget this ever happened and people will buy Calibrated boards. Don't get me wrong I will never buy a Calibrated because I'm loyal to the people on this site. But for the riders who don't know any one that was affected by this won't care about what they did. I hope that Calibrated never sells another board but I have a sick feeling that this is going to boots their sales. It's sad how our society thrives on bad press!!!!


Mr. acboards Seriously.......Seriously........ what the F

[Surfdad]

Gmoney is absolutely correct.

Just to be clear - re-read this phrase from my post:

"My 2 cents and I'm uncomfortable with the fact that all of this is working for the benefit of Calibrated."

I don't condone Mike's behavior at ALL. I asked Mike to apologize to the Garcia's, give them a board as a gesture of good faith and then if the Garcia children didn't like the board, they could sell it for substantially more than the $50 they were asking to repay their time. My guess is that Mike will do that, but right now...ALL of this is creating so much traffic to www.calibratedwakesurfing.com that it makes no sense for Mike to stop it. There simply isn't anyway that Mike could have PURCHASED this level of exposure. I also believe that Mike's intended target market, LOVES this sort of thing and the impact it's having on "parental figures". Take a moment and just look at tshirts that are marketed to teenagers or early twenty somethings. I was aghast at a tshirt in a motorcycle magazine that showed a hand with a single digit salute and the lettering read: "Just add it to my tab cop". That's AWFUL, but it's making someone money.

Will this outcry stop Mike from doing it again? If board sales increase, I doubt it. It might take on a different flavor, but if it boosts sales...no, it won't and THAT is troubling to me as an organizer.

As I posted on WW, Mark Twain, in 'Following the Equator', wrote: "Be good and you will be lonesome." I have to wonder how many rebellious teenagers/twenty somethings are clicking on http://www.calibratedwakesurfing.com due to all this?