This was going to be a post of me publicly calling out Alan Hu of Electric Race Technologies for being a lying grub and calling out his unconscionable business practices. A story of how he took over $US850 and delivered nothing more than lies and disappointment.
This post was going to serve as a warning to others to have nothing to do with the guy. But instead, I’d like to reach deeper into the community and ask for advice where to go from here. This is an account of my experience with www.electricrt.com
Now I know Alan has had some bad press in the past. Many are aware of this. But here is my story.
Back in mid October ’19 he posted up what looked like a statement on his self administered ASI Powered Sur Rons Facebook page saying that he has had some problems but is now on top of it and ready to do business.
I know that it is difficult to get a small enterprise off the ground. The court of public opinion is a harsh place and sometimes it can take a while to get things sorted out. But Hey. I respect a man brave enough to issue what looked like a public apology and move forward. With that in mind I decided to give him a chance and order a complete ASI 4000 kit for my Sur-Ron.
His first lie was saying that all components were in stock, ready to ship.
I asked him this directly before ordering through his website.
Turns out they weren’t, and it would take another 6 weeks until he received his order from ASI.
For the next Month and a half, he strung me along with different and often creative excuses as to why it hadn’t been sent (dog ate my homework, it’s coming at the end of the week sort of stuff).
After my requests for refund or proof of postage, he later sends me a tracking number that sat idle for two weeks.
DHL hadn’t even picked up from his house. A great stalling tactic, I’ll give him that.
I contact DHL and they fill me in on the strategy of creating a tracking number in their system to give the illusion it's been posted.
Again. Could have saved a lot of grief just by telling me what was really going on, but Alan chooses to double down on his bullshit.
So eight weeks in, the package finally arrives.
All sins are forgiven.
Man I’m so excited to get my bike running again. I've wanted one of these for such a long time. Open it up - It’s incomplete!
Controller and dodgy wiring harness only. No eggrider screen and regen throttle, which I paid extra for. No ability to adjust the programming either (which he specifically said was a feature during a pre-sale conversation).
I message him about it and he says
“Yeah. I don’t do those anymore. Just buy them direct from someone else”
Furious, I ask how we can work through this and get it running.
I hook up the controller on the bench and spin the motor up. It is the worst electrical tune I’ve ever seen. Surging, poles mis-firing and a disgusting, aggressive ramp up. Unloaded motor getting hot after 20 second run time @ ¼ throttle. I wouldn't dare install this in a bike.
I shoot a video of it that I sent to him and we agree that I’ll send it back at my own expense ($120) for a full refund.
The tracking says he received it late December. Alan, himself confirms this on Messenger.
He said he has processed a refund and sent me screenshots from whatever software he’s using as a CRM that says simply say 'refund processed'. That was weeks ago.
Given that it’s not in my account and my bank can’t see anything pending (and advise me to contact him again), I ask him for trackable transaction numbers.
This is when the radio silence begins.
Given his history of deliberate and mis-leading statements, I doubt it’s really been processed at all. I guess he’s hoping I will just go away and forget about it. But he is holding over $US850 of mine and I have nothing to show for it.
What I’m really pissed about is the remorseless and blatant breach of trust.
I gave the bloke a go and have been nothing but disrespected by him with his lies and deception.
I see the e-bike community as a tight group of open sources. Sharing knowledge and advice freely.
We don’t always get along and sometimes argue over designs and power claims, but I like to think there was trust and respect here. For the last 10 years and numerous successful international transactions, there has been.
It just boils my blood to be treated like this by another member. One who cut his teeth right here on E.S
I know I’m not alone and this is not an isolated incident.
He’s still trading on the same shady lies he told others and now I find out first hand, their passionate rants are well justified. Nothing about his business has actually changed. I'm so embarrassed and feel like such a fool to buy from him.
What can I do?
What would you do?
I’m in Australia, He’s in California.
Short of getting some local friends to knock on his door
Sorry if I sound like another ranting ERT customer.
I’ve tried to keep this as moderate as possible.
This is the first public mention of my experience. Everything else has been kept between us on messenger – I can back everything I say here with a chat log
If this refund does come through, I’ll post back here with an update.
Given the above, I would publically like to say:
“Alan Hu. You are a shady little grub that has no business being a part of this community. Your presence in the market bring it shame and disgrace
Your quality of in-house components are SHIT
Your ASI programming is a JOKE
The way you lie and treat your customers is UNCONSCIONABLE”
So Deal with this guy at your own risk. Caveat Emptor friends.
This post was going to serve as a warning to others to have nothing to do with the guy. But instead, I’d like to reach deeper into the community and ask for advice where to go from here. This is an account of my experience with www.electricrt.com
Now I know Alan has had some bad press in the past. Many are aware of this. But here is my story.
Back in mid October ’19 he posted up what looked like a statement on his self administered ASI Powered Sur Rons Facebook page saying that he has had some problems but is now on top of it and ready to do business.
I know that it is difficult to get a small enterprise off the ground. The court of public opinion is a harsh place and sometimes it can take a while to get things sorted out. But Hey. I respect a man brave enough to issue what looked like a public apology and move forward. With that in mind I decided to give him a chance and order a complete ASI 4000 kit for my Sur-Ron.
His first lie was saying that all components were in stock, ready to ship.
I asked him this directly before ordering through his website.
Turns out they weren’t, and it would take another 6 weeks until he received his order from ASI.
For the next Month and a half, he strung me along with different and often creative excuses as to why it hadn’t been sent (dog ate my homework, it’s coming at the end of the week sort of stuff).
After my requests for refund or proof of postage, he later sends me a tracking number that sat idle for two weeks.
DHL hadn’t even picked up from his house. A great stalling tactic, I’ll give him that.
I contact DHL and they fill me in on the strategy of creating a tracking number in their system to give the illusion it's been posted.
Again. Could have saved a lot of grief just by telling me what was really going on, but Alan chooses to double down on his bullshit.
So eight weeks in, the package finally arrives.
All sins are forgiven.
Man I’m so excited to get my bike running again. I've wanted one of these for such a long time. Open it up - It’s incomplete!
Controller and dodgy wiring harness only. No eggrider screen and regen throttle, which I paid extra for. No ability to adjust the programming either (which he specifically said was a feature during a pre-sale conversation).
I message him about it and he says
“Yeah. I don’t do those anymore. Just buy them direct from someone else”
Furious, I ask how we can work through this and get it running.
I hook up the controller on the bench and spin the motor up. It is the worst electrical tune I’ve ever seen. Surging, poles mis-firing and a disgusting, aggressive ramp up. Unloaded motor getting hot after 20 second run time @ ¼ throttle. I wouldn't dare install this in a bike.
I shoot a video of it that I sent to him and we agree that I’ll send it back at my own expense ($120) for a full refund.
The tracking says he received it late December. Alan, himself confirms this on Messenger.
He said he has processed a refund and sent me screenshots from whatever software he’s using as a CRM that says simply say 'refund processed'. That was weeks ago.
Given that it’s not in my account and my bank can’t see anything pending (and advise me to contact him again), I ask him for trackable transaction numbers.
This is when the radio silence begins.
Given his history of deliberate and mis-leading statements, I doubt it’s really been processed at all. I guess he’s hoping I will just go away and forget about it. But he is holding over $US850 of mine and I have nothing to show for it.
What I’m really pissed about is the remorseless and blatant breach of trust.
I gave the bloke a go and have been nothing but disrespected by him with his lies and deception.
I see the e-bike community as a tight group of open sources. Sharing knowledge and advice freely.
We don’t always get along and sometimes argue over designs and power claims, but I like to think there was trust and respect here. For the last 10 years and numerous successful international transactions, there has been.
It just boils my blood to be treated like this by another member. One who cut his teeth right here on E.S
I know I’m not alone and this is not an isolated incident.
He’s still trading on the same shady lies he told others and now I find out first hand, their passionate rants are well justified. Nothing about his business has actually changed. I'm so embarrassed and feel like such a fool to buy from him.
What can I do?
What would you do?
I’m in Australia, He’s in California.
Short of getting some local friends to knock on his door
Sorry if I sound like another ranting ERT customer.
I’ve tried to keep this as moderate as possible.
This is the first public mention of my experience. Everything else has been kept between us on messenger – I can back everything I say here with a chat log
If this refund does come through, I’ll post back here with an update.
Given the above, I would publically like to say:
“Alan Hu. You are a shady little grub that has no business being a part of this community. Your presence in the market bring it shame and disgrace
Your quality of in-house components are SHIT
Your ASI programming is a JOKE
The way you lie and treat your customers is UNCONSCIONABLE”
So Deal with this guy at your own risk. Caveat Emptor friends.
