Is Beachman still in business?

[CASwede]

I know in the past they have been slow to respond due to events and such.  But since June, no returned call. No returned emails. Just trying to figure out if I should write off the amount I paid for a part and buy from somewhere else, or stay the course? Any info is welcomed. Probably too late to dispute the payment with the credit card company.

[MV8]

After 60 days, my time is valuable enough to move on or (fwiw) complain to the BBB and CAT.

Out of curiosity, I took a brief look online. No physical address; just a UPS Box for mail. No names. No personal pictures. No business license shown or found: https://professions.dol.wa.gov/s/license-lookup

Anyone ever been there? Clubs in the area? Caterham should have an address and name if legit.

You could also enquire about purchasing the car listed. Also on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beachmanracing/

Despite all the flags, it could just be a person going through a rough time right now. I'm sure your money helps ease the suffering...

[wemtd]

I expect Beachman is still in business.

try PM to @JohnCh or @Croc

i believe both know him & have been to his shop & may be able to reach him offline.

[CBuff]

I ordered the fuel gauge resistor mod beachman made 1-2 months ago.  It shipped within a day or two and I received it a couple days later. I think @CatManDo was doing some work with them. Maybe he could offer some insights. 

[JohnCh]

@MV8, those "flags" are all false positives.  Beachman Racing has been around for about 10 years and he has a very large and impressive shop.  I suspect the lack of a physical address is simply to prevent people from randomly stopping by without an appointment.  

 

@CASwede send me a PM with your preferred contact details and I'll try to reach Bruce later this morning.  I would also PM CatManDo as CBuff suggested.  

[JohnCh]

@CASwede please check your email tied to your account which is used for notifications.  it is bouncing back as not found.  You can update it here:  https://usa7s.net/ips/settings/

[Croc]

 

@CASwede  Could you please post your Beachman order number either here on this thread or via PM to me. 

 

I connected with Bruce by phone this morning.  He thinks its is likely you have a part which is in a shipment stuck in customs that he is trying to free up.  However, neither of us being able to isolate your exact order prevented me from getting a categorical answer for you.  Bruce acknowledged that he should have given a heads up communication if it was a back order situation but looks like that got dropped - no excuse - you deserved some communication update for the delay.  Once I have it I can follow up for you with Bruce. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is probably helpful to give some educational context for the broader audience of USA7s members on parts ordering generally.  We have chosen UK derived cars for which supply chains of bits can be tenuous.  A Caterham or Westfield or GBS Zero or the like has been mostly sourced from the UK.  We do not always know what the original source part was (e.g. Rover, Ford, etc or the specific model).  Some parts are bespoke via Titan Engineering or the like.  Caterham Parts UK is a bear to deal with as they are often not in stock and they NEVER bother following up on backorders.

 

The US dealers are ALL single person businesses.  They are wrestling with a Caterham Parts UK process that frequently has no proprietary parts in stock in the UK that are unique for their cars.  Caterham UK does NOT make life easy for the dealers.   Sometimes the US dealers can find parts from alternate suppliers.  Maybe they have another assistant one or two days a week to help them out.  They are small businesses and not Amazon.  Older cars may not even be supported by Caterham any more (e.g. my 2010 Caterham CSR) so I have had to custom make parts with the assistance of a dealer.  So our orders are frequently not in stock and shipping next day out of a USA facility.  Small dealers cannot afford to have huge amounts of parts stock on hand in the US - we are only a small market for demand.  For me this is a criticism of Caterham's distribution approach to the US market - its not a criticism of the dealer. 

 

At the end of the day parts sourcing challenges is something we should be conscious of and actively manage ourselves.  Its part of the se7en ownership experience - not one of the better parts sadly.

 

Whats the solution?  This is why USA7s is around.  We help each other out finding suppliers or working with suppliers to keep our se7ens on the road. 

 

 

 

 

 

[MV8]

3 hours ago, CBuff said:

I ordered the fuel gauge resistor mod beachman made 1-2 months ago.  It shipped within a day or two and I received it a couple days later. I think @CatManDo was doing some work with them. Maybe he could offer some insights. 

Didn't realize it was the same person on here recently that came up with the fuel gauge calibration module and spoke of sharing schematics.

[Tempesto]

I'm still looking for a fully caged track car and I tried to contact them months ago about the G7's they had, no response either phone or website or email. I gave up on them.

[Croc]

16 hours ago, Tempesto said:

I'm still looking for a fully caged track car and I tried to contact them months ago about the G7's they had, no response either phone or website or email. I gave up on them.

 

There was a Caterham S3 race car for sale in TX in recent weeks - did you check that out?

[Tempesto]

6 hours ago, Croc said:

 

There was a Caterham S3 race car for sale in TX in recent weeks - did you check that out?

I must have missed it. It's probably on FB, when ever I hit those links it requires me to sign in and I get lazy and just don't . I'll sign in and look again Thanks

[Tempesto]

30 minutes ago, Tempesto said:

I must have missed it. It's probably on FB, when ever I hit those links it requires me to sign in and I get lazy and just don't . I'll sign in and look again Thanks

I looked back several weeks couldn't find it. Tried a search and got 0

[CatManDo]

As @CBuff said, I work with Bruce, usually one day a week. Beachman Racing is alive and well. The race season this summer was quite hectic and I'm sure some things fell through the cracks. Yes, I am the one who designed the fuel gauge correction module and sell it through Beachman Racing. We also designed the replacement CSR rear suspension fittings that don't spontaneously fail. Bruce is a one man show as @Croc said except for Wednesdays when I show up to help. I am a retired guy who is helping Bruce mostly for entertainment. Since I see Bruce frequently I would be glad to relay questions. As to the G7 race cars, There is one left but it is not assembled at the moment and Bruce will only sell it to someone who will campaign it in the  northwest race series since he wants to grow the field to make better racing. The G7 should be taken off the website but that is way down the priority list. We did just unload a brand new 420  SV factory built race car from the last container that will be for sale soon. Again, Bruce wants to sell that one to someone who will race it up here.

[BruceBe]

David,

 

Your ordered Sigma upper radiator hose was OOS at the factory for quite some time. It finally came back into stock in the UK, and is in a consolidated parts shipment that was caught-up in Customs last week. As many know, parts availability for non-current models unfortunately tends to fade quite quickly at the factory.

 

We did miss a single email from you on 7/25 - sorry about that.

 

Thanks to Croc/JohnCh/CatManDo for jumping in while my back was turned.

 

-Bruce

 

 

Edited October 6 by BruceBe

[CASwede]

Thanks Bruce. Yes, switched to phone calls starting in September. Never heard a word back. I got the UPS notice that it's on the way. Much appreciated.