Sidmariner Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Gizmo Mill, the makers of the "BRAKE" LED light, are back in business with a new shop and a new name "Road Rocketeer". I'm a fan of the light, not a shareholder, and have watched this young couple struggle to get to their feet in business. I'm hoping they can resolve their distribution and customer service problems, because the product is superb. Their new site, still a work in progress is www.roadrocketeer.com Link to comment
Elhoff Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 This is great news. I loved the Brake! LED taillight I had on my F650CS. Link to comment
waylap Posted October 8, 2008 Share Posted October 8, 2008 Excellent! I was just thinking about mine the other day and that I was glad I've had one for a few years now. Great product and I hope they can get back to full production. Link to comment
mikeR1100R Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Glad to hear it! I also have had one for years and think it is a great product. Link to comment
Heck Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Gizmo Mill, the makers of the "BRAKE" LED light, are back in business with a new shop and a new name "Road Rocketeer". I'm a fan of the light, not a shareholder, and have watched this young couple struggle to get to their feet in business. I'm hoping they can resolve their distribution and customer service problems, because the product is superb. Their new site, still a work in progress is www.roadrocketeer.com For those of you that are considering the purchase of this product, I need to share my recent experience with "RoadRocketeer". I was excited to hear that they were back in business, as I had purchased BRAKE! lights for 2 of my previous motorcycles, with great results. I think the info was from posts on this and a few other DBs. Anyway, I looked them up on the internet, called them and after talking to "Kevin", (who assured me that the light was CANBUS friendly now due to product updates), ordered a light for my 07 GS. The order was placed the first week in December 08. After I had not received the light by Christmas, there were a few contacts back and forth with RoadRocketeer regarding the whereabouts of the merchandise. Kevin could not explain or understand why I had not received it, but assured me that a replacement would be on the way immediately. Long story short, the light finally arrived the 1st week of January. After installation, I went for a ride with another board member here, who caught me at the first stop of the ride and told me that my taillight was barely visible. He said he could tell when the brake was applied, but it was quite a bit less bright than a stock bulb. I also was getting faults on the display that I had a rear bulb failure. This problem was supposed to be rectified in the new design according to "Kevin". After giving Kevin a call, he offered to send a replacement, as there "must be something wrong" with the unit I had. He assured me that I would have the replacement within a couple of days. Needless to say, in the interim I switched back to the stock bulb. That was 2 weeks ago. I spoke with him a couple of times after waiting a week and he was again dumbfounded as to the reason my replacement hadn't arrived and assured me he would get right back after resolving the issue. Never got back, which is why I called more than once. Now, when trying to contact Road Rocketeer, the phone numbers (both toll-free and local) are disconnected. The website is still up, but emails are not being returned. Sounds like deja-vu all over again.... I guess this now falls into the "Buyer Beware" pile....I'm not too optimistic about a good resolution to this. We'll see......... Link to comment
markgoodrich Posted January 30, 2009 Share Posted January 30, 2009 Ah, Heck. I mean, Hell. I've not posted a similar experience because Kevin has been so nice, so completely befuddled by the fact my light was never delivered. Heck's experience pretty much puts the nail in the coffin, though. My wife ordered one for me on December 14th, after I'd twice spoken with Kevin, to make sure the product was available for the R1200RT. In the first conversation he said the bulb comes with an extra wire which needed to be connected to a switched power source. On the second call a few weeks later, he said the company had redesigned the light so it was now a plug and play replacement, no wiring, and the first production run would be out within days. This was all before December 14th. No bulb by Christmas. No bulb by New Year's. I finally called back and spoke to Kevin and he said there had been a lot of problems, first with snow, then with customs, but he'd get mine out and I'd get a Fedex tracking number. Nothing. About a week later I called again, same story, befuddlement over why it hadn't shipped, he'd check and call me right back...no phone call, nothing, so I called again the next day and he gave me a tracking number. The thing didn't arrive. I checked with FedEx tracking, and all that was ever done was submission of the shipping order; in other words, he got a tracking number, but never shipped anything. Four days later I called again, and there was, guess what, still more confusion on his end about why I'd not received my bulb, and he promised to ship one out direct from Vancouver rather than through his customs broker in Washington. Guess what? Nothing. Next phone call, he said he was going to refund my money and send me a free bulb. And of course, neither happened. Finally, after several more phone calls, I told him I wanted a refund "today" and he promised to process it. I had to call again, and he gave me yet another story about problems outside his control. Finally, after a couple more days, I did at least get the refund processed. To date I don't have my bulb. The sad thing about all this is that while he seemed so earnest in his efforts to get the product out to me, Heck's story is almost exactly like mine, and furthermore, another member on this board had a similar experience, only he'd never even been able to place the overseas order, and just a couple of days ago he received an email from the company saying that a bulb for the R1200RT "is under development." I hate to say it, but good intentions or not, Road Rocketeer is a company to avoid. Link to comment
OoPEZoO Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Man.....that's such a downer. I have a BRAKE light on my 1100RT and I seriously think it was some of the best money I have ever spent. It is an absolutely phenomenal product. I know this has been said MANY times before, BUT.......I really hope they get their crap together. Its too good of a product not to be in the marketplace, but its obviously not worth the BS if things don't get better. Link to comment
bmurphypdx Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 FWIW, these folks are located in Canada and shipiing through customs can be a bear. Not to excuse the problems described above but just sayin . . . Link to comment
JMR Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I hate to pile-on, but for the sake of "buyer beware"... If you take Heck's and markgoodrich's posts and blend them together, you have exactly my current situation with Road Rocketeer. Just before logging on here, I had just sent Kevin an email requesting that he get my refund made, which he and I discussed on the phone early this week, for a 12RT light that I ordered 12/8/08. Kevin seems concerned and made all the same promises to me, but results mean everything and I'm not getting any. Having posted all that, I feel I have obligated myself to follow-up post anything that Road Rocketeer does to make things right with me....which I will. Link to comment
Heck Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Kevin seems concerned and made all the same promises to me, but results mean everything and I'm not getting any. Having posted all that, I feel I have obligated myself to follow-up post anything that Road Rocketeer does to make things right with me....which I will. I have to agree that the concern seems genuine and I will also post anything that they do to make things right. I know that they have a warehouse in Blaine WA that was intended to rectify most of their customs problems, but still no joy. Sooo....I'm sitting here with a lamp that I cannot use and no refund offered, and now no contact ability it seems.. We'll see..... Link to comment
markgoodrich Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I hate to pile-on, but for the sake of "buyer beware"... If you take Heck's and markgoodrich's posts and blend them together, you have exactly my current situation with Road Rocketeer. Just before logging on here, I had just sent Kevin an email requesting that he get my refund made, which he and I discussed on the phone early this week, for a 12RT light that I ordered 12/8/08. Kevin seems concerned and made all the same promises to me, but results mean everything and I'm not getting any. Having posted all that, I feel I have obligated myself to follow-up post anything that Road Rocketeer does to make things right with me....which I will. Ditto on posting if Kevin follows through on his promises. Latest on the web site is this statement: "***TELEPHONE SERVICE WILL BE INTERRUPTED PERIODICALLY OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS FOR REPAIRS. PLEASE CONTACT US VIA EMAIL IF YOU CAN'T GET THROUGH.***" Which seems sort of unusual. Link to comment
94aero Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I have the system on my 1100rt and does anyone else have the lights flash and the lower add on go out while the stop lights are lit? In running mode it works fine. Link to comment
Tony_K Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 So I was just poking in a looking around at the web site and see there are at least 4 US listed suppliers that may or may not be active. If they are active dealers wouldn't have been better to purchase from one of them and let them deal with all the nosense you all are currently experiencing? Ok, I know this is all after the fact but I'm just saying. Link to comment
Heck Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 So I was just poking in a looking around at the web site and see there are at least 4 US listed suppliers that may or may not be active. If they are active dealers wouldn't have been better to purchase from one of them and let them deal with all the nosense you all are currently experiencing? Ok, I know this is all after the fact but I'm just saying. Tony, you are correct. However at the time I placed my order, there was only one dealer listed. Since all this happened, I contacted one of the dealers on another issue, and we got to talking about Road Rocketeer. I wish I would have had the benefit of that conversation before I ordered originally, as even the dealer network is having the same problems. It was only after that conversation that I decided to post the experience here as it sounds like deja' vu all over again. I do wish they would get their act together- as posted earlier, the concept and my past experiences (on non-canbus bikes) was stellar. Again, we'll see....... Link to comment
OoPEZoO Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 I have the system on my 1100rt and does anyone else have the lights flash and the lower add on go out while the stop lights are lit? In running mode it works fine. Yeah.....mine does that as well. It flashes along with the brake light and then goes out once the brake light becomes solid. The only issue I see is that means there is no light on my license plate when I'm sitting at a stop light/sign. I had been meaning to go back in and adjust the switches to another setting to see if it changes, but never got around to it. Link to comment
ednowicki Posted January 31, 2009 Share Posted January 31, 2009 Mine has the same problem... and it's not a switch setting. Link to comment
ESokoloff Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 I know this has been said MANY times before, BUT.......I really hope they get their crap together. Its too good of a product not to be in the marketplace, but its obviously not worth the BS if things don't get better. I think the concept is sound but the delivery leaves a bit to be desired. I purchased one for my KS & it ended up failing when one of the load resisters (used to fake out the electronics) overheated one of it's solder connections & shorted out the unit. Link to comment
tallman Posted February 1, 2009 Share Posted February 1, 2009 One of the first things I did when I got the GT in '05. Nearly 70,000 miles later, going strong. Hope they work it out as we had many happy riders who bought one. Link to comment
JMR Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 My follow up from my last post.... Not able to establish any communication with Kevin (Road Rocketeer). I contacted my credit card provider, filed a complaint thu them, and finally got my refund that way. Link to comment
AZRTRDR Posted February 23, 2009 Share Posted February 23, 2009 Ditto my experience. For me it was always "this coming tuesday". Nada I am now trying to see if PayPal can do anything for me but I do not hold out much hope. Link to comment
Heck Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Gizmo Mill, the makers of the "BRAKE" LED light, are back in business with a new shop and a new name "Road Rocketeer". I'm a fan of the light, not a shareholder, and have watched this young couple struggle to get to their feet in business. I'm hoping they can resolve their distribution and customer service problems, because the product is superb. Their new site, still a work in progress is www.roadrocketeer.com 1/31/09 For those of you that are considering the purchase of this product, I need to share my recent experience with "RoadRocketeer"...... .........Now, when trying to contact Road Rocketeer, the phone numbers (both toll-free and local) are disconnected. The website is still up, but emails are not being returned. Sounds like deja-vu all over again.... I guess this now falls into the "Buyer Beware" pile....I'm not too optimistic about a good resolution to this. We'll see......... 8/8/2009 Update: Seems I promised to repost when something happened regarding my experience with Road Rocketeer and Kevin. Can't understand what actually made me look up the internet site again, but I did and was rewarded with a new 800 phone number to contact RR again. Made the call and talked with Kevin, who assured me that they had been working on taillights for the CANBUS equipped bikes. Since it had been so long since I boxed up the original unit and buried it on the crud on my desk, I asked Kevin if he was ever going to make good on the purchase. He informed me that he would send me a new version of the R1200GS light within a few days and that he would email me a tracking number when shipped. After a week with no email, I was ready to chalk it up to the same old story when lo and behold, here comes a package from Road Rocketeer ! New version of the taillight, installed it last evening and seems to be working with no fault codes....Can't say it won't throw the codes yet, but I was pleasantly surprised to have one of their promises actually fulfilled. The board they sent me looks different than the original offering, so there have been a few changes... Hope it works!! So far, so good. News at 11......... Link to comment
OoPEZoO Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I hope they manage to keep their collective poop in a group this time. They have way too good of a product for all the drama involved Link to comment
tallman Posted August 9, 2009 Share Posted August 9, 2009 I hope they manage to keep their collective poop in a group this time. They have way too good of a product for all the drama involved Yes indeed. Keeping fingers crossed for all the CANBUS members out there. Link to comment
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