Anyone having issues with GT Forte?

So I jumped into the GT40 build by buying a GT Forte Flatpak frame. I was told they have frames in stock and should only be 4-5 days to ship. March 12/18 I paid for it, last email he answered March 21. I have sent 3 emails since, one last week and another a few days ago. NO response.
But to see if there games happening I sent an email from another address asking for a shipping quote for a flatpak. Within hours I got an email back stating shipping price. Hmmm, this seems rather shady.
After reading some other posts about Darren George from Gt Forte, I realised that similar behavior has happened in the past.
I am not sure how to proceed? I want the Frame but if I get PayPal involved they usually just refund the payment after deciding if the seller seems to be up to no good.
Has anyone dealt with a similar situation with GT Forte?
 
Hmmm I was planning a trip to collect parts at GTforte end of may..
Holland - UK

Must say, had the same email issues a few months back. Got in a conversation with darren about my GT40 build with his kit ( I bought a stranded project) and suddenly I never heard from him again.

I wonder if I might be better of heading to Toronado ??
 
Hi David

Email sent

Regards Bob.

Yeah that sounds spot on to what I am going through right now. He even had his girlfriend email me today stating he was in the hospital.
But the funny thing was he emailed me last night to my phony email address I sent requesting a quote for parts. He answered that right away. So for some reason he is playing games?
He isn’t going to Tornado, that’s where he stole the molds and frame dimensions.
 
So upon further emails ignored it has become apparent that GT Forte is screwing me. Great start to the build, or maybe its a blessing in disguise as I hear a lot of others comment on quality being rather poor on the body parts and the frame parts are thinner gauge than some others.
I'm done, goodbye GT Forte. Word of mouth goes far. I read the comments posted by others about the business practices Darrin George operates by but I didnt really believe them. Guess I learned a lesson myself. If you do deal with them, only use PayPal if you can as the insurance they offer is pretty useful in situations like this.
I opened a case with PayPal, im not even going to bother trying to get the frame. I will never deal with GT Forte again.
 

Randy V

Moderator-Admin
Staff member
Admin
Lifetime Supporter
Sorry to read this...
Another tip regarding PayPal - do NOT link it to your bank account.
Instead - link it to a credit card.
I had a seller on eBay try to hose me for over $2k. Even though I had everything well documented - PayPal wanted to wash their hands of the transaction (which was never consummated since I never took delivery of the vehicle). I was now ~45 days out from the transaction date and I finally called my credit card company (Wells Fargo) and informed them of the situation and of my documentation. They immediately refunded the money to my account while debiting PayPal (boy were they ticked off) on the promise that I would send the documentation. I sent the information the same day and within two weeks the case was closed. PayPal ended up sucking the money out of the seller’s bank account and locked him out of any more PayPal transactions.
I have had no more troubles with PayPal, but if I do, I am calling my CC company first...
 
Sorry to read this...
Another tip regarding PayPal - do NOT link it to your bank account.
Instead - link it to a credit card.
I had a seller on eBay try to hose me for over $2k. Even though I had everything well documented - PayPal wanted to wash their hands of the transaction (which was never consummated since I never took delivery of the vehicle). I was now ~45 days out from the transaction date and I finally called my credit card company (Wells Fargo) and informed them of the situation and of my documentation. They immediately refunded the money to my account while debiting PayPal (boy were they ticked off) on the promise that I would send the documentation. I sent the information the same day and within two weeks the case was closed. PayPal ended up sucking the money out of the seller’s bank account and locked him out of any more PayPal transactions.
I have had no more troubles with PayPal, but if I do, I am calling my CC company first...

Hi Randy, hopefully after PayPal investigates my official complaint and claim against him they will ban him for life. :laugh:
 
So upon further emails ignored it has become apparent that GT Forte is screwing me. Great start to the build, or maybe its a blessing in disguise as I hear a lot of others comment on quality being rather poor on the body parts and the frame parts are thinner gauge than some others.

I own a GT Forte chassis and body. I will not comment on the quality of the body publicly. The quality of the chassis though is as good as, if not better than, any other of its type (this isn't a mono).

Not sure where you are hearing about this or that being "thin" but mine sure wasn't. It's five years old though so things could have changed I suppose.
 

NickD

Supporter
Very brief comment to this thread. I purchased a GF-Forte (Flat Pack) chassis early 2014 and have been very pleased with the results. My Car is essentially a hybrid comprising Forte / Southern GT / Tornado and self made.

Specific to the Chassis when I made the purchase , I believe it was on a par with anything else on offer in the UK at the time.



Nick D.
 
Very brief comment to this thread. I purchased a GF-Forte (Flat Pack) chassis early 2014 and have been very pleased with the results. My Car is essentially a hybrid comprising Forte / Southern GT / Tornado and self made.

Specific to the Chassis when I made the purchase , I believe it was on a par with anything else on offer in the UK at the time.



Nick D.

Thats because Darrin used a Tornado frame for dimensions and the body parts to make molds. You see thats how his business morals are in many ways.
 

NickD

Supporter
Thats because Darrin used a Tornado frame for dimensions and the body parts to make molds. You see thats how his business morals are in many ways.

Irrespective of who has copied who in the past and rightly or wrongly some suggest the Tornado was originally a copy of a GTD. I was only stating the quality of the GT-Forte flat-pack chassis purchased back in early 2014 was as I had hoped.
 
Irrespective of who has copied who in the past and rightly or wrongly some suggest the Tornado was originally a copy of a GTD. I was only stating the quality of the GT-Forte flat-pack chassis purchased back in early 2014 was as I had hoped.

It was just a fact I put out there. But by saying it I didnt mean it was a poor frame, I dont have anything to go by except other members so I cant say if its good or bad. Im trying to get across my experience with other members so they at least if GtForte is their option knowing what they might get is for them to read.
 
Well I finally got my money back from GTForte through a PayPal claim. He wrote me a long email describing what he thinks of me and turned everything around trying to make feel like I am the jerk. Amazing the people in this world.
 
Well today we tried to find his shop on our last day in the UK, just before we had to catch the ferry back home.

Had ordered some parts earleyer on in april wih the confirmation is was no problem to collect them and to pay for the goods while we where there. I did sent him a reminder email last week just before our short trip to the UK started.
Never got a reply

First we did vissit a rally parts company nearby who where supriced that we where collecting parts at GTforte. They where very helpfull with calling Darren to let him know we where on the way.
Phone seemed to be disconected...

So off we went to GT forte hoping for the best and ended up in a city street with houses and a guy making wooden rabit homes. Nobody in the street we asked seemed to know the company.

A quick google search on Autosport GT Engineering gave another adres on an industrial estate 10 miles back from where we came from (rally company) finding some monkeys barely speaking english not knowing anything.

Tried to call Darren several times but got the voice saying phone is disconnected...

Had to catch the ferry so off we went.
No parts but by luck I had not payed up front.

At SGT I had more luck last week and what a great guys they are.
 
Well today we tried to find his shop on our last day in the UK, just before we had to catch the ferry back home.

Had ordered some parts earleyer on in april wih the confirmation is was no problem to collect them and to pay for the goods while we where there. I did sent him a reminder email last week just before our short trip to the UK started.
Never got a reply

First we did vissit a rally parts company nearby who where supriced that we where collecting parts at GTforte. They where very helpfull with calling Darren to let him know we where on the way.
Phone seemed to be disconected...

So off we went to GT forte hoping for the best and ended up in a city street with houses and a guy making wooden rabit homes. Nobody in the street we asked seemed to know the company.

A quick google search on Autosport GT Engineering gave another adres on an industrial estate 10 miles back from where we came from (rally company) finding some monkeys barely speaking english not knowing anything.

Tried to call Darren several times but got the voice saying phone is disconnected...

Had to catch the ferry so off we went.
No parts but by luck I had not payed up front.

At SGT I had more luck last week and what a great guys they are.
.

We’ll be glad you didn’t pay up front because that’s when he really ignores phone calls and emails.
When I opened a PayPal case against him he sent me a nasty letter describing what an ass I was for doing that. He also threatened legal action because he didn’t like the comments posted on this website.
He said all kinds of things that tried to make me look like I was wrong for opening a case and that he was an honest businessman. He also stated that he has so much business that he gets busy and gets behind. Ahah, okay so that’s why he can’t ship a Flatpak as quoted in 3-5 days as they are in stock? In the first emails he was saying it would ship in days, I guess he meant a month and a half of nothing.
The fact you couldn’t find GT FORTE’s establishment is odd, I bet any money he lies about his address. I mean imagine the people that would possibly want to track him down. If he operates his private life like GTFORTE than the scams must be high on the list and the angry folks searching for him!
Honestly I don’t know why anyone even bothers with him? Maybe the prices look good at first but you see what he’s doing, is it worth it to deal with a guy who pulls this crap?
Nope, if you are in the UK stick with the other GT40 makers, they also have been around for some time. Apparently GTFORTE used the other UK company to take measurements and molds for the body.
If that’s the case he fully pulled a fast one on everyone.
If you have another email address send him an email asking for a shipping quote on something. After a month of ignoring emails from him I sent a fake email and he answered within an hour stating he had a Flatpak ready to ship in day or two once payment was sent!
What does that sound like to you? A person who is pulling scams.
 
Sorry to hear you're having problems guys.

I too own and have built up the flat pack chassis kit, and the quality has been great.

What hasn't been great is the lack of business acumen on the part of DG.

But here's the thing, I fully understood his shortcomings, had read all the past problems that others had (and are still having) with him, but still I tried to deal with him.

All's been fine until very recently, am waiting for a dashboard and front hubs which I've paid for.

Long story short, in the grand scheme of things, I'm in no rush for these parts.

What galls me is the lack of response from DG to my weekly emails/txts/phone calls.

Anyway, that's my 2 pennies worth.

What I have found though, is that Mick at Southern is a great chap to deal with.
 
Sorry to hear you're having problems guys.

I too own and have built up the flat pack chassis kit, and the quality has been great.

What hasn't been great is the lack of business acumen on the part of DG.

But here's the thing, I fully understood his shortcomings, had read all the past problems that others had (and are still having) with him, but still I tried to deal with him.

All's been fine until very recently, am waiting for a dashboard and front hubs which I've paid for.

Long story short, in the grand scheme of things, I'm in no rush for these parts.

What galls me is the lack of response from DG to my weekly emails/txts/phone calls.



Anyway, that's my 2 pennies worth.

What I have found though, is that Mick at Southern is a great chap to deal with.

Well I suppose if you support this kind of business mentality than it’s this what keeps him in business and makes him feel like it’s okay to do this regularly.
Do you like shoddy service and being lied to? Well guess what Darrin seems to think so and it’s buyers that let him get away with this are a problem as well.
 
I knew the responces on this topic. I ordered a glass rearscreen & a lhd dash which I didn't want in my car packed full of campgear when I went into the UK, so I got my small bits from SouthernGT and went on to the Classic Ford Show. So I figurd if Darren is doubful I can take a change by order these parts and pay by collection on my last day in the UK with just 250miles till home. I thought the glass would only sit on the campgear for just a few hours with sleepingbags as a safety.

I knew I could go empty handed and had planned a vissit to Rally Design also which is 10 miles away so I figured it would cost me nearly nothing if he's not delivering.

Till today, he didn't contact me that I didn't show up leaving him with ordered parts I have to pay for.

Have planned a trip to the UK for the Silverstone Classic and will vissit SouthernGT again for some more parts.
Ill skip the lhd conversion as SouthernGT convinced me not to do it.
 
Back
Top