At first I was very excited about this company. I hoped "coming soon" meant that I would be able to purchase their products...approximately 2-3 years ago.
I was in the market for a set of legs and ballhead. I contacted CTC and told them I was interested in purchasing certain of their items that were out of stock/not to market yet. I really don't know which of those two truly fit where they were at the time. I told them I'd be willing/interested in even purchasing a demo model as long as it was what was advertised. They told me they didn't do that, which I understood. So I went Manfrotto for the legs and Sirui for the head. I haven't looked back and haven't really thought about CTC until just now. I'm really sad to see where they currently are. I understand that getting a business off the ground and also trying to manufacture a product (especially in the midst of a pandemic) can be extremely tough, but seeing what (some of which) seemed like good products fail to hit the market in such a time-frame seems inadequate.
Who is Graham Clark and how is he related to Breakthrough and/or CTC? I'm curious, as I've had nothing but excellent experience with Breakthrough photography. I even purchased one of their ND filters, used it once, kept it a year, and then they still approved a full refund when I sent it back.
LinuxHack3r wrote:
Who is Graham Clark and how is he related to Breakthrough and/or CTC? I'm curious, as I've had nothing but excellent experience with Breakthrough photography. I even purchased one of their ND filters, used it once, kept it a year, and then they still approved a full refund when I sent it back.
I placed an order for the Aspen Ball Head 9-months ago (which was in January 2022). I paid the "deposit" price that was listed on their website, and their system made me pay the shipping charge in advance, which was roughly $12. When I asked about that, they said their system always charges for shipping in addition to the "deposit", and that it was a glitch that they couldn't change, but they'd straighten it out once the ball head for me was ready to ship. I inquired every 30-60 days as to the status. The response to my first inquiry was that they planned to ship it out to me in the second quarter of 2022 (which would be April/May/June), but the response to every other inquiry was that they didn't know when they'd be able to ship products out. So I requested a refund, and the refund came through within a few days. I had waited almost 9-months, which was far too long.
I have searched the internet for indications that anyone has received their order for an Aspen ball head besides a few YouTubers who have photo-related channels or other highly visible photographic people (all of which did not order the Aspen ball head but just received theirs for free from Colorado Tripod Company so that there would be glowing reviews on the internet), and I found NONE. There seemed to be somewhere in the range of 5 units sent out to YouTubers or others, but thats all I found. If there had been 50 or 100 units sent out to regular consumers like me, we'd see reviews from at least a few of those regular people (meaning people who don't have YouTube channels and don't run their own photo websites, etc). But I found NO such postings or reviews anywhere. That suggests to me that no units have been sent out to regular paying customers. If anyone has any different info, I'd like to see evidence of it.
Colorado Tripod Company might be good, or they might not be. I don't know, because I can't seem to be able to buy and get my hands on any items of theirs. I'm guessing that they have (or had) good intentions to sell a lot of quality products, but something went wrong because businesses that never have any inventory probably won't survive.
The Aspen ball head might be a good unit; I don't know, and I'm guessing that I never will know, because I have doubts that I'll ever see one in the flesh.
As "mister wonderful" on Shark Tank says: If your business isn't profitable and isn't succeeding after 3-years, then its not a business; its a hobby, and you should take it out behind the barn and shoot it.
Its a shame to see a potentially good business not living up to its potential.
I've seen a lot of businesses fail. Hopefully Colorado Tripod Company doesn't fall into that category, but based on many indicators (and after reading this entire thread of other people's experiences), it makes me wonder...
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If anyone has given money to a company, and if that company hasn't delivered the product(s) for a while, the buyer should consider whether they need to take steps to try to get their money back, because at some point the buyer might not be able to get their money back. If the company files a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy petition, the buyers will be creditors who will almost definitely never see their money again. If the company files a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy petition, the buyers might (might might might) recoup a small portion of their money over the course of several years.
None of that sounds good, so buyer beware...
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I paid full price plus shipping on July 29th, 2021. I got sick of their nonresponse and I asked for a complete refund. They balked so I threatened them with legal action and I finally got my money back a few weeks ago. They are obviously a business that you don't want to have anything to do with. I will never buy or even entertain the thought of getting anything from this company. Super shady business model, beware!
I have since bought a Benro GD3WH 3-Way Geared Head. I was/am using a RRS BH45, which is an awesome ballhead but I've wanted to try a geared head for a while and so far, I like it. At least they sent it to me promptly. :-)
CTC is just a re-branding / re-labeling / re-assembling business. The "mountain" pattern carbon tuning shown on their perpetually unavailable tripods is the same Chinese sourced material used by several other brands including Leofoto.
The odd part is that Colorado Tripod Company (CTC) has people waiting in line to buy some of their products, but CTC doesn't seem to deliver anything. Why do they exist as a "business" if they're not going to sell anything?
Other businesses are making products (or rebranding products) and shipping out items to customers. Why would CTC fail to send anything out?
The materials to make their products are available. There are machine shops who can do the machine work.
Does CTC not have the money to get inventory? (We sometimes hear that on the Shark Tank TV show).
If they couldn't afford to get inventory, then they should get a business loan, or a business credit card, so they can buy the materials and pay for the machining, etc.
Not delivering products to customers is a sure way to go out of business...
It will be 4 years next month since I backed this project. July 2021 received this email...
Yes we have intentions of completing this project. In the terms of Kickstarter, no project backed is guaranteed to be successful, and most successfully funded Kickstarters never ship. Unlike most other Kickstarter projects, we guarantee that we will deliver the products you pledged for, which is not a guarantee Kickstarter project creators can often make.
Still nothing. I would steer clear of Colorado Tripod Company and anything with Graham Clark's name on it.
If you want to waste some time check the comments on their Kickstarter page.
I did as well. Than I made the mistake of pre-ordering their EF-RF adapters and filters. Ended up cancelling my order after 5 months when I got tired of their shipping soon replies.
alan_b wrote:
I've steered clear since experiencing his behavior during the Breakthrough Kickstarter.
