[laserenthusiast]

I've been looking around for a laser to buy for my engraving business and spending $10k is a major decision. Hurricane lasers (www.hurricanelasers.com) was one option I was looking at but noticed it's kind of new, so I dug around the web to find out more about this company. I figured out that John Kaspar ([email protected]) is behind the company based on a post to CNCZone's Fb page (see screenshots and profile at John Kaspar | Facebook) looking for employees for Hurricane. After some googling, I found out some weird info on him about a previous business, Win4Charity:

INSIDE BUSINESS - Business - ReviewJournal.com
Las Vegas Business Press :: News : Win4Charity executive accused in lawsuit

Apparently he was sued for stealing $200,000 from investors! He's had a history of running "charity" companies according to his linked in page:

John Kaspar | LinkedIn

I don't know ... stealing from charity is pretty low. Glad I didn't order from Hurricane lasers!

[bonedoc]

I am not sure about their life outside of Hurricane Laser, but I can say that I ordered one and received it without trouble. My personal opinion is that my machine is built well and that they have gone out of their way to make me happy.

I have trust in them thus far, and unfortunately, someone who has had a bad experience would most likely speak more loudly than others.

As far as "not for profit" companies...the reason there is no profit is because it is all used. I think it is hilarious that people dont understand this.

Look at the picture below.

[laserenthusiast]

You misunderstand two things. First, this company Kaspar ran was for-profit and had investors, who would get money AFTER giving money to charities, so he was suspected of stealing from both investors and charities. Second, non-profits don't have money left over because (as you say) it gets used, but it's supposed to go to do something good, not ($200k) to an executive's pocket.

I guess my main concern is if you're buying from a US company to get support/warranty, you better be sure the company will be around a while, i.e. it better be run in a sound way and have good financials. Looking further into Hurricane,

1) turns out Hurricane Laser has only been around since Oct 21, 2011 (2 months) according to their business registration filing here: www.sunbiz.org - Department of State
2) Looks like the people associated with Hurricane Laser: Daniel L Fox, John Kaspar have foreclosure filings and other financial difficulties. Search here for "fox daniel" or "kaspar john": Marion County Clerk of the Circuit Court

I am not sure about their life outside of Hurricane Laser, but I can say that I ordered one and received it without trouble. My personal opinion is that my machine is built well and that they have gone out of their way to make me happy.

I have trust in them thus far, and unfortunately, someone who has had a bad experience would most likely speak more loudly than others.

As far as "not for profit" companies...the reason there is no profit is because it is all used. I think it is hilarious that people dont understand this.

Look at the picture below.

[bonedoc]

You seemed to have researched them quite a bit. You have also just joined, so I assume that you are only here because you have a personal mission against them....which is your prerogative.

As for risk, the chinese only accept wire transfers, and I know how the chinese can work. Hurricane will gladly take credit cards. I can get a refund in about any circumstance that way. They worked great for me.

I got my laser. I love it. It is beefy.

[Hurricane21]

This is John from Hurricane Lasers responding to the malicious and false attacks by my previous employer Full Spectrum Laser who despises the fact that I have started Hurricane Lasers to compete with him. Please read the Full Spectrum Laser forum and see where Henry and the company provide poor service and try to milk customers for all they are worth on every purchase. They also provide their own forum and will post your information as long as they agree with it.

This is the reason I started Hurricane Lasers. To provide quality machines and work with my customers to ensure they are happy. Not filter their comments and try to buy them off like Henry does. For those out there that have either a Hurricane Laser or Full Spectrum Laser. Please comment here and tell us of your experience and the truth will come out on who is providing the best prices and service.

Unfortunately, Henry is feeling threatened and felt this was the best way to attack me for providing better pricing and better service.

I can be contacted at 855-5Lasers or by email anytime with any concerns.

Thank you.

John

[Rodney Gold]

Classy - airing dirty washing....

[Exsecratio]

I'd be betting that posting unsubstanciated allegations on a publicly viewable forum would also have legal implications for the forum operators as well if any of said information was unfounded.

The posts above would in themselves be enough to stop me buying from either company so they have already damaged the reputations of both companies.
Benny, maybe an idea to get rid of this?

best wishes

Dave

[Tweakie]

This is John from Hurricane Lasers responding to the malicious and false attacks by my previous employer Full Spectrum Laser who despises the fact that I have started Hurricane Lasers to compete with him. Please read the Full Spectrum Laser forum and see where Henry and the company provide poor service and try to milk customers for all they are worth on every purchase. They also provide their own forum and will post your information as long as they agree with it.

Our friend Henry wouldn't do anything like that - or would he ??

Tweakie.

[Greolt]

I've been looking around for a laser to buy for my engraving business and spending $10k is a major decision. Hurricane lasers (www.hurricanelasers.com) was one option I was looking at but noticed it's kind of new, so I dug around the web to find out more about this company. I figured out that John Kaspar ([email protected]) is behind the company based on a post to CNCZone's Fb page (see screenshots and profile at John Kaspar | Facebook) looking for employees for Hurricane. After some googling, I found out some weird info on him about a previous business, Win4Charity:

I have gotta say this post does really look suspicious. Laserenthusiast has only three posts on this forum. Two in this thread and another to point to this thread.

He seems to know an awful lot about Hurricane Laser, or has been motivated to do a lot of searching.

If this is as Hurricane21 says, then this action says a lot about the company involved. I don't know if it is, but it certainly smells that way.

I am on the cusp of buying a laser control DSP and was considering Full Spectrum Laser's product. I will need to do a bit more reading and thinking before making that decision.

Greolt

[Hurricane21]

Thank you to all of our customers and forum readers who read past these things. I apologize for even having to respond to their remarks.

We are active on the forums and communicate openly with our customers at all times.

If there are ever problems, which happen in every business, we do not cover them up we do our best to rectify the problem and satisfy our customers.

Thank you again to all and Happy New Year.

John and the Hurricane Laser Team

[mtechus]

Well, I'm glad I didn't order from this laser outfit. I discovered a 'sketchy' deal on Google whereby their ad offers a basic hobby laser 20x12 at a rock bottom price around $1850! I had to review it only to find the actual laser is a 12x12 unit... and it's inoperable (software is not included)? That's like buying a computer without an operating system? The ploy of course is the classic bait/switch which was to upsell me to the more expensive model.
The 20x12 was about double the price.

Just a helpful alert..

[Hurricane21]

Mtechus,

I just wanted to be clear regarding your post that this deception is in regards to Full Spectrum Laser and not Hurricane Lasers. FSL has the $1850 unit on their google ads that sadly is deceiving since they have never sold one of these units and actually tell customers not to order since it is inoperable as you found out.

Sorry just wanted to make sure people knew that Hurricane is not associated with this type of practice and would never intentionally mislead customers. That is not how you build a business for the long run.

Thank you.

John

[mtechus]

Dude...the headline to my post is "My FS Laser machine review"...thanks for re-clarifying.... I'd like "laserenthusiast" (cough...FS Laser) to speak up as this would be a good time for them clarify what's up with the "$1,850 for 20x12" ad when such a machine doesn't exist?

[lovebugjunkie]

Apparently he was sued for stealing $200,000 from investors!

So, you seemed to know a lot about him but you neglected to mention the result of the lawsuit. Is it still active, closed and if so what was the outcome?

Been about 8 months since your post, just wondering what the result was.

[Hurricane21]

The lawsuit was dropped as it had zero merit to begin with.

[lovebugjunkie]

The lawsuit was dropped as it had zero merit to begin with.

That is what I suspected since he left that bit of info out of his post.

[mtechus]

Originally Posted by taichung
Before you "junk" your machine, would you consider perhaps returning the first one you stole?

So, now Full Spectrum or Henry apparently goes by the pseudonym "Taichung" and "laserenthusiast"?... This is better than a reality show.

I'm not saying this is matter of fact but this goes beyond coincidence...

I noticed FS's adwords ad miraculously changed 12 hrs later from $1,850 to $1,850+ addittionaly the ad lists links now to each laser (see image). How coincidental is that?... but hey, give him credit for moving in the right direction.

But in my opinion, $1,850 for a "laser machine" that includes: no software, no print driver, no water pump or air compressor, exhaust fan, etc? What is that then?

You know the sad reality with this thread is you have Hurricane owner, John, who was probably minding his own business over the holidays only to suddenly realize his former employer is orchestrating a willfully destructive smear campaign...that's why I'm writing now and not watching my favorite reality show.

The irony is that the "Sketchiness" went full circle. But, unfortunate for John his business is the one that suffers. (This thread pops up #2 if you Google "Hurricane Lasers").

That's sad.

Laserenthusiast / Taichung... just a word to the wise. In America capitalism thrives on competition and if you accept it - dude, it can actually make your business better. If it scares you then you're going to lose a lot of sleep in the future. Did you have John sign a covenant not to compete?

"I don't know ... stealing from charity is pretty low. Glad I didn't order from Hurricane lasers!

John, somebody mentioned it before but someone making false public claims without merit with the intent to slander you or your company's reputation can have legal implications.

[notprtty]

Laserenthusiast / Taichung... just a word to the wise. In America capitalism thrives on competition and if you accept it - dude, it can actually make your business better. If it scares you then you're going to lose a lot of sleep in the future. Did you have John sign a covenant not to compete?

I am not sure about Nevada, but in many states non-competes aren't valid, regardless of whether you sign them. And I agree, the only way for the market to be truly valid is for competition. If you're not challenged to be better, you won't be. Simple as that. Sounds like Henry of FSL is taking a page from Apple's handbook and then taking it a notch lower by using smear campaigns instead of using the patent system to try and keep competition down.

If you're afraid of competition, that means you're not doing your job very well. A good business man would thrive on competition, especially if he truly believed his was the better product. For example, I do not fear competition in my business because I know the quality of my work and customer service speaks for itself. Even when my prices are higher than the competition, I get sales because I can stand behind my work AND my work ethic.

[Hurricane21]

Happy New Year to All!

This is in response to two main threads that are circulating on CNCZone and Sawmill Creek.

First, we work very hard to provide the best quality and support in the community. There are also many other great companies out there such as Rabbit Laser, Epilog, Universal, Trotec on and on. It is this competition that is helping the entire industry to improve quality and lower costs. Free markets working the way they should.

As mentioned and admitted I did work for FSL prior to starting Hurricane Lasers. Let's just say that Henry and I had differing opinions on business practices. I did not have an non compete. I also did not have hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep fighting a frivolous lawsuit so our attorneys withdrew and therefore he won the suit. As mentioned by other viewers winning suit and collecting are two different things. Hurricane is in business and will continue to be. Perhaps I will have to pay a portion of what we make to the extent the law requires. But losing a lawsuit does not mean you have to shut your business. If it did there wouldn't be a business left in this country.

As for being what I call a Chinese box mover. We are not. We provide optics from Meller Optics here in the States vs Chinese Optics. This promotes less variance in the cuts and engraving and a longer life. We also are proud of our 2 year full warranty that covers everything including the tube. Nobody else has this. We also have a full time class room for education at no charge to our customers. And yes many people attend those classes or visit us for help when in town for fun or a trade show. So the cost of our lasers includes many aspects far beyond just the machine and these things cost money. We understand that we are making much less today than we can but we are about building a long term vision for the laser community. With almost 400 lasers delivered the past 2 years we are just beginning.

Second, every business has good and bad customers. We actually tried to deliver a laser to Gene and he refused delivery because it was a few days later than he wanted. I have offered repeatedly to deliver him a laser or refund his $10,000 as we agreed upon. His last call was he wanted a full refund or he would continue to bad mouth us on the forums etc. This is once again a public offering to Gene to take delivery of the machine as he ordered rather than continuing with his rants. If he does not want the machine sell it and buy another machine. Or just accept the $10,000 refund that has been offered. I will not be held hostage by a customer or anyone that agrees to something and then says they will badmouth me just to get what they want and did not agree to.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

John

[reflexx]

John,

I am also emailing this exact post to [email protected] and [email protected] to make sure you receive it.

Let's make this easy. You have my bank routing information. Please wire $10,000 by January 9th OR I can pick up a cashier's check (for $10,000) from you at the NBM Show in LA on Friday morning. Please let me know ASAP which you will be doing.

ROUTING INFO IN EMAIL.

If I have my "refund" by Friday, I will never speak a word about your company and stop the lawsuit. If not, we continue with the lawsuit for the full amount and sharing additional information I have found. You choose. I cannot make this any simpler.

Gene Sherman.

(email sent 4:36pm Nevada time, Tuesday January 7th)

Happy New Year to All!

This is in response to two main threads that are circulating on CNCZone and Sawmill Creek.

First, we work very hard to provide the best quality and support in the community. There are also many other great companies out there such as Rabbit Laser, Epilog, Universal, Trotec on and on. It is this competition that is helping the entire industry to improve quality and lower costs. Free markets working the way they should.

As mentioned and admitted I did work for FSL prior to starting Hurricane Lasers. Let's just say that Henry and I had differing opinions on business practices. I did not have an non compete. I also did not have hundreds of thousands of dollars to keep fighting a frivolous lawsuit so our attorneys withdrew and therefore he won the suit. As mentioned by other viewers winning suit and collecting are two different things. Hurricane is in business and will continue to be. Perhaps I will have to pay a portion of what we make to the extent the law requires. But losing a lawsuit does not mean you have to shut your business. If it did there wouldn't be a business left in this country.

As for being what I call a Chinese box mover. We are not. We provide optics from Meller Optics here in the States vs Chinese Optics. This promotes less variance in the cuts and engraving and a longer life. We also are proud of our 2 year full warranty that covers everything including the tube. Nobody else has this. We also have a full time class room for education at no charge to our customers. And yes many people attend those classes or visit us for help when in town for fun or a trade show. So the cost of our lasers includes many aspects far beyond just the machine and these things cost money. We understand that we are making much less today than we can but we are about building a long term vision for the laser community. With almost 400 lasers delivered the past 2 years we are just beginning.

Second, every business has good and bad customers. We actually tried to deliver a laser to Gene and he refused delivery because it was a few days later than he wanted. I have offered repeatedly to deliver him a laser or refund his $10,000 as we agreed upon. His last call was he wanted a full refund or he would continue to bad mouth us on the forums etc. This is once again a public offering to Gene to take delivery of the machine as he ordered rather than continuing with his rants. If he does not want the machine sell it and buy another machine. Or just accept the $10,000 refund that has been offered. I will not be held hostage by a customer or anyone that agrees to something and then says they will badmouth me just to get what they want and did not agree to.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

John