Started by purchasing a kit from Plug In Supply. This kit was for a prius and was designed by Cal Cars. He took the design and started selling his own kits out of his house. He never shipped anything on time because he did not have any funding. He would have to sell a kit to buy the parts for the next one. He approached us and asked us to help fund his operation. After negotiations we entered into an agreement with Robb Protheroe to help him build a company, give him a draw, and fund the operation. Robb was working out of his garage and his kitchen table when we got introduced to him. He told us that he wanted to continue making these plug in hybrid kits but he had no money. We agreed to help him and subsequently formed a partnership. After a few months of giving him a draw of a large amount per month, we found that Robb Protheroe was not being honest. He had a ton of debt that he tried to put on burden on the new corporation. We were very honest and up front with Robb and told him that this was a new venture... And all his past debt was his own and that of Plug In Supply.
We also found out that he was not only shipping kits out the back door... But entered our warehouse when we were on vacation and took thousands of $ worth of parts. We contacted an attorney, and started legal action. The attorney asked us about his financial postion and we told him that he had no assets... The attorney advised us that it would cost a lot of money to chase him and he did not have any assets... And it would be best if we just dissolved the company and our partnership. We took the advice and tried to move on. He also borrowed money and paid us back with bounced checks that we never collected. Robb Protheroe and Plug In Supply are bad news. We have done our best to mitigate the damages and move on... But he seriously put a large burden on us financially...
He is still trying to sell his kits, and continues to bad mouth plug in solutions... But he is the real culprit and we have all the paperwork to prove it.
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