AeroRocket

[Marsman]

The matter has been amicably resolved.

 

[dixontj93060]

In a product sales transaction a company has no obligation to provide Tax ID info and submit to contractor status with 1099's etc. Both you and your employer need to understand this and act accordingly. Actually from the looks of it, probably too late... Amazing how an institute of "higher education" can be so "uninformed."

BTW, all my past transactions with AeroRocket have been stellar--I even lost my ID when my computer crashed and John provided a new access code within hours.

 

[G_T]

You may want to check with your legal department or accounting department on the requirement for the W-9. A department policy is not the same as a legal requirement. If I read the details correctly, and the odds are I did not, if your university only purchases a product from this company and the total value of purchases of product for the year are less than $600, then you don't need the W-9. But please do not take this as advice or as factually accurate in any way. I am not a tax person, an accountant, or a lawyer. I am certainly none of these things for any party involved!

Gerald

PS - Ops, I see my post is redundant!

 

[troj]

if your university only purchases a product from this company and the total value of purchases of product for the year are less than $600, then you don't need the W-9. But please do not take this as advice or as factually accurate in any way. I am not a tax person, an accountant, or a lawyer. I am certainly none of these things for any party involved!

The total amount is the key. It's a recent tax code change, in an attempt to close holes that folks were using to not declare income.

That said, it's unfortunate that rather than discuss it, the decision was made to block all contact from them, entirely. Regardless, it's his choice on who he does and does not wish to sell his product to.

-Kevin

 

[BrianURocket]

I don't know much on the subject, but I admit, if I sold something and someone gave a demand like your university did-I too would be suspicious. Maybe he could have responded slightly different, but you can't blame anyone with all the identify theft issues these days.

 

[JRL303]

Wow. This Cipolla guy sounds like a real piece of work. It sounds like he is the one that just needs to go away.

 

[Sailorbill]

Wow. This Cipolla guy sounds like a real piece of work. It sounds like he is the one that just needs to go away.

I don't know about that. dixontj93060 seems to have had a great experience with this vendor.
We have no way of knowing what is going on in Mr. Cipolla's life and many folks just do not like giving out their SSN/TIN.
Without walking in his shoes I certainly would not pass judgement on him. As troj said it is his product and he can choose who he will or will not sell it to.

 

[troj]

I don't know about that. dixontj93060 seems to have had a great experience with this vendor.
We have no way of knowing what is going on in Mr. Cipolla's life and many folks just do not like giving out their SSN/TIN.
Without walking in his shoes I certainly would not pass judgement on him. As troj said it is his product and he can choose who he will or will not sell it to.

Agreed, for the most part, but this latest addition is.....unique.

Edit: I contacted him using another email address and apologized very nicely for offending him regarding potential error by our staff's requirements in asking for the W-9 form. I asked that if he were willing to reconsider, we could work out a way to send him a check without filling out the form. He did respond back by calling me a criminal, an idiot and saying that I've been a waste of time and should just go away.

That response definitely seems a bit over the top, to me.

-Kevin

 

[BrianURocket]

Agreed, for the most part, but this latest addition is.....unique.



That response definitely seems a bit over the top, to me.

-Kevin

I agree.

 

[Sailorbill]

Agreed, for the most part, but this latest addition is.....unique.



That response definitely seems a bit over the top, to me.

-Kevin

True.

 

[dixontj93060]

This whole reaction scenario seems very, very strange. It is akin to responses I have seen over the decades in the business world when there is a real or perceived competitive threat. John Cipolla has a lot of intellectual property built up in the AeroRocket suite of programs. Could the work being done at Boston University or any of your personal activities pose a threat?

 

[CarVac]

Yeah I mean he seems rather paranoid about being the victim of some sort of fraud, but who knows, maybe he had identity theft issues in the past or something. His website is full of stuff about how paypal and credit cards aren't secure and whatnot which seems a little strange though. Whoever said we don't know what he's had to deal with so we can't judge is right on the money. I honestly just hope he can realize that he'd do a lot better business wise if he had better relations with potential customers.

No we haven't done any missile aerodynamics work in the past. From a research standpoint, it doesn't make a lot of sense to re-invent the wheel and I personally don't want to be in the business of competing with existing solutions at the professional and amateur level. We'd love to just use the finsim software in particular, but seeing as we can't use that we're investigating ASTOS. If it doesn't do what we need it to do then we'll probably just write our own fin flutter and spin stabilization script or software. We definitely have the capability in house to do it, it's just time and money that has to be spent being thrown at a problem that's already been solved.

If we do it and people are interested I guess we could post it for free somewhere. It probably wouldn't be as comprehensive or user friendly as John's product as it would be tailored to what we specifically need, but it would be a nice alternative for people if they have problems dealing with Aerorocket.

You could add basic structural analysis to OpenRocket!

 

[GDJ]

Okay, I've read all of this twice and pondered. His final response is abrupt, harsh, over-the-top, and it certainly would be considered knee-jerk response to a simple form he could have simply said "No thank you".

Not filling out a form could simply be a preference, or something deeper, like not filing tax forms declaring income (for example). Since I'm just a outsider looking in, I can't be sure of course.

 

[r12ski]

Sounds like one of those guys who perceives the UN as a threat.

 

[Stymye]

.......or reporting income

 

[dixontj93060]

Yeah I mean he seems rather paranoid about being the victim of some sort of fraud, but who knows, maybe he had identity theft issues in the past or something. His website is full of stuff about how paypal and credit cards aren't secure and whatnot which seems a little strange though.

Hmmm... I thought I had paid with credit card years back. But I see that has changed now on his order form. Now check or money order. Maybe it is an ID theft thing. Hard to believe it is to get out of reporting income because a check trail is still traceable in an audit and fully taxable.

 

[Buckeye]

I spent some time reading the guy's website and resume. He has an enemies list, paypal rants, berates potential customers, and won't sign NDAs. Don't dare call him on the phone, ask questions, or talk about employment without a salary offer in hand.

Does he want to attract customers/jobs or scare them away? He also refers to himself in the third person - creepy. Seems like the response to Marsman was right in line with his published "policies."

He has lots of cool and useful products and services, but geez Louise..............

 

[5x7]

Third, in a subsequent email to the last email you posted, I never called you a crook but simply stated the following, "For your information, I foiled a similar scam that attempted to defraud me in almost the same way you tried to yesterday...."

John Cipolla
AeroRocket

I would also have taken the quoted sentence as an accusation of criminal intent. You might want to be more careful in the future how you phrase your email.

 

[sunward]

I am staying out of this discussion but would like to comment on the W9 form.

First, a link (that no one has posted):
https://www.irs.gov/uac/Form-W-9,-Request-for-Taxpayer-Identification-Number-and-Certification

If you do some searching (you know google or bing), you do find out about the $600 exemption. There are also some circumstances where the form needs to be filled out or face a penalty.

Second, every business owner should know the rules about when and how to use the form. As most vendors posting in this forum are US based, they should have them pre-filled. Right?

Third, I have been asked to fill out a form (by a school). But as a Canadian business, the form is not something I fill out - says right on the form itself - so i have had to educate a school board myself.

As for myself, if I send more than $2000 worth of goods to a US business (or person), at one time, then I need tax information for shipment purposes. It is a must as it is required by shipping companies.

 

[5x7]

The sentence reads that he tried to defraud you almost like someone else did.

In the sentence the almost refers to the type of fraud between the two situations.

 

[kruland]

This will go on you permanent record.

Probably would get more reaction from the department chair, dean of the school, or dean of students.

Let us know how this turns out for you.

 

[KenRico]

If the Check was made to AeroRocket instead of John , this would not be an issue. 'check requests to individuals ' was the departments flag.

Making a 'federal case' and demanding the dean review the 'intrusive' request for personal information, seems unwarranted as you are a 'Person' doing business.

Kenny

 

[sunward]

Wow.

A student make a request for a form because he is told to get. And this leads to gets a letter to the University President asking for action to be taken against the student?

What happened to the customer always being right? Customer service? Customer relations?

I can see the heading now:
"University Students Start Open Source Aerodynamics Computer Software Package"

Just wow.

 

[KenRico]

Wow.

A student make a request for a form because he is told to get. And this leads to gets a letter to the University President asking for action to be taken against the student?

What happened to the customer always being right? Customer service? Customer relations?

I can see the heading now:
"University Students Start Open Source Aerodynamics Computer Software Package"

Just wow.

You would not be asked for a W9 by the University, Angelo - because you are not doing business as an individual.

Kenny


Kenny

 

[aerorocket]

These trolls were talking about a $25 program!