Truth About Aerostich

[Brick]

I recently got a cryptic email from Andy at Aerostich. How many of you also got this email and did you do the survey?
I did look at the survey and well I don't think it's for me.
You?




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[HawkGTRider]

I got it. But after reading it, I decided it was not something that I'd follow up on anyway. I didn't do the survey.

[Landon]

I did not get it. What's the deal with it?

[HawkGTRider]

Dear Riders, Supporters and Friends,
I’m writing you today about an opportunity to work with us -- but not as a customer.
Over the last two years I've privately contacted a few of our best long-term customers, asking if they’d be interested in working with Aerostich in confidential financial areas. There were several positive responses, and I learned a lot from the experience, including the fact that reaching out randomly to potentially interested individuals is inefficient.
After thinking about the best way to find interested persons I’ve decided to just write everyone in our files and attach a short information-gathering survey.
If you would like to learn more about this opportunity, please click , to participate in this short survey. You’ll be asked to provide a little information about yourself, and to download and sign a confidential information non-disclosure form. After you return the completed agreement I’ll contact you for a conversation about this opportunity.
Please note that Aerostich is not for sale, I am not looking to retire, and this isn’t an offer to sell equity or securities. Over the past thirty three years Aerostich has been profitable enough to partly self-finance its growth, but we have always also worked with a bank lender.
We continue to hold ideas about rider’s gear, motorcycling’s future, and business practices which are not common. I'd like to now find a few more persons interested in helping us move our objectives ahead a little faster.
This email was sent from an unattended mailbox. Only completed  will receive personal replies.
Sincerely,
Andy
P.S. – If you would like to receive our regular commercial email announcements of new products and sale offers, or review your email preferences, please click .

*************************************************************************
Since this was supposedly sent to everyone in their files, I don't feel bad about including the contents of the message here.

[STLTHMSTA]

I didn't read the survey because I really didn't know what to make of it. Doesn't sound like an Aerostich (Andy) sort of approach.

Is it really a from a Prince in West Africa???   TM

[stevegrab]

Sounds like a scam or just very odd letter. I doubt it was sent to "everyone in our files" since I didn't receive it but have gotten 3 emails from Aerostitch in the last few days, including one about the new catalogs and 2 others concerning various special deals on types of gear. I've never bought an Aerostitch suit but have placed a handful of orders for things over the years.

[RichGrab]

Sounds like a scam or just very odd letter. I doubt it was sent to "everyone in our files" since I didn't receive it but have gotten 3 emails from Aerostitch in the last few days, including one about the new catalogs and 2 others concerning various special deals on types of gear. I've never bought an Aerostitch suit but have placed a handful of orders for things over the years.

Interesting thread. I too got the email mentioned by Brick and Geoffrey. And likewise didn't respond. And since then, I've gotten several of their "normal" sale type emails. Maybe someone who still has the mail should forward it to Aerostich. Then they can legitimize it or not.

[HawkGTRider]

I believe it was Brick who said he'd responded to the survey and decided to not proceed after taking part. I've not heard anything from him indicating he'd experienced some catastrophic computer meltdown from having done so.

[Brick]

No I just clicked on the survey to see the questions. I did not take the survey!


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[Steve]

I received the letter, also. Don't know what to think. I did not take the survey. Enough time has passed to warn everyone if it was a hacked email. I hope the company is not going to be sold.

[HawkGTRider]

Hacked? Maybe. The message gave me the willies enough to not click on the links (although Brick said above he looked at the questions, and since he's still functioning, apparently with no ill effects). I was pretty sure I didn't have anything to offer Andy anyway, but the message seemed very suspect.

[stevegrab]

An internet search turns up similar discussions on some other MC forums like
gl1800riders.com advider.com

The one on advrider says as you take the survey they want to know your net worth and when is the best time to call you. Another person posting says they contacted Andy and he says it is legit.

I think somebody got their hands on Aerostich email list. I did find that I also got that email, it was in my Spam folder. Seems odd that they'd really expect to get legit responses from that type of email. Others on the advrider forum mention that Andy may be looking to make money by collecting/selling your information, or just helping somebody (the company doing the survey) to do that.

I personally avoid this stuff, and treat it like spam (much like AOL mail did).

[Tigger]

I responded to Andy's curious survey which in fact was more like a pre-screening of suitable crowd-funders. He may be trying to dilute his ownership to prevent a hostile takeover. I don't know. I initially responded in the hopes that it would lead to crowd-sourcing a few alternate design ideas but nope... so I just dropped responding a second time.

[DallasBMWRider]

I received the email. I sounded to me like he was trying to raise capital from customers as opposed to the usual banking connections he mentioned. He did say Aerostich was not being sold. And privately held concerns cannot be "bought out" with a hostile takeover as long as he maintains 51% ownership. It was indeed a strange email, and no I didn't take the survey. But my thoughts on it were that the Aerostich brand has a loyal following. Like most motorcycle clubs, their customer base is aging. And like these aging motorcycle clubs, Aerostich loyalist are also dying or even retiring from riding, every day. Unlike publicly held companies, private concerns are accountable to no one but perhaps the IRS. So why invest in something where you don't know what's really going on and have no input or control over? Skeptical to say the least....

[fxk]

No way on God's Green Earth would I have opened the email before looking at it in "View Source", and doing my scan of where it's been, ratings, return address, and the like. It truly doth stink of a scam.  Borderline, at the very best.


If it were serious, I would have expected some type of prospectus on letterhead via snail mail - and at least a hint of what's going on on the website.


Has anyone brought this to the attention of the Aerostitch folks?