I wanted to write about fake Lego sets, and yet it turned into this article about Great Circle Machinery Corp out of Ontario, California. And given that whole ADHD thing I have going on, the fake Lego article was not the start. Before that, it was a response to Bill Ready’s “The Napster Phase of AI Needs to End“. Which in itself is at five parts so far. The last part is what holds everything up as I read the tea leaves from what I got out of my claims data. No spoilers, but I will say what the fake Legos, wood chippers, and Cochlear have in common with Pinterest in my response to Bill’s article boils down to one word: attribution.
As I started to write about how my own inexperience led to buying something that was not up to the job, I decided to collect details about that experience. I realized I had unintentionally bought two products from the same company. The more I dug, the more I realized this was not going to fit in a few paragraphs. I wanted to share my experience, because the more I looked into counterfeit Legos, I realized I might be coming across as someone who thinks they are too smart to fall for fake products. The truth is, I have and so can anyone else, especially those who think they can’t be fooled.
Disclaimer: When I started writing this article, both woodchippers were available. One of which can be seen available in the featured/ OG image of this article (the image at the top of the article) was taken at the start. But as I finished up the article both were unavailable on Amazon. Likely they are just out of stock, as they are still available at Walmart.
The first and only wood chipper I had before these woodchippers was one made by Sun Joe, which lasted me three years. Most of what I cut was Palo Verde and Willow Acacia (invasive, don’t plant), less frequently Mesquite and desert willow. Not what I would call soft wood, but that explains why the Sun Joe wood chipper lasted only three years. I had no knowledge of what to buy, and it looked like the best option at the time (and it was).
Side note: I don’t recommend Palo Verde unless you can get the tree far from irrigation. I don’t understand why developers use them in the way they do here in Arizona.
The Sun Joe wood chipper could cut 1.7-inch-wide branches. Sometimes it would slow down on those bigger branches depending on which species of tree it came from, but it would eventually break them down, and nature took care of the rest. As a gardener I loved the idea of using the byproduct for mulch, as opposed to tossing it in the trash. But one day it stopped working, and I was not disappointed out of what use I got out of it. I thought maybe I would try for something bigger after the failure of the G Garden Wood Chipper. Because I was not chipping everything I cut off the tree. I had been adding new beds, and to save on soil I buried what I could not chip, and it took far longer for them to break down than what was chipped. The chippings broke down in a matter of months, and yet branches from a year still persisted. I was running out of space to add beds, and I did not want to start throwing out branches I could not chip. Sun Joe did not offer any bigger solutions, and I had to get something to deal with the Palo Verde after a summer wind storm. Again, bad idea to have them anywhere near irrigation. One of mine had a root extended into the neighbors yard all the way to the irrigation drip. In my opinion, and if you want shade in Arizona, go with Mesquite.
First Product from Great Circle Machinery Corp
G Garden Wood Chipper Electric
(product name continues) Quiet Silent 1.5-1.7 Inch Max Branch Capacity 14.5-Amp 1800Watt 120VAC 17:1 Reduction Ratio with 40L Collection Bin use for Fire Prevention Building and Firebreaks
ASIN: B09QWDK13Y
Model #: GUT122-FBA
Manufacturer: G
Seller: GreatCircleUSA
Bought: October 17, 2023
Returned: October 23, 2023
The first one, the G Garden Woodchipper, I selected because it was electric, and I could have sworn it cut a higher diameter than the Sun Joe. But, it reads nearly the same or less limits now, and there is no way of seeing what the listing looked like when I first purchased. The basket underneath seemed like a plus because it has a bigger capacity than the Sun Joe, which after leaving that bag in the sun too many times was not helping the durability, I kept the Sun Joe in shade and cover it when not in use. But sometimes I got distracted and forgot to put the bag back. I was able to fill the container 3 times, but stopped because of a problem I was having. It kept tripping the breaker. Something the Sun Joe had never done.
Second Product from Great Circle Machinery Corp
SuperHandy Wood Chipper Shredder Mulcher 7HP Engine
(product name continues) Heavy Duty Compact Rotor Assembly Design 3″ Inch Max Capacity Aids in Fire Prevention and Building Firebreaks
ASIN: B08YTQ44JP
Model #: GBO006
Manufacturer: Intradin (Shanghai) China Ltd Co
Seller: WOOT (?)
Bought: October 23, 2023
Refunded: November 21, 2023
Since the first product from Great Circle Machinery Corp did not have SuperHandy in the name or the branding on the machine, I did not realize that the second time around I was buying from the same company. I don’t remember or believe Woot, an Amazon company, was who I bought it from. That in itself if ever addressed will be another article.
Part of the appeal was what was in description, it sounded like equipment a landscaper would have… though I am not sure who wants to break up petrified wood. As a rock/fossil enthusiast, bigger is better.
I wasn’t really a fan of it being gas powered, because that meant putting a container of gas in my car. Though I have to say, and I say this without any real knowledge, I assumed that it was not likely I could run a wood chipper off electricity with a bigger capacity. Because I did not see any larger capacity chippers that I could just plug in. Which led to the SuperHandy Wood Chipper Shredder Mulcher 7HP Engine ASIN B08YTQ44JP. The reviews fell around 4 stars, and in most cases I try to avoid any product for less. Keep in mind I was well aware of the fake review problem on Amazon (never mind my history with the fake hosting review industry). But, most of the reviews were verified purchases. I failed to read the 1 star reviews the first time around. Which I often do, even when I don’t agree the product deserved a lower rating. Like say for example this organic fine ground pepper I really love. One review stands out in my mind, where they complained about it being fine ground, which is in the product name. Or another for Marvel Hasbro Legends Namor with a Build-a-Figure part. The person complained about having to buy some guy in a swimsuit to get the BAF. On one hand I want to bring up his history, like that he predates Captain America… But I need to reel this back and focus on how I fell for scam. But these are examples I have been sitting on for years and wanting to put somewhere.
When the Great Circle Machinery Corp wood chipper arrived, I read the manual, assembled it (my years of Ikea assembly paid off), got gas and oil (was not expecting oil, just to show how mechanically inclined I am). For the first round I thought I would try a small branch no bigger than a pencil. It took several attempts to get the SuperHandy Wood Chipper to start, and twice it stopped seconds after starting. When it finally stayed on, I put the test branch in. the wood chipper died before the tip of the branch came out the other side. The instructions were not clear on how to get the branch out, but I managed to pull it out, and try, try, try again. After several attempts to get it to start, stay on, and to break up the same stick I was trying to test… I tried to get support,
Great Circle Machinery Corp wasn’t who responded
From Amazon, I found contact information to get support. With the option for email or phone. Since I hate actually talking to anyone on the phone I thought I would try email first. I forget how long I waited until I tried to call but the clock was ticking on the return, and like most people with ADHD… well I think I explained this at the start and in most articles about how that goes (never a straight path). During the call, I was surprised to find the contact details belong to Super Handy Convenience Stores Inc, The business was started in Sulphur Springs, Texas, by Henry L. “Larry” Booker Jr. as a single open-front grocery/curb-service store back in March 1948. It grew into a local convenience store chain that eventually incorporated as Super Handy Convenience Stores Inc in 1973. It has nothing to do with selling yard equipment, go carts, or bath tub chairs (we are getting those last two products).
The person I spoke to made it clear their company had nothing to do with products sold on Amazon, that they were a chain of convenience stores. While friendly, I could hear the tension in their voice having to deal with something they never asked to be involved in. I am sure they have had to deal with those that didn’t believe them and become hostile.
Days later, I got this email:
Super Handy Convenience Stores Inc <redacted>
Tue, Nov 21, 2023, 12:41 PM
to meI’m sorry, we have no affiliation with the company selling items on Amazon or any other online store with the same name. We are a family run Convenience Store (gas station) in a small town. Our family business has been in operation for over 75 years. Amazon keeps giving out our information but refuse to change it.
I wouldn’t buy anything from this online company we get tons of emails a day about missing parts or stuff not working
After I brought this up to Amazon they refused to take the item back due to the petroleum products. But after reminding them that more than once, the contact details belonged to another company and I had no way to get support they refunded me and told me I could keep the item. Which I was stuck with until last year, most of the people that I knew that took scrap metal wanted nothing to do with it.
I ended up buying the Sun Joe woodchipper, the same model I had before because I knew it would work. Then I got an axe, a mallet, and a wood splitter (which is what the wood mallet was for) to try break down the branches further. Not something I enjoyed, but I had a clean conscience. I left a review, that looking at now could have used more details, likely I had done my best to wrap it up to deal with something else. I do remember reading the other one star reviews and seeing I wasn’t the only one to bring up the support contact information was related to a convenience store.
This is one of the reviews I read after the fact, one of the few that I can find that mirrored my experience.
Thus the Great Circle Machinery Corp story ends… right?
Wood chippers, bath chairs, and scooters… Oh My!!!
You would think the story ends there, but no. While collecting details for what I would amount to 1 – 3 paragraphs it dawned on me that I had unexpectedly bought 2 wood chippers from the same company. Because, again, the first one did not carry the same branding as the second one. I did not look at the company store either time I was shopping for a wood chipper. Had I, I would see they sold assistive technology products like bath chairs, wheel chairs and scooters. I don’t think that in itself is an issue. The issue I have is quality and support which can not be compromised on with their other category of products. They are also not limited to Amazon. I have found their products on eBay, Amazon, Lowes, Home Depot… and I am sure other places.
I would not recommend eating the SuperHandy Electric Floor to Stand Lift.
Assistive technology products appears to be the only products Great Circle Machinery Corp actually make.
Under some of the listings I find:
- Manufacturer : Great Circle Machinery Corp.
Disclaimer for the SuperHandy Electric Floor to Stand Lift on Amazon
Important information
Legal Disclaimer
Statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition.
One disclaimer was not enough.
Disclaimer: While we work to ensure that product information is correct, on occasion manufacturers may alter their ingredient lists. Actual product packaging and materials may contain more and/or different information than that shown on our Web site. We recommend that you do not solely rely on the information presented and that you always read labels, warnings, and directions before using or consuming a product. For additional information about a product, please contact the manufacturer. Content on this site is for reference purposes and is not intended to substitute for advice given by a physician, pharmacist, or other licensed health-care professional. You should not use this information as self-diagnosis or for treating a health problem or disease. Contact your health-care provider immediately if you suspect that you have a medical problem. Information and statements regarding dietary supplements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or health condition. Amazon.com assumes no liability for inaccuracies or misstatements about products.
Since I am trying to get this piece done to focus on the others I only looked at a two assistive technology products. The lift in the link above and a wheel chair have these two disclaimers.
If the product is bad, how does it persist?
Clearly I was not the only one to have the same support headache or issues with it dying. The 3.9 star rating on the second Great Circle Machinery Corp resellers is what baffles me. My first run was not to put the very limits of what the Sun Joe did without issue, it. It could not even handle a stick, and nothing in the manual gave any hint as to what I needed to do for it to break down what the Sun Joe could not. I certainly did not expect support to play out as it did. Looking back and talking to my friends who know better tell me I needed something in the $1,000 range to perform what the second GMC woodchipper claimed to do. Which is where ignorance and penny pinching do not work out.
I wished I saved all the details on this experience. I am pretty sure I bought from one of Great Circle Machinery Corp resellers (a whole other rabbit hole), but I have no proof as the invoice does not even provide the full key word loaded product name.
The one method of getting positive reviews I know of, I don’t think works out here, where the company refunds the purchase for a positive review, or to remove a negative review. What I paid seems a bit out of the range of what I have seen with these gamed reviews. The cost, even at $350 is hard to conceive that the company was willing to compensate that many people for positive reviews. Perhaps it was even lower than what I paid, given it is nearly double now. Something to explore at a later date.
Over the years, one of the things that has soured me to Amazon is that I know they have removed negative reviews I have written, notably the most critical, while one that are more grievance based persist. Which is why I have don’t spend much time on reviews these days on the store front I bought from. The cost has me unsure of why there are so many positive reviews, especially now that the chipper is $668. Another scenario, is where the they replace a cheaper product for more costly product after reaching a certain amount of positive reviews, all under the same ASIN number. But reading the reviews at various points and time, I don’t think that applies here. They all seem to be talking about the same product. But still, my Hosting-Reviews-Exposed.com senses are tingling.
Intradin (Shanghai) China Ltd Co
Great Circle Machinery Corp’s white label partner
The first wood chipper was manufactured by a company called G, which I am guessing is not the name of who manufactured it. Notably, with the second woodchipper, I had this detail:
Manufacturer: Intradin (Shanghai) China Ltd Co
This is the biggest detail I believe I overlooked when first buying. Their Who We Are page in a roundabout way says they offer white labeling.
Intradin provides a wide range of tools and equipment products, the cost-effective prices, assured global supply chain and high value custom solutions to various unique ODM, JDM&OEM applications. We are always customer driven. And this is our key to proven years of success since 1994. – Who We Are — Intradin
As for the woodchipper, the same one I bought except in a different color and different branding: https://www.intradin.com/products/outdoor-power-equipment/tree-care-equipment/wood-chipper-shredder/rotor-type-wood-chipper-wcs118
I found this table on one of their blog posts about one of their other Intradin Landworks products, showing all the options available for their products.
The clearest example I can give to private / white labeling is the store brands you see in stores, like Trader Joe’s, Walmart (Great Value, Marketside), Fry’s/Kroger (Private Selection, Simple Truth), Costco (Kirkland Signature), Target (Good & Gather)…or whatever you may be familiar with. The manufacturer origin is often not made public. A problem I have had with Trader Joe’s when they discontinue products, and I have no way of finding where I can get them elsewhere. But, there is also the more serious problem like the ongoing food safety issues we are experiencing like with the lettuce from Taylor Farms. It was first reported with Taco Bell, and later Jack in the Box. It wasn’t long before we found out it was also sold by some of the stores I mentioned above under their own branding.
I thought this would be simple example of something I fell for, my own buyer regret story. The fake Lego sets I wanted to talk about also have their own manufacture. In this case the Minas Tirith set, which cost me nearly $700. Yet, there are knock offs that are running for half that, even lower once you are set an offer. The real deal product has been on back order after its release earlier in June. Luckily I got it and the bonus when it came out.
There is a bigger story that I might return to one day
Likely if I had done more research, I would have been writing prior to the whole Copytrack fiasco, because there is so much I have left out:
Great Circle Machinery Corp’s reseller program
The product descriptions,
Amazon affiliates YouTube videos
Amazon creators.
As well as these legal cases:
- Cequent Trailer Products, Inc. v. Intradin
- White v. Northern Tool & Equipment Company, Inc.
- Intradin (HuZhou) Precision Technology Co., Ltd. v. Frictionless World, LLC
Not to mention the cases testing where the responsibility of a large platform like Amazon begins:
- CPSC Docket 21-2, In the Matter of Amazon.com, Inc.
- The lawsuit is Bolger v. Amazon.com, LLC, 53 Cal.App.5th 431 (2020)
Last of all, when I said Great Circle Machinery Corp appeared to only make Assistive technology products, that is something else to further explore. Nothing I found shows Great Circle Machinery making anything: no FDA registration, and the documents that name a maker point to Intradin.
The point I had intended to make was I can’t claim to never have been scammed, and anyone who does is not being honest with themselves. One of the very first things I almost fell for would have left me with two years of payments was a car. But luckily that car died during a test drive. There was the time I was screwed over on paying for something that was supposed to lead to getting a job at an airport, because I was desperate to seek employment, which sadly I am not the only one this happens to.
As I wrote this, I was half inclined to write about Endurance International Group (EIG) again about what happened to after I stopped writing about the hosting reviews industry. Many hosts under one company with no clear connection between them… but as with Hosting-Reviews-Exposed.com, the drafts are piling, and I am not limited by subject here.
If you got this far, thanks for reading and have a wonderful day. Next up, either the Cochlear or Lego article.