[p8ntballsteve]

This is the information about the De-Certification of GCI carbon fiber bottles for paintball in regards to the DOT investigation in August of 2005. This is taking the place of the original post due to information released by GCI that caused confusion in the paintball industry.

Originally Posted by The United States Department of Transportation

Through its investigation, PHMSA and the OIG
believe that GCI manufactured, marked, certified and sold an
undetermined number of high-pressure carbon fiber wrapped cylinders
owned by commercial entities and the private consumer. Among others, we
believe many of these may be in use by paint ball enthusiasts. DOT
recommends that any person possessing a cylinder manufactured by Global
Composites International, Inc. (GCI) and marked with exemption number
DOT-E 12695 take the cylinder to a qualified refilling station and have
the pressure relieved from the cylinder. The cylinder is no longer
authorized for use. Refilling stations and cylinder requalification
facilities are advised that DOT-E 12695 has been suspended and these
cylinders may not be refilled or requalified for service.
This safety advisory covers all high-pressure DOT exemption
cylinders manufactured by Global Composites International, Inc. and
marked with DOT exemption number DOT-E 12695

Full Report from the DOT here.

This means in simple terms, ANY tank manufactured by Global Composites International (GCI) that has the DOT-E 12695 exemption code is no longer certified for use. Any information from GCI that states some tanks are still safe is NOT accurate, and has been over-ruled by the DOT.

What should you do if you have a GCI tank?
Depending on the manufacture of the regulator on the bottle, you will need to follow the companies process as listed below for some manufactures:

For MacDev Systems with GCI bottles: Email MacDev at: info@macdev.net to obtain information on how to have your tank swapped out. They will swap out the GCI tank with a new one for a fee.

For Crossfire
Full information

Product Return Procedure:
1. Contact Crossfire at www.crossfireinc.com and in the comment section add “GCI Tank Return.” We will use this information to contact you.
2. Have a qualified refilling station relieve the pressure from your tank.
3. Return the Crossfire Nitrogen System (with regulator attached) to Crossfire, Inc., 2980 Interstate Pkwy, Kalamazoo, MI 49048. DO NOT SEND THE TANK TO US WITHOUT FIRST HAVING THE PRESSURE RELIEVED BY A QUALIFIED REFILLING STATION, AS THIS MAY VIOLATE FEDERAL LAW.
4. Also enclose with the tank a $40.00 check made payable to Crossfire, Inc., your name, address and telephone number, and Crossfire will install a new tank to your regulator and return it to you as soon as practicable.

For Ignition Systems:
Full information

1. Call Archon Paintball at 1-864-675-0228 to regester product for return
2. Have a qualified refilling station releive pressure from the tank
3. Return the complete Ignition air system to Archon using the pre-paid shipping lable Archon will supply you with.
4. Enclose a $40.00 check made payable to Archon Paintball Inc. to have the tank replaced and the complete air system returned to you.

Example of a GCI tank that is de-certified for use:

[original_skooter]

Why are the companies charging the customer to replace a defective product?

[p8ntballsteve]

well, you have to remember, the companies bought those bottles from GCI, and now they offered to buy bottles from other companies to replace them with so the customers didn't have to shell out another 150.00 for a new bottle, since the recall is because of GCI, I think it's a great gesture for the companies to be willing to cover most of the cost on a new bottle. after all, it is not the reg manufactures fault at all, and they very well could have said. oh well sorry, take it up with GCI, but instead, they're getting the bottles for you, and charging a very little amount of money considering how expensive the bottles are.

[painthore]

...and this is why MacDev will always get my business

[original_skooter]

double post

[original_skooter]

Originally Posted by p8ntballsteve

well, you have to remember, the companies bought those bottles from GCI, and now they offered to buy bottles from other companies to replace them with so the customers didn't have to shell out another 150.00 for a new bottle, since the recall is because of GCI, I think it's a great gesture for the companies to be willing to cover most of the cost on a new bottle. after all, it is not the reg manufactures fault at all, and they very well could have said. oh well sorry, take it up with GCI, but instead, they're getting the bottles for you, and charging a very little amount of money considering how expensive the bottles are.

These companies sold these as a packaged product. The customer should not be responsible for replacing a defective product. These companies should cover the entire cost. If not you are basically saying, "sorry we sold you a defective product now you have to pay for a mix up you are not responsible for as a customer." Now I know you are going to say that they are not responsible and the manufacturer of the bottles are but why does that error have to translate to the customer? Poor business choice in my opinion. What should happen is the following:
1) These companies replace the bottle for the customer for free.
2) CGI reimburses these companies for the error.

This is how business is done in most of the world.

Originally Posted by painthore

...and this is why MacDev will always get my business

Why. They are charging a fee. This is why CP will always get my business...oh wait you arent supposed to know about that yet

[MatDaddy]

I also believe the companies should be absorbing the entire cost of replacing these defective tanks. Regular practice usually covers entire defect item cost plus the shipping one way. This means that we should pay for shipping one way at the maximum. Do you see car manufacturers charge their customers when there is a recall on a part on one of their vehicles? Do you know that car companies out-source many of their parts to other distributors. If a part is re-called, the vehicle company absorbs all the cost initially. It's up to them to then charge the recall cost back to the original manufacturer of the part and yes sometimes they have to go to the justice system to re-cover these cost.

No one but these companies decided to purchase these CGI tanks for their Regs. Maybe they thought they were getting a great deal and could make a little more prifit by threading on a possible cheaper tank. Why should the customers absorb the cost of their mistakes! My two cents. Tks.

[p8ntballsteve]

Originally Posted by MatDaddy

Do you see car manufacturers charge their customers when there is a recall on a part on one of their vehicles?

Yes, My 2000 Chevy S-10 ZR2. ABS spring went bad, and was under a recall, but I STILL paid for it to be fixed.

and another thing you have to remember, is that GCI is out of business, and the companies are charging less than half the cost of a bottle to people, so they are taking a hit on them, and also, the companies could have just said, "hmm, that sucks sorry, but not our problem"

[original_skooter]

Originally Posted by p8ntballsteve

Yes, My 2000 Chevy S-10 ZR2. ABS spring went bad, and was under a recall, but I STILL paid for it to be fixed.

You are a sucker because you do not have to pay for it.

Originally Posted by p8ntballsteve

and another thing you have to remember, is that GCI is out of business, and the companies are charging less than half the cost of a bottle to people, so they are taking a hit on them, and also, the companies could have just said, "hmm, that sucks sorry, but not our problem"

Again that is where we get into the idea of poor business methods. Too bad most of the paintball world is stupid teenagers and dont care.

[x602x]

Rather than complaining here - maybe voice your opinions to the Companies that are charging to replace the cyclinders. Send them emails, letters, or phone calls. Just an idea.

peace..

[original_skooter]

I am not complaining just making statements about this where many forum go'ers can view my opinions.

[p8ntballsteve]

Originally Posted by original_skooter

You are a sucker because you do not have to pay for it.

Actually, I did have to pay for it, since the recall, was issued by the ABS manufacture, NOT by Chevy. I had to contact the manufacture of the ABS system for my money back.

[original_skooter]

Again you got suckered into paying costs that you are not responsible for. I have won a lawsuit before because a company did not want to replace something for free after a factory recall. They did not manufacture the product/part but it was a part of their overall product and were ultimately responsible for the replacement of said product. At no point in time is the customer liable for the replacement of a factory recalled product. When a company buys a product/part from another company and repackages as their own product they are now responsible for the product in its entirety.

*I did not want to mention the name of the company or product because it would violate agreement reached during the settlement.

[MatDaddy]

The Biggest problem I have right now with this is getting MacDev to reply back to their e-mails. Their support "SUCKS"! My son has a MacDev Marker and we have three of their tanks (one of them is still usuable - my oldest son's Conquests system). You would think that they would reply to their e-mails to keep their existing customers somewhat satisfied ! I've sent support questions to them in the past for this very reason when the warnings started about the DOT certification on the GCI tanks and never heard a response back. Come on MacDev, if you are reading these post - start replying to your e-mails PLEASE!

[p8ntballsteve]

original_skooter: again, I had to pay chevy to fix it, than had to get ahold of the ABS manufacture to get my money back, chevy didn't recall the part, the ABS manufacture did, and I had to get reimbersed through them. in reference to the bottles, it's better to pay the 40 bucks to the reg manufacture for a bottle, than 150 to buy one, and try to get the money back from GCI, which is out of business, I did get my money back, but not from chevy, and I still had to pay initially, just like you did with your lawsuit.

[RWC29]

I just heard about the recall and ive been playing with this tank now for a year, but has anybody heard of one of these tanks just explode?

[chikin pickle]

I doubt they would detonate, because otherwise they would have all popped by now, what I would suspect is that because they were improperly manufactured they cannot hold the pressures they were designed to hold. Operating pressure is different from burst pressure. On my 3000 PSI tank 3000PSI is the operating pressure, but it can sustain pressure to at least 5000 PSI, and I think that tanks are tested to twice the operating pressure. So these tanks probably won't hold up to the BD pressures (7K for 4500 tanks) making them a potenial hazard.

[dimitrib90]

I have a major question!!! I think my tank is bad, can anyone check? Heres the pic.


Thanks
Dimitri

[TimberGhost0417]

Originally Posted by dimitrib90

I have a major question!!! I think my tank is bad, can anyone check? Heres the pic.

Yes........

[dimitrib90]

ok thanks lol

[dimitrib90]

lol i have two dote 12695's. Is this one too?