Home Forums General Discussion DID YOU KNOW? Smartrise Alpa Lawsuits

Just received this:

I hope you are well and looking forward to enjoying the holiday season.

I am writing to address misinformation we have heard in the marketplace concerning Smartrise and its litigation with Alpha Elevator Control in California.

Smartrise filed lawsuits against Alpha Elevator Control, its founders, and some of its employees alleging:

· Misappropriation of Smartrise trade secrets,
· That they took a massive amount of Smartrise data,
· Other unlawful conduct.

The litigation is ongoing.

As always, we are committed to protecting our customers’ interests by providing exceptional products and customer service. You can trust that this commitment and our business operations remain laser-focused and that we will continue to conduct business with integrity and transparency.

Thank you for your continued business. We look forward to a busy and prosperous 2024!


Thank you,

Gilbert Zogbi
CEO / Founder
Smartrise Engineering, Inc.
916-719-0086

I received the same email, it was send to the entire industry, wow very unethical, and that tells you want kind of people run smartrise. We just doubled down on alpha the same with everyone I talked to in the industry especially after this email went out !! I know that this guy Gilbert left MCE and was one of the founders at smartrise, MCE could have gone after him ...... scum ! he does this in the holiday season and then talks about "continue to conduct business with integrity" what a joke.

Everyone should support Alpha now ..... these guys can't compete with them in the open market so this is what they do.

I have a feeling the market will work itself out eventually and companies will come and go. It's always been that way. But the timings less than tasteful for sure. Merry Christmas!

I have heard that Smartrise is being bought by TorinUSA, which is why they had to drop all their lawsuits and settle with everyone involved in their numerous lawsuits. They had another unsuccessful attempt to sell to Vantage a few years ago. I hope this transition benefits the industry and that we get better technical support and higher-quality controllers.

@Alex, neither are accurate. Smartrise is not being sold, however there is a partnership when ordering packages. The lawsuit is ongoing as well. Based on what is happening with Vantage & Nidec companies, I would have a hard time agreeing that consolidation and private equity have positively affected quality or support.

@Cal4niaSon, It's hard to believe what you say! I'm also unsure about your reference to "Vantage & Nidec"! Nidec isn't affiliated with Vantage; it's a Motion Control company.
Regarding the lawsuit, it's ironic that Alpha has allegedly stollen the elevator controller design from Smartrise, which Smartrise purportedly took from Motion Control. Not sure who will be stealing it from Alpha. LOL.

@ Alex:
I believe what he means is MCE was a much better company back when they were privately owned, I know we stopped using them after the buyout. Vantage taking over GAL and HW has made both companies harder to deal with and longer lead times. I'd admit when they first took over GAL, lead times improved, but that didn't last long. Even the vantage service center in Chicago , seemed like it was going to be helpful, but same thing, long lead times. Both HW and GAL blow past ship dates by weeks, and zero communication or attempt to update information to customers. Torin is really the only company I see any improvement in after all the byouts. EECO I will say has remained the same thankfully. Of course this is all just my opinion and should be taken with a grain of salt.

I wish folks would quit selling out. I know its what folks like to do and go retire but come on. Pass it down to your kids or sell it to your top employee who has the same vision. I'm just getting all too used to seeing companies bought out and then going downhill.

Yeah, I get what you're saying, especially when it comes to family businesses. But for companies with three, four, or more shareholders, it's a whole different ball game. They all start from scratch, then go through about 8 to 10 years of hustling before hitting their peak. Smart move is usually to sell high and start fresh. But after that peak, things often get messy between the owners. That's when the company starts spiraling downhill, either crashing and burning or just shrinking away. Take Smartrise, for example. About 5 or 6 years back, they were killing it. But then internal conflicts cropped up, and one owner bailed while the others went their separate ways. Back then, Smartrise had the edge because there weren't many alternatives. But now, the competition's fierce.

This rollercoaster ride is pretty typical for small to mid-sized fast-growing companies. Sometimes, transitions are smooth, like when Smartrise spun off from MCE. But other times, like with Alpha, it's all lawsuits and chaos, which only drags both companies down even more.

nothing

@Alex
What did I say that is so hard to believe, and why? I'd be happy to talk it through with you...

@Ashley & @ EElevator
Thank you for making my point especially clear.

@Cali

Yeah, The reason it is hard to believe when you say "there is a partnership" is, Hyperion? They're like this big ol' company gobbling up everything in sight, not really into teaming up. You check out their site www.hyperion-solutions.com, you'll see they've got a whole bunch of brands under their belt, like Capital Electric Motor, EECO, EMI PORTA, LiftNet, Mcintosh, Texacone, Titan, TorinDrive, Vator, and ZZIPCO.

And let me tell ya, smartrise tried to get in with them twice, but their recent slumps messed up the deals. I'm with you on how mergers and all that finance stuff don't always mean better quality or support. Big guys like to swallow up the little ones for their customers, not really for their crappy products they make. Think about it, if smartrise gets bought out, it ain't gonna be pretty for us with smartrise controllers. The support's already lousy, and the products ain't much better. If Hyperion swoops in, it's just gonna make things worse. Hope that clears things up for ya.

@Alex, I think we can definitely agree that consolidation and private equity usually isn't good for the industry. Hey, I sent you a direct message. Give me a shout, I think I can help you with a few things...

Just read that letter that Ashley shared from the CEO of smartrise about the Smartrise vs. Alpha Elevator Control thing. Gotta say, not cool.

Look, I get it, disputes happen. But dragging all that dirty laundry out in public? That's just ugly. We're all in the same industry here, and we should act like it.

Let's keep our focus on doing good work and serving our customers. The elevator game's tough enough without all this drama.

So, here's to professionalism and leaving the mudslinging where it belongs – in the playground.

And yes, I've also heard about Smartrise's unsuccessful attempts to sell the business to Vantage and Hyperion!

Take care

@liftronic much respect to you ! that is exactly how the industry feels. I have installed alpha controls for the last two yeas, and I can say its nothing like a smartrise. and a much better company to deal with. @Cali are you not the smartrise sales rep ?

Read more about Smartrise Alpha lawsuit here: https://unicourt.com/case/ca-sac2-casebd9df5900d08de-304973