Date: Thu, 16 Jan 2003 12:16:37 -0800
Reply-To: Michael Snow <mwsnow@COX.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Michael Snow <mwsnow@COX.NET>
Subject: Re: good shop / bad shop website?
In-Reply-To: <004301c2bd88$9a38c990$638f9aa6@laptop>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Larry Chase wrote:
> Sean,
>
> The thing that scares people away from this task is "LIABILITY".
>
> Being such a litigious society (especially in the USA) people fear legal
> action.
>
> Perhaps best left to the Better Business Bureau.
>
> http://www.bbb.org/
>
> Or rather than taking the negative approach .... List those shops we
> have had "Positive Expereinces" with.
>
> Which is already done in a few places.
My apologies for not putting this off until Friday.
<rant on>
I can't believe that we are at the point in our online community where
we are hesitant to share experiences because of some percieved fear of
litigation. There are several attorneys in this group that can comment
on the nuts and bolts of the situation.
From a practical standpoint, if you really do fear the lawyers and
their mysterious powers, be discriminating about what you say! My
opinion of the services purchased by me for my Vanagon is exactly that,
an OPINION. Words mean things. Use the right words to say what YOU
mean. If I say that I am unsatisfied with the performance of "Vendor
X", there really isn't much to argue about. If I say that Vendor X
cheated me out of my hard-earned money and will not deal with their
customers in accordance with the law, then I am making a statement that
some condition exist at Vendor X's that is less than legal, a statement
that I cannot possible assess from the confines of my home office
(ignore this clause if you are an expert in business law). In the end,
Vendor X really doesn't have much to say about my opinion, They may have
some recourse for an irresponsible statement, made in a public forum,
asserting that they are doing business outside the law.
The BBB is a good tool, but very few people take the time to report
their bad experiences with businesses. This list, and the information
that our members provide is probably the finest information source
available for all things Vanagon related. Let's keep it that way.
<rant off>
Way more than my 2 cents,
Mike Snow
P.S. Larry, this is not a flame in response to your statement and is by
no means a personal attack.
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