Date:         Fri, 25 Oct 1996 11:34:20 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Tom Forhan <tforhan@pipeline.com>
Subject:      The Deal: Propex Group Purchase (second try)

Last night I changed my ISP software. This morning I talked to
the Propex folks, and then posted to both lists the details on
participating in a group purchase. It now appears that those posts did
not go through, and so here it is, more or less from memory, a second
time. My apologies if this is a duplicate:

Thanks to all who expressed an interest in a group purchase. Here is the
deal, any and all are welcome to participate.

Propex sells the Compact 1600 furnace for L250, and will give a minimum
of five units 10% off, knocking the price to L225. Thats from US$382 to
US$344 or thereabouts at today's exchange rate. They say there would
also be a decent savings on freight by consolidating to one shipment. 

The price includes the furnace itself and an installation kit;
they will do a run of these specially built for us with 1/4" propane
connections, so no adapters will be necessary. They would expect to ship
about one week after receiving the order.

Of course each participant would also split the freight, duty and
customs fees, and pay UPS from my place to yours. I'll be budgeting
around $100 for these additional expenses for my unit.

I do not want to wait several weeks for these to arrive, and so will
discuss freight options with Propex when I know the size of the order to
see if there is some happy price/performance compromise between the hold
of a steamship and FedEx overnight.

Canadians, I'd be happy to work with you, ship to an address close to
the border, or whatever makes sense. 

I intend to place an order Tuesday AM, based on responses I have
received at tforhan@pipeline.com by Monday PM. If I have not received
enough confirmations to get the discount, I am still going to order one
for myself. If you also want one without the discount, tell me and at
least we can split the freight costs.

Instead of me collecting and cashing numerous checks, Propex has agreed
to accept individual MC or Visa CC numbers and will charge each card
with the cost of a unit plus an equal share of freight to the US. When
the order arrives in the US and I figure the additional costs, either
I'll ship it UPS collect or you can send a check. Obviously, a level of
trust and cooperation is required for this exercise. Incidently, in a
past life I did a lot of import/export, and am familiar with customs
brokers and other import pitfalls.

If you want to participate in this group purchase, send me e-mail
at tforhan@pipeline.com to be received by Monday evening with your name
and address, might be helpful to include the year and model of your bus.
Also, let me know if you only want to play if enough sign up to get the
10% discount, or if you want one of these units regardless.

Also include the MC or VISA card number and expiration date and the name
of the cardholder as it appears on the card. While it might go without
saying, there ought to be something like a $500 credit balance available
so that your charge does not get authorized and the whole deal falls
apart. If you do not want to send the CC info by e-mail, call me this
weekend at (301) 270-8073 to give it to me verbally, but still send an
e-mail confirmation, because that is how I will keep track of the
orders. 

Any questions? I hope not, but if so post the to the list as someone
else was likely wondering the same thing.

Meanwhile, I will track down Ron Katz' mention of a superceding model,
the Carver 4; if it seems equivalent and priced about the same, I'll
hold off until we get our ducks in a row. All things being equal, I tend
to want to go with a known item -the Compact 1600- .

Latecomers, you can read about Propex heaters by going to Gerry's
archives and searching in '96 for "propex":
http://halfdan.med.umn.edu:8853/misc/archives/vanagon.html 

Looking forward to some December camping...

Tom F.