Date:         Tue, 19 Aug 1997 13:36:13 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "The Bus Depot" <list@busdepot.com>
Subject:      Re: Too quick to criticize???

> Curt,
> Just as Bill wrote, don't make statements until you check things out.
> You and Bill are uniformed to the situation and should not criticism me
> for expressing legitimate concern.   I thought this was an open forum. 
> Think before you speak is a good suggestion of everyone.
> 
> Kenneth Winter 

> > In a message dated 97-08-18 10:27:58 EDT, 72153.1620@compuserve.com
(Kathryn
> > Bowman) writes:
> > 
> >  Perhaps everyone should slow down before they jump on this
> >  "slam the vendor" bandwagon.  There are good and bad guys
> >  out there, and it now seems that perhaps Kenneth Winter owes
> >  Ron Salmon an apology  for his recent post.  I'm just saying that
> >  everyone should slow down and check things out before you type
> >  something you might regret later.


No apology is owed to me.  While it turns out that the delay in the refund
check that I sent Kenneth was  the post office's fault rather than mine, he
did have a legitimate gripe in that I had double-billed him on the C.O.D.
in the first place.  Considering the Bus Boys saga that's been going on, I
can fully understand Kenneth's concern when a parts vendor (albeit a
different one) owed him a refund that had not yet arrived. 

I think the important message here is that the Vanagon list wields a lot of
power, and is capable of both influencing and affecting a number of parts
suppliers (in many ways, including who buys from us, what we sell, and even
what we charge).  Similarly, vendor reports to the list can make or break a
vendor who does business with list members on a regular basis.  I can't
speak about the Bus Boys complaints, or anyone else for that matter, but
personally, I really do my best to treat my customers fairly, and am very
happy that so far the press I've gotten on the list has been generally good
(other than about my failure to respond promptly to e-mailed price quote
requests. I'm working on this, by the way, and will have an announcement
soon; in the meantime, call me at 610-754-VWVW if you don't hear back from
me quickly via e-mail.)   Still, it's a safe bet that sooner or later I
will majorly screw up someone's order or refund (nobody's perfect, so it's
bound to happen).  I would hope that if that happened, the customer would
use "public flogging" on the list as a last resort, and try to solve the
problem directly before casting aspersions publicly.  If the flogging is
well-deserved, then by all means go for it, because you are doing the list
a service by warning others away from that particular vendor.  But at the
same time, realize that your words on this list can influence a lot of
people, and have real consequences, so choose them wisely.  

Speaking of flogging, I suspect we've been flogging this dead horse a bit
much, so on that basis I'll shut up and get back to work...

-Ron Salmon
 The Bus Depot
 http://www.busdepot.com