Posted by Jack Smith on September 15, 1999 at 00:47:01:
In Reply to: In Reply to : WARNING!!! posted by Richard Oden on September 12, 1999 at 11:29:36 posted by Mark Boyce on September 14, 1999 at 14:02:56:
To clarify my previous posting, and keep things balanced, lest anyone think we're ganging up on Mark, I think what happened here is obvious to all. We've all been guilty on occasion of trying to get something for nothing. The surplus game seems at times to be an exception to the normal rules. Sometimes you DO find a windfall. Perhaps Richard saw an opportunity in a normally expensive item at a low price, and was egged on by the pretense of the case "being checked out". That said, I'm not sure that any damage has been done to Boyce's reputation here, as this affair alone would not keep me from ordering, but neither do I approve of spreading this kind of mud on the internet. If I had been in Richard's place, I would certainly have put more energy into negotiating a good ending. On the other hand, to be fair to Richard, I have been cheated by vendors who misrespresented what they were selling, and their pitch didn't sound that different from what Richard was told by Boyce's. Only those involved know what the intentions were. The point is, part of the cost of doing business MUST be the occasional absorbing of the cost of an error, because it must always be the vendor who bends. The old rule that the customer is always right has not changed. It was based on good sense and ethics, and still applies, no matter how hardlined a company aims to be with its policies. You can argue and win witha customer whom you feel is in the wrong, and indeed he may be, but after you have won, who really won? The simple fact is that such a company will always do less business than one which is willing to eat an occasional mistake.
A threat to smear someone by name on the internet is out of line in my opinion, when given the difficulty of this medium, and the lack of compelling evidence. but on the other hand, it should not be brushed under the rug as insignificant either. I'd like to see a peaceful resolution to this deal gone bad, and so would the MV and power wagon community. My advice to Richard in the future would be to learn from this as most of us have, and if you're going to go abroad and do long distance businees in heavy parts, you'd better inform yourself. To Boyce's, I would say that if you make a practice of selling high freight items, there will be times when the cost of the freight will be a return issue. Why is that so hard to understand? Even if you take back the case, the guy is out his shipping, and is left with a bad taste after dealing with you. I'm sure this is NOT what you wanted. How about it Mark?