Kudos for your comments--I deal exclusively with a local shop/parts
store and witness firsthand the frustrations you expressed.
Listers--patronize the little guy---the service is better, and he will
be there for you in the long run---take all of your business to the big
guys and the little guy with the advice will not be there tomorrow--he
has to make a living too.................
Ed Gaubert
70 MGB
73 MGB GT
60 MGA
68 Morris Minor
REwald9535@aol.com wrote:
>
> Flame suit on, here is my $.02
> Ed and Lawrie and other pro's that are on this list have three things to sell
> parts, labor, and knowledge. When they take time away from their business to
> answer a post they are losing money several ways.
> First they are not selling knowledge at that moment (yes it is true that they
> might get more business from people that become aware of them through the
> list, but nonetheless they are not selling knowledge at the time they are
> answering a post). Secondly they are not twisting a wrench (parts / labor)
> while they are answering a post. (In a shop, money is made when wrenches are
> turning)
>
> I have sold parts both retail and mail order, and I can understand the
> frustration that Ed expressed in his post. I have had people (I won't say
> customers, because they had not bought from my store) come in with a part
> they had bought mail order for a maybe $2.00 less then my price and want me
> to send 1/2 hour giving installation tips. When it did not work right, they
> would then want me to straighten out their screwed up installation or
> warranty the part. Being part of a large company I could not tell them FOAD,
> so I would grin and try not to get an ulcer. My other favorite exchange was
> always the phone call
> "how much is a pressure plate for a 62 Rolls Canhardly?"
> "$62.50"
> "XYZ sells them for $25.00" ( way below my cost BTW)
> "That's a good deal, go buy it there"
> "XYZ is out of stock"
> "Well sir, when I am out of stock I quote them at $9.95, but when they are in
> stock they are $62.50"
>
> In any transaction there are three possibilities
> 1. Price
> 2. Availability
> 3. Service
> You can have any two not all three, so pick the two that are important to
> you. If you want the part now and good aftersales service call Moss they
> will have it on FedEx today. You will pay for the privledge, but you will
> have the part. In a recent thread there was much discussion about VB it
> seems as I recall if you call them you get price and availability, but no
> service. A while further back there was a thread about a supplier (name
> escapes me) who had killer prices and knew their stuff, but never had any
> stock on hand. See how this works? If you will need after sales service to
> install stuff make service one of the required and then pick between price
> and availability as need dictates.
>
> IMHO the best thing listers could do if they like getting technical info from
> guys like Lawie, Ed, et al is to call and buy stuff from them. If the choke
> kit costs a couple of bucks more think of it as tuition in a course in
> advanced LBC repair.
>
> With all of that said, I think Ed would catch more flies with honey than
> vinegar. A post that went something like
> "There are two different kits make sure you have the correct one, if not sure
> contact your supplier. If they can't or won't help return the part and call
> me, I have both in stock and will get you the correct one with all the help
> you need when installing."
>
> Rick Ewald
>
> In a message dated 10/2/99 6:36:44 PM Pacific Daylight Time, bkrueger@ici.net
> writes:
>
> > I'm not out to defend Ed of JustBrits. He's a big boy, let him take care of
> > himself. But --- what I've seen from his sarcastic remarks to people is a
> > hidden mesage that chides people for not taking advantage of some of the
> > expertise that's available to us on this list. Somebody just posted a note
> > about a problem he's having with a Pertronix/Distributor combination that
> he
> > got
> > from Moss. If he'd gone to Skip Kelsey of Shadetree Motors he'd have
> gotten
> > the
> > Pertronix for a good bit less than he paid to Moss, and he'd have Skip's
> > expertise ready to help him.
> >
> > Sometimes it makes sense to engage our list-fingers before we put our
> > checkbooks
> > in gear.
> >
> > Bud Krueger
> > 52TD
> > 77MGB
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