In message <199511181636.LAA05743@srvr.third-wave.com> "Dana P. Henry" writes:
> Charles A. Runyan asked me to post this letter for him:
>
>
>
> November 14, 1995
>
>
> TeriAnn Wakeman and Friends,
>
> I have been forwarded several pieces of correspondence from the Internet.
> Several points have been raised, and I am not sure of the purpose of some of
> the remarks that I have seen. From what I can see, this correspondence
> started with an entry from TeriAnn, and various angles have been picked up
> by others. I shall do my best to clear the air.
>
> First, The Roadster Factory is still very serious about TR2 and TR3
> parts, and we have always had a catalogue.
While I appriciated the wiring diagram in the "mini-catalogue" I do not
consider it to be more than a flyer highlighting some parts. The mini
catalogues you have produced in the past have not mentioned many of the parts I
have needed for my rebuild and I have given up trying to keep a collection of
dog eared min-catalogues in the hope of finding a part I'm after in one of them.
When your company added MGB parts, I had a nice TRF MGB catalogue in my hands
right away. I realize you needed to do this to get the MGB parts business
started, but as a long time customer who has been awaiting the real TR3
catalogue seeminly forever, I did find myself wondering why you could crank out
a MGB catalogue quickly by never get around to one covering the earlier
triumphs.
Over the years I have purchased thousands of dollars worth of parts from your
company. A large chunk of those purchases were made at Triumphest on parts I
saw in your display room that I did not know you carried. Had I not gone to
Triumphest, those sales would have gone to Moss because I could look in their
catalogue and know they at least listed the part. You have lost sales from me
on several occasions when I just found it more convient to look up a part in the
Moss catalogue.
> This is not an absolutely
> definitive catalogue like our TR250 and TR6 catalogues,
Forgive me, but the TR250 was a single year product but you found the time to
put together a difinitive catalogue. The TR2-3B were in manufacture from '54
through '62 and were built in very large numbers.
> I want to write the
> definitive catalogue for these models, but I haven't had months of time to
> spend on it over the last couple of years.
You had time to do one on the TR250. When I first read about the TR250
catalogue I started wondering why. The only conclusion I could come to is that
the TR2-3B is not valued at TRF. Maybe if you had done your 1 Lap USA runs in
TR3 instead of a TR250, there would have been a TR3 catalogue and the TR250
people would be stuck with mini-catalogues.
> You can help me to produce a bigger catalogue by giving me as much business
> as possible without my having to hold a sale or special every month.
I for one, purchase parts when I need them, and have made my largest purchases
at Triumpfests when I see all those parts i didn't know you carried. Of course
I tend to buy more during the winter sale. Who doesn't want to save some money.
But I do not put off purchses until then, I just pick up some parts earlier than
I would have for the phase of my restoration project.
> Second, I believe that The Roadster Factory has the most knowledgeable
> sales staff in the parts
I had also thought so. Finding knowledgable people at the other end of the
phone was what maked not having a real catalogue livable.
> Not
> every younger salesman is a TR2 and TR3 expert, however. If you call with
> questions that require expert help, it may be best to ask for John Swauger
> or Dave Hagenbuch.
I ran across a level II sales person who was unfamilure with TR3s. I did not
have questions that required expert help so much as I wanted to order parts that
this person was unfimilure with. I had to try to walk him through books that he
had by giving verbal discriptions and was getting the feeling that he may be
looking at things that he thought matched my description but could have been the
wrong part. I tried to politely ask to be transfered to a sales person more
knoledgable in TR3s and was told he would not transfer me. After about 15
minutes of trying to describe parts and getting only about half way through my
order I gave up and canceled. I got out my Moss catalogue, gave them a call and
withing a couple of minutes made my order, confident that since we both had
access to the same part numbers and drawings that I was going to get what I
ordered.
> Fourth, someone seemed to receive a misprinted tabloid newsletter on MGB.
> Our printing and mailing are now done by machine at an outside company, and
> this sort of problem can occur. Surely, however, it is not widespread, as
> we have not had any other complaints. If you get a defective publication,
> it is a simple matter to phone us toll free to receive a replacement.
That was me. I got a tabloid MGB mini-catalogue that had about 4 pages printed
again & again throughout the whole mini-catalogue. From what I know of the
process of making these things (enough to get into trouble) I assumed that
making one bad copy would take a lot of set up work and that they were probaly
all alike. Since I had your MGB catalogue, I figured I didn't need a
mini-catalogue that covered a subset of parts so I didn't inquire to see if
there existed proper copies.
>
> Fifth, I regret that I am not on the Internet regularly and that I will
> not have time to remedy this situation any more this year.
Too bad. The owner on British Pacific is on the West coast Land Rover mail list
and I believe he has picked up a fair amount of business and a lot of customer
loyality by being there and being a resource. I know he has picked up more of
my Land Rover related business as a result.
> Lastly, I believe that The Roadster Factory is still the best and most
> interactive company in the British parts tarde.
I have always believed that your company had the BEST QUALITY parts for Triumph
at a competitive price and when you were more expensive, have gone with TRF on
the grounds that the part is most likely better.
I have a friend who works at Moss. On multiple occasion he has voiced
frustration to me that the manager in charge of suppliers is not remotely
interested in quality and he sees nothing wrong with a file to fit part. He was
quoted as having said, "its good enough. The people should be happy just to be
able to get the part."
I have always been very appriciative of your support and the parts room at
Triumphest and have never left a Triumphest with out having left $400 or more
behind in the room.
When I needed a new commision number for my post TS60000 TR3A and your company
did not carry them, I appriciated being able to send in my old commission plate
and having your company make a batch using mine as a model. You returned my old
plate plus two new ones.
When I tried to fit a boot floor mat to my car and discovered that it wasn't
quite right for the shape of a post TS60000 TR3A, I appriciated your company
cutting a mat from a post TS60000 car and sending to to me.
When push comes to shove, I want to support The Roadster Factory with my
purchases because of the generaly higher quality parts and the support given to
main Triumph events.
However, I look at toy bears, & other non-Triumph parts related stuff, then at
the Inn you're building, and the quantity of parts that TRF lists as no longer
supplied that Moss is having reproduced and available, I can't help but wonder
if either you have lost focus on your core business or if you are trying to
branch out into other business such a general British stuff mail order and
running an Inn at the cost of the British car business.
When I look at the TR250 & MGB catalogue, and the fact that your company didn't
know about the different commision number plate on the post TS60000 TR or that
the boot floor as shaped a little differently until I pointed it out, I wonder
about TRF's level of commitment to the TR2-3Bs.
Still a customer, but ...
TeriAnn
TS75519L
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