Bruce
04-23-2005, 05:28 PM
It's your duty as a customer to make informed, and intelligent purchases.
Sometimes, the road to making discisions, can be a journey.
There's alot of *polling*, and asking for advise going on. And while that's a good thing, always try to *sample* any product first. If you're thinking about getting say a particular converter, then you want to drive as many cars with as many converters as possible, or at a min get a ride in the passenger seat. It's easy to not be too objective if you're really not used to GNs. The first few rides in 10 sec cars can be overwhelming. You might even have to ask folks for a second ride some time later.
And please watch for idle claims. There's some vendors, that just love to make up data on the fly. If someone says their part will do so and so, ask for data. Perferably a data log. Something that really demonstrates the claim. IMO, be really leery of the **Pros**, that strut around, acting like you're bothering them, when you question them. Often that's a mask they wear to cover up the fact that they just don't really have much if any clue about what they're talking about. Most folks that really know the material, often have a little bit of teacher in them. They actually like telling about how things work, I wouldn't expect getting any trade secrets, other then that thou, they'll gladly shoot the breeze with you.
Once you have your list of candidates to 2-3 suppliers, it's then about their intregity. You want someone that answers the phone, and has a known record for how they deal with problems. Now this is, IMO, one area all too many people ignore, and can lead to lots of problems down the road. While there might not be too much bad *print* for some vendors, be sure to read the ocassional incident, and how the vendor handles the situation. Do they make every attempt to resolve the issue, or just slam the door on the customer?, or play the blame game?. Both are instant red flags in my book, if the vendor can't be taken at his word, then he gets a pass in my book. A vendor should make every effort possible to try and work out problems, not take a pass on them. If you resort to a *Boycott* of sorts, well that's your right, and you owe it to yourself, and the Vendor to let him know why you went else where, and way. Of course, for some vendors, they'll instantly get their hackles up, and maybe even go into rage mode, but that's their problem. Unless a vendor knows why he's losing sales, he'll just time after time, make the same poor choices in how to handle a situation.
The TR world is shrinking and you owe to yourself and the vendors we have left to try and work things out (even if you buy parts else where).
Sometimes, the road to making discisions, can be a journey.
There's alot of *polling*, and asking for advise going on. And while that's a good thing, always try to *sample* any product first. If you're thinking about getting say a particular converter, then you want to drive as many cars with as many converters as possible, or at a min get a ride in the passenger seat. It's easy to not be too objective if you're really not used to GNs. The first few rides in 10 sec cars can be overwhelming. You might even have to ask folks for a second ride some time later.
And please watch for idle claims. There's some vendors, that just love to make up data on the fly. If someone says their part will do so and so, ask for data. Perferably a data log. Something that really demonstrates the claim. IMO, be really leery of the **Pros**, that strut around, acting like you're bothering them, when you question them. Often that's a mask they wear to cover up the fact that they just don't really have much if any clue about what they're talking about. Most folks that really know the material, often have a little bit of teacher in them. They actually like telling about how things work, I wouldn't expect getting any trade secrets, other then that thou, they'll gladly shoot the breeze with you.
Once you have your list of candidates to 2-3 suppliers, it's then about their intregity. You want someone that answers the phone, and has a known record for how they deal with problems. Now this is, IMO, one area all too many people ignore, and can lead to lots of problems down the road. While there might not be too much bad *print* for some vendors, be sure to read the ocassional incident, and how the vendor handles the situation. Do they make every attempt to resolve the issue, or just slam the door on the customer?, or play the blame game?. Both are instant red flags in my book, if the vendor can't be taken at his word, then he gets a pass in my book. A vendor should make every effort possible to try and work out problems, not take a pass on them. If you resort to a *Boycott* of sorts, well that's your right, and you owe it to yourself, and the Vendor to let him know why you went else where, and way. Of course, for some vendors, they'll instantly get their hackles up, and maybe even go into rage mode, but that's their problem. Unless a vendor knows why he's losing sales, he'll just time after time, make the same poor choices in how to handle a situation.
The TR world is shrinking and you owe to yourself and the vendors we have left to try and work things out (even if you buy parts else where).