[Public-List] Buying tip of the week

[Gordon Laco]

Sounds good....




On 06/02/12 2:57 PM, "John Riley" <jriley at dsbscience.com> wrote:

> Gordon Laco wrote:
>> Well I'm in the marine business too, I supply all kinds of retail outlets,
>> and I am not fond of West's style. In my books that's gouging.  And I would
>> agree about their lack of ability to offer competent advice.  I guess what I
>> really abhor is the damage they do to more professional marine outlets.
>> 
>> GL
>> 
>> 
>>   
> 
> Okay, don't let me get labeled a "West Defender," because I have my
> problems with them, too.
> 
> But, I will say that for all they do to "damage" the marine outlet
> industry, they also do some things they often don't get (positive)
> credit for.
> 
> For example, last year, when Rocna was imploding under the weight of low
> QA with their Chinese manufacturing facility, West honored warranty on
> anchors "no questions asked."  In at least one case that I know about,
> the anchor was returned to West cut up into pieces that had been used
> for destructive testing to verify steel strength.  West took it back and
> gave the customer his money.
> 
> This was when Rocna was claiming there was nothing wrong and trying to
> spin the whole thing, so it's not clear that West was going get
> reimbursed from the manufacturer for a DESTROYED anchor.
> 
> West put the customer first.  That's not shabby in my book.  And, that
> sort of thing benefits the "marine outlet industry," because it sets a
> high standard of customer service that everyone gets held to.  Do they
> do this every time?  I don't know.  I've seen nothing but positive
> customer service from them, and I will absolutely NOT say that about
> Jamestown.
> 
> Setting a retail price and letting customer choose whether to pay it or
> not is NOT gouging (especially if there is competition)...no one is
> holding a gun to anyone's head forcing them to buy from West Marine at
> whatever price point they select.  But we may have to simply disagree on
> the definition of "gouging."



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