back40 wrote in
:

On Mon, 16 Feb 2004 17:16:43 -0400, Ulli wrote:

I still trying to figure out what the fuzz is all about.
How's the bad guy? Feathercraft, MEC, or somebodyelse?

Both.
So MEC had one left in stock for mail order, (or was it Feathercraft)?

It would be interesting to hear MEC's or Feathercraft's side of the story on
this. This reminds me a bit of an incident that happened several years ago.
I was reading a local newsgroup an apparent very unhappy customer came on
and wrote all kinds of things about a small shop (actually about it's
proprietor) that did audio/tv repairs. Some of the remarks could have
easily been consider slander. Presumably, he assumed that Usenet was a
"safe" forum to spread some bad press, and assumed that the proprietor of
the store would never see it (and, thus, not respond to the allegations).
As it turned out, though, the show was just across from where I lived and I
had been in it many times visiting with the proprietor and checking out his
used gear. I printed off a copy of the article that the unhappy customer
and offered to let him use my computer to respond to the allegations. He
ended up signing up with an ISP and I showed him how to post to the group.
His response was far more rational than the name calling and allegations
that the original poster made, and the "bad press" ended up backfiring
because, now, several people became aware of the shop and a couple of other
people chimed in to offer their own testimony about the business they had
done with the shop.


Gee, is it that unclear in my earlier posting? MEC have one website,
(AFAIK) which covers their stores AND "mail order" or should we say,
phone/Internet order?

Phone/Internet order sites are a dime a dozen these days. In fact, there
are many places where one can put their business online that requires little
more than filling out a web form.

Since their "mail order" (as I explained in earlier posting)had an
ADDITIONAL CHARGE for shipping,

It is very rare to find a source for buying a kayak that *doesn't" charge
for shipping. Granted, shipping a folding kayak is cheaper that a hard
shell boat, but one way or another the cost of shipping has to be absorbed
somewhere, either by an additional charge, or a high "base" price.


However, the salesdroid I spoke to at the store
claimed:
He had never hear of Feathercraft
They had NEVER sold or dealt with Feathercraft Kayaks
They had NEVER advertised the Airline Java Kayak.

That's all possible. A lot of the chain outdoor stores hire young kids that
may or may not know much about their stock. It's likely that the person
that you talked to hasn't even been in a kayak. That's why if you're
looking to buy a kayak, you're likely going to get better service it you go
to a shop that only, or primarily sells kayaks and canoes.

In view of the Internet ad I was staring at during the phone
conversation, this all sounded mighty strange,

Was the Internet ad for the specific store you called, or as it appears from
the web site, more likely for the conglomerate as a whole.

and, given current
economic climate, I asked if the supplier was going under, which only
got evasion as a reply.

If someone said that they had never heard of Feathercraft, it's pretty
likely that they wouldn't know anything about the companies financial
status.


Realizing I was dealing with an idiot, I decided to hell with MEC,
I'll order direct from the Manufacturer. However, when I called them,
the surly individual I spoke with quoted a price much HIGHER than that
which I had earlier seen on their website, and I said, "thank you" and
hung up.

Much HIGHER? You wrote earlier that it was a $100 higher. That's not much
for a $2000 boat. It doesn't indicate it on the MEC site but the discounted
price is likely an attempt to elminate stock that probably only exists at
one or two stores (and not your local store). It's also very likely that
MEC wasn't going to make much money at that discounted rate. I know from
personal experience with a friend that owns a kayak shop that he's taken
losses on boats and sold them for less than he paid for them just so that he
could make room for new models.

That's when I decided it would be prudent to look at OTHER suppliers
who might be more honest/forthright in their telephone transactions.

I haven't seen anything that indicated that either MEC or Feathercraft was
dishonest.

[rest of emotional tirade snipped]