Vendor issues….CCC….What REALLY goes on? (kinda long-maybe boring)

Wow. For the sewing site to ban an advertiser he must have really abused the pooch.

 

He has basically been picking fights over there for a couple of weeks now. Honestly, he is not that much different than the rest of the riff raff over there these days.....

I'm totally over it.

 

LOL... and what is that??/ Share... share....!! I bet it is just vendor bashing..yes?? tell us!!

Thumper

 

Ironically wasn't it just him responding to a bunch of MA members bashing him relentlessly?

I still will never understand the vendor bashing thing. If you don't like a company, stay out of their threads. Seems pretty simple.

 

^ In general I agree with you. But when you go and post a thread like this one MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring - Are home based NAM Vendors of less value to NAM members? you are asking for whatever happens.

 

I'm not saying he handled it well by any means.

Though, that thread did have a valuable statement at first. It seems like a discussion/reaction to the mud that people were slinging at him in other threads trying to discredit him. It went downhill incredibly fast and he didn't handle it well...but the initial sentiment was legit.

 

It would also be simple for a vendor to just answer a question without plugging his wares at every opportunity. I understand vendors are in business for one reason, but that particular one could not finish a sentence without plugging something. That's just how I saw it and my visits to the sewing site in the past year have been few and far between.

 

That's cool. I just personally think that even if you don't like how often someone advertises or how one goes about pushing their products you just ignore them rather than sling insults. Just a personal preference I guess. I think it's pretty clear that I don't personally advertise or self-promote much, but vendors have to right to advertise how they please within the guidelines I guess.

It's not like I actively attack Geico because I hate their caveman commercials:lol:rrr:

 

Eh, I do like the gecko.

 

keep in mind that some of us dislike him for other reasons. he wasn't even a vendor when he came after me over PM, defending his 'friend'. You know...the 'friend' who you sent your panels too for custom finishing who screwed you (if I recall that correctly...I could be wrong)? That guy.

 

Wow after reading all this i'm so happy to have a guy like Steve at Custom Mini Shop as my mechanic and parts supplier :yesnod:

 

I think he got banned because his flashing banner in his sig line was causing too many seizures, and IB got tired of paying the doctor bills...

Surpised to see him banned, but a couple of things were somewhat over the top. That thread IMHO was more of an attention getting ploy than anything else; he should have just added to the end of the "are home based vendors" question that it was rhetorical. He had to know no good was coming out of that, but that it would put him up front and center,kind of like the dialogue in Pirates of the Caribbean:

Norrington: You are without a doubt the worst pirate I've ever heard of.

Jack Sparrow: Ah, but you have heard of me.

Sometimes I think some vendors throw trash out there just to stay in the communities public consciousness.

Dustin did set up a very nice tune party, so props for that. On the other hand, he can be a bit over the top on pushing items on folks, sometimes going into some grey areas when it comes to promoting what a particular part may or may not do. But he's not the only one doing that, there are more than a few vendors over there just as guilty.

Anyway, I'm at the point were I try to find good, solid vendors who stay above the fray and out of the pissing contests, and there are few of those out there thankfully...

 

There had to more to it than his banner, they could just turn it off.

He started many threads with the intention of drawing attention to himself, then when he did not like what he was hearing, he either reported the posts, or his stand-by reaction,


Mark

 

Nah, I was just kidding about the banner. Although I did hear it was responsible for an earthquake in south america...

 

His banner gave me intestinal distress. He may be gone from the sewing site, but his banner lingers on there. :yikes: BURP!

 

was he banned? really? :lol: How do you know? It doesn't show on his profile (at least when I checked last night).

 

He posted a thread in Vendor Announcements saying so. Here: MINI COOPER :: North American Motoring - AutoXCooper.com says GOOD BYE NAM

 

what's funny is that he went on a bender at least twice to get me banned. :lol: he ended up getting strikes for that....he flipped his ****

 

Ye, it's called karma.

 

Back to the original topic...

From the MINI enthusiast / consumer point of view - I choose different sources, with different levels of value-add and corresponding markup, depending on how much value-add I need. I, like most, have a generally limited amount to spend on all things MINI. So my total spend is more or less fixed.

Some of this spend is gonna be consumed by consumables - tires, brake pads & rotors & fluid, detailing supplies, methanol... you get the picture. I buy a lot of this stuff. I source these products from the lowest cost source I can find with reliable delivery and a legitimate channel to the manufacturer.

I do a lot of my own work - anything I can confidently do myself, I do.

That leaves MORE money left over for mods, tire installation, alignments, more complex service or things I haven't done before. And I then seek the best, most informed, highest-value-add source for those things. I often pay my MINI mechanic (Dan Zipkin - Grassroots) for an extra hour or two because I know he puts more into it sometimes than he charges for. I don't haggle with my tire / alignment guy (Mark Cooper - Performance Chassis) over his rates, even though I know folks across town will do it cheaper. When I need advice on parts, I call someone like Chad or Way, get their advice, and give them the business.

This seems to get me a good result and good overall value - and also supports those guys who add value both to the local MINI and track club scene, and to the national MINI community.

And I've stopped trying to get people banned on NAM. Not as much fun as it used to be.