[kretinus]

Just to clarify, as this was discussed in another thread, I spoke with Peter at JBJ this morning.

He stated that JBJ dealers have the option of replacing defective regulators themselves, they are not prevented from doing so by JBJ.

 

[opiesilver]

Cool! Thanks for the info. It appears that not all this info has been circulated around their staff yet.

 

[Robert Hudson]

You really want to push this point don't you! Who handles the warranty is the least of JBJs problems right now.

 

[kretinus]

Call it pushing if you want, I think of it as being more a way to show how some companies operate, in this case it would affect the people selling their products more than anyone.

How would you like to be a JBJ dealer telling your customers what JBJ told you only to have JBJ tell a customer of yours quite another thing? I wouldn't want to deal with the fall out. And JBJ is definitely not the only one out there acting like this.

Over the last year, I find myself growing very distrustful of these companies that are in reality just rubber stamping their brand name on imports. These companies can no more back up the quality of their products than any seller can under such circumstances.

I for one am glad to see you drop the JBJ line, as it testifies to your integrity.

 

[Robert Hudson]

I don't mean to be picking a fight with you either, its just that it is very common for dealers not to get involved in accepting items back under warranty. I worked in the computer industry for over 20 years and the manufacturer always handled the warranty. Some companies even insist on the "card" being filled out and sent in. But the point is, nobody would care if there were not problems in the first place. I sold Aqua Medic regulators for over two years and never had ONE SINGLE unit reported defective, or failing, or requiring any sort of warranty work. Not one ever. I think with Milwaukee I have had one or two, but even though they shortented their warranty, they are extremely responsive and take care of it immediately. You never have trouble reaching them. I would have no reason to get involved with a Milwaukee warranty because they would get the unit out quicker than I could. For that I give them a lot of credit. Now with either company I could take a unit back and take the resposibility for it if I really wanted to, but what makes you think either company would be more responsive to me than they are to you? I either get the run around, or I get good service. I'll leave it at that. I support the manufacturers I represent very well. I was one of the first online to sell the nano cubes, and the first one to sell Formosa lights to the plant market. I fought tooth and nail to convince people JBJ had good quality light fixtures when people on APD were bad mouthing them 3 years ago. Check the archives. I don't drop products at the drop of a hat or I loose whatever credibility I have. But enough is enough. Andrew was the last straw.

 

[fishyface]

hate to sound like a dweeb but what exactly is going on with the JBJ regs? i've got one and want to make sure mines not doing something wrong 8-[

 

[kretinus]

I called three retailers in my area, national electronics and computer chains, all of them had return policies for defective merchandise, from 7 days to 30 days, exchange only of course, two had extended warranties available that would extend the exchange period to one year.

I wouldn't expect any store to cover the full warranty period, that would be unreasonable, but at least in the case of a DOA item, if any store pulled that one on me, as one or two have, I wouldn't even argue with them, I'd walk out and the next thing they would hear from me is a summons to appear in court or a phone call informing them that the charge is being contested depending on the circumstances, and I would win, the ONLY exception being is if the store could prove they made me aware of that policy prior to purchase, at which point I would be a fool to go to court, but not as big a fool as I would be for having purchased the item knowing what the policy was.

 

[gnatster]

I called three retailers in my area, national electronics and computer chains, all of them had return policies for defective merchandise, from 7 days to 30 days, exchange only of course, two had extended warranties available that would extend the exchange period to one year.

These are national chains that carry lines from well established companies that can turn to, for example, Sony and say, that last line of TV's are crap, they do not fit the image both us the dealer and you the manufacture normally represent, shape up or we drop you. You would bet Sony would notice if Best Buy dropped them

Now lets compare that to our own little world, Here we have mostly Mom and Pop type operations selling mostly specialty goods. In this case many times the seller is an order of magnitude smaller then manufacturer and needs to bends to the policy whims that management of these firms come up with. In response the small shop can drop the line and find something that better suits their needs. It's only when many small shops drop the line that the biog bad manufacturer looks up from it's pile o' cash and notices an issue. As one that once a very small fish dealing with mega-corps I know first hand they don't care about one or 10 small places, They want the volume the Borg brings and work with the Borg, not the small places.

So this comparison is very much, in my eyes, FW to SW, and rarely do the fish mix.

 

[kretinus]

But providing better service than the BORGs are the best way to compete with the BORGs wouldn't you agree?

If people are shopping on price alone, they get what they deserve. From what I hear, Robert's success has more to do with his service than price, maybe small businesses should just stop dealing with companies that have a negative impact on one's ability to provide service.

 

[Robert Hudson]

Fishyface, if there was something wrong with your regulator you would know it by now. If it was leaking or the gauges didn't work or something like that... Overall it is a good regulator. You have nothing to worry about.

 

[fishyface]

cheers to that! thanks robert! [smilie=k: