[tripoli]

Actually, I did get 200 through another member here on the board. I have given up on this at this point on dealing with CW onthe return and therefore further purchases.
The only reason to post is I do want to see CW build into a successful business and I think they fumbled the ball with my case. I hope those that stepped up but did not consider this an issue worth adresssing to my expectations will realize with other customers that customer relations and service is not something you apply when you want to, but rather a constant. If they decide to be fickle when they want to help someone, that customer may walk and good customers are not ones you should want to loose. I hope thay take a look at this as an example for their future customers.
CW is growing, they will learn a bit more as they go along. Distributors that have been in business with other franchises should know better though. I did not think it was too much to ask for, had an extreme case with a defective model and wanted service what was applied to another customer. Found out after so many e-mails that it was just too much to ask of them, but there is competition for my hobby dollars out there.

[tripoli]

The Flying Tiger shop has gotten back with me on this and wehave gone another round of ttrying to get this solved via e-mail. Unfortunately, the cost of shipping it back to England does make it impractical as it did for Japan, a boondoggle after all the money already spent. I had hoped CW would try to make up fo the cost of dealing world wide through their distributor ship here but The Flying Mule did not like the initial idea of the return or of giving more than obe credit on the wing. So its back to CW directly to sort through all the threads and e-mail to see what they say next if anything...

[lanslide]

Tripoli, I feel bad for your situation but...come on! I don't think you should expect any of these companies to reimburse you for shipping abroad. Didn't you go overseas because you wanted a particular model that has been sold out in America and were willing to pay extra for it? The normal procedure was to buy from a regional retailer and if it was sold out - it was sold out. I believe these companies only owe you for the "normal" cost of obtaining one of these models. The extra cost of going overseas was your risk. That is why there are local distributors and retailers. Sorry - maybe there is more to this than I understand but I have been following your issue and I do feel badly for you.

[tripoli]

The problem on my end is that I did go through a foriegn distributor for a model that could not be found anywhere else at the time. I don't mind taking the cost of shipping overseas along with a partially inflated cost of the weakened dollar to get a good model.

BUT

When I do so and get an obviouse mistake and want to at least get the money it cost to get said model, I do think anyone would deserve to get re-imbursed for the cost of doing so. There should be no risk involved in working through any of the CW world wide network to get a wing you want. Thats like saying anyone that gets a Vandy direct through Japan should accept any major mistake without considering the cost of shipping because its just too costly for the businness to handle otherwise. Get a bad wing, too bad your dumb luck. No, not acceptable to me. Nor would it be for anyone else that would spend the money to get that special product. They are paying that extra to get a special model, they should get that model as in mint shape as it was intended to be.

I was willing to spend the extra money to get a mint product directly from a CW distributor. I was not spending that extra cost to get a defective one.

I checked with EVERY CW distributor at the end of the series for the AJ200 model. As it was, only one shop did have it in stock at that time. I worked hard taking quite a bit of time to find it and then to make the purchase directly through a CW distributor.

Further, if a world wide network truly is a world wide network, distributors should work together to handle a situation rather than pass it off as just the original selling distributor's problem. That is why you have official world wide networks, to help each other and keep business cost down and customer service at its peak. As a business owner, that's how most all my distributorships work, if someone buys a defective product, they can go to any retailer distributor to handle that product return. The manufacturer than eats the cost re-imbursing the distributor because they were the ones that produced the defective item and should be held ultimately responsible for their product they are producing. More over THIS IS an issue of being an obvious defective piece from the factory. That is a cost of a true business, especially one that will pride itself on customer service and quality. That is one of the reasons companies set up official networks for their products.

There is a cost to any purchaser to buy a product, but also a cost of business when they get a defective product. A company should re-imburse a purchaser the full cost of doing such if there is an issue of defect with the product. If not, the company should not be surprised if it losses the customer to another company product in a competative market place. If a company truly prides itself on customer service, it will do what is needed to keep that customer within reason. Having a history of purchases both for CW and with the official US distributor, I would especially expect that if there is any pride to such customer relations, they would do so.

Balls back in their court.

[lanslide]

I don't think it is CW's intent for us to order from an overseas retailer because the cost of doing business that way is clearly too expensive.

[Tundra04]

So do y'all think the dust has settled and it's safe to order a CW Tomcat now?

[tripoli]

Thats an interesting policy to institute. Not very customer friendly is it. Are you taking that stance personally for yourself or dictating it as a policy any and all companies should follow?

If you ever purchase a car, I hope you are only able to have it serviced at the original purchasing point and never anywhere else. Because obviously, you do not feel there is any responsibility for a distribution network or franchise. Or for that matter any other product you purchase. And if you have any other cost involved with any defectice product you purchase, you have to eat the cost, your fault, not the company that made it.

[lanslide]

I would not buy a Toyota in Japan and have it shipped here. I would buy it from an American dealer. Don't get me wrong though. I think CW should replace what you have at no cost to you but you can't expect them to give you what is not available. And if you paid too much for it - don't expect them to make up for that!

[tripoli]

Nope, but if you bought that more expensive car in one city, i would expect you could get it repaired anywhere else if needed. I do not expect CW to replace soemthing out of production either. But I would hope a company that would pride itself on customer service would consider sucg cost in the replacwement of it. AND I would hope that any franchise distributor, especially a designated one would keep the cost of replacement down by dealing with the replacement locally as in with this case the US.

[lanslide]

So... would you be happy with a brand new CW AJ-210 shipped to you at no cost to you and for you to ship your defective model back with pre-paid shipping? That would seem fair to me. You would then have as close as possible what you originally wanted anyway. But wait...you already got an AJ-210 from somewhere else. Make it another Tomcat of your choice instead.