To continue on Denny's thoughts regarding "oil & water" personality clashes.
First let me clarify that my comments do not reflect what Neverdone went through with his vendor.
Just imagine the thousands of calls which a large vendor such as the one Neverdone had trouble with.
When you are dealing with random buyers from the Wild, Wild, World of Web, what percentage of these customers,
a) have the first clue what they are doing in terms of restoration?
b) are completely Looney Toons crazy?
Customer service is difficult enough with experienced restorers, but when you are over-run with internet kooks, I would imagine patience runs thin real quick.
So what can we do?
Rather than calling out a company based on the response from someone who is just payed to answer the phone, maybe we can reach out to the owners of major vendors and offer a specific list of troublesome parts with which we have all had problems. I am certain that any vendor would jump at the chance to gain that information.
Carl
You're correct Carl, we deal with plenty of folks who are going about things wrong, or not terribly adept, or are trying to fit a good part to a cobbled/bastardized/twisted machine, or haven't been in the hobby long enough to realize that restorations don't fall-together like jigsaw puzzles, even if you're working with 100% N.O.S. service parts.
So it's definitely not always easy to determine the validity or seriousness of a claim or problem. But you have to take a benefit-of-the-doubt approach.
