Posts: 397
Since: 16/10/2008
Region: UAE/MiddleEast
Status: offline
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Dear Members,
As you may recall, this issue has been covered recently. In short, there are good customers and bad customers, and equally there are good and bad dealers. How can we to be the judge, jury, and executioner, without all the facts? And the job of gathering as many facts as possible, typically, falls to me as I have the facility to mediate and speak to all parties concerned in case of dispute. And I can assure you, in some of the cases the picture painted is not always as it appears. Believe me. Some of the facts in some of the cases of the upset parties have not been mentioned by them publicly, or quite late after the fact once judgements have been formed. Hence, we have guidelines in place regarding naming and shaming http://www.maseratiforum.co.uk/tm.asp?m=38111&forumid=50
I always believe there are 2 sides to every story. I do not expect business owners to sit on public internet forums explaining their every move. Yes, they must be accountable by law, but should they be expected to come on a public board and enter an arguement with a member who may be being unreasonable? It is unprofessional to join in an online slanging match IMHO, and for legal reasons, ill-advised.
As regards a rating board, the issues with such a system were discussed previously http://www.maseratiforum.co.uk/fb.asp?m=38143 and only a handful of members (7) out of 2000+ were prepared to hand over their personal details to facilitate, and avoid abuse of, such a system. Hence, for legal, administrative, and management reasons we are not going to have a ratings board on this Forum.
But for the handful who want it by all means build one on a seperate platform/site in your spare time, and anyone who wishes to contribute I am sure will do so. On a seperate note, some of the comments on the ADG thread were rather one sided. That is not the kind of Forum I and many others want to be part of. It has left an extremely bad taste in the mouths of many members who contacted me asking to step in, as they didn't feel comfortable with the manner with which maters were unfolding. The majority of members are extremely helpful and offer constructive advice/criticsm, but there are a very small number of members determined to cause trouble, who are hiding behind a mantra of 'the quest for justice', when in fact their intentions are far from that. It often reminds me of terrorists who claim they are fighting for a just cause, when actually they just get their kicks out of causing mischief. Hence, the time has come for me to say enough is enough, as your actions ruin the enjoyment of the Forum for others.
I have no desire to see dealers being out there who may give Maserati owners a bad experience, thereby causing the owners to walk away from Maserati ownership, and Heaven's forbid citing the bad experience as reason for never wishing to own a Maserati again. But, I and others here, are not in a position to always judge every case of complaint out there. And before anyone says, "oh yeah he would say that, he just want's the sponsorship revenue", think again. I get contacted by all sorts to sponsor the Forum, and I turn away more than I except. Believe me we have a happy balance of sponsors who, and based on feedback, look after the members well. Certain businesses could offer me £10k a year to sponsor - it ain't gonna happen.
As regards the quote, "is this board finally going to come of age and flex its "muscles" for the benefit of all?" please remember that this is an internet chat site devoted to the enjoyment of Maserati cars. Myself, and certain other members, are always there for advice in case of issues or otherwise, but MaseratiForumUK is not a political, moral, or legal body.
Regarding, "How about a representative from the board who liases with Maserati UK/Italy?", naturally I represent the board as far as Maserati SpA/UK are concerned. FYI, in the past certain members actions have alienated the Forum from certain renowned organisations, where I believe we should look to rebuild those relationships now. That is done by behaving in a civilised, polite, and welcoming fashion, which 99% of members do - thank you for that chaps (and ladies) to those that do, while I work behind the scenes to rebuild certain bridges. To those that don't, I shall be watching carefully. I am not going to allow a few to jeapordise the harmony between the Forum and other well-respected bodies in the wider Maserati community.
Member UrbanMaser made an interesting point recently which was along the lines of, “shouldn’t the non car experts be able to buy cars from car dealers without the need for a PPI, or fear of getting let down?” Yes they should. I wish that was the case but that is not the world we live in I'm afraid. The building trade is the same, the insurance trade is the same, and so on, and so on – the world over. Some of the guys out there are good, some aren’t. Some have good days, some have bad days. Fact of life I’m afraid. And no, a league table won't stop or change that. The best thing to do is search the forums for positive reviews, of which there are thousands, visit a person/business and face to face gage them and move forward from there.
Buying/running an Italian Supercar involves forming a relationship with your dealer/repairer, and sometimes personalities clash, like with any scenario in life. That we can't regulate for, however for other scenarios we can. As such, if you do not know your way around an Itailian Supercar pre-purchase, or are unhappy with works done to your vehicle, have it independently inspected. I am handy at DIY but I wouldn’t by a house without a surveyor’s report – would you?
I have seen other forums where members bait dealers/members/whoever relentlessly, where the negativity and baiting become the 'entertainment' and this forum WILL NOT become one of them. So, can we keep the negative stuff to a minimum as we would not want potential members to not sign up thinking we are all a bunch of uncouth savages, who go around lynching people.
Thank you for your understanding.
Regards,
Brian
< Message edited by Birdcage -- 27/2/2010 16:21:39 >
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