Yes Keven, we understand, you are right of course but you are still a prick.
-Larry

Kevin Hale wrote:

> Dear Vanagon Club Members,
>
> We would like to present our version of the complete story on Melissa's van.
>
> -Parts Place Inc. gets a phone call from Melissa that she has a Vanagon for
> sale.
> -We did not call her.
> -We say we are interested.
> -The van is towed to the Parts Place.
> -Melissa arrives with her title and tells us the engine is blown
> -I walk out to the Van with her to check the title and after checking the
> title I ask her what she wants for it.
> -She says $200. (She did not ask for an offer)
>
> The van is sitting in our customer parking lot.  There is no fence, no
> gate, no obligation to pay for the tow, and no obligation for her to sell
> it to us.
>
> We pay her $200 by check, as she is signing the paperwork.  She tells us a
> lot of personal information including how much she loves the van.
>
> We have not inspected the van, have not driven it, have not tried to start
> it, etc.
>
> We are not a repair shop and we never do repairs on customers vehicles.
>
> Two days later we take the van in to dismantle and in checking the vehicle
> prior to dismantling, we find it is not bad.
>
> It is Friday night, and one of our dismantlers takes the van for the
> weekend and goes on a long trip.  The van runs fine.
>
> What should I do?
>
> She said that she loved the car.  Maybe she wants it back?  Should I call
> her or not?
>
> We offer it back to her at fair market value, she does not have to buy it.
> No one screwed anyone.
>
> In retrospect we should not have called Melissa, but we thought it a good
> idea to give her a chance to re-own her beloved van.
>
> Melissa stated that she was a college professor at ( I believe ) Eastern
> Michigan University.  She did not appear illiterate or mentally handicapped
> in any way that would lead us to believe she required "extra" special
> consideration.  She appeared to be about 30 years old.
>
> We did not ask her to sell it to us, we did not set the selling price, we
> did not charge her anything, and we did not force her to buy it from us.
>
> Why all this mis-information?
>
> Most colleges and some high schools offer a course called Economics 101.  I
> hear it is worthwhile.  I would think it would be required by anyone in the
> teaching profession.
>
> Does the owner of a house which has risen in value have an obligation to
> offer it back to the original owner at what he paid for it?
>
> Does everyone whose stock has risen in value have to sell it back at what
> he paid for it?
>
> Should a restaurant owner sell breakfast to the farmer at the cost of the
> eggs and the wheat?
>
> * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
> * * * *
>
> An overview of our operations:  We sell new, used, and rebuilt VW parts and
> have done so for almost 25 years.  We sell by Mail order and from our
> storefront.  We dismantle VW's to get our used parts.  We have shipped
> approximately 150 orders a day, 6 days a week for 25 years.  That's over
> 1,000,000 orders, many happy customers, and some mistakes.  We don't
> promise to:
>         -Have everything
>         -Never be out of stock
>         -Never have an error
>         -Never make a mistake
>
> Dear Vanagon Group,
>
> In 25 years we have made many mistakes.  We try to make 99% of everyone
> happy, not 100%, because some people expect more than is reasonable.  Like
> it or not, there are flight delays, luggage gets lost, orders are shipped
> wrong, and salesman give answers which are incorrect.  We make 99% happy,
> our crew does it's best, that is all we can do, and that is all that's
> reasonable to expect.
>
> We would love to have you all as customers, but we have never promised to
> be perfect.  We are not and we won't be.  We do keep trying to be better,
> and we can always use crew members who love VW's and want to help us get
> better.
>
> Thanks
>
> Jack Finn
>
> --- Kevin Hale
> --- kjhale@earthlink.net
> --- EarthLink: It's your Internet.