His mother didn't teach him ethics

>From: Lawrence Johnson <larry_avery.johnson@sympatico.ca>
>Reply-To: Lawrence Johnson <larry_avery.johnson@sympatico.ca>
>To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>Subject: Re: Parts Place - Dear Vanagon List Subscribers
>Date: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 18:46:23 -0400
>
>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.

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