[Rhodes22-list] Now Comes General Boats And

[David Culp]

Stan:

Thank you for your long post in explanation of Loyalty/Royalty which I am
going to abbreviate with the term "LoRo for future reference.  I concur with
Cowie in that your post should be added as a section to the GBI website
perhaps after a little editing.  The reason for this is that as a
prospective owner and buyer, I did not become aware of it until after
purchasing the boat and joining the list.  As a new buyer, I was a little
taken aback by facing yet another fee which was nearly as much as the sales
tax that I paid the State of Texas for the boat.  And as you will recall, I
was rather defensive about it at the time.  By putting this information
upfront on the website, it can become a part of the negotiation between
buyer and seller on a used boat.  I doubt seriously that the seller of my
boat paid any Lo/Ro fees.  I have paid only $ 200.00 toward the buyer LoRo
because it caught me by surprise and frankly, these boats ain't cheap... I
spent my budget and then some.

Had I known that LoRo was going to be an issue... It would have been brought
up during the negotiation for the boat.  Of course, a buyer can never insure
that a seller will pay and vise versa but at least I would have had some
monies negotiated to cover my end.  The buyer will always be the one very
interested in the continued operation of GBI and likely to pay for a
certificate.  Most sellers will take the money and run.

I look forward to details of the LoRo program when you notify us of it...
 Especially how you intend to deal with present owners who have no vestment
or only a partial vestment like myself.  The only caveat I see and this
sounds kind of ridiculous; is that I seem to recall some FTC rules
preventing manufacturers from withholding customer support for manufactured
goods still in production and then for a certain time period afterwards if
production ceases and the company continues in operation.  So if lack of a
LoRo certificate means a reduced customer support program then you may want
to check with counsel to make sure of the legality.  I don't want you to go
out of business and neither do I want you to be sued.

Perhaps a "certified" boat owner gets a break on the price of parts and/or
goes to the top of the email/telephone queue.  I'm sure you will think of
something.

David










Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2009 09:15:01 -0700 (PDT)
From: cowie <ccowie at cowieassociates.com>
Subject: Re: [Rhodes22-list] Now comes General Boats
To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org
Message-ID: <24831681.post at talk.nabble.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii


Stan:

You have done a great job establishing and maintaining the general boats
company.  The recycle program has been a significant part of your success.
As a buisness owner I can appreciate the challanges and opportuniites trying
to provide a product to be proud of and stay afloat at the same time.  I am
in favor of a Loyalty/Royalty program along with any other specific
suggestions from GB.  It would be helpful to have a clear statement on the
GB business plan and how we as a community of owners can support GB to
contribute to and benefit from the win/win/win conditions you aim to
support.  Maybe this is already included on the GB web site however clear
communication of your message to current and future community members would
be helpful.