Good Guys/Bad Guys Forum

Paradiso · #1 (**permalink**) 10-15-2003, 07:26 AM

I know there is great potential for ugly flame wars in this; however, I think that members listing their positive and negative experiences with vendors would be of great help.

Yes, there will be the unreasonable rants about how awful a certain vendor is, but we're all pretty smart people and can take each comment with a grain of salt.

I think that this would be outweighed by the potential of making us aware of really great vendors who do what they say and take car of us "semi-abandoned" Alfisti.

PS - DiFatta Bros is my personal favorite for availability, knowledge and all around pleasantness.

PPS - If we don't do this, then we should start hitting the vendors up for ads

Hit an Apex · #2 (**permalink**) 10-22-2003, 11:49 AM

i like that idea...

a vendor review section sortof...

memphis raines · #3 (**permalink**) 10-25-2003, 12:27 PM

we had that at honda-acura.net. its helpful, no flame wars. if a vendor sucks, well, people are going to hear about it, and 99% of the time the vendor wont try to defend themselves, they know they "f-ed" up.

smaller community here though...

Hit an Apex · #4 (**permalink**) 10-26-2003, 08:26 AM

it could work...

**ECARRILLO** · #5 (**permalink**) 11-07-2003, 09:45 PM

I would recomend only GOOD coments from vendors. This way we don't step on no body toes and keep all the spirits happy....??

Regards,

joecautela · #6 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 07:32 AM

what if there was a rating system similar to hotels and such where there are a series of quetions and 1-5 rating such as Exc.-poor,v.dissatisfied? That might avoid any personal attacks that might not be suitable in an open forum like this. Just an idea.. Joe

BKCowGod · #7 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 08:49 AM

I like it, Joe

Then people can look based on what they think is important

GianniB · #8 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 09:09 AM

I'd be careful about negative ratings - one litigious vendor and the Alfabb could be history. I'm not saying don't do this, but maybe one of our members is a lawyer and can tell us if this is a good idea or not. I hate that the US has come to this, but I'd hate to see an Alfabb defense fund being set up...

Cheers,

BKCowGod · #9 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 09:21 AM

as long as it's understood that reviews are merely the opinion of the viewer, YMMV, etc. then I don't think it's an issue.

Greg Gordon · #10 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 11:33 AM

I had a vendor review section on my site. It was really more of a list of GOOD vendors ranked from highest to lowest. It worked great until I started getting threatening letters from a Vendor complaining he wasn't high enough on the list.

GianniB · #11 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 11:43 AM

Quote:

as long as it's understood that reviews are merely the opinion of the viewer, YMMV, etc. then I don't think it's an issue.

**Gary Williams** · #12 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 01:57 PM

If there were a forum such as was suggested, I might not feel the need to use my website for something like this:

http://www.greend.com/pipercross_sucks.htm

I like the idea of presenting information about suppliers using a rating system. With five stars, for instance, a rating of three is average and there's room on either side to reward the deserving.

Another way to do it is to have only three stars. A one-star rating means only that you used a company's services. If you got good service, you rate them two or three stars. I don't see how anyone could bring a legal action against this type of rating system. There's no negative comment, but we at least know which companies are providing the best service.

Regarding my web page, I let the correspondence between Pipercross and me speak for itself. The best defense against libel complaints is the truth. In my case, it would be hard for Pipercross to come after me for simply posting what the owner wrote to me. When any of us send e-mail, there is no presumption of confidentiality.

Gary

universible · #13 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 02:29 PM

I second that. Why try and prove a negative? There's no reason to suggest that negative comments (if done truthfully and respectfully) would cause any harm to the bb, or people that post them.

I've been on other forums that continue to do a wonderful job of praising the worthy and flushing those that take advantage...anyhow, I say if a forum isn't started for this, maybe people should just start posting reviews of suppliers.

Ted

**papajam** · #14 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 05:20 PM

If I recall correctly, which at times can be pretty iffy, registered users of this BB are required to accept a terms of use statement which may have included something like 'the opinions expressed by those posting on this board may not necessarily be the opinions of the BB management' or words to that effect. If so, then the BB is off the hook.

I think.

**Roadtrip** · #15 (**permalink**) 12-09-2004, 05:43 PM

There is only a couple of Alfa vendors in the U.S. that I know of, that I won't deal with and they've both been exposed on this BB previously. I would suggest newbies to the BB, do a search with the name of the company you plan on using and see what comes up.

All the other vendors I've used were great. Special kudos go to Centerline (my personal favorite). They almost always have the parts in stock, are friendly and helpful on the phone, and ship quickly.