ltcbj wrote:OZ....
Hey. PWade/Philip never mentioned Marc or the MotorPool in his original posts. He only mentioned Marc (on the other forum) when he noted that the situation was handled to his satisfaction.
Personally I think it is as much the retailer's responsibility to not send broken/faulty merchandise as it is the manufacturer's to have not shipped it in the first place.
This was neither ignorance nor malicious but a wholly legitimate posting topic, presented in a fair and non-culpable fashion. There was no blaming, at least initially. Why should the buyer have to contact the retailer before he put up his post? He may have been (legitimately) disappointed in the retailer sending a broken item but his initial beef was with the manufacturer to make it good.
If, instead of outing himself and then defending what he did by demeaning the buyer, Lightning had instead said, "hey, I sold it, I'm sorry, while it's not really my responsibility I'll send you a new tank. It'll be in the mail in the morning, no charge."
Then what do you think would have happened? He has as much as said this thing cost him about six dollars ($6.00) wholesale (It retailed at $11.00, he says he makes five.)
Instead of two pages of contentious postings we would have two pages of high praise for the Motorpool and a bunch of new customers. All that good publicity focussed on the very demographic (active FoV collectors) he wants to reach, for six bucks!! What a missed opportunity.
Hi Itcbj, yes I know pwade/Phillip didn't mention The Motor Pool in his initial comments which is why I said it was his later post (#8 in fact). Which was still before lightening2000 (Marc) posted his comments.
I say again that I'm not taking sides in this matter as I buy most of my stuff in Australia anyway. I just don't like to see individuals and companies dragged thru the mud over such a trivial matter.
In hindsight I feel Phillip would agree that he should have resolved the situation with The Motor Pool prior to starting the thread. I noted some of the advice he received from other members was ill advised and may have confused him further rather than solved the issue - as is often the case with forums.
When you buy from a online company it is the responsibility of the buyer to find out their policies before purchasing the goods.
It makes no difference what you or other members think about who pays for the return freight as the law has already determined that the customer pays.
It is up to the vendor to decide if they want to go beyond those freight and return guidelines, no one elses.
If you don't agree with a sellers guidelines the best solution is to simply buy from someone else rather than arguing about something they are unlikely to change. However you should note that the VAST majority of online sellers require the buyer to pay for return freight.
Just imagine how I feel when I receive something from overseas that's been damaged in transit because it is rare that the return freight is worth the trouble. I just do some small repairs, as I did on some model tanks I recently bought from Harry W. It's nobodys fault or no big deal, that's just how it is sometimes.
I did suggest to Marc that he may have over-reacted in this matter and I feel there is no need for any legal action. Not that he has said he is intending any.
However I do feel that any threads on this matter on the other forum that may affect sales of The Motor Pool should be deleted as the matter has been resolved to the satisfaction to the vendor and the buyer.
Case closed, let's move on.
We try to do the right thing and ship everything out as quickly as possible and had we known there was a problem with the way in which the vehicle was strapped to the package, then we obviously wouldnt have sent it out. 
