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Re: [TowerTalk] Yaesu G2800 Rotor Calibration Question and Complaint

To: towertalk@contesting.com
Subject: Re: [TowerTalk] Yaesu G2800 Rotor Calibration Question and Complaint
From: Martin AA6E <aa6e@ewing.homedns.org>
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2007 12:41:14 -0400
List-post: <mailto:towertalk@contesting.com>
Interesting thread, and I've had the same feelings about this particular 
  connector - I wanted a second one for a test setup.

Granted that a big company can't stop everything to help one small end 
user, so maybe there is a market niche here.

Why doesn't someone (like HRO or even K7LXC? :-) step up and offer Yaesu 
replacement parts with a more normal markup?  [Or perhaps a Japanese 
retail supplier?] I assume they would be doing this if they could make a 
business case.  If they're not doing it, maybe that means the commercial 
value (in some sense) is close to $50.

On the other hand, sometimes someone volunteers to buy a quantity of a 
part for resale at cost to needy hams.  I would gladly buy two of these 
connectors for $ 7-10.

73 Martin AA6E

David Gilbert wrote:
> I agree that nearly $50 is an outlandish price to pay for a replacement 
> plug, especially one that based upon similar reports couldn't have been 
> too robust in the first place.  That being said, I think Jim is probably 
> correct that Yaesu might correctly perceive that to be approximately the 
> actual cost to them for the administrative hassle of handling such a 
> transaction.  They certainly don't expect your payment to be significant 
> to their business whether you pay $2 or $200, and I'm sure they'd rather 
> you went elsewhere to solve the problem anyway.
> 
> Some companies value their customers' good will above all else and 
> bypass their bureaucracy to send out a replacement part or sample.  I 
> (and others in my group) did it all the time when I managed part of 
> Motorola's discrete semiconductor operations.  Other companies don't 
> much focus on individual customers (it is actually a valid business 
> model even if we don't like it) and either ignore them or "gouge" them 
> to make them go away.  If you buy from the first category you have some 
> measure of confidence that you won't be left stranded no matter what 
> happens.  If you buy from the second you'd better hope that the 
> reliability of the product is so great you won't ever need them, or that 
> the lower price you might have paid for the product in the first place 
> (as a result of their streamlined business model) offsets any risk of 
> ownership.
> 
> Yaesu makes some fine equipment but it doesn't take much reading of the 
> various online reviews and forum archives to find that they've proved 
> time and time again for both rigs and rotators that they fit the second 
> category.  Given the size of the company and the global nature of their 
> business, that might be the right model for them.  I suspect there are 
> more long term survivors in the second category than in the first.  
> Doesn't mean I'd always choose to buy from them, though.
> 
> Dave   AB7E
> 
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