John Hammers
John O'Shea
JOShea@suelthauswalsh.com
Wed, 29 Nov 2000 13:44:14 -0600
id eATJh2s18535
The antenna parts returned by your client have been tested by Mosely
Electronics and work properly. Mosely Electronics is willing to ship the
parts back to your client for installation with the caveat that your
client agree to sign an agreement ensuring that he will not refer to
Mosely Electronics or their products on any web sites.
Mosely Electronics is also willing to test the antenna (in St. Louis) for
your client personally so that he is assured that it works properly before
delivery. We can undertake to return the antenna at any time after your
client signs an agreement to this effect. Mosely Electronics is
rejecting your clients previous offer to settle the matter for $4,000. I
will wait to hear from you.
AND THEN FURTHER CLARIFICATION OF MOSLEYS' INTENTIONS
Return-Path: <JOShea@suelthauswalsh.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Dec 2000 17:29:01 -0600
From: "John O'Shea" <JOShea@suelthauswalsh.com>
To: wa7aw@bentonrea.com
Subject: Re:
Content-Disposition: inline
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greyhound.bentonrea.com id MAA26849
Mosely Electronics will agree to redeliver the antenna parts to Mr.
Hammers. The antenna is working properly. Mr. Hammers can come to St. Louis
to view a testing of his antenna if he prefers prior to shipment. Mr.
Hammers will be given a new warranty on the antenna. Mosely Electronics
will attempt to add to the color codes for Mr. Hammer's benefit to prevent
him from installing the antenna incorrectly. Mosely Electronics agrees to
assist Mr. Hammers with questions about installation, if any. Prior to
shipping the antenna parts, Mr. Hammers will be required to sign a
settlement agreement subjecting him to Missouri jurisdiction and to a
liquidated damage amount in the event that he makes further comments about
Mosely Electronics on the internet. We can ship the antenna at any time.
Mr. John O'Shea
Suelthaus & Walsh, P.C.
7733 Forsyth Blvd., 12th Floor
St. Louis, MO 63105
MY REPLY TO MOSLEY WAS AS BELOW
Let me see if I understand your position correctly.
Do you refuse to refund the money I paid for the Pro-96 ?
Do you refuse to agree to a partial refund for the Pro-96 ?
Do you refuse to return the Pro-96 without conditions ?
FINAL ANALYSIS FOLLOWS,
(Sent to me by a ham who wishes to remain anonymous.)
The only amusing thing about this is Mosley's attorney misspelling their
name in every instance! This really gives a lot of credibility to the
"offer". Looks to me as if they have the same quality control at the plant
as they have at the attorneys office.
Once again Mosley or "Mosely" as your attorney refers to you--good job!!!!!
This "offer" to settle is not an offer at all. It is a release of liability
request to benefit Mosley, disguised as an offer.
Mosley is deeply worried about their public image and this disaster they
have created.
This vague "offer" is a veiled attempt at a public relations trick to fool
the general public and get Mosley into a position to claim to win the "good
guy/white hat award"!
Be cautious of the SPIN. They want to publicly say that they "offered" to
send the antenna back, BUT, Mr. Hammers is the one who refused to cooperate.
They will announce to the public that Mr. Hammers is the unreasonable bad
guy when telling their side to their customer base. They will conveniently
forget to mention the one sided unreasonable demands by their attorney. They
will not mention their current possession of (your paid in full antenna) AND
(your money)--both at the same time.
Their offer is shallow on the surface but if we break it down into parts,
one item at a time, one will realize that it is ALL entirely in their favor,
with nothing of any value or benefit for Mr. Hammers, except all the risk of
his investment and most importantly, the waiver of all of his rights. They
send him a box of parts and he agrees to release their liability. Fair?
THEY WILL SEND HIS ANTENNA BACK IF HE AGREES TO ACCEPT THE FOLLOW TERMS and
ASSUMPTIONS
1. "The antenna is working properly" Do we take their word for it? By what
standard? A dummy load has good swr and the lightbulb of N6BT transmits.
Will this antenna perform as
well as the other Mosleys? Considering Mr. Hammers recent experience and a
check of the Champion Radio Tribander test, that would not be something to
brag about.
2. Why should Mr. Hammers pay even more money for his own travel to St Louis
plus
>accommodations to "view" performance in an unknown and completely
unscientific environment?
3. New Warranty? Is it as good as the last warranty? The
warranty is only as good as the company backing it. In this circumstance I
see no value here.
4. If the antenna instructions are clear and complete they should not have
to imply fault to Mr. Hammers for a future action.
5. "Attempting" to put on colors? Do they have no confidence that they are
able to actually accomplish that minimum technical achievement?
6. "Assistance" Is the NEW Mosley assistance policy better than the OLD
Mosley assistance policy? No value here.
7. "Rights" Giving up all of Mr. Hammers rights!! Agreeing to come to Mo. to
file suit if it is necessary? I think not.
Are they suggesting pre determined liquidated damages as a penalty for
exercising free speech? Libel isn't "libel" if it is the truth! There is no
penalty for stating the truth or how, where or how many times it may be
stated.
Are they attempting to short circuit the legal remedy process by attempting
to deny the
consumer even his right to claim possible misrepresentation or fraud?
After digesting all of their offers I see nothing whatsoever to benefit Mr.
Hammers. Also, I see a lot of very subjective and unenforceable "offerings"
with no value other than to gain the liability release for Mosley.
I suspect public opinion and pressure have come to bear and they realize the
public relations disaster they have created. Mosley's name and reputation is
on the line, worldwide, and they want out with absolutely no blame or
liability, AND, at Mr. Hammers expense.
The antenna may be no better than before and they may well know it. Under
the terms of their current offer, once he gets it up, only then may he
discover the same problems he found last time. However, this time they have
demanded that he give up a majority of his rights to protections afforded by
the law, and even if he ops to file suit that he must agree to travel to
Missouri to litigate it at their convenience in their local courts. This
demand raises another point. Perhaps Mr. Hammers needs to investigate the
fraud statutes and interstate commerce.
THE BIG QUESTION: If they are so confident that the antenna performs as
advertised--why do they demand that he sign away "all rights and recourses"
BEFORE they even ship it or before he gets a fair chance to test it?
Hummmmmmm? Never heard of Force 12, Cushcraft, M2 or anyone else demanding
such an agreement prior to shipping an antenna. I think Mosley knows
something and they are trying to cover their behinds in advance.
Question: What is it called when Mosley's attorney makes an attempt to force
Mr. Hammers to perform an act, ie: to sign an agreement under duress, not in
his best interest to "get back what he already owns". This is a fine line
here but there are legal terms which may define such at attempt. I am
surprised at these tactics by their attorney of coming dangerously close to
the line, if not crossing it by intent.
I suspect that 30,000 hams in Dayton, many of whom will stop by the Mosley
booth to ask about this and many refusing to do business with them will cost
them tens of thousands more in revenue than they will ever save on Mr.
Hammers buy back.
Mosley's position here is the classic example of trying to win a very small
battle while losing the entire war. The Ham community is watching (with
checkbooks in hand).
____________________________________________________________________________
My suggested counter offer is twofold: Either of these would greatly benefit
the public image and perception of the Mosely company.
First:
The best solution for all concerned would be a quick, simple and liability
free solution.
AGREEMENT
Upon receipt of a full refund from Mosley, Mr. Hammers shall cease any and
all comments or discussions of this matter. Further, Mr. Hammers will notify
all interested parties that the matter is settled to the satisfaction of
all. Mosley company will retain possession after the refund, will declare
ownership of the antenna and have the right to resell it at will. This would
be the best for Mosley's public image.
Second: This second choice will work although there are certain areas, the
very nature of which are less than objective, which lend themselves to
differing opinions, thus a frustrating and time consuming continuance of
this unfortunate situation.
AGREEMENT
Mosely will immediately furnish Mr. Hammers with a complete set of updated
instructions
for his inspection and allow sufficient time for his questions and comments.
Immediately thereafter, subject to Mr. Hammers approval of such
instructions, by mutual agreement, Mosely will ship the antenna back to Mr.
Hammers at Mosley's expense.
Upon receipt of the antenna, Mr. Hammers will notify all interested parties
that the antenna has been received, that positive progress is being made by
both parties and will refrain from any comments until it is in the air and
tested by an independent antenna expert, agreeable to both parties, known to
this industry and at Mr. Hammers'expense.
Mosley will have the right to appoint a representative of their choosing to
be present at the
assembly, raising and testing of the antenna.
The opinions of the expert will be made public via the internet to all
interested parties. If either party challenges the test results, each will
reserve the right to
a second and final evaluation by a second tester, agreeable to both parties
and at the challengers expense. The performance criteria shall be the
figures originally published by the Mosley Company.
If the antenna performs as advertised, Mr. Hammers will then publish his
acceptance, cancel any existing actions, sign a waiver of any future actions
against Mosley, (excepting all provisions of the standard warranty), and
refrain from any further public
comments concerning this circumstance.
If the antenna does not perform to its advertised specification, Mosley will
agree to refund all of Mr. Hammers money and upon receipt of the refund, the
antenna will be returned to Mosely at their expense. Mr. Hammers will then
notify all interested parties that the matter is settled and refrain from
any further public comments.
All statements included herein are all personal observations and opinions
sent to Mr. Hammers privately in an effort to aid negotiations for the
benefit of both parties and is not a suggestion of any legal action or legal
advice.
My personal opinion is if The Mosley Company continues to follow these
practices of treating customers in this manner, they won't have to worry
about the performance of their products because they simply won't be around
long enough to support the warranties on any of their products. So sad that
misguided and over principled managers could destroy such a good company,
long standing with a previously fine reputation. A reputation gone for less
than the price of one antenna. Foolish
THE OFFERS MENTIONED ABOVE WERE MADE TO MOSLEY, MOSLEY REFUSED TO
REFUND ANY OF THE PURCHASE PRICE. THEY EVEN REFUSED TO ACCEPT THE
PRODUCT BACK AND CHARGE A RESTOCKING FEE. MOSLEY REFUSES TO DELIVER
THE ANTENNA, ANSWER MY EMAILS, OR ANSWER ANY OF MY QUESTIONS TO DATE.
IF MOSLEY REFUSES TO ANSWER MY QUESTIONS NOW, WHAT WILL THEY DO IF I
WERE TO HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH THE RETURNED PRODUCT ? MORE REFUSAL ?
PLEASE LOOK CAREFULLY AT ANY COMPANY BEFORE YOU BUY ANY PRODUCT.
I GOT SCREWED OUT OF OVER $5,000.00, PLEASE DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN
TO YOU. For details on this disaster please see this URL
http://users.bentonrea.com/~wa7aw/tower/page14.html
I would be most appreciative if you would FORWARD this email
(in its entirety) to all who might be considering the purchase
of any new amateur radio equipment.
One of my xmas presents is a new force 12 5BA antenna, I will post
my experiences with force 12 after it arrives, and should the Mosley
get here before the Force 12, anyone want to buy an Mosley
Pro-96-S antenna really cheap ???
happy new years 2001
WA7AW
John H.
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