[Pontirag]

I think the big three automotive industry sets the standard in problem resolution. The have recalls and its made public. The consumer is informed by several mediums. So this business enteties exchange, while limited to those who read it and limited to those whos interest serve the pontiac hobby is a good way to identify problems and influence outcomes and speed resolution.
How ever if each customer who had the same problem was delt with differently it becomes discrimination. If resolution is kept hush hush then each of several people with the same set of problems may get a different outcome. That means that those in the know may get more satisfaction than those not in the know. Descrimination. Some may get some measure of resolution and some get none. Those who dont know a problem exists and dont get resolution are at greatest risk and yet they spend the same amount of money and are promised the same product as others, yet can it be said that they really got what they paid for in comparison to others who got more? Could it be said that they got what the they were promised based upon what was paid for.

The point of the statement regarding recalls is that not every vendor plays fair. They must be compelled to be fair to all. ideally the insentive is profit. morally it should be fair play. realistically its because they hope and rely on the ignorance and blind trust of the customer to take them at face value. An unlikely event that compells the government to enforce recalls.

This forum will not tighten up the cam bearing clearances on the block discussed. it will not thicken up the walls of the cylinders. But it educated all viewers. It allows those of us who may not otherwise be in the know to choose to become more knowlegable consumers or to risk at our peril becoming ignorant. The problem of block integrity itself is of little importance. The company's integrity regarding customer service is important. Not just to see the problem solved but to see how it is solved so that a minimum expected standard of customer service and responsability is established. Typically, customers in the racing hobby have no recourse due to the nature of the hobby and the intended use of the parts. But that understanding is abused when a company manufactures a defective part and will not stand behind it. Consider how much would be lost if the customer took the vendor at his word regarding that block and built an engine around it only to have it blow up due to a thin wall. Blind trust regarding a defective part that a vendor may knowingly and admittedly reintroduce into the market.

The very fact that the customer must endure a guntlett of unreasonable demands and conditions from the vender deliberatly intended to make it all but impossible to return a defective product and obtain a refund is as unscrupulous as if the vender ignored or refused to refund the money at all. To attribute the fault in casting or machining the block to the consumer who, trusting the vender assumed ,quite correctly contract law wise, that the vender was acting in good faith, went on to machine the block for his intended perpose. Only to find out that the block was defective and that the vender attributes his defects to the additional machine work needed to bring the block into spec by the customer, then hides behind the no refund policy is a cop out. At this point legally speaking the vendor should compensate the customer for the block, the shipping, the additional expenses incurred by the customer in the additional machine work and all costs incurred in resolving the problem. then there is the pain and suffereing.That would have been a legal outcome should it arrive in the courts. Myself as a customer (who also intended to purchase a KRE block in the next year) will not play Russian roulette on this monetary scale knowing that this block or others like it may end up scattered all over the track under my car. Not a pretty sight. (the blown block not the car)

Customer service is not a brick wall or an obstical to insulate the customer from the vendor. Initial customer contact is almost never angry or wrathfull but it can be when customer service. used as a weapon of self defence is intended to keep the customer separate from thier money and thier satisfaction. If a faulty product is being put out It should always be the vendor and never the customer who is upset. defective parts should never be knowingly and admittedly reintroduced into the mainstream.

And from a psycological perspective sharing with a disgruntaled customer, your intention to resell a defective block to another unsuspecting customer as a resolution of the initial problem has some deep seated emotional and security conotations way beyond customer vendor interactions. It goes way back to breast feeding and getting your diaper changed regularly. I'm not trying to be funny here!

Just as an Aside. I saw a block on display at Pontiac Heaven this spring and admired the block greatly. But I did place my finger in a hole to judge the thickness of the bore. Purely unscientific but my gut feeling was at the time that the bore seemed awful thin compared to some BBC I've had.

Customer service should never be a barrier or obstical to customer comunication with the vendor. You learn so much from your customers Something T-Mobile, Ebay and McLoed industries will never understand.

In the absence of that, we have these forums. I'm paying more attention and less money as a result of this. McLoed industries are you listening?