A certain food company has a commercial out that shows a man on a bike and another man in a mini van. The bike stalls out in the rain.
The motorcycle looks to be a Big Dog K-9, knowing this, the commercial should make more sense. Motorcycles should be all weather, and not stalling because of a little rain. However I just happen to know that this bike does indeed stall in the rain, and some will even start up on their own if water is poured onto it.
I wonder if one of the marketing men had found this out on his own, and sought just a bit of vengeance in the commercial.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tool Companies Not Laid-off Worker Friendly
We have been purchasing our tools from a certain company for a few years now. Recently, with the lay-off, we are no longer able to afford a "loan" from this company. Snapon. Allow me to give you a little background.
We were in search of a home loan, the loan was to help us replace our mobile home and build a stick house. Because our home is a mobile home, we were not qualified to get a home equity loan, and land in this county doesn't seem to qualify for such a loan. We are cash people, never carried a credit card in our life, unfortunately this will go against you when you are in need of a loan. To create some revolving credit to help us establish a base for our home loan, we turned to a company that we have dealt with in the past. A tool company that many mechanics use. We secured $7,700 in revolving credit, more than what the bank want from us, but enough for us to handle without issue, and made our credit look better. Thus far we have paid in $5,000 of that line.
A year and a half ago my husband was laid off. We struggled through payments, attempting to keep things going as well as we could. Recently however things have gotten worse, and we decided that we needed to get rid of this contract and eliminate this one payment, it really didn't matter if it messed up our credit, it had been blown within a year of the lay-off. My husband talked with the S-O rep and he said he would find out what we could do. Instead, an account specialist with the company called my husband at work and told him, that if he was to return the products, that they would only give him 60% of the original price and we would still have to pay the remaining $2000 within 30 days.
Needless to say, that this made my husband livid, but he kept calm and told the account specialist the circumstances of why we would have to give the products back. And why would he think that we could come up with the $2000 remaining on the account within 30 days, if we were unable to keep up with the weekly payments. The specialist proceeded to tell him to go to family and friends. This of course caused my husband to laugh, most of our family and friends have already been laid-off or facing lay-offs at this time. The specialist proceeded to tell my husband that he needed to get a second job then. My husband works over 40 hours a week at a shop that is a 40 minute drive from home, we have clients that bring bikes to our home and we run a small farm. When exactly would he be able to fit in another job? Where would he find another job at this point? Aircraft is laying off like crazy, and this is causing a ripple effect in our community. The specialist was also unaware of which client he was conversing with. He did not have our contract at his finger tips so was unable to tell us the basic run down of what all this contract entails. I would rate this as very poor customer service.
What all this boils down to is company greed. I like many companies that we have dealt with in the past, they insure the happiness of their clientele as well as fixing situations that are beneficial to all parties. With this company however, we will lose the products we purchased, they are also claiming that many of the small hand tools that have been paid off for years, will revert to their possession, we will lose the $5,000 we have paid into these products, and still owe them money. If we are unable to come up with the money in their 30 day deadline, we will incur court costs and whatever else money they can sue us for.
With 60% of their purchasers in default in one community,one would think that they would refinance or figure out another way of dealing with laid-off workers. In the long run they will end up losing more money by dealing with people in this manner, once these laid-off workers have to file for bankruptcy, then they would by eliminating or reducing their interest rates.
This of course is only one family's issue with this company that is being put out to the public, but at this time, it isn't the only family that is in this predicament. Be sure to look over your tool contracts very well, a lawyer to read it if you can afford one, be sure there is a way to efficiently and inexpensively retreat from an over burdening contract if something should happen in your life that reduces the amount of income or takes away your income.
We were in search of a home loan, the loan was to help us replace our mobile home and build a stick house. Because our home is a mobile home, we were not qualified to get a home equity loan, and land in this county doesn't seem to qualify for such a loan. We are cash people, never carried a credit card in our life, unfortunately this will go against you when you are in need of a loan. To create some revolving credit to help us establish a base for our home loan, we turned to a company that we have dealt with in the past. A tool company that many mechanics use. We secured $7,700 in revolving credit, more than what the bank want from us, but enough for us to handle without issue, and made our credit look better. Thus far we have paid in $5,000 of that line.
A year and a half ago my husband was laid off. We struggled through payments, attempting to keep things going as well as we could. Recently however things have gotten worse, and we decided that we needed to get rid of this contract and eliminate this one payment, it really didn't matter if it messed up our credit, it had been blown within a year of the lay-off. My husband talked with the S-O rep and he said he would find out what we could do. Instead, an account specialist with the company called my husband at work and told him, that if he was to return the products, that they would only give him 60% of the original price and we would still have to pay the remaining $2000 within 30 days.
Needless to say, that this made my husband livid, but he kept calm and told the account specialist the circumstances of why we would have to give the products back. And why would he think that we could come up with the $2000 remaining on the account within 30 days, if we were unable to keep up with the weekly payments. The specialist proceeded to tell him to go to family and friends. This of course caused my husband to laugh, most of our family and friends have already been laid-off or facing lay-offs at this time. The specialist proceeded to tell my husband that he needed to get a second job then. My husband works over 40 hours a week at a shop that is a 40 minute drive from home, we have clients that bring bikes to our home and we run a small farm. When exactly would he be able to fit in another job? Where would he find another job at this point? Aircraft is laying off like crazy, and this is causing a ripple effect in our community. The specialist was also unaware of which client he was conversing with. He did not have our contract at his finger tips so was unable to tell us the basic run down of what all this contract entails. I would rate this as very poor customer service.
What all this boils down to is company greed. I like many companies that we have dealt with in the past, they insure the happiness of their clientele as well as fixing situations that are beneficial to all parties. With this company however, we will lose the products we purchased, they are also claiming that many of the small hand tools that have been paid off for years, will revert to their possession, we will lose the $5,000 we have paid into these products, and still owe them money. If we are unable to come up with the money in their 30 day deadline, we will incur court costs and whatever else money they can sue us for.
With 60% of their purchasers in default in one community,one would think that they would refinance or figure out another way of dealing with laid-off workers. In the long run they will end up losing more money by dealing with people in this manner, once these laid-off workers have to file for bankruptcy, then they would by eliminating or reducing their interest rates.
This of course is only one family's issue with this company that is being put out to the public, but at this time, it isn't the only family that is in this predicament. Be sure to look over your tool contracts very well, a lawyer to read it if you can afford one, be sure there is a way to efficiently and inexpensively retreat from an over burdening contract if something should happen in your life that reduces the amount of income or takes away your income.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Charity
Every year I raise money for Farm Aid, staying up for 24 hours, posting every 30 minutes.
I do this on one of my other blogs. If you are interested in learning more about this charity fund raiser, please go here and read about it.
Thank you.
I do this on one of my other blogs. If you are interested in learning more about this charity fund raiser, please go here and read about it.
Thank you.
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Flywheels
The flywheels for our bike should be back from balancing today.
And I emphasize, should be.
The engine has been out since January. We are itching to get out, but we have to be patent. The man that has our engine is one of the best. He is simple in life style, just wants to make enough money to pay for the necessities in his life. He was a 1% for over 20 years. He founded a local chapter of a bike "gang" here. Now has been out for nearly 15 years. He doesn't want to be known or talked about really. But the man is damn good at what he does.
So we sit here quietly, waiting.
And I emphasize, should be.
The engine has been out since January. We are itching to get out, but we have to be patent. The man that has our engine is one of the best. He is simple in life style, just wants to make enough money to pay for the necessities in his life. He was a 1% for over 20 years. He founded a local chapter of a bike "gang" here. Now has been out for nearly 15 years. He doesn't want to be known or talked about really. But the man is damn good at what he does.
So we sit here quietly, waiting.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Update; Biker hit by car
Last year I told you about a man that was hit while riding home from the shop. He is now paralyzed from the waist down, no chargers where ever filed against the driver.
This man will be doing some work down at the shop, prepping bikes for my husband. He just needs to keep busy more than anything else. This winter, my ol man will be converting his Sportster, the bike he was on when hit, into a trike.
He will be riding again next season.
This man will be doing some work down at the shop, prepping bikes for my husband. He just needs to keep busy more than anything else. This winter, my ol man will be converting his Sportster, the bike he was on when hit, into a trike.
He will be riding again next season.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Pawhuska Bike rally/ Sparks America Bike Rally 2009
Because I have so many people being lead here for information on these two rallies, here is the dates and other info for them.
Mayfit {Pawhuska)
Starts today, Friday May 15th - 17th
Biker Park, Jct US 60 & 99 by Fairgrounds
Biker Days in the Osage (Pawhuska)
Fri September, 18th - Sun September, 20th
Biker Park, Jct US 60 & 99 by Fairgrounds
Bike Week (Sparks America)
June 18th thru 28th
More info here at the website
Halloween Biker Bash (Sparks America)
Gates open on Thursday morning on the 4th weekend of October every year
More info here at the website.
Mudstock (Sparks America)
Summer July 23 - 26
Fall Sept 24 - 27
More info here at the website.
Mayfit {Pawhuska)
Starts today, Friday May 15th - 17th
Biker Park, Jct US 60 & 99 by Fairgrounds
Biker Days in the Osage (Pawhuska)
Fri September, 18th - Sun September, 20th
Biker Park, Jct US 60 & 99 by Fairgrounds
Bike Week (Sparks America)
June 18th thru 28th
More info here at the website
Halloween Biker Bash (Sparks America)
Gates open on Thursday morning on the 4th weekend of October every year
More info here at the website.
Mudstock (Sparks America)
Summer July 23 - 26
Fall Sept 24 - 27
More info here at the website.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Be on the 2010 H-D Catalog Cover
H-D would like you to submit your favorite motorcycle photo or rally pic to help create a mosaic on the cover of their 2010 catalog.
They are hoping to get 10,000 photos by tomorrow, Friday, May 15th 2009.
If interested head over to H-D mosaic and fill out some q&a, and up load your picture.
They are hoping to get 10,000 photos by tomorrow, Friday, May 15th 2009.
If interested head over to H-D mosaic and fill out some q&a, and up load your picture.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
