I am considering drafting and including a letter detailing the fact that the Fiero Store has copied one of my original designs and is looking to copy more in the future. I would like it to be in good taste. Anyone a good writer that can help?
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08:35 PM
PFF
System Bot
kempo Member
Posts: 578 From: Sterling, Virginia, USA Registered: Jul 2001
OK everyone, You can highlight the below and Email it to The Fiero Store. If you feel it requires some "massaging" feel free to do so. I typed this as a general "form" letter. You may use it as you need to in order to get your point across. Mine will be mailed tonight when I get home.
It has come to the attention of myself and many others in the Fiero Community that you have copied a design from Rodney Dickman. The Select Arm Rebuild Kit was originally designed and sold by him. In an Email posted on Pennock’s Fiero Forum, You have openly admitted using his design and further insulted the Fiero Community by stating you would copy other designs of his you deemed popular. The Fiero market is not that large. Many Fiero Enthusiasts support the community by designing and selling items that are improved or obsolete so we can all benefit from it. The posted Email has met with a very negative response towards your business. You can see the responses yourself at this link: https://www.fiero.nl/forum/Forum1/HTML/010599.html
As you can see by the responses, it looks like the Rebuild kit you are selling is going to cause some customers to have second thoughts about purchasing items from you and I would guess that particular product will have low sales. I feel that this kind of bad press may also cause some people to be shy about designing and marketing other obsolete items for fear that you would just copy their design and undercut them on the price. Many people like Rodney spend many hours designing alternative parts to maintain our aging cars. It is demeaning to have your hours of design work stolen from you so another business can profit from it. This act makes it seem you are more interested in profits/sales than supporting the Fiero Community. With the popularity of the Fiero Community utilizing the Internet for problem solving, troubleshooting, and acquiring hard to find parts, This type of bad business practices can spread quickly and damage the business’s reputation very quickly. Your business has done a fine job of supporting the Fiero Community over the years, But this latest endeavor has given your reputation a “Black eye”. I sincerely hope that you can find a way to correct this and restore your reputation.
Thank You,
------------------ Got Emblems?
[This message has been edited by Oreif (edited 09-29-2001).]
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10:27 PM
Joe Torma Member
Posts: 3485 From: Hillsborough, NJ USA Registered: Jul 2001
I know I myself will make the Fiero Store my LAST Resort to purchase from if at all. if it costs twice as much somewhere else, then so be it. I have bought items from Rodney, and although I missed catching him at Carlisle to thank him for the v6 steel tubes, the headlight rebuild kits, and other various things I have bought from him, I will continue to look at his site first for what I am after. I find the Fiero Stores prices kinda high anyway on most items you can get somewhere else, without getting into specifics...I know I've saved a few hundred bucks by shopping around.
anyway, I believe the select arm rebuild kit is $12.50, whats the FS going to sell it for, $12.49? whats it cost Rodney to make it, $8,$10? whatever it is, the guys gotta make a profit...sorry I'm just letting out some steam.
----- Original Message ----- From: Steve To: info@fierostore.com Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 1:30 PM Subject: Select Arm Rebuild Kits
I have been a customer or the Fiero Store for several years.
However... Since you feel the need to steal the design of another, I feel the need to take my business elsewhere.
BTW... This story is now widespread on many Fiero mailing lists and bulletin boards. Let's see how many other people voice their displeasure by making you their *last* choice.
Steve Hamilton ---------------
Back On Holiday, LOL!!
------------------ Raydar - aka Steve
Black 88 Formula. Red 88 Duke coupe. "The Project" 88 Formula parts car. "The Donor"
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01:34 PM
chester Member
Posts: 4063 From: State of insanity...moved in and comfortably numb... Registered: Jun 2001
The Fiero Store would like to extend its sincerest apologies to Rodney Dickman for producing an unauthorized copy of his select arm rebuild kits. After receiving a number of calls from our customers asking us to offer some of Rodney's parts, we immediately contacted Mr. Dickman. We were hoping to use a supplier from within the Fiero community with a good reputation for quality parts. Unfortunately, Mr. Dickman made it quite clear, in no uncertain terms, that he did not want to do business with The Fiero Store. As a result, we were forced to manufacture the select arm rebuild kits ourselves in order to bring our customers the part they demanded. Regretfully, we were irresponsible in designing a part that was identical to Mr. Dickman's select arm rebuild kit. There was never any malice intended toward Mr. Dickman or his business. We have and will continue to recommend RodneyDickman.com to all of our customers who need parts that we do not offer. As a gesture of good faith, we will also send Mr. Dickman our entire inventory of select arm rebuild kits. The Fiero Store will no longer carry this part and will direct all of our customers looking for that part to Mr. Dickman.
We would also like to sincerely apologize to our customers and to the Fiero community at large for inadvertently abusing their trust. Our only intention in carrying the select arm rebuild kits was to give our customers the part they asked for. Had we viewed Rodney Dickman as a "competitor," rather than an ally, we certainly would not have asked him to supply us with parts nor would we recommend him to so many of our customers. We have a lot of respect for Rodney and all of the hard work he has done to help Fiero owners.
In the coming months and years, you will see many new products coming from The Fiero Store. Many of our new parts will not be found anywhere else in the world. Some of those new products may be similar to parts offered by Rodney Dickman. In order for a company to grow, it must provide its customers with the products and service that they demand, regardless of who else may offer a similar product or service. However, the Fiero community can rest assured that none of our new products will be exactly the same as Rodney's. We will take great care in making sure that our products offer unique value separate and apart from anything offered by Mr. Dickman.
We hope that Mr. Dickman and the rest of the Fiero community will accept our apology. We made a mistake, have taken steps to correct that mistake, and will take full responsibility for our actions. We look forward to continuing to serve Fiero owners around the world to the best of our ability and we thank all of our customers for their continued support.
Sincerely, Smitty President The Fiero Store ----- Original Message ----- From: Rob D <rob.renee@verizon.net> To: <info@fierostore.com> Sent: Saturday, September 29, 2001 8:23 AM Subject: Rodney Dickmans Design
> Hi, > > Just wanted to express my disgust with your blatant dishonor for someone > else's research and ideas. You stole an idea from a well known Fiero > enthusiast and blatantly told him that you will continue to do so if you see > the prospect of making $$$. Just wanted to let you know that you will LOOSE > more money by the business that will stray from your door. A lot of us > Fiero owners have morals. With that said I WILL NOT PURCHASE ANOTHER > ACCESSORY FROM YOU UNTIL YOU DROP THE PRODUCT AND GIVE RODNEY DICKMAN A > FORMAL APOLOGY! There are many of us that feel the same way. Enclosed are > some of the emails floating on the lists about what has happened and other > points of view. You might want to read them so you can see what was started > by this forgery. Might want to read the attachments. These are just a few. > > Regards, > > Robert and Renee Dabrowski, former customers Fiero Store.
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02:07 PM
FieroFanaticus2 Member
Posts: 1770 From: Wisconsin, USA Registered: Mar 2001
Yep, I got that letter too --- to all 3 of the different email addresses I sent them nasty letters from. I'm glad to see they have done something about it though, but I am still disgusted.
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02:14 PM
Raydar Member
Posts: 41350 From: Carrollton GA. Out in the... country. Registered: Oct 1999
I will be drafting a letter asking all the Fiero websites with a link to the Fiero Store to consider removing their website link. I will collect all the information that has been passed on to me lately and ask them to make a choice as to weather they would like to keep their website link on their page or remove it considering the poor business ethics they have demonstrated. I will work with an attorney and I also have a friend who is a professor of criminal law at a major university to draft this correspondence. The email I received below makes me want to do this all the more.
Hello Listees, This whole Fiero store thing just got a little worse. I just got a new catalog from a Fiero parts vendor in Ohio. His name is Nolan Bishop. For those who do not now him, He is the person who offers chrome parts to replace just about anything on a Fiero. Nolan also builds a mandrel bent cold air intake for the Fiero. He was supplying them for the Fiero store for a while, until they informed him that it was not a high volume mover so they were now going to discontinue them. Then in August, Nolan received a new Fiero store catalog. In the new catalog was a copy of the Intake tube assembly that Nolan developed being featured as "Their New Product" (copied like Rodney's parts). I have spent my fair share of money at the Fiero Store in the past, But in support of my fellow Fiero people, There will never be another parts order from us to the Fiero Store.
Darrell Morse (Member of Minnesota Fieros Forever) 21411 Concord ST. NW. Elk River, MN. 55330 (763) 441-5679 "Custom Fiero Machine work" Bored out V6 Throttle Body's and Plenums (from 52MM to 57MM
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02:47 PM
fierobaby Member
Posts: 4019 From: Niles, Ohio, USA Registered: Jun 2001
The only Reason why they did that is to save face, and try and get some business back. They(TFS) know that we all turned on them and this was the ONLY way to back out...carefully. They did it to Nolan?
UNCALLED FOR. I'm still going to make them last, cause - Once a BACK Stabber, Always a BACK Stabber.
Anybody know if theres a site I may have missed with a parts Database similar to 'The Big Fiero Parts Book'? I envision a site database with price comparison, links to that site, quality reports and so forth.
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03:16 PM
Jaygee79 Member
Posts: 4259 From: Dartmouth, MA Registered: Mar 2000
Hey, I sent that email to them and this is what I got back:
To Rodney Dickman and The Fiero Community:
The Fiero Store would like to extend its sincerest apologies to Rodney Dickman for producing an unauthorized copy of his select arm rebuild kits. After receiving a number of calls from our customers asking us to offer some of Rodney's parts, we immediately contacted Mr. Dickman. We were hoping to use a supplier from within the Fiero community with a good reputation for quality parts. Unfortunately, Mr. Dickman made it quite clear, in no uncertain terms, that he did not want to do business with The Fiero Store. As a result, we were forced to manufacture the select arm rebuild kits ourselves in order to bring our customers the part they demanded. Regretfully, we were irresponsible in designing a part that was identical to Mr. Dickman's select arm rebuild kit. There was never any malice intended toward Mr. Dickman or his business. We have and will continue to recommend RodneyDickman.com to all of our customers who need parts that we do not offer. As a gesture of good faith, we will also send Mr. Dickman our entire inventory of select arm rebuild kits. The Fiero Store will no longer carry this part and will direct all of our customers looking for that part to Mr. Dickman.
We would also like to sincerely apologize to our customers and to the Fiero community at large for inadvertently abusing their trust. Our only intention in carrying the select arm rebuild kits was to give our customers the part they asked for. Had we viewed Rodney Dickman as a "competitor," rather than an ally, we certainly would not have asked him to supply us with parts nor would we recommend him to so many of our customers. We have a lot of respect for Rodney and all of the hard work he has done to help Fiero owners.
In the coming months and years, you will see many new products coming from The Fiero Store. Many of our new parts will not be found anywhere else in the world. Some of those new products may be similar to parts offered by Rodney Dickman. In order for a company to grow, it must provide its customers with the products and service that they demand, regardless of who else may offer a similar product or service. However, the Fiero community can rest assured that none of our new products will be exactly the same as Rodney's. We will take great care in making sure that our products offer unique value separate and apart from anything offered by Mr. Dickman.
We hope that Mr. Dickman and the rest of the Fiero community will accept our apology. We made a mistake, have taken steps to correct that mistake, and will take full responsibility for our actions. We look forward to continuing to serve Fiero owners around the world to the best of our ability and we thank all of our customers for their continued support.
Ditto...what Oreif said. 
I'm glad to see they have done something about it though, but I am still disgusted.
