Greg Minuskin - Quite disappointed

[Neo]

I hate to say this, but after having read the OPs post on Reddit first and then seeing it here, it really feels like a purposeful smear job of Mr. Menuskin.

I've met him a few times, and while not always the nicest personality, it's pretty darn good at what he does and he backs his work.


Rather than smear him on all public channels, why not be responsible and let him know how you feel about the communication and return the pen letting him know that you won't be doing business with him in the future.

After all, we are only seeing one side of the conversation (who knows how many emails truly transpired?)

Just my .02

As did I and was accused of clogging the filling system.

[david i]

I'll let my email exchange with him speak for itself



I've been buying pens from Mr Minuskin for the last 2 years so needless to say I was quite disappointed, even offended to be treated this way. Granted, he offered a refund, but the refund was not in the line of "sorry for the trouble," but "go away I don't need your business." He has his wish, I will not return.

This is the pen in question http://gregminuskin.com/?p=14830. Notice he doesn't mention the problem anywhere in the listing. The pen is not a wet noodle either, semi flex at best, though I was aware of that at the time of purchasing.

Hi,

While anyone-- on either side of a business dealing-- can have a huge range of personal/ethical/professional lapses, I suspect there is a bit of "internet syndrome" going on with this exchange. Tongue-in-cheek does not always convey absent inflection and expression. As one who often sees the quirky in the world around me and responds to it by poking at the quirks, I can see what is happening.

While you were-- i assume-- attempting to convey that your pen was not holding onto ink well, your verbiage no doubt generates a vision of spontaneous pen eruptions, a pen so anxious and insecure that when looked at the wrong way, it just spews. And, it likely is the case that this cannot be fixed with Valium, unlike people who have that problem.

Looking at Greg's note-- and again recognizing that graciousness in business dealings always is a good idea-- i very much envision him seeing your commentary and being distracted (as I would be) by entertaining visions of exploding anxious pens, perhaps distracted a bit from the reality that you are having actual trouble with something you'd bought from him (Hey, that indeed can happen with any pen sold. I have my share of dogs as a seller too. Everyone does).

In retrospect, and with Monday morning quarterbacking, he might have done better to acknowledge your concern rather than emphasizing ability to re-sell your pen easily. But, those of us who see the funny side to life easily could have been distracted by the-- to paraphrase-- spontaneous spewing element to your description.

As to "mentioning the problem in his listing", this is a bit of an inappropriate complaint. Unless you are asserting (feel free to do so, if you wish), that Greg sold the pen deliberately, knowing it had a problem and trying to hide that problem, he could not have cited the problem in the listing. Problems such as this often are identified post-market. Even if the pen was filled, not just dipped, for writing testing before being listed, it was not likely to be left filled for couple days, tossed about, opened and closed, on outside chance it was flooding.

regards

david

[david i]

I bought a pen from Greg and the tipping fell off. I wouldn't buy anything from Greg.

I bought an old Parker with original tipping. The tipping fell off. I'll never buy another Parker. Oh... wait... actually I will

-d

[david i]

So let’s assess the information in this thread so we can learn what to expect before you buy from him.

What you get:
-Prompt shipping times
-Prompt response times to questions or concerns
-The item you purchased, or a full refund
-Greg also seems to stay current with what his customers are saying by monitoring various web forums.

What you do not get:
-A warm and/or touchy feeling

Conclusion: You’re going to get exactly what you purchased or a full refund.

Maybe I’m crazy, but that sounds pretty dam* good to me. If every company had that return policy, I’d be a very happy man.

Now I have zero affiliation with Greg Minuskin nor do I have personal experience buying from him. However the only real negative I see from this thread is that Greg Minuskin has customers who are very high maintenance.

Now I can appreciate rapport and empathy from businesses. However, I know when or when not to expect it. Buying goods online is not one of those instances. It may be a nice touch, but I don't get angry when Amazon.com doesn't ask me about how my day is going.

Bottom line: you have every right to not be unhappy with your experience and buy from someone else in the future. However, let’s make sure people understand that it was only because you didn’t like the wording of his emails….seems petty, but that’s just me.

That's ignoring quite a lot of stuff, like:
- Misleading item description
- Shoddy restoration
- Excessive ego to the point of threatening legal ramifications for online criticism
- Lack of effort for maintaining relationship with customers
- Lazy personality with a huge tendency to jump to conclusion (often wrong)
- Waste of time on the customer's part

I'm sorry if I got spoiled by extremely good customer service offered by people like the Goulets and Brian Smith from Unique Obliques. Brian Smith once sent me detailed picture illustration to help me with adjusting my nib holder. I'd be pretty mad if he told me just return my damn holder for money back if I didn't like the way he set it instead. I'm spending money on a business, I expected to be treated with care and respect. Mr Minuskin gave me none of those.

I'll offer a reality check.

"Misleading item description" in this case is irrelevant, as the issue in play generally will not be identified until a post-sales setting. Any pen sold by any retailer who has not used the pen at length is at risk for the cited problem, so any retail pen essentially is at risk for this same bit of "misleadingness' rendering that complaint pointless.

"Shoddy restoration". There is no evidence of a shoddiness. Restorations by any restorer can fail, prove insufficient, need further tweaking. I've worked with most of the great restorers, some before they became restorers to the masses, and none has avoided having had a pen here and there returned by me for a second evaluation.

"Lack of effort to maintain relationship with customers". Nonspecific. 1% of customers? All customers? How well did the customer work to maintain relationship with restorer?

"Lazy personality". Ad Hominem insult. Is your personality so good?

"Waste of time on customer's part". Well, really, too bad. We all waste time here and there. One can argue hobbies in general were developed to help us waste excess time.

"Excessive ego". Pot/Kettle. That sort?

And so forth.

I remain with notion that pen restoration is not a 100% process for anyone, that flippancy was encouraged by the original letter, that refund was promptly offered. After that, it's all Sturm und Drang.

-d

[david i]

Am I missing something in the most recent email exchange? It seems to me to be polite and business like on both sides.

I just don't get the jump from repeat customer to vitriol that seems to have occurred quickly in this case.

FB

I have both hope and expectation that this series of exchanges actually will generate more business for Greg.

regards

-david

[mhosea]

that flippancy was encouraged by the original letter

Lightness of mood was encouraged by the original letter, and Greg got it. He was light. I do not believe that any of the flippancy (vis-a-vis resell to a customer who won't have the problem) was encouraged by the OP, nor need it have been to occur.

[Cob]

Well I have read through these four pages, and for what it's worth will add my thoughts.

The original poster wrote a very silly message.

I would write:

Dear Sir,

I have received the pen; it does not work properly (details etc.).

I await your coments.

Yours &c.

However, all that stuff in the response about "I have another customer etc." is out of order. The seller has forgotten that he has completed a sale - a contract if you will - and in my view, is honour-bound to provide a satisfactory service to his customer.

This he has not done, and for those who feel that the offer of a refund is enough, well I disagree 100%.

Cob

[david i]

Offering to refund a dysfunctional item is an acceptable moral approach to dealing with that flawed sales item.

regards

david

[pengeezer]

So let’s assess the information in this thread so we can learn what to expect before you buy from him.

What you get:
-Prompt shipping times
-Prompt response times to questions or concerns
-The item you purchased, or a full refund
-Greg also seems to stay current with what his customers are saying by monitoring various web forums.

What you do not get:
-A warm and/or touchy feeling

Conclusion: You’re going to get exactly what you purchased or a full refund.

Maybe I’m crazy, but that sounds pretty dam* good to me. If every company had that return policy, I’d be a very happy man.

Now I have zero affiliation with Greg Minuskin nor do I have personal experience buying from him. However the only real negative I see from this thread is that Greg Minuskin has customers who are very high maintenance.

Now I can appreciate rapport and empathy from businesses. However, I know when or when not to expect it. Buying goods online is not one of those instances. It may be a nice touch, but I don't get angry when Amazon.com doesn't ask me about how my day is going.

Bottom line: you have every right to not be unhappy with your experience and buy from someone else in the future. However, let’s make sure people understand that it was only because you didn’t like the wording of his emails….seems petty, but that’s just me.

That's ignoring quite a lot of stuff, like:
- Misleading item description
- Shoddy restoration
- Excessive ego to the point of threatening legal ramifications for online criticism
- Lack of effort for maintaining relationship with customers
- Lazy personality with a huge tendency to jump to conclusion (often wrong)
- Waste of time on the customer's part

I'm sorry if I got spoiled by extremely good customer service offered by people like the Goulets and Brian Smith from Unique Obliques. Brian Smith once sent me detailed picture illustration to help me with adjusting my nib holder. I'd be pretty mad if he told me just return my damn holder for money back if I didn't like the way he set it instead. I'm spending money on a business, I expected to be treated with care and respect. Mr Minuskin gave me none of those.

I'll offer a reality check.

"Misleading item description" in this case is irrelevant, as the issue in play generally will not be identified until a post-sales setting. Any pen sold by any retailer who has not used the pen at length is at risk for the cited problem, so any retail pen essentially is at risk for this same bit of "misleadingness' rendering that complaint pointless.

"Shoddy restoration". There is no evidence of a shoddiness. Restorations by any restorer can fail, prove insufficient, need further tweaking. I've worked with most of the great restorers, some before they became restorers to the masses, and none has avoided having had a pen here and there returned by me for a second evaluation.

"Lack of effort to maintain relationship with customers". Nonspecific. 1% of customers? All customers? How well did the customer work to maintain relationship with restorer?

"Lazy personality". Ad Hominem insult. Is your personality so good?

"Waste of time on customer's part". Well, really, too bad. We all waste time here and there. One can argue hobbies in general were developed to help us waste excess time.

"Excessive ego". Pot/Kettle. That sort?

And so forth.

I remain with notion that pen restoration is not a 100% process for anyone, that flippancy was encouraged by the original letter, that refund was promptly offered. After that, it's all Sturm und Drang.

-d

This was what I alluded to in my previous comments.



John

[mmahany]

What then is the purpose of this subforum?

I didn't see it addressed, but this is a great question that deserves to be answered.

The purpose of this subforum is to provide facts.

We don't care what you think of the person who did the work. His personality is not being reviewed, his work is.

[Jon Szanto]

/redacted

I proffered a personal opinion that, fortunately, a good friend pointed out was in conflict with the stated rules of this sub-forum. I have left this in place to indicate I had posted, but removed the erroneous material.

[Jon Szanto]

I didn't see it addressed, but this is a great question that deserves to be answered.

From the Market Feedback Rules:

The purpose of this subforum is to provide facts. We don't care what you think of the person who did the work. His personality is not being reviewed, his work is.

It would have helped for you to place the above in a quotation, as I did for you. It appeared that you were speaking for yourself, as opposed to directly quoting the stated forum rules. Best to be clear.

[TheRealScubaSteve]

So let’s assess the information in this thread so we can learn what to expect before you buy from him.

What you get:
-Prompt shipping times
-Prompt response times to questions or concerns
-The item you purchased, or a full refund
-Greg also seems to stay current with what his customers are saying by monitoring various web forums.

What you do not get:
-A warm and/or touchy feeling

Conclusion: You’re going to get exactly what you purchased or a full refund.

Maybe I’m crazy, but that sounds pretty dam* good to me. If every company had that return policy, I’d be a very happy man.

Now I have zero affiliation with Greg Minuskin nor do I have personal experience buying from him. However the only real negative I see from this thread is that Greg Minuskin has customers who are very high maintenance.

Now I can appreciate rapport and empathy from businesses. However, I know when or when not to expect it. Buying goods online is not one of those instances. It may be a nice touch, but I don't get angry when Amazon.com doesn't ask me about how my day is going.

Bottom line: you have every right to not be unhappy with your experience and buy from someone else in the future. However, let’s make sure people understand that it was only because you didn’t like the wording of his emails….seems petty, but that’s just me.

That's ignoring quite a lot of stuff, like:
- Misleading item description
- Shoddy restoration
- Excessive ego to the point of threatening legal ramifications for online criticism
- Lack of effort for maintaining relationship with customers
- Lazy personality with a huge tendency to jump to conclusion (often wrong)
- Waste of time on the customer's part

I'm sorry if I got spoiled by extremely good customer service offered by people like the Goulets and Brian Smith from Unique Obliques. Brian Smith once sent me detailed picture illustration to help me with adjusting my nib holder. I'd be pretty mad if he told me just return my damn holder for money back if I didn't like the way he set it instead. I'm spending money on a business, I expected to be treated with care and respect. Mr Minuskin gave me none of those.

I'll offer a reality check.

"Misleading item description" in this case is irrelevant, as the issue in play generally will not be identified until a post-sales setting. Any pen sold by any retailer who has not used the pen at length is at risk for the cited problem, so any retail pen essentially is at risk for this same bit of "misleadingness' rendering that complaint pointless.

"Shoddy restoration". There is no evidence of a shoddiness. Restorations by any restorer can fail, prove insufficient, need further tweaking. I've worked with most of the great restorers, some before they became restorers to the masses, and none has avoided having had a pen here and there returned by me for a second evaluation.

"Lack of effort to maintain relationship with customers". Nonspecific. 1% of customers? All customers? How well did the customer work to maintain relationship with restorer?

"Lazy personality". Ad Hominem insult. Is your personality so good?

"Waste of time on customer's part". Well, really, too bad. We all waste time here and there. One can argue hobbies in general were developed to help us waste excess time.

"Excessive ego". Pot/Kettle. That sort?

And so forth.

I remain with notion that pen restoration is not a 100% process for anyone, that flippancy was encouraged by the original letter, that refund was promptly offered. After that, it's all Sturm und Drang.

-d

It was a misleading item description. Irrelevant is whether or not Greg knew it at the time of the listing. A restored pen is expected to function well, is it not?

If I purchased a restored pen and discovered "insufficient," restoration, I sure as heck would call that shoddy. If it how a restorer handles the news that makes this ok or not. Mistakes happen, but you can't call a poor restoration "good."

Who cares about the percentage of customers. This is his story and it reflects on Greg's business as a whole, rightly or wrongly.

There was no flippancy in the OPs first e-mail. Even if there was, I would expect a businessman to be a bit more mature about it rather than belittle a customer.

[david i]

So let’s assess the information in this thread so we can learn what to expect before you buy from him.

What you get:
-Prompt shipping times
-Prompt response times to questions or concerns
-The item you purchased, or a full refund
-Greg also seems to stay current with what his customers are saying by monitoring various web forums.

What you do not get:
-A warm and/or touchy feeling

Conclusion: You’re going to get exactly what you purchased or a full refund.

Maybe I’m crazy, but that sounds pretty dam* good to me. If every company had that return policy, I’d be a very happy man.

Now I have zero affiliation with Greg Minuskin nor do I have personal experience buying from him. However the only real negative I see from this thread is that Greg Minuskin has customers who are very high maintenance.

Now I can appreciate rapport and empathy from businesses. However, I know when or when not to expect it. Buying goods online is not one of those instances. It may be a nice touch, but I don't get angry when Amazon.com doesn't ask me about how my day is going.

Bottom line: you have every right to not be unhappy with your experience and buy from someone else in the future. However, let’s make sure people understand that it was only because you didn’t like the wording of his emails….seems petty, but that’s just me.

That's ignoring quite a lot of stuff, like:
- Misleading item description
- Shoddy restoration
- Excessive ego to the point of threatening legal ramifications for online criticism
- Lack of effort for maintaining relationship with customers
- Lazy personality with a huge tendency to jump to conclusion (often wrong)
- Waste of time on the customer's part

I'm sorry if I got spoiled by extremely good customer service offered by people like the Goulets and Brian Smith from Unique Obliques. Brian Smith once sent me detailed picture illustration to help me with adjusting my nib holder. I'd be pretty mad if he told me just return my damn holder for money back if I didn't like the way he set it instead. I'm spending money on a business, I expected to be treated with care and respect. Mr Minuskin gave me none of those.

I'll offer a reality check.

"Misleading item description" in this case is irrelevant, as the issue in play generally will not be identified until a post-sales setting. Any pen sold by any retailer who has not used the pen at length is at risk for the cited problem, so any retail pen essentially is at risk for this same bit of "misleadingness' rendering that complaint pointless.

"Shoddy restoration". There is no evidence of a shoddiness. Restorations by any restorer can fail, prove insufficient, need further tweaking. I've worked with most of the great restorers, some before they became restorers to the masses, and none has avoided having had a pen here and there returned by me for a second evaluation.

"Lack of effort to maintain relationship with customers". Nonspecific. 1% of customers? All customers? How well did the customer work to maintain relationship with restorer?

"Lazy personality". Ad Hominem insult. Is your personality so good?

"Waste of time on customer's part". Well, really, too bad. We all waste time here and there. One can argue hobbies in general were developed to help us waste excess time.

"Excessive ego". Pot/Kettle. That sort?

And so forth.

I remain with notion that pen restoration is not a 100% process for anyone, that flippancy was encouraged by the original letter, that refund was promptly offered. After that, it's all Sturm und Drang.

-d

It was a misleading item description. Irrelevant is whether or not Greg knew it at the time of the listing. A restored pen is expected to function well, is it not?

If I purchased a restored pen and discovered "insufficient," restoration, I sure as heck would call that shoddy. If it how a restorer handles the news that makes this ok or not. Mistakes happen, but you can't call a poor restoration "good."

Who cares about the percentage of customers. This is his story and it reflects on Greg's business as a whole, rightly or wrongly.

There was no flippancy in the OPs first e-mail. Even if there was, I would expect a businessman to be a bit more mature about it rather than belittle a customer.

You show poor understanding of that which you read and appear to respond to yourself rather than to others.

I never argued the description by Greg could not have been misleading. Rather, it was pointed out by me that the misleading element is utterly irrelevant to this chat and indeed that any fountain pen sold by anyone can be assumed to possibly have the same problem, independent of ad text. Whether Greg knew it at the time arguably is relevant, and I await evidence from anyone that Greg knowingly sold a pen that spews ink because anyone gives it a funny look. Just sayin'...

At root, Steve, you must never order a used/restored old pen again. Indeed, you perhaps never should order any fountain pen again. Any one of them might flood and nearly none (perhaps absolutely none) of them will cite that in the ad. You indeed are out of luck in this hobby. If you want to sell your pen collection cheaply as you leave the hobby, I likely can work out something for you. I do buy collections. Remember, no more pens for you by mail.

I care about what "percentage of customers" in the prior chat, because that is a start in the direction of allowing any import to be derived from the sentence to which it referred, which otherwise was meaningless. Go figure.

There was flippancy in the OP's first email, as well acknowledged in this discussion. Recognizing that few things are 100% or absolute, I acknowledge that the OP might not have been writing in flippant fashion, but instead simply was delusional. I find it harsh of you to suggest the OP was actively psychotic. I invite anyone to rest any pen on a flat surface with stable environmental conditions and then cause it to spew ink by looking at it. Go figure.

Good luck with your expectations.

regards

-d

[Farmboy]

It was a misleading item description. Irrelevant is whether or not Greg knew it at the time of the listing. A restored pen is expected to function well, is it not?

If I purchased a restored pen and discovered "insufficient," restoration, I sure as heck would call that shoddy. If it how a restorer handles the news that makes this ok or not. Mistakes happen, but you can't call a poor restoration "good."

Who cares about the percentage of customers. This is his story and it reflects on Greg's business as a whole, rightly or wrongly.

There was no flippancy in the OPs first e-mail. Even if there was, I would expect a businessman to be a bit more mature about it rather than belittle a customer.

Just for clarity the description in the ad for the pen does not to my reading say it is restored, it says "ALL I DID WAS TO CHECK OUT THE NIB, AND PUT A NEW INK SAC IN FOR YOU!" It doesn't say restored. For convenience the text is copied below.

ALL I DID WAS TO CHECK OUT THE NIB, AND PUT A NEW INK SAC IN FOR YOU!

Check out this genuine full sterling silver Wahl extra fine wet noodle flex set!

Excellent Greek Key design, all the patina you could love, and matching sterling silver pencil too that works!

Sure, I could have polished off the patina, but some people like it! No, that is not damaged on the section, it is just tarnished.

Better act quickly to get this amazing wet noodle set, for at just $170.00 plus shipping, it will NOT LAST BUT MAYBE 20 MINUTES ON THIS WEBSITE!

[david i]

If I purchased a restored pen and discovered "insufficient," restoration, I sure as heck would call that shoddy. If it how a restorer handles the news that makes this ok or not. Mistakes happen, but you can't call a poor restoration "good."

Todd's point about your misinterpreting Gregg's ad text is well taken. That is a beginning.

I sure as heck note that you likely will have an unhappy time in our hobby based on your rather self indulgent expectations.

There certainly is room for "to each his own", but not infinite room.

I will assert that pens indeed can undergo what an overwhelming majority of restorers, retailers of old pens, well known and not so well known experts consider a solid core restoration, with a fair percentage requiring a second look despite the pursuit of methodical, careful, well recognized restoration steps during the first round.

Having had several thousand old pens restored the past 15 years, having worked with most of the great restorers, some of whom before they began to restore widely for the general public, I've had to ask them do a second look at many pens. I never found the work to have been shoddy. I am amenable to hearing though about a trend with Greg, that a concerning portion of pens he sells as "fully restored" turn out to have grave problems. Please do provide a hefty sampling.

Note that "You can't call a poor restoration 'good'" is an example of Tactic 4 from the Losing Debater's Manual: "Straw Man".

If it how a restorer handles the news that makes this ok or not.

That is a bit of an odd sentence. Still, offering promptly to refund a pen that a buyer finds to be flawed (even if buyer is psychotic as you-- but not I-- suggest), certainly is "making ok" this news.

regards

-d

[mhosea]

Whether Greg knew it at the time arguably is relevant, and I await evidence from anyone that Greg knowingly sold a pen that spews ink because anyone gives it a funny look. Just sayin'...

I'm sure Greg had no idea that it leaked.

There was flippancy in the OP's first email, as well acknowledged in this discussion. Recognizing that few things are 100% or absolute, I acknowledge that the OP might not have been writing in flippant fashion, but instead simply was delusional. I find it harsh of you to suggest the OP was actively psychotic. I invite anyone to rest any pen on a flat surface with stable environmental conditions and then cause it to spew ink by looking at it. Go figure.

Ahem. "When I look at it funny" is a common figure of speech that indicates that the event actually seems to be spontaneous or to occur with infinitesimal provocation. I've heard it many, many times in my life, and I've never been confused by its meaning, nor do I recall it ever being considered "flippant" before now.

I do think the word "spews" was an unfortunate exaggeration. It made me think of a "burp", which led me to consider heating as the cause. But I now think ainterne has the right of it, and the pen would leak without provocation due to a poor air seal.

[david i]

I'm sure Greg had no idea that it leaked.

There was flippancy in the OP's first email, as well acknowledged in this discussion. Recognizing that few things are 100% or absolute, I acknowledge that the OP might not have been writing in flippant fashion, but instead simply was delusional. I find it harsh of you to suggest the OP was actively psychotic. I invite anyone to rest any pen on a flat surface with stable environmental conditions and then cause it to spew ink by looking at it. Go figure.

Ahem. "When I look at it funny" is a common figure of speech that indicates that the event actually seems to be spontaneous or to occur with infinitesimal provocation. I've heard it many, many times in my life, and I've never been confused by its meaning, nor do I recall it ever being considered "flippant" before now.

I do think the word "spews" was an unfortunate exaggeration. It made me think of a "burp", which led me to consider heating as the cause. But I now think ainterne has the right of it, and the pen would leak without provocation due to a poor air seal.

Hi Mike

Based on my acquaintanceship with Greg I quite agree he did not sell the pen expecting it to leak, but in the context of clarifying some folks' bleats about "misleading sales", I figured best to keep that which is possible under consideration, as a courtesy to the conversation. Really I wasn't doing that though as any favor to any actual person in the chat.

As to "Ahem"...

If we take your interpretation of "when I look at it funny", as a given, it is clear that the OP's colloquial vernacular invited a sub-formal reply. He invested then hefty effort copiously caterwauling about having received a sub-formal reply. Sturm und drang... indeed.

Greg did what the facts (or at least the claim) involved made reasonable. He promptly offered refund. Good on him.

To the degree that "'spews' was an unfortunate exaggeration', well, this returns me to core point that the letter had an element of flippancy and grandiosity to it. It wasn't a good, thoughtful or succinct request for refund or for repair. It set the tone for the subsequent dialogue, which I believe I suggested earlier.

Really, whatever physically was awry with the pen does not matter. That you are speculating on what really happened based on the OP's note shows that you too experience ambiguity trying to interpret the OP's letter, whether we deem it flippancy or figure-of-speech that compromised its coherence.

In any case, five pages of Sturm und drang because someone received an imperfect pen for which he received offer of refund very promptly is... interesting.
Regards

David

[mhosea]

If we take your interpretation of "when I look at it funny", as a given, it is clear that the OP's colloquial vernacular invited a sub-formal reply.

Hmmm. Well, just as a PSA then, I'm pretty sure the "never seen that happen if you just look at it funny" reply is always going to come across as obnoxious, not a reply "in kind". Ironically, this matter didn't bother me at all because for some reason, Greg's reply reminded me of this:

[david i]

That's a classic

Honestly, a bit of obnoxiousness-- if we take that view of the response as a given-- is a fairly trivial thing. Indeed, looking at Greg's quick solution to the problem along with the "obnoxiousness" in his note, and given the silliness and immaturity of the complaint on this board, were I coming to this situation without knowledge of the two players, I would proceed to do business with Greg, but have great hesitation to ever accept an order from the complainant. Actually, having knowledge of one of the participants, I believe that conclusion still holds.


regards

david


-d