GrumpyOldGuy

- Ha, Ha, but Yup, no comment.

I think a parts washer is great, heres one for around 1200 bucks. Think I may get one myself. http://www.tooltime.co.za/ProductDetails.aspx?id=3829

Valverde is very motivated, home tour and he is still carrying excellent form from the tour. I think its going to be a Valverde / Nibali duel, I like both, but I would really like to see Valverde take a grand tour.

- Missed the stage yesterday but got it on PVR, so I'll watch today some time. Sounds like it was a good day out.

Yup, agreed, I figured as much.

I forgot to PVR it and last night I was a little miffed........now I see Horner won,..... not so much. Surprised Nibali gave the jersey away so quickly, I know there are time bonuses which probably helped Horner but still a little surprised, I see most of the big names were together time wise so I guess he didn't chase?......or am I wrong?

Yeah, he looked fine, but I fear he will struggle to take the red Jersey from Nibs now, he was just cruising along if you ask me. I wonder if Astana intend keeping it or if they will get rid of it quickly, with a lot of climbing its unlikely the sprinters teams will be doing too much work so I think they will toss it soon, no point in killing themselves so early on.

I just watched it now, beautiful coastal scenery, almost completely undeveloped, quite amazing really, just a few average houses perched on the cliffs a coupla meters from the water. Was quite surprised to see the speed they went up that cat 1 climb, its only the second day but the pace was astonishing. Thats what I have to say I enjoy about the smaller tours, lots of crazy guys throwing caution to the wind in search of a win. Seldom one sees that in the tour so early on. Seems we can write Sanchez and Henao off almost right away. Sanchez I am sorry to see out of contention, Henao not so much, a grossly overrated climber in my opinion.

Sadly, Yes, there are those folk, and sadly, Yes, they drain your energy, but I figure you just do what you can as best you can, you will never please everyone, but you will please those that matter.

Yah, well I have made my point but I am bored and feel like waxing lyrical as us old timers are want to do. As I said previously never just look at a customer as a dollar sign, think of them as future ambassadors for your company and I will bore you with a short story to show the point...... Many years ago a young fella walked into our workshop with a Chinese motorbike engine, the head had cracked and he couldnt find any dealer to help him. In desperation and on the off chance he came to us. I took a look, called over one of my journeymen and asked him if he could take a look and see if he could sort it out when he gets a chance. I told the young fella I cant guarantee it today or tomorrow but as soon as its done I'll give him a call. A few days later we had aluminium welded it, milled it straight and for all intents and purposes it was ready to go, I called the fella and said its ready, he was there in a flash and asked how much, I said its fine, dont worry about it. Now even though it was only an hour or two of my journeyman's time, if I costed our time the job cost me money, but I have always believed you cant get out if you dont put in, we could help and we did, thats all there was to it. Anyway, a few weeks later a guy rolled up in my reception office, it was the young lads father we had helped, he came to ask if we could help at the factory he worked at, they had a big engineering job out for tender and thought we could quote. We were not clients of this company at the time and would never had known about the tender if it were not for the fact the young fella told his father we had helped him and he in turn returned the favor. Never underestimate the power of a happy client.

Agreed, having an "Authorized Agent" network who sell the product denotes an intention by the manufacturer that the authorized retailer network will support that product irrespective of who sold it initially. Otherwise having an authorized network but only the Original retailer will entertain the claim defeats the object and is simply window dressing, it is totally pointless from the clients perspective.

I didn't watch the TTT, but looking at the results it looks pretty grim for Basso and Cannondale's chances, way down the list already. Katusha likewise, not a good omen for Rodriguez. Amongst the GC favorites it looks pretty much like Astana came here with their "A team" and are in the hunt for the win, Movistar and Valverde may be a thorn in their side, but looking at the results from yesterday I cant see many betting against them.

There's a lot in it for the shop, Goodwill from the client, Supporting the brand they (the retailer) purport to be agents for, possible future sales or business,- Its a mistake to always just look at the Rands and Cents of all business transactions, Yes its important, but there is a lot more to customer support behind any business than just the money. As for Audi able to claim, well, if its a warranty claim why can any dealer not do likewise? It makes no difference who Thule replaces the warranty part to, and a bit of time out of your day to sort out the client is all part of business, and it makes a massive difference to the client who is inconvenienced.

Absolutely correct BigH. I do much the same these days. With regards to the case here, I think it could have been handled very easily by any agent or retailer of the brand. The problem in SA is many businesses take a hard line approach because they did not get the initial sale, it appears to me that many delight in making life difficult for their clients, it seems to me to be a case of "he didnt buy it here so **** him" instead of saying "Well let me see if I can assist here and maybe next sale WILL come my way" Lets just see how easy this is to handle. Awesome approaches a Thule agent. Awesome - Hi I have this issue with my bike rack. Agent - Sure lets look. Oh okay I see the problem is it a warranty claim.? Awesome - Yes bought it three days ago. Here's the invoice. Agent - Okay let me just call Thule and lodge a warranty claim. Agent to Thule - Hi Fred here, I have a Thule client here with a warranty claim, he didn't buy it here but I will make a copy of the invoice for the rep, its definitely a warranty claim, and as he is here, I have the part in stock and I can sort it out, can I go ahead and keep the client happy.? Thule - (I am pretty sure this would be their response) Yes of course, we aim to keep the client happy, your reference is "Y2ky" when the rep swings by again he can collect the broken part and we will replace it. Agent - Thanks, noted, I'll sort it out now. Awesome - Hay, great service, happy customer. Now is that so difficult, I dont think so.

I am with you here awesome, its got less to do with the retailer and more to do with service support. Your analogy with Audi is perfectly correct, and one can expand on this further by including Yamaha, and any of the bike brands, also include Sony and various others. What should you have done if you say for instance were here on vacation and bought the product because you felt like it, but lived in Durban? Should you now load it into your car and drive 7 hours back to have it attended to.? I dont think so, people today are mobile, we buy products in one city and live in another, even sometimes other countries, its time suppliers start supporting the brand they represent, not the location.

Do you think Kreuziger has recovered sufficiently physically and mentally from the tour Dale? He had a very competitive and tough tour to get over in a relatively short time.

Sadly old Boots is getting a bit long in the tooth now, happens to all of us unfortunately, but he has had an illustrious career, maybe not as good as some, but then a lot better than others, however I still think he still has the makings for a good showing on one or two of the really steep climbs, hope so anyway, but we will soon see I guess.

I am battling to build up some enthusiasm, maybe when I see old Scarpo take a mountain stage I'll feel more interested,.... but right now its not grabbing me.

Indeed it is. Yah, if you include all the costs from a forwarder like agency fee, communication fee, documentation etc it could easily be 1 grand, so 150 bucks is still very cheap.

DHL is actually an excellent forwarder, but perhaps not that suited to once off users like many here. Their systems (much like all forwarders) are geared to clients who use them regularly, have legitimate customs numbers and have known systems in place with the forwarder. Thats not to say there should be issues when used by the general public, but customs documentation and process's are a field of nightmares and a company like this simply cannot follow every package individually so if there is a lapse in paperwork there will usually be problems.

Yeah, the new digitised system. It has however been running in tandem with the old system for quite a while now, maybe 6 months or more. Its actually an excellent system and clearances are much quicker, I have had customs clearance on orders 30 minutes after submission of documents, whereas the old Compu Clear system was usually at least 24 hours or overnight. Wether there is an extra cost to forwarders using this system is unlikely, but dont worry about SARS, they have finely honed the best method to grab your tax dollar.!

Customs takes the full disbursement and adds an imaginary 10% THEN calculates the 14% Vat. So lets say your disbursement is R100.00 under normal circumstances, locally you would pay R14.00 Vat. However on imports customs takes the R100.00 adds 10% = R110.00 then calculates Vat R15.40. So you will pay R15.40 Vat not R14.00

Sure, for small orders the PO is definitely the best option cost wise, but you do give up a certain degree of efficiency and control over your package. For example, if it goes missing try get the PO to go look for it in a hurry or at all, whereas I guarantee DHL will be able to track it immediately, there are also other advantages to private couriers like parcel security, delivery to your home, and certified proof of collection, delivery and in transit tracking, usually available immediately on line, its a choice you have to make, but those private services come at an increased cost.

I use forwarders regularly and 100 bucks disbursement or agency fee is unheard of, think 300 bucks in most cases, so I dont think you are too badly done by.

The rand is worth squat, labour is demanding more and more so prices are escalating everywhere, freight forwarding is just another.