Watchdog withdraws price-fixing bicycle case

[Tumbleweed]

Who would that be, in case I feel inclined to ask, you know

 

I would hope he would be inclined to answer that himself...

[Lucky Luke.]

I have shopped at Cycle Lab since this whole thing emerged, and needed no lube. I will continue to do business with nearly all of the 27 others hauled to the commission too if necessity or desire drags me that way. As I said earlier, this issue needs more than a cursory read to fully understand what happened.

 

As a footnote, one person I would never hand over cash to, nor recognise as the ethical crusader he purports to be, is one of the complainants in this case.

 

Mr Weed, please forgive my ignorance, but I don't get it. These guys met to discuss collectively raising prices - as far as I can tell that was the purpose of the meeting? Are you saying that they met for another reason? And that this complainant you mention may have twisted the facts to try and discredit his competitors?

[TNT1]

this issue needs more than a cursory read to fully understand what happened.

 

 

Nah, got it from the horse's mouth once. That did it for me.

[Danger Dassie]

Mr Weed, please forgive my ignorance, but I don't get it. These guys met to discuss collectively raising prices - as far as I can tell that was the purpose of the meeting? Are you saying that they met for another reason? And that this complainant you mention may have twisted the facts to try and discredit his competitors?

 

Having read the minutes that were posted as well, it seemed to me they met to discuss the industry and pricing was one of the points raised.

Raising price points doesn't necessarily amount to price fixing. Only if it were that they were going to adjust prices to sit at a fixed point by decreasing or increasing prices in order to kill off competition, which wasn't mentioned.

Sure some folk may have had ideas to that end, and it was even suggested at the end that they should seek a legal advice on what was being discussed.

[Tumbleweed]

Mr Weed, please forgive my ignorance, but I don't get it. These guys met to discuss collectively raising prices - as far as I can tell that was the purpose of the meeting? Are you saying that they met for another reason? And that this complainant you mention may have twisted the facts to try and discredit his competitors?

 

No. Margins was only one of many things discussed in the context of the health of the industry. I am not a legal expert, so I never passed judgement on the minutes I posted, but I will say that the minutes were incoherent and disjointed in places. The Comp Comm is bloodthirsty, hasty, and, as I pointed out earlier, were doomed to fail in this case probably because of this. There was another case heard prior to the referral of this case to the tribunal that set a precedent for this case to be withdrawn.

 

As far as the complainant goes, his involvement seemed to be more down to self-promotion and vengeance than in your interest.

[grb285]

No. Margins was only one of many things discussed in the context of the health of the industry. I am not a legal expert, so I never passed judgement on the minutes I posted, but I will say that the minutes were incoherent and disjointed in places. The Comp Comm is bloodthirsty, hasty, and, as I pointed out earlier, were doomed to fail in this case probably because of this. There was another case heard prior to the referral of this case to the tribunal that set a precedent for this case to be withdrawn.

 

As far as the complainant goes, his involvement seemed to be more down to self-promotion and vengeance than in your interest.

 

Let me get this correct then. So it was YOU who posted these minutes in the first place?

[Tumbleweed]

Let me get this correct then. So it was YOU who posted these minutes in the first place?

 

I did.

[TNT1]

Let me get this correct then. So it was YOU who posted these minutes in the first place?

 

yes, but as far as I remember, the minutes were freely downloadable from one of the bike shop's websites. No secrets there.

Edited June 13, 2011 by TNT1

[grb285]

yes, but as far as I remember, the minutes were freely downloadable for one of the bike shop's websites. No secrets there.

Which bike shop?

[Tumbleweed]

yes, but as far as I remember, the minutes were freely downloadable for one of the bike shop's websites. No secrets there.

 

No, not quite. It had been hosted on its server, and you could get it it you had the link, but not freely available. The links were sent to me here via PM on the hub.

[Lucky Luke.]

No. Margins was only one of many things discussed in the context of the health of the industry. I am not a legal expert, so I never passed judgement on the minutes I posted, but I will say that the minutes were incoherent and disjointed in places. The Comp Comm is bloodthirsty, hasty, and, as I pointed out earlier, were doomed to fail in this case probably because of this. There was another case heard prior to the referral of this case to the tribunal that set a precedent for this case to be withdrawn.

 

As far as the complainant goes, his involvement seemed to be more down to self-promotion and vengeance than in your interest.

 

ok... I think ultimately the majority of the market will go where they can get the best service and find what they're looking for at the best price. Irrespective of the finer details around this case, I haven't found that to be Cyclelab. But good luck to them if they haven't done anything wrong.

[grb285]

No, not quite. It had been hosted on its server, and you could get it it you had the link, but not freely available. The links were sent to me here via PM on the hub.

So basically, you are responsible for this mess then?

 

Under what authority did you post it to the World on a forum? Did this website you got the information from have a privacy policy?

[TNT1]

No, not quite. It had been hosted on its server, and you could get it it you had the link, but not freely available. The links were sent to me here via PM on the hub.

 

Ah, right, I remembered it was something like that.

[TNT1]

So basically, you are responsible for this mess then?

 

Under what authority did you post it to the World on a forum? Did this website you got the information from have a privacy policy?

 

 

Well, as it turns out he didn't get it from a public website, so the privacy policy probably would have been moot. And second, probably the "authority" that lets you ask a question like that.

 

He is a journalist or editor or something, and probably, I'm guessing, knows what he can and can't publish.

[Willehond]

So basically, you are responsible for this mess then?

 

Under what authority did you post it to the World on a forum? Did this website you got the information from have a privacy policy?

 

I remember seeing those minutes and thinking what kind of nana posts minutes of pricing agreements on their public website? Wasn't the brightest moment in the history of bicycle sales in South Africa. A meeting did take place, things were said and it seems a lot of people got a bit of a fright. I'm really glad it came out into the open. We need more of this whistleblowing stuff. Sounds to me like the bike industry is in better shape after the big skrik they got.

[grb285]

Well, as it turns out he didn't get it from a public website, so the privacy policy probably would have been moot. And second, probably the "authority" that lets you ask a question like that.

 

He is a journalist or editor or something, and probably, I'm guessing, knows what he can and can't publish.

Something doesn't smell right here at all. I have several businesses and have a good nose for these things. It just doesn't add up that these minutes get pulled from a bike shop's server and then get published, in turn, causing irreparable damage to the reputations and customer bases of bike shops.

 

Just because he's a journalist doesn't mean he knows better. In this case he clearly didn't as the information was false, proved to be, and instead caused a lot of harm. If I was that bike store I know who I'd be going after.