I really object to...
Mar. 7th, 2006 04:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
winterbadger...someone using their military service as a stick to beat others with.
Summary: a consumer posted to several email lists I read about problems he had had with a manufacturer/retailer over an email order. He claimed they had charged him for an order he placed but later told him they would not ship the product until several weeks later, after they had been to a big trade show where they expected to sell product directly to customers. He then quoted communications in which they responded rudely to him, but he never quoted anything he had written to them. Readers had various reactions to his complaint, including several who felt this was uncharacteristic of the people they knew in this manufacturer's organization and suggested he share what he had written that provoked these responses.
After stalling all day and watching this controversy build (as anyone who reads message boards or listservs knows, there are *many* idle people out there with opinions and computers), he has refused to share his own communications with the company in question, defended his version of events, and stated
"I thank those who read the post for what it was meant to be, a concern expressed about questionable business antics. ...If you read it any other way, so be it, I served in the US Army for 22 years to guarantee you that right. Sadly, a few of you felt that I did not have the right to express my feelings on the matter."
Bullshit. No one I've seen has said he didn't have a right to speak his piece. Quite a few people have suggested he is being unfair or intemperate or disingenuous, but no one has said "You can't speak your mind." And you know what? My Constitution gives me the right to free speech; I don't hold it as a gift from one person or another who chose to serve in the military. Service in government or in the armed forces is a vocation for some and nothing more than a job for others. It can bring danger, or hatred, or honour, death or disease or considerable wealth. But it doesn't come with a license to act as if your fellow citizens owe their rights to you and should defer to you in some unspecified way.
Summary: a consumer posted to several email lists I read about problems he had had with a manufacturer/retailer over an email order. He claimed they had charged him for an order he placed but later told him they would not ship the product until several weeks later, after they had been to a big trade show where they expected to sell product directly to customers. He then quoted communications in which they responded rudely to him, but he never quoted anything he had written to them. Readers had various reactions to his complaint, including several who felt this was uncharacteristic of the people they knew in this manufacturer's organization and suggested he share what he had written that provoked these responses.
After stalling all day and watching this controversy build (as anyone who reads message boards or listservs knows, there are *many* idle people out there with opinions and computers), he has refused to share his own communications with the company in question, defended his version of events, and stated
"I thank those who read the post for what it was meant to be, a concern expressed about questionable business antics. ...If you read it any other way, so be it, I served in the US Army for 22 years to guarantee you that right. Sadly, a few of you felt that I did not have the right to express my feelings on the matter."
Bullshit. No one I've seen has said he didn't have a right to speak his piece. Quite a few people have suggested he is being unfair or intemperate or disingenuous, but no one has said "You can't speak your mind." And you know what? My Constitution gives me the right to free speech; I don't hold it as a gift from one person or another who chose to serve in the military. Service in government or in the armed forces is a vocation for some and nothing more than a job for others. It can bring danger, or hatred, or honour, death or disease or considerable wealth. But it doesn't come with a license to act as if your fellow citizens owe their rights to you and should defer to you in some unspecified way.
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no subject
Date: 2006-03-07 10:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-07 10:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-07 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-03-07 11:12 pm (UTC)This is xxxxxx, speaking for Yyyyy [the company in question] on this matter.
We have no knowledge of [the complainant], or who he is. Any order that he
might have submitted directly to us is not in our files, nor listed
with any of web pages, and consquently NO credit card with his
name has been processed through us.
If Mr. [name] purchased this product from any retail outlet that
supplies Yyyyyy products, he needs to contact that retail outlet,
who might have taken his money, while in fact not having the product
in stock to begin with.
As far as our response to Mr. [name], his initial letter was rude and
threatening and of course this is simply him following up on his
threats. Yyyyy stands behind its letter, and would prefer not to
do business (as any business would) with consumers of this type.
Yyyyy believes that in its 17 plus years of good customer
service, fine product, and great prices, speaks for itself.
This is our last response to this matter.