Soaring Community Consumer Warning

So funny...amusing but a little sad.

Lets review, shall we?

Tim is a knowledgeable glider guy. Great.

Tim probably screwed with the wrong guy regarding his secret policy and I can understand an upset reaction from this customer. I also personally believe that Tim (clearly upset by the growth of competitive sites) was also upset by the fact that the customers reaction to Tim's demands was correct regarding absolutely no stated policy and felt it was wrong to threaten to remove his ad as a customer and simply as a user of W&W.

Tim's customer was so bothered by the treatment (hang up was probably true) he posted on RAS. He has some support. Regardless of details the policy and the manner of informing this guy was very, very poor at best.

Friends of Tim Mara circled wagons around him on this thread and likely elsewhere, looking ridiculously bias and completely failing to admit the slightest chance of error by Tim. The wagoneers insult anyone who agreed Tim may be at fault subtlety and nastily in some cases. I for one laughed at it as I usually do, but the unreasonable defense of this event likely further injured Tim's reputation for those watching from the sidelines as any reasonable person agrees there is something odd here about the policy and the incident. The defense was too much. Tim is certainly not innocent.

Tim has essentially been "hiding under his desk" since this has begun. Friends are acting as proxies apparently and rigorously defending some policy that we have no idea that it actually exists because Tim has not made any statements. Head proxy tries to claim Tim is to classy to comment. Please.... Tim's a big boy. He can defend himself. Can he not?

Damage short and long term to W&W is debatable, but there definitely is damage. A fact of the electronic age. A fact of negative reviews. Proxies pretend their is no chance of damage from this incident.

We appear to agree that Tim's site is fairly outdated, and many other choices are available to pilots who are looking to sell their gliders. Competition is good for consumers last I checked. Promoting a monopoly on glider want ads questionable but expected from the proxies.

Tim should apologize, state his policy here on RAS and on his website and it will be over in weeks. If he does not this problem will linger...

I want to see other glider want ad sites be successful. I do not like the idea of being EXECTED (wink, wink) to only use someone's site under some mysterious unstated terms and conditions. This supposed exclusivity policy of Wings and Wheels is not stated anywhere on the site. This is PURE FACT.

How do we really know if this IS or IS NOT Tim's Wings and Wheels Want Ad's policy?

Only his proxies and circled wagons pals have stated this is a policy after the customer posted this thread. But how do we really know what is fact? Why should we believe anything the proxies say? How do they really know this policy exists? Tim has not confirmed or denied anything and the website still says absolutely nothing about it. Has Tim told them to say this on this thread (while hiding under the desk) or are they just assuming it to be the case? Have they talked to Tim?

The facts are that we have not heard JACK-SQUAT from TIM and NOTHING ABOUT SUCH A POLICY IS STATED ON TIM'S (only show in town, dominant, amazing) WEBSITE aka WINGS AND WHEELS.

So what are we customers supposed to believe Tim? Must we, if we place an ad on your (only show in town ) website (according to your proxies), assume that you will then pull it down if you find our ad is also listed on any other soaring website????? (which does not matter as your site is the only game in town). Will you call us up if you find our ad in trade a plane or on the SSA want ads? Facebook Want Ads. Where is the line drawn? Are you seriously admiting this is you policy ;-) ?

What if I just announce it on my personal Facebook bag? Does this violate your unstated proxy claimed policy? What about an ad in a local paper? Violation?

What exactly is the policy? Is it true or not? Tim?

If wings and wheels is the only game in town, why is Tim apparently so worried and so threatened by other want ad sites or methods?

Its all just so bad. I'm sorry. In my opinion the whole idea of expecting absolute exclusivity without openly stating such a draconian business policy on the website conditions is ridiculous.

You cannot have it both ways Tim. Which is it? Please make a statement, on your site or here, so we can know the facts and move on.

It's your business and you can certainly do whatever you want. But what is it, exactly, that you are doing?

Thanks,

Sean
F2