As many of you know I do not post on this forum often. The reason I am is because a fellow smart car driver alerted me and my husband to the fact that there have been some misleading and at times slanderous posts created on this forum that mentioned us (SMART MADNESS) by name.
There is a vendor that has once again become active on this forum who is what I consider misleading the smart community I will do my best to protect the best interest of the smart community and our company. It is especially upsetting when I see my own orange smart car being used without my permission to sell a knock off product, more so when my orange smart has the REAL product.
When I try to address the vendor in question he deletes my and other users posts with hopes that he will make a simple dollar by what I feel is lying. I say lying because this is personal, it's my smart car used in his online website to sell a knock off product- to you. So with that, I pasted my response to him along with another forum member's, with hopes that he will simply practice his business in an ethical manner. For reasons unknown, he feels he needs to put a post out stating that he is not SMART MADNESS, well folks, he is correct because he simply isn't.
My husband and I have worked hard for the last 3+ years to earn the trust and respect of the community. We will be dam*ed to have our name associated with his company, or to have my own personal car on his website to make a buck off of you. My orange smart car has the genuine product and not what he is trying to sell. This form of business is misleading.
Am I (Rachel) taking this personal? Absolutely! How would you feel if someone took pictures of your own smart car after all the hard work, love and passion that you put into it, and decided to use it on their own website to sell a knock off product, all while knowing that you have the genuine product on your smart?! I think pretty upset right? With that said, I am posting this, for all to see because when I respond to his threads and call him on his business practices and the fact that he is using my personal car without my permission to sell another inferior product he deletes the entire thread then starts a fresh one and then blocks anyone from commenting.
Please beware of buying body kits from the site in question because the product shots are misleading and the images of my personal car are being falsely used to sell a knock off. We wouldn't do that to you and I don't want him doing that to the community.
Cisco, I have nothing to hide and you know that. For every slanderous response I come back with the truth since I and my husband have nothing to hide. The only option you seem to think you have is block or delete. The thing you should be doing is running your business with honestly and integrity like many others. We work with many other smart car vendors that follow these basic principles and that is also the main reason we stopped working with you.
Your actions are desperate and misleading to the community. Practice your business ethically like other vendors, so you can sleep at night. Sleep can do the mind and body good. Oh wait, maybe you can't sleep at night which explains why your actions are so poor...
In closing, I am going to ask the community to help me keep this thread on top by not letting it get buried. I want to enjoy my one night off during the week with my husband. Simply respond with a comment, or simply don't comment with any words. Simply keeping this thread on top for others to see is all that I am asking. We are already late to step out for our dear friend's birthday gathering because I insist on addressing this issue on this forum. We are here for you, the smart community. Like most at times, we may make mistakes because we are human but we do fess up to them and try to honor that mistake. We don't lie to or cheat our customers because without you, we can't survive. From day 1 we promised to treat our customers the way we would want to be treated. We hope you feel that we have and that is ethically and honesty. The Golden Rule is how we practice our business.
Goodnight all and have a great weekend,
Rachel
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Tags:
lets keep this on top so it doesnt get buried!
lets support the SMART MADNESS team!!!!
Hey Cisco,
You should be ashamed of how you have run your business. You have done nothing but poke at Smart Madness and other vendors for years now. I really don't know why, it obviously hasn't done you any good. While us other vendors grow and grow you have gotten smaller and smaller. I see from your EBay listings that you haven't sold a Smart Car part since June, I also see from your FaceBook profile that you switched your career to an insurance salesman instead of a business owner, maybe you should stick to that. To be honest I thought you had finally ran away with your tail between your legs after we all found out that your cold air intake design was faulty and the hundreds of customers that bought them from you were stuck with them. Boo to you and your customer service!
From what I see on line you are preparing to go out with a bang, your website and your EBay listings no longer accept PayPal, looks like you burned that bridge, which means if some poor unsuspecting soul actually buys one of your junky products and doesn't like it they have no way to get there money back. You also raised you prices on some of your stuff which tells me you are almost out of stock and don't plan on producing anymore.
Please beware people, this guy is up to no good and his moral compass has been broken for quite sometime now.
Matt Boesch
www.boeschbuilt.com
I am sorry you feel this way Mr. Grandmont.
I would like to suggest you do a little research about our company and the other company in question.
We run an honest business and take care of our fellow smart car drivers. Just ask other smart car owners that have done business with us and you will get plenty of feedback.
I don't disagree with you. In fact, you may be right. However, I was simply pointing out how unfair the whole thing looked from an outsiders perspective. I find it odd that someone who truly thought and believed that their business was better, and treated clients more fairly, would go through the trouble to beat their chest at the top of a mountain top to get people to see it their way. I'm not saying I won't ever order anything from your company, but from where I'm sitting, the whole thing really kind of painted you in a very poor light. Hopefully I get to order something from Smart Madness in the near future and you get a chance to prove to me how right you are. Lots of luck and sales to you,
Mark
Hi Mr. Mark,
You are absolutely correct in your prior statement.
My name is Rachel and I am the wife aka partner of Boris/ SM. I could not agree with you any more as I too try to take the humble approach. Unfortunately however, the louder side of me wins, which ends up being a fault of mine.
Myself and Boris have been put through the strainer with the former company mentioned, not just once but continuously throughout the past years. We have invested like many other business owners, our whole life savings and life to our business. It bothers us to continuously see our name get slung after so many attempts of taking the higher road.It gets exhausting to the point where I want to scream at the top of a moutain with hopes that it will just stop, but it unfortunately never does... With that, we thank you for your wishes and for hearing us out.
I truly want it to stop. I truly just want the other vendor to say "You know what? That's right, I remember us talking many times about how your personal car was used to advertise the knock off product! Let me just swap the photos for the real product because I don't want to mislead the community." Or even a "I will also stop using your (SM) company name to promote my own company"
I don't think that's much to ask. The bottom line is that he can put up photos of any smart car that actually has the knock off kit installed that his is trying to sell, but he knowingly uses mine. That's a frustration that I can't expect someone else to understand and I apologize that you have been dragged through the un-necessary drama because it clearly could be fixed, but unfortunately one chooses to continuously stand on faulty ground and act innocently.
My very best,
Rachel
Oh my goodness, how could I even respond to that? You just reacted exactly how I said looked bad previously. If I respond, I'll just be beating a dead horse. Really what I hope for you is to find tolerance for others and maybe someday to realize that karma truly is real. And that means that if someone truly is trying to wrong you, meaning like some other company or business, it will come back to them. You won't need to do a thing. Relax. If your business is as good as you folks say it is you'll do a fantastic business. And nothing would be able to harm that. Best of luck to you,
Mark