lets be very clear - channels to market make sense unless you know exactly what you want and have the resources, time and ability to manage yourself.
manufacturers take the fixed sales costs they have, subtract those from the RRP and give a portion of that as margin to disti's and resellers to handle that in a many to one way.
the channel needs to be strict and clear, sending customers up the train for direct support doesn't add any value.
either the price is too low, the margins are too low, somebody isn't doing their job responsibly, or all of the above - as i say my hardware guys need 50% to run proper returns supply and sourcing and thats little boxes, not bicycles with loads of components.
manufacturers have a responsibility for known problems and issues, they should be clearly communicating the issue and the process - hopefully to the customer (why else do we register?) but certainly down the channel.
the thing that annoyed me about the bh issue i had is that it was a known faulty batch problem, but i still had to fight tooth and nail, was directed to report it to the manufacturer myself (via an online reporting tool for dealers/distributors) after several emails had gone up and down the chain, and then had to wait for parts from spain, who were on holiday!
I don't think any of us would complain about a few days, even a couple of weeks is acceptable as a one off - its weeks and months as the norm that upsets me (eg my bike took over a week to get from hampshire to stoke, i could have ridden it there in that time!)
anyways, before i give myself a coronary thinking about it, i shall bow out from ranting
