[DMCForum] The SonnyV issue (I spoke to James Espey).
From: "John Dore" <dmcjohn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2004 09:07:46 +0000
Note to moderators: I am also sending this email to James Espey
directly, and have already asked his permission to relay parts of our
telephone conversation last week.
Hi guys,
I've been meaning to send this email for the past few days but am
very busy at work coming up to Christmas. BTW, to all the people who
wrote to me offline, sorry I haven't replied, same reason - just
stuck for time at the moment, but will reply to all of you.
Anyway, like a lot of people on this list and the DMCForum, the
SonnyV issue really annoyed me - and I was very disappointed that
this kind of thing might be going on. So, last week, I emailed James
Espey directly, sending him a copy of my post to the DML on the
issue, and asked him to please respond to my questions. He did
respond, thanked me for contacting him directly and asked if he could
call me.
So, last Friday night we had a good 30 minute conversation about all
of this, and I've confirmed with James since that he doesn't mind
what I repeat here about that call. Sorry if this turns into a long
email, and hopefully I'll remember most of what we spoke about...
The SonnyV character was created by James in the summer of 2003. He
explained that it is his job as VP of DMCHouston to promote the
company and their products as well as possible, so he described a
conversation he had with Stephen where he suggested that it would be
very easy to create a yahoo profile to advertise themselves on the
DML - the logic being that people might get tired of seeing
DMCHouston endlessly promoting themselves on the list, but would not
mind an apparent happy customer posting about their products. Stephen
agreed to this as long as the SonnyV character was not used to bash
any other vendors, and would not compare their products with the
competition directly, just make vague comparisons, i.e. not say
straight out that a DMCHouston product is better than the equivalent
PJ Grady/DeloreanOne/Delorean Motor Center product.
So, Stephen is fully aware of the history of SonnyV, and also of the
debates on this topic here and on the unmoderated DMCForum, which you
can find at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcforum
During the call James seemed genuinely sorry and embarrassed about
this whole situation. I asked if he can see why a lot of people are
upset about this, and he said (I paraphrase) : absolutely, no-one
likes being deceived.
I'm glad that James called me - I think email is a really crap way of
sorting out your problems, there is nothing like talking to someone 1
on 1. James had a list of maybe 15 people at that stage who had
posted comments on this issue to both lists, and he told me he
intends calling each one of them to listen to their concerns on the
matter, and try to patch things up. I think this is a great idea, and
I am impressed with James for this.
That said, I know there are many people here who have not posted an
opinion publicly, and would not call James up to discuss this, but
would like an explanation. I asked James if he was going to reply to
my post on this forum, and he said no, he is not going to. He also
said that after our call if I go and post again on this topic, he
will not reply to that post either. James and Stephen have discussed
this between themselves, and will not reply or post anything publicly
to either list on this issue, ever, which I think is a pity. Its my
opinion that the only way this will be resolved properly is a simple
email from the guys in DMCHouston saying "yes we did this - we're not
proud of it, sorry if we offended anyone, and we won't do it again".
I'm sure 2 or 3 days later the whole mess would be forgotten about.
As a sidenote, James was very friendly, and seemed like a very nice
guy. We talked a little about our baby daughters and life in general,
isn't this what owning a DeLorean is really about - making friends? I
hope this can all be cleared up soon so we can go back to that.
Well that's about it, if you've any questions I'll try and answer
them when I get a chance.
Merry Christmas to all DeLorean owners in the USA, Canada, UK,
Germany, Australia, Ireland, and all others around the world!
Best wishes,
John Dore,
Ireland.
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