Reputable Retailer

[Joyce Mahoney]

Hey J-
We've been going round and round about retailers vs. mail order and we have a ton of equipment to buy when we get back next week. I could have picked up the phone and asked you but I got to thinking that your answer will probably benefit alot of people so I'm posting it. Who do you use and why?

[Greg Boston]

Joyce,

I know you are one of our newer members here at DVINFO. We have an agreement with our site sponsors that all where to buy questions will be directed towards them in the public forums.

They are hand picked for having excellent customer service reputations and fair pricing. Chris will not accept just any advertiser that waves money in his face and I think that is very commendable of him. He is looking out for our backs so please keep all non-sponsor links and discussions away from the forum. Plus, they make this site possible for all of us and we as a userbase should give them first shot at our business when possible.

You might want to ask Jonathan for an answer via private mail or the telephone as you alluded to in your post.

Best regards,

Greg Boston

[Chris Hurd]

Just to follow up after Greg's post, here's another reminder that the *only* dealers we discuss on DV Info Net are those who directly support our site. In other words, out of fairness to our sponsors, we give them full exclusivity... and since I firmly believe that they are the best in the business, all of our members here benefit from this policy as well. Anybody who seeks advice about where to buy outside of our trusted site sponsors, should do so by private email and not on the public boards. Thanks for understanding,

[Jonathan Ames]

Chris is correct and locking the thread is his perrogative however, that being said, I have to answer honestly this post which has always been my policy as everyone here and on the other two trusted boards named on 2nd-Unit.tv will certify. As far as I have been concerned for years, there are two and ONLY two retailers I and the rest of the crew go to and I push them as often as I can, not out of some misguided alegiance or financial agreement but because they're tried and true; EVS and AbleCine, neither of which are our sponsors but both of which are this board's sponsors. They are the difinitive Go-To retailers in this industry and I wish Chris would have given me the trust and opportunity to make that statement before locking the thread. They've both been long-time supporters of the independent filmmaker providing true customer service long before and long after any sale is made. It's a thin and aggravating line retailers have to walk with margins so thin and these two retailers don't get enough credit for what they do. As an example, Ron Ayers spends an inordinate amount of hours helping callers understand the complexities of the various tools of filmmaking only to have them take that information and go elsewhere to purchase on-line because it's seemingly $20 cheaper. What people fail to understand is that filmmakers, especially independents, need the aftermarket care and concern to answer questions well after the sale has been made if they even hope to be successful. Try calling an on-line, mega store dealer after the sale and see how far you get. You simply can't buy service like that and it's why, with every opportunity I have, I direct people over to EVS and Abel Cine without their sponsorship of 2nd Unit and it's why those two companies support fine boards like DVInfo.net and great people like Chris Hurd.

I can't speak for Chris but I have companies offering me cold, hard cash virtually every day to recommend them on this and other boards and like Chris, the answer is always no. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, we answer to a higher calling; honor, integrity and you the viewer so given the chance I would have declined to answer the question that Joyce posed but if I had the chance, I would have recommended two and only 2; AbelCine and EVS. Why? Simply because when you've been i the business for as long as I have, you come to realize very quickly that $20 saved today is a $2000 expenditure later on when you really need a favor or information or help and the on-line retailer you bougtht from is busy taking the credit card number from some other poor soul to take your call and help you. Don't believe me? Try calling EVS or AbelCine sometime when you really are in a pickle and see how they respond to you, someone they don't even know andhaven't sold anything to.

So, with that, I have to apologize to Chris for re-opening a locked thread but it had to be said and tomorrow, if 2nd Unit doesn't have a home here on DVInfo.net because I broke the rules by responding to a viewer's question when the Kennelmaster locked the thread, well, at least you'll all know that my answer was the truth at the risk of being tossed off this wonderful board.