Markertek - Laird - Ocean

[Bob Deming]

Tower Products Inc. owns the above 3 companies and others.

Are there anyone having problems with these companies, or have you had problems with these companies or do you know anyone that have had problems with these companies.

I am currently having big problems with Markertek. The company made a mistake on a bid and they refuse to make good one it.

They tried to accuse me and say it was my mistake but the salesperson lied. Now they have admitted guilt and have offered me two stupid solutions. Either are ethical.

I ordered a Canon XL-1S (body w/o EVF) & a 16X Manual Focus Lens and the quoted a good price. Plus, they gave me a verbal on the lens. Stating that the manual lens would be shipped.

Markertek is saying that the standard lens has a manual focus!!! Wrong!

The bid was for over $24K. They wanted the bid pretty bad so it looks like the cut their own throat.

What is dumb, remains the fact that if they would have accepted their mistake and sent the right stuff, I would still be doing business with them.

Now, what they are doing is unethical and looks like illegal.

Their solution is for me to take the camera and lens bid off of the order and short pay the quote or get another quote from another company and they will pay me their original bid plus $50.00. That's BS based on principal.

So, I am contacting the Attorney General in New York and a few others. This still doesn't bother this company. It's strange that the other companies such as ZGC got the bid correct.

Their bid for the camera and lens was $3,755.00.

Below is the "offer" they sent me:

Dear Mr. Deming:

Unfortunately your order was not correct due to many variables, some in our
control and some not. Due to the many options and accessories in this
business mistakes happen unintentionally. It is my job to make sure you get
what you need. That is what I would like to do. After reviewing all of the
information regarding your order
(O#1037226)with my supervisor, we have come up with the following solutions
to fix the problem.

Solution #1:
You can obtain a quote from the vendor of your choice on the Canon XL1S body
only and the Canon 16X Manual Servo Zoom lens and we will subtract $50.00
from the quote and give it to you at that price.

Solution #2:
We remove the Canon XL1S Camera package from your order and have the VA
short pay the invoice. They would subtract $3755.00 from the invoice. I
could send the amended invoices to Christina Varella at (blank).

Please advise me as to how you would like this handled so we can proceed
with no further delay.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Sincerely,

**Carl*


CC: Erick Krein - VP

This isn't all. They sent me software that was incomplete (Boris Red 2.5), Photoshop v7 (wrong platform), the Magnum tripod which was supposed to be the Magnum XL.

They still are holding up on the back order until this problem is resolved. I believe that is pretty unethical.

But anyway they haven't been paid yet. The bid was net 30. It's been over a month since the order was place.

If Chris at ZGC could have had more of the stuff the bid would have gone to her. But she did get part of the order. Our other sponser couldn't compete with Markertek's bid. Know I know why!

Comments? What would you do? Am I right to withhold payment. Should I take the deal that they offer?

Regards,