Hoony , I have a lovlely little story about something similar . A man rang me about some YSS shocks , but told me he can get the same YSS out of the states $120.00 cheaper . (Actually he paid $76.00 in freight) And so he did. When he got them the springs where to hard . He rang me and said he would like to swap for softer springs . I told him , he could buy softer springs from me , that was not what he hade in mind . He stressed the point that I should swap them FOC since I was involved direct with factory and he would go on his favourite forum about that matter. I then got my back up and stressed the point that he should send his shocks where he bought them from and they would exchange them Free of charge if the wishes . We already noticed people buying certain model shocks from us in huge numbers at a bulk or OEM price and then sell them via the net with no back up. I know its unfair but what can we do ? I just hope the consumers are smart enough to work it out in the long run.
Reading this reply made me think about how business works. While I would have replied similarly after the prick brought up posting on his favorite forum, I have another way of looking at it. You chose to sell in bulk, at a discounted price, to a supplier in the U.S. Did you make sure that the U.S. supplier would offer different spring rates and knowledgable advice to customers before supplying them? Did you sell to this supplier hoping he would never sell his stock of shocks? I mean as a U.S. customer would I have to call back to Oz to order springs or ship my shocks back to get a re-valve?
I don't know if you did this, but knowing the "prick" had bought a product of yours, sold by you, by proxy, did you offer to give him a discount/trade-in value on his springs and then charge him for the right springs?
I would assume you mentioned to him what his extra $50 would be buying him (advice and local service). I hope I took this wrong and you bent over backwards until he showed how much of a prick he was. Or maybe you knew that after the first phone call.