Dan, I understand--believe me. If I hadn't gotten the knife in my back, I would be the same way. I would have defended Marc like family. He did a lot of favors for me over the course of the 15 or so years I delt with him--as I did him. Obviously I put a lot of trust in him--why else would I have let him get indebted to me to the tune of over $2,000?
If he would have just given me something--some kind of warning or explanation--all would be fine and dandy.
As it is, I had customers who had been waiting a year or longer, who trusted me, and I had to tell them their bow wasn't coming--once I finally figured it out. I had to refund over $10,000 in deposits. Worst of all, I lost what I thought was a good friend. Compared to all that, the $2,000 was a drop in a bucket.
I panicked when he dissapeared on me. I had no idea what was going on, and nobody I talked with did either. Several dealers called and e-mailed me, some very angry, thinking I was Chek-Mate (guess because of my web site). Lots of folks that had bows ordered through other dealers were calling and e-mailing me--some of these very angry also--asking me where there bows were.
I went from talking to Marc on a regular basis, sometimes an hour or two at a time, talking about everything but bows--our kids, hunting, fishing, the weather, birthdays, family matters...to being completely and totally blackballed by him, for no reason and with no warning or explanation. I went from being one of their top dealers--THE top dealer for a few years--to absolutely nothing.
As it is, I'm not bitter. Probably should be, and if it had been most anyone else, probably would be...but I'm not. I just got my feelings hurt, in a way only someone you really care about and trust could do. Like a best friend betraying you, and over what??? I have no idea.
Topic: Chekmate (Read 604 times)
