Since when is a spark plug part number intellectual property.

Sheesh.

The OP could have gotten the number by simply posting the question here also.

 

LOL! I was thinking the EXACT same thing.

Intellectual property (IP) are legal property rights over creations of the mind, both artistic and commercial, and the corresponding fields of law.[1] Under intellectual property law, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works; ideas, discoveries and inventions; and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets.

 

All your Intellectual Property belongs to China!!!

 

mdbsat,
I was thinking along the lines of the last two words of that Wikipedia entry: trade secrets. Granted the spark plug numbers aren't a major secret in this community, but MM has every right not to tell others that information or any other part of how they build/resale their products.

I guess it boils down to which one of these we consider more important:
The customer should always get what they want as a matter of good customer service.
The customer should not expect to get service when it might have a negative impact on the company's profit margin.

Yes, this is silly that we are arguing over a set of spark plugs. But the OP did decide to label the vendor's service as "the worse ive ever had" which is also pretty silly considering it was just a set of spark plugs that he chose not to buy.

 

I agree with you to an extent. As far as the service i've had with other aftermarket vendors MM has been the worse of my experiences. I guess my thought is that in the economic climate that we are in right now, business owners i would think would want to make every sale possible. even if it means sacrificing a $60.00 now for a $2000.00 sale later.

 

Tommy, what plugs were you looking for ?

The NGK Irids ?

 

They certainly have that right but it is generally considered bad for business to be less than helpful if not downright rude.

I agree with both your points. Unfortunately, the attitude and answer by the MM employee had more of a negative impact than if he had given out the answer freely. For me the most important part of the original post was that the MM employee assumed what the caller was going to do. All that did was to make sure the caller would not do business with MM. There was a chance the search for the spark plug number could have turned into a sale if he had been courteous and given out the part number but no chance once he made the comment he did.

I like to call it an exchange of ideas rather than an argument. I dont see it so much as a discussion over spark plugs but more over customer service, or lack there of. And again, I dont want to put words in the OP mouth so I will state that it seems to me that the comment was addressing the employee's behavior, rather than the specific part the question was about. Would it seem more valid of a title if the OP had asked information about a part that costs $5000 if the answer from MM was the same as the one given for the spark plugs?

 

I've been on the phone hundreds of hours selling high-end guitars and amps during my years doing sales. If this MINI Madness guy was my employee, we'd be out back having a talk right now.

I totally get why the OP is sore about that. I would be too. Part numbers are part numbers, it's not like he was calling the Colonel and asking for the Secret Recipe. I would have a hard time trusting someone (especially over the phone) who just made it clear that they could give a ***** about being helpful unless there was money on the table, right this minute.

This is definitely a bad customer service issue, part numbers are not intellectual property (give me a break), and this is coming from someone who has felt like ripping the phone out of the wall before because people were just "wasting my time" without buying anything. Some of those "tire kickers" become big-dollar repeat customers. Who send Christmas cards. A real professional is helpful no matter what.

 

Well said, unless you need some chicken.

 

Oh, you can get the chicken..............just no goodies with it.

 

Yes sir, that or the brisk plugs some people have called the "4 prong" or "Lambo Plugs". i dont know much about the brisk plugs, but if any one can give me the part number so i can do some research, and so i dont get my head bit off by another vendor that would be awesome!

still not sure what to go with. do you have any experiences with either?

 

Contact Jan at Revolution Mini Works on the Brisk Plugs. He is a vendor here.

jan@revolutionmini.com


Jim

 

You can grab the brisk plugs off alta's site..

Click Here

 

That link is for the Brisk Silver plugs, not the "4 Prong".

Jim

 

I just got my plugs (OEM recommended NGK platinum) at the Shuck's auto parts in town. They had them in stock for $7.99 a pop.

It cracks me up that MM sells them for 60 bucks a set. Wowza. I feel bad for anyone who falls for that.

 

Maybe... just maybe that's why it's called "Mini-Madness".

BTW, fancy Iridium and Platinum plated spark plugs help lengthen service life of the plugs but do NOTHING in terms of performance. Copper remains the best conductor of electricity; you just have to replace them more often... like 50k.

 

The NGK's sold by MM are the Iridium plugs, not the Platinums. How much for the Iridiums at Schucks?

Jim

 

Oh yes, I see that. My mistake. I am not sure about the iridiums, but why run those when the manual specs the platinums? I can understand going a heat range lower if you are running more boost, but that can be done with the platinums too.

I'm not sure what the cost is on the Iridiums at Shucks but I will try to find out.

 

I think these are the ones you need for Iridium:

http://www.amazon.com/NGK-ZFR6FIX11-...tive&carId=001

So, still cheaper than MM.

 

Iridiums are actually failing quite fast in our cars. I have found that the Brisk 4 progers or the OEM JCW plugs offer the best life and consistency.

 

Damn ! ! Ladies unknot your panties 2 much bickering go take a drive or something WOW too much said on a set of PLUGS

 

......and it was dead till you managed to re-animate it.

 

Besides, it was never about the product, big or small, inexpensive or expensive, it was about the service, or lack thereof.

 

Nice punctuation.

 

So, why didn't you call your local parts store in the first place?