HP Marketing...

[Scott Rosenberg]

my goodness, i certainly hope tom agrees to my plea to nix both this thread and the one about the focusing knob, as they have gone in directions I never, NEVER intended. for this, my large format friends, i am sorry.


He says he doesn't want to hurt HP yet if he didn't want to influence other people's thinking towards buying the products that HP Marketing imports into the USA why would he make a public stink about this...

ellis, not wanting to hurt a company and simply choosing not to support them are two VERY different things. i honestly don't see how you can take this thread as a desire to hurt HPM. if openly discussing a companies business practices can be construed as trying to hurt them, then maybe the company should reassess their policies.

look, i choose to purchase my power from green mountain energy because i like the fact that their power comes from less-polluting sources like wind, water, solar, biomass, geothermal, and natural gas. if i tell people this, am i trying to hurt the other power companies? how about if i tell people from where the other power companies get their power... does that mean i'm trying to hurt them? or am i simply being an advocate for green mountain? i am making the decision not to use products represented by HPM because i disagree with how they do business, and in saying so, am not trying to hurt one's business any more than when i said i buy my power from green mountain. i am choosing not to be an advocate for their wares. i am simply making others aware of my decision, just like when i told you that i use green mountain energy.

please read the original question here:
i don't want to start a huge flame-session here, i am simply looking for a complete list of brands represented by Bob and HP marketing.
i sincerely meant that and regret what this thread has grown into.

[Peter Galea]

Scott, if you really want a list of brands represented by HP Marketing click on: http://www.hpmarketingcorp.com.
Or, you could actually phone them at 1-800-735-4373, and they will pay for the call.

[Peter Galea]

I see now that Don posted the link in the second post. Sorry, I just couldn't understand why there were 40 other posts after the question was answered.

[tim atherton]

My, how disingenuous...

[Scott Rosenberg]

i surrender.

it seems that there are some among you that have decided i acted with malice, and for lack of comprehension or refusal to accept my explanation, are unwilling to change your opinions. believe what you will... i surrender.

what did Carlyle know anyway...

If a person speaks with genuine earnestness the thoughts, the emotion and the actual condition of their own heart, others will listen because we all are knit together by the tie of sympathy.

[Jim Rice]

Scott, please believe that I was not passing judgement on you. It's just that this is one of the most civil forums out here, and I tend to be faily zealous about defending that. Thankfully the moderaters agree, and a couple of my responses were in response to a contribution that was pulled, which renders them a little silly. Please accept my appologies if I have not been unclear about all of this.

[Jim Rice]

*if I have not been clear

[Melchi M. Michel]

Ellis,

I'm glad that Scott made this post. It is great information for potential buyers of the products represented by HP, regardless of whether or not you agree with their marketing practices. In making the decision to buy through a US or foreign retailer, for example, this piece of information might tip the scale toward purchasing domestically (assuming you have no problem with HP's business practices), in case any repairs should ever be necessary. Furthermore, this is not a question that would even have occurred to me to ask. As a result of this post, people who decide to buy (or not to buy) Linhof or Rodenstock products will at least know what to expect.

[Ellis Vener]

Scott,

I've been meaning to say this for a few days: you have a great website. Not just great images but it is also organized well and it is well designed to boot.

I don't think you acted with bad intent. It just seems there was a contradiction inherent in your stance -- and there are plenty of people on this and other LF oriented internet forums who are happy to cry "boycott HP Marketing!" at the slightest provocation. We never see any representative from other "big" LF companies like ILFORD, KODAK, SCHNEIDER, SINAR, NIKON, FUJINON, HORSEMAN or TOYO. occassionally Martin Voght from ARCA-SWISS will directly respond to a question about their gear, and occassionaly someone from POLAROID will answer questions -- but that is about it. Maybe the others think that if they did start to participate they'd get the same kind of shellacing y'all are all to happy to give Bob.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

I disagree Ellis, I dont understand why making a comment about HP Marketing and their bad policies represents an attack on Bob. I might be wrong but I dont think Bob is the owner of HPM. I suspect if he was, he would do things differently given his always generous spenditure of time in this forum answering questions.

As I said before, I think he got a bad wrap about the E bay/Heliopan thing, the guy is only doing his job. But part of his job is to also listen to customers and perhaps show these comments to his bosses. Shouldn't customer input have some value to them?

I dont know why we dont see any other reps on the forum, but I suspect it has nothing to do with fear of being shellacked, most likely they just dont have the time/money/resources or simply dont care. They know we are a captive audience. Lets also remember that Linhof does not have a rep here, it is the ditribuitor that participates. Lets not think of Bob and HPM as a single undivisible entity. Bob is a great resource to this forum and we are lucky that he is as knowledgeable about Linhof as the German guys, but HPM and their policies leave a lot to be desired from the non professional customer point of view.