Golf car repair story

[Brewster]

I thought I would relay this story as it exemplifies the state of golf car repair here in the villages. Here is the story I got:
He told me he had a noise in his motor, and he called 5 golf cart repair shops, 4 of them stating that he needed a new motor for a cost of between 600 to 800 dollars, but one shop he called said it would be fixed at his house in 30 minutes for less than 100 dollars. He said he didn't know what to do. "Here was 4 shops all saying I needed a new motor and one saying I didn't." He wasnt sure if he should gamble and risk 100 dollars, or just go with one of the other shops.
Looking at the experience of the lesser cost shop he had him come out and do the repair. 30 minutes and less than 100 bucks later the cart was fixed. He has since told friends and neighbors. And who was this: "The one who cannot be named".

[chacam]

Anyone want to know who this guy is. PM me and I'll tell you who he is and how to contact him. He knows his stuff. He got the shaft from this forum.

[TOTV Team]

Anyone want to know who this guy is. PM me and I'll tell you who he is and how to contact him. He knows his stuff. He got the shaft from this forum.

Did you get both sides of the story? From this guy and the prior owners of the site?

You can tell him to contact me at talkofthevillages.com and we can set him up with advertising.

[mrfixit]

Did you get both sides of the story? From this guy and the prior owners of the site?

You can tell him to contact me at talkofthevillages.com and we can set him up with advertising.

I appreciate you open-minded thinking. Thank You.

[chacam]

I'd like to know why when I mention his business in a PM to another forum member it is blocked.

He has plenty of business from word of mouth and ads in the Daily sun. Why would he want to advertise with a forum that won't let his business be mentioned? Or his phone number as well?

Here's what I see when I post his business:
*********.com
352 *** 5411

[eweissenbach]

I'd like to know why when I mention his business in a PM to another forum member it is blocked.

He has plenty of business from word of mouth and ads in the Daily sun. Why would he want to advertise with a forum that won't let his business be mentioned? Or his phone number as well?

Here's what I see when I post his business:
*********.com
352 *** 5411

He seemed tremedously knowledgeable and helpful when he lived in Ca. and posted here. He developed a very large following of posters and it seems to me he would benefit from a small ad here - it would also allow him to post. I can see the admin's side, as the site cannot exist without advertisers.

[collie1228]

I found that particular poster to be highly knowledgeable and I thoroughly enjoyed reading his posts. But he was not "shafted" by the admins. I was unhappy when he was booted from TOTV, but when the admins explained that he was using TOTV to build his business, and when they asked him to advertise on TOTV he was not responsive. The admins did what any reasonable business would do, they booted him. TOTV is a business folks, and the admins have to run it like a business or it won't be here for everyone to enjoy.

[redwitch]

collie, I don't know the true story. Only the previous owners and the repair person do.

The repair person did do a post that I managed to see before it was removed. In it, he stated that when he had posted here he had no intention of moving to TV (not sure I quite buy that one, but whatever). However, when he did move here he placed an ad in the Sun. He was going to place an ad here as well but was banned before he could do so.

The previous owners did a post explaining he was banned much for the reasons you stated.

I don't know what the repair person's true intent was when he posted here or when he moved here. I am suspicious in that it never made sense to me that someone in California would have such an interest in TV and its golf carts unless they were planning to move here and start a business. The comments that there never was an intent to move here just didn't make sense. It never quite jibed to me. There is no question he is very knowledgeable, was extremely helpful when he did post here and does a great job repairing carts. However, I doubt I would ever use him for three reasons: 1) Not totally convinced he is as ethical as he claims; 2) From what I've heard, he is a bit more expensive than most other golf cart repair people in TV; 3) I have a great repair guy who I think walks on water.

[eweissenbach]

I don't know what the repair person's true intent was when he posted here or when he moved here. I am suspicious in that it never made sense to me that someone in California would have such an interest in TV and its golf carts unless they were planning to move here and start a business. The comments that there never was an intent to move here just didn't make sense. It never quite jibed to me. There is no question he is very knowledgeable, was extremely helpful when he did post here and does a great job repairing carts. However, I doubt I would ever use him for three reasons: 1) Not totally convinced he is as ethical as he claims; 2) From what I've heard, he is a bit more expensive than most other golf cart repair people in TV; 3) I have a great repair guy who I think walks on water.

Obviously, no one except the person in question can know for sure what his intent was. However, I do know that he posted a ton on another website that was for cart owners, and had nothing to do with the villages in particular, so apparently he simply has an acute interest in carts and cart repair. The only criticism I had of his posts was his tendency to be harshly critical of other cart repairmen, which I beleive, is never a good practice in any job/profession. If his intent all along was to move to TV, he did a good job of building a reputation prior to the move and I really can find no fault with that. Again, I agree he should advertise here and remove the veil of silence.

[Brewster]

He is very knowledgeable, I'd say one of the top in the country and we are fortunate to have him here local. He posts on just about every golf car forum you can find on the Internet, and I dont think there is any benefit for him to do it.

I'd you think you have a good golf car repair guy, give CF a try and I'm sure you'll see a difference. I have him on a list I call " fastest growing golf cart repair company".
I've only heard nothing but good things , I can't say that about any other company.

[chacam]

He is very knowledgeable, I'd say one of the top in the country and we are fortunate to have him here local. He posts on just about every golf car forum you can find on the Internet, and I dont think there is any benefit for him to do it.

I'd you think you have a good golf car repair guy, give CF a try and I'm sure you'll see a difference. I have him on a list I call " fastest growing golf cart repair company".
I've only heard nothing but good things , I can't say that about any other company.

There are forums here where one can recommend or complain about contractors and restaurants. Can't do this with ********.

[TOTV Team]

He is very knowledgeable, I'd say one of the top in the country and we are fortunate to have him here local. He posts on just about every golf car forum you can find on the Internet, and I dont think there is any benefit for him to do it.

I'd you think you have a good golf car repair guy, give CF a try and I'm sure you'll see a difference. I have him on a list I call " fastest growing golf cart repair company".
I've only heard nothing but good things , I can't say that about any other company.

It is a HUGE benefit for him to post on the internet. Every time his name is posted it gets indexed in the search engines. The bigger the site the more benefit.

[TOTV Team]

He seemed tremedously knowledgeable and helpful when he lived in Ca. and posted here. He developed a very large following of posters and it seems to me he would benefit from a small ad here - it would also allow him to post. I can see the admin's side, as the site cannot exist without advertisers.

He posted on this site and always told the prior owners they had NO intentions of building a golf cart business in The Villages. They just wanted to help the members here with their golf carts. Then they opened a location in The Villages and never offered to purchase advertising on top of the deception.

We recommend a local Golf Cart sales and service business owned by a local village resident with a great reputation for honesty and integrity. Sta Rite Golf Carts at 352-326-3100.

[chacam]

He posted on this site and always told the prior owners they had NO intentions of building a golf cart business in The Villages. They just wanted to help the members here with their golf carts. Then they opened a location in The Villages and never offered to purchase advertising on top of the deception.

We recommend a local Golf Cart sales and service business owned by a local village resident with a great reputation for honesty and integrity. Sta Rite Golf Carts at 352-326-3100.

This happened when he wsa still in California. He wasn't even here when he got booted! Why would anyone advertise a business that didn't exist at that time? He got the shaft!

But I guess the previous owner of the forum made the rules and it was his ball. Follow his rules or you can't play !

[TOTV Team]

He was banned when the former owners had knowledge that they in fact were going to open a location in The Villages and were not going to advertiser on this site.

Site owners welcome advertisers. They took them at their word that they had no intentions of opening a location in The Villages and even welcomed them to this site until this situation arose.

[EdV]

Here’s what I know.

First, the cart repair person’s name is Michael. I met him in February 2010 at a gathering at Panera Bread in SS arranged by Sean, the owner of a cart towing service in TV who was an advertiser on TOTV at that time. I learned from Sean that he had been pestering Michael to visit the area because he would be a great asset for TV. But Michael’s main reason for being in central Florida at that time was not to visit TV but to attend the Daytona 500 because he is an avid race car enthusiast. I know I asked Michael at that time if he was going to re-locate here from California but he said they were just looking at that time. Tony had already introduced Michael as a helpful member for cart issues on TOTV.

It wasn’t until the summer of 2010 that he and his wife decided to take the plunge and sell their business and the house and relocate the whole family here. When Tony learned of this he began pressing hard on Michael to start an ad campaign on TOTV. In the end, Michael told him that he had too much going on at once to make a commitment.

Tony said he felt betrayed when Michael took out a small ad in The Sun and not only banned Michael and his username, but deleted all threads that he had posted in, thereby removing helpful information that TOTV members could have benefited from. But according to Michael himself, he posted The Sun ad after Tony banned him, not before.

Now banning a member from further posts is one thing, but deleting past useful threads reminds me of book burning campaigns.

[TOTV Team]

All 3 of the prior owners seemed to have been in agreement on the situation and as a privately owned forum they have the right to proceed accordingly. It's too bad 'Michael' and the owners let it get to that place. Seems the prior owners really helped them on this site and it seems it could have been easily avoided.

The prior administrations policy will remain in effect until the situation changes. We have other quality repair facilities offering up their services such as Sta Rite Golf Carts for members of this site.

[buzzy]

Admin,

I can't find the ad for Sta Rite Golf Carts. Where should I be looking?

Do you have a recommendation for a towing service, too?

[Brewster]

You wont find the ad for sta rite and for towing you can try *******, ....OH thats right, they have the star treatment too, maybe they too were using the site to enhance their business.....they were advertising on this site and still got booted. Something is not right here.

[TOTV Team]

Buzzy - There is a special section where you can ask an expert a golf cart question and Frank of Sta Rite Golf Cart & Accessories volunteers his time to answer questions for free for members of TOTV.

Here is a quick link to that section:

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=230

Their information is as follows if you want to visit their location:

100 N. Dixie Ave.
Fruitland Park, FL 34731
352-326-3100

As far as a towing service I don't have one I can recommend but you might try American Golf Cart Association. I know they are recommended by AAA. Their website is: WWW.JOINAGA.US

[buzzy]

OK, I found the threads, and remembered when you introduced Frank. I also visited the AGA site. Thanks.

[ijusluvit]

This thread probably gives you indigestion. There is a fine line between allowing posters to recommend good service providers and folks using this site for free advertising.

But I think your adopted position is fair to all parties. You've drawn a line which does not prevent us from sharing valuable information about businesses and still protects advertisers investments.

I think you are doing your best to make fair judgements case by case, and I don't think anyone can expect more. Monitoring this situation carefully is the best you can do, short of depriving us of a lot of good information.

But speaking of monitoring, I'd like to see you go one step further with your advertisers. Encourage TOTV posters to give you private message feedback about those advertisers who offer expensive products and services. The "TOTV Best Businesses" stickers on their ad would be those doing large landscape projects, golf carts, and home construction, not ice cream and pizza. Warn businesses that they can lose their stickers and even have their ads pulled if there are complaints. If we knew that your advertisers were subject to "consumer reports" type scrutiny, we would have far more valuable information than we have now. And very reputable businesses would likely continue to advertise in order to stay in the elite company of those businesses which have a track record of customer praise. Posters cannot fake support for businesses. It's would easy to check. Just tell your advertisers they need a certain number of verified happy customers to get their sticker and remain virtually complaint-free to keep it.

Thanks for listening.

[TOTV Team]

Thanks for that suggestion, you might be on to something there.

[Jim 9922]

.
But speaking of monitoring, I'd like to see you go one step further with your advertisers. Encourage TOTV posters to give you private message feedback about those advertisers who offer expensive products and services. The "TOTV Best Businesses" stickers on their ad would be those doing large landscape projects, golf carts, and home construction, not ice cream and pizza. Warn businesses that they can lose their stickers and even have their ads pulled if there are complaints. If we knew that your advertisers were subject to "consumer reports" type scrutiny, we would have far more valuable information than we have now. And very reputable businesses would likely continue to advertise in order to stay in the elite company of those businesses which have a track record of customer praise. Posters cannot fake support for businesses. It's would easy to check. Just tell your advertisers they need a certain number of verified happy customers to get their sticker and remain virtually complaint-free to keep it.

Thanks for listening.

Just like "Angie's List". The service is already here and works fairly well. A similar one would be a great addition to TOV.