Re: Best place to buy parts for those of us who don't have a dealers license ?

[Frank Olson <Use_the_email_links@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Robert L Bass wrote:
>>A while back I had done a quote for home CCTV, quite extensive system. Gave
>>the guy my proposal and he calls back the next day and starts quoting prices
>>out of the ADI catalog, saying that he was not going to allow me to make
>>"that much money" on the system. He'd called ADI and told them he worked for
>>me and went by one of the branches and picked up a cat. with prices.
>>Needless to say I ripped that branch a new asshole...then I told the client
>>that if he thought it was so easy to install the equipment he could just do
>>it himself...which he did..or actually he tried. A couple of weeks later he
>>paid me HOURLY to redo everything he tried to do properly.
>
>
> That guy got what he deserved -- not for DIYing the job but for
> taking advantage of you and ADI.  In this case, one can
> understand ADI's error.  The guy smooth talked them.  At least
> they didn't offer to open account for him.

In most states (including yours), you're reqired to be *LICENSED* to
purchase product from ADI.  Since it's obvious you have an account
established with them, you must have "smooth talked" your way through as
well.


>
> Crash, I don't have anything against installers making a fair
> price for their work, their hardware and their knowledge.  Guys
> like you and I try to give people what they pay for.

Here you go comparing yourself to a professional installer once again.
You run an online parts counter.  I won't mention the fact that you're a
convicted felon and probably can't get a license in your jursidiction.


> But if you
> stop and look at it carefully, the ones doing most of the whining
> here about DIY are the unskilled "professionals" who cheat their
> clients, lie to make the sale, do slovenly work and (often) bend
> the client over a five-year contract that would do old Slew Foot
> proud.

OH???  Where has *anyone* here whined about DIY (except to say they've
had to clean up the mess afterwards)?  Where has anyone attacked a DIY?
  Give us an example where a professional has failed to answer a DIY's
question in this forum.

Have *you* ever lied to make a sale??  Your website is chalker-block
full of lies and misrepresentation.  I make this statement because what
you say about DSC on your website (where their products are extolled) is
completely different from what you say about them here.


> The true professionals don't give a rat's Olson about
> DIY.  They figure that DIY customers are not their market and
> concentrate on the 98% who are.

Now, you see...  I wouldn't have even bothered responding to you if you
hadn't dragged my name into this.  You just gotta get your little "dig"
in here and there...  What a schmuck (that's a Jewish term if you didn't
already know).


>
> It's the same for me.  I have no problem with most people hiring
> a pro to do an installation for them.  Heck, I occasionally refer
> customers to professional installers.  I've referred customers to
> Jim Rojas on occasion and he made good money doing the work.  I
> also used to refer people to Worthless until he started behaving
> like a fool in the newsgroup.

Heh...  I believe Bob Worthy mentioned that he'd received a call from
one of your "clients".  What's the matter??  Couldn't figure out a way
to install the system on your own (for free) "as a
friend/neighbour/uncle/cousin"??


>
> The point is there are distinct segments of the security
> marketplace.  Few, if any, companies are equipped to deal with
> all of them.  Bob Campbell is respected by every technician in
> this forum (well, except one moron from Brooklyn with a penchant
> for assaulting children with hammers).

And another moron in Sarasota with penchant for hurling children around
a stage...


> He tried servicing the
> DIY market and for various reasons it didn't work for him.

He didn't have your "flair" for the business.  Didn't like the fact that
he'd have to spend upwards of two to three hours on the phone coaching
the guy through an install.  Unlike you...  whose "technical support"
has been taken to new heights (doesn't *answer* the phone, email, fax,
etc...).  And speaking of technical support...  When someone does press
"2" on the phone options menu, who do they wind up talking to when
someone *is* there??

You *still* haven't changed the address on your multiple websites (even
though you moved weeks ago), *still* dont' have an 800 number (which you
once stated was an absolute necessity when you were deriding another
individual's efforts at starting an online business), and *still*
haven't been able to prove I've lied about anything.


> No
> problem.  I owned a small but modestly successful alarm company
> for ~24 years until I sold it.  At this stage of life I have zero
> interest in starting a new installation business.

And likley you couldn't, given the fact that your criminal record would
prohibit you from obtaining licensing in Florida.


So...  Let's have a little math fun while I'm "warmed up" on the subject
(I just happened to finish doing my tax return).  Robert "says" he's
been in the trade for 27 years (28 or 29 it doesn't matter) and that
he's specifically run a "modestly successful alarm company" for 24 years
where he's also inferred he was actively involved in installing, and
servicing alarm equipment (mostly Napco by his own admission).  Taken at
face value, that's pretty impressive, but let's remove some of the "pink
face makeup" Robert's so fond of (and keeps slathering on).

Robert incorporated a business in 1979 (at least this is what he's
stated frequently in this Newsgroup) in Hartford, CT.  I don't have any
record of that except from a Better Business Bureau Report which lists
the business start date as January 1, 1980.  OK...  So he's only "off"
by a year.  No "biggie".

This *is* interesting though...

His criminal record states that he was "on Parol" between 1979 and 1984
in *Polk County, Florida*.  Ermmm...  Last time I looked at a map of the
U.S., there's about seven States between FL and CT, but it's not beyond
the realm of possibility that he could have incorporated this business
in CT and acted as an "absentee President" (sort of like Bush).  It
doesn't explain how he got his installation experience *in CT* like he
says though (he could have rented the "Alarm Installation Made Easy"
series of videos at the local "Block Buster").  He's admitted to having
to obtain the CT "L-5" in 1989 when he was "nailed" by a license
inspector on an installation and has also admitted to getting his "L-6"
in 1984.

OK...  So let's say he's "off to CT" in 1984 (where his business has
been doing absolutely swimmingly in his absence and while he was
finishing up Parol in Florida).  1984 to 1993 is nine years.  Why do I
mention 1993?  Well, that's the other part of the "Bass Story" I've
managed to "dig up".  You see, he's involved in a couple of Florida real
estate transactions between 1993 and 1996.  That's "no biggie" either
except for the fact that the address he's provided as a residence at the
time of these transactions is in *OHIO* (Cuyuga County to be precise)
and the proof he gave the Notary Public was an *OHIO* Drivers License.
Let's see...  There's Ohio, and there's Connecticut...  Ummm...  two
States away.

He started his online store in 1996 and began posting in this Group from
a CT address around about the same time.  He moved to Florida in 1999.
The last time he was shown as having been registered as an "L-6" in CT
was 2000.

Let's "thin" (as Desi Arnaz would have said) this through:

1979 - 1984
On Parol in Polk County, Florida.

1980
N S Systems Inc registered in CT.  Robert's listed as "President" (at
the time of the BBB report).  The BBB opened its file on N S Systems in
1983.  The report I have is from a later date (February 25, 1999) since
it also makes a reference to not having received "no customer complaints
within the last three years".  I've talked to the BBB several times (not
about Robert) and they tell me that ownership/directorship and
incorporation date information on non-member companies isn't usually
confirmed unless there's a problem involving criminal fraud or theft.
George Bush or Errol Flynn could have been named as the President of
N.S. Systems and they wouldn't have even "blinked".

1984
Robert licensed (and living) in CT as an L-6.

1989
Robert runs afoul of a CT License Inspector and gets his L-5.

1993 - 1996
Robert's in *OHIO*.

1996
Robert opens bass-home.com (an online store selling security items and
tube tops) after returning to CT.

1999 - Present
Robert's living in Florida.  He currently runs *four* online stores all
selling security items (in an effort to "sneak" under the BBB's "radar").

Plotted out on a time line it would look like this ("CT" is Connecticut).


|Florida |            |     |     |
|On Parol|   CT       |Ohio | CT  |Florida ....
|________|____________|_____|_____|________....
79       84           93   96    99

What's all this mean??  Quite simple.  Robert has obviously
installed/serviced alarm equipment.  What's always been difficult for me
to swallow is that he'd been doing it for 20+ years (like he keeps
saying).  I've just provided verifiable proof that Robert could only
have been installing security equipment in CT between 1984 and 1993, and
possibly between 1996 and 1999 (unlikely since he was full time
operating his online business and posting in this and other Newsgroups
during the day).   That's twelve years max, not twenty, 27, 28, 33, or
what-ever his latest number is.  OK, OK...  So he actually had a valid
CT license until 2000, but I sincerely doubt he could have been
*installing and servicing* equipment *in CT* while he was living in
Florida.  He also could have applied to have his Parol served in CT, but
the funny thing is there's no mention of it on the record I've seen.
It's the New Year and I'm feeling generous, so let's give him the
benefit of the doubt and say he worked in CT between 1980 and 1993.
That's still five years short of the twenty he says he
installed/serviced alarms *in CT*.