[encantotom]

gurus,

i am not defending newell for charging handling fees. that said, they are a business and a high end business at that. they do what they think works best for their business model. some parts can only be had at newell. some parts are market price, some are higher. not a lot different than any place. once armed with all the facts, buying from them when you need to is what all of us have had to do at one time or another.

also, as gurus, we help each other find alternative and less expensive choices for parts that we need. not always, but often.

we also need to remember that newell still answers the phone and lets us talk directly to techs no matter the age of our coaches. for that we dont get a bill.

just like anything in our lives, we need to be intelligent consumers of parts for our rigs and where to buy them.

as our coaches get older (hard to believe my first newell was a 90 that is now 31 years old), the expectation that newell will have parts sitting around for them that we need is wishful thinking. they might have some, but they will not have all the parts we might need on their shelves for all of our coaches. so we have to be creative. and we are. and willingly share that amongst ourselves. and i know that newell appreciates that. i talk to karl and he has always been complimentary to our guru gang.

my two cents worth and i am stickin to it

tom