[Kevin H]

Originally Posted by Claude

The American attitude is lowest price, best product, best relationship with customer and give something away for free. The British attitude is highest price the market will bear, provided of course we are paying attention to price, eccentric product, relationship? what's that have to do with business?, and even if it was free to us, we'll charge you for it. Gradually this attitude is going away as GB plays in the global market and learns the new rules.

Claude, I think this is an over-generalisation (I'm sure there's a better word). One could very quickly find examples of both attitudes in the US and the UK. I can think of many big UK retailers who put Australian retailers to shame.

Next distinction has to do with size. ........... While it is easy to puff about how this is bad form or incompetence, in fact, it is a natural outcome of the structure of a small company.

No way. My experience suggests the opposite is true.

Bristol survives only because their price tag is not governed by competition, they have a niche.

That may have been true up to recent times, say in the 60's, 70's and 80's. To my mind Tony Crook was a great marketer. He managed to sell relatively simple cars with a cheap American power train, for huge amounts of money, and with very little in the way of chassis development between models. A key part of this strategy was tight control over information and price. Which is probably why all the Bristol dealers disappeared once Crook took full control of the company and information about the cars became increasingly scarce. Mythology filling the vacuum.

I suspect Bristol was in trouble by the time Toby Silverton came along and has survived the last decade only because they were bought by a billionaire.

It would be interesting to see their current annual P&L and balance sheet.

In the end, Eric is applying the wrong standard.

Can't agree with that one either, because of the image Bristol projects.

From the home page on their web site: "We crave instead integrity of purpose and an unmatched level of engineering perfection."

If the Eric had been told when he bought the gasket that it was not to original specification and needed to be modified before it was used on his engine, that would have been okay. Eric could then make an informed decision. But leaving the customer to find out by chance that the gasket isn't quite right is grossly irresponsible at best.

What I can't understand is why don't Bristol punch the missing hole in the gaskets before they sell them.

Like many others I am thankful that Bristol still support their older cars. And I'm not fazed by the prices they charge, because I know they have to make a profit and stocking parts for old cars on the off chance they will be needed is an expensive business. But the parts need to be right.

I too have been disappointed recently when buying spares from them. I needed some plastic inserts which go in the 411 S5 rear parcel shelf to protect the seat belts. I was thrilled to discover that they could supply them and at a price that didn't make my eyes water. Unfortunately I was disappointed when they arrived because they are nothing like the originals and frankly not fit for purpose.

The original ones were screwed in place, whereas the ones Bristol sent to me are designed to clip into place, except they don't because they are obviously not made for a parcel shelf with 10+ mm of padding. The only way to keep them in place would be to glue them to the parcel shelf covering (yuk). Furthermore, they don't cover the original screw holes! See pic attached.

Of course this gripe isn't in the same league as Eric's problems, but it is symptomatic of a company that doesn't really care anymore. They are clearly happy to sell spares which aren't really up to the job.

I didn't complain to Bristol. I will just move on and try to source some elsewhere. But just because I didn't complain doesn't mean it is right that they should keep selling this item.

They should just say, "sorry, that part is no longer available", because in truth, it isn't. Either supply correct parts or don't supply at all.

He (Eric) is targeting Bristol because they are still in business, and he throws their own aspirational words back at them when they fail to attain.

Eric appears to be targeting Bristol because he has spent a great deal of money with them and he feels they haven't lived up to their promise. Fair enough I say. If you say you crave "an unmatched level of engineering perfection" and do a crap job, expect to be called to account.

Eric, my advice to you is to sell up, move on, and select a marque that has no survivor.

My advice to Eric is to tell Bristol exactly what he wants from them to compensate for his wasted time, effort and expense. Reach a settlement and move on, not necessarily to another marque, but to a engineering workshop who are truly perfectionists. However, I suspect going on and on about it here isn't going to make Bristol more amenable to a settlement, Eric!