| Mike..... I had quite a hard time reading that letter... and not because of its sizing problems~~ but....
are they insane????
Paragraph 1- you are NOT selling products over the internet.....
you are providing an order form for your members to use to order from the Authorized Distributor - - the members using that form are accessing the prescribed discounts / rebates as per the general agreement that ETS has with all it's distrib. avenues.~ or am I wrong?????
Paragraph 2- I do not have the agreement that TSS has that would document the claim by ETS that it is expressly prohibited from selling to Buyers Groups. It would seem that this is discrimination against small business owners. It is NOT as if they are dealing with 16000 WalMart stores.....
And the BigDog set up actually curtails diversion of product - - not exascerbate it!
The fact is..... ETS would look very bad to the Salon Population of 25,000 to pursue an attack on a group of small business owners that only want to provide their clients with this product - and are following all the prescribed rules for buying the product..... can the author of this letter really understand the premise of Big Dog and think that legal threats are appropriate?
Paragraph 3- This paragraph documents further discrimination against the group you represent..... obviously - the burden of responsibility is being placed on TSS for fulfilling the orders of the buyers group....... again - - I would really love to see the Binding Agreement that TSS has with ETS..... but as the website is only a meeting place and a form to place the order - - - and the distrubutor is still following all the rules of sale it would seem that you (if you chose to continue to even carry this ETS product) could (a) make the www.BigDog.com and all it's members a True Distributor - - - get the 1800 # and whatever other documentation you need..... Then ANY other DISTRIB or only TSS could use your group as SubDistrib or (b) do what you did and kick ETS and any connection with them to the curb. I will bet once the membership finds out about the bully tactics being used by this Goliath against a very scrawny David..... they will support your decision.
Paragraph 4- I agree that as a company, ETS has indeed been diligent fighting Diversion of their product.
However, it would seem only fair that they be able to prove that this Buys Group is buying the ETS product for anything OTHER THAN RESALE WITHIN THEIR OWN SALON ENVIRONMENTS.
www.Bigdog.com is not an internet retailer - - - - you are taking orders from salon owners and those orders are processed and filled by a valid distributor - - the orders are being sent to Salon Addresses and to Salons that the BigDog Buyers Group has taken the time to personally verify as a TRUE indoor tanning salon.
I have not seen if you have added the non-diversion agreement yet to your membership area - - - but if you have, it would do well in this threatened litigation.
What absolute seeds !!!!
and who is this Tracy Ring cc'd at the bottom???
Can anyone understand the implications of what is being done to salon owners large and small by this tail tucking of ETS???
ETS is siding with the demands of the Big Boys.... and sending the 1 fingered salute to salons......
Wow ~
|