Alan,
I think it is an awful experience, but you are a bit unfair in referring to it as a German company experience. I would say that it is a typical US support person experience and that is from my experiences. If it would have been a German, you would generally been met with a more serious discussion and without stupid side comments. I am not saying that it is typical for US either, but when it happens, this kind of arrogance is not the German way. You can find them "square headed" sometimes, but not like this. Hakan At 06:49 20/01/2004, you wrote: >I've been trying to get technical information on my injection pump for a >week now, and I'm finding nothing but frustration. I've talked to 2 >Bosch reps now, and they've got me so frustrated I could chew iron and >spit nails. > >First I talked to Jeff Wundel (sp?) at Robert Bosch Sales Corp. My >request for technical information about my injection pump was answered >by, basically, "Why would you want that?" and I got stonewalled, and >referred to my local Bosch distributor. My local Bosch distributor >isn't really interested in helping me, and they just tell me that the >manual for my IP is "out of print". > >Then I talked to Tom Livingston at US Bosch. He's supposed to be their >go-to guy for biodiesel questions. > >First he said he couldn't really help my because my IP was "built under >lisence." This is complete BS. My injection pump was built by Diesel >KIKI. Bosch owns Diesel KIKI, and has for about 40 years. If you want >to find Diesel KIKI on the web you look at <bosch.co.jp>. > >I talked to him a bit about SVO, and he let me know in no uncertain >terms that Bosch prohibits the use of SVO in their diesel injection >systems, and gave me the whole littany about how it's "bad for the >pumps, bad for the injectors, bad for the exhaust valves, bad for the >combustion chambers, and a just plane bad idea. Vegetable oil is really >not a good fuel for internal combustion engines." He told me about the >problems of growing things in vegetable oil fuel, and how "there are >some things in it you just can't filter out." > >As far as biodiesel goes, "Bosch recommends no more than a 20% blend of >biodiesel, even with Viton seals." > >We talked a bit about heating SVO to make it thin enough to function in >Bosch IP's and he said I could probably find information about it at >"enviro-crackpots.com". That p-d me off, but I was a good boy and held >my tongue. He'd never heard of Elsbett or Neoteric. He'd never heard >of the vegoil-diesel list, or, aparently the Biofuels list, or the >Infopop forum. I talked to him a little bit about the modifications >that Elsbett and Neoteric are doing to the injectors, and his response >was "Yeah, they're probably rebuilding them a lot." <grumble> He's >their go-to guy for biodiesel issues, and I'm educating him. > >Bosch's official line is "if you want to experiment with vegetable oil >go ahead, but you're on your own." > >The whole attitude I've gotten from Bosch reps is "we don't care, we >don't have to, we're _Bosch_!" I suppose you can get away with that >kind of attitude when you're the largest manufacturer of diesel >injection equipment on the planet. > >I suppose I should have expected it from a German company. It's endemic >in German business, so why should I expect Bosch to be any different. > >But that "enviro-crackpots.com" crack really pissed me off. It stuck in >my craw, and it's still there. > ><GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!> > >I'd like very much to find Robert Bosch and chew off a piece of his ear. > >I would carbon BoschUSA a copy of this letter, but for a contact they >have a web form, which kind of means they are professionally not >listening. I would also carbon this to Tom Livingston, but the email >address I have for him doesn't work. > >Here's a new concept for Bosch: How about instead of telling your >customers what they can't do you listen to your customers and help them >do what they need to do. Does that sound like a good idea? > >Oh, but then I forget, your customers aren't Alan Petrillo, or Morgan >Crawford, your customers are DiamlerChrysler, Volkswagen/Audi Group, >General Motors, Ford, and Cummins. Little guys like us are merely users >of your customers' products. > >I get the feeling that if I told Bosch "here's a million dollars, go >build me a fuel system to burn vegetable oil in a diesel engine" they'd >go spend the million dollars finding reasons it couldn't be done. > >MORONS! > ></rant> > > >AP Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://archive.nnytech.net/index.php?list=biofuel Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
