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copied and pasted because its on a members only forum, figured some of you might want to know:
Vendor: KWIKWIRE
Product: 14 circuit chassis wiring harness.
When I ordered this harness, the description from kwikwire stated that it came with detailed instructions. When I got it, all it had was instructions on how to wire it in to GM cars, no schematic, just a basic list of wires and what pins to hook them to on GM plugs. Obviously this is of little help to me, Wiring this into a modern EFI car is a bit different, and I need a schematic of the harness, not text.
However, at the back of the book, there is a nearly complete schematic of the harness, however, it's scaled down to the point where you can't read it. No big deal, I'll just call them. Here's where it starts getting interesting...
So the woman I speak to on the phone, tells me that they cannot release the schematic to anyone for copyright purposes. This blows my mind, because I just spent 300 dollars with them. Their "lawyers" were the ones who urged them to scale it down to the point where it was illegible, so no one could copy it.
I tell them that never in all my life as a mechanical engineer, have I ever purchased a product and not received a schematic. I was blown away. She was adamant that it was strictly for copyright purposes. They said they were very concerned about things getting sent to china and cloned.
At this point, I was annoyed, but having been in the situation, I understand that a small company has to do what it can.
Then it got really interesting...
She told me that the company does give out the schematic, but only if I pay 20 dollars.
This is what made me REALLY MAD.
So they've already got 300 of my dollars, and now they want to CHARGE me to give me the information I need to use it?
It's not about protecting themselves at all! If this was my MO, I could call up and ask for the schematic, having never bought a harness, pay 20 dollars and send it to china to get cloned. Yet here I am, having already spent 300 dollars with them, have an actual part IN HAND that I could send out to get cloned, and the have the audacity to ask me for 20 dollars (plus shipping) more for the rest of the instructions? They said that "it costs money to print, and we don't send anything electronically".
F THEM. I will never, ever buy something from them again, and I hope you don't either.
Vendor: KWIKWIRE
Product: 14 circuit chassis wiring harness.
When I ordered this harness, the description from kwikwire stated that it came with detailed instructions. When I got it, all it had was instructions on how to wire it in to GM cars, no schematic, just a basic list of wires and what pins to hook them to on GM plugs. Obviously this is of little help to me, Wiring this into a modern EFI car is a bit different, and I need a schematic of the harness, not text.
However, at the back of the book, there is a nearly complete schematic of the harness, however, it's scaled down to the point where you can't read it. No big deal, I'll just call them. Here's where it starts getting interesting...
So the woman I speak to on the phone, tells me that they cannot release the schematic to anyone for copyright purposes. This blows my mind, because I just spent 300 dollars with them. Their "lawyers" were the ones who urged them to scale it down to the point where it was illegible, so no one could copy it.
I tell them that never in all my life as a mechanical engineer, have I ever purchased a product and not received a schematic. I was blown away. She was adamant that it was strictly for copyright purposes. They said they were very concerned about things getting sent to china and cloned.
At this point, I was annoyed, but having been in the situation, I understand that a small company has to do what it can.
Then it got really interesting...
She told me that the company does give out the schematic, but only if I pay 20 dollars.
This is what made me REALLY MAD.
So they've already got 300 of my dollars, and now they want to CHARGE me to give me the information I need to use it?
It's not about protecting themselves at all! If this was my MO, I could call up and ask for the schematic, having never bought a harness, pay 20 dollars and send it to china to get cloned. Yet here I am, having already spent 300 dollars with them, have an actual part IN HAND that I could send out to get cloned, and the have the audacity to ask me for 20 dollars (plus shipping) more for the rest of the instructions? They said that "it costs money to print, and we don't send anything electronically".
F THEM. I will never, ever buy something from them again, and I hope you don't either.
