RE: RCGF Engines
Steve,
Sometime back you mentioned that at one time I had rather irritated you with some comments. Although I do that with most everyone, I suspect it may have been about the time I decided that spending any more time with the RCGF product would have been an excersize in futility. Sorry if you were offended but based on the conversations I was having with the RCGF management, and their elusive responses, I just didn't feel all that secure in continuing with any support of the product line. I'm pleased to find that I made the right decision, but sorry that it had to be so. I really didn't anticipate that anything better would come out of the so called "B line" of engines. If they couldn't (or wouldn't) make it right the first time, and refused to make it right the second and third times after recieving volumes of info on how, why would anyone even think they would do it in any following product runs?
I feel for all the customers that you and Henry had with the RCGF line that are being denied local support by the factory. That's not right and only illustrates the contempt that RCGF has for their customer base. Hopefully Driesbabe is not having similar issues. Losing them as a supplier was probably the best action that could have happened, but dumping their ire on the backs of the engine owners is about as wrong as it gets. They well know that many that have warranty issues won't send the engines back to China for repairs, and of those that do many will not be provided warranty service because the manufacturer will deny the claim and insist on pre-payment of return postage costs. So the manufacturer wins all the way around; selling the engine, getting paid for all the postage and perhaps a handling fee, and not performing any legitimate warranty work.
RCGF has been a model of predictability. Surprising considering they consider themselves part of the "Middle Kingdom" and are superior to any other nationality. The up side to this is their transparency makes it easy to determine what everyone's next course of action needs to be. If the manufacturer fails to perform, don't buy the product. It's that simple. They reform or starve, which is also a method used in their homeland to force compliance with given principles. I can only hope that people looking for the cheapest gas engine they can find take a moment to first determine who is making it before they make a purchase. I strongly believe that RCGF will suddenly pop up with engines having a different naming convention, but will still be the same products as before.