RE: [Leica] Lyin' needs retractin'

[Buzz Hausner <Buzz@marianmanor.org>]

I appreciate that Mr. Christianian employs a substantial staff and has many
happy customers.  Nonetheless, I am not convinced by his logic.  He could
have stated up front and in a nearly equal type-face that there were certain
items exempt from his sale, we are told he stashed that fact at the bottom.
Even Mr. Christianian admits that very few items, indeed, were so exempt.  I
buy my Leica equipment from a small dealer who is utterly and completely
honest with me 100% of the time.  These are the only type dealers who will
ever get my business, dealers who equivocate later on a misleading
advertisement will not.  Fortunately, I do not live in Colorado and I do
have a wide choice of Leica franchise dealers from which to choose, so it is
in the interest of all those dealers to be always straight up.

	Buzz Hausner
	Metropolitan Boston, Massachusetts


Mr. Lawson:

Please allow me to reply to your posting about Mike's Camera advertising
from someone that can actually do something about it.  My name is Vahe
Christianian, and I am one of the owners of Mike's Camera, responsible for
sales and marketing.  The ad that you are questioning was conceptually my
doing, as well as its final proofing and approval of it.  As a Colorado
family owned and operated business for the last 33 years, we have grown to
be the largest Leica dealer in the state not by misleading people, but by
offering genuine value in price, service, and selection.  As we sell over
200 different kinds of cameras in each of our stores, it would be very
difficult to list every single one on a 5 column by 14 inch ad.  I feel
excluding 5 camera models distinctly in the ad from our entire camera
inventory is one heck of a promotion.  Of course, it has always been, and
it will always be your prerogative to ever shop in our stores.  The people
that did so over the last weekend received great values: 10% lower than our
guaranteed lowest price in Colorado! However, It is not your right to use
libelous accusations at the expense of people that are genuinely attempting
to provide professional, competent, and valuable service and resources to
the community.
On Behalf of the over 130 people that work at Mike's Camera and provide
quality alternatives in imaging and photography, please accept our
sincerest
apologies for not meeting your standards in advertising.  As an "adman"
myself, I would challenge your advertising guidelines and morals with ours
any day.
Please feel free to call me personally at (303)443-1715 x112 to discuss
further, or simply e-mail me back at your convenience.
Sincerely,
Vahe Christianian
Vice President, Sales & Marketing