s6otty
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 06:46 AM | |
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Try a U2U to "Danny Keenan" on here. He works at MK and has always been keen to sort me out, I find it's always best to try to find
a single point of contact, and stick with it. (TBH I'm normally the one who fails to ring him back!) 
I also run my own business, it can be a juggling act!
Scott
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Hammy360
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 07:37 AM | |
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quote:
Originally posted by mistergrumpy
TBH sounds much the same as I had when I was telephoning them about my manifold and all the shows I've seen MK at they're always too busy
with themselves to talk
[Edited on 18/1/11 by mistergrumpy]
Yeah and I'll bet I get a quick response!
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Hammy360
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 07:42 AM | |
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quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
Well I have to say that as a small business owner myself, I find that 90% of the problems come from 10% of the customers - the problem with the 10% is
not that they have have problems any worse than the 90% - they just have unrealistic expectations and the customer isn't always right.
My business has won awards for good customer service but faced with a customer with as much patience as you seem to have, I would be very glad if you
went to one of my competitors.
I hope that what ever company you choose makes you happy 
Thats a bit unfair mate, I have been very patient and addressed the problems which still continue. I too run a business and my expectations are not
unrealistic. Sorry if you think I'm impatient but Im just worried about contact during my build
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FASTdan
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 08:03 AM | |
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quote:
Originally posted by Davg
If you decided on the MK in the first instance look at YOUR decisions based on that. Yep fully agree the could do better with customer contact
/service!
Ok then, as most are well aware they don't really do email as such.
They will answer the phone but YOU need to keep at em.
As you said they have given you a delivery date couple of weeks away and generally will meet that date.
I have had several kits from them and dates were met. It's with you to ensure you make sure that they have all the bits ready.
cheers D
I dont agree with that at all. WHY is it the customers responsibility to keep chasing??! And more so, why should he have to make sure they've
done their job right in getting the bits together by a deadline. Absolute nonsense......try that in any major industry (tell your customer its THEIR
responsibility to keep tabs on you doing YOUR job) and see how far you get.
NEW danST WEBSITE NOW LIVE! Bike carbs, throttle bodies and more......
http://www.danstengineering.co.uk/
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NOTE:This user is registered as a LocostBuilders trader and may offer commercial services to other users
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Hammy360
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 08:05 AM | |
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Thanks for your comments, case closed now as I have cancelled. Cheers lads
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mookaloid
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 05:37 PM | |
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quote:
Originally posted by Hammy360
quote:
Originally posted by mookaloid
Well I have to say that as a small business owner myself, I find that 90% of the problems come from 10% of the customers - the problem with the 10% is
not that they have have problems any worse than the 90% - they just have unrealistic expectations and the customer isn't always right.
My business has won awards for good customer service but faced with a customer with as much patience as you seem to have, I would be very glad if you
went to one of my competitors.
I hope that what ever company you choose makes you happy
Thats a bit unfair mate, I have been very patient and addressed the problems which still continue. I too run a business and my expectations are not
unrealistic. Sorry if you think I'm impatient but Im just worried about contact during my build
Well I was only going off you going from " if I have no response tomorrow will cancel my order " to " have just emld them to cancel
and get my deposit back " in the space of 36 minutes.
During that time nobody from MK had a chance to put anything right and I still think that MK would have delivered on time in the end.
The trouble is - and I don't think I would get any opposition from MK with this - they are fabricators and car builders and they really are not
trained sales people. Myself, I would rather deal with people who know what they are about and have a good product which I will be happy with than a
good sales person who over promises and disappoints when it comes to delivery.
As said above I hope you are happy with whoever you end up going with and that you enjoy your car.
Cheers
mark
"That thing you're thinking - it wont be that."
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danny keenan
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 07:36 PM | |
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just to deffend MK
we now very quick at getting our emails answered.
i no this because i do them my self!
we spoke to john at the autosports show and told him all his kit is in order,fibreglass is in stock and the chassis is ready to go to the powder
coaters.
we got an email from him on monday asking about his credit card payment which he was due to pay at the end of this week.
and which company we was going to use,as we are just getting our card machine up and running and we are using our friend's next door to our
factory.
we found the details late last night and was goind to email him this morning,to find out he has cancelled his order.so we tried
to call him several times today and left messages with his workers to give us a call.but we got nothing back from him.
well thats our side to the story.
cheers danny
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A1
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 07:50 PM | |
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they were slow on emails way back when i got my kit, but if you phone them youll get the communication you want.
theyre a good lot, theres no need to worry about your investment! just think, theyre spending time making your kit rather than sitting on their
computers...
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RK
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 08:01 PM | |
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If you two do get together, I would bet the farm (if I had one) that once the kit was delivered and the project started, all the worries would
disappear. It's the waiting that get people (sometimes called 'customers' or 'bread and butter' riled, me included.
On a side note: I've been waiting for 4 months to get some wiring done by somebody, and although he's communicative, I am going round the
bend with the wait. I have nothing to do!
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Hammy360
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 08:45 PM | |
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quote:
Originally posted by danny keenan
just to deffend MK
we now very quick at getting our emails answered.
i no this because i do them my self!
we spoke to john at the autosports show and told him all his kit is in order,fibreglass is in stock and the chassis is ready to go to the powder
coaters.
we got an email from him on monday asking about his credit card payment which he was due to pay at the end of this week.
and which company we was going to use,as we are just getting our card machine up and running and we are using our friend's next door to our
factory.
we found the details late last night and was goind to email him this morning,to find out he has cancelled his order.so we tried
to call him several times today and left messages with his workers to give us a call.but we got nothing back from him.
well thats our side to the story.
cheers danny
Danny, I'll u2u you now, this isnt a cat fight and I wouldnt want to upset you loyal customers on what by all accounts is a great car. My beef
has been about my experience, and to quote Baz 'we're not very good on email' the reason you havent got hold of me today is because
as per your reason is that I have been extremely busy on a project
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theduck
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| posted on 19/1/11 at 09:24 PM | |
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Have to say Danny has been very good at communicating with me by email when I was making my enquiries, but when I was at Autosport on the Friday there
was no one on the MK stand for most of the time I was there, and when there was people on the stand I was ignored when looking round the car.
I spent a lot of time looking at the various kits on show and have decided based on kit quality and the service I have received so far to go with
another manufacturer.
Just my experience.
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blockzzz
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| posted on 20/1/11 at 09:57 AM | |
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FastDan.
Your right in what your saying, but I think what Davg is saying is, use a bit of common sense. If you were to travel a long way, in a van you may have
hired for the day, to pick up a product from a company who have a bit of communication history, why would you not ring up just to be sure. In a
perfect world you wouldnt have to, but perfect is hard to live up to.
I owned an MK, and although the customer service wasnt perfect, the product was good and I certainly didnt have major issues. I live local which
obviously makes a difference, and popping in for advice/bits/to take photo's etc was never an issue. In fact as from a point of view of being
stuck for a part or just plain stuck, they were great.
You will obviously make your own decisions, but good luck with your build, whatever it is.
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lotusmadandy
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| posted on 20/1/11 at 11:06 AM | |
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Hammy,
You do of course have the right to spend your money where you like and if you
are unhappy then i dont blame you for doing so.
I have bought two indy kits from MK and while i didnt email,i always telephoned
I always got a fast response and was helped with anything i asked.
I found Baz/Danny a great help throughout my dealings with them.
just my two penarth worth,
Andy
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noc231073
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| posted on 20/1/11 at 02:17 PM | |
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Just my two cents worth....
MK customer service is appauling......
How they continue to do business in the current climate is beyond me...
I ordered my kit in september last now it was supposed to be a complete kit including engine....so in my opinion i should not have to purchase a
single thing to complete the car .....it all should be there ....well it should be as i was paying them 10,000... for it... guess again the kit was
delievered to Dublin by Baz himself..cheers at least ididnt have to travel to get it Great.. but then again if you are coming over to get 10,000 cash
its an easy journey........i am nearly finished the car and i have spent another £2000 getting bits that i was missing and considered sub standard to
fit to the car.....after two months of phone calls and lists being emailed of parts missing no sign of anything be shipped including my engine(that
was paid for another mistake by me) i now was starting to worry........again more emails of lists being sent to to make sure they know what was
missing.... i got serious pissed off ....so i rang and said i was coming over to pick my parts up my self....at a cost to me of £400.....and told them
to make sure they have everything ready...i also had a change of mind on thje wheels and asked if i could swap my brand new team dynamics 15"
wheels for 13" wheels the revolutions like on danny race car they said no problem but i would need bigger arches......i said ok i will swap them
when we got there....
Sent another email to make sure they had everything ...they said yes come on over...
when i got there some of the parts were there well at least the engine was.....
the rear arches were the wrong color...
the anti roll bars werent even finished....and when i tryed to fitted them they just didnt fit so i had to remake them myself...
they took my new wheels and pawned me off with a set of 13" wheel that had been already on danny race car and were all scored on the inside from
the brake caliper.....and the slick tyres that were on it were f**k as in no wear left in them at all....the list i gave them of switches for the car
they didnt read as the ones they gave were totally different...
and the big one.... i loaded the engine less the clocks i might add... into my jeep headed home and found out at home that the engine number on the
engine was removed....this was a close call....as if i was stopped by customs at holyhead port which happens 60% of the time customs would have asked
me were i got it and for a reciept ...which i didnt have and one look at the engine would tell you it was stolen...they would have seized it and i
would have lost 3500....
Two months have now passed since then and i just got my last important bits form mk
As i didnt even bother ringing about the other bits that i could source locally...stuff like silicon hosing ... relays... engine mounting bolts , sump
plug, bearings for the rear hubs that were knackered... when i got them.... braded brake line that were to short ...rose joints for the anti roll bars
....exhaust mounting brakets....alloy rails to finish the inside of the car...
the list goes on and on....theres just to much to post here
After all that ....i am nearly finished my car ...just to find out that i cannot use it for its intended purpose.....ie: race hillclimb and
sprint....as the so called race roll cage on the indy does not meet fia standards ....so when i produce it to a scutineer fo log booking ...if he is
doing his job properly it cant be logbooked....
HOW PISSED OFF AM I
At the moment i am that pissed of with the way MK treated me i feel like i have been ripped off .....i have to date built 6 cars for racing and road
...and have had one on the front page of a big UK magazine.... and love cars ....
and racing i spend most of my time in the garage....
but now after this mess i dont even feel like going out to finish the car... and once its finished i think i will put it up for sale...
For one reason and one reason only
is that if anything goes wrong with the car i know phoneing MK would be a waste of time.....
and if they treat there customers like this.... how do they treat the cars they are building...
I have ran my own business for 7 years and know if you dont look after your customers you wont have any...
and customer service ....is part and parcel of a suscessful Business ...
...
I was leaving this rant until i got all my important parts for MK as if i posted any of this before i would probabaly never see them !! even tough
they have they have been paid for
MY advise to anyone thinking of buying an MK is simple....DONT. get something else....
and i know from talking on here I am not the only one that have had these problems...
[Edited on 20/1/11 by noc231073]
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sonic
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| posted on 26/1/11 at 09:48 PM | |
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I tnink from experiance that MK are a bunch of guys with welders and a car originaly designed by Martin Keenan,not alot of inovation has come forward
in the last 8 years and they are really milking a car that Martin designed for all its worth.
However the MK Indy i would say is probably the second best 7 style car out there,the frustrating thing i found with MK is that they havnt reinvested
there money in area's to grow the business.
You can be the best welder / fabricator in the world but if you get a bad press and don't move forward with design and technology then your dead
in the water.
I have said it for years they need a front of house person,somebody who has a way with people and enthusiastic about the product.He/she can deal with
the customers by phone/email or in person and also man the stand at the exhibitions etc.
As previously said the right person would pay for themselves twice over and leave the fabricators to be fabricators.
I have been in sales for over 25 years and worked around mechanical/electrical engineers and one thing i have found is very few will make
sales/customer relations people.
In the current climate you don't want anybody with money in there pocket to spend upset with you,i bet there is a person local to MK who maybe
retired/out of work at present who would work on a good comission for new business on parts cars etc.think how much revenue they could generate if
they had a data based of all there customers who this person could ring and sell upgrades, retrofits even discount parts and service work,its a no
brainer really but i don't think the guy's at MK have had experiance of this type of thing and wouldnt know where to start.
The nearest they got to this was a guy called Charlie i think it was a few years back but i think they had a fall out.
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scootz
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| posted on 26/1/11 at 10:07 PM | |
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quote:
Originally posted by sonic
However the MK Indy i would say is probably the second best 7 style car out there...
Really!?
I would guess that either Caterham or Westfield is the best, so which of these two is MK better than!?
Anyway... I've owned one of their cars briefly and wasn't impressed.
It's Evolution Baby!
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sonic
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| posted on 26/1/11 at 10:14 PM | |
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If you can buy a Westy or a Caterinvan for MK money good on ya! maybe i should have put pound for pound if we are being picky.
For every person like your self who wasnt impressed there are a few hundred out there who are and have been over the years.
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procomp
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| posted on 27/1/11 at 11:22 AM | |
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Hi
MK second best.!!!! With no caster, camber control that goes positive in roll, chassis flex that defies belief, chassis jigging that is non existent
with non adjustable rear setup to dial out the chassis inaccuracies / thrust alignment.
And to top it off when you actually try to seek clarification to the claim of the rollcage being a full FIA compliant item you are threatened with
violence and physically pushed off their stand at the Auto sport show.
Question is why do they even bother.
Cheers Matt
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scootz
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| posted on 27/1/11 at 12:23 PM | |
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quote:
Originally posted by procomp
Chassis flex that defies belief...
That was my main gripe... it was like a wet lettuce leaf in comparison with other kits I've owned.
Just out of interest... what is Martin Keenan's background?
I'm not being cheeky - I'm just genuinely interested as I hear a lot about the man being a great fabricator, but never anything to explain
where he gets his chassis designing knowledge from.
It's Evolution Baby!
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AndyW
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| posted on 27/1/11 at 12:33 PM | |
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Blimey, people saying negative things about MK and the post has not been deleted. Now thats a surprise.
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blakep82
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| posted on 27/1/11 at 12:40 PM | |
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its weird, i've had no dealings with any kit manufacturer, well, 1, well known for service, but lets not go there but some people post
looking for something, and a whole load of posts say "contact Martin at MK, fantastic bloke, can fabricate anything, he'll do it for
you", "2nd" "third for MK" blah blah blah,
and then this?! its the first i've heard of any problems with MK, very surprised!
again, as i said, no dealings with them myself, just going by whats on here some weeks
________________________
IVA manual link http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1081997083
don't write OT on a new thread title, you're creating the topic, everything you write is very much ON topic!
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Alfa145
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| posted on 27/1/11 at 12:48 PM | |
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Martin at MK Engineering is different and seperate to MK SportsCars.
www.mkengineering.co.uk
He is a fantastic fabricator, I know from personal expierence and I don't think he has any or much input into the running of MK Sportscars
anymore apart from the obvious family ties. They are 2 seperate entities.
For the MK Story:
http://www.mkengineering.co.uk/storybehindmk.htm
[Edited on 27/1/11 by Alfa145]
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blakep82
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| posted on 27/1/11 at 12:51 PM | |
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ah, right. gets confusing doesn't? who runs mk cars then
________________________
IVA manual link http://www.businesslink.gov.uk/bdotg/action/detail?type=RESOURCES&itemId=1081997083
don't write OT on a new thread title, you're creating the topic, everything you write is very much ON topic!
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Irony
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| posted on 27/1/11 at 01:07 PM | |
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quote:
Originally posted by procomp
Hi
MK second best.!!!! With no caster, camber control that goes positive in roll, chassis flex that defies belief, chassis jigging that is non existent
with non adjustable rear setup to dial out the chassis inaccuracies / thrust alignment.
And to top it off when you actually try to seek clarification to the claim of the rollcage being a full FIA compliant item you are threatened with
violence and physically pushed off their stand at the Auto sport show.
Question is why do they even bother.
Cheers Matt
If buying a chassis then which would you buy if not being able to afford a westfield or Caterham?
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MikeFellows
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| posted on 27/1/11 at 01:49 PM | |
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This is my biggest hate about internet forums.
people are happy to give their views on any business but 99% of the time those views are bad.
so when you do a search what happens, the only thing that appears is negative views.
the initial post was a complaint about MK's customer service and replying to emails, if you were struggling to get in touch via email why
wouldnt you just pick up the phone?
Then when other people churp in with their comments you become more and more agitated with the situation and cancel. the phone call could have told
you that their ISP had cut them off, their local exchange was down or a family death (it is a family business after all). I'm not saying that
was the case but you didnt know and were happy to just post it on a forum and start having a go at them until you wound yourself up enough to cancel
after 34 mins (I didnt work this out, someone quoted earlier)
most of the time there are 2 sides to every story and sometimes people need to take a step back before posting any old poo on a forum because lets
be honest your whole mentality here has been "they haven't answered my emails, lets bleep them up on a public forum". its a sad
state of affairs in my opinion. you started a ball rolling and got caught up in it yourself.
with regards to the guy and his £10k order, again we dont know the ins and outs of what was agreed with MK. If you problems are that bad why have you
not taken legal action? this is a sure fire way of generally finding out who is wrong or right? did you get the full order in writing, I know I did
with my order.
I watched that Mary Porter thing with CSL sofas last night, they had an internet forum that was just a hate campaign against them, Mary porter got in
touch and only 1 person came forward to show they had a bad sofa? what happend to all the others this site which was buzzing with activity and
complaints but only 1 person would come on TV and complain. This to me shows people are happy to post any old poo on the internet because of their
anonymity. but when asked to explain themselves in person usually cant.
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