I made a goofy t-shirt design that has one of my photos with a Volkswagen bug in it. I put it up for sale on Cafepress.
Well it turns out that this is not allowed. I got a friendly letter from Cafepress saying that Volkswagen’s lawyer, Gregory D. Phillips, from the law offices of Howard, Phillips & Andersen, informed them that my shirt was infringing on their intellectual property rights. Cafepress’s letter was quite nice though:
We realize that you are a dedicated fan and are expressing such through your art work, as only a true fan could. That being said, feel free to contact Volkswagen of America directly to voice your concerns about not being able to express you true love for the automobile. You are, after all, part of the fan base and, more importantly, part of the purchasing public and have assisted in creating greater sales of the automobiles, and have helped elevate the VW properties to their current cult status. Please find the contact information for Volkswagen of America and their representative below if you want to share your concerns.
Personally, I think it’s ridiculous. The Volkswagen was obstructing my photo of the pizza shop. If they don’t want their cars to be photographed, they should not sell them, or at least warn owners not to park them in front of anything that might need to be photographed.
Anyway, as I am currently uninterested misrepresenting myself as a “dedicated fan.” Nor do I want to contribute to the “current cult status” of such an unreliable brand of automobile (sorry Danie if you’re reading this). I will not attempt to sell this t-shirt anymore.
Shouldve been a red shirt. Wouldve been funny if the lawyer bought one before writing the request to stop having it produced =P
VWs unreliable? They’re no Hondas……but they certainly arent Peugeots, either. The notion of VWs being unreliable is completely new to me.
You should do some research, Diny! 😛
https://autos.msn.com/advice/CRArt.aspx?contentid=4023544 is not new news…
Well I did my research when I was buying a car…which i’m not now. Its just that VW isnt a brand that I associate with being unreliable like say……most Korean brands or some American ones and Mercedes. But even if those 3 cars (no Golf, Jetta, or the other models sold worldwide such as the Gol and Polo) made it to the bottom, its still not enough for me to label VW as an unreliable brand altogether.
That does come as a surprise, though not for the beetle. That car is built in Mexico, and just like the Focus, cars for North America built there arent keen on being reliable. Focus in Europe? Much better rep.
Here’s another important quality survey (J.D. Power IQS — probably the most influential study of quality in the industry):
https://edit.detnews.gannettonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060607/UPDATE/606070442
Volkswagen ranks 35th out of 37 brands in initial quality. Hyundai is #3. How do you feel about it now?
I feel no different, for THAT doesnt surprise me. I dont take that study in high regard. Not nearly as much as what actual owners have to say.
But if you take it in such high regard, how do YOU feel about the fact that 11 American brands beat Subaru, who was at a pathetic 28th place? Especially knowing how much you dont like American cars. I mean, you’ve had two subarus so far, yet their ranking there isnt so good. Done not much research? I bet you did, but there’s something else: FEEL. How does the car feel? Does it oversteer like a dog on ice or does it understeer like a train? Do you like being in it? Do you like the materials used in the trim and apholstery? How about efficiency? Is it safe? How many airbags does it have? How does it brake?
So You can have the most reliable car in the world but having it handle like a piece of crap and feel like it was made out of straw. But since the original point was VWs being unreliable, we’ll skip this last part since its irrelevant. But you tell me Kev, owner of not one but two subarus: Do they really belong in #28? I will always trust the thorough opinion of an owner far more than some dubious study for 90 days.
This is because reliability is just one of the many factors that we consider when buying a car. Hyundai can be as reliable as erosion, but that doesnt mean that we like all of the other factors, like interior quality,
Haha disregard that last paragraph. I started editing and writing the first paragraph and then I forgot about the last one, plus I couldnt see it because I didnt scroll down enough =P
I only ever buy VW’s. 😐 And they’ve never let me down…
Damn right you shouldn’t be allowed to sell VW t-shirt you big meanie! 😛
That letter is damn funny though. 😀 Fan base… 😛
And also, it’s evil to make us do maths in order to post here! 😮
diny, the study is based on owner opinion. i don’t have a problem with it. personally, I have found subarus to be fine, but by the standards of the JDP IQS i might have found some things about them that i would mark down as “flaws.” subarus have been known to have quirky design. i’ve accepted that the quality in a subaru goes into the engineering of the car, rather than the cosmetics, which is what american cars tend to focus on. that’s why the american cars scored so high on the JDS. subaru tends to use kind of cheap materials in their lower end cars (like my impreza). the legacy has much higher grade materials. the drivetrain, which is what is important to me, is solid.
the consumer reports expected reliability study is based on repair and recall data, which is hard to argue against. i think when you combine the two studies to see how VW stacks, up, it doesn’t jive with what your feeling about the car is.
marianne, i think that cars built for the european market are built to a higher standard, and definitely use higher grade fuel than we have here in north america. the volkswagens in england look different than the ones here, so i don’t know anything about them.
I agree with almost everything you said in this last post, except for one that I mightve misunderstood:
Are you saying that american cars scored high because they “look” better than other brands as opposed to have the same or better build quality? I find it hard to believe that they couldve scored that high and still break down with the reputation that American cars have in that regard. If that was the case, then the Range Rover shouldve been #1 because its known to have one of the best interiors of any vehicle (excluding top-class mercs and the like) but breaks down a lot (electical issues, if I remember).
I personally dont like American cars, but because of the interior and not because of how much they break down or how badly they’re engineered. That…and that they depreciate faster than a newspaper.
oh nooooes but the shirt looks so cool!
stupid lawyers
i’m saying that the JDP IQS is based on reports of flaws, both design and manufacturing, replorted by drivers. if the interior of an american car looks nice, and the the car is finished well when brand new, it will score well on the JDS test. that’s why i would always combine something like that with the expected reliability study. JDP doesn’t mean a lot on its own, but in combination with the expected reliability study, it adds a lot of information.
my opinion of american cars has changed a bit since looking at the data. american car companies are so huge that they have a really wide range of quality across the board. they’re struggling to pull up quality now because that’s what the market wants, and they’re succeeding in some areas.
things can change over time. volkswagen used to have a good reputation, as did all of the german cars. they’ve let the quality slip though, for various reasons. american and korean cars ruled the basement, and now they’re coming up.
i’m battling the marketing departments of these multi-billion dollar corporations, trying to get people to stop going by what they “feel” is the truth. the real truth is much more useful. 😛
i like cars.
mmm.
cars.
😛
Yeah I agree, your maths are evil, but I much prefer that over trying to read squiggly all caps, lower cases and numbers.
As for the topic at hand. VW can KMA! Stupidheads. It’s not like your gonna get rich offa one shirt. Greedy fucks.
should have been an Audi!!