Free Jon B

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sun diego

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What is the problem? He served his time, one year. The VPA competes with him. The conflicts of interest appear to be part of Chrysler's concern. He is an original Viper club guy with lots of Hisstory and tips to share. What am I missing ? Disclaimer: When I first got a Viper 10 years ago, I ordered from him. It went so-so. I met him at a Viper Days-Narra event, and he was quite entertaining. That's my only history with him.
 
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sun diego

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Bruce, I'm not trying to stir it up for recreation. I want access again to Chrysler cool events. It seems like a quick, painless way to move forward. He was one of the founders of the club. The early Viper owners were as outrageous as the car and it's designers. We needn't try and sanitize that. If Bob Lutz joined here as an anonymous member, I fear he would get banned. My Viper is still my dream car.
 
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BlknBlu

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Oh i agree completely. will be intersting to see how the VCA staff reacts to this since it appears he has been let off the hook.

Bruce
 

redtanrt10

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Jon's been a great asset to viper owners for over 10 years, ton's of knowledge and always willing to help owners. He went out of bounds with the one customer and most of all of us have had business outbursts that we in hindsight regret. I can understand, but maybe not agree, with 1 year, now with this 2 1/2, 3 years or whatever, the suspension is very wrong. To folks that have been around the club as long time (I've been a member since '96) it's obvious that the VPA's fear of his competition is the driving force. Lot's of local chapters work with Jon as do many members, enough already, allow him back, he will be a great asset and resource to the may of new, used Viper owners. Mike
 

ROCKET62

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You surely must be one of Jon B's "henchman" :smirk:. At least that was what I was accused of by Chris M when I questioned some of the VCA policies long before Jon was even suspended. I also had a similar experience working with Jon - good but not great - kinda meh - and really resented the accusation by Chris. It was clear to me that there was a genuine dislike of Jon by Chris - so it is crazy to think that Chris or any of his henchman (Marv) could have been anywhere near objective in their decision to re-ban him again.

The real question behind the question is why the crickets in what is happening with the leadership. Has Lee stepped down? What is happening with the VPA? I do not see any way for Chris to stay in the position he is in, as in my eyes, he was deceitful in setting up the VPA, used the VCA and it's money, without any oversight or accountability. Has even one audit or financial statement of the VPA been presented to the members of the VCA (after all, I thought the VCA owned the VPA). Those that asked hard questions were banned, or threatened with a ban or suspension.

I do hope the VCA survives and comes out of this stronger - but the silence from the board is deafening.

You can brush me off and say - you're not even a member - but the leadership, the absolute and unchecked power of the board, the way decisions are made, the change change in the bylaws, led me to leave the VCA after being a member for 9 years. Look at how many "enthusiast's" are posting in all of these posts .... many were long time members with thousands of posts. The passion that we have for the Viper and what used to be our club is clearly evident.
 

plumcrazy

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he has been grumpy but he sure did give me some great advice in the past. he is a huge asset to viper owners and needs to be set free
 
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What is the problem? He served his time, one year. The VPA competes with him. The conflicts of interest appear to be part of Chrysler's concern. He is an original Viper club guy with lots of Hisstory and tips to share. What am I missing ? Disclaimer: When I first got a Viper 10 years ago, I ordered from him. It went so-so. I met him at a Viper Days-Narra event, and he was quite entertaining. That's my only history with him.

This is not a questions we can answer as that is a choice of the National Officers and ***, not us. But we will send them a nudge to this thread and maybe they can shed some light on the information we don't have.

Oh i agree completely. will be intersting to see how the VCA staff reacts to this since it appears he has been let off the hook.

Bruce

Oh i agree completely. will be intersting to see how the VCA staff reacts to this since it appears he has been let off the hook.

Bruce

Well, since you asked....

The VCA Forum Staff are fully on board with letting past issues be just that: past issues. We are moving forward with the intent of putting these forums back on track where they once were, even if it requires forgiving from your side and ours. :)
 

BlknBlu

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This is great news and nice to get a glimmer of clarification.

Thanks VCA Staff

Bruce
 

Cobraken

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Was there ever an explanation from the *** of their reasoning for the extention of Jon B's suspension? I hold the whole board accountable for what smacks of unfair competition.
 

eucharistos

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there is/will be issues if Jon is asked to sign a NDA (non-disclosure agreement), so i hope he is not even asked to. i think he will be a gentleman upon return and not spew venom unless pushed even more

so why not issue a humbly worded public offer to JonB to return, ummm like yesterday :dunno:

free JonB!!!
 

Richard Koch

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I joined VCA in 2007 after finally getting my Viper. I chose to boycott VCA this year because of events that finally reached a head at Charlotte. I have know Jon for 15 years and he was the one who kept my interest up in Vipers and encouraged membership in VCA which used to be a car club. I was not interested in a Car Business Club. This year I have continued to follow the events in the "free world" of other forums where they can speak the forbidden name of Jon B. I made the mistake of referencing his help in getting me the parts for my big brake kit and was told to never use his name again by the VCA Forum Nazis. I think that was the straw the broke the camel's back and I chose to forgo VCA membership till things get squared away. I would like to see VPA go away as I believe it is a root cause for many of these events. It is amazing that they got serious about banning Jon B after VPA started. No sense having all those competitors out there. Additionally, I didn't join the Washington region club because the application had an expanded " loyalty oath" which allowed the VCA to reach its disciplinary tendrils into region happenings. I actually was hoping that when the Washington members saw what is happening they would also take a walk from VCA and just have fun as an old fashioned car club like they surely want to do. A nice first step may be to reinstate Jon B, stop the Forum Nazis censorship and then wade into the directors and clean house. I would good old fashioned car people in charge who care more about the Viper, the people who own them, and less about money and their egos. I know that there a lot of people who could do a much better job.
 

Drew

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Jon B has been a major asset in helping me get the parts needed and fast. Even items that where half way around the world where in my hands in a couple weeks and he made every deadline promised he said was doable.
Knowing I had a budget, he even strongly suggested the VPA for a particular part because of price and availability and timeline. He has always answer phone calls and emails, even after hours and weekends.
I found Jon to be a little awkward to deal with at first, but once I figured out how to communicate with him, (relations are a two way street) I've have nothing but praise for his support and ability to get me what I need at a fair price. My experience with Jon has been within the last 40 days.
Thanks Jon
 

gtssnake

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Every time I have spoken with Jon he has been great and a huge help.
He is a big asset to the Viper world and always a nice guy when I spoke with him.

Let him back in.
Thx
 

AZTVR

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My take away on the JonB issue is that he would not refrain from complaining publicly about various things that he thought were wrong with how the club and VPA were being managed. He was very vocal on the 3rd tier forum, and it sounds like he also lobbied elsewhere. Basically he was complaining about the things that a lot of people that have posted recently appear to agree with him on. People in VCA leadership positions did not appreciate the continuing picking at the VCA VPA leadership. Therefore, he was "banned for life", essentially, like many other VCA members who would not shut up.
 

ACRucrazy

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I appreciate JonB's service. I have ordered twice from him now and will continue to do so :)
I do wish his knowledge was shared here on this forum, seems to have a lot of it.
 

Makara

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With the mess that the VCA is in at the moment, they need all the help they can get. Letting Jon B back is a start. Not letting him back will pretty much lose what little confidence anyone has in the VCA and their commitment to get back on track and do right in the future.
 

jerseydave

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I don't know what the problem was with Jon B and quite frankly could care less. The only thing I know is when I called him he was possibly one of the most helpful person in the Viper community regardless of if I purchased parts from him or not. THAT is the kind of person the club needs.
 

Red Snake

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I let my Venom membership lapse too because i didnt like the direction that things were going.

I have ordered from JonB on numerous occasions. I always got great service.

I agree with others here that the extended suspension of Jon smacks of unfair competition.
 

gb66gth

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Over the years, I've ordered many things from VPA and JonB. They each have their advantages and drawbacks.
JonB can , at times, make you feel like your bothering him but he defintley knows his stuff.
VPA has good prices, very good service, but can be hard to get ahold of sometimes.
I say, the more people serving the Viper community the better.
 

daytonprowler

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Some on the VCA Forum Staff brought this thread to my attention and asked me to chime in, so here it goes.....

Yes, we decided to let the forums "go" a little bit. I think people speaking their mind is great, we just don't want any personal attacks on anyone.

And as far as the JonB situation... most of you have probably seen some of my emails to the *** that were leaked and copied/pasted over on the Alley. I offered the "olive branch" to JonB on my own. I've spoken to JonB on the phone quite a number of times this year as well as through emails, and even invited him to some of our VCA Ohio Regional events. I just wanted to get things put back together with him and the club. And although I didn't quite agree with the way things were handled on the either the JonB or VCA sides, Ralph wanted things patched up, and that was OK with me. I also had talks with Tedd from Viper Garage on my own.

I asked the VCA Forums Staff to ease up on as some refer to as the "scortched earth policy" on JonB. I had talked to some of the moderators awhile back as they also wanted to ease up on this too, but this week we had the backing to do something about it.

As many people have found out, JonB and I are alot alike. JonB was hurt, and I get that. All of us have been hurt at sometime in our lives by people who we thought were our friends. As some of you have seen, especially on the forums, when I get pushed, I push back twice as hard. JonB is the same way and I understand that.

I have no problem with JonB coming back into the club, and he'll tell you that. I want our Viper family back together, all of us. But I can't do it alone. Everyone has to get on board. We have to say enough is enough and work to bring this club back.

Big changes are coming, and it is going to take all of us to put Humpty Dumpty back together again. There will be a few cracks or scars, but we have to fix our family the best we can and move forward.

Some of us are so passionate about this club/family because to a lot us it is the only family we have.

I think we'll have JonB, Tedd, and many of our VCA family back in this club sooner than you think.

Regards,

Randall


OOPS! I forgot.

FREE JONB, Tedd, and anyone else!
 

ROCKET62

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Let's not forget the fact that while Jon B may have been one of the lightening rods for the current happenings - the real change has to be with the leadership, direction, lack of transparency, lack of financial accountability, and lack of trust. We are going on over 2 weeks of this and we still not heard of any real change.

I realize that this may take some time - but the silence is deafening.

** Edit ** Randall - thank you for adding some color to the happenings.
 

BlknBlu

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can we get some of the questions answered on the Questions for the VCA thread. Great news to see some communication begin to roll out. We are all excited to see the club prosper again as long as proper steps are taken to ensure our prosperity.

Thanks for taking the time to respond Randall

Bruce
 

Bobpantax

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I am sure that JonB's privileges will be restored soon. No other course of conduct makes any sense. It is time to pull up the plastic on the ech a sketch and start anew. The Forums could benefit from Jon's wit which can be very entertaining.
 

99 R/T 10

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Well, since you asked....

The VCA Forum Staff are fully on board with letting past issues be just that: past issues. We are moving forward with the intent of putting these forums back on track where they once were, even if it requires forgiving from your side and ours. :)



Well since you chastised me and edited my post a couple of days ago because I mentioned JonB, I would like to see how this works out. Until then:

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:D
 
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