ansman racing to stop racing division

[mark christopher]

for some reason im unable to reply in the moved thread (could be jimmy trying to allow me to post news as im going to be a news hound for him)
could the relevent mod/admin contact me via pm please!!


any way
]
Mattst

sorry about job losses but news is news, i did not see you complaining when microtech and other shops shut!

its not gossip, i can post the official letter if you wish me two, as i would not report such a thing on "gossip" without the facts.

Wjames

it was to shops via a letter (which i have) but news hits the net somtimes sooner than the company can get it to all sources (but that makes oople one of the best places to get the latest news

Neil Skull

yup i have the official letter, yup my facts are correct, speaking the factual truth can get no one into trouble!

Mattst

are you claimin its all a rumour now?

[mark christopher]

right to prove its not gossip here is the letter from the MD of ansman

[gainsy]

Sad news indeed for all affected

[racingdwarf]

This is sad news, the club that I run has had a realy good run of new young drivers in the last 2 to 3 years, mainly do to the ansmann mad rat & monkey.

[mattst]

hi mark, i didn't say it was rumours, but crappy gossip which affects real people including myself as i work for ansmann racing so please by all means call me at the office to discuss your gossip or rumours.

to be honest what gives peeps to wite gossip on a subject they no nothing about.

I am for one this affects and i dont need crappy coments on here about my job and our position on the company.

[Dave Dodd]

It is terrible news for the racing division , do hope the personnel dont loose there jobs but get moved in to other divisions...
have not been in work today, so will no doubt see the letter in the flesh tomorrow..







but owners of ansmann products need not be worried as the team c parts do fit and will keep most of there cars moving.

[john333]

Anyone with an ansmann car need not worry at all, as stated above the team c parts will fit perfectly as they are from the same moulds, albeit I'm led to believe the team c parts are made of more durable material.

There is even a part number comparison list on the SMD thread here on oople

[wazee]

Is this Ansmann UK only or are we talking about the whole ansmann rc division worldwide?

[Skye]

Originally Posted by mattst

hi mark, i didn't say it was rumours, but crappy gossip which affects real people including myself as i work for ansmann racing so please by all means call me at the office to discuss your gossip or rumours.

to be honest what gives peeps to wite gossip on a subject they no nothing about.

I am for one this affects and i dont need crappy coments on here about my job and our position on the company.

I sympathise with you, and you have clearly had a bad day. But you are in no position to say who can or can't comment on it. When Comet went to the wall, people spoke about it, news reported it, its what happens. Just because in this instance it affects you, it doesn't change that fact. My company has just gone through a restructure and people lost their jobs. Local news reported it, people talked about it in real life and on social media. It's to be expected!

[Frecklychimp]

Originally Posted by mark christopher

right to prove its not gossip here is the letter from the MD of ansman

Mark, I feel this was very irresponsible of you to publish this letter on here to prove a banter point...

it was privately sent to you and other customers of the company (i.e model shops etc) and it's contents are none of our business as public end consumers.

It is none of our or oOple's business what Ansmann Racing decide to do as a company regards trading, just because we are hobby enthusiasts doesn't give us any rights to demand public statements or know the information in this letter... i would say a fair majority of us don't buy or use Ansmann products anyway.

in fact the letter points out that end consumers will still have spares and warranty support in the near future for current models so shouldn't effect anyone drastically enough to have to publically announce anything... unless you have Ansmann Racing's permission to do so?

So all this thread has done is cause gossip/rumour/upset which is not good really.... not really News that has helped anything or anyone!

You should be very careful when announcing anything to do with a companies trading business... causing anything to affect this in a negative way could end in expensive legal hassle for yourself and possibly against oOple too.

In Mark's defense he obviously didn't post this in any malicious way (probably just without sensible thought!) plus another member had already mentioned it on here today well before he did.

Matt, sorry to hear of possible employment issues and hope it works out in future for you... Durango UK are hiring if it helps

[AndyF]

As the owner of a madrat I'm pleased that the offical statement was made public. It clearly states Ansmann's position avoiding rumour and gossip. What can be wrong with that? I now know I don't have to worry about parts in the short term at least. Unless Ansmann sent that letter with some form of signed confedentiality contract, I don't see how making this public (Ansmann's letter read like a marketing letter anyway) harms Ansmann anymore than the news they are pulling out.

If you mean they will sell less of the remaining kits now because of the release of the letter, well keeping that secret to sell off the last remaining kits would be bad practice and I don't think they would be in to that.

If Ansmann didn't inform their staff before the model shops, then thats Ansmanns error of judgement and not anybody who shows a "non" secret message to an interested public.

[Timee80]

i dont see how Mark has done any wrong here. News is news. He hasnt come across to me as though he has said something with any intention to harm anyone.
How often do we read papers / watch tv news and actually here positive things?

[Frecklychimp]

Originally Posted by AndyF

As the owner of a madrat I'm pleased that the offical statement was made public. It clearly states Ansmann's position avoiding rumour and gossip. What can be wrong with that? I now know I don't have to worry about parts in the short term at least. Unless Ansmann sent that letter with some form of signed confedentiality contract, I don't see how making this public (Ansmann's letter read like a marketing letter anyway) harms Ansmann anymore than the news they are pulling out.

If you mean they will sell less of the remaining kits now because of the release of the letter, well keeping that secret to sell off the last remaining kits would be bad practice and I don't think they would be in to that.

If Ansmann didn't inform their staff before the model shops, then thats Ansmanns error of judgement and not anybody who shows a "non" secret message to an interested public.

The letter is not a press release or official statement for public issue,

It is from a company to it's customers (which are the model shops hence receiving letters) not end consumers

There is also info in that letter which concerns other company business not just toy cars market, info which probably wouldn't need to be seen by other customers of Ansmann (i,e not just racing side of company) or it's competitors.

Would you want other customers or even business suppliers knowing you are cutting 8% of your business? may raise a few concerns or lack of confidence... plus rumour

either way it is none of our business as end consumers what the company do, buying a product does not give you any right to have a lifetime of support from the supplier.

[AndyF]

I think you will find that I am a customer of Ansmann has I have purchased a product they produced though a third party dealer. I have a right to know if the company are doing something detrimental to my ownership. Turns out they aren't, and it was the letter that confirmed this.

I don't have a right to dictate to them how to run their business and I don't expect lifetime support. I do expect news regarding the availabilty of spares which will help form an opinion on if I buy a product in the same way I want to know if it has plastic dampers or metal ones etc etc.

Why do you think they sent those letters to the model shops? It wouldn't be so the shops could continue selling Ansmann products with a "knowing" look on their faces hording a little secret. Ansmann are hardly going to release a statement to the press, they must expect the model shops to pass this info on as the best mouth piece.

The letter was produced to provide evidence when its contents were questioned on this forum.

I don't think we will see eye to eye on this, which is fine. but keep in mind they sent that letter to model shops and chose to talk about their wider company. They did that without any evidence I have seen that it was a secret.

I don't know what car you race/own, but If the new Schumacher Tiger Cat SX12 came out two weeks ago and you were about to take the plunge to the tune of £500, all set for the 2013 season. You would want to know if Schumacher were winding rc side of the company up to concentrate on deck chairs. If only to buy their latest deck chair with a 12 position rake adjuster. Those electric bikes sound interesting, infact I will google them now.

[Frecklychimp]

I understand and agree with your concerns as an Ansmann owner...

but you have absolutely no rights i'm afraid, if a company decides to stop selling certain products then it's tough luck to those customers and nothing you say can change that... they've made a decision to pull out of that business and that is the end of it.

In this situation near identical products are available for a lot of the Ansmann range from Team C/Absima/SMD and it does state that Ansmann are continuing support and warranties so there is no need to worry.

I would say that Ansmann parts are going to be available for a long time anyway, i've been in distributor warehouses for the r/c trade and it's amazing how much stock is carried... let alone what is existing at Ansmann HQ... it means we just won't see any new products/cars in the future and current supply will run out.

There may be some real bargains available soon though on the upside!

It would be frustrating if options were not available... i've been in the position of owning a car a fair few years ago i couldn't race for a while because i needed parts and the company had folded and was between names... luckily they carried on trading again but there was a break in supply for a while.

My concern is the publishing of the letter on here... it could potentially cause legal trouble for the publisher and/or oOple and tbh was only put on here to prove a point about possible rumour... not worth it in my eyes.

[Si Coe]

Highly unlikely - you don't send out something like that and then expect it to remain a secret. The letter is a PR release, and nothing in there is strictly confidential. In fact, as its mailed out to dealers they don't even know who is going to be reading it! Anyone who's worked with press releases knows there is no such thing as a 'confidential' press release - leaks are inevitable. If you don't want to risk news getting out, you don't send a release at all.
Whether or not it was Mark's place to post it here not withstanding - the moment that release was sent it became public.


But on another note this isn't really a massive surprise is it? There have been signs this was on the cards for at least a year now - a race team built up that suddenly disappeared, Team C selling their own cars, various models being sold with massive discounts etc. Of course those really were just rumours........

[adey]

Awful news this. I just want to say that if anybody loses their job I wish them the best of luck finding alternative employment. Lets not forget that it's nearly Xmas, a time of year when money for alot of people is a real issue. Best of luck.

[Adam F]

This is an official statement from the manufacturer, I dont see how there could be any legal implications by publishing this on a forum?

It is a shame though, Ansmann must have put considerable time and resource into their products so it must have taken some seriously poor sales/projections to make them pull the plug...

[Howler]

As someone who works in a legal department... there are no legal issues around publishing any letter you receive unless it contains either PERSONAL information on individuals or you are prohibited in doing so by a non disclosure agreement, which could be part of a contract.

[Welshy40]

So does this mean the wheels that are made for the mad rat will still be available? I hope so as they are a quality product