Mr. Babineaux is correct: I dropped the ball on his order. He sent me an upset e-mail this past Sunday evening a little before 9pm, and while I obviously wasn't in the office, I was checking mail from home later that night and responded at 11:30. I acknowledged and apologised for my human error, and offered to send him the bulbs free of charge. No response, so I went ahead and shipped him the bulbs anyhow, free of charge. He'll have them in hand shortly, and I hope he uses them in good health. If he's so angry with me that he'd get greater satisfaction from driving over them just to hear the krunch, that's OK too.

Sven's Maintainer raises the issue of attitude. I will certainly not try to dispute that I am at times strident in my advice, but it's not because I'm full of myself. I'm certainly not the world's only source for good lighting equipment, and I don't pretend to be, though you'd usually be hard-pressed to find Marchal Ampliluxes and some of the other rare stuff I keep. Rallylights is an excellent vendor, and I count Dave & the boys over there among my friends, and there is a regular flow of products, advice, and assistance back and forth between us.

Thing is, there is a great deal of misinformation and disinformation aimed at buyers of automotive lighting equipment. Whether it's PIAA's "extra white" bulbs or Sylvania's, whether it's knockoff headlights with counterfeit safety approvals and low-quality relay harnesses from China, from India, or from Taiwan, whether it's claims that all name-brand headlamps of a given type, shape, and size perform about the same, whether it's bad advice to run the fog lamps with the high beams or bad advice to wire up an H4 system so the low and high beam filaments burn at the same time, whether it's "HID kits" or "LED bulbs" or improper aiming instructions, or unsound advice regarding regulations, or products that make your brake lights operate in an illegal manner...whether it's motivated by a desire to make $$$ or just offered out of innocent ignorance...there are a great many bad products and there is a great deal of bad advice out there. I _have_ to shout to be heard over the noise. I don't aim to get in a pissing contest with anyone over credentials, but I do have the education, knowledge, and experience to back up every assertion I make, no matter how stridently I might make it, no matter how counter it might run to popular wisdom or common advice.

There are many wrong ways to set up just about any aspect of a vehicle's lighting system. There are relatively few right ways. In between, there are a fair number of ways to do it that are OK but not as effective or cost-effective as the best practices. Whether or not there's food in my fridge doesn't depend on my making any particular sale, which affords me the luxury of prioritising first on rectitude and second on sales. I frequently send people elsewhere because someone else's product offerings can best meet their needs, and I frequently tell people to keep their wallets pocketed because what they have is better than what they could buy.

And yes, because I run a one-man show, sometimes I get behind in communication, and occasionally I overlook an order as happened in Mr. Babineaux' case. When that happens, I try my best to own up to it and make it right. But I am not perfect, and I gave up trying to be perfect when I turned 30.

Friendly greetings to all from Toronto, keep the greasy side down and the bright end forward,

-Stern