Well, here is that reply about which you were wondering. This is a copy of an email that we sent to a customer who contacted us directly about the post (we removed his email address for obvious privacy reasons).
> From:
customerservice@4frnt.com> To:
> Subject: Re: Contact Request
> Date: Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:54:52 -0600
>
> Dear Andy,
>
> Thanks for giving us your feedback on the Line Ski Boards Recall
> piece. We are sorry that you intepreted it as a 'low blow' and an
> attempt to devalue Line's brand. We do not beleive that it is
> either. The story is simply a satirical commenary on the ski
> industry's involvement with snow blades. The story does not comment
> on the quality of Line's skis but rather on its continued involvement
> with a product that all too often casts a shadow on the sport of
> skiing that many find embarrassing. The article was written with
> obvious sarcasm that is directed at two things: the effort that
> certain companies have and continue to put into this product and the
> way in which this product continues to be (incorrectly) identified as
> a form of freeskiing. We have tremendous respect for each of the
> companies that we mention: without Salomon, we might not have twin-
> tips today; K2 was the first American brand to see real success
> competing aganst the European-based companies and set the stage for
> brands such as 4FRNT, Armada and Line to emerge and Line was the first
> "independent" to challenge the big companies to concentrate on
> freeskiing. We are very good friends with the people who run each of
> these companies and this is the type of humor that goes back and forth
> between us all the time.. This article was humor - plain and simple -
> just like K2 puts out annually in Skeeze and the type of humor Jason
> Levinthal relied upon to establish his brand. We all need a good
> laugh every now and then and the best part of our sport is our ability
> to have fun. Having a laugh at someone's expense is not mutually
> exclusive with having respect for them. In this case we have both.
> We hope you do too.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Customer Service Dept
>
customerservice@4frnt.com> Chat with us online at:
http://messenger.providesupport.com/messenger/4frntskis.html>
And his response this morning....
Hi,
I appreciate your response and, being English (particularly Northern English) I am more than comfortable with having a laugh at somebodies expense, especially if it includes a 'ski-boarder'! It was the way that 'defective Line product' was so bold in the article that really stood out to me and made me react in the way I did. You guys have built up an awesome brand with great skis and a great personality and I was dis-appointed to see what I had interpretted as a 'low-blow' towards Line.
Anyway, thanks again for you reply, I'm still gagging to get my '09 MSP's the day they are released over here, and get them on one of our many 100metre long 10metre wide indoor slopes. Poor, I know, better than nothing. They'll be in the Alps come december.
Andy
When writing this piece, we didn't mean to take a shot at the quality of Line's product and, in retrospect, we see how that could easily be misinterpreted. So, we changed it to "defective "ski boards". We apologize to Jason and guys at Line for any misunderstanding as a result of that reference.
Having said that, we hope you can all sit back and re-read the piece in the spirit in which it was intended - humor - plain and simple.
As for a number of you who posted concerns about 4frnt, we welcome you to call us at 801-975-9500 or get on our live chat to resolve whatever issues concern you.
Best regards,
Joe Stumpf
