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RP is definitely a group IV.
That is true, but a few things make a difference.
If a salesman or rep doesn't know the answer, or can't share the information, they don't have to be rude or dishonest to a potential customer.
And, as we have seen with larger, marketing driven companies... all too often 'protected proprietary information' is used to hide deceptions and tricks that allow the companies to cheapen the product and increase profits, or hide problems with a product from a customer.
When I spent the time and money to travel to SEMA to find new products to add to my business... I didn't go there to give RP or any other vendor a hard time.
This is an industry show, and vendors are typically very pleasant and informative. And vendors and buyers are there to pursue new business.
Any major oil company no doubt has the ability to figure out exactly what a competitor's product contains, and can duplicate or better it, if desired.
If an oil company tells me more about their product, I'm not about to go into the oil refining or blending business. And Mobil or Shell aren't waiting on me to tell them RP's secrets.
But if companies want to make claims about being synthetic or having some important oil additive to a consumer...
-the consumer probably would like to know about the product's value. [ whether this 'synthetic' is a synthetic that can only be found in expensive products, or merely marketing hype and closer to an inexpensive oil] ,
- a consumer might like to learn if the miracle additive is safe and effective, or corrosive and potentially damaging and whether it could cause an EPA problem with disposal of waste oil tanks [like chlorinated products]
Not wanting to be cheated, is not the same as being smug.
If food companies weren't bound by law disclose ingredients, we'd all be eating 'mystery meat' or products that contained harmful products, or that merely claimed to be organic or all natural...etc.
Trans Fats , or hydrogenated oils, in foods are now a health and consumer issue. Would you want a company that made a food product to lie to you, or belittle you , or deceive you and hide behind 'protected proprietary information' when you atttempt to find out if the food contains trans fats?
Or, if a buyer was at a computer show, would a company be justified in being rude to a buyer if the buyer asked if the new laptops had lithium ion batteries that had solved the fire problem seen in certain Dell and other brand name notebooks? Or would that be protected proprietary information?
Bottom line, RP spent money to have a booth and staffed it with people who immediately drove me away as a customer....when I went there interested in trying the product.
K&N filters, on the other hand, had a booth and staff who addressed my concerns about internet discussions about there products.
K&N showed me real data, real tests, real warranty claims, real legal infomation and I left their booth with renewed confidence in K&N filters.
