Name	Murray Watson
	Position	Branch Manager
	Company	Civic Wholesale
Sometimes businesses blame each other when things go wrong, and the customer can become the meat in the sandwich. Steve Sotham nominated Civic Wholesale's Auckland manager, Murray Watson, because Murray replaced a $1,000 boat starter motor without stopping to argue the toss with another company about who was ultimately responsible for the problem. Here's Steve's story: "As part of a purchase agreement to buy a launch the seller agreed to recondition the engine. But our engineer also recommended that we separately buy a new starter motor as the one fitted was old and would need to be replaced in the near future anyway. We agreed, and spent a $1000 having a new starter fitted to the reconditioned motor. After months of waiting we took delivery of new boat and took friends out on our first trip away. To our disappointment the brand new starter motor burnt out after only 3 hours! Over several weeks I tried unsuccessfully to get the engineer and the auto electrician who fitted the starter motor to accept responsibility for replacing it. They wouldn't accept responsibility. I then approached Civic Wholesale's Auckland manager, Murray Watson, whose firm supplied the starter motor. Murray immediately sent two Civic Wholesale representatives from Takapuna to Whangaparaoa to inspect the boat. They decided that responsibility for the fault was fairly shared equally between them (as supplier of the starter motor), the engineer involved, and the auto electrician who fitted it. However, in acknowledgement that the other two didn't intend to accept their share of the blame Murray Watson said Civic Wholesale would provide a starter motor at no cost. I feel that Murray and Civic Wholesale went far and beyond the call of duty as they could have simply turned around and told us that responsibility did not fully fall on their shoulders and was not therefore their problem. As a result of Murray's and Civic Wholesale's fantastic business ethics we were able to spend an enjoyable summer away on out new boat. Murray Watson and the staff at Civic Wholesale deserve recognition for the great help and service they supplied." Congratulations to Murray Watson: A worthy winner of an Awesome Service Award. Civic Wholesale 42 View Road Glenfield Auckland www.civicwholesale.co.nz