Asheville Citizen-Times from Asheville, North Carolina • Page 44

ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES CLASSIFIED AD! Page E6 MarketWrapUp Results at Thursday's close: Dow Jones Industrials High: 11,204.21 11,054.97 Close: 11,134.79 Change: 66.67 15 Friday Dec. 10, 1999 Other market closings are listed at page bottom. BUSINESSOnline For a complete roundup of today's business news from-next door and around the world, check out these and other stories at the Citizen-Times' online business journal at www.CITIZEN-TIMES.com: Fem-pfocm i trial no Executive business editor: C.J. Autry, 232-5957 or jL si.n ess MWWIMII.IJIWIIIII,1WIIPIWIIII1UIIIIIII.IIII si 5.v. BUSINESSDigest seraeeisoiit Unsettling feeling Here is a look at the daily closing stock jd, price of American r( 7 DEBBIE CHASE-JENNINGSCITIZEN-TIMES Mark Csordos, president of Customer Service Training Essentials in Arden, enjoys lunch at a local restaurant during a mock "shopping trip" to evaluate its customer service.

Keep the customer satisfied Arden firm provides businesses evaluations on service THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FAYETTE, Miss. A trial now going on in this small southern town could cause big problems for a proposed settlement of thousands of lawsuits over fen-phen, the once-popular diet drug combination alleged to cause heart and lung damage. Five fen-phen users who declined to participate in the settlement are instead suing American Home Products, which made half the combination, for $2 billion. If they succeed, others like them may follow, jeopardizing the carefully crafted plans of plaintiffs' lawyers and the company to put health claims over the drugs to rest. "Most of the parties want the thing to be over, but there is a sense of 'Wait a minute.

I'm settling for this and someone in Mississippi is getting said Walter Olson, a writer with the Manhattan Institute, a conservative research group in New York. Olson believes the suit was filed in Mississippi because the state has gained the reputation for being generous to plaintiffs. He points to a landmark 1997 case in which Mississippi won $4 billion from the tobacco industry. "It's one of those states -41 Customer Service Training Essentials is located in Arden. To hire the company to "shop" your business, speak to your employees about custorher service, or if you are interested in being a mystery shopper, call Mark Csordos at (828) 654-0826.

Csordos can be reached by e-mail at Csordos aol.com inspired Csordos to offer businesses an objective way to evaluate themselves. In 1995 at age 24, Csordos walked away from his job as MiMflma (. By Luann Laubscher STAFF WRITER ARDEN When most people receive poor customer service they usually nothing, according to Mark Csordos, president of Customer Service Training Essentials in Arden. "They probably will not go back to the business," Csordos said. "Most people are not going to take the time to find out who owns the business so they can complain, to them." A small article on mystery shopping, and the realization that there's a lot of bad customer service out there, WLOS plans move to Biltmore Park MANUFACTURING Workers honored ASHEVILLE The Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce congratulated employees of Karpen Steel Co.

for winning its Small Manufacturer of the Year Award during an in-plant celebration Thursday. Chamber president Dar-ryl Hart and Buncombe County Commission Chairman Tom Sobol spoke, and Ray Burrows of the N.C. Department of Commerce presented a pewter plate. Mary Joan Ferrell of A-B presented a scholarship to be given to a Karpen employee. Rachel Smith accepted the chamber award on behalf of the company and commended the effort of workers that resulted in Karpen being honored.

BUSINESS GROUPS Christmas banquet ASHEVILLE The West Asheville Business Association will hold its annual Christmas banquet at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Ramada Plaza Hotel West, 435 Smoky Park Highway. The Calvary Baptist Church Adult Choir will provide entertainment. For information, call Vickie Gaddy at 255-0882. Tickets cost $15 per person, and prepaid reservations are available through Dale Groce at 252-3535.

Group alters name ASHEVILLE Members of the National Association of Life Underwriters recently voted to change the organization's name to the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors. Its purpose is to improve the business environment, enhance the professional skills and promote the ethical conduct of agents and others engaged in insurance and related financial services. For information on membership or meetings of the local chapter, call Tom Ashby at 888-550-8002, Ext. 251. LOCAL TOBACCO BURLEY TOBACCO SALES AT A GLANCE Burley tobacco prices were -down slightly Thursday from the previous day's closina price on the Asheville Tobacco Market.

vl 479,943 poundsg $926,420.45 hundredweight SOURCE:" Asheville Tobacco Boards ,4 i. LEWISU 1 1ZEN-T1MES We want your business news. Please send announcements to Business Editor Tim Reid at P.O. Box 2090, Asheville, NC 28802 or fax them to him at (828) 251-0585. To make story suggestion or comments, call Reid at or e-mail at TRe id (ri CI TI ZEN-TIM ES.com Biltmore Park is a master-planned community being developed by Biltmore Farms Inc.

in south Asheville in the vicinity of Long Shoals Road and Interstate 26 (Exit 6). Plans call for more than 2,000 single- and multi-family homes, a Town Square shopping village with restaurants, hotels, theaters and a healthfitness complex. The Corporate Technology Center is an business park with fiber-optic video, voice and data transmission capabilities. Volvo Construction Equipment Co. was the center's first occupant.

WLOS-TV will occupy half of "spec" building. Home Products the day before the multibillion-dollar settlement of health claims involving the diet drug fen-phen was announced. $60 Oct a Trading days Source. Microsoft Money Central; CSI Inc. AP where anything can happen to an out-ofstate defendant," said Olson, author of the book "The Litigation Explosion." Fayette is a town of 2,000 where a solemn statue in the town square honors Confederate war dead.

Its Main Street is now jammed with luxury sedans bearing out-of-state license plates as lawyers who represent other fen-phen users around the country fill See Trial on page E5 ing the remaining half of the building not occupied by WLOS. "We are trying to be a discerning developer. We are looking for particular type tenant," Cecil said. "We have had other opportunities. We could have done deals earlier, but they didn't fit mission for the Corporate Technology Park." Call Business Editor Tim Reid at 232-5856 or e-mail at customers, but he contended the period in question covered January through August of 1995.

Prior to June of 1995, it was unclear under the law how and whether to combine the income of unmarried co-buyers, said Walter Jennings. The company "regrets any inconvenience cny customers have experienced," Jennings said. Ford Credit is based in Dearborn, Mich. Under the terms of the agreement, Ford Credit will pay $650,000 to compensate those credit appl' ants who were adversely aborted during the time In question and who return an eligibility claim form, ie FTC said. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS COURTESY BILTMORE PARK WLOS-TV Channel 13 and WFBC-TV Channel 40 will occupy half of this "spec" building in the Corporate Technology Center at Biltmore Park in south Asheville.

business, you've got millions invested," Csordos said. "You want to know what the management of the business is doing. The reports we fill out when we 'shop' a business help managers and owners evaluate how the employees are doing." Al Earwood, manager of Dillard's at Asheville Mall, said many stores do evaluate customer service, including Dillard's. He said Dillard's does not hire anyone from the outside to be mystery shoppers. "We do the evaluation in- See Service on page E5 every criterion we established." WLOS' building will be tied in to the fiber optic hub at Biltmore Park, which is connected to Bell South's Arden office, Cecil said.

"They can basically get any sort of broadband width that they require through the fiber optic line provided by Bell South," he said. "Another important factor was that they have direct line of sight with their tower at Mount Pisgah." The station's engineers are looking forward to the tech: nological capabilities at Biltmore Park, Davis said. "The rest of us anticipate using the greenway trails and Olmstead Park and having residences within walking distance of our facilities," he said. Having a local company relocate to a "spec" building does not create new jobs like a new company moving into the community, but it does help the local economy, said operating system, was priced at 30 per share and soared to 250 in its initial public offering of stock. Sellers of Linux-based products are expected to benefit from the ongoing antitrust efforts against Microsoft, which could find the dominance of its Windows operating systems challenged.

Discrimination lawsuit settled WASHINGTON Ford Motor Credit Co. has agreed to pay $650,000 to consumers to settle charges that it discriminated against applicants who were unmarried but buying a car together, federal regulators said Thursday. The Federal trade Com night manager of an grocery store in East Brunswick, N.J., and opened Mystery Shoppers. Earlier this year, Csordos and his wife, Denise, sold the business in New Jersey and moved to Arden to start a new company called Customer Service Training Essentials. Csordos wants the new business to be more about public speaking.

"I want to get more into speaking to groups and edu-; eating workers, students and business owners about customer service," he said. "If you are the owner of a iMHa existing building over designing and building a new one, he said. The move represents an expansion for WLOS, which is moving from about 15,000 square feet at its current location to 25,000 at the technology center, Cecil said. "Our board decided six months ago that it was time to search for a location that would provide us with both state-of-the-art communications technology and excellent long-term quality of life for our employees," Davis said. "Biltmore Park's Corporate Technology Center met BUSINESSWatch rose 4.23 to 1,408.11.

Analysts said, investors appeared torn between extending the modest profit-taking bout that began this week and leaping back into a market that has richly rewarded investors this year. "There are some concerns that the market has come too far, too fast," said Hugh Johnson, chief investment officer at First Albany Corp. "It's hard to get portfolio managers to commit m6ney at this level." But a handful of technology stocks proved highly alluring today. VA Linux, which sells computer products and services based on the Linux By Tim Reid BUSINESS EDITOR ASHEVILLE WLOS-TV's recent decision to move to Biltmore Park's Corporate Technology Park in south Asheville will reinforce its image as a place for high-tech companies, says developer Jack Cecil. Having Volvo Construction Equipment Co.

with its worldwide communications needs and WLOS with its microwave transmission capabilities on the same campus will hopefully encourage other technology-focused companies to locate there, he said. "We are striving to make this the corporate technology center of Asheville and Western North Carolina," Cecil said. Will Davis, vice president and general manager of Carolina Television, which sells and programs WLOS-TV Channel 13 and WFBC-TV Channel 40, said the stations will move there by December On Wall Street: Mixed results NEW YORK Stocks closed mostly higher Thursday following a fitful session. Blue-chips and a smattering of technology stocks led the advance at the expense of some of the high-tech leaders that have powered the market this year. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 66.67 to 11,134.79.

The Dow had risen as much as 136 points in morning trading, and briefly dipped into negative territory this afternoon. Broader stock indicators also shifted direction several times before finishing higher. The Nasdaq edged up 8.09 to 2000. They will occupy 25,000 square feet of the high-tech flexible space building that was completed six months ago as a joint project of Biltmore Farms, the city of Asheville and AdvantageWest. Biltmore Farms provided the land, the city issued certificates of participation bonds totaling $2.5 million, and AdvantageWest helped with marketing, Cecil said.

They joined forces to construct the building on ''speculation" (without a buyer or tenant) because many companies prefer to locate in an Dow Jones Industrial Dec. 9, 1999 Close: 11,134.79 11300 11200 11100 11000 10900 10800; 10700 10600 10500: 10400 10300 102O0 10100 10000 9900 Nov. 15 FMTWT 3,594.17, a new closing high, on record volume. More than 1.77 billion shares changed hands, topping Wednesday's record of 1.67 billion shares. The Standard Poor's 500 Mac Williams, Asheville's director of economic development.

"You would just as soon help out an existing company as draw one in," he said. "It is also building the tax base and generating income." The Grove Park Inn Resort has purchased WLOS-TV's present site on Macon Avenue but has not announced its plans for the property once it is vacated. Biltmore Farms is market mission had alleged that Ford Credit failed to combine the income of unmarried joint applicants, while doing so for married co-buyers. Because of that, the commission said, many co-buyers were offered less favorable terms during the period between May 1994 and August 1995. The FTC accused the company of violating the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.

"While lenders can use a variety of factors to compute a consumers' creditworthiness, marital status isn't one of them," said Jodie Bernstein, director of the FTC's bureau of consumer protection. A spokesman for the company said the settlement affects about 1,000 credit.