I Have to Say This

Rob Bell has been talked about a lot since his book LOVE WINS came out. I have not read it yet (nor have MANY of his detractors), but I have enjoyed his previous books and have been ministered to in my journey with Christ by his teaching via the podcast.
Bell has been publicly denounced (shunned?) by John Piper and other notable voices in the American church and Christian media because LOVE WINS apparently smells of a universalist view of soteriology. I wonder if any of them sought to sit down one-on-one with Bell before making such public statements.
Bell's writings have often been way "out there" in terms of the 20th century understanding of orthodoxy that shaped my background as a follower of Christ, but I never thought of him as a heretic. The kindest review of his book that I have read gives him the benefit of the doubt on the heresy front, saying that he articulated some of his points inaccurately or clumsily. I'm eager to read the book so that I can understand what has caused such a scandal.
But what I really want to know right now is whether any who have so publicly denounced him as a heretic have even attempted to go have coffee with him and talk
... and ask him to clarify the points on which they find themselves in such deep disagreement.  If they haven't, does that reflect "the full and complete standard of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13, NLT)?