Check your sportsmobile wiring!

[Roonie]

You know what happens when you assume... Like the old adage, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me..." Complaining out of spite? Are you serious? Why don't you go to sportsmobileforum.com and read about the recent posts about slider damage and broken top support bolts? Did you actually look at my pictures???

Which employee are you? Just assuming...

First there are only two known reported broken top support bolts that have posted on the forum. Both of those were on older vans pre 2000.

You still haven't answered the question if you actually did let Sportsmobile make it right? A lot of complaining happening but not much resolution posted.

I think your cutout was more of a fluke than the norm since I know mine sure doesn't look like that and yes I have uncovered the area to add some aftermarket wiring. I have an 06 full build and happy with it. Also on all new builds the cutouts look straight as ever on the factory tour visits pics taken by many others on the forum.

They offered to make it right did you follow up with them?

 

[kjp1969]

That, coming from "kjp1969"



You know what happens when you assume... Like the old adage, "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me..." Complaining out of spite? Are you serious? Why don't you go to sportsmobileforum.com and read about the recent posts about slider damage and broken top support bolts? Did you actually look at my pictures???

Which employee are you? Just assuming...

You can call me Kevin, like is says in my sig. I'm also in Southern Cal (My location is in my profile), which is about 300 miles from Fresno, so no I'm not an employee.

Although you claim altrusim this smells a lot like a hit-and-run. No name given, low post count, only started one thread, never contacted SMB. Yeah well maybe its for the children, but maybe not.

Then SMB jumps into the fray to offer assistance and you still haven't contacted them? If they offered you a refund, would you not accept it? What you're doing here is counter to your stated purpose. If you really want to help others you would let SMB pour over your van and learn from their apparent mistakes. You'd give them a chance to make it right. Maybe there's a bad egg that needs to get fired, but we'll never know.

Here's their reply. What more do you want?

Happy Monday overlanders!

This thread was brought to our attention by a customer. Unortunately Sportsmobile does not have representatives on the site monitoring it everyday.

Please contact Sportsmobile directly if you ever have any issues. We can only take action if we know of the problem and know who you are.

-Jonny

If you're just sour and want to smear them, well then carry on. Just be honest about it.

 

[4X4TOUR]

Although you claim altrusim this smells a lot like a hit-and-run. No name given, low post count, only started one thread, never contacted SMB. Yeah well maybe its for the children, but maybe not.

Whatever... Nice try to spin this. But, since you seem to know about the sportsmobile forum, and its threads, then I ASSUME that you've researched my OTHER SMBforum posts... Just because I choose not to post on here (for obvious reasons), doesn't make this a hit piece. The real hit piece is what they did to my roof and light wiring...

I'd rather not be treated like a "whistleblower" if/when I ever do go back for warranty repair. And, no offense, but I choose to be anonymous on the INTERNET, because believe it or not, there are actually "bad" people out there... I could put "Kevin Johnson" in "Fresno" as my signature, doesn't mean we take it as gospel.

Alan & co. has had PLENTY of hints about who I am. If they didn't try to figure it out (or just cant), just shows my reasoning for remaining anonymous, sound...

I've seen all this talk about banning. Let me just say this. I brought this build to this forums attention for SAFETY PURPOSES. If this site decides to delete this thread, then any future liability lies with them. SMB knows about the bolt issue, which is why they switched bolts. I did speak to Peter about that. He said the black allen bolts WILL NOT break, and not to worry about it. I'm hoping he's right.

So, please end the "let them do you right" posts... This is about awareness.

 

[4X4TOUR]

Clicked on your blog and the first thing i see is:

"I got a phone call in early April 2007 from my brother in law, let's just call him Andrew."

http://mandamus.typepad.com/onefullplate/

So, even on YOUR OWN blog, you believe in anonymity. So, cut the BS...

 

[4X4TOUR]

Roonie,

First there are only two known reported broken top support bolts that have posted on the forum. Both of those were on older vans pre 2000

I'm also talking about the bottom bolts. Please re-read the SMBforum threads/posts.

http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4837&hilit=bent+bolt

What I also found was that one of the rear bolts that rides on a slider of sorts was bent

Just like mine in the picture, eh?

I can't stress enough how the plastic slider that had come loose was jammed between the bolt, roller and steel housing. I'm sure that was the cause because it took some serious effort to dislodge it. I'll attach a picture later of the mangled slider.

Just like mine in the picture, eh?

http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=5556&hilit=broken+bolt

http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=4837&hilit=broken+bolt

http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7520&hilit=bent+bolt

http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=6839&hilit=bent+bolt

http://sportsmobileforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=1015&hilit=bent+bolt

 

[kjp1969]

Whatever... Nice try to spin this. But, since you seem to know about the sportsmobile forum, and its threads, then I ASSUME that you've researched my OTHER SMBforum posts... Just because I choose not to post on here (for obvious reasons), doesn't make this a hit piece. The real hit piece is what they did to my roof and light wiring...

I'd rather not be treated like a "whistleblower" if/when I ever do go back for warranty repair. And, no offense, but I choose to be anonymous on the INTERNET, because believe it or not, there are actually "bad" people out there... I could put "Kevin Johnson" in "Fresno" as my signature, doesn't mean we take it as gospel.

Alan & co. has had PLENTY of hints about who I am. If they didn't try to figure it out (or just cant), just shows my reasoning for remaining anonymous, sound...

I've seen all this talk about banning. Let me just say this. I brought this build to this forums attention for SAFETY PURPOSES. If this site decides to delete this thread, then any future liability lies with them. SMB knows about the bolt issue, which is why they switched bolts. I did speak to Peter about that. He said the black allen bolts WILL NOT break, and not to worry about it. I'm hoping he's right.

So, please end the "let them do you right" posts... This is about awareness.

Come clean: you're not a safety advocate trying to raise awareness, you're a pissed off consumer. It's okay to be pissed off- if it were my van I'd be pissed off too. But the first thing you should have done is take it back and demand that they fix it, not craft an internet hit piece on multiple forums with no real goal in mind. "Safety" isn't cutting it- its a quality issue that you're trying to spin into life-and-death.

And if they blow you off, you file a lawsuit, or then go mental on the internet using your real name so that we know you're not bonkers. But skipping steps one and two and going straight to step three just doesn't pass the smell test. Its like finding a bandaid in your salad and not sending it back, just blogging about it.

 

[BKCowGod]

If nearly 100% of my posts on a forum were either rants about a product or rants about people's responses to my rants, then I think I'd take a step back and reconsider my priorities and my blood pressure. But maybe that's just me.

Kevin - might as well give it up. He's proved conclusively that he would rather get angry than be productive. If he wants to let SMB know about the issue then he can. Otherwise, if we all ignore him then maybe he (and this thread) will finally go away.

 

[4X4TOUR]

craft an internet hit piece on multiple forums with no real goal in mind

Wouldn't be anything to "craft" if the POSITIVE WIRE was routed correctly, the zig-zag roofline cut were straight, and if they didn't use bolts long enough to scrape and bend in the channel, secured the plastic slides to its mounts etc... Would there?

Your "band aid in a salad" proof is in the pictures, my brother... I took pictures of the van as they were working on it, as well. Next, you'll accuse me of somehow doing the damage myself...

I'm done talking to you, "kevin".

 

[4X4TOUR]

Cow,

If nearly 100% of my posts on a forum were either rants about a product or rants about people's responses to my rants, then I think I'd take a step back and reconsider my priorities and my blood pressure. But maybe that's just me.

You're right... I have a life, and it's not to post on here 24/7... As far as responding to rants, you responded to MY POST, not the other way around. I'm just defending myself.

As with the other guy, feel free to ignore my posts...

 

[BKCowGod]

You're funny to watch, like a clown. Or a dog eating peanut butter.

Please, continue your rants

 

[4X4TOUR]

You're funny to watch, like a clown. Or a dog eating peanut butter

I heard about you cowpokes putting peanut butter on your..... Whatever satisfies you, dawg... :ylsmoke:

 

[Saline]

A moose once bit my sister.

 

[BKCowGod]

A moose once bit my sister.

No, realli! She was karving her initials on the moose!

 

[Bullsnake]

As a future Sportsmobile owner with a truck currently being built, I find it sad that this particular post is one of the top five most responded to threads in this particular forum. I can fully understand the OP's frustration with the questionable quality control, but eight pages later it appears as if nothing productive is coming from this post any longer.
As an owner of multiple companies I fully understand and can see how something like this can "slip through the cracks" either be it by a bad day, bad judgement by employees, or lack of skill on a fundamental level. All of my companies have had a "bad day", and as a service based business a black eye incurred by poor performance is something that I try to avoid at all costs as one bad experience such as yours cannot be washed away nearly as quickly as it is incurred. No matter how hard any one company tries, as long as their is a human element involved in the creation of a product or final service rendered there will be issues with quality no matter how hard the company strives to be at the top of their game at all times.

Kudos to you for the initial post voicing your concerns, and kudos for SMB West for offering to make it right. As I do not have the skill or time to build myself a van to travel the countryside with my family I still feel confident in my choice to have SMB build me a van to travel with my family. I am fully aware as a custom built vehicle there may be issues that need to be dealt with after the delivery, but I am willing to work through those as well as long as Sportsmobile is willing to offer me the same opportunities to "make it right" as they have to the OP in this thread. If Sportsmobile had told you to go pound sand and that was an acceptable level of craftsmanship performed on your truck this would be an entirely different thread. The fact that the work was a questionable as it was is definitely cause for concern, but Sportsmobile did contact the OP, at least through this thread, and in my humble opinion the only other commentary that could be construed as constructive at this point would be a follow up after the OP's truck has made a return trip to Sportsmobile to have them attempt to rectify the situation to the OP's satisfaction. I can also fully understand the OP's lack of enthusiasm in pursuing this route due to the time and effort of getting the truck back to Sportsmobile, and the initial issues that they have had, but as Sportsmobile is a "boutique" company and does not have the resources of a large manufacturer there will have to be certain expected concessions made since there isn't a SMB dealer in every town and city. An inconvenience? For sure, but the possibility of something like this occurring is always a possibility with anything hand crafted and adapted to a platform that wasn't originally designed for such modifications, and is unfortunately a fact of life.

As it appears that the OP's vehicle isn't going to explore this option, it would be nice to see this thread finally breath it's last breath. As a low - count poster myself with precious little time to actually enjoy EXPO, it would be great to one day log in and not have my hopes dashed of seeing some epic builds or incredible overland van platforms by seeing this thread at the top of the list every day. Sorry for the long post, and please give me a minute to put my flame suit on...

 

[DEFENDERBEAM]

the only options I can imagine to fix the poor cutting of the roof are as follows:

1. Cut out the entire roof and weld in a new one, and then cut properly.

2. Make a larger cleaner hole, but then the poptop may not fit correct without a custom shroud that would maybe create future leak issues.

3. Provide a new vehicle, and cut the roof hole without wearing a blindfold.

the other roof mechanical and wiring issues could be fixed by smb, but the above options for the roof debacle are probably not a reality?

I doubt smb has the capability or skills for options # 1 and # 2.

maybe smb should Drug test all their employees. whoever did this project was not seeing straight.

They should also ban any future use of tek screws.