Earthroamer poor customer service

[turbopilot]

I would also assume, that the email boxes of a company such as Earthroamer are fairly inundated with A) spam and B) inquiries from "tire kickers" who ultimately have no intention of purchasing a bespoke truck but who can waste an enormous amount of the employees' time asking question after question.

That is the issue. I recently had some experience with this problem when I tried to sell my 2008 EarthRoamer. The "tire kicker" to qualified purchaser ratio for an EarthRoamer is very, very low. There is an enormous interest in this rig. Every time I pull into a service station to pick up some diesel I have to allow extra time to answer the questions from all the folks who have never seen a rig like this. Women seemed to be very attracted to the EarthRoamer. This has been quite a surprise to me and something not missed by my wife. Who would think that a rig like this would be a chick magnet?

 

[dwh]

Who would think that a rig like this would be a chick magnet?

I would. After all, it's pretty much the definition of the "Bigger Better Deal".

http://www.hark.com/clips/cfrrxkcwgb-the-bigger-better-deal

 

[abbeyroad]

I have always received great customer service from all the employees. They have always returned emails or phone messages.
If your mobile "fulltime home" is going to be mostly Africa, Indonesia, Australia etc. Why not buy there?

 

[HumphreyBear]

Wow, so many apologists for what is poor customer service no matter the spin you put on it. If they are a small company overwhelmed by their success and able to sell far more than they can produce then great for them, but it still poor form for a potential client to be expected to chase them at any stage of the process. I run a business with a huge initial query to contracted engagement ratio (lots of electron kickers in my game) but it is my job to make sure someone runs down small and large queries. If they are inundated with tyre kickers in email then create a template response with a FAQ or standard response and append a "please call us to discuss it further" message on the bottom. It is Business Survival 101.

Oh, and spam et al filters are a first round of keeping crap out of your inbox, you should never rely solely on it and periodically check what it is filtering - there is not a machine 'alive' today that can predict with certainty your perception of an email's value.

Humphrey

 

[trailsurfer]

Sorry to hear of your poor customer service. As a current customer I could not be happier with the way I have been treated by EarthRoamer. I have owned several RV's and now 2 "off road" RV's. My first was a Sportsmobile, and I was treated wonderfully by that company.

Now with my EarthRoamer I have had nothing but positive experiences. Whenever I need to get a quick repair or upgrade made to my truck they are always accommodating and take care of me without any hassle. Also, whenever I have a problem or question, regardless of the time or day (usually weekends/holidays), I can always get a technician on the phone to help me address my issue.

I am going to make sure they know about this thread, and I am sure you will be hearing from them shortly, if you haven't already.

Good luck with your search for a Overlanding vehicle.

 

[Liz5264]

Hi
Just an update to say I finally got a reply today which is appreciated.
Liz

 

[camperman]

Dgurley2000, yes things are improved now. You can see that Ford chassis got a new engine and transmission, camper got a new solar panels, bigger water tank. Before improving things, you have to know problems, thus what part of vehicle need an upgrade.
Just a my 5 cents.

 

[john278516]

"It has been a fantastic journey with wonderful memories" - ******** Smith

Fantastic, another Earthroamer flame war! It seems like there are two groups of people that post on this forum- Happy Earthroamer owners and Earthroamer haters that have probably never even seen an EarthRoamer! What is it about Earthroamer that draws all of the naysayers out of the woodwork like cockroaches? Envy? Jealousy?

I've read through the entire ******** and Pip Diary and yep, they encountered some problems along the way. I suspect that anyone who drives around the world will encounter some problems. It sure looks to me like they had an incredible journey. I think these words from ******** and photos of ******** and Pip speak for themselves:

When it came to leaving the vehicle for the very last time, Pip found herself shedding a few tears. This vehicle had become our secure adventure machine and had enabled us to see amazing places and meet wonderful people.
For almost three years, on and off, we have driven our Earthroamer across the USA, Canada, England, Wales, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Japan and Australia. It has been a fantastic journey with wonderful memories and Pip has taken many photographs to help keep those memories alive. We really enjoyed each other's company and became a good team sharing the tasks of driving a vehicle around the world.

We now wait to hear that someone has bought our Earthroamer, however ******** says we could head down through South America if the economic climate in the States results in no one buying our Earthroamer!!
Thank you to all our family and friends who have read our web site and taken an interest in our travels, we really appreciate your enthusiasm and support.

Farewell for now from ******** and Pip Smith

Total trip from Denver to Denver, including the ferry drive to Seattle and the Los Angeles to Denver segment is: 45,552 kms​

I'm not an Earthroamer owner yet but I will be!!

 

[Dgurley2000]

Fantastic, another Earthroamer flame war! It seems like there are two groups of people that post on this forum- Happy Earthroamer owners and Earthroamer haters that have probably never even seen an EarthRoamer! What is it about Earthroamer that draws all of the naysayers out of the woodwork like cockroaches? Envy? Jealousy?

'

Can only speak for myself..... there are pro and cons to having a large self-contained living space for this type of journey on a modern vehicle that is dependent on electronics for troubleshooting. I appreciated the Smith's candor in talking about the issues they faced as it helps all of us in our decision making process. I also noted they had nice, warm, comfortable living quarters and would invite locals in for tea. Wouldn't call that "hate", "envy", or "jealousy". I would call it "research" - and is the process the PO is going through. Sounds like EarthRoamer may have already improved a lot of what caused trouble for the Smiths.

 

[southpier]

I understand your frustration with not getting a response. I run a small business and I am the one that replies to E-mails, phone calls and people stopping in, but me being busy is no excuse to not responding.

ANY company that wants to get (and keep) business needs to have figured out what is the best ways to get inquiries handled. If they are having a problem with E-mails then shut off the E-mail and only have people call. Better to make people call than to not answer E-mails. If they are having E-mails go to SPAM than fix the SPAM settings. As my kids would say it isn't rock science.

this. it's the way business is conducted in the 90's. and don't beg people to take your $$$

 

[JRhetts]

Fantastic, another Earthroamer flame war! It seems like there are two groups of people that post on this forum- Happy Earthroamer owners and Earthroamer haters that have probably never even seen an EarthRoamer! What is it about Earthroamer that draws all of the naysayers out of the woodwork like cockroaches? Envy? Jealousy?

john278516

I think you have mischaracterized what has been going on in the 26 posts above. I see no suggestion of a 'flame war'. I see an exchange of thoughts, opinions and suggestions on the issue of customer service in general and with ER in specific.

I also think that there are distinctly more than the two groups you mention: at least also unhappy ER owners, ER owners with mixed opinions, and ER afficianados that likewise 'have probably never even seen a ER.'

And all of this mixture of viewpoints is offering thoughts and opinions, which I think is the whole point and purpose of a healthy internet Forum on any subject.

As a two-time ER owner beginning in 2004, who has reported on this Forum at times at length on my experience with the vehicle, I think the interesting question is: When someone, highly informed or less so, offers something critical about an ER, why do so many people seemingly feel the need to swarm in as if to blot out or reject any such comments? Will the vehicle and company not be able to just stand tall on its own account? Sure looks to me like they are doing well again, and they have garnered the same general range of opinion as just about any other interesting but-out-of-reach-of-a-middle-class-budget thing.

My .02.

 

[HumphreyBear]

Fantastic, another Earthroamer flame war! It seems like there are two groups of people that post on this forum- Happy Earthroamer owners and Earthroamer haters that have probably never even seen an EarthRoamer! What is it about Earthroamer that draws all of the naysayers out of the woodwork like cockroaches? Envy? Jealousy?

John if you reread the thread you'll see there is no hating going on with regard to EarthRoamer. The comments were started by a potential customer frustrated by a lack of response, followed by throngs of defence. The subsequent discussion was more on the nature of running a small and successful business without compromising on presales customer service. ******** Smith had considerable problems with his vehicle. He happens to be a very prominent and well respected person in Australia and his adventures (the man is a true adventurer) get plenty of publicity here. EarthRoamer would have to have a glass jaw to take anything in this thread as anything other than a temperate discussion based on real events.

Nor did anyone break into the envy and jealousy routine. I too hate the class warfare that occurs here on ExPo, I see absolutely no evidence of it this thread, in fact quite the opposite as pretty much everyone either already has one or is planning on getting one (or similar, in my case). The hater tag is unwarranted simply because we discussed a single shortcoming.

Humphrey

 

[HumphreyBear]

Or what JRhetts said! :0)

 

[portaladmin]

Fantastic, another Earthroamer flame war! It seems like there are two groups of people that post on this forum- Happy Earthroamer owners and Earthroamer haters that have probably never even seen an EarthRoamer! What is it about Earthroamer that draws all of the naysayers out of the woodwork like cockroaches? Envy? Jealousy?

I'm not an Earthroamer owner yet but I will be!!

ADMIN UPDATE:

ExPo administrators have temporarily banned the account 'john278516'

Despite 'John's' attempt to use IP aliasing and other cloaking methods, we have identified the individual's true identity. This account was created in May 2010, and has been used inappropriately.

-Expedition Portal rules do not allow for multiple accounts
-Expedition Portal rules do not allow disguising ones identity for the purpose of circumventing other rules

This is a surprising, unfortunate and disappointing event. We will be determining next steps and will advise the community of the outcome.

For clarification, this is not related to member 'JRhetts' also in this thread, who is a long-time and valued community member and in good standings.

 

[plainjaneFJC]

Is john connected to earthroamer?