Misrepresentation of AutoHome roof top tents

[Mike S]

There is a company in China (LONGROAD CAMP&OUTDOOR INDUSTRIAL CO.,LTD - Beijing P.R.C China) that is producing an inferior and unlicensed copy of the AutoHome Columbus and Maggiolina hard shell tents. These are being sold by a couple of private label distributors here in the USA.

I would not normally post here on the Expedition Portal to discuss this type of business issue, but some of the resellers marketing practices are confusing to consumers and becoming egregious. Some of these resellers are claiming that their copies are "made in the same factory in China" as the AutoHome tents. This is not the case. To set the record straight, AutoHome tents are made solely in Montavo, Italy in a dedicated factory and have been since 1958.

Other resellers of the Chinese copies are illegally using photos and descriptions of AutoHome tents to represent these products. To set the record straight again, these photos misrepresent the product offered and constitute a violation of copyright laws. An example below of a photo on the home page of a company selling the Chinese copies:

Caveat emptor

 

[Scott Brady]

Classless stuff Mike. Sorry to see that and thank you for the heads up

 

[Mike S]

Thank you for your support, Scott.

 

[Colin Hughes]

It was bound to happen. As a rep for Mike with Autohome in Eastern Canada, I receive emails from Chinese manufacturers at least once a month trying to have me sell their knockoff tents. I know of at least one dealer selling Chinese product here in Canada already.

 

[cwadej]

that sucks. As times get leaner, people are looking to save money anywhere they can. I'd love to have an Airland, but just can't afford $3000 for a tent, so I understand the buyers' points of view.

that said, I do hope you can get this stopped, as theft of intelectual property and patents in just plain wrong

 

[BIGdaddy]

Having owned not one but two Maggiolina's, I can attest to their robust and longlasting nature.

While I definitely encourage and support innovation and furthering the technologies we all use, I've found that most "copies" or reverse engineering products simply don't make the grade. Chinese snorkel knockoffs, coolers, tents, etc.

Not to say that products ORIGINALLY designed and assembled in china are inferior. (I love my iPHONE, and my privvy shelter from Walmart is an amazing piece of kit. ), On the contrary, I'd love to see China lift itself up further to be an innovator and designer of ecologically-sound products.

I see this forcing Autohome to innovate, reduce costs, and try to compete at a lower price point, which I think is healthy competition for any company, but I want you to know that I for one, would rather buy a used Autohome than a new knockoff.

 

[wardrow]

In regard to the recent post on the forum using my business website homepage photo:

1) This picture has been up for over 2 years now and is not intended to sell a product but an idea. It is in no way stated or claimed that this is the product that is for sale on my former website. In fact, it was up before I even carried the products in question.

2) I in no way intended to misrepresent the product. If there are any patent disputes or other legal matters between manufacturers, we are unaware of this.
Mike called me yesterday and HE had a very one-sided confrontational conversation with me. I have since taken my entire site offline while our new website is being finished. I had hoped that in good faith after our conversation, that he would not publicly defame my business.

3) I absolutely do NOT represent the other tents as made in the same factory or as being of a higher or lower quality. I have actually sent customers to AutoHome when I felt their product better fit their needs.

4) I looked into selling Autohome but, Mike’s dealer requirements were more than we could afford at the time of our startup. Then why do I offer Eezi-Awn you might ask, Paul was willing to bend over backwards to help a new start-up.
My “Average Joe” customers cannot afford Autohome or Eezi-Awn for that matter. Does this mean that we exclude them from the ranks? I would bet that nearly 50% of the American population has to shop at Wal-Mart and the Dollar store, if I can help “Average Joe” afford to embrace his inner explorer by offering Knock-offs then so be it.

5) “Caveat Emptor” (Latin: “let the buyer beware”), in the law of commercial transactions, a principle that the buyer purchases at his/her own risk in the absence of an expressed warranty in the contract. (Cited from encyclopedia Britannica) I am offended by this!

All CVT hard shell tents carry a 4 year warranty,

Isn’t an economic system in which prices are determined by the unrestricted competition between privately owned businesses? what everybody in America wanted? ( AKA Free Market)

Wade Kellogg
OAO4x4.com

 

[BIGdaddy]

:lurk:

 

[BIGdaddy]

I posted above about chinese copies. As for resellers, quite plainly the example given below might have been somewhat hastily researched. It clearly doesn't state the autohome name, though it does in fact use an autohome photo. I wonder if the owner of the tent gave permission? Is it autohome's right to say, "no-go" even at that point?

Other resellers of the Chinese copies are illegally using photos and descriptions of AutoHome tents to represent these products. To set the record straight again, these photos misrepresent the product offered and constitute a violation of copyright laws. An example below of a photo on the home page of a company selling the Chinese copies:

Caveat emptor

 

[wardrow]

As to the question: “I wonder if the owner of the tent gave permission?” Yes he did. I am that owner. My wife and I started with a used Auto Home Maggiolina and loved it. And I mean, ABSOLUTELY loved it. This tent helped us find a passion for a style of outdoor living that lead to starting this business. As anyone who has known us or has taken the time to look at the site has gathered, this tent saved our way of living while we were still in the metropolitan rat-race.

Is it autohome's right to say, "no-go" even at that point? Frankly, I don’t know.

As we began our explorations, we became so overwhelmed with people asking about our set-up that we decided to start a business to fill that need. “Find a need. Fill a need” (Robots the movie). We didn’t have the means to design our own, so we started trying to find products that would help others enjoy the same freedom that we enjoy. Not just to make a buck.

We needed companies that would work with our limited space and capital as a new start-up (we try to run a business without much debt). Ideally, we wanted a Made in America product. We did try that route, and had said product. Unfortunately, in the 2 years, we had it up on the website; we had only three calls on the product and not one purchase. No one was willing to pay for the cost of “Made in America”.

The” knock-offs”, however, are a “FREE MARKET” better fit for our business model. They allow drop-shipping and low buy in at competitive prices. Some of these companies are founded in the US and had to outsource to build a competitively priced product. In fact both “knock off” companies have worked personally with their respective overseas manufactures to produce a product that was up to their standards.

As others “in the business” will attest, to fund a US manufactured textile product like the tents in question, requires more capital to make and build a prototype than to outsource the build of the product. This is an unfortunate byproduct of our current economy. So before you SLAM US or any other importer of OVER-SEAS Manufactured goods.... STOP SHOPPING AT YOUR LOCAL BIG BOX STORE!!!

We set out to provide a website where the consumer can come to compare different choices and choose the product that best suits their needs. We offer high end, high quality and lower priced options, and we stand by every product TO THE END!

Not everyone can afford the performance and durability of Autohome or Eezi-awn. My God, how I wish everyone of could afford these products.... I’d be RICH! The Truth of the matter is that many of us here on the portal are not independently wealthy and cannot afford to take off from work and travel the world. Some of us just need to get out in the hills for a few weekends and go hunting or spend time with our family.

We do our best to point the consumer to the best product match for their needs and wallet. As previously stated, we have even taken the time to recommend other manufacturers to customers when their needs suited. I am sorry if my business has cut into the pocket book of other companies, but customers will have the final say into what they will buy!

In the end, I only ask that ONE picture placed out of an ideal on my website not be used to make a point that is better made through a one on one conversation privately rather than in the public eye!

 

[highdesertranger]

well, well, well. you mean the Chinese stole somebody's designed and are trying to sell it allot cheaper. I am shocked. they would not do this. I wonder who works in the factory that build these. we all know the factory upholds the upmost environmental standards. again I am shocked, that anybody would question the Chinese. highdesertranger

 

[dwh]

well, well, well. you mean the Chinese stole somebody's designed and are trying to sell it allot cheaper. I am shocked. they would not do this. I wonder who works in the factory that build these. we all know the factory upholds the upmost environmental standards. again I am shocked, that anybody would question the Chinese. highdesertranger

Yea, but don't forget that the majority stockholder of the Chinese corporation (and the shipping company who brings it over) is probably Goldman Sachs or JPMorgan or one of their subsidiaries. The problem isn't the Chinese, it's the Wall St. Mafia.

Those workers in that Bangladesh factory that collapsed were making 38 bucks a month (and that was after they got an 80% raise in 2010). Who were the factories selling all those clothes to? A lot of U.S. and Global corporations (one in the same really, they are all inter-related).

And does anyone really believe that Apple didn't know that Foxconn uses slave labor to make iPhones and that the workers were committing suicide as the only way out? Please. Mafiosos don't care about that - they care about 100 billion in cash reserves.

 

[Mike S]

Wade, et al: I don't have any problem competing - we sell every tent we get within a week or two of its arrival at our distribution point. This season is our best ever. Apparently many people prefer to buy quality, but some go for price. Fair enough. My point is not so much to take issue with the Chinese copiers of our products, but with the misrepresentation of our products by US importers of the Chinese knock-offs and the use of photos (and even our website text) of our products to sell these knock-offs. One dealer (not you, Wade) actually COPIED our website photos and text to promote the knock-offs.

Our dealership terms are not at all onerous, quite the opposite, in fact. A number of small outfitters are dealing successfully in our products. We welcome quality representation.

As for my confrontational tone - you're right. Using photos of our products to promote an unlicensed knock-off product does not sit well with me. When we talked you were pretty vague as to when you would remove the photos of our products from your home page and gallery. We have worked for over a decade to build a market (where non existed prior) and to secure our brand in that market. In that time we have seen imitators come and go. If I do not defend our brand and market position aggressively I will soon come to regret it.

If you had spent over ten years and a million dollars building a business and creating a brand reputation, you might see this issue a little differently.

 

[madmax718]

I like to be able to ***** and complain to someone. Lol

Seriously, my #1 reason. I want to ***** at someone I can drive to. hahaha. Not some random company in another country.

 

[MicroOverland]

Kudos Wardrow, for stepping out and starting your own business! That takes courage. I also applaud your bringing products to market for us "average income" joes. I have been "overlanding" (but we always called it 'camping'), for a very long time. It has been very cool to see all the newer and innovative stuff coming to US in the last few years like roof top tents, adventure type trailers, quality 12v refrigerators, etc.
However, the prices on some of this cool gear is astonishing to say the least. I sometimes feel a certain level of elitism in the 'overlanding' crowd that rubs me wrong. Luckily, its not too prevalent.
If you can provide a quality product at a more reasonable price, then so be it. It only makes for better options for all of us.
Anyone who thinks the first company to market a product somehow has 'rights' to it, should still be driving a model T Ford, and calling on a Motorola 'brick' cell phone. If there is something truly unique about a product that is protected by patents, then that is great! Let that company sue for the infringement. Decades of 'copying', 'refining', 'improving', 'advancing', 'innovating' - whatever you want to call it, have brought us to where we are now with virtually all products.
Now, selling one product and representing it as another is just plain dishonest, and naturally should be called out and stopped. But, making a cheaper option, that is similar to a more expensive product is, in my book, just fine! Think of all the soft side rtt companies - they all look like they came from the same pattern, no matter what continent they were actually made on.
As far as made in USA... I love the idea. However, unions and government regulation have made it all but impossible for small companies be competitive. That's not the companies fault, but ours for erecting such a bureaucracy to control our lives.
I will put my helmet on now... let the bashing begin...