SMB - Thoughts: West vs South vs North

[ridintall]

I had a 2004 RB50 Quigley PH Top built at SMB North. Sold that a few years ago so I could get into a new van before the E Series were phased out. That led me to a 2013 EB50 Quadvan Voyager Top from SMB West. I toured both facilities before each build. Second time around I drove vans from Quigley, Quandvan and Sportsmobile.

SMB North:

I chose them for my first build b/c I'm on the East Coast and so is Quigley. Everything that's been said about how nice and conscientious the folks are there is spot on. I did have some issues with my build, only b/c I ended up with the rookie on the team for my 04 build. I did have to take 3 trips there during the years I owned the van to get stuff fixed. I timed 2 of them with a hunting trip to Utah so It wasn't too far out of the way. Each time, what needed fixed, got fixed no questions asked and no charge to me. The final trip to SMB North was to replace my PH Top that had a persistent leak after a few years and attempts by me to fix it. SMB North was great to deal with over the phone, providing guidance and replacement parts to try and fix my leak. In the end, they replaced the whole top, canvas and paint to match under warranty several years after I had owned the van, the only cost to me being fuel and a couple days stay in Huntington. They have always been great to deal with.

SMB West:

I decided to go with SMB West on my second build mainly b/c of Quadvan being on the same coast and my opinion that SMB West has appeared to be on the cutting edge of SMB builds. I also liked that when it came to audio/video, they had a crew in the shop from a local car stereo outfit that was very familiar with SMB builds and coordinating when/where to run all the wires. Gotta have good tunes. I dealt directly with Jonathan for my whole build, he was great to work with. My second build didn't come w/out issues right after I picked it up. By the time I made it to Vegas, I was having an intermittent issue with the stereo. It took several months of trial and error to figure out it was solar induced noise making it into the system. SMB West and Rob from the stereo shop were very helpful, sending out several new parts to help narrow down the problem. Once I figured out where the problem was, they came up with a fix, at no charge to me.

That's my story, take from it what you will. The bottom line is North and West have always been there get to the bottom and fix whatever issues I had. I've also been fortunate to have a local Ford dealership that hasn't been afraid to work on either of my SMB's.

Oogs

[tlg]

ridintall, good point about West integrating the audio/video crew into the build process. Initially, I thought North did the same and was surprised to find out they didn't. I ended up working with a local audio shop to build a detailed wire diagram and overlaid it onto our build sheet. Shipped all the wiring and hookups out to North for installation. To their credit, North was more than accommodating with this effort and did a great job on the install. The audio shop was delighted to find that the wiring side was done right.

[bluesprinter]

I picked North because it was closest to home. I echo all of the positive comments about Nancy and Jim, and Chad has been great when I've called with questions after the build was done. That's not to say I have negative comments about West or South because I have no experience with those locations. But if North is closest to you, I can't imagine not going there. Tell them Jim with the blue Sprinter was one of those who recommended them.