Venting. Me, not my SMB, lol.

[Scalf77]

Your build certainly fits the profile, "just the pop top" , most of the complaints (but not all) have come from people that have just had the pop top done, and not a full build. I don't know if they just put the B-team on these projects or what. It may be that your Promaster was the first "poptop only install", which might answer the first Promaster top done dilemma you had in previous post

It seems that one of your major issues is that the antenna was damaged and thus caused some major damage. It would be good if you could post pictures of that damage. It appears from my viewing of the other Promaster pictures in another post, that the stock antenna certainly is angled back and could be harmed when the top came down. In the other pictures it looks like the antenna was removed of changed. If that is true, I would think that they should have been well aware of the potential pitfalls of this issue.

It would be nice to see pictures of your other workmanship issues. I have no reason not to believe you, but really can't comment on unseen issues. a Video would be nice, I certainly would not post anything that was shot at Sportsmobile.

Since you are adverse to going back to Fresno (fully understandable), I would suggest that you offer to go to one of the other Sportsmobile facilities for the third inspection. I don't know if you are any closer to any of them at this point. Might be good to get a different viewpoint.

Good luck, I hope you come to some resolution. Keep up the fight.

-greg

[VocalVirgo]

Our lawyer told us that their lawyer is just wasting his time, a tactic practiced by the lowly lawyers. Our lawyer says that continuing to pay him is a waste of our money. That speaks volumes.

I called SMBT (Texas) to get some technical answers yesterday. The lady on the phone could not have been nicer. She asked me to please tell her what’s going on and when I did she was shocked and completely apologetic. SHE shouldn’t have to apologize. But she did tell me that since SMBW won’t talk with us or engage with us anymore, she would call them to get the answers. She seemed completely appalled at their behavior. She also let me know that they are the original Sportsmobile, and that West is a franchise. She seemed disgusted that they would tarnish the name like this. She genuinely seemed to want to help.

Knowing what I know now, after these last 11 months, I blame Alan Feldman and his son Jonathan Feldman. The way that they have chosen to deliver my product, and then deal with me when I came in with numerous complaints regarding workmanship, quality, fit and finish… is not a reflection on SMB the company, but is a reflection of how the PEOPLE run this franchise, and in turn make the whole company “Sportsmobile” look bad.

The way they have dealt with us, and treated us is 100% the exact opposite of what they should have done, and should be doing. Now, it is all personal for them because they are all butt-hurt because I started telling my stories on social media. I had no idea I was giving $10,558 to a bunch of babies. I can tell you this – Jonathan is definitely Alan’s son. I found Alan to be cocky and a little too full of himself. He actually gave me copies of write-ups that have been done on him from various publications. It’s like he wanted me to know that he was somehow famous in the van world. Who does that? He seemed upset when I didn’t know who he was. And Jonathan has become more like that during the course of these 11 months.
Alan needs to retire, and Jonathan needs to go back to college and learn how to run a business.

And still, my top will never be fixed. 4 years left on the warranty, and they will never fix it.

The way they are handling this, and probably some other customers from the sounds of it, is deplorable.

[SteelheadJones]

Yep, cocky and full of himself. That was my experience too. Their last name is Feld btw, not Feldman.

[Orv]

Interesting, about the franchise. That's probably why the literature in my 1990 SMB mentions Texas and Indiana but not Fresno.

[VocalVirgo]

Originally Posted by SteelheadJones

Yep, cocky and full of himself. That was my experience too. Their last name is Feld btw, not Feldman.

Wow. I thought their last name was Feldman, LOL. I guess that shows how litle I give a crap about these people, LOL.

And thank you for the correction. :-)

[Oogs]

Hmm. I agree with other posters, attach some pics of the damage so all can see.

My experience has been the opposite with both Alan and John. We spent half a day with Alan touring SMBW when deciding on our second build and dealt exclusively with Jonathan on the actual build out and order. Both experiences were positive and when I needed a replacement part for our current SMB, SMBW was very responsive.

That being said, our first SMB had a PH top which leaked on several occasions. We actually bought from SMB North and after several attempts to fix the leak myself with plenty of new hardware and tips provided by SMBN, they replaced the entire top and canvas under the lifetime warranty. However the new top only came with a 5 year warranty. This was several years ago and a reason why we chose a fixed top and build from SMBW as we also had some fit and finish issues with our SMBN build but they were always taken care of. The folks at SMBN have always been great to work with.

Nothing has been perfect and one could find fault in just about any manufactures build. But it does come down to how issues are dealt with and mine have been positive so far. I've had an issue with the fog lights SMBW installed constantly blowing fuses since day 1. There's obviously a short somewhere but it's not critical and honestly I've been too lazy to track it down. Plus we're east coast and our warranty is up so I own this problem now.

Would I buy another SMB after owning 2? Probably not. They're really expensive and there is room for improvement when it comes to build quality but there are other reasons too. There are other build choices with really nice work being done. But I do love our SMB and the lifestyle it affords us....for now until our family outgrows it. Now if I could only squeeze a couple more MPG outta the V10 and stay out of single digit territory, life would be grand. [emoji12]

How about a link to that YouTube video?

Good luck

[rionapo]

This is the third thread on this topic. It rehashes old ground and, like its predecessors, violates the forum’s code of conduct. As such, it, too, is being closed.

This forum is not intended to be a mechanism for people to solely vent frustrations about services, products, vendors, or sales. Please settle your differences with the seller, provider, manufacturer, or dealer through other means but not through our community.

Don