Review: Slidepods
- Thread starter Pipe&Slippers
- Start date
Being in business myself. I know that time to time things go wrong. Although we can spend time training employees there will undoubtedly be times when they do things the way we wouldn't like them done. It's impossible to watch everybody all the time and you are reliant upon their skills and standards which may not be the same as your own. The key to a good business in my opinion is how they deal with these inevitable issues that can rise from time to time. The owner should have been on this straight away with an apology and giving solutions to rectifying the issues. Not ignoring the customer and leaving it to the office staff to sort out.
This is without doubt the trickiest forum post I have ever had to write. I am certainly not going to make excuses or try to shift blame in any way or try to vilify one of our customers. However there are 2 sides to every coin and I would like a chance to raise a couple of facts on the matter that as of yet have not been raised which I feel is only fair.
I completely agree with @Eskie here that there were a number of faults with her electrics that were wholly unacceptable and the fact that I was on holiday when the van was collected should not mean that our high standards should have dropped. However we were only told about the faults after the third party had completed works to rectify them and therefore we were not given a chance to have the vehicle back to our workshop to examine them and put them right. I understand that @Eskie was upset by the standard of works but did not give us a chance to rectify them and gain her confidence again.
We also carried out other works to the vehicle that have had no issue to our usual high standard however these have not been mentioned for the sake of balance and fairness I feel that we should be credited for these?
Regarding customer service and goodwill gestures this is something we take very seriously at Slidepods and I personally spent hours on the phone to @Eskie trying to find solutions for the problems she experienced with us. I am proud of the work we do at Slidepods and the commitment and enthusiasm of our team of both office staff and technicians. I thought long and hard about what I felt was a suitable and fair goodwill gesture for the problems @Eskie encountered whilst dealing with us, I wanted to obviously correct all outstanding issues with her vehicle (which I believe we did on her last visit as I have had no communication to the contrary), whilst offering something of sufficient value as goodwill and lastly be given the chance to win back some of the confidence that @Eskie had lost in us as a business. I settled on offering to supply the RIB bed at cost and fit it using an M1 pull tested under chassis bracket for free including issuing the fitting certificate. I understand that confidence had been lost however I would have happily allowed @Eskie to examine the works carried out first hand to make sure they had been carried out to standard. (I understand that she would not have known what she was looking at but it would be evident if the fitting kit had been properly used or not). @Eskie is of course within her rights to refuse this good will gesture but it's only fair that mention is made that we did make this offer.
I hope anyone reading this will appreciate that not every business can be perfect all of the time however it is only fair to offer them a chance to set things right I appreciate that @YellowHound experienced problems whilst dealing with us and I appreciate the fact that he allowed us the chance to rectify them and hopefully feels that we did rectify his issues and made appropriate goodwill gestures where necessary. We try extremely hard to turn out the best work we possibly can and annually deal with quite literally hundreds of customers who have a great experience and are 100% satisfied with the standard of our works.
@Eskie I have apologised to you on numerous occasions for the issues you had with us privately but I will take this opportunity to do it publicly. I am sorry for the substandard works and the inconvenience caused to you. I hope that you can go on enjoying your camper for many years in the future and would like to make it clear that you have our continued support with all works we carried out and products we installed.
I completely agree with @Eskie here that there were a number of faults with her electrics that were wholly unacceptable and the fact that I was on holiday when the van was collected should not mean that our high standards should have dropped. However we were only told about the faults after the third party had completed works to rectify them and therefore we were not given a chance to have the vehicle back to our workshop to examine them and put them right. I understand that @Eskie was upset by the standard of works but did not give us a chance to rectify them and gain her confidence again.
We also carried out other works to the vehicle that have had no issue to our usual high standard however these have not been mentioned for the sake of balance and fairness I feel that we should be credited for these?
Regarding customer service and goodwill gestures this is something we take very seriously at Slidepods and I personally spent hours on the phone to @Eskie trying to find solutions for the problems she experienced with us. I am proud of the work we do at Slidepods and the commitment and enthusiasm of our team of both office staff and technicians. I thought long and hard about what I felt was a suitable and fair goodwill gesture for the problems @Eskie encountered whilst dealing with us, I wanted to obviously correct all outstanding issues with her vehicle (which I believe we did on her last visit as I have had no communication to the contrary), whilst offering something of sufficient value as goodwill and lastly be given the chance to win back some of the confidence that @Eskie had lost in us as a business. I settled on offering to supply the RIB bed at cost and fit it using an M1 pull tested under chassis bracket for free including issuing the fitting certificate. I understand that confidence had been lost however I would have happily allowed @Eskie to examine the works carried out first hand to make sure they had been carried out to standard. (I understand that she would not have known what she was looking at but it would be evident if the fitting kit had been properly used or not). @Eskie is of course within her rights to refuse this good will gesture but it's only fair that mention is made that we did make this offer.
I hope anyone reading this will appreciate that not every business can be perfect all of the time however it is only fair to offer them a chance to set things right I appreciate that @YellowHound experienced problems whilst dealing with us and I appreciate the fact that he allowed us the chance to rectify them and hopefully feels that we did rectify his issues and made appropriate goodwill gestures where necessary. We try extremely hard to turn out the best work we possibly can and annually deal with quite literally hundreds of customers who have a great experience and are 100% satisfied with the standard of our works.
@Eskie I have apologised to you on numerous occasions for the issues you had with us privately but I will take this opportunity to do it publicly. I am sorry for the substandard works and the inconvenience caused to you. I hope that you can go on enjoying your camper for many years in the future and would like to make it clear that you have our continued support with all works we carried out and products we installed.
Thank you Eskie, for sticking your neck out. There's no doubt that you have helped me out, and saved me a lot of motorway miles too.
Out of interest, I set up my own business in 2014. It's nowt to do with the automotive industry, but I set it up with a "satisfaction guarantee". The fact is that I currently have all the work I can handle and the satisfaction guarantee is still in place (since nobody has ever invoked it
).
Out of interest, I set up my own business in 2014. It's nowt to do with the automotive industry, but I set it up with a "satisfaction guarantee". The fact is that I currently have all the work I can handle and the satisfaction guarantee is still in place (since nobody has ever invoked it
).
Whilst I understand the frustration when things go wrong, i'm afraid personally I feel it's not right to report this on social media/Forums unless every single avenue has been exhausted with the company involved. Even after all that, i'd think very carefully before I reported something so detailed.
Like many members on here, I have a business, and my business trades on my reputation, and this reputation is taken directly from my customers, on the internet, on forums very similar to this, in other words directly in the centre of your target market.
They have a huge impact on my work, and it's because of certain forums, in my industry, that i'm in a position where I don't advertise, and currently have a 6 week lead time.
I don't ask my customers to put on-line reviews and it's their choice, but they do know if they ever have any issues, i'm always on the end of a phone or email.
Thankfully in 11 years the only negatives we've ever had is that our lead times are too long, so we must be understaffed. This was written some years ago, but still has a rippling effect at times, but not something I see as a negative.
Also as a business owner, you put your heart and soul into your work, and often go way above and beyond with little reward.
Reading the response from the mentioned business, I know that this would of hit very hard and the owners stomach would of been in knots trying to work out how to respond, if at all. So I for one feel it was the right thing to put across the other side.
As already mentioned by other business owners, things can go wrong and they do, but a true testament to the quality of how a business runs, is how they deal with these rare issues. Take it from me, my industry is riddled with issues, and poor finished products, but no one rarely puts their hands up and apologises there.
Thankfully in here i'm just another T6 owner and not a Trade member, so feel I can voice my opinion because it doesn't involve my business, but I strongly feel using these outlets to vent are not the best choice, and lasting effects go on for years.
As a matter of interest, I wouldn't of said anything about this matter because the mentioned business has already said everything that needs to be said, but the OP has put the same review elsewhere, and I feel that's just being a little vindictive.
Just my opinion of course.
Like many members on here, I have a business, and my business trades on my reputation, and this reputation is taken directly from my customers, on the internet, on forums very similar to this, in other words directly in the centre of your target market.
They have a huge impact on my work, and it's because of certain forums, in my industry, that i'm in a position where I don't advertise, and currently have a 6 week lead time.
I don't ask my customers to put on-line reviews and it's their choice, but they do know if they ever have any issues, i'm always on the end of a phone or email.
Thankfully in 11 years the only negatives we've ever had is that our lead times are too long, so we must be understaffed. This was written some years ago, but still has a rippling effect at times, but not something I see as a negative.
Also as a business owner, you put your heart and soul into your work, and often go way above and beyond with little reward.
Reading the response from the mentioned business, I know that this would of hit very hard and the owners stomach would of been in knots trying to work out how to respond, if at all. So I for one feel it was the right thing to put across the other side.
As already mentioned by other business owners, things can go wrong and they do, but a true testament to the quality of how a business runs, is how they deal with these rare issues. Take it from me, my industry is riddled with issues, and poor finished products, but no one rarely puts their hands up and apologises there.
Thankfully in here i'm just another T6 owner and not a Trade member, so feel I can voice my opinion because it doesn't involve my business, but I strongly feel using these outlets to vent are not the best choice, and lasting effects go on for years.
As a matter of interest, I wouldn't of said anything about this matter because the mentioned business has already said everything that needs to be said, but the OP has put the same review elsewhere, and I feel that's just being a little vindictive.
Just my opinion of course.
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I am very sorry to hear of your problems, but feel that I have to say that I am still extremely happy with the work that Slidepods did for me!
My conversion has been done for a while now, and I love it to bits! All the workmanship (including the electrical work) was carried out to my satisfaction, and I am very fussy about this kind of thing! I have no ties to Slidepods, and tried to be objective in my previous review.
If I had more work to do, or another new kombi to convert, I would not hesitate to use Slidepods again.
My conversion has been done for a while now, and I love it to bits! All the workmanship (including the electrical work) was carried out to my satisfaction, and I am very fussy about this kind of thing! I have no ties to Slidepods, and tried to be objective in my previous review.
If I had more work to do, or another new kombi to convert, I would not hesitate to use Slidepods again.
Whilst I fully appreciate Tourershine's point of view, as Jonny at Slidepods says in his response to Eskie's comments, there are two sides to every coin.
There are service providers and service users. I personally believe that social media can be a very effective tool to help consumers make informed decisions, especially if they are about to spend thousands of pounds on a product or service. One of the things that I find especially helpful about this forum is the willingness of members to share their opinions and advice, whether it be the best way to go about doing something or their experience of a particular product; personally I don't see why this sharing of opinions and experiences shouldn't extend to services on offer. However, I think it is extremely important to take a balanced view. For me, a negative review of a service or product doesn't mean I will necessarily avoid it, but it does give me the opportunity to delve a little deeper, ask a few more questions or seek further opinions. Just as one swallow doesn't make a summer, one or two negative reviews shouldn't condemn a business, especially if it has dozens of very positive reviews (as in Slidepods case). As consumers we have the right to share our experiences, both good and bad, and it is for others to make up their minds if they are fair or relevant.
There is always the potential for things to go wrong, but the most important thing is how they are put right. Any business or service provider should be given the opportunity to correct any failings in the first instance, not only is this the decent thing to do but it is common sense as well. How the business goes about it can either restore confidence in a very positive way and confirm their professionalism, or it can confirm the customer's right to be dissatisfied. I think the consumer has a right to share opinions, good and bad. So, to defend consumers, I don't agree with the point made by Tourershine that 'I strongly feel using these outlets to vent are not the best choice, and lasting effects go on for years'. Such an approach may suit his business but it doesn't help the consumer. It would be a very sad day indeed if the consumer was muzzled to protect a business.
Like very many others I have read excellent reviews about Slidepods and I have had some very useful chats with Jonny on the phone and he has always given extremely heplful advice; Eskie's review certainly would not put me off using Jonny's business, because I think he is a very open and sincere person who has an excellent product, but it would prompt me to ask further questions and to seek reassurance.
I may not agree with everything Eskie says but I defend her right to say it. I'm sure that what she has to say is the outcome of a good deal of disappointment and feeling let down. To be fair though she should have made clear what Jonny had offered to put it right; equally, Jonny should make clear what he has done to make sure it doesn't happen again; this is different to explaining what he offered to Eskie. I feel sure that Jonny will do the right thing.
In my opinion all reviews should be balanced, with both the positives and negatives justified and explained. It is equally fair for the customer to make clear what was or wasn't done, or offered, to make amends.
I like that people use forums to give the good and bad points of view. If it helps both consumers and companies strive for better results then I’m all for it. I guess in this instance it didn’t help that OP called to rectify the issue whilst Slidepods was on holiday and didn’t get the support he expected from his staff.
T6 Dave's Dad
Member
May I just point out that @Eskie, the OP, was only made aware of the problems when she was informed by the auto electrician who was fitting a fridge to her van. He, the auto electrician, did NOT remedy all of the points that he had reported to the OP, probably only those that he considered to be electrically unsafe such that he felt unable to let the vehicle leave his workshop without rectification for which he received no payment.
Whether the other points have been remedied by @slidepods or by A.N. Other is not clear. As has been said by many others, it is not the fact that things go wrong within a business, rather it is the way things are handled, investigated and dealt with to retain customer confidence and minimise the chances of recurrence that is the difference between good and poor customer service.
Whether the other points have been remedied by @slidepods or by A.N. Other is not clear. As has been said by many others, it is not the fact that things go wrong within a business, rather it is the way things are handled, investigated and dealt with to retain customer confidence and minimise the chances of recurrence that is the difference between good and poor customer service.
Some of you will know and some of you wont that as a business we are little over 2 years old.
In that time we have gone from this small garage workshop.......
To this........
We currently have x5 full time Techs and are recruiting for another full timer and 2 full time office staff. Our lead times for conversion works generally run at 4 to 6 months for most jobs longer than 1 day and we produce in excess of 200 Slidepods annually. We are currently in talks with 2 foreign distributors and the largest domestic retailer of camper accessories and parts is about to start selling our Slidepods. We are making steps to become the first manufacturer of a campervan kitchen pod to carry the CE mark. We have a manufacture process that allows us to manufacture our Slidepods in a choice of over 400 finishes and to your exact specification in around 4 weeks. We genuinely care for every van we do, right through from a clients personalised quote, to job sheets that allow our technicians to allocate stock when the office has ordered it and carry out the exact work the customer has paid for including all appropriate options chosen, along with, signing off work once completed including time allocated / time taken / and counter signature for quality, to designate accountability. Booking in forms and booking in photos are completed to make sure we detail the condition of your pride and joy when you hand it over and so we are accountable if we don't give it back in the same condition. Accidental damage forms so we can pinpoint failings in our systems and working practises and learn from them and give training and rectify systems where needed.
With this rapid growth of our company has come a massive learning curve for me and every member of our team. We strive to constantly improve our skills, offer more varied and better services and improve the way our business works for our customers. Along the way, we have made mistakes (we are human and a small family business not a corporate enterprise). These mistakes are never hidden from our customers and we try to go out of our way to rectify the problems so the end product is great and our customers are happy. We take steps to learn from every single mistake we make. When customers do not allow us to rectify a mistake and then choose to advertise their problems on social media it does make it frustrating, although we understand everyone has the right to voice their opinion.
Do we care?? its 8pm and I'm on here when I should be putting my children to bed because I am being torn apart inside by the review my business has received, at the end of the day we are a family business and reviews like this affect us.
Are we trying to better ourselves constantly??? You bet we are!! I am sad we will lose business over this thread but I am proud of what My team and I have achieved in such a short space of time and you can rest assured we don't take for granted what we do for a living (because we all really love working on vans) and neither do we take for granted a single van that rolls through our workshop door or the quality of each and every Slidepod we send out!
In that time we have gone from this small garage workshop.......
To this........
We currently have x5 full time Techs and are recruiting for another full timer and 2 full time office staff. Our lead times for conversion works generally run at 4 to 6 months for most jobs longer than 1 day and we produce in excess of 200 Slidepods annually. We are currently in talks with 2 foreign distributors and the largest domestic retailer of camper accessories and parts is about to start selling our Slidepods. We are making steps to become the first manufacturer of a campervan kitchen pod to carry the CE mark. We have a manufacture process that allows us to manufacture our Slidepods in a choice of over 400 finishes and to your exact specification in around 4 weeks. We genuinely care for every van we do, right through from a clients personalised quote, to job sheets that allow our technicians to allocate stock when the office has ordered it and carry out the exact work the customer has paid for including all appropriate options chosen, along with, signing off work once completed including time allocated / time taken / and counter signature for quality, to designate accountability. Booking in forms and booking in photos are completed to make sure we detail the condition of your pride and joy when you hand it over and so we are accountable if we don't give it back in the same condition. Accidental damage forms so we can pinpoint failings in our systems and working practises and learn from them and give training and rectify systems where needed.
With this rapid growth of our company has come a massive learning curve for me and every member of our team. We strive to constantly improve our skills, offer more varied and better services and improve the way our business works for our customers. Along the way, we have made mistakes (we are human and a small family business not a corporate enterprise). These mistakes are never hidden from our customers and we try to go out of our way to rectify the problems so the end product is great and our customers are happy. We take steps to learn from every single mistake we make. When customers do not allow us to rectify a mistake and then choose to advertise their problems on social media it does make it frustrating, although we understand everyone has the right to voice their opinion.
Do we care?? its 8pm and I'm on here when I should be putting my children to bed because I am being torn apart inside by the review my business has received, at the end of the day we are a family business and reviews like this affect us.
Are we trying to better ourselves constantly??? You bet we are!! I am sad we will lose business over this thread but I am proud of what My team and I have achieved in such a short space of time and you can rest assured we don't take for granted what we do for a living (because we all really love working on vans) and neither do we take for granted a single van that rolls through our workshop door or the quality of each and every Slidepod we send out!
I don't need a Slidepod at the moment Jonny, but your integrity and honesty would give the confidence to buy one if I did.
The challenge for you now, at this stage of your business, is to make sure your team match your own very high standards. This is the challenge of any business, but especially so when it is in expansion mode.
Thankyou @DPS
I honestly believe that our team is one of the best in the industry. They constantly give more than I ask and go out of their way for our customers. I am proud and lucky to work with each and every one of them every day! I would choose to go stack the shelves in Lidl over what I do if it ment I could continue working with my team!
I honestly believe that our team is one of the best in the industry. They constantly give more than I ask and go out of their way for our customers. I am proud and lucky to work with each and every one of them every day! I would choose to go stack the shelves in Lidl over what I do if it ment I could continue working with my team!
This was a bit of a surprise thread to read having heard only good reviews from @slidepods.
I have nothing to do with either the op or slide pods but have a few points to make;
Gash work is gash work, something that should be avoided by companies taking thousands of pounds from customers. I’m sure slidepods will never let a van out with the terrible finishes seen on this van again. Be it someone checking someone’s work or something else. I have converted three vans and in my opinion have high standards, I see things in my van and other vans that I wouldn’t be happy with if I was to convert another. I will not doing the same mistakes again.
Terrible work on electrics should be avoided. The attitude of ‘its only 12v’ is not a good one. I’m not saying that this is the attitude here, but some of the results say otherwise. I’ve heard several stories of van companies taking thousands of pounds to carry out a conversion and doing the same mistakes. Cables not through grommets is totally unacceptable, not routing the cables correctly is unacceptable, not terminating them, labelling them incorrectly, not earthing the fridge. These are all very very basic skills that anyone who fits electrics to their van should know. I hope the person who carried out the electric install here has been educated in his errors.
Forums are a funny place to express your opinions but like arseholes, everyone has one. Slidepods will be upset with this review and will not let it happen again, if they do, well...... The op will be more upset that the dream camper van she wanted has had such a bumpy birth.
It sounds as though it has been rectified and I hope the op can start to use the van she wanted!
I have nothing to do with either the op or slide pods but have a few points to make;
Gash work is gash work, something that should be avoided by companies taking thousands of pounds from customers. I’m sure slidepods will never let a van out with the terrible finishes seen on this van again. Be it someone checking someone’s work or something else. I have converted three vans and in my opinion have high standards, I see things in my van and other vans that I wouldn’t be happy with if I was to convert another. I will not doing the same mistakes again.
Terrible work on electrics should be avoided. The attitude of ‘its only 12v’ is not a good one. I’m not saying that this is the attitude here, but some of the results say otherwise. I’ve heard several stories of van companies taking thousands of pounds to carry out a conversion and doing the same mistakes. Cables not through grommets is totally unacceptable, not routing the cables correctly is unacceptable, not terminating them, labelling them incorrectly, not earthing the fridge. These are all very very basic skills that anyone who fits electrics to their van should know. I hope the person who carried out the electric install here has been educated in his errors.
Forums are a funny place to express your opinions but like arseholes, everyone has one. Slidepods will be upset with this review and will not let it happen again, if they do, well...... The op will be more upset that the dream camper van she wanted has had such a bumpy birth.
It sounds as though it has been rectified and I hope the op can start to use the van she wanted!
Not quite sure what you mean by 'Forums are a funny place to express your opinions'. Isn't this why the Forum exists??
Personally I value everyone's opinion about wheels, tyres, suspension, roofs, beds, splitters, audio, travel, camping, different vans, and conversion companies. Good or bad, I really appreciate and value them. Nothing funny about that at all.
Not really what I meant. I’m an avid climber and use another forum for climbing stuff. It’s very hard going most of the time and generally full of trolls and people trying to blow their own ego’s up with how hard they can climb or how easy they find a route. This forum I feel is different as it’s mostly full of good people and as you said, I listen to people’s opinions and take their advice. I’ve gotten a load of good stuff off here. I don’t know if you use any other forums at all but they are very different.
Eskie
Member
I wrote my review and tried not to be too emotional and to give a balanced view. I have been wanting to write it for months but have been putting it off because I know how much support Slidepods has on this forum which did make me reluctant and that is why the support has meant so much to me.
It has been hell. Jonny’s apologies have tended to be along the lines of ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’, not really what I’d consider an apology! This could have been handled so much better by Jonny being on the ball, talking to Brett immediately and finding out what went wrong. Ultimately what has happened has happened and I just want people to be aware of my experience rather then just seeing the good ones as I did. I am delighted that people have had a good experience with them - I just wish that I had too!
It has been hell. Jonny’s apologies have tended to be along the lines of ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’, not really what I’d consider an apology! This could have been handled so much better by Jonny being on the ball, talking to Brett immediately and finding out what went wrong. Ultimately what has happened has happened and I just want people to be aware of my experience rather then just seeing the good ones as I did. I am delighted that people have had a good experience with them - I just wish that I had too!
This post sums up my thoughts nicely,
The OP, Eskie, was right to post and the supplier has had an opportunity to reply, and like DPS, I also sense honesty and integrity in his response.
It’s sad but a reality that things don’t always go well, the key is the response.. from all of the team all the time, not just when the boss is around
If there was an ebay style grading, then from other threads on here, Johnny would probably have negligible poor seller ratings against a raft of excellent ones. Looked at that way, it’d probably not bother me as a buyer to see the odd red flag against high volume sales.
In my humble opinion, if I was in the market for something like a Slidepod etc, then I’d judge that Johnny and his team would not dare recreate similar shoddy work and I’d be happy to proceed. I’d be eagle eyed at collection time though.
I hope that the OP is able to enjoy her van, and that Slidepods thrive through producing high quality work.
Great thread folks
I've heard a lot of good things about Slidepods and many people seem to be very happy with the service they have received.
But, it's very hard - if not impossible - to grow and expand a business and not have some issues at some stage, but that doesn't mean they are all bad people and are no longer able to do good work. The OP (@Eskie) is someone who unfortunately had a bad experience and the best thing slidepods can do is to put their hands up to a quality issue and rectify it.
In the meanwhile, let's not get the pitchforks and ropes out for the messenger - good on her for sharing her experience for the benefit of others.
But, it's very hard - if not impossible - to grow and expand a business and not have some issues at some stage, but that doesn't mean they are all bad people and are no longer able to do good work. The OP (@Eskie) is someone who unfortunately had a bad experience and the best thing slidepods can do is to put their hands up to a quality issue and rectify it.
In the meanwhile, let's not get the pitchforks and ropes out for the messenger - good on her for sharing her experience for the benefit of others.
