Up-Rating The Hard Way

[Kingham]

@Parapilot Thanks for sharing your experience and I really do hope you get sorted soon.
This is not a criticism and I appreciate you were probably waiting to get a resolution, but would I have preferred to see your account before making my decision on which company to use ? You bet I would and it shows why we should never be deterred from sharing our experiences on the forum, be they good or bad.

Mistakes happen, we are all human, but as has been mentioned a few times in this thread, it is how we respond to and rectify those mistakes that makes the difference in the end.

In November, my power supplier EDF fitted 'smart' meters at my home and when they wouldn't connect their engineer told me a booster would solve the problem. Several emails later I found out EDF don't do boosters and I wasn't happy at being misled. I got a full written apology and a £25 credit to my account as a gesture.
I'm still with EDF and happy to remain so.

I moaned on here about an Amazon Prime delivery that went wrong last month and I ended up ringing customer services. I got a full apology and my Prime account extended as a gesture. When that item/seller came back on to their system, I had the confidence to order it again.
It went wrong again and I emailed a further complaint, which resulted in another apology and a personal assurance that the matter would be resolved to my satisfaction. It was only a £28 order which has now turned up, but Amazon put a full refund in to my account.

I appreciate these are massive companies compared to JRC and can afford such financial gestures, but the financial side was just the icing on the cake and not necessary.
Both examples show how customer service should be done, admitting to their mistakes, unreservedly apologising for them, doing their best to resolve them and have left me with a positive experience of both companies even after things have gone wrong.

 

[Stretto Boy]

Exactly Kingham, that really is the point that you, I and others have been making but it doesn't seem to register in some quarters. The first of my posts of 5.48pm and 6.49pm last Saurday was replied to by @Minxy Girl saying that I "blatantly wanted JR to lose business" and for "Funsters to suffer". What complete and utter nonsense! I merely pointed out that the publicity on here would cost JR more than the cost of having treated you properly in the first place. That is surely little more than a statement of the obvious. As for wanting Funsters to suffer, well I really am totally lost for words. Why on earth would I want that? How do they suffer by making informed decisions based on feed-back from those who have used a service? There have, unsurprisingly, been good and bad reports on here, as you would expect. Look at the reviews on TripAdvisor for reviews of top-notch restaurants and amongst the great number of excellent ratings you will often find one or two terrible ones. My impression of JR, based solely on the comments on here from those that have used him, is that he is a nice chap, he usually gets it right, his prices are very reasonable BUT if things go wrong then, for whatever reason, he has difficulty in admitting his mistakes and is prone to blaming the customer. Kingham is seemingly not the only one to have experienced this. I shall now go and put my tin hat on, in readiness for some more flak from @Minxy Girl !

 

[Sue]

Exactly Kingham, that really is the point that you, I and others have been making but it doesn't seem to register in some quarters. The first of my posts of 5.48pm and 6.49pm last Saurday was replied to by @Minxy Girl saying that I "blatantly wanted JR to lose business" and for "Funsters to suffer". What complete and utter nonsense! I merely pointed out that the publicity on here would cost JR more than the cost of having treated you properly in the first place. That is surely little more than a statement of the obvious. As for wanting Funsters to suffer, well I really am totally lost for words. Why on earth would I want that? How do they suffer by making informed decisions based on feed-back from those who have used a service? There have, unsurprisingly, been good and bad reports on here, as you would expect. Look at the reviews on TripAdvisor for reviews of top-notch restaurants and amongst the great number of excellent ratings you will often find one or two terrible ones. My impression of JR, based solely on the comments on here from those that have used him, is that he is a nice chap, he usually gets it right, his prices are very reasonable BUT if things go wrong then, for whatever reason, he has difficulty in admitting his mistakes and is prone to blaming the customer. Kingham is seemingly not the only one to have experienced this. I shall now go and put my tin hat on, in readiness for some more flak from @Minxy Girl !

Why is @minky Girl. getting such flak she has used JC , as have I. We both had good experiences with him. He's a decent guy, who gets it right most of the time. It's always frustrating when things go wrong and an apology always helps, but it's good to see both good and bad reviews, as you say. For my part..the man did well

 

[Kingham]

........My impression of JR, based solely on the comments on here from those that have used him, is that he is a nice chap, he usually gets it right, his prices are very reasonable BUT if things go wrong then, for whatever reason, he has difficulty in admitting his mistakes and is prone to blaming the customer.........

That sentiment sums up my feelings perfectly and rather than looking at the negative aspects, if JR continues to be a nice chap who usually gets it right, but builds on his quality checks and customer service attitude, he will be in a far stronger place and will be a formidable competitor to SV Tech.

 

[Stretto Boy]

That sentiment sums up my feelings perfectly and rather than looking at the negative aspects, if JR continues to be a nice chap who usually gets it right, but builds on his quality checks and customer service attitude, he will be in a far stronger place and will be a formidable competitor to SV Tech.

Spot on @Kingham. This is an opportunity for JR to build on his generally good reputation, address his failings (we ALL have them : I certainly do) and move forward. It would be good to think that, at some time in the future, we will get rave reviews from Funsters praising JR for how he treated them when the inevitable mistakes occur (we are all human). I suspect many more of us will then be beating a path to his door. Result happiness all round!

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[Kingham]

Why is @minky Girl. getting such flak she has used JC , as have I. We both had good experiences with him. He's a decent guy, who gets it right most of the time. It's always frustrating when things go wrong and an apology always helps, but it's good to see both good and bad reviews, as you say. For my part..the man did well

Sue, you're correct, it is always good to see both good and bad reviews, but from the beginning of this thread and whether it was her intention or not, Minxy has subtly gone against the principle of being allowed to post negative experiences and it is that aspect that I think may have ruffled a few feathers.
I felt early on that Minxy was of the opinion that my account was not wholly accurate, although it was not stated as such and that I have been unfair to JRC by letting others know of my experience.

Stretto Boy was then accused of wanting to cost JRC money because he supported my right to post my experience and factually mentioned what negative publicity could do !

 

[Minxy]

@Stretto Boy I'm actually not that bothered, I've said all I'm going to about Kingham's experience and how I found JRC's services, which others have found too, ie a good service at a very reasonable price. So we now have a second person having some difficulties ... out of the number of those that I know of who have used his services this is a very small number, not good for those involved, but nonetheless shouldn't be taken out of proportion. Others have had problems with SVTech but I don't see anyone making the same level of negative comments about them as they have with JRC.

I would just like to add one further comment though regarding the experience of @Parapilot - John had his email account hacked and did lose a load of stuff and had to set up a new account which I know he's had some difficulty with too, which may help to explain why some of the emails etc have gone astray/got lost, this wasn't just his 'up-plating' email address, but the company's address so I'm sure you can imagine the extreme problems which will have caused ... not an excuse but a possible explanation for part of the issues being experienced.

@Stretto Boy ... Flak warning! I've gone back and re-read your first posting to which I replied ... there's no point in me repeating it all here however what I don't understand is why you've NOW chosen to have 'a go' at me about it and not at the time I posted ... all I can gleam from this is that you now want to jump on the band wagon again (whatever weight it is!) so you might want to keep wearing your tin had in case you fall off ... they don't offer much protection though.

 

[Stretto Boy]

Why is @minky Girl. getting such flak

Perhaps for making such utterly ridiculous comments as accusing me of wanting Funsters to suffer? I'm still scratching my head over that one. I have read my earlier post that produced that reaction backwards, upside down and translated into Serbo-Croat and I still fail to see how that conclusion can possibly be arrived at.

 

[Minxy]

Sue, you're correct, it is always good to see both good and bad reviews, but from the beginning of this thread and whether it was her intention or not, Minxy has subtly gone against the principle of being allowed to post negative experiences and it is that aspect that I think may have ruffled a few feathers.
I felt early on that Minxy was of the opinion that my account was not wholly accurate, although it was not stated as such and that I have been unfair to JRC by letting others know of my experience.

Stretto Boy was then accused of wanting to cost JRC money because he supported my right to post my experience and factually mentioned what negative publicity could do !

I was writing my earlier response to Stretto Boy's 'tin hat' posting whilst you and others were posting and had not intended to continue on this thread however seeing as I'm being 'singled out' I shall.

@Kingham ... What I found unfortunate wasn't your posting your experience but the way it was then 'added to' with further negative comments - you don't know what JRC was actually thinking/doing but chose to put a negative slant on it ... then others decided to jump on your comments and make their own WITHOUT any experience of JRC. I have no problem with people posting their experiences but when it is then was turning into what seemed to me to be a bit of a 'gang kicking' it became IMV unhelpful and out of proportion as I mentioned in previous posts.

I'll now go see if there have been any other posts while I've been writing this!

 

[Minxy]

Perhaps for making such utterly ridiculous comments as accusing me of wanting Funsters to suffer? I'm still scratching my head over that one. I have read my earlier post that produced that reaction backwards, upside down and translated into Serbo-Croat and I still fail to see how that conclusion can possibly be arrived at.

If my comments are so utterly ridiculous then why are you even paying attention to them?

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[Stretto Boy]

@Stretto Boy ... Flak warning! I've gone back and re-read your first posting to which I replied ... there's no point in me repeating it all here however what I don't understand is why you've NOW chosen to have 'a go' at me about it and not at the time I posted ... all I can gleam from this is that you now want to jump on the band wagon again (whatever weight it is!) so you might want to keep wearing your tin had in case you fall off ... they don't offer much protection though.

I've got a motorcycle helmet, if that would be more effective! I don't have to respond immediately every time do I? It's not "having a go" so much as defending myself against an unwarranted attack on me, as I think is apparent to anyone who looks at what I said and your response to it. Anyway, can we please call a truce? If we ever meet up, I'll happily buy you a pint (as long as it isn't Champagne!) and I'm sure we'll get on fine. I do hope so because I'm sure we both want to put the FUN back in FUNster! In seeking a truce, I don't wish to be seen to be highjacking the final word so over to you if you wish.

 

[Deleted member 29692]

From the start I was told my vehicle couldn't be uprated, then after showing him an email from SVTech stating that they had done several of them, it was suddenly fine and he thought I meant something completely different ....

I think that sums up the main difference between JR and SV Tech perfectly.

If you know exactly what you need to do, the full details of your vehicle, what weights you can achieve, how to go about achieving them and just need someone to do the paperwork then JR is fine but he doesn't have the motorhome specific knowledge to be able to offer advice or give you options. Not his fault, he's probably not done that many motorhomes.

If you don't know what your options are, need advice as to what you can do, how to go about it and basically need to be walked through the process then SV Tech are by far the better choice. Their experience has given them a pretty much encyclopaedic knowledge of motorhome makes and models and what you can do to them.

 

[Minxy]

I've got a motorcycle helmet, if that would be more effective! I don't have to respond immediately every time do I? It's not "having a go" so much as defending myself against an unwarranted attack on me, as I think is apparent to anyone who looks at what I said and your response to it.

Anyway, can we please call a truce? If we ever meet up, I'll happily buy you a pint (as long as it isn't Champagne!) and I'm sure we'll get on fine. I do hope so because I'm sure we both want to put the FUN back in FUNster! In seeking a truce, I don't wish to be seen to be highjacking the final word so over to you if you wish.

...

 

[Kingham]

@Minxy Girl I appreciate your feedback and you're absolutely correct that I made my comments without knowing what John was thinking or doing, as I said in my initial post, I received my corrected certificate without offer of apology or explanation, so I could only factually report that (whatever the reason) he wasn't doing his job properly.

It's that lack of customer service that has compounded the problem and had John explained what had gone wrong, I don't think we would be where we are now.

 

[Minxy]

@Minxy Girl I appreciate your feedback and you're absolutely correct that I made my comments without knowing what John was thinking or doing, as I said in my initial post, I received my corrected certificate without offer of apology or explanation, so I could only factually report that (whatever the reason) he wasn't doing his job properly.

It's that lack of customer service that has compounded the problem and had John explained what had gone wrong, I don't think we would be where we are now.

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[Teuchter]

Hostility? That's very unfair ... I have MY opinion just as others have theirs, I have no control over what they say, so to then imply that I have led them IS offensive to me, whether you mean it to be or not.

What about the OP and the subsequent IMV 'bashing' by some of JRC on the back of it, simply because of what he said? They've commented afterwards but he certainly didn't make them, no more than I have ... very surprise at you T for your comments.

I'm truly sorry that you feel it is offensive it really was not meant to be - honestly - however on re-reading my post I think I can see "where you're coming from"

When I say "led by you" - I did not mean that you were "leading the attack" what I meant was the "defence" of the supplier was started by you then others then weighed in with their comments and the whole thread became confrontational - support the OP or support the supplier

Once again I'm sorry if I have offended you - it was not my intention

 

[Minxy]

Once again I'm sorry if I have offended you - it was not my intention

 

[androidGB]

Putting aside the "attacks" that did or didn't happen in this thread, I found the original post worthwhile and Informative.

It was only through posts like this and from those expressing the opposite that when as a newcomer to motorhoming I discovered companies like Vanbitz, Watling Towbars , Peter Hambilton and dare I say SVTech.

Not one I hasten to add sells their services based on price, but all who give superb service

It really is one of the most important aspect of forum life

Andrew

 

[Cavs]

I think that sums up the main difference between JR and SV Tech perfectly.

If you know exactly what you need to do, the full details of your vehicle, what weights you can achieve, how to go about achieving them and just need someone to do the paperwork then JR is fine but he doesn't have the motorhome specific knowledge to be able to offer advice or give you options. Not his fault, he's probably not done that many motorhomes.

If you don't know what your options are, need advice as to what you can do, how to go about it and basically need to be walked through the process then SV Tech are by far the better choice. Their experience has given them a pretty much encyclopaedic knowledge of motorhome makes and models and what you can do to them.

our MH also had an uplating of the GTW, as well as the GVW, something SVTech said wasn't achievable

It's interesting that these two quotes give me opposite messages. I was also told by SVTech that my GTW could not be increased, which I thought was odd because other similar vehicles/chassis have a higher GTW than mine.

 

[Cavs]

There are some interesting comments this thread about whether to report adverse experiences. I had one with an organisation that is very highly regarded on here. I'm quite prepared to be in a minority of one, but I decided not to report the unprofessional, bad-tempered performance that damaged my van. Should I have done so?

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[Stretto Boy]

View attachment 164563 View attachment 164565 ...



View attachment 164566

Thank you for letting me off so lightly My wife wouldn't have I think my pension pot will just stretch to a cupcake and a glass of wine I hope this doesn't count as me having the last word after all, else I'm in trouble Then again I am up against a Yorkshire lass, so no chance of that

 

[jessthedog]

@Minxy Girl Is that the sign for the JR website page?



You've got to have a laugh or we all end up crying
Welcome back from your holiday, it's been quiet on FUN

 

[JockandRita]

It's interesting that these two quotes give me opposite messages. I was also told by SVTech that my GTW could not be increased, which I thought was odd because other similar vehicles/chassis have a higher GTW than mine.

Which is where I was coming from. I have since been led to believe, that the limitation figures previously placed upon the ALKO tandem chassis fitted to our MH, (when I inquired with SVTech some years ago) have since been increased, and applied retrospectively, without any modifications to either brakes, suspension, or wheel size.

Should I have done so?

I would rather that you did report it @Cavs, especially if negotiations with the organisation to put things right failed.
I'd rather be informed/pre-warned myself, and would much appreciate it, than have to find out the hard way.

Cheers,

Jock.

 

[webby1]

Well @Cavs you certainly should be able to report bad experience/service on here but I can see why you are reluctant. Posters really should be able to say "this is what happened to me" full stop without them passing judgement or being judged.................it's just information. (Except in the case of ACSI

I would hate to have the same experience only to be told that the same thing had happened to half a dozen other members.

 

[eddie]

@Kingham - your saga has gone way more smoothly than mine !

4 months on and I am still sending back emails, with PDF scans of documents highlighting all the errors and omissions that are utterly unacceptable and inexplicable (even for a cheaper service than SV Tech). Still waiting for something I can actually send to DVLA before I start on any messing around from them.

From the start I was told my vehicle couldn't be uprated, then after showing him an email from SVTech stating that they had done several of them, it was suddenly fine and he thought I meant something completely different ....

Emails kept going 'missing', as did photographs and other documents I sent. When they were referenced in replies it was blamed on 'his clerk' misplacing them or not putting them on his desk.

Eventually I received documents with incorrect weights recorded.

Then a design certificate unsigned and not dated (like yours).

Then a digit missing from the VIN number.

Registration numbers changed on the covering letter, making it different to the invoice and other docs.

Often 2 weeks or more between sending emails and getting any form of reply.


I'm sure others have had positive experiences and maybe there are personal or other reasons for the current difficulties. Yes it is less than half the cost of alternative providers, but still no excuse for a professional service - typing a few numbers and printing them out on 3 pages !
No excuse for so many errors or delays of 4 months for what is essentially 10 minutes work.

Not condemning anyone, just recounting my experience (which seems to match Ken's). I'll be happy when it is finally resolved but others may wish to consider paying more from elsewhere - particularly if they need correct documents issued quickly.

Oooooooooo! You'll be in trouble as well now lol

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[Parapilot]

I decided not to report the unprofessional, bad-tempered performance that damaged my van. Should I have done so?

Definitely - it all helps make an informed choice as everyone's experience will be slightly different.

I went with JR after reading Minxygirls original informative post about uprating (alternatives to SVTech) so expected to do a little more of the paperwork myself. The service so far has been so shockingly inept (inexcusable mistakes and delays) that I thought there must be reasons such as illness or personal problems behind it, so didn't post on here until I read Ken's account.

Mine was a simple summation of axle weights, no modifications, just the rear axle increased to original Mercedes spec from the lower Hymer figure - a 5 minute job that has taken almost 5 months from initial contact.

Still waiting for a response from JR but will update when there is progress.

 

[Kingham]

........Should I have done so?

It is always your right to do so, but for goodness sake start a new thread

 

[Parapilot]

for goodness sake start a new thread

Sorry Ken - thought it was relevant to add.

 

[Kingham]

Sorry Ken - thought it was relevant to add.

Which is a perfect example of not being able to look someone in the eye when we make a comment and suss the subtlety of someone's mood, then reading into something that wasn't intended.

Your post was both welcome and very relevant as it was about the same company and very similar issues, my tongue in cheek comment about starting a new thread was only aimed at @Cavs who I believe has issues with another company.

Hope that makes sense

 

[Parapilot]

Mini Update:

After a week of no response to my emails I called JR today to check they had received them. First time I have spoken to John, who didn't sound young or in particularly good health.

After stating he had had a busy week, he eventually said he had received my emails and "my job was scheduled for Monday". Not sure if he knows it is a Bank Holiday or that the 'job' was just to print the correct vin number / reg, and sign the thing ?

Certainly no apology or even acknowledgement that this simple printout has taken over 4 months now. Hopefully he might finally get it right next week so I can begin the real hassle with DVLA .....

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