Builder Deception

When we first spoke to the body builder about building a truck for us, the owners told us in very certain terms that their trucks were only built with wall, ceiling and floor sandwich panels that were manufactured in Europe, and then shipped over to the U.S.  They went on and on about how a number of American manufacturers wanted the builder to buy from them, but because every U.S. panel manufacturer was at least ten years behind the Europeans in technology and quality of product, they wouldn’t do business with them.  The owners continued on at length (mostly I expect because they knew we had been over to Europe to talk with builders there) to assure us beyond doubt that their panels were built in the exact same factory as those of Unicat in Germany and Action Mobil in Austria.  That if we went over to Europe and into that factory, we would see orders on the floor from our builder right alongside those of the two Euro builders.  It was this assurance of Euro-built sandwich panels above all else that finally convinced us to contract a build with Global Expedition Vehicles.

Imagine our surprise when we went to the builder for the repair of our de-laminated outer wall skin, and learned that the wall panels on our truck were not made in the same factory as those of the aforementioned Euro-builders.  Imagine our shock when we learned that our panels weren't even manufactured in Europe, but instead by Martel Panels Inc. just outside Thomasville, Georgia, USA. The builder had lied to us right from the onset, and tried to keep it all a secret.

Even when we were at the builder's to get the wall fixed, and were talking with the two individuals who came from the panel maker to investigate why the wall had de-laminated, the builder went out of his way to try and prevent us from learning where the two men had come from. We were expecting people with European accents, but instead met two men with American southern drawl accents. That hit home like a sledge hammer.

Since the owners weren't around, we challenged the builder's engineer about where the panels were manufactured. His response was a feeble attempt to connect the panels with Europe by saying that the materials were manufactured in the E.U., but the panels were “assembled” in Georgia.  So even the builder's employees are complicit in the deception that they use panels made in Europe. This deception is tantamount to fraud.  Deception which the builder attempted to hide from us by instructing the men from the panel maker to withhold information about their company. It was a clear attempt to hide the fact that our wall panels did not come from Europe. Unfortunately for the builder, a slip of the tongue by one of those men let us learn exactly what company made our panels.

Up to now, we had believed that the reason the wall de-laminated was because of the body mount failure. You see, when the mounts failed, the box smashed down onto the rear driver's side tires. We thought that the impact must have stressed the wall causing the de-lamination. But this new information about where our panels were made sheds new light on the possibilities of why the wall panel on our truck de-laminated. Especially since we have learned that there is another truck in Colorado, made by our builder, that also has an outer skin de-lamination.  It also explains why our wall panels have grooves, creases and many other surface imperfections in them, and our friend's Austrian made Action Mobil XRS 7200 does not.

I suppose this is what you get these days. Like so many other things, the old concept of a handshake being all that's needed to trust someone to do what they promise appears to be extinct. A stupid blunder on our part of not having it written into the contract document about where the wall panels would be manufactured provided the builder with an opportunity to commit a breach of trust, and get away with it. A mistake by us to be sure. A really big mistake!

Hopefully, by reading this, you won’t make the same mistake we did by choosing this builder.