Truck Decals & Advertising, the builder's only real concern

Misplaced Focus

One would think that when a manufacturer produces a product that has as many flaws as our truck had, one that's been riddled with one serious issue after another, they would be focused on only one thing. The complete and total satisfaction of the customer, no matter the cost. But I guess that just isn't the case for some.

Whether it was because our builder knew we had skills, and would fix all the screw ups ourselves, or because we didn't live in America and were therefore of little consequence, his usual response when we informed them about another problem was simply, "Thanks for letting us know". No offer to fix it, no offer of where we could take it close by to get it fixed, and no offer of compensation if we fixed it ourselves… absolutely nothing.

So when we were in Washington State at the Cummins dealer getting the constantly failing boilers looked at, the builder (who had flown in to be there) asked me to step aside with him for a conversation. I figured he wanted to express his regret for all the problems his company had caused us, or to offer us something to make up for the lost time and use of our truck. But no, all he wanted to talk about was why we removed his advertising decals from the truck. He was absolutely obsessed with them.

The back story

When the truck was being built, we informed the builder that we didn't want any decals on the truck when it was finished. But when we arrived to take delivery of the vehicle, it had decals on the sides, along with plastic badges, and mudflats with their logo and name all over them. We reminded them of our request to not have advertising on the truck, to which the builder launched into a long winded and condescending narrative about why it's mandatory for us to have them. The forcefulness of his commentary bordered on abusive, and at one point his wife/business partner reached over to touch his shoulder as if to say, "Dial it back, buddy." But he shrugged her off and continued. By the time he was done, Wendy and I were speechless. Here was a vendor raving at his customer. It was completely beyond our experience.

Although staff were still doing things to the truck to try and clear up the deficiencies, I was of the mind to go out to the truck, start it up, and drive it away unfinished, leaving them with the unpaid balance owing. But we didn't. I took a minute to think about what, and how he said it, and decided to de-escalte the situation. We paid up and drove away with the decals on. But they weren't on for long. A few days later we found a nice quiet, sunny spot off the main highway somewhere in Wyoming, and spent a delightful hour removing all the decals, badges and mudflaps.

More Raving

Back in Washington, standing fifteen feet away from the group beside our truck, this builder starts in once again about why we must have the decals on the truck, and wanted to know why we would deliberately try to hurt his company by removing all his advertising. Think about that for a minute. We've had two years of absolute misery with his product, and all he's concerned about are his stupid decals.

Once again I expressed our position, which had remained unchanged from the day we took delivery of the truck. We didn't want decals on our truck. Period.  It’s our right, after all. We paid full price for the build. We didn’t get any discount or sponsorship from the builder, and as such, were under no obligation, contractual or otherwise, to have the builder's name and website address on our truck.

I explained that if things were different, and we were satisfied beyond words with our build, then perhaps we might reconsider. But we certainly haven’t been satisfied in even the smallest way. The builder tried to make a case that we still had Volvo’s name on the truck cab, therefore we should have his company name on the box. But his argument had a big flaw. We bought a standard "off the shelf" product from Volvo, of their design. With the builder, however, we ordered a custom built camper made to our unique specifications. We provided them with our own design, and we even supplied the truck chassis on which to build. So for the builder to claim that the truck should have his name on it was completely without merit.

The builder continued his discourse about how the decals and brand name would benefit us in the future when we wanted to sell our truck, and that any contribution to his company by us of our knowledge and experience from three decades of manufacturing, would surely make his product, and therefore his company name, even better. He also argued that having his company advertising on the truck would ensure that they'd always take a vested interest in our truck, and keep it in top operating condition.

I pointed out the fact that their track record to date, and our truck's operating condition contradicted his previous statement, and that they seemed to take little interest in our truck even when they still believed it to have the advertising decals attached. It was at this point that the builder launched into a verbal attack where he hurled at me every conceivable insult he could muster in an attempt to intimidate me, and when this verbal assault didn’t change my mind, he made a statement that, along with his body language, could only be interpreted one way… a physical threat against my person.

It was at that point that I walked away from him and back to the group at our truck. Fortunately for us, members of the group were watching and listening to all that transpired, and spoke to us afterwards about how shocking it was.

All this because of some stupid decals.

If you ever start talking with an expedition truck builder about a project, ask them if they did the Foster's Volvo truck build. If they say yes, take our advise and run for the exit. If they say no, get it in writing in case you find out they're lying to you the way they did to us on so many occasions.