Van Specialties Inc

Choosing Van Specialties (VS) was the BIGGEST mistake I could have ever made with my new MB 4x4 Sprinter. I worked with VS for over a year on an $85,000 conversion so I'm speaking from vast (nightmarish) experience here. Due to a 5,000 character review limit I'm going to attempt to distill it down to the highlights (leaving out DOZENS of other minor/intermediate issues). Initially I was planning to leave a 2-star review...but given recent developments there is no possible way I could rationalize such generosity (there's your cliffhanger motivation to read on till the end). Also: you can read my FULL review over on VS's Facebook page. VS scratched and dented the rear doors of my BRAND NEW van when installing the Aluminess spare tire holder and storage box. They never informed me about the damage, I discovered it on my own a few days after delivery. I paid $1400 for a custom pull out tray for the garage area of my van. VS was clearly informed of what would be stored on the tray as well as an OVERestimation of the weight it would need to bear. Despite that (and due to one of the worst instal jobs I've ever seen) the tray failed in about two weeks time. They used cheap/flimsy slide tracks and couldn't even manage to instal them straight. This combo led to the failure. VS informed me that it would be an easy fix and that they'd "expedite" the repair on my next stop through the Portland, OR area. In reality though they ended up wasting another 3 days of my time (meaning: they had my van for 3 ENTIRE days) and STILL didn't completely fix it. It can now bear the originally specified weight but the bolts they used to attach the supports dig into the bottom of the tray and are actively pulling the wooden tray apart each time it is used. VS installed my $2000 Isotherm fridge in the galley cabinet with inadequate ventilation. This became clear after the unit struggled to keep food cold even in moderate 80F temps. After they reinstalled the unit with ventilation closer to specifications the door hinge failed (due to how the unit was remounted). I received a new fridge from Isotherm on warrantee, reinstalled it myself, and had to custom design/instal support brackets for both the door hinge and guide to keep them from failing again. After just 10 months my water pump failed. I investigated (with generous assistance from the folks at Pentair/Shurflo) and discovered that the issue was caused by a shoddy wiring job (one of the wires was loose). It took me over an hour just to ACCESS the pump. VS decided it was a good idea to completely bury the pump...requiring full removal of the 3 panel bed, storage tray contents, and the 5' long water box in order to perform even the most basic pump maintenance. In other words: there is no access door to reach the pump. After the water pump ordeal I took a closer look at my battery box. The situation is similar but far worse. My batteries, solar charger, and much of the wiring are completely ENTOMBED in a box with no access door or cover. Meaning: in order to access the battery system (even for the most basic maintenance) I'm literally going to have to remove the bed, remove the bench seat/couch, uninstall my inverter and other equipment, remove various garage wall mounts, and then remove the entire 5' battery box (which is siliconed to the wall in an apparently lazy effort to keep water from leaking onto the batteries). After just 13 months I discovered a major problem with my $6500 Espar system: antifreeze had been slowly leaking from the unit for weeks/months while soaking into the wood of my galley cabinet. After hours of research I discovered the source of the problem: VS (against Rixens Enterprises Inc. specifications) had elected to use cheap crimp clamps on the hoses rather than adjustable worm clamps. The leak was coming from a crimp clamp connection and immediately stopped once I replaced it with the recommended worm clamp (much easier said than done). Saving the best for last though: After just 1.5 years one of my 10 X 36 slider windows began leaking (more like GUSHING) water into my van. The windows were bought from RB Components but were shipped to VS for instal. Not wanting to have anything to do with the folks at VS (ever again) I franticly called the folks at RB Components to see if they could help me diagnose and (at least temporarily) fix this urgent problem. They graciously did so while spending over an hour on the phone with me. Turned out to be more of the same. VS cut corners once again...failing to use any silicone sealant (and who knows what else) and therefore directly contributed to the early demise of the window instal integrity. Do yourself a gigantic favor and take a hard pass on this utterly reprehensible business...

AN UTTERLY DISSAPOINTING EXPERIENCE WITH VAN SPECIALTIES, PLUS THEY LIE We will never do business with Van Specialties again, and are writing this to let others know who are considering them that whatever you agree to with them will turn into whatever they want to do and when you show up they will act as if it is fait accompli, the customer is not always right with them. Plus, they LIE and charge for work they do not do. We went to Van Specialties about adding a solar panel to the roof of our Sprinter van. The van has a full size mesh bottom roof rack that has 2 fans, an AC unit, and a solar shower tank so space was limited. “L” spoke with us, and we went out and measured the space we had at the front of the van roof rack for a solar panel. Back inside “L” looked up in a catalog what could fit and said that a 145 Watt panel would work. He gave us an estimate of $1550 for doing all the install work plus the panel and controller. Two weeks later we went back and said we wanted to discuss scheduling the work but we also had a couple other things we wanted done. The bed rails had a single broken screw so we wanted to get the whole bed rail reinforced with RIVNUTS, capitalized due to what happened later. We also wanted some new L-Trak installed to connect some soft sided luggage cabinets on the walls, also reinforced with RIVNUTS. “L” and “R” both looked over the van and we discussed all the work in detail to be done. “R” went up on the roof and measured the space again. “R” told us that the roof rack rails could shade the panel so they would use risers of some kind for the attachment so that the panel would be at the same height as the rails- great idea. “R” provided us a quote for $3550 for all the work and gave us a paper copy. The solar panel work went from the original verbal estimate of $1550 to now $2390, but we agreed to the new price for everything. We scheduled the work to be done at their earliest opening, two weeks later. We returned at the scheduled date and “L” told us that he did not think the 145 Watt panel had been ordered (even though we had scheduled this 2 weeks ago) so could he have the van for a week instead of the original estimated 2 days. In hindsight this should have been a warning sign, but we said OK. When we returned my husband went up on the roof and the solar panel was smaller than what we had ordered- it was a 100 Watt panel, not 145 Watt. AND it was mounted flush with the roof rack and was getting some shade on one side of the panel, visible even though it was a partially cloudy day. OK- that was an unhappy moment. “L” told us that the 145 Watt panel ended up not fitting after all. I asked him why they did not call us to let us know about this change and he said “I made the executive decision, What do you want me to do?” I told him I thought that was bad business practice, and he just kept saying they were busy and he just made the decision without any input from us the clients. I also asked why it was not on the risers we had discussed to prevent the panel being shaded and he said “We have been doing this for decades and it will be fine.” I said that was not the point and he repeated “What do you want me to do?” Next, we went to look inside the van at the new L-Trak and reinforced bed rails. My husband said to “L” “You installed RIVNUTS, right? “L” said “Yes we installed the RIVNUTS”. My husband then said but it does not look like RIVNUTS were used for the new L-Trak and “L” said “You wanted us to put RIVNUTs on those too?” I must say, we made it POSTIVELY CLEAR in our discussion before the work was done that we wanted RIVNUTS used for everything, but on the Quote only the bed rail had the description verbatim “ R&R interior paneling to make sure reinforcements are there, pull bed rails and install rivnuts.” The line item for the new L-Trak did not say RIVNUTS so I guess we have to blame ourselves for this, even though we discussed it at length with them beforehand. My husband then asked about what the reinforcements were behind the bedrails and “L” said Why do you want to know that?” My husband answered “Well I don’t know “L” maybe someday I will want to get back there for something else and it would be nice to know what is back there.” “L” then said “Why would you want to do that? OK, you want to know what we did exactly I will go find out.” And he left to go into the work garage. When he came back he told us “Well, we DID NOT put RIVNUTS in for the bed rails either.” This though they charged us $480 for the bed rail work. Instead all they did was remove the screws and replace them with upgraded screws! That must have taken all of 10 minutes and we could have done that ourselves. They did not remove (R&R on the quote) the paneling at all. “L” also then said “Why do you want to use RIVNUTS, they are just a headache” and kept repeating that they have been doing this for a long time and what they did was just fine. It just kept getting worse the more we talked with him, and I must add that he smelled of alcohol as well- it was right before Christmas and after lunch so maybe they had a lunch holiday party, but since the whole thing was turning into a giant clusterfuck we were NOT ONE BIT HAPPY. He had just bald faced lied to us about the RIVNUTS and only admitted it when my husband said he may check on it in future. So then “L” said “What do you want me to do- rip it all off and start over? If you want the RIVNUTS we can do it now.” My husband said Yes he wanted it all fixed but I had such a BAD feeling about the whole thing I had no confidence they would do a good job, and I felt that he was ****** at us for not being happy that they had practically done nothing of what was agreed to, and had not informed us of any of the changes beforehand. In the end I asked for him to take the entire charge for the bed rails work off the cost and he said “Fine.” As stated in the title, doing business with Van Specialties for us was an entirely, utterly, horrible experience. I have no idea how they are still in business treating customers this way.

unknown

As usual it went extremely well. Some equipment was direct from the Forester and some was new in order to get all to fit the Honda. Have had previous dealings with this business and have always been treated well and work done professionally and with a friendly attitude. After everything was done I had another issue and called to discuss. Bugged them with at least 4 phone calls in one day and they were always nothing but friendly and extremely knowledgeable. Going back next week and expect everything will be handled in their usual outstanding way.

Nicely...no surprises and a quality installation, actually taking less time than initially stated!