Just so there is a chance for "equal time" here on this subject of tops and
their fitment, I am not going to use this as a "plug" for my tops, but as a
manufacturer of tops I've seen a few "things" in my day.
The once absolute truth that has never been broken in my 21 years of being in
this business is that:
"THE INSTALLER NEVER, EVER MAKES A MISTAKE... IT IS ALWAYS THE TOP
MANUFACTURER'S FAULT"
Read between the lines here folks... Caribou has sold thousands and thousands
of tops and I have never, ever met nor heard of a top installer who admitted
to making a mistake. You'd figure that somewhere over the years that somehow
just one of these guys would slip and goof up just once! But no... they
collectively must all doing the most flawless work of any workforce on the
planet!
My all time favorite installer says top is defective story:
We sell an Alfa Spider top to customer, he takes it to the installer. Week or
so later customer complains that installer sez top "doesn't fit" (and nothing
more specific than that... just doesn't fit). Well we have a no questions
asked, no hassle, return it for a refund policy so I tell the car owner
simply to send it back... and oh yes, he wants his money back (not a
replacement top) as the installer has already obtained another one thru his
channels and put it on the car.
Top comes back to us, we refund customer's money and life goes on. About 3 or
4 months later I'm out in the warehouse cleaning up and I come across that
guy's returned top. I open the box to check it out and I nearly fell on the
floor....
in the Alfa Spider installation the rear of the top is affixed to the car on
about 10 studs or so and the installer must punch the ten or so holes in the
lower flap of material to line up with the studs on the car (we do mark the
approximate positions of where the holes need to be, but there are car to car
variances). Well, this "flawless" installer instead of letting the flap hang
down and punch holes, folded the flap up over the rear of the top so in
addition to punching ten holes thru the "flap" he also punched ten holes in
the top material right below the rear window! Extra ventilation or something
I guess.
And this installer had the guts to tell the car owner the top "didn't fit"
and to return it to me for a refund!
In another case I had sent an MGB owner THREE separate tops that each one his
installer said would not fit correctly. After the third one I finally bailed
and gave the guy his money back.... what are the odds a fourth would have
fit? And you know what? After checking out each of the three returned tops
and satisfying myself that they were just fine, I sent out to three other
customers each one of those tops and NEVER heard a single complaint back!
Another customer once returned a top 'cause it "didn't fit" and when we
opened it up there was a 12 inch slit (a nice clean cut... must have been a
fresh, sharp razor blade) diagonally right above where the drivers head would
have been. We know the customer or installer did it, because the top had been
opened and unfolded and then haphazardly packed/stuffed back in the box...
not the neat, compact way they are folded before leaving here. And you KNOW
that if the top arrived to the customer with that slit in it, he would have
been on the phone immediately! The reason for return would certainly NOT have
been that it "didn't fit".
Year after year here (statically speaking) no matter how many tops that are
returned to us (and percentage wise it is a tiny amount) that "don't fit",
after we forensically examine them to the millimeter ONE HALF of them, year
after year, have no flaw whatsoever in dimensions, construction materials,
etc. Fully half of our customer/installer claimed "defective" tops (year
after year, every year) show absolutely no perceivable problem whatsoever.
I've got dozens more stories like this that I've accumulated over the years,
but that's enough for now. So whenever I hear another installer say the "top
is defective" I always cringe a little... after all you should ask him when
was the last time HE made any kind of an installation mistake.
Ed at Caribou
www.caribou.cc
www.warp9.to/Alfa
www.Renovo-USA.com
www.convertible.top.ms
www.SportsCarConverters.com
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