Little Guy Provides A Happy Ending.....

[Lynn Coleman]

Wow, I read this thread for the first time tonight. I was in tears when I read what happened to Sandman and I finished the thread with a huge smile.

Kudos to Lil Guy good job.

Sandman enjoy your camping time, you've earned mega amounts of TD time.

Lynn

[neal b]

cant wait to see the pictures glad you had a safe trip

neal b

[asianflava]

Don't forget about the pics.

[Ira]

HALLELUJAH!!!

[Gaelen]

Sandman, the weekend is when I 'catch up' on the long posts, and I just managed to get through all of this thread after reading your first post earlier in the week.

So first off, I hope you've caught up on some of your sleep so that you've gotten a chance to go out and just enjoy having that brand-new LGSport in your driveway.

Second, congrats for remaining cool in what must have been a hugely frustrating situation...I know in my head that it's the right way for a customer to handle poor service, but I gotta admit, these days I run a lot closer to the way you've described your wife. Then again, my arguments are usually with a health insurance company that isn't paying the bills they are supposed to pay, and after about a year of being nice, I stepped up my approach to 'Get your supervisor on the line, please' at the first sign of company-line idiocy. When pushed, I can switch gears into the wicked witch of the east...and don't make me wake up my flying monkeys...so fast that bystanders will be hit by the pieces of the stripped gears!

Third, there's only one thing I'd add. You posted:

Yeah, Little Guy has really gone all the way to the mat making sure I was taken care of and so did my dealer. ...
Chris just told me he has been contacted quite a bit from everyone else here and said I had a very POWERFUL group behind me. You guys rock! No need to hound them to death anymore...let's give their email and phone a well deserved break.

This isn't the time to give their email and phone lines a break. If you were one of those who called/wrote to Little Guy to express your concern, be sure to follow up to tell them how impressed you are that Chris and Little Guy did the right thing. Saying 'thank you' and 'good job' means just as much, and is just as effective in ensuring good service in the future.

I don't work for Little Guy (or any other tear manufacturer), and I'm not suggesting positive follow up because I'm somehow affliated with them. Howevah...I'm a professional trainer. And part of my job involves asking my co-workers to do things above and beyond the scope of their job descriptions, and do them well. I've learned that the most powerful positive reinforcer to a human being, besides money and home-made chocolate chip cookies, is often the simplest--a well-timed and sincere "thank you, good job, I appreciate what you've done."

Part of my job involves teaching people how to do complicated software validation tests. They have no training for this beyond experience collecting data and the training in user acceptance tests that I can give them. They weren't hired to be testers, and most have to do their regular job stuff in addition to running tests for me. Their bosses often make cracks that they're not doing 'real work' while they're testing. It's a huge, annoying, stressful, thankless project, and worse, we have to do it all over again every 3-4 years. But every time I send out the call, my testing teams get the volunteers needed, many repeaters and some newbies. No one is perfect, but regardless the bumps in the testing process, every tester turns in superb work that stands up to Federal Agency (FDA) review, every time (I've done four UATs in the last six years for different projects.)

I am not their boss, so my ability to directly reward them with cash is very limited. Some of them aren't on my home site, so I can't even always bring in cookies--and sending them company mail isn't gonna fly either. I put them in for spot cash awards every chance I get, but every project budget is getting tighter and tighter, so there's less of that I can do each time. But they have all told me, and I believe them, that the most meaningful thing about working on my testing team (besides the challenge) is that I don't keep it a secret when I appreciate their efforts. I tell them in person, and I tell their bosses, in writing, when they perform well. I never ask for more effort than I'd give myself, and I say 'thank you,' and 'good job' when it's earned, and I mean it. It's the most effective reinforcement tool in my toolbox (I'd give 'em all a raise, if I could, but I don't have that kind of power...)

So I'd add...let's use the 'power' we've discovered we have as consumers to give praise where it's earned, as well as a pounding. In my experience, it makes the pounding a lot more effective if the recipient knows that you're just as willing to recognize GOOD efforts, too.

So glad things finally seem to be working out, Sandman...!

[elmo]

Very Cool!

Now where are we going to meet to go riding???

[martha24]

Wow, Sandman great news!!!!
I hope your new TD gives you many years of camping pleasure.

Can't believe I'm gone for a few days & you're home with your brand new 2008 TD & this thread is in page 9 Goes to show what can happen in about 3 days.

Little Guy deserves a great round of applause for standing behind their product.

SM have lots of fun with it & drive it and your motorcycle safely. Time for lots of good luck for you.
Martha

[sandman]

Guys,

I go to sleep for 12 hours to recuperate from the 1450 mile drive and this thread keepings growing and breathing. I was thinking about how to end this thread and I would not want to have Chris and Joe's and Evryone At Little Guy Worldwide's great customer service to be buried 9 pages down so I believe this happy ending deserves a new thread with all the great aspects of Little Guy sitting at the very top of a thread in a place of true honor.

While I was in Canton with Joe and Chris, Chris played me one of the many phone messages he had received from you guys thanking them on my behalf. I got to tell you it's an emotional thing to have people I have yet to meet speaking on my behalf and pushing for a positive outcome of my long arduous journey to become a Teardrop Owner.

So, I will begin a new thread and the link will be posted here. I want future Little Guy owners to be able to easily see what a great American Company does to insure customer satisfaction. Maybe some other manufacturers can look at Little Guy as a perfect business Model for how you SHOULD treat your customers.
Thank you to veryone here for their support and encouragement. You guys all deserve a big old bear hug!

[Classic Finn]

Ok Mr. Sandman Now ya know WE DO LUV DA PICS....Sooo
I hope you did take a bunch of souvenir pics for us to enjoy right?


Glad to hear your back safely... So how is the new tear now that youve got it ?

Im just curious as always....

Regards
Classic Finn

[sandman]

Hello Classic Finn,

Chris and Joe invited me to take as many pics as I wanted of the whole operation. I am about to start uploading this evening after football games are over..We're huge NFL fanatics so I have to watch all the games.

I have quite a few pics to share so keep an eye out. Thank you for all your suuport and well wishes. The trip was wonderful. I made it home in 11 hours and took in all the scenery. Managed to see several deer and wild turkeys while driving through Northern Kentucky. Very beautiful lanscape as well as Ohio.

[Classic Finn]

Hello Classic Finn,

Chris and Joe invited me to take as many pics as I wanted of the whole operation. I am about to start uploading this evening after football games are over..We're huge NFL fanatics so I have to watch all the games.

I have quite a few pics to share so keep an eye out. Thank you for all your suuport and well wishes. The trip was wonderful. I made it home in 11 hours and took in all the scenery. Managed to see several deer and wild turkeys while driving through Northern Kentucky. Very beautiful lanscape as well as Ohio.

Thats Great Sandman... Enjoy your football.. Are you watching it in your tear?

Id be willing to bet you were smiles all the way home ?? To be honest I think many others were too.. On Your Behalf.

Can hardly wait to see the photos...

Classic Finn

[nikwax]

The trailer is actually brand new. It's just an 05 model that has never sold. It's just sat and sat for 2 years waiting for an owner. The factory offers a 1 year warranty on any trailer as long as you are the first owner so even though it is an 05 model, it is fully covered under warranty.


Here's some pics of the wood rot damage:


Rotted front ceiling panel


The rest of the rotted ceiling panel.


Lower roof spars at floor rotted.


Here's where my hand went through the floor. Everywhere you see black, is rotted through and through.


A few inches from the bad hole, I pushed thhis screwdriver with minimal pressure and it went right through the floor.

besides the leakage, I'm not impressed by the materials I'm seeing there.

[surveytech]

I want future Little Guy owners to be able to easily see what a great American Company does to insure customer satisfaction. Maybe some other manufacturers can look at Little Guy as a perfect business Model for how you SHOULD treat your customers.
Thank you to veryone here for their support and encouragement. You guys all deserve a big old bear hug!

Maybe this deserves a "sticky" so that we can all refer to it in the future when questions arise about Little Guy trailers from new members.


.

[bgordon]

Seeing that we are talking about Little Guy tears, I have been curious about this for some time.

When visiting the Little Guy's web site a few months back, I saw this photo (it has been removed since):


I immediately noticed it looked similar to something I had seen before, and after a few moments I got it. It looks similar to this:



Above image found at: http://purplesagetradingpost.com/sumner ... rop13.html
(I found this link on this forum - it's Sumner's pop-up purple teardrop.)



My question: Is Sumner (Sum) related to Little Guy?

Anyone know the answer?

[Gage]

<snip>
My question: Is Sumner (Sum) related to Little Guy?
Anyone know the answer?

No, he is not related or does he have anything to do with them. They were probably using one of his pictures without his permission and he switch it. And they most likely took it down when they noticed.