I agree 100%. It amazes me that more people don't think of this.

 

I agree on buying local, just recently people have been coming out of the woodworks up in eastern Canada making armour and such for jeep who I will deff by from. I would also prefer to buy from the states where the shipping is only 1-2 weeks compare to almost 2 months for some asian stuff, but some of the prices are just too much for someone like me to pay to justify it. If I gotta save my pennies for a year to afford a spod I will probably build my own instead.

 

Wow, speechless.

But a few questions do come to mind,

1) Did they ever patent their product?

2) Such a close copy to SPOD, was SPOD really manufactured in USA? Because you can still assemble parts in the USA, that were made in CHINA and still be claimed to be made in the US.

3) Is the owners of the SPOD licensing this out to expand their market? I can see this being brought up on Shark-Tank, move your production to CHINA bring your overhead down and double your profits.

 

Thanks for your time to answer a lot of these questions. I know i appreciate it. It's great that you give so much back to the community that we all enjoy! The product you make is awesome, keep on keepin on GenRight.com

 

In an effort to support you guys and still meet my needs I'll ask this question. I'm interested in fabricating my own Spodish relay box using a relay panel and weather pack connectors. I found this companies knock off switch mount/gauge pod for $100 on amazon and planned on using it to hold my switches. Does Spod offer their switch box empty for those of us who are interested in doing our own builds? I realize this is a very small segment of your clientel, but appreciate if possible.

 

Thanks for the answers SPOD folks. I will say I love my SPOD, and felt your pain when I saw this knock off product.

Just one more question, is there any way, or any thing that ebay can do for you? Can they block this seller or do you have any legal action available against ebay for letting them sell a product that is committing patent infringement?

Good luck!




ohhhh and P.S. may the cheap bastards that buy that knock off on ebay have their Jeep catch on fire for buying a cheap ass product. LOL!

 

It seems that you have convinced me guys. I'll wait some more months and order the real thing.

Finally it seems that I did well to post it here, I had my ideas together. I did not intend to raise such controversy.

 

I love my SPOD. It is worth every penny I paid for it... 'Merica!!

 

Proud owner of American-made sPOD!!! One point John did not make, CUSTOMER SERVICE; during my DIY/amateur hour install I had made several calls to John for tech support advice. He promptly returned my calls and answered all my questions. Good luck gettin any tech support when u call China or London .... Or wherever these scam artist operate out of!!
Thx John


QUOTE="sPOD-guy;4098522"]I heard this thread was started and I thought maybe I would just chime in to share some information. We are a family owned and operated business for the last 7 years and have been Jeepers for over 35 years. sPOD was blantantly knocked off by this company mid 2014. We finally traced them down to two different places. The manufacture is in Hanzhou City China and registered through Churchill House in London (this is how they cover their trails). They will be served very soon. We do not mind competition...that's why we keep on top of the latest technolgy and invest many thousands of dollars so we offer only the best of the best! But to be copied (and by no means even close to our quality) even our logo is a complete disgrace to the hard working families in America. Very good questions: Yes we have a patents pending on components of our products Yes we hold a U.S Federal Trademark on our logo Yes our systems are 100% made in the U.S. (Actually 100% made in California) We can not account for small electronic components that we purchase, but 100% of every single part we manufacture is made in the U.S. (please come take a tour of the shops) No Precision Designs (DBA sPOD) is not licensing or having one single item made for us by another company to sell as a cheaper version or the likes of. We are happy to invite anyone who would like to come and visit Cinde and I at sPOD HQ. We pride ourselves on our quality and customer service. This you will NOT find from the copy cats. This is a very small industry and many people know us as mom and dad and they will vouch for our business and what we do. We may be a very small company that employs a small crew and keeps small machine shops, precision sheet metal shops, wire harness shops, PCB manufacturing and component suppliers busy. It's the small businesses in the country that employ the majority of the American workforce. Yes you may pay more for the goods we manufacture, but do the foreign countries that send their copied items to the states donate to local and national charities? How's about the comapines like ours that send thousands of dollars to several groups that fight to keep our lands open for ORV use? Cal 4Wheel, ORBA, CORVA, Blue Ribbon Coalition just to name a few. What about our wounded warriors? Do they support and donate thousands of dollars to help support them? What about the local charities for kids and families in need? What about the raffles at the events that we all partake in? Yes you will see us on the trails wheeling with all you great folks! So yes our products cost more to make and yes its expansive to run a business, but the money makes its way back into our hands one way or another. We all know it's hard to find an American made product these days, but if you find them, praise them for taking a stand and doing what seems to be the right thing to do. Thank you all for your time. Best regards -john the sPOD guy[/QUOTE]

 

Save a few bucks and buy the knock off, and keep your fingers crossed that they didn't use some crappy components that end up burning your jeep to the ground.

sPOD all the way. So nice I bought one twice. Keep cranking out those good products, John.