John,

China is the biggest and growing threat to the US economy. From across an ocean, I identify with you.
For my own Jeep, I seek maximum reliability and wouldn't gamble on knockoffs.

Now, a question:
Is it possible to get the sPOD with a hole(s) for an extra switch or two in the middle, instead of the round gauge hole ?

 

Wow, this thread quickly turned to bashing other people/ countries pretty quickly. To get back to the OP's question, I'll offer you this:

About two years ago, I was on the fence about buying an sPod or trying to make my own. I pulled the plug and got one knowing that it was a family owned, American business. After installing everything, I went to test the switches.... nothing. I rechecked the connections, tested the battery, etc. but had no luck. I called sPod to get some help since I had no idea what was going on, and thought I may have had a faulty setup. While my two kids, 1 and 4 years old at the time, were running around the garage and driveway, Cinde walked me through a few things just to triple check the connections. Finally, she had me pull apart a connector from the wiring harness to the switch panel. One of the pins had come loose. She said that it happens from time to time during manufacturing. I reseated the wire and connector, reconnected everything, and voila, it worked. Fast forward about two years to Jeep Beach this year. sPod had a tent set up in the vendor area. I made it a point to go over and seek out Cinde so I could personally thank her for her help and dealing with me yelling at the kids to get back into the garage so I could keep an eye on them. She said she remembered that day, and was more than happy she could help.

If you have an issue with this knock-off, you would not be able to do that. Is the sPod more money? Yes. But, in my opinion, and based on the great customer service I received, I would not hesitate to buy another one if I needed to, nor do I hesitate to pass along my story to local Jeepers if they are considering a switch panel setup.

In the long run, it's your money. Do what you want. You just won't have the support in the event that something goes wrong and need to talk to a real person for answers.

 

You sound like me. Yes it does matter to Canadians as well. We are an industrial based country that is also selling itself off. No one looks at the label anymore but they're sure dam- quick to complain that they get to use their university degree to work for free as an INTERN. aka SLAVE. That said if companies weren't looking at short term high profits by sending jobs overseas (and I'm not talking Canada or Europe) the executives would have less of their adult children living in the basement Rant over...where's my blood pressure monitor?

 

I too have an Spod as I try to support products that made here in America vs overseas. We have sold our souls to the devil by sending our manufacturing to China and elsewhere. We became a great nation by making things better than everyone else and we were proud of that and other countries respected us for it. No we have taken that success and become a nation of consumers. No longer can most products we buy be serviced it's cheaper to replace them which loses jobs in the repair industry. I had a 300.00 fan go bad so I went to get a new motor for it and it was almost cheaper to buy a new fan as the motor was 275.00. I fought to protect this country and am continuing to do so with my buying power so if that means driving a little farther or paying more so be it after all I was made here too!

 

That's sad to see - sPod is a great company run very well with good intentions. Hopefully they pull the knock off down from eBay.

 

[QUOTE=RoysRig;4098935]Doesn't stop the gouging. Check out E-bay or other online shops. I've seen things that one guy will ship for $5 and another for $40. Guess who thinks Canada is on the other side of the world?
Or just go to the store and buy a greeting card. Printed in the third world and sold at 30% more in Canada in an American owned store. Same shipping cost to both countries. Exchange rate was in Canada's favour when I first noticed this. And it wasn't the store...read the back and it's printed at time of manufacture the US and CAN prices. Jeez I drive by the empty factory every work day where they used to print them here. Guess someone has a bigger cottage in the Hamptons and the workers were definately overpaid here.

 

It's not necessarily the Vendor whose is price gouging... I can ship a rear bumper and tire carrier from California to Florida for $90. Same bumper to Vancouver (half the distance) is $485.... The huge increase in price is usually on the part of the freight and shipping companies.

 

I agree with that. However there are lots of instances where it is the vendor on E-Bay or Amazon. Gets silly at times. I've paid 50% more for an item cost from one guy because the next guy is cheaper but wants 800% more for shipping.

 

I sent another member a box of splash guard clips who happened to live in Canada. The shipment went from California to Canada via Spain?! I don't know what that deal was.

 

Buy what you want, but how many of you guys that are bashing this use a I phone? You know where that's made right? what about you guys that shop at wall mal-mart? People say you get crappy service from over seas. I bought a 50" light and mount off of ebay from china.I emailed them and told thim I was not happy with the way they fit, they ask for a picture and in a week I had a full refund and they told me to keep the mounts. You know what kind of service I got from Rugid Ridge? NONE after 3 e mails and trying to call them twice. NOTHING, Now I am not saying that Rugged Ridge is crap But my one and only experience with them was not pleasant.