New company using Dodge ProMaster van - Eko

[stanw909]

Thieves. Wow!

[mlts22]

I feel like I dodged a bullet there. Were it not for the fact that I was wanting to get my existing rig dragged to PPL to be sold after this year's camping and festival season (Sportsmobile does not do trade-ins, and other dealers likely would lowball what I bring in), I might have been stung.

[Mike]

Guess I finally got my answer to my tech questions email regarding some basic specs on their existing and future models. They couldn't answer them because they don't exist. There aren't any specs on a non-existent vehicle.
mlts22: You did get in touch with them, but no recon trip I guess, way back when? If you had gone to their "factory" we could have exposed them then.

[mlts22]

They gave some excuse about factory location, so I assumed it was startup growing pains as they got their stuff ramped up and upfitted (I used to work for a number of small businesses, and I've seen absolute chaos until opening day, so gave them the benefit of the doubt). What did bother me was their vague service depot locations. First their docs said that any Dodge dealer could handle their rigs. Then I asked the guy about a list of RV shops that can handle things like appliances... items that no vehicle service bay is going to touch.

[Davydd]

Interesting isn't it. If you look at the interior photo on the Eko website you'll see the microwave handle is on the left side of the unit just as Marko's reverse photo shows. I don't know of any left handled microwaves and I just got through researching microwaves a couple of weeks ago. If we had been sharper-eyed from the beginning we wouldn't have had so many pages of speculation. I wonder how many other things we can spot.

[markopolo]

Hindsight is 20/20

Earlier today I noticed the photo of the Onan and other controls wasn't from the same van as the other photos.
I started looking because it hadn't turned up in any RV show photos.

[mlts22]

This is going to serve as a lesson in the future -- if a company that is new starts making ads that don't jive 100% (where the pictures are originals, a factory is shown, the components they have are displayed, etc.), they are going to be looked upon with extreme suspicion.

Looking at the photos, there are even more errors that I didn't notice earlier. One photo shows 240 volt European sockets. Another photo shows a Truma thermostat in one of the pictures. Truma, as of now, refuses to sell anything but a propane gauge in the US, so getting the Combi water heater/furnace from them would either mean parts that are not warrantied, or a special deal (which just plain will not happen happen with a no-name startup.)

[Mike]

I re-read this thread in it's entirety and it almost smacks of one of those "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is" situations. We were all still basking in the glow of the new arrivals on the new chassis models and I think we all hoped it would work out to increase the field. I must admit I was a little skeptical about the part of their business model that actively solicited distributors, who must purchase a new vehicle as a demo. This isn't a Fuller Brush/Mary Kay/Amway cottage type of industry, generally speaking, and that always struck me as an odd way to build a dealer network. I would have expected sending out specific invitations to existing RV dealer networks and national companies requesting info on how to offer their products through them.

[Davydd]

The sad part is there were actually people taken in by it per that one link.

[mlts22]

The funny part is that the Eko sales person didn't seem pushy at all... he said that since there was an Austin rep, he wouldn't be selling another rig to anyone in that area directly, so one would have to go through the rep to buy one, and the Austin rep would be having it in December.

[Davydd]

Originally Posted by mlts22

The funny part is that the Eko sales person didn't seem pushy at all... he said that since there was an Austin rep, he wouldn't be selling another rig to anyone in that area directly, so one would have to go through the rep to buy one, and the Austin rep would be having it in December.

From what you say in your impressions maybe his intentions were honest at the start. That EquityNet website was a crowdfunding site for getting investors. It said it had raised $27,000 with a goal of $150,000. It is looking like he couldn't raise the money to get off the ground. Then it probably all went to ****.

I gambled on a crowdfunding for a smartphone camera lens attachment and I won't know if it will pay off until June. The owner did have a track record from another successful company I knew about and his crowdfunding goals were exceeded. So, I hope he is succesful because his lens designs were the best I have seen. Well, that is at least my opinion from what I could glean from photo examples and reviews of other lens attachments. I want a good wide angle lens for my iPhone to get good interior shots of things like Class B vans which are very difficult to photograph.

[bobojay]

Well at least no one here seems to have gotten ripped in this scheme, or is that a failure.....

[Mike]

I think some of us might have even considered buying one, but not as a precursor to becoming a dealer. If it was scam city from the start, I'm sure they would have had some angle ready to squeeze some sort of down payment out of us to ensure early delivery to our local dealer of choice, or something along those lines. You have to do the homework and pay attention, and even then, you can still get taken it seems.

[markopolo]

I doubt we'll learn the particulars of this so I'll close this topic. I can always add new information later.

Topic closed to new comments.