mailto:info@skoolie-homes.com
I emailed Missy, she found your post and hopes you will contact her with your questions about their work. Her email contact with skoolie.net is fubar.
It would likely behoove her and Jeff to correct that so they could share their side of the story on these bad reviews, which I am skeptical of after reading their direct response.
They're not very well regarded.
Look at their yelp reviews.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/skoolie-homes-kingsport-2
Ask em how "debbie's" 8.3 cummins powered 5 window shorty is coming along.
Here is the business owner's reply to that same review:
10/25/2019
We strongly dispute that we cheated or defrauded this client. This client was inconsistent with their expectations, slow to respond to requests, repeatedly late on payment and ordering supplies, and refused to sign a contract while also insisting work be completed to meet an unrealistic deadline. These complications resulted in a termination of services leaving her conversion incomplete and at risk for damage due to exposure to the environment which she was sufficiently warned about when she terminated services.
She left her bus on our property for an extended period of time after terminating services and was unresponsive to requests to remove the bus. We stand by the work that we completed for the client and wish that we would have had the opportunity to complete the project. The client agreed to the terms of a refund and to cease services. We believed we had settled this matter completely over a year ago.
We did not cause any damage to the client's property nor do we accept any responsibility for their negligence, especially after issuing several warnings that an unfinished conversion should not be left to the elements. The client was given a refund of $9946.00 for all unfinished services on September 19, 2018 in the form of a cashier's check sent certified mail. We have not heard from the client since.
Ten months later the client began posting negative reviews to online directories. We believed this matter to be resolved as of September 19, 2018. The client has not asked for any further compensation nor have they given us any further opportunity to come to a more agreeable arrangement. We do not feel that we can do anything further to remedy this situation.
So, the business owner's side of the story is that the client refused to sign a contract even after the business owner had apparently begun work on a good faith effort. The client further had unrealistic expectations and refused to make a plan and stick to it, nor would they communicate, even after terminating services and receiving a refund, not even to come get their bus.
At the risk of offending this 'client' if they are a member here, considering all this, the 'client' comes off as a pain-in-the-ass 'Karen' that is lucky they got their bus back at their own leisure, and that the business owner didn't have their bus towed off their property in the interim. I'm surprised they didn't charge them storage in that time. They certainly would have been within their rights to do so. Yet the client wants to smear them a year down the road, after getting a refund AND free storage for their bus? If that is all true, then they owe the business owner an apology, and storage fees, if you ask me -- not to mention damages for defamation.
My father used to say, "Some people would b-tch if you hung them with a new rope." As a former business owner (taxi service), I have had my fair share of people who did not understand what was involved, could care less what my expenses or knowledge were, and seemed to think they knew better than I did. To boot, I was competing with other providers that were charging rates that had not been changed in 10-15 years or more, even when insurance and fuel costs had increased 300-500%. To make up for the low-ball rate, they would take riders a longer route to make up for it, since in the locality in particular, faster is usually longer distance. I charged more per mile so I didn't have to do that. This resulted in a fair amount of riders who:
A) Insisted I was ripping them off with high rates.
Insisted I was taking them the long way around. Some of them had actually directed me themselves, then complained about the fare. Others did not know the area and assumed I was in the wrong because I didn't go the same route someone who charged less per mile had taken.
C) Complained about my old 'clunker' (well-equipped, well-maintained 95 Marquis and 98 Safari van, leather and all, I ran these between 2007 and 2013).
Among various other baseless complaints... Some even would argue with me over $2.00 difference on an estimate because someone else had charged them less. You can't please everyone all the time, sometimes you can't please anyone some of the time. My point here is that some people are going to complain no matter what you do.
I deal with these same people driving Uber, and they not only make baseless complaints to try to get a free ride, they give false feedback trying to ruin my rating on the platform (I currently sit at 4.84, even with the false complaints, without their whining I would be at 4.95-5.00). Unfortunately, Uber does nothing to curb these false complaints. But I digress.
Some people go to others to have work done because they don't have the know-how or time to do it themselves. Those who don't have the know-how will then tend to rely on the advice of others who may or may not know what they're talking about, which leads them to assume (correctly or not) that they are being taken to the cleaners. And there is no quicker way to ruin a working relationship with any business.
While I respect EastCoastCB's thoughts on this and their experience in the skoolie community, this is my take on it.
I have read these reviews, as well as the business owners' reply to them. It seems that the negative reviews were either from people that had never dealt with them, or people who just would not make a plan and stick to it. I myself have dealt with people like this, for example, a friend who wanted to fix up an old Buick, and kept talking about how he wanted to do this or do that, letting the car sit for five years or more before I finally told him to sh-t or get off the pot, or it would never get done.
I have also seen situations where people had work done, then decided they wanted to modify it, relying on bad information to make the modification, then try to blame it on the person who did the original work when problems surfaced.
Folks, buses are no different than any other vehicle in that the more they sit, the more problems will surface. You simply can't start cutting one up, then leave it sitting for six months dilly-dallying around and expect no other problems when you finally get around to it. You also can't expect someone else to deliver on getting you what you want if you don't make decisions and stick to them, and communicate what you want.
For example, I have an uncle who is notorious for taking the easiest and cheapest route when doing anything, often spending $10.00 jury-rigging to ultimately save $0.10 over doing something the right way, ignoring tried-and-true experience from others that would have saved a lot of time and headache.
Last I visited him, he had built a house on the coast. The house sags in the center because of a central support post that he refused to spend the money to have properly set up, and blames the guy that helped him half-ass the job.
Hence, as a business owner, I can recognize that if you knuckle under to every single complaint regardless of who is at fault, you won't stay in business very long.
While it's remotely possible that the negative reviews shown are entirely deserved, I also see reason not to take them as gospel, having been on the receiving end of such complaints before. Contrary to popular belief, the customer is NOT always right.
I would be interested in hearing both sides of the story on these situations -- then I can make an educated decision for myself when the time comes. But what I see in these negative reviews is people either not wanting to take responsibility for their own negligence in seeing the plan through, or not allowing the business owner to make it right if there was a legitimate issue.
