Woodland
Well-Known Member
Hi
Has anyone had any dealings with this company in Essex? Any feedback would be grateful
Thanks!
Has anyone had any dealings with this company in Essex? Any feedback would be grateful
Thanks!
Thorpe Horseboxes
- Thread starter Woodland
- Start date
OWLIE185
Well-Known Member
They have a number of loyal purchasers. However they tend to do conversions to existing trucks rather than new builds and also do not do tilt cabs.
perfect11s
Well-Known Member
Are you sure they dont do tilt cabs ??? all the quality converters do now ....
Toby_Zaphod
Well-Known Member
I saw a horsebox on their site & as I was 160 miles away I asked various questions & they answered then all so I set off to view. I had a nightmare journey to their yard & on my arrival I couldn't believe the piece of junk that I had come to view. They had been less than truthful in answering my questions. The living was disgusting, filthy & a health hazard. I wouldn't have kept chickens in it. As for the horse area, the walls were all rusted around the floor. Pieces were coming of it, if something was possible to be broken, damaged or loose it was. I considered it dangerous to put horses in. On the outside various suspect areas had been bodged up & roughly painted over to cover up. They actually wanted £17000 for the piece of scrap metal on wheels so from how they'd described it in the advert & also to me over the phone I was expecting something far better. I left their yard disgusted.
Some may have had a good experience with the company, I didn't & I would not recommend them in any way shape or form.
Some may have had a good experience with the company, I didn't & I would not recommend them in any way shape or form.
Thorpe_HB
New User
I would like to take this opportunity to use my right to reply.
I would like to apologise to anybody whose experience with Thorpe Horseboxes has not been up to scratch and the vehicle you (Toby) viewed was not acceptable. I can assure you that when any vehicle leaves us it is entirely fit for use, we have over 20 horses ourselves, and your comments implying that I would sell a horsebox that is dangerous I find offensive.
I would be pleased if you could give details of how you knew it would be dangerous to put horses in, I don't wish to come over as bullish but ill thought, off the cuff comments and rants such as this are uncalled for without evidence and professional knowledge to substantiate them.
The vehicle you viewed sounds as though it was one that was in the process of being refurbished and therefore it would have been viewed,as is, in its unfinished state which would have been explained whilst you viewed it.
Viewing refurbished boxes in ths state is not uncommon and in fact we sell many like this throughtout the year, it allows the customer to fine tune the degree and finish of refurbishment, however it does need the client to have the ability to visualise the finished product.
Without more information it is hard to give any more comment to the matter, however many customers are now driving their 2nd or 3rd lorry from us, or we are MOTing their horseboxes for the 10th consecutive year, giving us confidence that we are supporting and meeting the needs of our customers.
For the record I would like to clarify some points that have been raised in the forum:
We have been trading as a family business for 31 years, building horseboxes for approximately 15 of them. We build new boxes, sell second hand and also service and MOT
Our new builds are just that, completely new and not conversions. Of these we build about 25-30 per year
We do fit tilt cabs to our new builds, two out of three of our current models come with tilt cabs as standard
Secondhand vehicles of which we sell 30-35 per year are sometimes hard to sell as expections are sometimes not matched by budget. Your story of wasted journeys, vehicles not up to scratch are all too common, however it can not always be the fault of the seller, sometimes it is the buyer becoming too specific in their search, not having a realistic budget to achieve their specification resulting in travelling further as their demands haven't been met closer to home, only leading to greater disappointment when even more time has been wasted looking for what is in effect the Holy Grail. Eventually a compromise is normally reached, specification is decreased, budget increased, a lucky break of that needle in a haystack bargain is aquired, or in some cases the search is called off all together.
Our website with specification and size details as well as internal and external pictures does help many of customers fine tune their search and save wasted journeys, however viewing face to face is always advantageous once fine tuning has occured however this can still lead to wasted jouneys due to a difference of opinion between buyer and seller.
I appreciate that you can never please all people all of the time, however I am always disappointed when we don't and look to improve where possible.
Any further constructive comments good or bad based on facts will be appreciated.
Darren Smith
I would like to apologise to anybody whose experience with Thorpe Horseboxes has not been up to scratch and the vehicle you (Toby) viewed was not acceptable. I can assure you that when any vehicle leaves us it is entirely fit for use, we have over 20 horses ourselves, and your comments implying that I would sell a horsebox that is dangerous I find offensive.
I would be pleased if you could give details of how you knew it would be dangerous to put horses in, I don't wish to come over as bullish but ill thought, off the cuff comments and rants such as this are uncalled for without evidence and professional knowledge to substantiate them.
The vehicle you viewed sounds as though it was one that was in the process of being refurbished and therefore it would have been viewed,as is, in its unfinished state which would have been explained whilst you viewed it.
Viewing refurbished boxes in ths state is not uncommon and in fact we sell many like this throughtout the year, it allows the customer to fine tune the degree and finish of refurbishment, however it does need the client to have the ability to visualise the finished product.
Without more information it is hard to give any more comment to the matter, however many customers are now driving their 2nd or 3rd lorry from us, or we are MOTing their horseboxes for the 10th consecutive year, giving us confidence that we are supporting and meeting the needs of our customers.
For the record I would like to clarify some points that have been raised in the forum:
We have been trading as a family business for 31 years, building horseboxes for approximately 15 of them. We build new boxes, sell second hand and also service and MOT
Our new builds are just that, completely new and not conversions. Of these we build about 25-30 per year
We do fit tilt cabs to our new builds, two out of three of our current models come with tilt cabs as standard
Secondhand vehicles of which we sell 30-35 per year are sometimes hard to sell as expections are sometimes not matched by budget. Your story of wasted journeys, vehicles not up to scratch are all too common, however it can not always be the fault of the seller, sometimes it is the buyer becoming too specific in their search, not having a realistic budget to achieve their specification resulting in travelling further as their demands haven't been met closer to home, only leading to greater disappointment when even more time has been wasted looking for what is in effect the Holy Grail. Eventually a compromise is normally reached, specification is decreased, budget increased, a lucky break of that needle in a haystack bargain is aquired, or in some cases the search is called off all together.
Our website with specification and size details as well as internal and external pictures does help many of customers fine tune their search and save wasted journeys, however viewing face to face is always advantageous once fine tuning has occured however this can still lead to wasted jouneys due to a difference of opinion between buyer and seller.
I appreciate that you can never please all people all of the time, however I am always disappointed when we don't and look to improve where possible.
Any further constructive comments good or bad based on facts will be appreciated.
Darren Smith
black_horse
Well-Known Member
Dear Darren Smith
As a sales representative for your company i would like to take the time to tell you i for one shall never pay custom to your company as i take offence from your tone used. I would be more careful in what you post on a forum such as this whereby the respectability of a company has already come into play!
As a sales representative for your company i would like to take the time to tell you i for one shall never pay custom to your company as i take offence from your tone used. I would be more careful in what you post on a forum such as this whereby the respectability of a company has already come into play!
Thorpe_HB
New User
No offence was ever mean't to you or anybody else.
Teabelly
Well-Known Member
To be honest Black_Horse, whilst I don't know the in's and out's of Tobys complaint, I thought the reply was quite justified.
Darren Smith wasn't offensive or abusive in his reply, he was in my mind informative.
He has a right to reply and looking through the posts last night I think from Hoofsculpture, their reply to other users posts were very rude, i guess its all down to people interpretation.
I am in no way connected to Thorpe Horseboxes or Darren Smith .
Darren Smith wasn't offensive or abusive in his reply, he was in my mind informative.
He has a right to reply and looking through the posts last night I think from Hoofsculpture, their reply to other users posts were very rude, i guess its all down to people interpretation.
I am in no way connected to Thorpe Horseboxes or Darren Smith .
SpottedCat
Well-Known Member
[ QUOTE ]
Dear Darren Smith
As a sales representative for your company i would like to take the time to tell you i for one shall never pay custom to your company as i take offence from your tone used. I would be more careful in what you post on a forum such as this whereby the respectability of a company has already come into play!
[/ QUOTE ]
Are you bonkers? A representative from a company comes on here (rare in itself) and rather than ranting and raving about sueing and defamation and Ts&Cs etc, they take the time to give a level-headed, comprehensive reply, and you think they are being offensive?!
Whilst I appreciate no company can manage 100% customer satisfaction, I think Thorpe Horseboxes have responded in utterly the right way here, and if only more companies would do the same, the world would be a better place and members of forums like H&H would be able to give honest critiques of companies without admin removing them due to threats of legal action.
Dear Darren Smith
As a sales representative for your company i would like to take the time to tell you i for one shall never pay custom to your company as i take offence from your tone used. I would be more careful in what you post on a forum such as this whereby the respectability of a company has already come into play!
[/ QUOTE ]
Are you bonkers? A representative from a company comes on here (rare in itself) and rather than ranting and raving about sueing and defamation and Ts&Cs etc, they take the time to give a level-headed, comprehensive reply, and you think they are being offensive?!
Whilst I appreciate no company can manage 100% customer satisfaction, I think Thorpe Horseboxes have responded in utterly the right way here, and if only more companies would do the same, the world would be a better place and members of forums like H&H would be able to give honest critiques of companies without admin removing them due to threats of legal action.
Teabelly
Well-Known Member
Well said SC !
foo
Well-Known Member
I would just like to add some comments as a very happy satisfied customer of Thorpe Horseboxes.
My husband and I went to view all of the horseboxes earlier this year.
On our arrival we were shown all of the Horseboxes including the ones in the workshop that were being reburbished, some were half fitted out and some were a complete shell. Yes there were some in desperate need of updating but they were being modernised.
We chose a lorry that was a shell and had it made up to all our requirements. I did go away a liitle apprehensive as to what it would look like when we went to pick it up.
Two weeks later we arrived to pick up our purchase and i was so pleased with our purchase. I think Thorpe Horseboxes were professional, helpful and very pleasant at all times.
I would recommend and use them again.
My husband and I went to view all of the horseboxes earlier this year.
On our arrival we were shown all of the Horseboxes including the ones in the workshop that were being reburbished, some were half fitted out and some were a complete shell. Yes there were some in desperate need of updating but they were being modernised.
We chose a lorry that was a shell and had it made up to all our requirements. I did go away a liitle apprehensive as to what it would look like when we went to pick it up.
Two weeks later we arrived to pick up our purchase and i was so pleased with our purchase. I think Thorpe Horseboxes were professional, helpful and very pleasant at all times.
I would recommend and use them again.
Toby_Zaphod
Well-Known Member
I have only just returned to the thread & seen the reply from Thorpe Horseboxes.
[ QUOTE ]
Secondhand vehicles of which we sell 30-35 per year are sometimes hard to sell as expections are sometimes not matched by budget. Your story of wasted journeys, vehicles not up to scratch are all too common, however it can not always be the fault of the seller, sometimes it is the buyer becoming too specific in their search, not having a realistic budget to achieve their specification
[/ QUOTE ]
I had in excess of £17000 to spend on a horsebox, my expectations weren't too high, I didn't want a mobile home I just wanted a nice stick sided horsebox, with tilt cab that I could carry my 2 horses in & have some day lining. I eventually found a box of similar construction to the horrible one I went to your yard to see. It was about 4 years newer, built by tristar, was in beautiful condidtion & was £4,000 cheaper than yours.
As I said in my original post, some people will have had satisfactory dealings with your company, I unfortunately did not & am unable to recommend you.
[ QUOTE ]
Secondhand vehicles of which we sell 30-35 per year are sometimes hard to sell as expections are sometimes not matched by budget. Your story of wasted journeys, vehicles not up to scratch are all too common, however it can not always be the fault of the seller, sometimes it is the buyer becoming too specific in their search, not having a realistic budget to achieve their specification
[/ QUOTE ]
I had in excess of £17000 to spend on a horsebox, my expectations weren't too high, I didn't want a mobile home I just wanted a nice stick sided horsebox, with tilt cab that I could carry my 2 horses in & have some day lining. I eventually found a box of similar construction to the horrible one I went to your yard to see. It was about 4 years newer, built by tristar, was in beautiful condidtion & was £4,000 cheaper than yours.
As I said in my original post, some people will have had satisfactory dealings with your company, I unfortunately did not & am unable to recommend you.
JM07
Well-Known Member
IMO Tristar make the best range of Horseboxes in the whole country....
Most of the "names" who advertise their boxes regularly in Nag and Dog, do wrongly, but cleverly, word the Ad's...and i would hazzard a guess that a substantial number are way overweight if bought to do as discribed...
Most of the "names" who advertise their boxes regularly in Nag and Dog, do wrongly, but cleverly, word the Ad's...and i would hazzard a guess that a substantial number are way overweight if bought to do as discribed...