Toby - Independent Autogas - Superb

[boneshaker]

Another ringing endorsement! spent some time looking at options up to £1000. Spoke to Toby who was thoroughly helpful and tailored a solution to fit my budget. Excellent comms the whole way through.

I am in Derby and he is near Ludlow, but after dropping it off he took me to the station and picked me up when I came back.

What a top fella, explained the LPG system to me and 2 months later it runs like a dream....filling up for £24!!!

If you want LPG (why wouldnt you?) and are prepared to spend a few hours to get to from Ludlow, you will not go wrong with Toby. 5 star service and quality and a damn good laugh.

[LPGC]

Tubbs is alright but he might not be best pleased with your review! 99% of Tubbs customers drink tea (as opposed to coffee etc) but not a mention of any beverages to ease your shaken bones!

Bah, wish more of my happy customers would take it upon themselves to write reviews!

Simon
www.Lpgc.co.uk

[Tubbs]

They mostly drink coffee since I bought an espresso machine and a bean grinder.
They seem happy with a lovely latte. But I will still make a cup of tea for those who want one.
It's just good customer service at the end of the day

[LPGC]

Aha! You've revealed your secret to getting reviewed on the forum now Tubbs mate!

Glad you have, otherwise it might never have occurred to many of us installers that customers might like a drink or appreciate being dropped off / collected from the station... Poor customers must get parched for a drink, especially after a long walk to pick their car up etc...

Bah, I've just thought... I already offer customers drinks and already drop off / pick up from the station even though there are two local stations both within a 10 minute walk (the nearest only a 5 minute walk around the corner). Sometimes I stretch to dropping off and collecting from Doncaster / Wakefield / Barnsley / Pontefract etc. I've been known to drive 50 miles to sort problems on vehicles I've converted which haven't been my fault...

Espresso machine eh... Hmmm to remain competitive I may need to get one of those, and maybe add a live cow for fresh cream and some of those magic beans that incite customers to write reviews!

Simon
www.Lpgc.co.uk

[Tubbs]

I find lavazza works better than illy for getting good reveiws.
Secret is not to ask them though. Just let them do it. !

[LPGC]

I don't seem to get much of my work from the forum, over recent years most has come following word of mouth recommendations, haven't advertised anything except DIY kits for about 4 years. Customers seldom mention the forum so maybe they don't know about it, if they do mention the forum I don't hint for a review but, despite what you said, I'm wondering if I should! You said the secret is not to ask but I suppose if you have a happy customer it wouldn't hurt to say something like 'If you're happy I would appreciate your comments on the forum'.

Lavazza... Come to think of it, customers do often ask for something sounding like that, never thought they might have been ready for another cuppa, I've always shown them to the lavatory...

Simon
http://www.Lpgc.co.uk

[mat_fenwick]

I suppose if you have a happy customer it wouldn't hurt to say something like 'If you're happy I would appreciate your comments on the forum'.

I certainly would, if I was a pro - makes sense to get your name out there as a number of people join simply to find a recommended installer. It's potentially a double edged sword though, as if they have a problem and aren't aware of the forum then all they'll do is mention to their mates down the pub that "LPG ain't much cop" etc. But after pointing them in this direction they could well damage your reputation, that is IF they have problems.

I guess you need to be very confident that you're doing a good job...

[LPGC]

I can agree with that entirely, Mat.

I'm not sure why anyone would think that a vendor / service provider suggesting a review would make a customer less likely to write a review than if no suggestion was made. In fact I don't think many people would jump to write a review if nothing was said on the subject, but I do think maybe half of customers might write a review if I discussed reviews with them. If the above is true and if we know the number of customers a vendor has, then it should be possible to guess statistics for the proportion of happy customers that the vendor has.

Many times on this forum and other forums I have suggested to potential customers that they could write reviews on any work done by myself even before they have approached me and before I know anything about them. This was the case with a BMW X5 Valvetronic that I converted a few months ago. In this case there was/is a 'teething' problem where driving flat out on LPG created errors on the vehicle's canbus. The customer didn't mention anything on the forum about this problem, but I was very open about it on the forum and invited the customer to publicly comment on the forum. We're on very good terms, he didn't comment and I think he must think he wouldn't be doing me any favours if he did comment, but I wouldn't be bothered if he did - this is a strange problem and I am confident I have done nothing wrong to cause it, I would welcome discussion on this forum all about it and am confident I will sort it. I have converted many X5's and Valvetronics before and none of had any issues, I think both myself and the customer have confidence in my skills and honesty. The customer has been too busy for a visit since the conversion and has said that since the problem only occurs when flat out he hasn't considered sorting it a priority, he was going to come this coming Monday but I have received short notice from the hospital that if I need to go in for my wisdom tooth out on Monday, so we have re-arranged for this Sunday.

If the installer has already completed work and knows the customer is happy when the suggestion to review is made then this would always result in a positive review - the suggestion has got to be made first and to unknown customers, or other potential customers should consider if reviews should be taken with a pinch of salt - if the installer knows the customer isn't impressed he is hardly likely to ask for a review... Doctor Harold Shipman might have got positive reviews from the odd happy patient but would probably get some very bad reviews from his other patients if they were in a position to write a review, i.e. alive and aware of a good forum where they could write a review.

Simon
http://www.Lpgc.co.uk

[Gilbertd]

It's also down to personality. I've met Toby and what I would say is that he's the sort of bloke I would happily go for a beer with, a good laugh and a bit of a character. Whether you would come over the same I've no idea as I've never met you Simon. You can be really good at your job but if it comes over to the customer that you are simply doing a job, then it has a different affect on the customer. In a way it's similar to the experience of my missus when she first moved here from the other side of the Iron Curtain. She was surprised that I would chat with, and thank, the checkout girl in Tesco's. Where she was from that didn't happen, why would you thank someone for simply doing the job they are paid to do? Equally, go in Tesco's and get some miserable git behind the till and you probably won't chat with them and will probably only thank them as it's how we've been bought up, not because you really mean it.

So, if you are a miserable git who simply gets on with the job, then you are much less likely to get thanked for it than if you can have a laugh and a bit of banter with your customers as well as getting the job done.

[LPGC]

I wouldn't want to say anything to the detriment of Tubbs! I like to count him as a mate, think he is interesting, has character and is a nice bloke.

In defence of other installers I get the same impression of lots of them. Having spoken to many installers I reckon there is probably the same breakdown of good / fun loving / knowledgeable / pride in their work people in this industry as there is in any industry or walk of life. I would find it hard to believe that, as could be interpreted from Gilbert's suggestion, only a very tiny proportion of installers get reviews because they are fun loving characters, interesting, nice blokes who do a good job while the majority are boring, characterless types or do a bad job The statistics regarding reviews don't add up... Some installers turn a completely disproportional amount of 'inquiries' from the forum into realised work on the basis of on forum 'reviews'. Having said that, at least there are not many installers who have been under investigation by the moderators of this forum for 'reviews'.

Simon
www,.Lpgc.co.uk

[classicswede]

I think it is a case of ask and you shall receive. The forum is a good source of trade for Toby and reviews do count.

For me the forum brings very little work percentage wise and I would never ask a customer to put up a review on the forum. On other car forums a number of customers have put up photos of their car and the conversion and how pleased they are with it.
I have had to put one customer off coming on here as he wanted to register loads of accounts and make up some conversion feedback for loads of cars. Not my way of doing things I like my real work to speak for itself.

If someone wants something odd unusual or powerfull converting I'm interested. Yes I will convert your 1.2 corsa but would rather do something that is just a little different like a supercharged Estima or a 1930's Austin or Honda Hybrid or 7ltr V8 Fire Engine

[Tubbs]

I've got an interesting one in next week.
A supercharged is 200 Lexus !
Yee ha !

[Tubbs]

Well the supercharged IS200 has been completed. Pics on my Facebook if anyone's interested.
It was reasonably straightforward actually. I used Hana's and a king ecu with the injectors split into blocks of 3. If a little tight around the edges for all the extra kit. It's pretty well populated anyway in the bay. I'm very pleased with the outcome. Everything's well hidden under the air box, working out where to fit the injectors and the flashlube branches was a bit of a headscratcher. And it sounds fab that car !

[juddian]

Ha, just got home from the thousand-ish mile checkover, recalibration and sort a couple of very minor issues whilst there revisit with Toby.

He converted our cheaply bought Outback H6 about 6 weeks or so ago.

So anyway, what was the job he did like?, bloomin good, the car runs well, even better now Toby, and thankyou mucho matey.

As said above, the visits to his workshops are thoroughly enjoyable, lots of banter in which he can take every bit as good as he gives.

Where Toby scores massively IMO is that as the customer you're not a nuisance the second you've paid your money over...we all know of places in the car trade where that's a real issue, no longer of a moments interest the second after they've got your dosh...hence how thoroughly untrusted and generally disliked car sales bods are...Toby can't do enough to sort any minor problems out, even sorted a couple of things out for us that were nothing whatsoever to do with the conversion whilst underneath, thats the way to do business and we know where to go when the next car needs conversion.

Now then down to the important subject, this coffee, presumably i don't have the right branch of Masons handshake or whatever the code is, cos today is the first time we managed to prise a cup of this infamous liquid gold out of him.... ..good coffee mind so we nabbed a second cup just in case.

By the way Toby, whilst there today did i remember to mention about access to the blinkin auto box dipstick and filler tube... didn't forget to mention that did i?

Highly Recommended.

Judd

[cmr2payne]

Has tubbs vanished tried to get hold of him but site down and no reply

[classicswede]

I dont think he is installing any longer